"Thought of the Day" quotes by category. File ver. 1

"Thought of the Day" quotes by category. File ver. 1

"Thought of the Day" quotes by category. File ver. 1 (Sep 1, 2015). For your personal inspiration or education, and
are not to be sold or used commercially in any way. Click on a category to easily navigate to that category's quotes.
Enjoy!
adversity: challenges and benefits of
affection
aging
blessings: given and requested
change, progress, creativity, complacency, apathy
change: the world
choices, consequences, rewards
commitment
communication
correction and lack of
counsel
courage, fear
destiny and potential
diligence and lack of
discipleship
encouragement, appreciation, criticism
enthusiasm
envy
eternal vs temporal values
excellence
faith and lack of
forget the past
forgiveness, resentment
freedom
friendship
gifts, talents, anointing, heavenly provision
God: creation
God: love of and for
God: power of
God: Word
habits
happiness, unhappiness
hatred
health
humility, pride
humor
humor: humorous quotes
initiative and lack of
integrity, honesty, and lack of
kindness
leadership
life: enjoyment
little things
love
marriage
moderation
money
music
obedience, acceptance, submission
opinions of men
opportunity
parenting
patience
perseverance
political commentary, societal priorities, the media
prayer
preparedness
priorities
reflection, meditation, thoughtfulness, and lack of
relations with people: general
relaxation
responsibility
sacrifice
salvation
sample not sermon
service
simplicity
singlemindedness, doublemindedness
strength, weakness
teaching and educational system
temptation
thankfulness
thoughts and positiveness, negativeness
time: redeem and waste
truth, delusion
unity, disunity
unselfishness, selfishness
vision and lack of
wisdom, foolishness
witnessing and soul winning
**************************
adversity: challenges and benefits of
It’s a shallow life that doesn’t give a person a few scars.--Garrison Keillor
You can tell you're on the road to success; it's uphill all the way.--Paul Harvey
You are never a loser until you quit trying.--Mike Ditka
When the best things are not possible, the best may be made of those that are.--Richard
Hooker
We delight in the beauty of the butterfly, but rarely admit the changes it has gone through to
achieve that beauty.--Maya Angelou
These are the times that try men's souls. ... Yet we have this consolation with us, that the
harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem
too lightly.--Thomas Paine
There are no gains without pains.--Adlai Stevenson
The heart, like the grape, is prone to delivering its harvest in the same moment it appears to
be crushed.--Roger Houseden
The battles that count aren't the ones for gold medals. The struggles within yourself--the
invisible, inevitable battles inside all of us--that's where it's at.--Jesse Owens, four-time
Olympic gold medalist
Our finest moments are most likely to occur when we are feeling deeply uncomfortable,
unhappy or unfulfilled. For it is only in such moments, propelled by our discomfort, that we
are likely to step out of our ruts and start searching for different ways or truer answers.--M.
Scott Peck
Often God demonstrates His faithfulness in adversity by providing for us what we need to
survive. He does not change our painful circumstances. He sustains us through them.-Charles Stanley
Nothing is more important than to learn how to maintain a life of purpose in the midst of
painful adversity.--Tim Keller
No pressure, no diamonds.--Mary Case
Man has never made any material as resilient as the human spirit.--Bernard Williams
Life is not a matter of holding good cards, but of playing a poor hand well.--Robert Louis
Stevenson
If you are hurt, whether in mind or body, don't nurse your bruises. Get up and lightheartedly, courageously, good temperedly get ready for the next encounter. This is the only
way to take life--this is also 'playing' the game!--Emily Post
I want to say to those who are trying to learn to speak and those who are teaching them: Be
of good cheer. Do not think of today's failures, but of the success that may come tomorrow.
You have set yourselves a difficult task, but you will succeed if you persevere, and you will
find a joy in overcoming obstacles--a delight in climbing rugged paths, which you would
perhaps never know if you did not sometime slip backward--if the road was always smooth
and pleasant. Remember, no effort that we make to attain something beautiful is ever lost.
Sometime, somewhere, somehow we shall find that which we seek. We shall speak, yes,
and sing, too, as God intended we should speak and sing.--Helen Keller
I am not afraid of storms, for I am learning how to sail my ship.--Louisa May Alcott
Falling down is how we grow. Staying down is how we die.--Brian Vaszily
Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently.--Henry Ford
Failure is just another way to learn how to do something right.--Marian Wright Edelman
Every adversity, every failure, every heartache carries with it the seed of an equal or
greater benefit.--Napoleon Hill
Difficulties in life are intended to make us better, not bitter.--Dan Reeves
Adversity is the diamond dust heaven polishes its jewels with.--Robert Leighton
A problem is a chance for you to do your best.--Duke Ellington
There is a crack in everything. That's how the light gets in.--Leonard Cohen
I am not a product of my circumstances. I am a product of my decisions.--Stephen Covey
We must look for the opportunity in every difficulty instead of being paralyzed at the thought
of the difficulty in every opportunity.--Walter E. Cole
Desperation is sometimes as powerful an inspirer as genius.--Benjamin Disraeli
Our bravest and best lessons are not learned through success, but through misadventure.-Amos Bronson Alcott
Challenges are what make life interesting and overcoming them is what makes life
meaningful.--Joshua Marine
Men’s best successes come after their disappointments--Henry Ward Beecher
Each problem has hidden in it an opportunity so powerful that it literally dwarfs the problem.
The greatest success stories were created by people who recognized a problem a turned it
into an opportunity.--Joseph Sugarman, American Businessman
An unknown author said, You can't smooth out the surf, but you can learn to ride the waves.
Today is a new day. You will get out of it just what you put into it..... If you have made
mistakes, even serious mistakes, there is always another chance for you. And supposing
you have tried and failed again and again, you may have a fresh start any moment you
choose, for this thing we call failure is not the falling down, but the staying down.--Mary
Pickford, 1893-1979, Canadian-born American Actress
Most of our obstacles would melt away if, instead of cowering before them, we should make
up our minds to walk boldly through them.--Orison Swett Marden, founder of Success
Magazine
The block of granite which is an obstacle in the pathway of the weak becomes a steppingstone in the pathway of the strong.--Carlyle
Greek playwright Euripides wrote, Do not consider painful what is good for you.
Obstacles are necessary for success... victory comes only after many struggles and
countless defeats. Yet each struggle, each defeat, sharpens your skills and strengths, your
courage and your endurance, your ability and your confidence and thus each obstacle is a
comrade-in-arms forcing you to become better... or quit. Each rebuff is an opportunity to
move forward; turn away from them, avoid them, and you throw away your future.--Og
Mandino (Motivational Author & Speaker)
He that wrestles with us strengthens our nerves and sharpens our skill. Our antagonist is
our helper.--Edmund Burke
It is a mistake to suppose that men succeed through success; they much oftener succeed
through failures. Precept, study, advice, and example could never have taught them so well
as failure has done.--Samuel Smiles
Success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by
the obstacles which he has overcome while trying to succeed.--Booker T. Washington
The marvelous richness of human experience would lose something of rewarding joy if
there were no limitations to overcome. The hilltop hour would not be half so wonderful if
there were no dark valleys to traverse.--Helen Keller
We could never learn to be brave and patient, if there were only joy in the world.--Helen
Keller
Mistakes are the portals of discovery.--James Joyce
Of course, it all depends upon what we are praying for. If we are whimpering, and sniveling,
and begging to be spared the discipline of life that is sent to knock some smatterings of
manhood into us, the answer to that prayer may never come at all. Thank God! If you are
not bleating to get off, but asking to be given grace and strength to see this through with
honor, the very day you pray that prayer, the answer always comes.--A.J. Gossip, Scottish
Preacher
What do I think about when I strike out? I think about hitting home runs. Babe Ruth Hall of
Fame Baseball Player 1895-1948
Develop success from failures. Discouragement and failure are two of the surest stepping
stones to success.--Dale Carnegie
If at first you don't succeed, you're running about average.--M. H. Alderson
Success is going from failure to failure without a loss of enthusiasm.--Sir Winston Churchill
The greatness comes not when things go always good for you. But the greatness comes
when you're really tested, when you take some knocks, some disappointments, when
sadness comes. Because only if you've been in the deepest valley can you ever know how
magnificent it is to be on the highest mountain.--Richard M. Nixon
The strongest oak tree of the forest is not the one that is protected from the storm and
hidden from the sun. It's the one that stands in the open where it is compelled to struggle
for its existence against the winds and rains and the scorching sun.--Napoleon Hill, 18831970, Writer
Those things that hurt, instruct.--Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790)
No one ever stumbled on anything sitting down.--Demosthenes, Greek orator
Life is like a great big grinding wheel. Whether it wears you down or polishes you up
depends on what you're made of.--Author Unknown
No one likes trials, yet no one can escape them. We can let them ruin our lives--making us
bitter, angry, and resentful--or we can look for the treasure that will let us love and serve
others.--Gary Smalley
When all is said and done, the ride of life is one of great pleasure, hard times and all. To
avoid the bumps is to deny growth, happiness, and life's purpose.--Art Berg, Founder of
eSpeakers.com.
Mistakes are at the very base of human thought, feeding the structure like root nodules. If
we were not provided with the knack of being wrong, we could never get anything useful
done.--Lewis Thomas
A failure means you've put forth some effort. That's good. Failure gives you an opportunity
to learn a better way to do it. That's positive. A failure teaches you something and adds to
your experience. That's very helpful. Failure is an event, never a person; an attitude, not an
outcome; a temporary inconvenience; a steppingstone. Our response to it determines just
how helpful it can be.--Zig Ziglar
Failure is an event, not a person. Yesterday really did end last night. --Zig Ziglar
Failure is an event, never a person.--William D. Brown
There will always be some curve ball in your life. Teach your children to thrive in that
adversity.--Jeanne Moutoussamy-Ashe, Photographer
People are defeated by easy, victorious and cheap successes more than by adversity.-Benjamin Disraeli, 1804-1881, Former Prime Minister of England
Strength does not come from winning. Your struggles develop your strengths. When you go
through hardships and decide not to surrender, that is strength.--Arnold Schwarzenegger,
1947-, Austrian-born American Actor, Author, Director, Restaurateur [and politician]
Men succeed when they realize that their failures are the preparation for their victories.-Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1803-1882, American Poet, Essayist
Please understand that where you find yourself tomorrow is a function of the positive
decisions and actions you take today.--Akin A. Awolaja, educator
Just remember the world is not a playground but a schoolroom. Life is not a holiday but an
education. One eternal lesson for us all: to teach us how better we should love.--Barbara
Jordan (1936-1996) Politician
Be of good cheer. Do not think of today's failures, but of the success that may come
tomorrow. You have set yourself a difficult task, but you will succeed if you persevere; and
you will find a joy in overcoming obstacles.--Helen Keller, 1880-1968, Blind and Deaf
Educator
It is not the mountain we conquer but ourselves.--Edmund Hillary, Explorer.
If there is no struggle, there is no progress.--Frederick Douglass
People are like stained glass windows, they sparkle and shine when the sun is out, but
when darkness sets in their true beauty is revealed only if there is a light from within.-Elizabeth Kubler-Ross, psychiatrist Author, On Death and Dying.
A man either lives life as it happens to him, meets it head-on and licks it, or he turns his
back on it and starts to wither away.--Gene Roddenberry, American Producer, Director,
Creator of Star Trek Series
Things don't go wrong and break your heart so you can become bitter and give up. They
happen to break you down and build you up so you can be all that you were intended to
be.--Charles Tremendous Jones, Motivational Speaker and Author
History has demonstrated that the most notable winners usually encountered heartbreaking
obstacles before they triumphed. They won because they refused to become discouraged
by their defeats.--B. C. Forbes, 1880-1954, American Publisher
Failure is nature's plan to prepare you for great responsibilities.--Napoleon Hill, 1883-1970,
American Speaker, Motivational Writer
To be without some of the things you want is an indispensable part of happiness.--Bertrand
Russell
Facing it--always facing it--that's the way to get through. Face it!--Joseph Conrad
The only people you should ever want to get 'even' with are those who have helped you.-John Honeyfield
One of the secrets of life is to make steppingstones out of stumbling blocks.--Jack Penn
Every trial endured and weathered in the right spirit makes a soul nobler and stronger than
it was before.--James Buckham, Author
The way I see it, if you want the rainbow, you gotta put up with the rain.--Dolly Parton,
1946-, American Musician, Country singer, Actress, Songwriter
A smooth sea never made a skilled mariner.--English proverb
A life spent making mistakes is not only more honorable but more useful than a life spent
doing nothing.--George Bernard Shaw, 1856-1950, Irish-born British Dramatist
I love the man that can smile in trouble, that can gather strength from distress, and grow
brave by reflection. 'Tis the business of little minds to shrink, but he whose heart is firm, and
whose conscience approves his conduct, will pursue his principles unto death.--Thomas
Paine, 1737-1809, Anglo-American Political Theorist, Writer
Would you like me to give you a formula for... success? It's quite simple, really. Double your
rate of failure... You're thinking of failure as the enemy of success. But it isn't at all... You
can be discouraged by failure--or you can learn from it. So go ahead and make mistakes.
Make all you can. Because, remember that's where you'll find success. On the far side of
failure.--Thomas J. Watson, 18?-1956, American Businessman, Founder of IBM
Failures are like skinned knees, painful but superficial.--H. Ross Perot, American
Businessman, politician
Looking back, we see with great clarity, and what once appeared as difficulties now reveal
themselves as blessings.--Dan Millman, Writer
Forget the times of your distress, but never forget what they taught you.--Herbert Gasser,
1888-1963, American Physiologist and Nobel Prize Winner for Medicine
I do not ask to walk smooth paths nor bear an easy load. I pray for strength and fortitude to
climb the rock-strewn road. Give me such courage and I can scale the hardest peaks alone,
and transform every stumbling block into a stepping-stone.--Gale Brook Burket
Fire is the test of gold; adversity, of strong men.--Seneca, 3 B.C.--65 A.D., Roman
Philosopher/Statesman/Dramatist
Failure is the condiment that gives success its flavor.--Truman Capote, 1924-1984,
American Author
A successful man is one who can build a firm foundation with the bricks that others throw at
him.--David Brinkley
Every winner has scars.--Herbert N. Casson, 1869-1951, Canadian-born Author and
Clergyman
Every problem has in it the seeds of its own solution. If you don't have any problems, you
don't get any seeds...--Norman Vincent Peale
Defeat may serve as well as victory to shake the soul and let the glory out.--Edwin
Markham, 1852-1940, American Poet
When life is too easy for us, we must beware or we may not be ready to meet the blows
which sooner or later come to everyone, rich or poor.--Eleanor Roosevelt, 1884-1962,
Former First Lady of the United States
All right, they're on our left, they're on our right, they're in front of us, they're behind us ...
they can't get away this time.--Lt Gen Lewis B. Puller, USMC
There are some things you learn best in calm, and some in storm.--Willa Cather, 18731947, American Author
The real man smiles in trouble, gathers strength from distress, and grows brave by
reflection.--Thomas Paine, 1737-1809, English-born pamphleteer
Mistakes are painful when they happen, but years later a collection of mistakes is what is
called experience.--Denis Waitley
Life is a series of experiences, each one of which makes us bigger...for the world was built
to develop character, and we must learn that the setbacks and griefs we endure help us in
our marching onward.--Henry Ford
You will not grow if you sit in a beautiful flower garden, but you will grow if you are sick, in
pain, experience losses, and if you do not put your head in the sand, but take the pain and
learn to accept it, not as a curse or a punishment but as a gift to you with a very, very
specific purpose.--Elisabeth Kubler-Ross (1926-2004), Psychiatrist
Do not pray for easy lives; pray to be stronger. Do not pray for tasks equal to your powers;
pray for powers equal to your tasks. Then the doing of your work shall be no miracle, but
you yourself shall be a miracle. Every day you shall wonder at yourself, at the richness of
life which has come to you by the grace of God.--Phillips Brooks (--John F. Kennedy)
No one gets an exemption from hardship on planet earth. How we receive it hinges on
whether we believe in an alternate reality that transcends the one we know so well. The
Bible never minimizes hardship or unfairness--witness books like Job, Psalms, and
Lamentations. It simply asks us to withhold final judgment until all the evidence is in.--Phillip
Yancey, Rumors of Another World (Zondervan, 2003)
I've missed over 9,000 shots in my career. I've lost almost 300 games. 26 times I've been
trusted to take the game-winning shot...and missed. I've failed over and over and over
again in my life. And that is why I succeed.--Michael Jordan
The door of success swings on the hinges of obstacles.--Denis Waitley
Turn failure into fertilizer and use it to grow!--Denis Waitley
It is not good for all our wishes to be filled; through sickness we recognize the value of
health; through evil, the value of good; through hunger, the value of food; through exertion,
the value of rest.--Greek saying
Adversity is another way to measure the greatness of individuals. I never had a crisis that
didn't make me stronger.--Lou Holtz
Help me, O Lord, to make a true use of all disappointments and calamities in this life, in
such a way that they may unite my heart more closely with you. Cause them to separate my
affections from worldly things and inspire my soul with more vigor in the pursuit of true
happiness.--Susanna Wesley
God brings men into deep waters not to drown them, but to cleanse them.--Aughey
Don't sell out your virtue and your value for something you think you want. Judas got the
money, but he threw it all away and hung himself because he was so unhappy with
himself.--Jim Rohn
We can throw stones, complain about them, stumble on them, climb over them, or build
with them.--William Arthur Ward
No tree becomes rooted and sturdy unless many a wind assails it. For by its very tossing it
tightens its grip and plants its roots more securely; the fragile trees are those that have
grown in a sunny valley.--Seneca the Younger
Good timber does not grow with ease. The stronger the wind the stronger the trees.-Williard Marriott, American Businessman, Founder of Marriott Hotels
When we long for life without difficulties, remind us that oaks grow strong in contrary winds
and diamonds are made under pressure.--Peter Marshall, (1902-1949, Clergyman)
Experience is a good teacher, but she sends in terrific bills.--Minna Antrim
Failure is only the opportunity to begin again more intelligently.--Henry Ford, 1863-1947,
American Industrialist and Founder of Ford Motor Company
Failures are finger posts on the road to achievement.--C. S. Lewis
Prosperity is a great teacher; adversity a greater.--William Hazlitt
One often learns more from ten days of agony than from ten years of contentment.--Merle
Shain (1935-1989) Writer
If you have a job without aggravations, you don't have a job.--Malcolm S. Forbes, 19171990, American Publisher
Just as a small fire is extinguished by the storm whereas a large fire is enhanced by it-likewise a weak faith is weakened by predicament and catastrophes whereas a strong faith
is strengthened by them.--Viktor E. Frankl
Out of difficulties grow miracles.--Jean de La Bruyère, 1645-1696, French Writer
Whenever you make a mistake or get knocked down by life, don't look back at it too long.
Mistakes are life's way of teaching you. Your capacity for occasional blunders is
inseparable from your capacity to reach your goals. No one wins them all, and your failures,
when they happen, are just part of your growth. Shake off your blunders. How will you know
your limits without an occasional failure? Never quit. Your turn will come.--Og Mandino
Success does not consist in never making mistakes but in never making the same one a
second time.--George Bernard Shaw, 1856-1950, Irish Playwright
I've learned that something constructive comes from every defeat.--Tom Landry, 19242000, American Football Player and Coach
Many men owe the grandeur of their lives to their tremendous difficulties.--Charles Haddon
Spurgeon
Flowers grow out of dark moments.--Corita Kent
Don't be discouraged by a failure. ... Failure is, in a sense, the highway to success,
inasmuch as every discovery of what is false leads us to seek earnestly after what is true,
and every fresh experience points out some form of error which we shall afterwards
carefully avoid.--John Keats (1795-1821), poet
Self-acceptance comes from meeting life's challenges vigorously. Don't numb yourself to
your trials and difficulties, nor build mental walls to exclude pain from your life. You will find
peace not by trying to escape your problems, but by confronting them courageously. You
will find peace not in denial, but in victory.--J. Donald Walters
When you make a mistake, there are only three things you should ever do about it: admit it,
learn from it, and don't repeat it.--Paul Bear Bryant
The sages do not consider that making no mistakes is a blessing. They believe, rather, that
the great virtue of man lies in his ability to correct his mistakes and continually make a new
man of himself.--Wang Yang-Ming
There are no great people in this world, only great challenges which ordinary people rise to
meet.--William Frederick Halsey, Jr. (1882-1959), military officer
Adversity cause some men to break; others to break records.--William Arthur Ward
If you want a life with no bumps, you'll never learn how to take your lumps.--Kent Krive
It is [a] law that any difficulties that can come to you at any time, no matter what they are,
must be exactly what you need most at the moment, to enable you to take the next step
forward by overcoming them. The only real misfortune, the only real tragedy, comes when
we suffer without learning the lesson.--Emmet Fox
If you wish success in life, make perseverance your bosom friend, experience your wise
counselor, caution your elder brother and hope your guardian genius.--Joseph Addison
Never to suffer would never to have been blessed.--Edgar Allen Poe
It is difficulties which give birth to miracles.--Rev. Dr. Sharpe
Adversity has the effect of eliciting talents which, in prosperous circumstances, would have
lain dormant.--Horace
Trials, temptations, disappointments--all these are helps instead of hindrances, if one uses
them rightly. They not only test the fibre of a character, but strengthen it. Every conquered
temptation represents a new fund of moral energy. Every trial endured and weathered in
the right spirit makes a soul nobler and stronger than it was before.--James Buckham
If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant: if we did not sometimes taste of
adversity, prosperity would not be so welcome.--Charlotte Bronte (--Anne Bradstreet, 16121672, Poet)
I do not mean to gloss over or discount the very real suffering in this world. Nevertheless,
when something bad happens and we feel we have no control over the tragedy itself, we
still have some control over our responses. We can lash out in bitterness and anger against
the unfairness of life that has deprived us of pleasure and joy. Or, we can look for good in
unexpected sources, even our apparent enemies.--Philip Yancey
My policy is to learn from the past, focus on the present, and dream about the future. I'm a
firm believer in learning from adversity. Often the worst of times can turn to your advantage.
My life is a study of that.--Donald Trump
I've failed over and over and over again in my life and that is why I succeed.--Michael
Jordan
No pain, no palm; no thorns, no throne; no gall, no glory; no cross, no crown.--William Penn
The art of living lies less in eliminating our troubles than in growing with them.--Bernard M.
Baruch, 1870-1965, American Financier and Statesman
As I look back at my life, it is easy to see that the times when my wisdom and
understanding grew to new levels; those times when I approached becoming the person I
long to be; it was always the times that followed negative circumstances.--Vic Johnson
Success is how you bounce when you hit bottom.--George Smith Patton, Jr.
Sweet are the uses of adversity, which, like the toad, though ugly and venomous, wears yet
a precious jewel in his head.--William Shakespeare.
Lessons that are bitter to learn usually are sweet to know.
I have always believed, and I still believe, that whatever good or bad fortune may come our
way we can always give it meaning and transform it into something of value.--Hermann
Hesse
The beauty of the soul shines out when a man bears with composure one heavy mischance
after another, not because he does not feel them, but because he is a man of high and
heroic temper.--Aristotle
We turn to God for help when our foundations are shaking, only to learn that it is God who
is shaking them.--Charles C. West
The one resolution, which was in my mind long before it took the form of a resolution, is the
keynote of my life. It is this, always to regard as mere impertinences of fate the handicaps
which were placed upon my life almost at the beginning. I resolved that they should not
crush or dwarf my soul, but rather be made to blossom, like Aaron's rod, with flowers.-Helen Keller
Problems are only opportunities in work clothes.--Henry J. Kaiser
There aren't any great men. There are just great challenges that ordinary men like you and
me are forced by circumstances to meet.--William F. Halsey
Difficulties are things that show what men are.--Epictetus
Whenever evil befalls us, we ought to ask ourselves, after the first suffering, how we can
turn it into good. So shall we take occasion, from one bitter root, to raise perhaps many
flowers.--Leigh Hunt, 1784-1859
Adversity has the same effect on a man that severe training has on the pugilist--it reduces
him to his fighting weight.--Josh Billings
Remember, success is not measured by heights attained but by obstacles overcome. We're
going to pass through many obstacles in our lives: good days, bad days. But the successful
person will overcome those obstacles and constantly move forward.--Bruce Jenner,
American Olympian
The happy and efficient people in this world are those who accept trouble as a normal detail
of human life and resolve to capitalize on it when it comes along.--H. Bertram Lewis
'Tis easy enough to be pleasant, when life flows along like a song; but the person
worthwhile is the one who will smile when everything goes dead wrong.--Ella Wheeler
Wilcox
In the depths of winter I finally learned there was in me an invincible summer.--Albert
Camus
The things that hurt, instruct.--Benjamin Franklin
Life is not a straight line leading from one blessing to the next and then finally to heaven.
