The 10 Commandments

Title: Anyway: The Paradoxical Commandments

Author: Kent M. Keith

Publisher: Hodder and Stoughton

In 1960s, Kent Keith, then a student at Harvard, had a crazy idea. He proposed that, while the world may sometimes be crazy, individuals could still act well and create change for the better. He called his manifesto the ‘Paradoxical Commandments’ and it was published in a handbook for student leaders in 1968.

More than 30 years on, his ‘commandments’ have reverberated around the world in many forms, from speeches to books and graffiti, to poems, bookmarks and greeting cards. Most of you would undoubtedly be familiar with them in their various forms.

The 10 Commandments are:

1. People are illogical, unreasonable, and self-centred. Love them anyway.
2. If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives. Do good anyway.
3. If you are successful, you will win false friends and true enemies. Succeed anyway.
4. The good you do today will be forgotten tomorrow. Do good anyway.
5. Honesty and frankness make you vulnerable. Be honest and frank anyway.
6. The biggest men and women with the biggest ideas can be shot down by the smallest men and women with the smallest minds. Think big anyway.
7. People favour underdogs but follow only top dogs. Fight for a few underdogs anyway.
8. What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight. Build anyway.
9. People really need help but may attack you if you do help them. Help people anyway.
10. Give the world the best you have and you’ll get kicked in the teeth. Give the world the best you have anyway.

Here in this book, Keith once again draws out his 10 Commandments and illustrate them with personal experiences. His are simple words to live by, but how much better a world it would be if we tried.

Mitra Themis