Personal Manifestos

This post is for JUNIORS only.

Today we're going to take a look at manifestos. But first, what is a manifesto? Well, here goes...


A manifesto is a public declaration of one's principles and intentions. 


A manifesto is an expression of what you think is important.


A manifesto is a plan of how you want to work at you profession and live your life.


A manifesto is a list of the principals that drive you and to which you aspire.


Got all that? Maybe, maybe not. It will get clearer if we take a look at some examples. The first is from a famous architect.

Frank Lloyd Wright was a famous American architect and interior designer who believed in designing structures which were in harmony with humanity and its environment.

Here is Frank Lloyd Wright's personal manifesto:


1. An honest ego in a healthy body.

2. An eye to see nature.


3. A heart to feel nature.


4. Courage to follow nature.


5. The sense of proportion (humor).


6. Appreciation of work as idea and idea as work.


7. Fertility of imagination.

8. Capacity for faith and rebellion.


9. Disregard for commonplace (inorganic) elegance.

10. Instinctive cooperation.






The second manifesto we're going to look at was written  by a famous author.

Leo Tolstoy was a famous Russian novelist who wrote two of the greatest novels ever written in any language:

Here is Leo Tolstoy's personal manifesto:


1. Get up early (five o'clock).

2. Go to bed early (nine to ten o'clock).

3. Eat little and avoid sweets.

4. Try to do everything by yourself.

5. Have a goal for your whole life, a goal for one section of your life, a goal for a shorter period and a goal for the year; a goal for every month, a goal for every week, a goal for every day, a goal for every hour and for every minute, and sacrifice the lesser goal to the greater.

6. Keep away from women.

7. Kill desire by work.

8. Be good, but try to let no one know it.

9. Always live less expensively than you might.

10. Change nothing in your style of living even if you become ten times richer.






The last manifesto belongs to an entire company: Apple.

Tim Cook is the CEO of Apple Computers, taking over the position after Steve Jobs resigned. 

When Tim Cook took over Apple, he wrote out a company manifesto:


1. We believe that we're on the face of the earth to make great products. 

2. We're constantly focusing on innovating.

3. We believe in the simple, not the complex.

4. We believe we need to own and control the primary technologies behind the products that we make and participate only in markets where we can make a significant contribution.

5. We believe in saying no to thousands of projects so that we can focus on the few that are meaningful to us. 

6.We believe in deep collaboration and cross pollination in order to innovate in a way others cannot.

7. We don't settle for anything other than excellence in any group in the company.

8. We have the self-honesty to admit when we're wrong and the courage to change.




So here's your task: Answer the following three questions thoughtfully and thoroughly, using quotations to support your responses. As always, proper grammar and mechanics count. Your responses should be typed and handed in on paper.

1. Which manifesto would be the easiest to live up to and why? Which would be the most difficult and why?
2. Which manifesto do you think needs a revision? What would the revision be and why?
3. If you had to, which of the three manifestos would you most likely personally adopt and why?