• Columnists

Pam Ray, Lobbyist

COLUMN = GOVERNMENT RELATIONS

Pam has more than three decades of in-depth experience in policy and politics, with expertise in congressional budget/appropriations and federal grant programs.

Her select policy experience includes housing and community development, housing finance, transit/transportation, taxes, and trade.

With a focus on bridging the knowledge gap between elected officials and their constituents, Pam has achieved success in her own government relations business for 16 years and for elected officials in the US Senate, US Senate Committee on Banking, Housing & Urban Affairs (1989-95), and the NYS Senate Federal Affairs Office (1986-1989).

For more information, visit www.pamrayllc.com.

History is a relentless master. It has no present, only the past rushing into the future. To try to hold fast is to be swept aside.”

– John F. Kennedy

The young man knows the rules, but the old man knows the exceptions.”

– Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr., U.S. Supreme Court justice

The mind is everything. What you think, you become.”

– Buddha

We are not meant to resolve all contradictions, but to live with them and rise above them.”

– William Blake

Destiny is a name often given in retrospect to choices that had dramatic consequences.”

– J.K. Rowling

As each woman realizes her power, she transforms the world.”

– Patrice Wynne, WomanSpirit Sourcebook

If it isn’t good, let it die. If it doesn’t die, make it good.”

– Ajahn Chah

It is possible to fail in many ways…while to succeed is possible only in one way.”

– Aristotle

If you want to be busy, keep trying to be perfect. If you want to be happy, focus on making a difference.”

– Lisa Earle McLeod

Treat the attainment of happiness in the same way an entrepreneur would approach building a business — with a vision, plan, goals, and a systematic approach.”

– Ted Leonsis

If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. 
Now put foundations under them.”

– Henry David Thoreau

Entrepreneurs willingly assume responsibility for the success or failure of a venture and are answerable for all its facets.”

– Victor Kiam

Sometimes the dreams that come true are the dreams you never even knew you had.”

– Alice Sebold, The Lovely Bones

Once you find something you love to do, be the best at doing it.”

– Debbi Fields, Mrs. Fields Cookies

Pain is inevitable. Suffering is optional.”

– Dalai Lama

If you would create something,
 you must be something.”

– Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go.”

– T.S. Eliot

4oz tequila + 1oz TripleSec + 2oz lime juice + 1oz simple syrup (sugar=water), 1 cup crushed ice. Shake + dance around the kitchen.

– Avenida Margarita

Do not be afraid of mistakes, providing you do not make the same one twice.”

– Eleanor Roosevelt

Normal day, let me be aware of the treasure you are. 
Let me not pass you by in quest of some rare and perfect tomorrow.”

– Mary Jean Irion

You have enemies? Good. That means you’ve stood up for something, sometime in your life.”

– Winston Churchill

‎Excellence is to do a common thing in an uncommon way.”

– Booker T. Washington

Think of yourself as on the threshold of unparalleled success. A whole, clear, glorious life lies before you. Achieve! Achieve!”

– Andrew Carnegie

Successful people are always looking for opportunities to help others. Unsuccessful people are always asking, ‘What’s in it for me?’”

– Brian Tracy

Passion makes perfect.”

– Eugene Biro

I was taught at a very young age that you can do whatever you want to, but you have to make it happen — not just talk about it.”

– Kathleen Jo Ryan

The critical ingredient is getting off your butt and doing something.”

– Nolan Bushnell, founder, Chuck E. Cheese's

Do not follow where the path may lead. Go, instead, where there is no path and leave a trail.”

– Ralph Waldo Emerson

We are perfectionists. We are hungry to work all the time. We are entertained by every aspect of business and we never want to stop working.”

– Suzy Welch

I may not be able to change what takes place, but I can always choose to change my thinking.”

– Michelle Sedas

Running that first shop taught me business is not financial science; it’s about trading.”

– Anita Roddick, founder, The Body Shop

Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one’s courage.”

– Anais Nin

To follow, without halt, one aim: There’s the secret of success.”

– Anna Pavlova

It is only with the heart that one can see rightly,
 what is essential is invisible to the eye.”

– Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

Let yourself be silently drawn by the strange pull of what you really love.”

– Jalaluddin Rumi

He who wants to tear down a house must be prepared to rebuild it.”

– African Proverb

Whosoever knows how to fight well is not angry. Whosoever knows how to conquer enemies does not fight them.”

– Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching

The aim of life is to live, and to live means to be aware, joyously, drunkenly, serenely, divinely aware.”

– Henry Miller

Success is the necessary misfortune of life, but it is only to the very unfortunate that it comes early.”

– Anthony Trollope

Hold fast to dreams, for if dreams die, life is a broken-winged bird that cannot fly. Hold fast to dreams, for when dreams go, life is a barren field frozen with snow.”

– Langston Hughes

Spend the afternoon. You can’t take it with you.”

– Annie Dillard

A warrior cannot complain or regret anything. His life is an endless challenge, and challenges cannot possibly be good or bad. Challenges are simply challenges.”

– Carlos Castaneda

When the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace.”

– Jimi Hendrix

I can’t go back to yesterday—because I was a different person then.”

– Lewis Carroll

Try not to become a man of success but rather try to become a man of value.”

– Albert Einstein

The dove descending breaks the air / With flame of inkandescent terror.”

– T.S. Eliott

Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.”

– Martin Luther King Jr.

We never know how high we are
 till we are called to rise;
 And then, if we are true to plan,
 Our statures touch the skies.”

– Emily Dickinson

Remove those ‘I want you to like me’ stickers from your forehead
and, instead, place them where they truly will do the most good—on your mirror.”

– Susan Jeffers

To find what you seek in the road of life, leave no stone unturned.”

– Edward Bulwer Lytton