Life is a winding and troubled road. Switchback after switchback. And the point of biblical
stories like Joseph and Job and Esther and Ruth is to help us feel in our bones (not just
know in our heads) that God is for us in all these strange turns. God is not just showing up
after the trouble and cleaning it up. He is plotting the course and managing the troubles with
far-reaching purposes for our good and for the glory of Jesus Christ.--John Piper, A Sweet
and Bitter Providence (Crossway Books & Bibles, 2010), pp.101-102
There are two kinds of discontent in this world: the discontent that works, and the
discontent that wrings its hands. The first gets what it wants, and the second loses what it
has. There's no cure for the first but success; and there's no cure at all for the second.-Gordon Graham
The Promised Land always lies on the other side of a Wilderness.--Havelock Ellis
Failure is, in a sense, the highway to success, inasmuch as every discovery of what is false
leads us to seek earnestly after what is true, and every fresh experience points out some
form of error which we shall afterwards carefully avoid.--John Keats, 1795-1821
The only difference between stumbling blocks and steppingstones is the way in which we
use them.--Author unknown
It is a hard rule of life, and I believe a healthy one, that no great plan is ever carried out
without meeting and overcoming endless obstacles that come up to try the skill of man's
hand, the quality of his courage, and the endurance of his faith.--Donald Douglas
Tears are often the telescope by which men see far into heaven.--Henry Ward Beecher
The most successful people are those who are good at Plan B.--James Yorke
Let a person rejoice when he is confronted with obstacles, for it means that he has reached
the end of some particular line of indifference or folly, and is now called upon to summon up
all his energy and intelligence in order to extricate himself, and to find a better way; that the
powers within him are crying out for greater freedom, for enlarged exercise and scope.-James Allen
What is to give light must endure burning.--Viktor E. Frankl
Failure should be our teacher, not our undertaker. Failure is delay, not defeat. It is a
temporary detour, not a dead end. Failure is something we can avoid only by saying
nothing, doing nothing, and being nothing.--Denis Waitley
Mistakes are a part of being human. Appreciate your mistakes for what they are: precious
life lessons that can only be learned the hard way. Unless it's a fatal mistake, which, at
least, others can learn from.--Al Franken
Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and
suffering can the soul be strengthened, ambition inspired, and success achieved.--Helen
Keller
Opportunity often comes disguised in the form of misfortune, or temporary defeat.-Napoleon Hill
We are all faced with a series of great opportunities brilliantly disguised as impossible
situations.--Charles Swindoll
Experience is a hard teacher because she gives the test first, the lesson afterward.--Vernon
Law
Extraordinary people survive under the most terrible circumstances and they become more
extraordinary because of it.--Robertson Davies
The person interested in success has to learn to view failure as a healthy, inevitable part of
the process of getting to the top.--Dr. Joyce Brothers
Like a gardener, I believe that what goes down must come up.--Lynwood L. Giacomini
Always remember that striving and struggle precede success, even in the dictionary.--Sarah
Ban Breathnach
If I had not been in prison, I would not have been able to achieve the most difficult task in
life, and that is changing myself.--Nelson Mandela
If you find a path with no obstacles, it probably doesn't lead anywhere.--Frank A. Clark
It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or
where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is
actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives
valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without
error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who
spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high
achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that
his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor
defeat.--Theodore Roosevelt
All the adversity I've had in my life, all my troubles have strengthened me...You may not
realize it when it happens, but a kick in the teeth may be the best thing in the world for you.-Walt Disney
The world breaks everyone and afterwards many are strong in the broken places.--Ernest
Hemingway
Struggle is strengthening. Battling with evil gives us the power to battle evil even more.-Ossie Davis
Sometimes a breakdown can be the beginning of a kind of breakthrough, a way of living in
advance through a trauma that prepares you for a future of radical transformation.--Cherrie
Moraga
Life's challenges are not supposed to paralyze you, they're supposed to help you discover
who you are.--Bernice Johnson Reagon
Nothing in life is so hard that you can't make it easier by the way you take it.--Ellen Glasgow
The worst thing that happens to you may be the best thing for you if you don't let it get the
best of you.--Will Rogers
The difficulties, hardships, and trials of life, the obstacles ... are positive blessings. They knit
the muscles more firmly and teach self-reliance.--William Matthew
The most beautiful people we have ever known are those who have known defeat, known
suffering, known struggle, known loss, and have pulled themselves out of the depths.
These people have an appreciation, a sensitivity, and an understanding of life that fills them
with compassion, gentleness, and a deep loving concern. Beautiful people do not just
happen.--Elisabeth Kübler-Ross
The more difficulties one has to encounter, within and without, the more significant and the
higher in inspiration his life will be.--Horace Bushnell, 1802-1876
Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass. It's about learning how to dance in the rain.-Vivian Greene
The gem cannot be polished without friction, nor man perfected without trials.--Chinese
Proverb
Sometimes God allows what he hates to accomplish what he loves.--Joni Eareckson Tada
Three Rules of Work: Out of clutter find simplicity; from discord find harmony; in the middle
of difficulty lies opportunity.--Albert Einstein
Face your deficiencies and acknowledge them; but do not let them master you. Let them
teach you patience, sweetness, insight.--Helen Keller
Nothing of great value in life comes easily. The things of highest value sometimes come
hard. The gold that has the greatest value lies deepest in the earth, as do the diamonds.-Norman Vincent Peale
Nothing in the world is worth having or worth doing unless it means effort, pain, difficulty... I
have never in my life envied a human being who led an easy life. I have envied a great
many people who led difficult lives and led them well.--Theodore Roosevelt
Experience is a grindstone; and it is lucky for us, if we can get brightened by it, and not
ground.--Josh Billings, 1818-1885
Life is a grindstone. But whether it grinds us down or polishes us up depends on us.--L.
Thomas Holdcraft
Adversity is a crossroads that makes a person choose one of two paths: character or
compromise. Every time he chooses character, he becomes stronger, even if that choice
brings negative consequences.--John C. Maxwell
Each handicap is like a hurdle in a steeplechase, and when you ride up to it, if you throw
your heart over, the horse will go along, too.--Lawrence Bixby
Difficulties mastered are opportunities won.--Winston Churchill
Your present circumstances don't determine where you can go; they merely determine
where you start.--Nido Qubein
Rock bottom became the solid foundation on which I rebuilt my life.--J.K. Rowling
In South Africa, they dig for diamonds. Tons of earth are moved to find a little pebble not as
large as a little fingernail. The miners are looking for the diamonds, not the dirt. They are
willing to lift all the dirt in order to find the jewels. In daily life, people forget this principle and
become pessimists because there is more dirt than diamonds. When trouble comes, don't
be frightened by the negatives. Look for the positives and dig them out. They are so
valuable it doesn't matter if you have to handle tons of dirt.--David Seabury
When everything seems to be going against you, remember that the airplane takes off
against the wind, not with it.--Henry Ford
Kites rise highest against the wind, not with it.--Winston Churchill
A certain amount of opposition is a great help to a man. Kites rise against, not with, the
wind.--Lewis Mumford
Life is thickly sown with thorns, and I know no other remedy than to pass quickly through
them. The longer we dwell on our misfortunes, the greater is their power to harm us.-Voltaire
Christ did not come to do away with suffering; He did not come to explain it; He came to fill
it with His presence.--Paul Claudel
May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading to the most amazing
view. May your mountains rise into and above the clouds.--Edward Abbey
Mistakes are part of the dues one pays for a full life.--Sophia Loren
Most people, once they graduate from the School of Hard Knocks, automatically enroll in
the University of Adversity.--Peter McWilliams
I am grateful for all of my problems. After each one was overcome, I became stronger and
more able to meet those that were still to come. I grew in all my difficulties.--J. C. Penney
Hardships often prepare ordinary people for an extraordinary destiny.--C. S. Lewis
The pain passes, but the beauty remains.--Pierre Auguste Renoir
Every calamity is a spur and a valuable hint.--Ralph Waldo Emerson
We climb to heaven most often on the ruins of our cherished plans, finding our failures were
successes.--Amos Bronson Alcott
An adventure is only an inconvenience rightly considered. An inconvenience is an
adventure wrongly considered.--G. K. Chesterton
When something bad happens you have three choices. You can let it define you, let it
destroy you, or you can let it strengthen you.--Unknown
It's not the load that breaks you down, it's the way you carry it.--Lena Horne, American
Singer and Actress (--Lou Holtz)
Success in the affairs of life often serves to hide one's abilities, whereas adversity
frequently gives one an opportunity to discover them.--Horace
We are not retreating. We are advancing in another direction.--Douglas MacArthur
I will love the light for it shows me the way, yet I will endure the darkness for it shows me
the stars.--Og Mandino
The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and
convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.--Martin Luther
King,1929-1968, American Black Leader, Nobel Prize Winner, 1964
Success is never permanent, and failure is never final.--Mike Ditka, American Football
Player, Coach of Chicago Bears
Gray skies are just clouds passing over.--Duke Ellington, 1899-1974, American Jazz
Composer/Pianist/Bandleader
The circumstances of our lives are another medium of God's communication with us. God
opens some doors and closes others.... The happy coincidences and frustrating impasses
of daily life are laden with messages. Patient listening and the grace of the Spirit are the
decoding devices of prayer. It is a good habit to ask, What is God saying to me in this
situation? Listening is part of prayer.--Marjorie J. Thompson
What is the difference between an obstacle and an opportunity? Our attitude toward it.
Every opportunity has a difficulty, and every difficulty has an opportunity.--J. Sidlow Baxter
Faith pulls the black mask from the face of trouble, and discovers the angel beneath.-Charles Spurgeon
**************************
affection
A kiss is a lovely trick designed by nature to stop speech when words become superfluous.-Ingrid Bergman
Affection is responsible for nine-tenths of whatever solid and durable happiness there is in
our lives.--C.S. Lewis
A hug is a great gift--one size fits all, and it's easy to exchange.--Source Unknown
Hugging is a means of getting two people so close together that they can't see anything
wrong with each other.--Author unknown
Be a love pharmacist: dispense hugs like medicine--they are!--Terri Guillemets
**************************
aging
Youth is not a period of time. It is a state of mind, a result of the will, a quality of the
imagination, a victory of courage over timidity, of the taste for adventure over the love of
comfort. A man doesn't grow old because he has lived a certain number of years. A man
grows old when he deserts his ideal. The years may wrinkle his skin, but deserting his ideal
wrinkles his soul. Preoccupations, fears, doubts, and despair are the enemies which slowly
bow us toward earth and turn us into dust before death. You will remain young as long as
you are open to what is beautiful, good, and great; receptive to the messages of other men
and women, of nature, and of God. If one day you should become bitter, pessimistic, and
gnawed by despair, may God have mercy on your old man's soul.--Douglas MacArthur
How beautiful the leaves grow old. How full of light and color are their last days.--John
Burroughs
It is not by the gray of the hair that one knows the age of the heart.--Edward George Earl
Bulwer-Lytton, 1803-1873, English Novelist and Politician
Old age is like everything else. To make a success of it, you've got to start young.--Fred
Astaire (1899-1987), Entertainer (--Theodore Roosevelt)
The world seems to worship youth and is terrified of aging. But there was a time when
getting older was associated with wisdom and experience. In fact, some of the greatest
accomplishments in history came very late in life. Immanuel Kant wrote one of his best
philosophical works at the age of 74. Verdi penned his classic Ave Maria at 85. ...
Michelangelo was 87 when he completed The Pietá, his greatest work of art. ... This notion
that life should be winding down at 50 or 60 years of age is crazy.--James Dobson, Coming
Home (Tyndale, 1998)
Age does not protect you from love. But love, to some extent, protects you from age.-Jeanne Moreau
Inside every older person is a younger person wondering what happened.--Jennifer Yane
It is not how old you are, but how you are old.--Jules Renard
So-called aging is not the deterioration of life, but the deterioration of our faith, our
enthusiasm, our will to progress.--Connie Fillmore
Forty is the old age of youth; fifty is the youth of old age.--French Proverb
The first forty years of life give us the text: the next thirty supply the commentary.--Arthur
Schopenhauer
Oh to be seventy again.--Georges Clemenceau, upon seeing a pretty girl on his eightieth
birthday
Let us labor to make the heart grow larger as we become older, as the spreading oak gives
more shelter.--[John] Richard Jefferies (1848-1887), writer
Old age, to the unlearned, is winter; to the learned, it's harvest time.--Yiddish saying
Some people, no matter how old they get, never lose their beauty--they merely move it from
their faces to their hearts.--Martin Buxbaum
Old age is like climbing a mountain. You climb from ledge to ledge. The higher you get, the
more tired and breathless you become--but your views become more extensive.--Ingrid
Bergman
To keep the heart unwrinkled, to be hopeful, kindly, cheerful, reverent that is to triumph over
old age.--Amos Bronson Alcott
Age is an issue of mind over matter. If you don't mind, it doesn't matter.--Mark Twain
Just remember, when you're over the hill, you pick up speed.--Charles M. Schultz
One cannot help being old, but one can resist being aged.--Lord Samuel
If I'd known I was going to live this long, I would have taken better care of myself!--Eubie
Blake
Age is all imagination. Ignore years and they'll ignore you.--Ella Wheeler-Wilcox
Anyone who keeps the ability to see beauty in every age of life really never grows old.-Franz Kafka
**************************
blessings: given and requested
May the humility of the shepherds, the perseverance of the wise men, the joy of the angels,
and the peace of the Christ Child be God's gifts to you and yours this Christmastime and
always.--Traditional Moravian blessing
Give us grace and strength to forbear and to persevere. Give us courage and gaiety and
the quiet mind, spare to us our friends, soften to us our enemies.--Robert Louis Stevenson
(1850-1894) Writer
Deep peace of the running wave to you.
Deep peace of the flowing air to you.
Deep peace of the quiet earth to you.
Deep peace of the shining stars to you.
Deep peace of the gentle night to you.
Moon and stars pour their healing light on you.
Deep peace of Christ, the light of the world to you.
--John Rutter, arrangement of a Gaelic blessing
May the road rise up to meet you. May the wind be always at your back. The rain falls soft
upon your fields. And until we meet again, may God hold you in the palm of His hand.--Irish
blessing
**************************
change, progress, creativity, complacency, apathy
You will never change your life until you change something you do daily.--John C. Maxwell
You can only grow if you're willing to feel awkward and uncomfortable when you try
something new.--Brian Tracy
When a man has put a limit on what he will do, he has put a limit on what he can do.-Charles Schwab
The young do not know enough to be prudent and therefore they attempt the impossible-and achieve it, generation after generation.--Pearl S. Buck
Some lack the fickleness to live as they wish and just live as they have begun.--Seneca
Progress lies not in enhancing what is, but in advancing toward what will be.--Kahlil Gibran
Progress is impossible without change, and those who cannot change their minds cannot
change anything.--George Bernard Shaw
It may be hard for an egg to turn into a bird: it would be a jolly sight harder for it to learn to
fly while remaining an egg. We are like eggs at present. And you cannot go on indefinitely
being just an ordinary, decent egg. We must be hatched or go bad.--C. S. Lewis
Isn't it funny how day by day nothing changes, but when you look back everything is
different.--C.S. Lewis
If you want something new, you have to stop doing something old.--Peter F. Drucker
If you can't fly then run, if you can't run then walk, if you can't walk then crawl, but whatever
you do you have to keep moving forward.--Martin Luther King Jr.
I always did something I was a little not ready to do. I think that's how you grow. When
there's that moment of 'Wow, I'm not really sure I can do this,' and you push through those
moments, that's when you have a breakthrough.--Marissa Mayer
Continual experimentation is the new normal.--Business psychologist Karissa Thacker
Change is the essence of life.--Reinhold Niebuhr
By changing nothing, nothing changes.--Tony Robbins
The truth is that there is nothing noble in being superior to somebody else. The only real
nobility is in being superior to your former self.--Whitney Young
I will not be a common man because it is my right to be an uncommon man. I will stir the
smooth sands of monotony.--Peter O'Toole
When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be.--Lao Tzu
Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance you must keep moving.--Albert Einstein
A world of nice people, content in their own niceness, looking no further, turned away from
God, would be just as desperately in need of salvation as a miserable world--and might
even be more difficult to save.--C. S. Lewis
Science may have found a cure for most evils; but it has found no remedy for the worst of
them all--the apathy of human beings.--Helen Keller
In times of turbulence and rapid change, you must constantly be re-evaluating yourself
relative to the new realities.--Brian Tracy, American Trainer, Speaker, Author, Businessman
Just as iron rusts from disuse, even so does inaction spoil the intellect.--Leonardo da Vinci
Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds.--Albert
Einstein
Learning and innovation go hand in hand. The arrogance of success is to think that what
you did yesterday will be sufficient for tomorrow.--William Pollard
What single ability do we all have? The ability to change.--Leonard Andrews
If you don't like who you are and where you are, don't worry about it because you're not
stuck with either who you are or where you are. You can grow; you can change. You can be
more than you are. --Zig Ziglar
The person who won't read is no better off than the person who can't read. --Zig Ziglar
The most damaging phrase in the language is: 'It's always been done that way.'--Admiral
Grace Hopper, American Navy Officer
The measure of success is not whether you have a tough problem to deal with, but whether
it is the same problem you had last year.--John Foster Dulles
If you don't like something change it; if you can't change it, change the way you think about
it.--Mary Engelbreit
If you don't like something change it. If you can't change it, change your attitude. Don't
complain.--Maya Angelou
We cannot become what we need to be by remaining what we are.--Max Depree
Christians are supposed not merely to endure change, nor even to profit by it, but to cause
it.--Harry Emerson Fosdick
The soul should always stand ajar, ready to welcome the ecstatic experience.--Emily
Dickinson
It might be just as offensive to be around a man who never changed his mind as one who
never changed his clothes.--Author unknown
There is nothing permanent except change.--Heraclitus
Change does not necessarily assure progress, but progress implacably requires change.-Henry S. Commager
Do the common thing in an uncommon way.--Booker T. Washington (1856-1915) Educator
Don't fear failure so much that you refuse to try new things. The saddest summary of a life
contains three descriptions: could have, might have and should have.--Louis Boone,
American Author
There's a better way to do it. Find it!--Thomas Edison (1847-1931) Inventor.
If you do what you've always done, you'll get what you've always gotten.--Anthony Robbins,
1960-, American Author, Speaker, Peak Performance Expert
He who rejects change is the architect of decay. The only human institution which rejects
progress is the cemetery.--Harold Wilson
You will either step forward into growth or you will step back into safety.--Abraham Maslow,
1908-1970, American Psychologist
Success is never permanent, and failure is never final.--Mike Ditka, American Football
Player, Coach of Chicago Bears
My great concern is not whether you have failed, but whether you are content with your
failure.--Abraham Lincoln {1809-1865 16th President of the USA}
Slums may well be breeding grounds of crime, but middle class suburbs are incubators of
apathy and delirium.--Cyril Connolly
Nobody made a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could only do a little.-Edmund Burke
We must always change, renew, rejuvenate ourselves; otherwise we harden.--Johann
Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832) Poet and dramatist
Dislocation, with all its risks, is surely preferable to stagnation, which is the temptation when
we cling too powerfully to what we have. When we do that, growth ceases. This is living
death.--Ralph McAfee Brown, Creative Dislocation--The Movement of Grace
Any change, even a change for the better, is always accompanied by drawbacks and
discomforts.--Arnold Bennett, 1867-1931, British Novelist
I used to say, I sure hope things will change. Then I learned that the only way things are
going
to
change
for
me
is
when
I
change.--Jim
Rohn,
American
Businessman/Author/Speaker
Learning is like rowing upstream: not to advance is to drop back.--Chinese proverb
Life leaps like a geyser for those who drill through the rock of inertia.--Alexis Carrel, 18731944, French Surgeon/Biologist/Nobel Prize Winner
If we don't change, we don't grow. If we don't grow, we aren't really living.--Gail Sheehy,
American Author and Cultural Observer
All appears to change when we change.--Henri-Frédéric Amiel
Everybody wants to be somebody: Nobody wants to grow.--Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Change before you have to.--Jack Welch, American Businessman and Former CEO of
General Electric
What is the great American sin? Extravagance? Vice? Graft? No; it is a kind of halfhumorous, good-natured indifference, a lack of 'concentrated indignation' as my English
friend calls it, which allows extravagance and vice to flourish. Trace most of our ills to their
source, and it is found that they exist by virtue of an easy-going, fatalistic indifference which
dislikes to have its comfort disturbed....The most shameless greed, the most sickening
industrial atrocities, the most appalling public scandals are exposed, but a half-cynical and
wholly indifferent public passes them by with hardly a shrug of the shoulders; and they are
lost in the medley of events. This is the great American sin.--Joseph Fort Newman, Atlantic
Monthly, October 1922
The man who graduates today and stops learning tomorrow is uneducated the day after.-Newton D. Baker
Discovery of a solution consists of looking at the same thing as everyone else and thinking
something different.--Albert Szent-Gyorgyi
Whenever an individual or a business decides that success has been attained, progress
stops.--Thomas J. Watson
Those who do not want to imitate anything, produce nothing.--Salvador Dali, 1904-1989,
Spanish Painter
There is nothing that is more dangerous to your own salvation, more unworthy of God and
more harmful to your own happiness, than that you should be content to remain as you
are.--Francois Fenelon, French Archbishop
Unless you try to do something beyond what you have already mastered, you will never
grow.--Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1803-1882, American Poet and Essayist
People should think things out fresh and not just accept conventional terms and the
conventional way of doing things.--R. Buckminster Fuller, 1895-1983, American Architect
and Engineer
Life is like riding a bike. It is impossible to maintain your balance while standing still.--Linda
Brakeall
To change one's life: Start immediately. Do it flamboyantly. No exceptions.--William James
(1842-1910) Psychologist and philosopher
It is not scientific doubt, not atheism, not pantheism, not agnosticism, that in our day and in
this land is likely to quench the light of the gospel. It is a proud, sensuous, selfish, luxurious,
church-going, hollow-hearted prosperity.--Frederic D. Huntington, Forum magazine, 1890
Resolve to be a master of change rather than a victim of change.--Brian Tracy
It is not the going out of port, but the coming in, that determines the success of a voyage.-Henry Ward Beecher, 1813-1887, American Preacher/Orator/Writer
Change. It has the power to uplift, to heal, to stimulate, surprise, open new doors, bring
fresh experience and create excitement in life. Certainly it is worth the risk.--Leo Buscaglia
The most absurd and reckless aspirations have sometimes led to extraordinary success.-Vauvenargues
An organization's ability to learn, and translate that learning into action rapidly, is the
ultimate competitive advantage.--Jack Welch, former CEO of General Electric
I have named the destroyers of nations: comfort, plenty, and security--out of which grow a
bored and slothful cynicism, in which rebellion against the world as it is, and myself as I am,
are submerged in listless self-satisfaction.--John Steinbeck: American novelist, Nobel Prize
for Literature for 1962, 1902-1968
The people who are most bigoted are the people who have no convictions at all.--Gilbert
Chesterton
The most fatal illusion is the settled point of view. Since life is growth and motion, a fixed
point of view kills anybody who has one.--Brooks Atkinson, drama critic
Creativity is God's gift to you. What you do with it is your gift to God.--Bob Moawad
By far the most dangerous foe we have to fight is apathy--indifference from whatever
cause, not from a lack of knowledge, but from carelessness, from absorption in other
pursuits, from a contempt bred of self satisfaction.--William Osler (Canadian Physician,
1849-1919)
Never discourage anyone who continually makes progress, no matter how slow.--Plato (c.
428-c. 348 B.C.) Philosopher
If you are good, be better.--Anonymous
It is always safe to assume, not that the old way is wrong, but that there may be a better
way.--Henry R. Harrower
We are now at a point where we must educate our children in what no one knew yesterday,
and prepare our schools for what no one knows yet.--Margaret Mead, 1901-1978, American
Cultural Anthropologist
I don't think change is stressful. I think failure is stressful.--Bob Stearns
Very often a change of self is needed more than a change of scene.--Arthur Christopher
Benson (1862-1925) Writer
Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss
the future.--John F. Kennedy, 1917-1963, 35th President of the United States
The best way to have a good idea is to have lots of ideas.--Linus Pauling
Yesterday's success formula is often today's obsolete dogma. We must continually
challenge the past so that we can renew ourselves each day.--Sumantra Ghoshal
He who stops being better stops being good.--Oliver Cromwell
When people shake their heads because we are living in a restless age, ask them how they
would like to live in stationary one, and do without change.--George Bernard Shaw
Whosoever desires constant success must change his conduct with the times.--Niccolo
Machiavelli
There is an easier, better and quicker way to do most everything, and now as never before,
we must seek those easier, better, quicker ways and methods.--Gustav Metzman
When you're through changing, you're through.--Bruce Barton
Nothing is permanent in this wicked world--not even our troubles.--Charlie Chaplin, 18891977
New opinions are always suspected, and usually opposed, without any other reason but
because they are not already common.--John Locke
Arriving at one goal is the starting point to another.--John Dewey
Neither a wise man nor a brave man lies down on the tracks of history to wait for the train of
the future to run over him.--Dwight D. Eisenhower
A bend in the road is not the end of the road ... unless you fail to make the turn.--Author
Unknown
Remember that the six most expensive words in business are: 'We've always done it that
way.'--Catherine DeVrye
If we wait for the moment when everything, absolutely everything, is ready, we shall never
begin.--Ivan Turgenev
There is nothing harder than the softness of indifference.--Juan Montalvo, Essayist
Continuity gives us roots; change gives us branches, letting us stretch and grow and reach
new heights.--Pauline R. Kezer
Time is a dressmaker specializing in alterations.--Faith Baldwin
In 3 years every product my company makes will be obsolete. The only question is whether
we will make it obsolete or someone else will.--Bill Gates
The important work of moving the world forward does not wait to be done by perfect men.-George Eliot
Soon is not as good as now.--Seth Godin
You may delay, but time will not.--Benjamin Franklin
Indifference may not wreck a man's life at any one turn, but it will destroy him with a kind of
dry rot in the long run.--Bliss Carman
Change is not made without inconvenience, even from worse to better.--Richard Hooker,
British clergyman and author
It's easy to come up with new ideas; the hard part is letting go of what worked for you two
years ago, but will soon be out of date.--Roger von Oech
An ounce of performance is worth a pound of promises.--Mae West
Adventure isn't hanging on a rope off the side of a mountain. Adventure is an attitude that
we must apply to the day to day obstacles of life facing new challenges, seizing new
opportunities, testing our resources against the unknown and in the process, discovering
our own unique potential.--John Amatt
You have a clean slate every day you wake up. You have a chance every single morning to
make that change and be the person you want to be. You just have to decide to do it.
Decide today's the day. Say it; This is going to be my day.--Brendon Burchard
The first step towards getting somewhere is to decide you're not going to stay where you
are.--John Pierpont Morgan
Today changes must come fast; and we must adjust our mental habits, so that we can
accept comfortably the idea of stopping one thing and beginning another overnight. We
must assume that there is probably a better way to do almost everything. We must stop
assuming that a thing which has never been done before probably cannot be done at all.-Donald M. Nelson
One's objective should be to get it right, get it quick, get it out, and get it over. You see, your
problem won't improve with age.--Warren Buffett
If you have a great ambition, take as big a step as possible in the direction of fulfilling it. The
step may only be a tiny one, but trust that it may be the largest one possible for now.-Captain Mildred H. McAfee
Every day do something that will inch you closer to a better tomorrow.--Doug Firebaugh
No matter where you are in life right now, no matter who you are, no matter how old you
are--it is never too late to be who you are meant to be.--Esther & Jerry Hicks
Ring out, wild bells, to the wild sky,
The flying cloud, the frosty light;
The year is dying in the night;
Ring out, wild bells, and let him die.
Ring out the old, ring in the new,
Ring, happy bells, across the snow:
The year is going, let him go;
Ring out the false, ring in the true.
Ring out the grief that saps the mind,
For those that here we see no more,
Ring out the feud of rich and poor,
Ring in redress to all mankind.
Ring out a slowly dying cause,
And ancient forms of party strife;
Ring in the nobler modes of life,
With sweeter manners, purer laws.
Ring out the want, the care, the sin,
The faithless coldness of the times;
Ring out, ring out my mournful rhymes,
But ring the fuller minstrel in.
Ring out false pride in place and blood,
The civic slander and the spite;
Ring in the love of truth and right,
Ring in the common love of good.
Ring out old shapes of foul disease,
Ring out the narrowing lust of gold;
Ring out the thousand wars of old,
Ring in the thousand years of peace.
Ring in the valiant man and free,
The larger heart, the kindlier hand;
Ring out the darkness of the land,
Ring in the Christ that is to be.
--G. K. Chesterton
View change as the one constant in your life. Welcome it. Expect it. Anticipate it.--Denis
Waitley
We generally change ourselves for one of two reasons: inspiration or desperation.--Jim
Rohn
You must be on top of change or change will be on top of you.--Mark Victor Hansen
If you don't like how things are, change it! You're not a tree.--Jim Rohn
The illiterate of the future are not those who can't read or write but those who cannot learn,
unlearn and relearn.--Alvin Toffler
Failure is not fatal, but failure to change might be.--John Wooden
To improve is to change. To be perfect is to change often.--Winston Churchill
We all want progress, but if you're on the wrong road, progress means doing an about-turn
and walking back to the right road; in that case, the man who turns back soonest is the
most progressive. --C. S. Lewis
You could just as easily change your life today as any other day. You don't need to wait for
January first.--Dan Kennedy
Blessed are the flexible, for they shall not be bent out of shape.--Author unknown
Faced with the choice between changing one's mind and proving that there is no need to do
so, almost everyone gets busy on the proof.--John Kenneth Galbraith
After you've done a thing the same way for two years, look it over carefully. After five years,
look at it with suspicion. And after ten years, throw it away and start all over.--Alfred E.
Perlman
For many people, change is more threatening than challenging. They see it as the
destroyer of what is familiar and comfortable rather than the creator of what is new and
exciting.--Nido Qubein
Our dilemma is that we hate change and love it at the same time; what we really want is for
things to remain the same but get better.--Sydney J. Harris
I must be willing to give up what I am in order to become what I will be.--Albert Einstein
If you don't like change, you're going to like irrelevance even less.--Former Army Chief of
Staff Eric Shinseki
Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty. Anyone who keeps learning
stays young.--Henry Ford
Never mistake motion for action.--Ernest Hemingway
Never confuse movement with action.--Ernest Hemingway
Don't mistake movement for achievement. It's easy to get faked out by being busy. The
question is: Busy doing what?--Jim Rohn
If you're coasting, you're either losing momentum or else you're headed downhill.--Joan
Welsh
We become what we want to be by consistently being what we want to become each day.-Richard G. Scott
We can't be afraid of change. You may feel very secure in the pond that you are in, but if
you never venture out of it, you will never know that there is such a thing as an ocean, a
sea. Holding onto something that is good for you now, may be the very reason why you
don't have something better.--C. JoyBell C
Anywhere, provided it be forward.--David Livingstone
I will go anywhere, provided it be forward.--David Livingstone
I am willing to go anywhere, anywhere, anywhere, provided it be forward.--David
Livingstone (1813-1873)
Change is hard because people overestimate the value of what they have and
underestimate the value of what they may gain by giving that up.--James Belasco and
Ralph Stayer
It's essential in leading people toward growth to get them to make decisions, and to make
mistakes.--JAMES BURKE Retired CEO, Johnson & Johnson
The important thing is this: To be able at any moment to sacrifice what we are for what we
could become.--Charles du Bois
You will never stub your toe standing still. The faster you go, the more chance there is of
stubbing your toe, but the more chance you have of getting somewhere.--Charles F.
Kettering, 1876-1958, American Engineer and Inventor
Forever is composed of nows.--Emily Dickinson
Achievement requires more than a vision--it takes courage, resolve and tenacity.--Neil
Eskelin
Creativity requires the courage to let go of certainties.--Erich Fromm, 1900-1980, GermanAmerican Psychologist
Life is change. Growth is optional. Choose wisely.--Karen Kaiser Clark
Nothing is produced, no progress is made, by being against or criticizing something.
Progress, including personal success, results from being for something and doing
something about it.--Ben Miller
Excellence is about change. We would not have said this in the 1980s or perhaps even in
the 1990s. Today it almost goes without saying. Most organizations simply cannot sustain
excellent performance unless they are capable of changing.--Lawler III, Edward E, and
Worley, Christopher G., Built to Change: How to Achieve Sustained Organizational
Effectiveness
The entrepreneur always searches for change, responds to it, and exploits it as an
opportunity.--Peter Drucker
A dream is just a dream. A goal is a dream with a plan and a deadline.--Harvey Mackay
There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to
your former self.-Ernest Hemingway
The future is given shape by our faith, or condemned to drift and disaster by our
indifference.--Page Smith
**************************
change: the world
If you want 1 year of prosperity, grow grain. If you want 10 years of prosperity, grow trees. If
you want 100 years of prosperity, grow people.--Chinese Proverb
May God bless you with discomfort
At easy answers, half-truths, and superficial relationships
So that you may live deep within your heart.
May God bless you with anger
At injustice, oppression, and exploitation of people,
So that you may work for justice, freedom and peace.
May God bless you with tears
To shed for those who suffer pain, rejection, hunger and war,
So that you may reach out your hand to comfort them and
To turn their pain into joy.
And may God bless you with enough foolishness
To believe that you can make a difference in the world,
So that you can do what others claim cannot be done
To bring justice and kindness to all our children and the poor.
Amen.
-- A Franciscan benediction
We live in a world in which we need to share responsibility. It's easy to say It's not my child,
not my community, not my world, not my problem. Then there are those who see the need
and respond. I consider those people my heroes.--Fred Rogers
The hope of a secure and livable world lies with disciplined nonconformists who are
dedicated to justice, peace and brotherhood.--Martin Luther King, Jr.
No matter what people tell you, words and ideas can change the world.--Robin Williams
I think a hero is any person really intent on making this a better place for all people.--Maya
Angelou
Toward the end of her ministry, Mother Teresa was often asked by her admirers how they
could make a difference with their lives the way she had with hers. Mother Teresa's oftrepeated response was four words long: Find your own Calcutta.--Mark Batterson
No individual has any right to come into the world and go out of it without leaving behind
him distinct and legitimate reasons for having passed through it.--George Washington
Carver
How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the
world.--Anne Frank
It's easy to make a buck. It's a lot tougher to make a difference.--Tom Brokaw
Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world;
indeed, it's the only thing that ever has.--Margaret Mead
The mind has exactly the same power as the hands: not merely to grasp the world, but to
change it.--Colin Wilson, 1931-, British Novelist
Success is a science; if you have the conditions, you get the result.--Oscar Wilde (18541900), Playwright.
A man does not have to be an angel in order to be saint.--Albert Schweitzer
There is no greater joy nor greater reward than to make a fundamental difference in
someone's life.--Sister Mary Rose McGeady
Every day we're given small opportunities to bring someone joy that can make a huge
difference in a life.--Delilah, radio host
Don't spend your precious time asking, 'Why isn't the world a better place?' It will only be
time wasted. The question to ask is 'How can I make it better?' To that there is an answer.-Leo F. Buscaglia
If you can't feed 1,000 people, then feed one.--Mother Teresa
There are two primary choices in life: to accept conditions as they exist, or accept the
responsibility for changing them.--Denis Waitley
During my long life, I have learned one lesson: that the most important thing is to realize
why one is alive--and I think it is not only to build bridges or tall buildings or make money,
but to do something truly important, to do something for humanity. To bring joy, hope, to
make life richer for the spirit because you have been alive, that is the most important thing.-Artur Rubinstein
Don't just dream about grandiose acts of doing good. Every day do small ones, that add up
over time to positive patterns.--Marian Wright Edelman
Although the world is full of suffering, it is also full of the overcoming of it.--Helen Keller,
1880-1968, American Blind/Deaf Author and Lecturer
However much I am at the mercy of the world, I never let myself get lost by brooding over
its misery. I hold firmly to the thought that each one of us can do a little to bring some
portion of that misery to an end.--Albert Schweitzer
In the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years.--Abraham
Lincoln
You must be the change you wish to see in the world. --Mahatma Gandhi, 1869-1948,
Indian political, spiritual Leader
Will you be the rock that redirects the course of the river?--Claire Nuer
Someone's sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago.-Warren Buffet
To love what you do, and feel that it matters. How could anything else be more fun?-Katharine Graham
Candles melt away as they are used. We often feel we are the same--burning up, burning
out, burning down. What we must remember, though, is how we light the room of this world
in the time allotted to us.--Anonymous
If you think you are too small to make a difference, try sleeping with a mosquito.--The Dalai
Lama
If you think you are too small to be effective, you have never been in the dark with a
mosquito.--Betty Reese
The world needs dreamers and the world needs doers. But above all, the world needs
dreamers who do.--Sarah Ban Breathnach
No one could make a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could do only a
little.--Edmund Burke
Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.--Theodore Roosevelt
Blessed is the person who sees the need, recognizes the responsibility, and actively
becomes the answer.--William Arthur Ward
Impossible is just a big word thrown around by small men who find it easier to live in the
world they've been given than to explore the power they have to change it. Impossible is not
a fact. It's an opinion. Impossible is not a declaration. It's a dare. Impossible is potential.
Impossible is temporary. Impossible is nothing.--Muhammad Ali
Light tomorrow with today!--Elizabeth Barrett Browning
A man with a new idea is a crank, until the idea succeeds--Mark Twain pen name of 19th
Century American author and humorist, Samuel Langhorne Clemens
You are not here merely to make a living. You are here to enable the world to live more
amply, with greater vision, and with a finer spirit of hope and achievement. You are here to
enrich the world. You impoverish yourself if you forget this errand.--Woodrow Wilson
You are here in order to enable the world to live more amply, with greater vision, with a fine
spirit of hope of achievement. You are here to enrich the world and you impoverish yourself
if you forget the errand.--Woodrow Wilson
When someone tells you that you can't do something, perhaps you should consider that
they are only telling you what they can't do.--Sheldon Cahoon
Indifference and neglect often do much more damage than outright dislike.--J.K. Rowling
The question should be, is it worth trying to do, not can it be done.--Allard Lowenstein
The greatest of all mistakes is to do nothing because you think you can only do a little.--Zig
Ziglar
There is no power on earth that can neutralize the influence of a high, simple, and useful
life.--Booker T. Washington
We ourselves feel that what we are doing is just a drop in the ocean. But the ocean would
be less because of that missing drop.--Mother Teresa
What counts in life is not the mere fact that we have lived. It is what difference we have
made to the lives of others that will determine the significance of the life we lead.--Nelson
Mandela
Let no one come to you without leaving better and happier.--Mother Teresa
Every society honors its live conformists and its dead troublemakers.--Mignon McLaughlin
The reasonable man adapts himself to the world: the unreasonable one persists in trying to
adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man.-George Bernard Shaw, 1856-1950, Irish-born British Dramatist
Reasonable people adapt themselves to the world. Unreasonable people attempt to adapt
the world to themselves. All progress, therefore, depends on unreasonable people.--George
Bernard Shaw
A small body of determined spirits fired by an unquenchable faith in their mission can alter
the course of history.--Mohandas K. Gandhi
When you were born, you cried and the world rejoiced. Live your life so that when you die,
the world cries and you rejoice.--Cherokee Expression
When you were born, you cried and everybody else was happy. The only question that
matters is this: When you die, will you be happy when everybody else is crying?--Tony
Campolo
I think the purpose of life is to be useful, to be responsible, to be honorable; to be
compassionate. It is, after all, to matter: to count, to stand for something, to have made
some difference that you lived at all.--Leo C. Rosten
To the world you may be just one person, but to one person you may be the world. --G.K.
Chesterton
Into the hands of every individual is given a marvelous power for good or evil--the silent,
unconscious, unseen influence of his life. This is simply the constant radiation of what man
really is, not what he pretends to be.--William George Jordan
Whenever you see darkness, there is extraordinary opportunity for the light to burn
brighter.--Bono
I am only one, but I am one;
I cannot do everything,
But I can do something.
What I can do I ought to do,
And what I ought to do
By God's grace I will do.
--Edward Everett Hale
I am only one, but I am still one. I cannot do everything, but still I can do something. And
because I cannot do everything I will not refuse to do the something that I can do.--Helen
Keller
**************************
choices, consequences, rewards
The difference between who you are and who you want to be is what you do.--Zig Ziglar
Please think about your legacy, because you’re writing it every day.--Gary Vaynerchuck
I’m looking forward to looking back on all this.--Sandra Knell
I gave my life to be the person I am. Was it worth it?--Richard Bach
I am who I am today because of the choices I made yesterday.--Eleanor Roosevelt
In a few hundred years, when the history of our time will be written from a long-term
perspective, it is likely that the most important event historians will see is not technology,
not the Internet, not e-commerce. It is an unprecedented change in the human condition.
For the first time--literally--substantial and rapidly growing numbers of people have choices.
For the first time, they will have to manage themselves. And society is totally unprepared for
it.--Peter Drucker
The difference between where you are and where God wants you to be may be the painful
decision you refuse to make.--Craig Groeschel
The future depends on what you do today.--Mahatma Gandhi
When you were born, you cried and the world rejoiced. Live your life so that when you die,
the world cries and you rejoice.--Cherokee Expression
When you were born, you cried and everybody else was happy. The only question that
matters is this: When you die, will you be happy when everybody else is crying?--Tony
Campolo
Dr. Neil Rudenstein was president of Harvard University. His mother was a part-time
waitress and his father a prison guard. Lesson: It's not who your parents were, it's who you
are and what you do that determines your future. --Zig Ziglar
The life given us by nature is short, but the memory of a life well spent is eternal.--Cicero, c.
106-43 BC, Great Roman Orator, Politician
Your past has determined where you are at this moment. What you do today will determine
where you are tomorrow. Are you moving forward or standing still?--Tom Hopkins,
American Sales Trainer, Speaker, Author
Will you look back on life and say, 'I wish I had,' or 'I'm glad I did'?--Zig Ziglar
The game of life is the game of boomerangs. Our thoughts, deeds and words return to us
sooner or later, with astounding accuracy.--Florence Shinn, 1871-1940, Writer
No trumpets sound when the important decisions of our life are made. Destiny is made
known silently.--Agnes DeMille (1905-1993) Dancer and choreographer
We must all suffer from one of two pains: the pain of discipline or the pain of regret. The
difference is discipline weighs ounces while regret weighs tons.--Jim Rohn
Many of life's circumstances are created by three basic choices: the disciplines you choose
to keep, the people you choose to be with, and the laws you choose to obey.--Charles
Millhuff
Loving people live in a loving world. Hostile people live in a hostile world. Same world.-Wayne Dyer, 1940-, American Author, Lecturer
Decisions determine destiny.--Frederick Speakman
We create our fate every day... most of the ills we suffer from are directly traceable to our
own behavior.--Henry Miller
The bitterest tears shed over graves are for words left unsaid and deeds left undone.-HARRIET BEECHER STOWE (1811-1896) Writer.
It's essential in leading people toward growth to get them to make decisions, and to make
mistakes.--JAMES BURKE Retired CEO, Johnson & Johnson
With every deed you are sowing a seed, though the harvest you may not see.--Ella Wheeler
Wilcox, 1855-1919, American Poet and Journalist
Every one of us alone has the power to direct the course of our lives by choosing what
actions we will or won't take. While sometimes it's easier to believe you don't have a choice,
the reality is that you always have a choice to behave differently.--Francine Ward Business
leader and motivational speaker
What we have done for ourselves alone dies with us. What we have done for others and the
world remains and is immortal.--Albert Pike, 1809-1891, American Author
I am prepared to meet my Maker. Whether my Maker is prepared for the great ordeal of
meeting me is another matter.--Sir Winston Churchill, on the eve of his 75th birthday
If you wouldn't write it and sign it, don't say it.--Earl Wilson, columnist, (1907-1987)
Kind words and good deeds are eternal. You never know where their influence will end.--H.
Jackson Browne
[Success] doesn't come from one brilliant idea, but from a bunch of small decisions that
accumulate over the years.--Roxanne Quimby, Cofounder of Burt's Bees
Goodness is the only investment that never fails.--Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862) Writer
and naturalist
It's in your moments of decision that your destiny is shaped.--Anthony Robbins
Will you be satisfied with the fruit of your life's work? Will the efforts you are making now
bring you satisfaction when the things of time are receding and eternity looms ahead?-Raymond L. Cox
When Jesus commanded us to love our neighbors as ourselves, it was not just for our
neighbors' sakes that he commanded it, but for our own sakes as well. Not to help find
some way to feed the children who are starving to death is to have some precious part of
who we are starve to death with them. Not to give ourselves to the human beings we know
who may be starving not for food but for what we have in our hearts to nourish them with is
to be, ourselves, diminished and crippled as human beings.--Frederick Buechner
If you do not hear reason she will rap you on the knuckles.--Benjamin Franklin
It is a psychological fact that we cherish most what we have worked hardest to gain. The
further we have come, the sweeter the celebration at the destination when we arrive.--Denis
Waitley
Most of the time, stuff doesn't just happen to us--we make it happen by what we do and the
way we are.--Tony Jeary
It's always the rug you've been sweeping things under that gets pulled out from under you.-Author unknown
What we do upon some great occasion will probably depend on what we already are; and
what we are will be the result of previous years of self-discipline.--Henry Parry Liddon
(1829-1890), Cleric
At the end of each day, you should play back the tapes of your performance. The results
should either applaud you or prod you.--Jim Rohn
For all sad words of tongue or pen, The saddest are these, It might have been.--John
Greenleaf Whittier
One of the great mistakes is to judge policies and programs by their intentions rather than
their results.--Milton Friedman
Four things come not back--the spoken word, the sped arrow, time past, and the neglected
opportunity.--Abbas Ibn al-Ahnaf (c. 750-c. 803) Poet
Every intersection in the road of life is an opportunity to make a decision.--Duke Ellington
(1899-1974) Musician and composer
There is a destiny that marks us as brothers;
No one goes his way alone:
All that we send into the lives of others
Comes back into our own.
--Edwin Markham
...look at that word blame. It's just a coincidence that the last two letters spell the word me.
But that coincidence is worth thinking about. Other people or unfortunate circumstances
may have caused you to feel pain, but only you control whether you allow that pain to go
on. If you want those feelings to go away, you have to say: 'It's up to me.'--Arthur Freeman
Life is change. Growth is optional. Choose wisely.--Karen Kaiser Clark
How much more grievous are the consequences of anger than the causes of it?--Marcus
Aurelius
People who consider themselves victims of their circumstances will always remain victims
unless they develop a greater vision for their lives.--Stedman Graham
The future that we study and plan for begins today.--Chester O. Fischer
The work of today is the history of tomorrow, and we are its makers.--Juliette Gordon Low,
founded the Girl Scouts on March 12, 1912
The future is not some place we are going to but one we are creating. The paths to it are
not found but made.--John Schaar
What was hard to bear is sweet to remember.--Portuguese proverb
Every man is the builder of a temple called his body.--Henry David Thoreau
The future lies before you,
Like a field of driven snow;
Be careful how you tread it,
For every step will show.
--Author unknown
Far and away the best prize that life has to offer is the chance to work hard at work worth
doing.--Theodore Roosevelt
It may make a difference to all eternity whether we do right or wrong today.--James
Freeman Clarke
Good actions are the invisible hinges on the doors of heaven.--Victor Hugo
Every moment of one's existence is growing into more or retreating into less.--Norman
Mailer
Whether you are a success or failure in life has little to do with your circumstances; it has
much more to do with your choices!--Nido Qubein
The consequences of today are determined by the actions of the past. To change your
future, alter your decisions today.--Anonymous
When the One Great Scorer comes to mark against your name, He writes--not that you won
or lost--but how you played the Game.--Grantland Rice
We all create the person we become by our choices as we go through life. In a real sense,
by the time we are adults, we are the sum total of the choices we have made.--Eleanor
Roosevelt
One's philosophy is not best expressed in words; it is expressed in the choices one makes.
In the long run, we shape our lives and we shape ourselves. The process never ends until
we die. And, the choices we make are ultimately our own responsibility.--Eleanor
Roosevelt, 1884-1962, American First Lady, Columnist and Lecturer
We must reject the idea that every time a law's broken, society is guilty rather than the
lawbreaker. It is time to restore the ... precept that each individual is accountable for his
actions.--Ronald Reagan
Our thoughts, deeds, and words return to us sooner or later, with astounding accuracy.-Florence Shinn
Pain is temporary. It may last a minute, or an hour, or a day, or a year, but eventually it will
subside and something else will take its place. If I quit, however, it lasts forever. That
surrender, even the smallest act of giving up, stays with me. So when I feel like quitting, I
ask myself, which would I rather live with?--Lance Armstrong
You don't get to control any outcome, only every choice you make along the way.--Stephen
C. Paul
The New Year like a book lies before me;
On its cover two words, My Life, I see.
I open the covers and look betweenEach page is empty, no words can be seen,
For I am a writer, I hold the pen
That'll fill these pages to be read by men.
Just what kind of book will my book be,
My life written there for others to see,
Each day a page written, one by oneWill it be worthwhile when finished and done?
Lord, help me keep these pages clean and fair
By living the life I'd have written there.
--Gertrude Laura Gast
I attribute my success to this: I never gave or took any excuse.--Florence Nightingale
You can do little about the length of your life, but you can do much about its width and
depth.--H.L. Mencken
You are your own scriptwriter and the play is never finished, no matter what your age or
position in life.--Denis Waitley
Life is like playing a violin solo in public and learning the instrument as one goes on.--Samuel Butler
Life is the art of drawing without an eraser.--John W. Gardner
When I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope that I would not have a single
bit of talent left, and could say, 'I used everything you gave me.'--Erma Bombeck
Everybody, soon or late, sits down to a banquet of consequences.--Robert Louis Stevenson
It's like, at the end, there's this surprise quiz: Am I proud of me? I gave my life to become
the person I am right now. Was it worth what I paid?--Richard Bach
In life, unlike chess, the game continues after checkmate.--Isaac Asimov
He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep, to gain what he cannot lose.--Jim Elliot
You can use most any measure when you're speaking of success. You can measure it in a
fancy home, expensive car or dress. But the measure of your real success is one you
cannot spend--it's the way your child describes you when talking to a friend.--Martin
Baxbaum
What you possess in the world will be found at the day of your death to belong to someone
else. But what you are will be yours forever.--Henry Van Dyke, 1852-1933, American
Protestant Clergyman and Writer
The future belongs to those who are willing to make short-term sacrifices for long-term
gains.--Fred A. Manske, Sr.
The highest reward for a person's toil is not what they get for it, but what they become by it.-John Ruskin, 1819-1900, British Critic, Social Theorist
Ordinary riches can be stolen, real riches cannot. In your soul are infinitely precious things
that cannot be taken from you.--Oscar Wilde, 1854-1900, Irish Dramatist/Novelist/Poet
The Bible shows that all of us have a choice. It isn't just a choice between God and the
Devil or Heaven and Hell. No, this choice is much more subtle. Each day you and I must
choose the kind of treasure to which we will devote our lives. Either we will spend our lives
filling our attic and garage with a lifetime of collectibles or we will spend our lives laying up
treasures in Heaven. (Luke 12:33-34)--Mark Tabb, Living with Less
It is easy to dodge our responsibilities, but we cannot dodge the consequences of dodging
our responsibilities.--Josiah Stamp (1880-1941), Economist and financier
Don't judge a man by his opinions, but what his opinions have made of him.--Georg
Christoph Lichtenberg
I will waste not even a precious second today in anger or hate or jealousy or selfishness. I
know that the seeds I sow I will harvest, because every action, good or bad, is always
followed by an equal reaction. I will plant only good seeds this day.--Og Mandino
Happiness and love are just a choice away.--Leo Buscaglia
You may not have saved a lot of money in your life, but if you have saved a lot of
heartaches for other folks, you are a pretty rich man.--Seth Parker
The real measure of our wealth is how much we'd be worth if we lost all our money.-Benjamin Jowett (--Bernard Meltzer)
The greatest use of life is to spend it for something that will outlast it.--William James
Today is yesterday's pupil.--Thomas Fuller
No one ever said on their deathbed, 'Gee, I wish I had spent more time alone with my
computer.'--Danielle Berry
Live as you will wish to have lived when you are dying.--Christian Gellert, (1715-1769)
German poet
I hated every minute of training, but I said, Don't quit. Suffer now and live the rest of your
life as a champion.--Muhammad Ali, American Boxer
**************************
commitment
You must get involved to have an impact. No one is impressed with the won-lost record of
the referee.--John Holcomb
Find something you're passionate about and keep tremendously interested in it.--Julia Child
Most people who fail in their dreams fail not from lack of ability but from lack of commitment.
--Zig Ziglar
Don't be afraid to take a big step if one is indicated; you can't cross a chasm in two small
jumps.--David Lloyd George, 1863-1945, British Statesman, Prime Minister
Where the willingness is great, the difficulties cannot be great.--Niccolo Machiavelli (14691527), Politician and philosopher.
A decision is made with the brain. A commitment is made with the heart. Therefore, a
commitment is much deeper and more binding than a decision.--Nido Qubein
Ultimately the people who win, who achieve victory in Life are the people who are
committed to it. They outlast everybody else. Because quite frankly all success in business,
all success in relationships, all success in life comes at the end of the road of commitment!-Chris Widener (excerpted from Secrets of Influence)
The most radical, powerful act undertaken by any human being remains the act of
committing oneself, beyond reservation, to a worthy personal mission.--Christopher Childs,
activist
Commitment doesn't guarantee success, but lack of commitment guarantees you'll fall far
short of your potential.--Denis Waitley
What you commit yourself to determines what you are, more than anything that ever
happened to you yesterday, or the day before.--Dr. Anthony Campolo
Commitment is what transforms a promise into reality.--Abraham Lincoln
Wanting something is not enough. You must hunger for it. Your motivation must be
absolutely compelling in order to overcome the obstacles that will invariably come your
way.--Les Brown, motivational speaker.
The longer I live, the more I am certain that the great difference between the feeble and the
powerful, between the great and the insignificant is energy--invincible determination--a
purpose once fixed, and then death or victory. This quality will do anything that can be done
in this world.--Sir Thomas Buxton
How am I going to live today in order to create the tomorrow I'm committed to?--Tony
Robbins
Desire is the key to motivation, but it's determination and commitment to an unrelenting
pursuit of your goal--a commitment to excellence--that will enable you to attain the success
you seek.--Mario Andretti
**************************
communication
Eloquence is the power to translate a truth into language perfectly intelligible to the person
to whom you speak.--Ralph Waldo Emerson
When a man says he approves of something in principle, it means he hasn't the slightest
intention of carrying it out in practice.--Otto von Bismarck
Words are things; and a small drop of ink / Falling like dew upon a thought, produces / That
which makes thousands, perhaps millions, think.--Lord Byron, poet (1788-1824)
HOW TO GIVE A SPEECH by FRANKLIN DELANO ROOSEVELT: Be sincere. Be brief. Be
seated.
Trouble is part of your life, and if you don't share it, you don't give the person who loves you
a chance to love you enough.--Dinah Shore, singer and talk-show host
The most important thing in communication is to hear what isn't being said.--Peter F.
Drucker
I know that you believe that you understood what you think I said, but I am not sure you
realize that what you heard is not what I meant.--Robert McCloskey, State Department
spokesman (attributed)
Say what you mean, mean what you say, and do not be mean when you say it.--Meryl
Runion, Communications expert
The most valuable of all talents is that of never using two words when one will do.--Thomas
Jefferson, U.S. president
Honest disagreement is often a good sign of progress.--Gandhi
Don't assume you're always going to be understood. I wrote in a column that one should put
a cup of liquid in the cavity of a turkey when roasting it. Someone wrote me that the turkey
tasted great, but the plastic cup melted.--Heloise (1919-1977) American author and
household help guru
Never close your lips to those to whom you have opened your heart.--Charles Dickens
(1812-1870) Writer
The goal of effective communication should be for listeners to say, 'Me, too!' versus 'So
what?'--Jim Rohn
Even truth needs to be clad in new garments if it is to appeal to a new age.--Georg
Christoph Lichtenberg (1742-1799), physicist and philosopher
How well we communicate is determined not by how well we say things, but how well we
are understood.--Andrew Grove
It seems rather incongruous that in a society of super sophisticated communication, we
often suffer from a shortage of listeners.--Erma Bombeck
The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place.--George
Bernard Shaw
We should quietly hear both sides.--Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
**************************
correction and lack of
Gentlemen, when the enemy is committed to a mistake we must not interrupt him too soon.-Horatio Nelson, British naval officer
I think making mistakes and discovering them for yourself is of great value, but to have
someone else to point out your mistakes is a shortcut of the process.--Shelby Foote,
American historian and novelist
Don't look where you fell but where you slipped.--Liberian proverb
A coach is someone who tells you what you don't want to hear, who has you see what you
don't want to see, so you can be who you have always known you could be.--Tom Landry
People think a soul mate is your perfect fit, and that's what everyone wants. But a true soul
mate is a mirror, the person who shows you everything that is holding you back, the person
who brings you to your own attention so you can change your life.--Elizabeth Gilbert
**************************
counsel
We simply assume that the way we see things is the way they really are or the way they
should be. And our attitudes and behaviors grow out of these assumptions.--Stephen
Covey
He who asks is a fool for five minutes, but he who does not ask remains a fool forever.--Old
Chinese Proverb
You are never strong enough that you don't need help.--Cesar Chavez
All travelers, somewhere along the way, find it necessary to check their course, to see how
they are doing. We wait until we are sick, or shocked into stillness, before we do the
commonplace thing of getting our bearings. And yet, we wonder why we are depressed,
why we are unhappy, why we lose our friends, why we are ill-tempered. This condition we
pass on to our children, our husbands, our wives, our associates, our friends. Cultivate
[checking in]. Linger. ... Who knows? God may whisper to you in the quietness what He has
been trying to say to you, oh, for so long a time.--Howard Thurman
**************************
courage, fear
You are surrounded by hundreds of people more timid than you are.--Fred Barton
Sure, you can choose the safety and predictability of the cage, forfeiting the adventure God
has destined for you. But you won't be the only one missing out or losing out. When you
lack the courage to chase the Wild Goose, the opportunity costs are staggering. Who might
not hear about the love of God if you don't seize the opportunity to tell them? Who might be
stuck in poverty, stuck in ignorance, stuck in pain if you're not there to help free them?
Where might the advance of God's kingdom in the world stall out because you weren't there
on the front lines?--Mark Batterson
Is he alone who has courage on his right hand and faith on his left hand?--Charles
Lindbergh
Fear defeats more people than any other one thing in the world.--Ralph Waldo Emerson
Courage is grace under pressure.--Ernest Hemingway
If there is one thing upon this earth that mankind love and admire better than another, it is a
brave man,--it is the man who dares to look the devil in the face and tell him he is a devil.-James A. Garfield, 1831-1881, Twentieth President of the USA
Do the thing you fear to do and keep on doing it... that is the quickest and surest way ever
yet discovered to conquer fear.--Dale Carnegie, 1888-1955, American Author, Trainer
If you can't sleep, then get up and do something instead of lying there worrying. It's the
worry that gets you, not the lack of sleep.--Dale Carnegie
Never forget that life can only be nobly inspired and rightly lived if you take it bravely and
gallantly, as a splendid adventure in which you are setting out into an unknown country, to
face many a danger, to meet many a joy, to find many a comrade, to win and lose many a
battle.--Annie Besant, English Peace and Social Justice Advocate
Security isn't anything more than superstition. Life is either a daring adventure or nothing at
all.--Helen Keller
All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them.--Walt Disney
If Columbus had turned back, no one would have blamed him. Of course, no one would
have remembered him either.--Source Unknown
Courage and perseverance have a magical talisman, before which difficulties disappear
and obstacles vanish into air.--John Quincy Adams (1767-1848), 6th U.S. President.
Everyday courage has few witnesses. But yours is no less noble because no drum beats
before you and no crowds shout your name.--Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894), Writer
The difference between a hero and a coward is one step sideways.--Gene Hackman
Failure seldom stops you; what stops you is the fear of failure.--Jack Lemmon (1925-2001)
Actor
It is curious that physical courage should be so common in the world and moral courage so
rare.--Mark Twain
I have often been afraid, but I would not give in to it. I made myself act as though I was not
afraid and gradually my fear disappeared.--Theodore Roosevelt, 1858-1919, Twenty-sixth
President of the USA
Courage is the mastery of fear, not the absence of fear.--Mark Twain, 1835-1910, American
Humorist, Writer
The greatest mistake you can make in life is to be continually fearing you will make one.-Elbert Hubbard
One man with courage makes a majority.--Andrew Jackson, 1767-1845, 7th President of
the United States
The way you overcome shyness is to become so wrapped up in something that you forget
to be afraid.--Lady Bird Johnson, Former First Lady of the United States
You can conquer almost any fear if you will only make up your mind to do so. For
remember, fear doesn't exist anywhere except in the mind.--Dale Carnegie
If the Lord be with us, we have no cause of fear. His eye is upon us, his arm over us, his
ear open to our prayer--his grace sufficient, his promises unchangeable.--Attributed to John
Newton (1725-1807)
Bravery is the capacity to perform properly even when scared half to death.--Omar N.
Bradley, 1893-1981, American Army Field Commander during World War II
Have courage for the great sorrows of life and patience for the small ones; and when you
have laboriously accomplished your daily task, go to sleep in peace. God is awake.--Victor
Hugo
Courage doesn't always roar. Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day
saying, I'll try again tomorrow.--Maryanne Radmacher, writer and artist
I have accepted fear as part of life--specifically the fear of change. I have gone ahead
despite the pounding in the heart that says turn back.--Erica Jong
Never take counsel of your fears.--Andrew Jackson (1767-1854), U.S. President
Courage is being scared to death--but saddling up anyway.--John Wayne
The only thing we have to fear is fear itself--nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which
paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance.--Martin Luther
Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm.--Winston Churchill
The fact is that to do anything in the world worth doing, we must not stand back shivering
and thinking of the cold and danger, but jump in and scramble through as well as we can.-Richard Cushing
In order to succeed, your desire for success should be greater than your fear of failure.--Bill
Cosby
Whatever you do, you need courage. Whatever course you decide upon, there is always
someone to tell you that you are wrong. There are always difficulties arising that tempt you
to believe your critics are right. To map out a course of action and follow it to an end
requires some of the same courage that a soldier needs. Peace has its victories, but it
takes brave men and women to win them.--Ralph Waldo Emerson
Many of our fears are tissue-paper thin, and a single courageous step would carry us clear
through them.--Brendan Francis
My deepest belief is that living as if you are dying sets us free.--Anne Lamott
The fishermen know that the sea is dangerous and the storm terrible, but they have never
found these dangers sufficient reasons for remaining ashore.--Vincent Van Gogh
Anxiety is nothing but repeatedly re-experiencing failure in advance. What a waste.--Seth
Godin
Courage is fear holding on a minute longer.--George S. Patton
To be mature means to face, and not evade, every fresh crisis that comes.--Fritz Kukel,
1889-1956
It is not work that kills men; it is worry. Work is healthy; you can hardly put more upon a
man than he can bear. Worry is rust upon the blade. It is not the revolution that destroys the
machinery, but the friction. Fear secretes acids; but love and trust are sweet juices.--Henry
Ward Beecher
Worry a little bit every day and in a lifetime you will lose a couple of years. If something is
wrong, fix it if you can. But train yourself not to worry. Worry never fixes anything.--Mary
Hemingway
Against criticism a man can neither protest nor defend himself; he must act in spite of it,
and then it will gradually yield to him.--Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Courage is not the towering oak that sees storms come and go; it is the fragile blossom that
opens in the snow.--Alice M. Swaim
Better to face danger once than to be always in fear.--Zig Ziglar
Christ wants not nibblers of the possible, but grabbers of the impossible, by faith in the
omnipotence, fidelity, and wisdom of the Almighty Savior who gave the command. Is there
a wall in our path? By our God we will leap over it! Are there lions and scorpions in our
way? We will trample them under our feet! Does a mountain bar our progress? Saying, Be
thou cast into the sea, we will march on. Soldiers of Jesus! Never surrender!--C. T. Studd
Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak, it's also what it takes to sit down and
listen.--Winston Churchill
We gain strength, and courage, and confidence by each experience in which we really stop
to look fear in the face ... we must do that which we think we cannot.--Eleanor Roosevelt
You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you stop to look
fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, 'I lived through this horror. I can take the
next thing that comes along.' The danger lies in refusing to face the fear, in not daring to
come to grips with it.--Eleanor Roosevelt
A man of courage flees forward in the midst of new things.--Jacques Maritain
Worry does not empty tomorrow of its sorrow; it empties today of its strength.--Corrie ten
Boom
Fear is the worst kind of grave, because it buries one alive.--Beth Fantaskey
Inaction breeds doubt and fear. Action breeds confidence and courage. If you want to
conquer fear, do not sit home and think about it. Go out and get busy.--Dale Carnegie
Real courage is when you know you're licked before you begin, but you begin anyway.-Harper Lee
Whatever course you decide upon, there is always someone to tell you that you are wrong.
There are always difficulties arising which tempt you to believe that your critics are right. To
map out a course of action and follow it to an end requires ... courage.--Ralph Waldo
Emerson
We can easily manage if we will only take, each day, the burden appointed to it. But the
load will be too heavy for us if we carry yesterday's burden over again today, and then add
the burden of the morrow before we are required to bear it.--John Newton
We were not created to be eaten by anxiety, but to walk erect, free, unafraid in a world
where there is work to do, truth to seek, love to give and win.--Joseph Ford Newton
Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help
me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything--all external expectations, all
pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure--these things just fall away in the face of death,
leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I
know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked.
There is no reason not to follow your heart.--Steve Jobs, Stanford commencement speech
2005
Let us not look back in anger, nor forward in fear, but around in awareness.--James
Thurber
Fear not for the future, weep not for the past.--Percy Bysshe Shelley
Wisdom is learning to let go when you want to hang on. Courage is learning to hang on
when you want to let go.--Mark Amend
**************************
destiny and potential
The only person you are destined to become is the person you decide to be.--Ralph Waldo
Emerson
Rough diamonds may sometimes be mistaken for worthless pebbles.--Thomas Browne
I have noticed even people who claim everything is predestined, and that we can do
nothing to change it, look before they cross the road.--Steven Hawking
A person often meets his destiny on the road he took to avoid it.--Jean de la Fontaine
To dream anything that you want to dream, that is the beauty of the human mind. To do
anything that you want to do, that is the strength of the human will. To trust yourself, to test
your limits, that is the courage to succeed.--Bernard Edmonds, American Writer
We know what we are, but know not what we may be.--William Shakespeare
Deep within man dwell those slumbering powers; powers that would astonish him, that he
never dreamed of possessing; forces that would revolutionize his life if aroused and put into
action.--Orison Swett Marden
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I-I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
--Robert Frost, American poet (1874-1963)
Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.-Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)
If man can take moldy bread and make penicillin out of it, just think what an awesome God
can make out of you. --Zig Ziglar
You were designed for accomplishment, engineered for success, and endowed with the
seeds of greatness. --Zig Ziglar
Often people attempt to live their lives backwards; they try to have more things, or more
money, in order to do more of what they want, so they will be happier. The way it actually
works is the reverse. You must first be who you really are, then do what you need to do, in
order to have what you want.--Margaret Young
Nothing is really lost. It's just where it doesn't belong.--Suzanne Mueller.
Choices are the hinges of destiny.--Edwin Markham
Somewhere out there is a unique place for you to help others--a unique life role for you to
fill that only you can fill.--Thomas Kinkade, artist
To every person there comes a time when he is tapped on the shoulder to do a very special
thing unique to him. What a tragedy if that moment finds him unprepared for the work that
would be his finest hour.--Winston Churchill
To every man there comes in his lifetime that special moment when he is figuratively
tapped on the shoulder and offered the chance to do a very special thing, unique to him and
fitted to his talents. What a tragedy if that moment finds him unprepared or unqualified for
the work which could be his finest hour.--Sir Winston Churchill
Destiny is not a matter of chance; it is a matter of choice. It is not a thing to be waited for; it
is a thing to be achieved.--Jeremy Kitson (--William Jennings Bryan)
A difficult time can be more readily endured if we retain the conviction that our existence
holds a purpose--a cause to pursue, a person to love, a goal to achieve.--John Maxwell
If we find ourselves with a desire that nothing in this world can satisfy, the most probable
explanation is that we were made for another world.--C.S. Lewis
The birth of that marvelous wish in your soul--the dawning of that secret dream--was the
Voice of God himself telling you to arise and come up higher because He had need of you.-Emmet Fox
Look closely at the present you are constructing: it should look like the future you are
dreaming.--Alice Walker
Keep in mind always the present you are constructing. It should be the future you want.-Alice Walker
Everything will be okay in the end, and if it's not okay, it's not the end yet.--Author unknown
A happy ending depends on where you stop your story.--Orson Welles
There comes a special moment in everyone's life, a moment for which that person was
born. That special opportunity, when he seizes it, will fulfill his mission--a mission for which
he is uniquely qualified. In that moment he finds greatness. It is his finest hour.--Winston
Churchill
What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within
us.--Ralph Waldo Emerson
We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous? Actually, who
are you not to be? You are a child of God.--Marianne Williamson
I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to
be.--Douglas Adams
There are things that only you can do, and you are alive to do them. In the great orchestra
we call life, you have an instrument and a song, and you owe it to God to play them both
sublimely.--Max Lucado
We must be willing to relinquish the life we've planned, so as to have the life that is waiting
for us.--Joseph Campbell
Your profession is not what brings home your paycheck. Your profession is what you were
put on earth to do with such passion and such intensity that it becomes spiritual in calling.-Vincent Van Gogh, 1853-1890, Dutch Painter
Your integrity will affect your destiny; don't leave home without it.--Clarence E. Hodge
Who you are, what your values are, what you stand for ... they are your anchor, your north
star. You won't find them in a book. You'll find them in your soul.--Anne M. Mulcahy
**************************
diligence and lack of
The one thing all famous authors, world-class athletes, business tycoons, singers, actors,
and celebrated achievers in any field have in common is that they all began their journeys
when they were none of these things.--Mike Dooley
The measure of who we are is what we do with what we have.--Vince Lombardi
Success is the good fortune that comes from aspiration, desperation, perspiration and
inspiration.--Evan Esar
It does not do well to dwell on dreams and forget to live, remember that.--J.K. Rowling
If you can't do great things, Mother Teresa used to say, do little things with great love. If you
can't do them with great love, do them with a little love. If you can't do them with a little love,
do them anyway.--John Ortberg
Discipline is just choosing between what you want now and what you want most.--Unknown
Beware of the man who won't be bothered with details.--William Feather
Your assumptions are your windows on the world. Scrub them off every once in a while, or
the light won't come in.--Isaac Asimov
I think the one lesson I have learned is that there is no substitute for paying attention -Diane Sawyer
Only put off until tomorrow what you are willing to die having left undone.--Pablo Picasso
American Red Cross founder Clara Barton said, The surest test of discipline is its absence.
No horse gets anywhere until he is harnessed. No stream or gas drives anything until it is
confined. No Niagara is ever turned into light and power until it is tunneled. No life ever
grows great until it is focused, dedicated, disciplined.--Harry Emerson Fosdick
The devil tempts all other men, but idle men tempt the devil.--Turkish Proverb
The hardest work is to go idle.--Yiddish Proverb
Rust wastes more than use.--French Proverb
To be prepared is half the victory.--Miguel de Cervantes
Satisfaction lies in the effort, not the attainment. Full effort is full victory.--Mahatma Gandhi,
1869-1948, Indian Political, Spiritual Leader
What you do off the job determines how far you go on the job. --Zig Ziglar
When you discipline yourself to do the things you need to do when you need to do them,
the day will come when you can do the things you want to do when you want to do them. -Zig Ziglar
When you do more than you are paid to do, the day will come when you will be paid more
for what you do. --Zig Ziglar
The world is filled with willing people; some willing to work, the rest willing to let them.-Robert Frost, 1875-1963, American Poet
A pint of sweat, saves a gallon of blood.--Gen George S. Patton
Determine never to be idle. No person will have occasion to complain of the want of time
who never loses any. It is wonderful how much can be done if we are always doing.-Thomas Jefferson
Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration.--Thomas Edison
A buried talent is never a buried treasure. Talents become treasures only through use.--H.
RUPERT
What one has to do usually can be done.--Eleanor Roosevelt, First Lady
There is no fatigue so wearisome as that which comes from lack of work.--Charles Haddon
Spurgeon
Success usually comes to those who are too busy to be looking for it.--Henry David
Thoreau
Will is stronger than fact: it can mold and overcome fact.--H.G. Wells
If there is no wind, row.--Latin proverb
The great high-road of human welfare lies along the old highway of steadfast well-doing;
and they who are the most persistent, and work in the true spirit, will invariably be the most
successful. Success treads on the heels of every right effort.--Samuel Smiles
Do your work with your whole heart, and you will succeed because there is so little
competition.--Elbert Hubbard, 1859-1915, American Author, Publisher
The door to opportunity is marked 'push.'
The heights by great men reached and kept were not obtained by sudden flight, but they,
while their companions slept, were toiling upward in the night.--Henry Wadsworth
Longfellow
The greatest things ever done on earth have been done little by little.--Thomas Guthrie.
You may have the loftiest goals, the highest ideals, the noblest dreams, but remember this,
nothing works unless you do.--Nido Qubein, Business consultant and author
Success is the child of drudgery and perseverance. It cannot be coaxed or bribed; pay the
price and it is yours.--Orison Swett Marden, 1850-1924, American Author, Founder of
Success Magazine
Experience shows that success is due less to ability than to zeal. The winner is he who
gives himself to his work, body and soul.--Charles Buxton, 1823-1871, British brewer,
philanthropist, writer and politician
How can I trust a man to command others who cannot command himself?--ROBERT E.
LEE (1807-1870) General, U.S. Confederate Army
Discipline is the bridge between goals and accomplishment.--Jim Rohn, American
Businessman, Author, Speaker, Philosopher
God gives the nuts, but he does not crack them.--German proverb
Better three hours too soon than a minute too late.--William Shakespeare, 1564-1616,
English Poet/Dramatist/Playwright
A great man leaves clean work behind him, and requires no sweeper up of the chips.-Elizabeth Barrett Browning
It is not how many years we live, but what we do with them. It is not what we receive, but
what we give to others.--Evangeline Booth, (1865-1950) Social reformer
You've got to get up every morning with determination if you're going to go to bed with
satisfaction.--George Horace Lorimer, 1867-1937, American Editor and Writer
Some people regard discipline as a chore. For me, it is a kind of order that sets me free to
fly.--Julie Andrews, British Actress and Singer
There is nothing so fatal to character as half finished tasks.--David Lloyd George, 18631945, British Statesman and Former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
What we hope ever to do with ease, we must learn first to do with diligence.--Samuel
Johnson, 1709-1784, English Author and Critic
God gives every bird his worm, but He does not throw it into the nest.--P. D. James
Make it a point to do something every day that you don't want to do. This is the golden rule
for acquiring the habit of doing your duty without pain.--Mark Twain, 1835-1910, American
Writer and Humorist
There has never yet been a man in our history who led a life of ease whose name is worth
remembering.--Theodore Roosevelt, 1858-1919, 26th President of the United States
If you want to sail your ship in a different direction, you must turn one degree at a time.-Brian Tracy
...much of this book is about creating a culture of discipline. It all starts with disciplined
people... do you have a 'to do' list? Do you also have a 'stop doing' list? Most of us lead
busy but undisciplined lives. We have ever-expanding 'to do' lists, trying to build momentum
by doing, doing, doing-and doing more. And it rarely works. Those who built the good-togreat companies, however, made as much use of 'stop doing' lists as 'to do' lists. They
displayed a remarkable discipline to unplug all sorts of extraneous junk.--Jim Collins, Good
to Great
I never could have done what I have done without the habits of punctuality, order, and
diligence, without the determination to concentrate myself on one subject at a time...-Charles Dickens (1812-70), English novelist
The surest test of discipline is its absence.--Clara Barton, 1821-1912, American
Teacher/Nurse/Humanitarian
Success is dependent upon the glands--sweat glands.--Zig Ziglar
Show me a man who cannot bother to do little things and I'll show you a man who cannot
be trusted to do big things.--Lawrence Bell
It's the little things you do day in and day out that count. That's the way you teach your
children.--Amanda Pays, Actor
The best advice I ever came across on the subject of concentration is: Wherever you are,
be there. When you work, work. When you play, play. Don't mix the two.--Jim Rohn
I owe all my success in life to having been always a quarter of an hour beforehand.--Horatio
Nelson (1758-1805) Vice Admiral of the Royal Navy
Discipline is not a nasty word.--Pat Riley, American Basketball Coach
The only place where success comes before work is in the dictionary.--Donald Kendall
If I work on a certain move constantly, then finally, it doesn't seem risky to me. The idea is
that the move stays dangerous and it looks dangerous to my foes, but it is not to me. Hard
work has made it easy.--Nadia Comaneci
Presence is more than just being there.--Malcolm S. Forbes, 1917-1990, American
Publisher
When we accept tough jobs as a challenge to our ability and wade into them with joy and
enthusiasm, miracles can happen.--Arland Gilbert
Nothing of worth or weight can be achieved with half a mind, with a faint heart, with a lame
endeavor....--Isaac Barrow (1630-1677), Mathematician and theologian
Without discipline, there is no life at all.--Katharine Hepburn
People who are unable to motivate themselves must be content with mediocrity, no matter
how impressive their other talents.--Andrew Carnegie, 1835-1919, Scottish-American
Industrialist and Philanthropist
I have studied the enemy all my life ... I have studied in detail the account of every one of
his battles. I know exactly how he will react under any given set of circumstances. And he
hasn't the slightest idea of what I'm going to do. So when the time comes, I am going to
whip him.--George S. Patton
Begin to be now what you will be hereafter.--Saint Jerome
Most people spend their entire lives on a fantasy island called 'Someday I'll.'--Denis Waitley
I don't wait for moods. You accomplish nothing if you do that. Your mind must know it has
got to get down to work.--Pearl S. Buck, 1892-1973, American Novelist and Pulitzer Prize
Winner
I know quite certainly that I myself have no special talent; curiosity, obsession and dogged
endurance, combined with self-criticism, have brought me to my ideas.--Albert Einstein
Perhaps the most valuable result of all education is the ability to make yourself do the thing
you have to do, when it ought to be done, whether you like it or not; it is the first lesson that
ought to be learned; and however early a man's training begins, it is probably the last
lesson that he learns thoroughly.--Thomas H. Huxley
The greatest composer does not sit down to work because he is inspired, but becomes
inspired because he is working.--Ernest Newman
The most practical, beautiful, workable philosophy won't work if you won't.--Zig Ziglar
Ability is important in our quest for success, but dependability is critical.--Zig Ziglar
Forever is composed of nows.--Emily Dickinson
Let us do our duty in our shop or in our kitchen, in the market, the street, the office, the
school, the home, just as faithfully as if we stood in the front rank of some great battle, and
knew that victory for mankind depends on our bravery, strength, and skill.--Theodore Parker
The secret of success is constancy of purpose.--Benjamin Disraeli
Inspiration comes of working every day.--Charles Baudelaire
I learned that the only way you are going to get anywhere in life is to work hard at it.
Whether you're a musician, a writer, an athlete or a businessman, there is no getting
around it. If you do, you'll win. If you don't you won't.--Bruce Jenner
Don't be disquieted in time of adversity. Be firm with dignity and self-reliant with vigor.-Chiang Kai-Shek
There is a man in the world who never gets turned down,
wherever he chances to stray;
He gets the glad hand in the populous town,
or out where the farmers make hay;
He is greeted with pleasure on deserts of sand,
and deep in the aisles of the woods;
Wherever he goes there is a welcoming hand-he's the man who delivers the goods.
--Walt Whitman
Good thoughts are no better than good dreams, unless they be executed.--Ralph Waldo
Emerson
There is no such thing in anyone's life as an unimportant day.--Alexander Woollcott
When you get right down to the root of the meaning of the word succeed, you find that it
simply means to follow through.--F. W. Nichol
Have the dogged determination to follow through to achieve your goal; regardless of
circumstances or whatever other people say, think or do.--Paul Meyer
It is better to be faithful than famous.--Teddy Roosevelt
It's not what you do once in a while; it's what you do day in and day out that makes the
difference.--Jenny Craig
Nature gave us two ends: one to sit on and one to think with. Ever since then, man's
success or failure has been dependent on the one he used most.--Robert Albert Bloch
Many people have the ambition to succeed; they may even have special aptitude for their
job. And yet they do not move ahead. Why? Perhaps they think that since they can master
the job, there is no need to master themselves.--John Stevenson
Hard work has made it easy. That is my secret. That is why I win.--Nadia Comaneci
Things may come to those who wait, but only the things left by those who hustle.--Abraham
Lincoln
Procrastination is like a credit card: it's a lot of fun until you get the bill.--Christopher Parker
Real success comes in small portions day by day.--Denis Waitley
Talent without discipline is like an octopus on roller skates. There's plenty of movement, but
you never know if it's going to be forward, backwards, or sideways.--H. Jackson Brown, Jr.
The most important thing in life is to stop saying I wish and start saying I will. Consider
nothing impossible, then treat possibilities as probabilities.--David Copperfield
Setting a goal is not the main thing. It is deciding how you will go about achieving it and
staying with that plan.--Tom Landry
Do not ask the Lord to guide your footsteps, if you are not willing to move your feet.--Author
Unknown
Today is the first day of your life because it has never been before, and today is the last day
of your life because it will never be again.--Frederick Buechner
No one has ever drowned in his own sweat.--D.H Thomas
No one ever drowned in sweat.--Author Unknown
Luck is a dividend of sweat. The more you sweat, the luckier you get.--Ray Kroc
Remember that the faith to move mountains always carries a pick.--Author unknown
I believe that good things come to those who work.--Wilt Chamberlain
The elevator to success is out of order. You'll have to use the stairs ... one step at a time.-Joe Girard
Shoulda, coulda, and woulda won't get it done.--Pat Riley
For the resolute and determined there is time and opportunity.--Ralph Waldo Emerson
Don't take the casual approach to life. Casualness leads to casualties.--Jim Rohn
Discipline is doing within, while you do without.--Denis Waitley
The great majority of men are bundles of beginnings.--Ralph Waldo Emerson
Two things rob people of their peace of mind: work unfinished and work not yet begun.-Author unknown
There is no such thing as can't, only won't. If you're qualified, all it takes is a burning desire
to accomplish, to make a change. Go forward, go backward. Whatever it takes! But you
can't blame other people or society in general.--Jan Ashford
There are two pains in life. There is the pain of discipline and the pain of disappointment. If
you can handle the pain of discipline, then you'll never have to deal with the pain of
disappointment.--American college football coach Nick Saban
Treasure each other in the recognition that we do not know how long we shall have each
other.--Joshua Loth Liebman
Today is only one day in all the days that will ever be. But what will happen in all the other
days that ever come can depend on what you do today.--Ernest Hemingway
There is no chance, no destiny, no fate that can circumvent or hinder or control the firm
resolve of a determined soul.--Ella Wheeler Wilcox
There will never be a day when we won't need dedication, discipline, energy, and the
feeling that we can change things for the better.--George Sheehan
Success is nothing more than a few simple disciplines, practiced every day; while failure is
simply a few errors in judgment, repeated every day. It is the cumulative weight of our
disciplines and our judgments that leads us to either fortune or failure.--Jim Rohn
Failure is not a single, cataclysmic event. You don't fail overnight. Instead, failure is a few
errors in judgment, repeated every day.--Jim Rohn
Failure: A few errors in judgment repeated every day.
Success: A few simple disciplines practiced every day.--James Rohn
Let me remind you that every day, today and every tomorrow, is an end in itself. We get so
preoccupied with progress and responsibility, with getting somewhere and doing something;
it can be another self-defeating form of self-preoccupation, and we never somehow do
catch up with the fact that we are here. And sometimes the trick of getting to a cherished
goal on some final day . . . is to live fully each day to the full as an end in itself.--Robert
Thurman
The question for each man is not what he would do if he had the means, time, influence
and educational advantages, but what he will do with the things he has.--Frank Hamilton
I run on the road long before I dance under the lights.--Muhammad Ali
Talent is cheaper than table salt. What separates the talented individual from the successful
one is a lot of hard work.--Stephen King
The wishbone will never replace the backbone.--Will Henry
Discipline is the refining fire by which talent becomes ability.--Roy L. Smith
You can't have the fruits without the roots. It's the principle of sequencing: Private Victories
precede Public Victories. Self-mastery and self-discipline are the foundation of good
relationships with others.--Stephen Covey
No steam or gas ever drives anything until it is confined.
No Niagara is ever turned into light and power until it is tunneled.
No life ever grows until it is focused, dedicated and disciplined.
--Harry Emerson Fosdick
To get something new done you have to be stubborn and focused, to the point that others
might find unreasonable.--Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon.com
While it is true that without a vision the people perish, it is doubly true that without action the
people and their vision perish as well.--Johnetta B. Cole
There is no moment like the present. The man who will not execute his resolutions when
they are fresh upon him can have no hope from them afterwards.--Marie Edgeworth
I was taught that the way of progress was neither swift nor easy.--Madame Marie Curie
You'll never plow a field by turning it over in your mind.--Irish proverb
No man, who continues to add something to the material, intellectual and moral well-being
of the place in which he lives, is left long without proper reward.--Booker T. Washington
No one can arrive from being talented alone. God gives talent; work transforms talent into
genius.--Anna Pavlova, Russian ballet dancer
The greatest thing is to be found at one's post as a child of God, living each day as though
it were our last, but planning as though our world might last a hundred years.--C. S. Lewis
The path to success is to take massive, determined action.--Anthony Robbins
Nothing will work unless you do.--John Wooden
When I was young I observed that nine out of ten things I did were failures, so I did ten
times more work.--George Bernard Shaw
Life is no brief candle to me. It is a sort of splendid torch which I have got a hold of for the
moment, and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to future
generations.--George Bernard Shaw
Another fresh new year is here . . .
Another year to live!
To banish worry, doubt, and fear,
To love and laugh and give!
This bright new year is given me
To live each day with zest . . .
To daily grow and try to be
My highest and my best!
I have the opportunity
Once more to right some wrongs,
To pray for peace, to plant a tree,
And sing more joyful songs!
--William Arthur Ward
Today I shall behave, as if this is the day I will be remembered.--Dr. Seuss
When I was a young man, I observed that nine out of 10 things I did were failures. I didn't
want to be a failure, so I did 10 times more work.--George Bernard Shaw
There are no shortcuts to any place worth going.--Beverly Sills
What you do today can change the course of your life far into the future. Today is critical.
Today really counts.--Ralph S. Marston, Jr.
Consider the postage stamp: its usefulness consists in the ability to stick to one thing till it
gets there.--Josh Billings, 1815-1885, American Humorist, Lecturer
Be like a postage stamp. Stick to one thing until you get there.--Josh Billings (--Bob Proctor)
Self-discipline is when your conscience tells you to do something and you don't talk back.-W. K. Hope
While I think quantum leaps are possible, real success--sustainable success--happens
based on day-to-day, simple behaviors and habits.--Jack Canfield, author of Chicken Soup
for the Soul
I'm a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work, the more I have of it.--Thomas
Jefferson, 1743-1826, Third President of the USA
It takes less time to do a thing right than to explain why you did it wrong.--Henry Wadsworth
Longfellow, 1819-1892, American Poet
It is easier to do a job right than to explain why you didn't.--Martin Van Buren
Hard work spotlights the character of people: some turn up their sleeves, some turn up their
noses, and some don't turn up at all.--Sam Ewing
Success is the sum of small efforts repeated day in and day out.--Robert Collier
The key to success is holding in your conscious mind what you want to achieve and then
striving in everything you do to make the image reality.--Dr. Norman Vincent Peale
I can give you a six-word formula for success: Think things through--then follow through.-Captain Edward V. Rickenbacker (1890-1973) Aviator
If you doubt you can accomplish something; then you can't accomplish it. You have to have
confidence in your ability, and then be tough enough to follow through.--Rosalynn Carter
Spectacular achievement is always preceded by unspectacular preparation.--Robert H.
Schuller, American Televangelist and Pastor
Vision without action is merely a dream. Action without vision just passes the time. Vision
with action can change the world.--Joel A. Barker
Clear your mind of can't.--Dr. Samuel Johnson
I studied the lives of great men and famous women, and I found that the men and women
who got to the top were those who did the jobs they had in hand, with everything they had
of energy and enthusiasm and hard work.--Harry Truman, 33rd President of the United
States
There are two kinds of discontent in this world: the discontent that works, and the
discontent that wrings its hands. The first gets what it wants, and the second loses what it
has. There's no cure for the first but success; and there's no cure at all for the second.-Gordon Graham
Keep your thoughts positive, because your thoughts become your words.
Keep your words positive, because your words become your behavior.
Keep your behavior positive, because your behavior become your habits.
Keep your habits positive, because your habits become your values.
Keep your values positive, because your values become your destiny.
--Mahatma Gandhi
You cannot take the mild approach to the weeds in your mental garden. You have got to
hate weeds enough to kill them. Weeds are not something you handle; weeds are
something you devastate.--Jim Rohn
The man without a purpose is like a ship without a rudder. Have a purpose in life, and,
having it, throw such strength of mind and muscle into your work as God has given you.-Thomas Carlyle
The man without a purpose is like a ship without a rudder--a waif, a nothing, a no man.-Thomas Carlyle
You can do little about the length of your life, but you can do much about its width and
depth.--H.L. Mencken
**************************
discipleship
We must be willing to relinquish the life we've planned, so as to have the life that is waiting
for us.--Joseph Campbell
He has been with Jesus.--Charles Spurgeon
And they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus.--Acts 4:13
A Christian should be a striking likeness of Jesus Christ. You have read lives of Christ,
beautifully and eloquently written, but the best life of Christ is his living biography, written
out in the words and actions of his people. If we were what we profess to be, and what we
should be, we should be pictures of Christ; yea, such striking likenesses of him, that the
world would not have to hold us up and say, Well, it seems somewhat of a likeness; but
they would, when they once beheld us, exclaim, He has been with Jesus; he has been
taught of him; he is like him ... in his life and everyday actions.
A Christian should be like Christ in his boldness. Never blush to own your religion; your
profession will never disgrace you: take care you never disgrace that. Be like Jesus, very
valiant for your God.
Imitate him in your loving spirit; think kindly, speak kindly, and do kindly, that men may say
of you, He has been with Jesus. Imitate Jesus in his holiness. Was he zealous for his
Master? So be you; ever go about doing good. In all ways and by all means, so live that all
may say of you, He has been with Jesus.
It is easy to die for Christ.
It is hard to live for Him.
Dying takes only an hour or two,
But to live for Christ
Means to die daily.
Only during the few years of this life
Are we given the privilege of serving
Each other and Christ...
We shall Heaven forever,
But only a short time for service here,
And therefore we must not waste the opportunity.
--Sadhu Sundar Singh
The fact is that we are not producing saints. We are making converts to an effete type of
Christianity that bears little resemblance to that of the New Testament. The average socalled Bible Christian in our times is but a wretched parody of true sainthood. Yet we put
millions of dollars behind movements to perpetuate this degenerate form of religion and
attack the man who dares to challenge the wisdom of it.--A.W. Tozer, as quoted in Reality,
April 1997.
Christ says, Give me all. I don't want so much of your time and so much of your money and
so much of your work: I want you.... Hand over the whole natural self, all the desires--the
whole outfit. I will give you a new self instead. In fact, I will give you Myself: My own will
shall become yours.--C.S Lewis, Mere Christianity
**************************
encouragement, appreciation, criticism
You will find yourself refreshed by the presence of cheerful people. Why not make earnest
effort to confer that pleasure on others? Half the battle is gained if you never allow yourself
to say anything gloomy.--Lydia M. Child
Pleasure in the job puts perfection in the work.--Aristotle
No matter how busy you are, you must take time to make the other person feel important.-Mary Kay Ash
It's easy to have faith in people who have already proved themselves. It's much tougher to
believe in people before they have proved themselves. But that is the key to motivating
people to reach their potential.--John Maxwell
If you've ever been homesick, or felt exiled from all the things and people that once defined
you, you'll know how important welcoming words and friendly smiles can be.--Stephen King
I don't think success is what we've made of ourselves; I think it's what we've made of
others.--Bob Goff
Expect people to be better than they are; it helps them to become better. But don't be
disappointed when they are not; it helps them to keep trying.--Merry Browne
Appreciation is a wonderful thing; it makes what is excellent in others belong to us as well.-Francois-Marie Arouet de Voltaire
A broken bone can heal, but the wound a word opens can fester forever.--Jessamyn West
How much easier it is to be critical than to be correct.--Benjamin Disraeli
Strong people don’t put others down... they lift them up.--Michael P. Watson
Encouragement. The finest gift you can give anyone is encouragement. Yet, almost no one
gets the encouragement they need to grow to their full potential. If everyone received the
encouragement they need to grow, the genius in most everyone would blossom and the
world would produce abundance beyond our wildest dreams.--Sidney Madwed, American
poet.
In everyone's life, at some time, our inner fire goes out. It is then burst into flame by an
encounter with another human being. We should all be thankful for those people who
rekindle the inner spirit.--Albert Schweitzer
Those who are lifting the world upward and onward are those who encourage more than
criticize.--Elizabeth Harrison
Devote to better living the energy that you could spend in criticism.--Imelda Shanklin,
Writer.
Keep away from people who belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the
really great, make you feel that you too can become great.--Mark Twain, 1835-1910,
American Humorist, Writer
Your mate doesn't live by bread alone. Every once in a while he or she needs to be
buttered up.--Zig Ziglar
I have yet to find the man, however exalted his station, who did not do better work and put
forth greater effort under a spirit of approval than under a spirit of criticism.--Charles M
Schwab, 1862-1939, American Industrialist, Businessman
Nine tenths of education is encouragement.--Anatole France, 1844-1924, French Author
When nobody around you seems to measure up, it's time to check your yardstick.--Bill
Lemley
The truly successful person inspires others to do more than they have thought possible for
themselves.--Denis Waitley
Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an
honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life
around.--Dr. Leo Buscaglia
Really great people always see the best in others; it is the little man who looks for the
worst--and finds it.--Samuel Coleridge-Taylor (1875-1912), Composer and conductor
There is no exercise better for the heart than reaching down and lifting people up.--John
Andrew Holmes
If you judge people, you have no time to love them. Mother Teresa
Sympathy: Two hearts tugging at one load.--Charles H. Parkhurst
We spend January 1 walking through our lives, room by room, drawing up a list of work to
be done, cracks to be patched. Maybe this year, to balance the list, we ought to walk
through the rooms of our lives... not looking for flaws, but for potential.--Ellen Goodman
If you train your mind to search for the positive things about other people, you will be
surprised at how many good things you can observe in them and comment upon.--Alan Loy
Mcginnis, Writer and counselor
Any fool can criticize, condemn, and complain but it takes character and self control to be
understanding and forgiving.--Dale Carnegie
Let criticism motivate you.--Jan Ruhe
One ought to examine himself for a very long time before thinking of condemning others.-Moliere (1622-1673) Actor and dramatist
Words can destroy. What we call each other ultimately becomes what we think of each
other, and it matters.--Jeane J. Kirkpatrick, diplomat
Nine-tenths of wisdom is appreciation. Go find somebody's hand and squeeze it, while
there's time.--Dale Dauten
Everyone appreciates being appreciated. Catch people red-handed in the act of doing
something right each day--and praise them for it.--Bob Maowad
At times our own light goes out and is rekindled by a spark from another person. Each of us
has cause to think with deep gratitude of those who have lighted the flame within us.--Albert
Schweitzer
They may forget what you said, but they will never forget how you made them feel.--Carl.
W. Buechner
The simple act of paying positive attention to people has a great deal to do with
productivity.--Tom Peters
A true friend knows your weaknesses but shows you your strengths; feels your fears but
fortifies your faith; sees your anxieties but frees your spirit; recognizes your disabilities but
emphasizes your possibilities.--William Arthur Ward
If human beings are perceived as potentials rather than problems, as possessing strengths
instead of weaknesses, as unlimited rather than dull and unresponsive, then they thrive and
grow to their capabilities.--Barbara Bush
Everyone wants to be appreciated, so if you appreciate someone, don't keep it a secret.-Mary Kay Ash
In the face of unjust criticism we can become bitter or better; upset or understanding;
hostile or humble; furious or forgiving.--William Arthur Ward
Don't find fault, find a remedy.--Henry Ford, 1863-1947
Nothing is produced, no progress is made, by being against or criticizing something.
Progress, including personal success, results from being for something and doing
something about it.--Ben Miller
A habit for all of us to develop would be to look for something to appreciate in everyone we
meet. We can all be generous with appreciation.--Carl Holmes
There is so much bad in the best of us, and so much good in the worst of us, that it ill
behooves any of us to talk about the rest of us.--Old poem
You have it easily in your power to increase the sum total of this world's happiness now.
How? By giving a few words of sincere appreciation to someone who is lonely or
discouraged. Perhaps you will forget tomorrow the kind words you say today, but the
recipient may cherish them over a lifetime.--Dale Carnegie, 1888-1955, American Author,
Trainer
Note how good you feel after you have encouraged someone else. No other argument is
necessary to suggest that never miss the opportunity to give encouragement.--George
Adams
A good boss is one who makes his men think they have more ability than they have, so
they consistently do better work than they thought they could.--Charles E. Wilson
My days of whining and complaining about others have come to an end. Nothing is easier
than fault-finding. All it will do is discolor my personality so that none will want to associate
with me. That was my old life. No more.--Og Mandino
Don't be distracted by criticism. Remember the only taste of success some people have is
when they take a bite out of you.--Zig Ziglar
Understanding a person does not mean condoning; it only means that one does not accuse
him as if one were God or a judge placed above him.--Erich Fromm
Pretend that every single person you meet has a sign around his or her neck that says,
'Make me feel important.' Not only will you succeed in sales, you will succeed in life.--Mary
Kay Ash
Choose to be a love-finder rather than a fault-finder.--Gerald Jampolsky
Nothing needs reforming so much as other people's habits.--Mark Twain
Appreciation can make a day--even change a life. Your willingness to put it into words is all
that is necessary.--Margaret Cousins
We all need encouragement. We can live without it just as a young tree can live without
fertilizer, but unless we receive that warm nurturing, we never reach our full potential, and
like the tree left to itself, we seldom bear fruit.--Florence Littauer, Inspirational speaker
Try to make at least one person happy every day, and then in ten years you may have
made three thousand, six hundred and fifty persons happy, or brightened a small town by
your contribution to the fund of general enjoyment.--Sydney Smith
The great gift of conversation lies less in displaying it ourselves than in drawing it out in
others. He who leaves your company pleased with himself and his own cleverness is
perfectly well pleased with you.--Jean de la Bruyere
Treat a man as he is, and he will remain as he is. Treat a man as he could be, and he will
become what he should be.--Ralph Waldo Emerson
I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people
will never forget how you made them feel.--Maya Angelou
At the end of the day people won't remember what you said or did, they will remember how
you made them feel.---Maya Angelou
To strengthen the muscles of your heart, the best exercise is lifting someone else's spirit
whenever you can.--Dodinsky
Rough diamonds may sometimes be mistaken for worthless pebbles.--Thomas Browne
Do not keep the alabaster boxes of your love and tenderness sealed up until your friends
are dead. Fill their lives with sweetness. Speak approving, cheering words while their ears
can hear them and while their hearts can be thrilled by them.--Henry Ward Beecher
Kind words and good deeds are eternal. You never know where their influence will end.--H.
Jackson Browne
Managers help people to see themselves as they are. Leaders help people to see
themselves better than they are.--Jim Rohn
Sometimes I think the whole Christian world is made up of just two groups: those who
speak their faith and accomplish significant things for God, and those who criticize and
malign the first group.--Don Basham, Christianity Today, Vol. 30, No. 12.
**************************
enthusiasm
Nobody is bored when he is trying to make something that is beautiful, or to discover
something that is true.--William Inge
Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to
do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you
do.--Steve Jobs
You're never too old to be in love with what you do.--Ray Bradbury
What we read with inclination makes a much stronger impression. If we read without
inclination, half the mind is employed in fixing the attention; so there is but one half to be
employed on what we read.--Samuel Johnson
There is an eloquence in true enthusiasm that is not to be doubted.--Washington Irving
One way to get the most out of life is to look upon it as an adventure.--William Feather
Instead of wondering when your next vacation is, you ought to set up a life you don't need
to escape from.--Seth Godin
The world belongs to the energetic.--Ralph Waldo Emerson
Wanting something is not enough. You must hunger for it. Your motivation must be
absolutely compelling in order to overcome the obstacles that will invariably come your
way.--Les Brown, motivational speaker.
Flaming enthusiasm, backed up by horse sense and persistence, is the quality that most
frequently makes for success.--Dale Carnegie
If you aren't fired with enthusiasm, you will be fired with enthusiasm.--Vince Lombardi
PEOPLE WITH PASSION find it difficult to use the word work. Such people are pursuing
what they most enjoy and what is personally rewarding. Everyone was born with a limited
amount of time. Every moment we live--whether we're working, playing, complaining, or
being thankful--is time that we've spent. Nothing is more valuable than the time we have
left. When we're pursuing our passion, it isn't just getting to the goal, because the journey is
as rewarding as the end result. At the end of our lives we can say, I've loved my life--the
ultimate definition of success.--CYNTHIA KERSEY, Writer
The secret of genius is to carry the spirit of the child into old age, which means never losing
your enthusiasm.--Aldous Huxley, British writer
Man is so made that whenever anything fires his soul, impossibilities vanish.--Jean de la
Fontaine (1621-1695) French Poet
Your profession is not what brings home your paycheck. Your profession is what you were
put on earth to do with such passion and such intensity that it becomes spiritual in calling.-Vincent Van Gogh, 1853-1890, Dutch Painter
No one keeps up his enthusiasm automatically. Enthusiasm must be nourished with new
actions, new aspirations, new efforts, new vision. It is one's own fault if his enthusiasm is
gone; he has failed to feed it.--Papyrus
There is real magic in enthusiasm. It spells the difference between mediocrity and
accomplishment.--Norman Vincent Peale, 1898-1993, American Christian Reformed
Pastor, Speaker, Author
We act as though comfort and luxury were the chief requirements of life, when all that we
need to make us really happy is something to be enthusiastic about.--Charles Kingsley
The unselfish effort to bring cheer to others will be the beginning of a happier life for
ourselves.--Helen Keller
The most powerful weapon on earth is the human soul on fire.--Field Marshal Ferdinand
Foch
People who never get carried away, should be.--Malcolm S. Forbes, Sr. (1919-1990),
Publisher
Sometimes success is due less to ability than to zeal.--Charles Buxton (1823-1871),
Philanthropist and statesman
Determine what specific goal you want to achieve. Then dedicate yourself to its attainment
with unswerving singleness of purpose, the trenchant zeal of a crusader.--Paul J. Meyer
None are so old as those who have outlived enthusiasm.--Henry David Thoreau, 18171862, American Author/Critic/Naturalist
Catch on fire and people will come for miles to see you burn.--John Wesley
You only lose energy when life becomes dull in your mind. Your mind gets bored and
therefore tired of doing nothing. Get interested in something! Get absolutely enthralled in
something! Get out of yourself! Be somebody! Do something! The more you lose yourself in
something bigger than yourself, the more energy you will have.--Norman Vincent Peale
I studied the lives of great men and famous women, and I found that the men and women
who got to the top were those who did the jobs they had in hand, with everything they had
of energy and enthusiasm and hard work.--Harry Truman, 33rd President of the United
States
One person with passion is better than forty people merely interested.--E.M. Forster
Enthusiasm is the greatest asset in the world. It beats money and power and influence.-Henry Chester
Indifference never wrote great works, nor thought out striking inventions, nor reared the
solemn architecture that awes the soul, nor breathed sublime music, nor painted glorious
pictures, nor undertook heroic philanthropies. All these grandeurs are born of enthusiasm,
and are done heartily.--Author unknown
Enthusiasm is at the bottom of all progress. With it there is accomplishment. Without it there
are only alibis.--Henry Ford, American automaker
One man has enthusiasm for 30 minutes, another for 30 days, but it is the man who has it
for 30 years who makes a success of his life.--Edward B. Butler
Without passion man is a mere latent force and possibility, like the flint which awaits the
shock of the iron before it can give forth its spark.--Henri Frederic Amiel
Enthusiasm is one of the most powerful engines of success. When you do a thing, do it with
all your might. Put your whole soul into it. Stamp it with your own personality. Be active, be
energetic and faithful, and you will accomplish your object. Nothing great was ever
achieved without enthusiasm.--Ralph Waldo Emerson
Age may wrinkle the face, but lack of enthusiasm wrinkles the soul.--Danish Proverb
If wrinkles must be written upon our brows, let them not be written upon the heart. The spirit
should never grow old.--James A. Garfield, 1831-1881, 20th President of the United States
Years wrinkle the skin, but to give up enthusiasm wrinkles the soul.--Douglas MacArthur,
1880-1964, American Military General
Age wrinkles the body. Quitting wrinkles the soul.--Douglas MacArthur
Success is going from failure to failure without a loss of enthusiasm.--Sir Winston Churchill
Desire is the starting point of all achievement, not a hope, not a wish, but a keen pulsating
desire which transcends everything.--Napoleon Hill
Happiness is not some emotional phantom floating in and out of your life. You can choose
happiness every day. Laughter and enthusiasm are the fuels that move the world. The
world belongs to the enthusiastic, and people will follow them anywhere.--Andy Andrews
When you have the enthusiasm and the passion, you end up figuring how to excel.--Deena
Kastor, American long-distance runner
**************************
envy
When the grass looks greener on the other side of the fence, it may be that they take better
care of it there.--Cecil Selig
Comparison is the thief of joy.--Theodore Roosevelt
To love is to stop comparing.--Bernard Grasset, Writer
A truly charming person never has time for envy, self-pity, or gossip.--Loretta Young (19132000), Actress
Too many of us are hung up on what we don't have, can't have, or won't ever have. We
spend too much energy being down, when we could use that same energy--if not less of it-doing some of the things we really want to do.--Terry McMillan, Writer
**************************
eternal vs temporal values
You can't do anything about the length of your life, but you can do something about its width
and depth.--H.L. Mencken
When the whole world is running towards a cliff, he who is running in the opposite direction
appears to have lost his mind.--C.S. Lewis
True spirituality consists in living moment to moment by the grace of Jesus Christ.--Francis
Schaeffer
There is no greatness where there is not simplicity, goodness, and truth.--Leo Tolstoy
There is a fountain of youth: it is your mind, your talents, the creativity you bring to your life
and the lives of people you love. When you learn to tap this source, you will truly have
defeated age.--Sophia Loren
The mystery of human existence lies not just in staying alive but in finding something to live
for.--Fyodor Dostoevsky
Strive not to be a success, but rather to be of value.--Albert Einstein
May we live here like strangers and make the world not a house, but an inn, in which we
sup and lodge, expecting to be on our journey tomorrow.--Charles Spurgeon
Learn to hold loosely all that is not eternal.--Maude Royden
Keep your eyes on the stars, and your feet on the ground.--Theodore Roosevelt
It's like, at the end, there's this surprise quiz: Am I proud of me? I gave my life to become
the person I am right now. Was it worth what I paid?--Richard Bach
In life, unlike chess, the game continues after checkmate.--Isaac Asimov
If people looked at the stars each night, they'd live a lot differently. When you look into
infinity, you realize that there are more important things than what people do all day.--Bill
Watterson, American cartoonist
He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep, to gain what he cannot lose.--Jim Elliot
For the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: 'If today
were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?' And whenever
the answer has been 'No' for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.-Steve Jobs
Few are willing to brave the disapproval of their fellows, the censure of the colleagues, the
wrath of their society. Moral courage is a rarer commodity than bravery in battle or great
intelligence. Yet it is the one essential, vital quality for those who seek to change a world
that yields most painfully to change. Each time a person stands up for an idea, or acts to
improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, (s)he sends forth a tiny ripple of
hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring, those
ripples build a current that can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and
resistance.--Robert F. Kennedy
Do it now. It is not safe to leave a generous feeling to the cooling influences of the world.-Thomas Guthrie
Be brave enough to start a conversation that matters.--Margaret Wheatley
The moment you wake up each morning, all your wishes and hopes for the day rush at you
like wild animals. And the first job each morning consists in shoving it all back; in listening to
that other voice, taking that other point of view, letting that other, larger, stronger, quieter
life come flowing in.--C. S. Lewis
It is not the length of life, but the depth of life.--Ralph Waldo Emerson
When I despair, I remember that all through history the way of truth and love has always
won. There have been tyrants and murderers and for a time they seem invincible but in the
end, they always fall--think of it, ALWAYS.--Mahatma Gandhi
In one lifetime I have seen my fellow countrymen ruling over a quarter of the world, the
great majority of them convinced, in the words of what is still a favorite song, that God
who's made the mighty would make them mightier yet. I've heard a crazed, cracked
Austrian proclaim to the world the establishment of a German Reich that would last for a
thousand years; an Italian clown announce that he would restart the calendar to begin with
his own assumption of power; a murderous Georgian brigand in the Kremlin acclaimed by
the intellectual elite of the Western world as wiser than Solomon, more enlightened than
Asoka, more humane than Marcus Aurelius. I've seen America wealthier and in terms of
weaponry more powerful than all the rest of the world put together, so that Americans, had
they so wished, could have outdone an Alexander or a Julius Caesar in the range and scale
of their conquests. All in one little lifetime. All gone with the wind.
--From Malcolm Muggeridge, excerpted from The End of Christendom: Inaugural address of
The Pascal Lectures on Christianity and the University, as given at the University of
Waterloo, October 1978 and published by Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, Grand
Rapids, Mich., 1980.
It is a mistake to suppose that any technological innovation has a one-sided effect. Every
technology is both a burden and a blessing; not either-or, but both-and. Nothing could be
more obvious, especially to those who have given more than two minutes of thought to the
matter. Nonetheless, we are currently surrounded by throngs of one-eyed prophets who
see only what new technologies can do and are incapable of imagining what they will undo.
They gaze on technology as a lover does on his beloved, seeing it as without blemish and
entertaining no apprehension for the future.--Neil Postman.
It is possessions, more than anything else, that prevents us from living freely and nobly.-Bertrand Russell
Our inventions are wont to be pretty toys, which distract our attention from serious things.
They are but improved means to an unimproved end.--Henry David Thoreau
Men for the sake of getting a living forget to live.--Margaret Fuller
The most valuable things in life are not measured in monetary terms. The really important
things are not houses and lands, stocks and bonds, automobiles and real state, but
friendships, trust, confidence, empathy, mercy, love and faith.--Bertrand Russell, 18721970, British Philosopher, Mathematician, Essayist
Our houses are such unwieldy property that we are often imprisoned rather than housed in
them.--Henry David Thoreau, naturalist and author (1817-1862)
The fact that an opinion has been widely held is no evidence whatever that it is not utterly
absurd.--Bertrand Russell
When great changes occur in history, when great principles are involved, as a rule the
majority are wrong.--Eugene V. Debs
I look forward to a future in which our country will match its military strength with our moral
restraint, its wealth with our wisdom, its power with our purpose.--John F. Kennedy
Don't confuse fame with success. Madonna is one; Helen Keller is the other.--Erma
Bombeck
We must adjust to changing times and still hold to unchanging principles.--Jimmy Carter
It is not the level of prosperity that makes for happiness but the kinship of heart to heart and
the way we look at the world. Both attitudes are within our power, so that a man is happy so
long as he chooses to be happy, and no one can stop him.--Alexander Solzhenitsyn
I would give anything, I mean, I could rest peacefully, I really believe if Roe versus Wade
was overturned.--Norma McCorvey, the formerly pro-choice Jane Roe in the landmark case
which effectively legalized abortion in the United States in 1973.
Every increased possession loads us with new weariness.--John Ruskin
Attempting to slake a spiritual thirst with materialism is like drinking water from the sea. It
turns immediate gratification into a life-threatening condition.--Arthur Simon, in How Much Is
Enough? Hungering for God in an Affluent Culture, Baker Books
The reason the mainstream is referred to as a stream is because of its shallowness.-George Carlin, quoted in the Calgary Herald.
You can use most any measure when you're speaking of success. You can measure it in a
fancy home, expensive car or dress. But the measure of your real success is one you
cannot spend--it's the way your child describes you when talking to a friend.--Martin
Baxbaum
Everybody gets so much information all day long that they lose their common sense.-Gertrude Stein
You'd better live every day like it's your last day, because one day you're going to be right.-Ray Charles
My riches consist not in the extent of my possessions, but in the fewness of my wants.--J.
Brotherton
To live in the presence of great truths and eternal laws, to be led by permanent ideals--that
is what keeps a man patient when the world ignores him, and calm and unspoiled when the
world praises him.--Honore De Balzac, 1799-1850, French Novelist
What you possess in the world will be found at the day of your death to belong to someone
else. But what you are will be yours forever.--Henry Van Dyke, 1852-1933, American
Protestant Clergyman and Writer
The purpose of life is a life of purpose.--Robert Byrne, Writer
If you want to feel rich, just count all of the things you have that money can't buy.--Author
Unknown
The average human heart beats 100,000 times a day. Make those beats count.
Men have become the tools of their tools.--Henry David Thoreau
The highest reward for a person's toil is not what they get for it, but what they become by it.-John Ruskin, 1819-1900, British Critic, Social Theorist
What can you say about a society that says that God is dead and Elvis is alive?--Irv
Kupcinet
There is more to life than increasing its speed.--Mahatma Gandhi, 1869-1948, Indian
Political and Spiritual Leader
Ordinary riches can be stolen, real riches cannot. In your soul are infinitely precious things
that cannot be taken from you.--Oscar Wilde, 1854-1900, Irish Dramatist/Novelist/Poet
It's a good thing to have all the props pulled out from under us occasionally. It gives us
some sense of what is rock under our feet, and what is sand.--Madeleine L'engle, Writer
Some day people will learn that material things do not bring happiness and are of little use
in making people creative and powerful.--Charles Steinmetz (1865-1923), electrical
engineer
The Bible shows that all of us have a choice. It isn't just a choice between God and the
Devil or Heaven and Hell. No, this choice is much more subtle. Each day you and I must
choose the kind of treasure to which we will devote our lives. Either we will spend our lives
filling our attic and garage with a lifetime of collectibles or we will spend our lives laying up
treasures in Heaven. (Luke 12:33-34)--Mark Tabb, Living with Less
If you want to be great, you must serve willingly and love greatly.--Cornel West, Educator
and activist
I've learned that everyone wants to live on top of the mountain, but all the happiness and
growth occurs while you're climbing it.--Andy Rooney, TV commentator
What would you do, how would you change your life, if you learned today that you only had
six months to live?--Brian Tracy
They deem me mad because I will not sell my days for gold; and I deem them mad because
they think my days have a price.--Kahlil Gibran, 1883-1931, Lebanese Poet and Novelist
For a small reward, a man will hurry away on a long journey; while for eternal life, many will
hardly take a single step.--Thomas a' Kempis
It is the heart that makes a man rich. He is rich according to what he is, not according to
what he has.--Henry Ward Beecher
Material success may result in the accumulation of possessions: but only spiritual success
will enable you to enjoy them.--Nido Qubein
With breathtaking rapidity, we are destroying all that was lovely to look at and turning
America into a prison house of the spirit. The affluent society, with relentless single-minded
energy, is turning our cities, most of suburbia and most of our roadways into the most
affluent slum on earth.--Eric Sevareid
Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted.-Albert Einstein, 1879-1955, German-born American Physicist
The best thing to do with the best things in life is to give them up.--Dorothy Day (18971980)
With a power given from above we shout, No! to him who promises the whole world if we
will only worship him. We crucify the old mechanisms of power--push, drive, climb, grasp,
trample. We turn instead to the new life of love, joy, peace, patience, and all the fruit of the
Spirit.--Richard Foster, excerpt from Money, Sex and Power.
A man must seek his happiness and inward peace from objects which cannot be taken
away from him.--Alexander Humboldt (1769-1859), Naturalist and explorer
The sum of the whole matter is this, that our civilization cannot survive materially unless it
be redeemed spiritually.--Woodrow Wilson
That which you create in beauty and goodness and truth lives on for all time to come. Don't
spend your life accumulating material objects that will only turn to dust and ashes.--Denis
Waitley
I would rather lose in a cause that will some day win, than win in a cause that will some day
lose.--Woodrow Wilson
The foundations of a person are not in matter but in spirit.--Ralph Waldo Emerson, 18031882, American Poet and Essayist
It is preoccupation with possessions, more than anything else, that prevents us from living
freely and nobly.--Bertrand Russell, 1872-1970, British Philosopher
On reality: The poker player learns that sometimes both science and common sense are
wrong; that the bumblebee can fly; that, perhaps, one should never trust an expert; that
there are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of by those with an academic
bent.--David Mamet, playwright
The men who did the most for this present world thought the most about the future world.-C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity
He enjoys true leisure who has time to improve his soul's estate.--Henry David Thoreau
Greatness is not found in possessions, power, position, or prestige. It is discovered in
goodness, humility, service, and character.--William Arthur Ward
Spiritual values transcend the material artifacts that we can touch and see. They take us
into the realm of beauty, inspiration and love.--Nido Qubein
Too many people spend money they haven't earned, to buy things they don't want, to
impress people they don't like.--Will Smith
One of the functions of intelligence is to take account of the dangers that come from trusting
solely to the intelligence.--Lewis Mumford
Be sure you put your feet in the right place, then stand firm.--Abraham Lincoln
Too much has been said of the heroes of history--the strong men, the troublesome men;
too little of the amiable, the kindly and the tolerant.--Stephen Leacock
Robert F. Kennedy, March 18, 1968: For too long we seem to have surrendered personal
excellence and community value in the mere accumulation of material things. Our gross
national product now is over 800 billion dollars a year, but that gross national product, if we
judge the United States of America by that, that gross national product counts air pollution,
and cigarette advertising, and ambulances to clear our highways of carnage. It counts
special locks for our doors and the jails for people who break them. It counts the destruction
of the redwoods and the loss of our natural wonder in chaotic squall. It counts Napalm, and
it counts nuclear warheads, and armored cars for the police to fight the riots in our city. It
counts Whitman's rifles and Speck's Knifes and the television programs which glorify
violence in order to sell toys to our children. Yet, the gross national product does not allow
for the health of our children, the quality of their education, or the joy of their play; it does
not include the beauty of our poetry or the strength of our marriages, the intelligence of our
public debate or the integrity of our public officials. It measures neither our wit nor our
courage, neither our wisdom nor our learning, neither our compassion nor our devotion to
our country. It measures everything, in short, except that which makes life worthwhile.
Our true worth, value, and identity come not from what the world says, but from complete
acceptance by God. In and of ourselves, we'll never be enough; we'll wear ourselves out
trying.--Nancy Stafford
It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity.--Albert
Einstein
As we grow old, the beauty steals inward.--Ralph Waldo Emerson
The measure of a life, after all, is not its duration, but its donation.--Corrie ten Boom
Ours is an age of improved means to deteriorated ends.--J.R.R. Tolkien (Essay on Fairy
Stories)
Ever more people today have the means to live, but no meaning to live for.--Viktor E. Frankl
Who you are, what your values are, what you stand for ... they are your anchor, your north
star. You won't find them in a book. You'll find them in your soul.--Anne M. Mulcahy
Teach us to value most eternal things.
To find the happiness that giving brings...
To know the peace of misty, distant hills.
To know the joy that giving self fulfils.
To realize anew this Christmas Day.
The things we keep are those we give away.
--Marvin Davis Winsett
Angels walk with us down every path. It seems these angels would fly ahead and call back
a warning. But most often they know it's not the preparation, it's the companionship that will
make what is ahead more bearable.--Author unknown
It is good to have money and the things that money can buy, but it's good too, to check up
once in a while and make sure you haven't lost the things money can't buy.--George
Lorimer
Our whole business in this life is to restore to health the eyes of the heart, whereby God
may be seen.--Augustine
I think these difficult times have helped me to understand better than before how infinitely
rich and beautiful life is in every way and that so many things one goes around worrying
about are of no importance whatsoever.--Isak Dinesen
You may not have saved a lot of money in your life, but if you have saved a lot of
heartaches for other folks, you are a pretty rich man.--Seth Parker
Enemy-occupied territory--that is what this world is. Christianity is the story of how the
rightful king has landed, you might say landed in disguise, and is calling us all to take part in
a great campaign of sabotage.--C. S. Lewis
This is the true joy in life, the being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty
one; the being thoroughly worn out before you are thrown on the scrap heap; the being a
force of Nature instead of a feverish selfish little clod of ailments and grievances
complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy.--George Bernard
Shaw, 1856-1950
It's not true that nice guys finish last. Nice guys are winners before the game even starts.-Mort Walker
When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: 'If you live each day as if it was
your last, someday you'll most certainly be right.' It made an impression on me, and since
then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: If
today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today? And
whenever the answer has been No for too many days in a row, I know I need to change
something.--Steve Jobs
The real measure of our wealth is how much we'd be worth if we lost all our money.-Benjamin Jowett (--Bernard Meltzer)
The greatest use of life is to spend it for something that will outlast it.--William James
The wealth of a man is the number of things which he loves and blesses, which he is loved
and blessed by.--Thomas Carlyle
We need to set our course by the stars, not by the lights of every passing ship.--Omar
Bradley
We too dull our understandings with trifles, fill the heavenly spaces with phantoms, waste
the heavenly time with hurry. To those who possess their souls in patience come the
heavenly visions.--George MacDonald
Material power that is not counterbalanced by adequate spiritual power, that is, by love and
wisdom, is a curse.--Arnold J. Toynbee
It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.-Antoine de Saint-Exupery
It is Christmas in the heart that puts Christmas in the air.--W. T. Ellis
Nowadays people know the price of everything and the value of nothing.--Oscar Wilde
No one ever said on their deathbed, 'Gee, I wish I had spent more time alone with my
computer.'--Danielle Berry
The best and most beautiful things in this world cannot be seen or even heard, but must be
felt with the heart.--Helen Keller, 1880-1968, American Blind/Deaf Author, Lecturer, Amorist
It's never too late to become what you might have been.--Attributed to George Eliot
Our life is frittered away by detail. Simplify, simplify.--Henry David Thoreau
It's not enough to have lived. We should be determined to live for something. May I suggest
that it be creating joy for others, sharing what we have for the betterment of humanity,
bringing hope to the lost and love to the lonely.--Leo Buscaglia, author and university
professor (1924-1998)
Live as you will wish to have lived when you are dying.--Christian Gellert, (1715-1769)
German poet
What counts can't always be counted; what can be counted doesn't always count.--Albert
Einstein
Normal is getting dressed in clothes that you buy for work and driving through traffic in a car
that you are still paying for--in order to get to the job you need to pay for the clothes and the
car, and the house you leave vacant all day so you can afford to live in it.--Ellen Goodman
'Normal' is getting dressed in clothes that you buy for work and driving through traffic in a
car that you are still paying for--in order to get to the job you need to pay for the clothes and
the car, and the house you leave vacant all day so you can afford to live in it.--Ellen
DeGeneres
Eternity is not something that begins after you are dead. It is going on all the time. We are
in it now.--Charlotte P Gilman
When we are motivated by goals that have deep meaning, by dreams that need completion,
by pure love that needs expressing, then we truly live life.--Greg Anderson
What we have done for ourselves alone dies with us. What we have done for others and the
world remains and is immortal.--Albert Pike, 1809-1891, American Author
It is not scientific doubt, not atheism, not pantheism, not agnosticism, that in our day and in
this land is likely to quench the light of the gospel. It is a proud, sensuous, selfish, luxurious,
church-going, hollow-hearted prosperity.--Frederic D. Huntington, Forum magazine, 1890
Help me, O Lord, to make a true use of all disappointments and calamities in this life, in
such a way that they may unite my heart more closely with you. Cause them to separate my
affections from worldly things and inspire my soul with more vigor in the pursuit of true
happiness.--Susanna Wesley
The things that will destroy us are: politics without principle; pleasure without conscience;
wealth without work; knowledge without character; business without morality; science
without humanity; and worship without sacrifice.--Mahatma Gandhi
The wise Christian gears his goals to Heaven's gains.
There is only one failure in life possible, and that is not to be true to the best one knows.-George Eliot
True heroism is remarkably sober, very undramatic. It is not the urge to surpass all others at
whatever cost, but the urge to serve others at whatever cost.--Arthur Ashe
To love what you do, and feel that it matters. How could anything else be more fun?-Katharine Graham
We must be willing to relinquish the life we've planned, so as to have the life that is waiting
for us.--Joseph Campbell
Right is right, even if everyone is against it; and wrong is wrong, even if everyone is for it.-William Penn
**************************
excellence
Yesterday's home runs don't win today's games.--Babe Ruth
We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act but a habit.--Aristotle
Refuse to be average. Let your heart soar as high as it will.--A. W. Tozer
If you want to achieve excellence, you can get there today. As of this second, quit doing
less-than-excellent work.--Thomas Watson
Don't be afraid to give up the good to go for the great.--John D. Rockefeller
Do the best you can in every task, no matter how unimportant it may seem at the time. No
one learns more about a problem than the person at the bottom.--Sandra Day O'Connor
Chief among the spoils of victory is the privilege of writing the history.--Mark Alexander
If a man is called to be a streetsweeper, he should sweep streets even as Michelangelo
painted, or Beethoven composed music or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep
streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, here lived a great
streetsweeper who did his job well.--Martin Luther King, Jr.1929-1968, American Black
Leader, Nobel Prize Winner, 1964
A price has to be paid for success. Almost invariably those who have reached the summits
worked harder and longer, studied and planned more assiduously, practiced more self
denial, overcame more difficulties than those of us who have not risen so far.--B. C. Forbes,
1880-1954, American Publisher
Excellence means when a man or a woman asks of himself more than others do.--Ortega Y
Gasset, 1883-1955, Spanish Essayist, Philosopher
Always be a first-rate version of yourself, instead of a second-rate version of someone
else.--Judy Garland
Life consists not in holding good cards but in playing those you hold well.--Josh Billings
Look at a day when you are supremely satisfied at the end. It's not a day when you lounge
around doing nothing; it's when you've had everything to do, and you've done it.--Lord
Acton
There is no passion to be found playing small--in settling for a life that is less than the one
you are capable of living.--Nelson Mandela, Former Prime Minister of South Africa
My mother taught me very early to believe I could achieve any accomplishment I wanted to.
The first was to walk without braces.--Wilma Rudolph, 1940-1994, Winner of 3 Gold Medals
in running events at the 1960 Summer Olympics
Every calling is great when greatly pursued.--William Danforth
Personal development is your springboard to personal excellence. Ongoing, continuous,
non-stop personal development literally assures you that there is no limit to what you can
accomplish.--Brian Tracy, American Trainer, Speaker, Author, Businessman
Don't be content with doing only your duty. Do more than your duty. It's the horse that
finishes a neck ahead that wins the race.--Andrew Carnegie, 1835-1919, American
Industrialist and Philanthropist
The best preparation for tomorrow is to do today's work superbly well.--William Osler (18491919) Physician
Excellence is the result of caring more than others think wise, risking more than other's
think safe, dreaming more than others think practical, and expecting more than others think
possible.--Anonymous
The roots of true achievement lie in the will to become the best that you can become.-Harold Taylor
Successful people begin where failures leave off. Never settle for 'just getting the job done.'
Excel!--Tom Hopkins, American Sales Trainer, Speaker, Author
The difference between what we do and what we are capable of doing would solve most of
the world's problems.--MAHATMA GANDHI (1869-1948)
In all my experiences, from my time with the British Special Forces to struggling to survive
on a high mountain, the one quality that separates the many from the few, those who live
and those who often tragically die, is that old-age simple truth of going that extra mile. That
little word extra contains more magic than we will ever know, and it is what changes
ordinary deeds into extraordinary deeds.--Bear Grylls, London, England.
Always dream and shoot higher than you know you can do. Don't bother just to be better
than your contemporaries or predecessors. Try to be better than yourself.--William
Faulkner, 1897-1962, American Novelist
The quality of a person's life is in direct proportion to their commitment to excellence,
regardless of their chosen field of endeavor.--Vince Lombardi, 1913-1970, American
Football Coach
Remember, always give your best. Never get discouraged. Never be petty. Always
remember, others may hate you. But those who hate you don't win unless you hate them.
And then you destroy yourself.--Richard Nixon
A professional is a person who can do his best at a time when he doesn't particularly feel
like it.--Alistair Cooke, 1908-, British Broadcaster, Journalist
No one ever attains very eminent success by simply doing what is required of him; it is the
amount and excellence of what is over and above the required that determines the
greatness of ultimate distinction.--Charles Kendall Adams
Fast is fine, but accuracy is everything.--Wyatt Earp 1848-1929, American Lawman
Nobody who ever gave his best regretted it.--George Halas, 1895-1983, American Football
Player/Coach/Owner
Achievement is largely the product of steadily raising one's levels of aspiration and
expectation.--Jack Nicklaus, American Golfer
Personal excellence can be achieved by a visionary goal, thorough planning, dedicated
execution and total follow-through.--Gerald R. Ford U.S. President
Never mind what others do; do better than yourself, beat your own record from day to day,
and you are a success.--William J. H. Boetcker
Always seek to excel yourself. Put yourself in competition with yourself each day. Each
morning look back upon your work of yesterday and then try to beat it.--Charles M. Sheldon
Good is not good where better is expected.--Thomas Fuller
Attempt the impossible in order to improve your work.--Bette Davis, 1908-1989, American
Actress
He can do more for others who has done most with himself.--S.D. Gordon
Whenever we do what we can, we immediately can do more.--James Freeman Clarke
(1810-1888) Clergyman
A man can be as great as he wants to be. If you believe in yourself and have the courage,
the determination, the dedication, the competitive drive and if you are willing to sacrifice the
little things in life and pay the price for the things that are worthwhile, it can be done.--Vince
Lombardi
The average person puts only 25% of his energy and ability into his work. The world takes
off its hat to those who put in more than 50% of their capacity, and stands on its head for
those few and far between souls who devote 100%.--Andrew Carnegie
You don't have to be a fantastic hero to do certain things--to compete. You can be just an
ordinary chap, sufficiently motivated to reach challenging goals.--Edmund Hillary
We don't remain good if we don't always strive to become better.--Gottfried Keller (18191890), Writer
I can't imagine a person becoming a success who doesn't give this game of life everything
he's got.--Walter Cronkite, Broadcast journalist
Any time you sincerely want to make a change, the first thing you must do is to raise your
standards. When people ask me what really changed my life eight years ago, I tell them
that absolutely the most important thing was changing what I demanded of myself. I wrote
down all the things I would no longer accept in my life, all the things I would no longer
tolerate, and all the things that I aspired to becoming.--Anthony Robbins
If you aren't going all the way, why go at all?--Joe Namath, Hall of Fame Football Player
You cannot run away from a weakness; you must sometimes fight it out or perish. And if
that be so, why not now, and where you stand?--Robert Louis Stevenson, 1850-1894,
Scottish Novelist
You cannot become a saint by comparing yourself with a sinner.
Ask yourself, 'can I give more?' The answer is usually 'Yes.'--Paul Tergat, Kenyan distance
runner, holder of the marathon world record
Winners have simply formed the habit of doing things losers don't like to do.--Albert Gray
Every man dies. Not every man truly lives.--Braveheart
Any man's life will be filled with constant and unexpected encouragement if he makes up
his mind to do his level best each day.--Booker T. Washington
The man who can drive himself further once the effort gets painful is the man who will win.-Roger Bannister, English Neurologist and athlete, first person in the world to run a mile
under 4 minutes)
Mediocrity is a sin. Don't do your bit; do your best.--William F. Halsey, Jr. (1882-1959),
Navy admiral
I hated every minute of training, but I said, Don't quit. Suffer now and live the rest of your
life as a champion.--Muhammad Ali, American Boxer
People think I'm disciplined. It is not discipline. It is devotion. There is a great difference.-Luciano Pavarotti
Something in human nature causes us to start slacking off at our moment of greatest
accomplishment. As you become successful, you will need a great deal of self-discipline not
to lose your sense of balance, humility and commitment.--H. Ross Perot
Don't measure yourself by what you have accomplished, but by what you should have
accomplished with your ability.--John Wooden, American, Basketball Player and Coach
Think of yourself as an athlete. I guarantee you it will change the way you walk, the way
you work, and the decisions you make about teamwork, leadership, and success.--Mariah
Burton Nelson, columnist and basketball player
On life's report card, attitude counts, enthusiasm counts, a commitment to lifelong learning
counts, hard work counts, and helping others counts. If you go all-out, you will feel the
difference in the quality of your life.--Steve Lodle, educator
Challenges make you discover things about yourself that you never really knew. They're
what make the instrument stretch--what makes you go beyond the norm.--Cicely Tyson
People do not lack strength; they lack will.--Victor Hugo
Results are often obtained by impetuosity and daring which could never have been
obtained by ordinary methods.--Niccolo Machiavelli (1469-1527) Statesman
I will not allow yesterday's success to lull me into today's complacency, for this is the great
foundation of failure.--Og Mandino
The price of excellence is discipline. The cost of mediocrity is disappointment.--William
Arthur Ward
Excellence is an art won by training and habituation. We do not act rightly because we have
virtue or excellence, but rather we have those because we have acted rightly. We are what
we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit.--Aristotle, BC 384-322, Greek
Philosopher
The motto for every missionary, whether preacher, printer, or schoolmaster, ought to be
'Devoted for Life.'--Adoniram Judson
Never be afraid to take on a really tough problem. When you solve it, the benefits will be
that much greater.--Carl A. Gerstacker (1916-1995) Business executive
One of the great lessons I've learned in athletics is that you've got to discipline your life. No
matter how good you may be, you've got to be willing to cut out of your life those things that
keep you from going to the top.--Bob Richards
Believe while others are doubting.
Plan while others are playing.
Study while others are sleeping.
Decide while others are delaying.
Prepare while others are daydreaming.
Begin while others are procrastinating.
Work while others are wishing.
Save while others are wasting.
Listen while others are talking.
Smile while others are frowning.
Commend while others are criticizing.
Persist while others are quitting.
--By William Arthur Ward
Build up your weaknesses until they become your strong points.--Knute Rockne, 18881931, American Football Coach
Most people never run far enough on their first wind to find out if they've got a second. Give
your dreams all you've got and you'll be amazed at the energy that comes out of you.-William James (--Henry James)
I believe life is constantly testing us for our level of commitment, and life's greatest rewards
are reserved for those who demonstrate a never-ending commitment to act until they
achieve. This level of resolve can move mountains, but it must be constant and consistent.
As simplistic as this may sound, it is still the common denominator separating those who
live their dreams from those who live in regret.--Anthony Robbins
If you believe in yourself and have the courage, the determination, the dedication, the
competitive drive and if you are willing to sacrifice the little things in life and pay the price for
the things that are worthwhile, it can be done.--Vince Lombardi
Success is peace of mind in knowing you did your best.--John Wooden
Are you bored with life? Then throw yourself into some work you believe in with all your
heart, live for it, die for it, and you will find happiness that you had thought could never be
yours.--Dale Carnegie
The secret of joy in work is contained in one word--excellence. To know how to do
something well is to enjoy it.--Pearl S. Buck, 1892-1973, American Novelist
I can't believe that God put us on this earth to be ordinary.--Lou Holtz
A champion is someone who gets up, even when he can't.--Jack Dempsey
Our business in life is not to get ahead of others but to get ahead of ourselves--to break our
own records, to outstrip our yesterdays by our today.--Stewart B. Johnson
Excellence is the gradual result of always striving to do better.--Pat Riley, American
Basketball Coach
Excellence is not a destination; it is a continuous journey that never ends.--Brian Tracy
We all have dreams. But in order to make dreams come into reality, it takes an awful lot of
determination, dedication, self-discipline, and effort.--Jesse Owens, American track and
field athlete and four-time Olympic gold medalist
Excellent service is not what you believe it to be, it's what your customer perceives it to be.
And tells others.--Jeffrey Gitomer
Resolve says, 'I will.' The man says, 'I will climb this mountain. They told me it is too high,
too far, too steep, too rocky and too difficult. But it's my mountain. I will climb it. You will
soon see me waving from the top or dead on the side from trying.'--Jim Rohn
Excellence is about change. We would not have said this in the 1980s or perhaps even in
the 1990s. Today it almost goes without saying. Most organizations simply cannot sustain
excellent performance unless they are capable of changing.--Lawler III, Edward E, and
Worley, Christopher G., Built to Change: How to Achieve Sustained Organizational
Effectiveness
Ingenuity plus courage plus work equals miracles.--Bob Richards
Four short words sum up what has lifted most successful individuals above the crowd; a
little bit more. They did all that was expected of them and a little bit more.--A. Lou Vickery
The height of your accomplishments will equal the depth of your convictions.--William F.
Scolavino
The difference between extraordinary people and ordinary people is a simple as the
difference between the two words. Extraordinary people are committed to doing the extra
things that ordinary people won't.--Christine Kinney
I am a big believer in the 'mirror test.' All that matters is if you can look in the mirror and
honestly tell the person you see there that you've done your best.--John Mackay
It is funny about life: If you refuse to accept anything but the very best, you will very often
get it.--W. Somerset Maugham
Hold yourself responsible for a higher standard than anybody else expects of you. Never
excuse yourself. Never pity yourself. Be a hard master to yourself--and be lenient to
everybody else.--Henry Ward Beecher
Some people have greatness thrust upon them. Few have excellence thrust upon them-they achieve it. They do not achieve it unwittingly by doing what comes naturally and they
don't stumble into it in the course of amusing themselves. All excellence involves discipline
and tenacity of purpose.'--John William Gardner
The society which scorns excellence in plumbing because plumbing is a humble activity,
and tolerates shoddiness in philosophy because philosophy is an exalted activity, will have
neither good plumbing nor good philosophy. Neither its pipes nor its theories will hold
water.--John W Gardner, Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare under President
Lyndon Johnson
The real tragedy is the tragedy of the man who never in his life braces himself for his one
supreme effort, who never stretches to his full capacity, never stands up to his full stature.-Arnold Bennett
When we do the best we can, we never know what miracle is wrought in our life, or in the
life of another.--Helen Keller
If what you're working for really matters, you'll give it all you've got.--Nido Qubein
Accept the challenges so that you may feel the exhilaration of victory.--General George S.
Patton
You only ever grow as a human being if you're outside your comfort zone.--Percy Cerutty,
running coach
Ability is what you're capable of doing.
Motivation determines what you do.
Attitude determines how well you do it.
--Raymond Chandler (-- Lou Holtz)
It's always show time.--David D'Alessandro, Career Warfare
Set your goals high, because what a person accomplishes is in proportion to what they
attempt.--Mitchell Naufell
The only certain means is to render more and better service than is expected of you, no
matter what your task may be.--Og Mandino
We should every night call ourselves to an account: What infirmity have I mastered today?
What passions opposed! What temptation resisted? What virtue acquired?--Marcus
Annaeus Seneca
It is necessary to try to surpass oneself always; this occupation ought to last as long as life.-Christina, Queen of Sweden
Paint a masterpiece daily. Always autograph your work with excellence.--Greg Hickman
Do more than belong: participate.
Do more than care: help.
Do more than believe: practice.
Do more than be fair: be kind.
Do more than forgive: forget.
Do more than dream: work.
--William Arthur Ward
A man should not leave this earth with unfinished business. He should live each day as if it
was a pre-flight check. He should ask each morning, am I prepared to lift-off?--Diane Frolov
and Andrew Schneider, Northern Exposure
Think as you work, for in the final analysis your worth to your company comes not only in
solving problems but in anticipating them.--Herbert H. Ross
Your success in life will be in direct proportion to what you do after you do what you are
expected to do.--Brian Tracy
A different world cannot be built by indifferent people.--Peter Marshall
When you have the enthusiasm and the passion, you end up figuring how to excel.--Deena
Kastor, American long-distance runner
We have no choice of what color we're born or who our parents are or whether we're rich or
poor. What we do have is some choice over what we make of our lives once we're here.-Mildred Taylor
To laugh often and love much; to win the respect of intelligent persons and the affection of
children; to earn the approbation of honest citizens and endure the betrayal of false friends;
to appreciate beauty; to find the best in others; to give of one’s self; to leave the world a bit
better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition; to have
played and laughed with enthusiasm and sung with exultation; to know even one life has
breathed easier because you have lived--this is to have succeeded.--Ralph Waldo Emerson
I've never known a man worth his salt who in the long run, deep down in his heart, didn't
appreciate the grind, the discipline.... I firmly believe that any man's finest hour--this
greatest fulfillment to all he holds dear--is that moment when he has worked his heart out in
a good cause and lies exhausted on the field of battle, victorious.--Vince Lombardi
A competent professional listens well, probes, asks questions, and thinks before he speaks.
This is easy to say, but hard to do.--Jeffrey G. Allen
Make no little plans; they have no magic to stir men's blood and probably will themselves
not be realized. Make big plans; aim high in hope and work, remembering that a noble,
logical diagram once recorded will not die.--Daniel H. Burnham
Life is often compared to a marathon, but I think it is more like being a sprinter; long
stretches of hard work punctuated by brief moments in which we are given the opportunity
to perform at our best.--Michael Johnson, American sprinter and winner of four Olympic
gold medals and eight world championship gold medals
Self-discipline is the ability to make yourself do something you don't necessarily want to do,
to get a result you would really like to have.--Andy Andrews
Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing.--Benjamin Franklin
Winning isn't getting ahead of others, it is getting ahead of yourself.--Roger Staubach
It is the nature of man to rise to greatness if greatness is expected of him.--John Steinbeck
If you'll not settle for anything less than your best, you will be amazed at what you can
accomplish in your lives.--Vince Lombardi
He who has done his best for his own time has lived for all times.--Johann von Schiller
Champions keep playing till they get it right.--Billy Jean King
Whenever anything is being accomplished, it is being done, I have learned, by a
monomaniac with a mission.--Peter Drucker, American management research, professor,
and author
Desire is the key to motivation, but it's determination and commitment to an unrelenting
pursuit of your goal--a commitment to excellence--that will enable you to attain the success
you seek.--Mario Andretti
We must train from the inside out, using our strengths to attack and nullify any weaknesses.
It's not about denying a weakness may exist but about denying its right to persist.--Vince
McConnell
Men do less than they ought, unless they do all they can.--Thomas Carlyle
It's never crowded along the extra mile.--Wayne Dyer
Do more than you are paid for. There are never any traffic jams on the extra mile.--Brian
Tracy Motivational speaker and writer
You don't have to know a lot of things for your life to make a lasting difference in the world.
But you do have to know the few great things that matter, perhaps just one, and then be
willing to live for them and die for them. The people that make a durable difference in the
world are not the people who have mastered many things, but who have been mastered by
one great thing.--John Piper
Excellence is to do a common thing in an uncommon way.--Booker T. Washington
To say yes, you have to sweat and roll up your sleeves and plunge both hands into life up
to the elbows. --Jean Anouilh
Just go out there and do what you've got to do.--Martina Navratilova
I attempt an arduous task; but there is no worth in that which is not a difficult achievement.-Ovid
There are no closed doors to the Gospel -- provided that, once you get inside, you don't
care if you ever come out.--Brother Andrew
Make every day your masterpiece.--John Wooden
Don't wait for extraordinary opportunities. Seize common occasions and make them great!-Orison Swett Marden
Quality means doing it right when no one is looking.--Henry Ford
There are no office hours for champions.--Paul Dietzel
There are no office hours for leaders.--Cardinal Gibbons
Have patience with all things, but chiefly have patience with yourself. Do not lose courage
in considering your own imperfections but instantly set about remedying them--every day
begin the task anew.--St. Francis of Sales, 17th Century Bishop of Geneva
Do what you love, love what you do, and deliver more than you promise.--Harvey Mackay,
American Businessman
You better live your best and act your best and think your best today, for today is the sure
preparation for tomorrow and all the other tomorrows that follow.--Harrie Martineau
Americans are willing to expend some energy in religious activities such as attending
church and reading the Bible, and they are willing to throw some money in the offering
basket. Because of such activities, they convince themselves that they are people of
genuine faith. But when it comes time to truly establishing their priorities and making a
tangible commitment to knowing and loving God, and to allowing him to change their
character and lifestyle, most people stop short. We want to be spiritual and we want to have
God's favor, but we're not sure we want him taking control of our lives and messing with the
image and outcomes we've worked so hard to produce.--George Barna
All right, they're on our left, they're on our right, they're in front of us, they're behind us ...
they can't get away this time.--Lt Gen Lewis B. Puller, USMC
A hero is someone who has given his or her life to something bigger than oneself.--Joseph
Campbell, 1904-1987, American Professor/Writer/Orator
Whenever you do a thing, act as if all the world were watching.--Thomas Jefferson (17431846), 3rd U. S. President
Don't make friends who are comfortable to be with. Make friends who will force you to lever
yourself up.--Thomas J. Watson, Sr. (1874-1956), founder of IBM
There are no great people in this world, only great challenges which ordinary people rise to
meet.--William Frederick Halsey, Jr. (1882-1959), military officer
A man who works with his hands is a laborer; a man who works with his hands and his
brain is a craftsman; but a man who works with his hands and his brain and his heart is an
artist.--Louis Nizer
Life is a gift, and it offers us the privilege, opportunity, and responsibility to give something
back by becoming more.--Anthony Robbins
My deepest belief is that living as if you are dying sets us free.--Anne Lamott
Work as if you were to live a hundred years. Pray as if you were to die tomorrow.--Benjamin
Franklin
Everybody can be great, because everybody can serve. You don't have to have a college
degree to serve. You don't have to make your subject and your verb agree to serve. You
don't have to know Plato and Aristotle--Einstein's theory--the second law of
thermodynamics--you only need a heart full of grace; a soul generated by love.--Martin
Luther King Jr.
No steam or gas ever drives anything until it is confined.
No Niagara is ever turned into light and power until it is tunneled.
No life ever grows until it is focused, dedicated and disciplined.
--Harry Emerson Fosdick
To get something new done you have to be stubborn and focused, to the point that others
might find unreasonable.--Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon.com
Risk more than others think is safe.
Care more than others think is wise.
Dream more than others think is practical.
Expect more than others think is possible.
--Cadet maxim, West Point
Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.--attributed to
Mahatma Gandhi [see similar quote by Benjamin Franklin]
Learn as if you were going to live forever. Live as if you were going to die tomorrow.-Mahatma Gandhi
If you want to make good use of your time, you've got to know what's most important and
then give it all you've got.--Lee Iacocca
Life is no brief candle to me. It is a sort of splendid torch which I have got a hold of for the
moment, and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to future
generations.--George Bernard Shaw
Another fresh new year is here . . .
Another year to live!
To banish worry, doubt, and fear,
To love and laugh and give!
This bright new year is given me
To live each day with zest . . .
To daily grow and try to be
My highest and my best!
I have the opportunity
Once more to right some wrongs,
To pray for peace, to plant a tree,
And sing more joyful songs!
--William Arthur Ward
**************************
faith and lack of
Without faith, nothing is possible. With it, nothing is impossible.--Mary Bethune
Whether you think you can or whether you think you can't, you're right!--Henry Ford
Over every mountain is a path, although it may not be seen from the valley.--Theodore
Roethke
Nothing is impossible, the word itself says, I'm possible!--Audrey Hepburn
One of God's arrangements is that after winter there should come beautiful spring days. It
happens every year and it happens in every life.--Father Joseph
No winter lasts forever; no spring skips its turn.--Hal Borland
Hope is like the sun, which, as we journey toward it, casts the shadow of our burdens
behind us.--Samuel Smiles
Every noble work is at first impossible.--Thomas Carlyle
Believe you can and you're halfway there.--Theodore Roosevelt
God doesn't call us to be comfortable. He calls us to trust Him so completely that we are
unafraid to put ourselves in situations where we will be in trouble if He doesn't come
through.--Francis Chan
Faith is not logical. But it isn’t illogical either. Faith is theological. It does not ignore reality; it
just adds God into the equation.--Mark Batterson
Faith is taking the first step even when you don’t see the whole staircase.--Martin Luther
King, Jr.
When the situation is hopeless, there is nothing to worry about.--Edward Abbey
Faith is vision plus valor.--Author unknown
Anxiety does not empty tomorrow of its sorrows, but only empties today of its strength.-Charles Spurgeon
Whenever you are asked if you can do a job, tell 'em, Certainly I can!--and get busy and
find out how to do it.--Theodore Roosevelt 1858-1919, Twenty-sixth President of the USA
If you believe you can, you probably can. If you believe you won't, you most assuredly
won't. Belief is the ignition switch that gets you off the launching pad.--Denis Waitley, 1933-,
American Author, Speaker, Trainer, Peak Performance Expert
Harriett Beecher Stowe wrote in Uncle Tom's Cabin that, No one is so thoroughly
superstitious as the godless man.
The man who regards his own life and that of his fellow creatures as meaningless is not
merely unhappy but hardly fit for life.--Albert Einstein
Let us be of good cheer, however, remembering that the misfortunes hardest to bear are
those which never come.--James Russell Lowell
Be willing to launch in faith, with no guarantees of success. This is the mark of personal
greatness.--Brian Tracy
If we have not quiet in our minds, outward comfort will do no more for us than a golden
slipper on a gouty foot.--John Bunyan, preacher and author (1628-1688)
The reason why worry kills more people than work is that more people worry than work.-Robert Frost, 1875-1963, American Poet
I pray to be like the ocean, with soft currents, maybe waves at times. More and more, I want
the consistency rather than the highs and the lows.--Drew Barrymore
I have learned to use the word impossible with the greatest caution.--Wernher von Braun
Every tomorrow has two handles. We can take hold of it with the handle of anxiety or the
handle of faith.--Henry Ward Beecher, 1813-1887, American Preacher, Orator, Writer
A day of worry is more exhausting than a week of work.--John Lubbock
Never bear more than one trouble at a time. Some people bear three kinds--all they have
had, all they have now, and all they expect to have.--Edward Everett Hale
Worry is interest paid on trouble before it comes due.--William R. Inge
One of the greatest discoveries a man makes, one of his great surprises, is to find he can
do what he was afraid he couldn't do.--Henry Ford, 1863-1947, Inventor and Founder of
Ford Motor Company
You can have anything you want if you are willing to give up the belief that you can't have
it.--William Purkey
Faith is knowing there is an ocean because you have seen a brook.--William Arthur Ward
(1921-1994), Educator.
We must accept finite disappointment, but we must never lose infinite hope.--Martin Luther
King, Jr.
Having a clear faith, according to the credo of the church, is often labeled as
fundamentalism. Yet relativism--that is, letting oneself be carried here and there by any
wind of doctrine--appears as the sole attitude good enough for modern times.--Pope
Benedict XVI
Without belief, we would be left with nothing but an overwhelming doom, every single day.
And it will beat you. I didn't fully see, until the cancer, how we fight every day against the
creeping negatives of the world, how we struggle daily against the slow lapping of cynicism.
Dispiritedness and disappointment, these are the real perils of life, not some sudden illness
or cataclysmic millennium doomsday. I knew now why people fear cancer: because it is a
slow and inevitable death, it is the very definition of cynicism and loss of spirit... So, I
believed.--Lance Armstrong
Even skeptics have faith. They have faith that skepticism is true. Likewise agnostics have
faith that agnosticism is true. There are no neutral positions when it comes to beliefs.--I
Don't Have Enough Faith to be an Atheist, Norman L. Geisler & Frank Turek
Hope smiles on the threshold of the year to come, whispering that it will be happier.--Alfred,
Lord Tennyson, 1809-1892, English Poet
You can cancel out fear with faith. For there is no force in this world more powerful than
faith. The most amazing things can happen as a result of it... There are two massive
thought forces competing for control of the mind: fear and faith, and faith is stronger, much
stronger. Hold that thought of faith's greater power until you believe it, for it can be the
difference between success and failure.--Norman Vincent Peale
The flower that follows the sun does so even on cloudy days.--Robert Leighton (16111684), Cleric and scholar
If you doubt you can accomplish something; then you can't accomplish it. You have to have
confidence in your ability, and then be tough enough to follow through.--Rosalynn Carter
One way to get high blood pressure is to go mountain climbing over molehills.--Earl Wilson
(1907-1987), Columnist
A little faith will bring your soul to heaven; a great faith will bring heaven to your soul.-Charles Spurgeon
Faith is not the opposite of reason. Faith rests squarely upon reason but with the added
component of revelation.--Famed geneticist Francis Collins, quoted in TIME magazine
(Nov. 13, 2006)
In actual life every great enterprise begins with and takes its first forward step in faith.-Friedrich von Schlegel (1772-1829), Philosopher and writer
To one who has faith, no explanation is necessary. To one without faith, no explanation is
possible.--Thomas Aquinas (c. 1224-1274), Philosopher and theologian
If we were logical, the future would be bleak indeed. But we are more than logical. We are
human beings, and we have faith, and we have hope...--Jacques-Yves Cousteau (19101997), Marine explorer
Not truth, but faith it is that keeps the world alive.--Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892-1950),
Poet
To disbelieve is easy; to scoff is simple; to have faith is harder.--Louis L'Amour (1908-1988)
Novelist
It is not a lucky word, this name 'impossible'; no good comes of those who have it so often
in their mouths.--Thomas Carlyle, 1795-1881, Scottish Philosopher and Author
Security is not the absence of danger, but the presence of God, no matter what the
danger.--Anonymous
Faith is to believe what you do not yet see; the reward for this faith is to see what you
believe.--Saint Augustine (354-430)
The happiest people I know are the ones who have learned how to hold everything loosely
and have given the worrisome, stress-filled, fearful details of their lives into God's keeping.-Charles R. Swindoll
Faith is not a cushion for me to fall back upon; it is my working energy.--Helen Keller
When you come to the edge of all the light you know, and are about to step off into the
darkness of the unknown, faith is knowing one of two things will happen: there will be
something solid to stand on, or you will be taught how to fly.--Barbara J. Winter
When you come to the end of all the light you know, and it's time to step into the darkness
of the unknown, faith is knowing that one of two things shall happen: Either you will be
given something solid to stand on or you will be taught to fly.--Edward Teller
My hopes are not always realized, but I always hope.--Ovid (c. 43 B.C.-18 A.D.), poet
I have realized that faith, humility and success are inseparable.--Ahmed Omar Kipkoech
Cheruiyot (formerly Robert Kipkoech Cheruiyot), four-time winner of the Boston Marathon
Think 'impossible' and dreams get discarded, projects get abandoned, and hope for
wellness is torpedoed. But let someone yell the words 'It's possible,' and resources we
hadn't been aware of come rushing in to assist us in our quest. I believe we are all
potentially brilliant and creative--but only if we believe it, only if we have an attitude of
positive expectancy toward our ideas, and only if we act on them.--Greg Anderson
I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen. Not only because I see it, but
because by it I see everything else.--C.S. Lewis
I've learned that no matter what happens, or how bad it seems today, life does go on, and it
will be better tomorrow.--Maya Angelou
Just as the body cannot exist without blood, so the soul needs the matchless and pure
strength of faith.--Mahatma Gandhi
Creativity requires the courage to let go of certainties.--Erich Fromm, 1900-1980, GermanAmerican Psychologist
Hope is a risk that must be run.--Georges Bernanos
Every day holds the possibility of a miracle.--Elizabeth David
We were not created to be eaten by anxiety, but to walk erect, free, unafraid in a world
where there is work to do, truth to seek, love to give and win.--Joseph Ford Newton
Every life is a profession of faith, and exercises an inevitable and silent influence.--Henri
Frederic Amiel
The greatest limitations you will ever face will be those you place on yourself.--Denis
Waitley
When you say, I can't, you are saying, God can't.
Both faith and fear may sail into your harbor, but allow only faith to drop anchor.--Author
unknown
Every evening, I turn worries over to God. He's going to be up all night anyway.--Mary C.
Crowley
There never was night that had no morn.--Dinah Maria Mulock Craik
If you're not daring to believe God for the impossible, you're sleeping through some of the
best parts of the Christian life.--Steven Futrick, The Day the Sun Stood Still (Multnomah
2010)
Faith is kept alive in us, and gathers strength, more from practice than from speculations.-Joseph Addison
If they want to discourage belief in God, the popularizers must furnish arguments in support
of their own atheistic views. Today's atheist evangelists hardly even try to argue their case
in this regard. Instead, they train their guns on well-known abuses in the history of the major
world religions. But the excesses and atrocities of organized religion have no bearing
whatsoever on the existence of God, just as the threat of nuclear proliferation has no
bearing on the question of whether E = mc2.
Living a life of faith means never knowing where you are being led. But it does mean loving
and knowing the One who is leading. It is literally a life of faith, not of understanding and
reason--a life of knowing Him who calls us to go.--Oswald Chambers
Faith is the bird that feels the light and sings when the dawn is still dark.--Rabindranath
Tagore
In order to be a realist you must believe in miracles.--David Ben Gurion
Faith pulls the black mask from the face of trouble, and discovers the angel beneath.-Charles Spurgeon
I think many of us exercise faith in hopes that it'll put us into a situation that doesn't require
faith. Newsflash: when you take a step of faith, it'll put you into a situation where you need
more faith. Faith is always being upgraded or downgraded. May you find yourself in
situations that demand more and more and more faith. In God's economy, the reward for
good work is more work. In the same way, the reward for faith is more faith.--Mark
Batterson
The most unrealistic person in the world is the cynic, not the dreamer. Hope only makes
sense when it doesn't make sense to be hopeful.--Paul Hawken
Faith can give us courage to face the uncertainties of the future.--Martin Luther King Jr.
Someday, all you'll have to light your way will be a single ray of faith--and it will be enough.-Kobi Yamada
I know God promises not to give me more than I can handle. I just wish he didn't trust me
so much.--Mother Teresa
I know God won't give me more than I can handle. I just wish he didn't trust me so much.-Mother Theresa
Relying on God has to begin all over again every day as if nothing had yet been done.--C.
S. Lewis
Start by doing what's necessary; then do what's possible; and suddenly you are doing the
impossible.--St. Francis of Assisi, 1181-1226, Italian Preacher, Founder of the Franciscan
Order
I have found that there are three stages in every great work of God; first, it is impossible,
then it is difficult, then it is done.--Hudson Taylor (1832-1905)
Most of the things worth doing in the world were said to be impossible before they were
done.--Louis Brandeis (1856-1941) Jurist
So many of our dreams at first seem impossible, then they seem improbable, and then,
when we summon the will, they soon become inevitable.--Christopher Reeve
The cyclone derives its powers from a calm center. So does a person.--Norman Vincent
Peale
Faith--is the Pierless Bridge
Supporting what We see
Unto the Scene that We do not-Too slender for the eye
--Emily Dickinson
Surely there is something in the unruffled calm of nature that overawes our little anxieties
and doubts; the sight of the deep-blue sky and the clustering stars above seems to impart a
quiet to the mind.--Jonathan Edwards, 1703-1758
Sometimes your only available transportation is a leap of faith.--Margaret Shepherd
To believe in the things you can see and touch is no belief at all -- but to believe in the
unseen is a triumph and a blessing.--Abraham Lincoln
Even if I knew that tomorrow the world would go to pieces, I would still plant my apple tree.-Martin Luther
Take the first step in faith. You don't have to see the whole staircase, just take the first
step.--Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Faith is a place of mystery, where we find the courage to believe in what we cannot see and
the strength to let go of our fear of uncertainty.--Brene Brown
Is he alone who has courage on his right hand and faith on his left hand?--Charles
Lindbergh
Priorities in citizenship: President James Madison, in his Memorial and Remonstrance,
wrote: Before any man can be considered as a member of Civil Society, he must be
considered as a subject of the Governor of the Universe.
Let us not bankrupt our todays by paying interest on the regrets of yesterday and by
borrowing in advance the troubles of tomorrow. Ralph W. Sockman (1889-1970), Minister
The only thing that stands between a man and what he wants from life is often merely the
will to try it and the faith to believe that it is possible.--Richard M. DeVos
No one gets an exemption from hardship on planet earth. How we receive it hinges on
whether we believe in an alternate reality that transcends the one we know so well. The
Bible never minimizes hardship or unfairness--witness books like Job, Psalms, and
Lamentations. It simply asks us to withhold final judgment until all the evidence is in.--Phillip
Yancey, Rumors of Another World (Zondervan, 2003)
Have courage for the great sorrows of life and patience for the small ones; and when you
have laboriously accomplished your daily task, go to sleep in peace. God is awake.--Victor
Hugo
A leader is a dealer in hope.--Napoleon Bonaparte
The future is given shape by our faith, or condemned to drift and disaster by our
indifference.--Page Smith
The only way to find the limits of the possible is by going beyond them to the impossible.-Arthur C. Clarke
Christ wants not nibblers of the possible, but grabbers of the impossible, by faith in the
omnipotence, fidelity, and wisdom of the Almighty Savior who gave the command. Is there
a wall in our path? By our God we will leap over it! Are there lions and scorpions in our
way? We will trample them under our feet! Does a mountain bar our progress? Saying, Be
thou cast into the sea, we will march on. Soldiers of Jesus! Never surrender!--C. T. Studd
Faith is daring to put your dream to the test. It is better to try to do something and fail than
to try to do nothing and succeed.--Robert H. Schuller
**************************
forget the past
You should not suffer the past. You should be able to wear it like a loose garment, take it off
and let it drop.--Eva Jessye
One should count each day a separate life.--Seneca
Look not mournfully into the past, it comes not back again. Wisely improve the present, it is
thine. Go forth to meet the shadowy future without fear and with a manly heart.--Henry
Wadsworth Longfellow
Yesterday is a canceled check: Forget it. Tomorrow is a promissory note: Don't count on it.
Today is ready cash: Use it!--Edwin C. Bliss
Regret for the things we did can be tempered by time; it is regret for the things we did not
do that is inconsolable.--Sydney J. Harris, 1917-, American Journalist
Let us not bankrupt our todays by paying interest on the regrets of yesterday and by
borrowing in advance the troubles of tomorrow. Ralph W. Sockman (1889-1970), Minister
Make it a rule of life never to regret and never to look back. Regret is an appalling waste of
energy; you can't build on it, it's only good for wallowing in.--Katherine Mansfield, 18881923, Author
You can't have a better tomorrow if you are thinking about yesterday all the time.--Charles
F. Kettering, 1876-1958, American Engineer, Inventor
Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some blunders and
absurdities no doubt crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day;
begin it well and serenely and with too high a spirit to be cumbered with your old
nonsense.--Ralph Waldo Emerson, (1803-1882, American Poet, Essayist)
Trust the past to the mercy of God, the present to his love, and the future to his
providence.--St. Augustine
Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, today is a gift of God, which is why we call it
the present.--Bill Keane
Yesterday is history. Tomorrow is a mystery. And today? Today is a gift. That's why we call
it the present.--Babatunde Olatunji
Regret for wasted time is more wasted time.--Mason Cooley, 1927-2002, American Aphorist
No matter what your past has been, you have a spotless future.--Anonymous
Living in the past is kind of like living in a coffin...it's totally constraining, and ends up being
a lid on your growth...--Doug Firebaugh
Forget past mistakes. Forget failures. Forget everything except what you're going to do now
and do it.--William Durant
The past should be culled like a box of fresh strawberries, rinsed of debris, sweetened
judiciously and served in small portions, not very often.--Laura Palmer
It's easy to carry the past as a burden instead of a school. It's easy to let it overwhelm you
instead of educate you.--Jim Rohn
On no account brood over your wrongdoing. Rolling in the muck is not the best way of
getting clean.--Aldous Huxley
I learned...that one can never go back, that one should not ever try to go back--that the
essence of life is going forward. Life is really a One Way Street.--Agatha Christie
We can easily manage if we will only take, each day, the burden appointed to it. But the
load will be too heavy for us if we carry yesterday's burden over again today, and then add
the burden of the morrow before we are required to bear it.--John Newton
Fix your eyes forward on what you can do, not back on what you cannot change.--Tom
Clancy
You're never too old to become younger.--Mae West
Every man should be born again on the first day of January. Start with a fresh page. Take
up one hole more in the buckle if necessary, or let down one, according to circumstances;
but on the first of January let every man gird himself once more, with his face to the front,
and take no interest in the things that were and are past.--Henry Ward Beecher
Here is the key to being free from the stranglehold of past failures and mistakes: Learn the
lesson and forget the details.--Author unknown
If you're still hanging onto a dead dream of yesterday, laying flowers on its grave by the
hour, you cannot be planting the seeds for a new dream to grow today.--Joyce Chapman
If you face squarely into the sunlight, and gaze squarely toward the future, you will find that
both your shadow and your failures have fallen behind you.--Vitali Negri
Many people can't achieve the success of their dreams because they won't leave their past
behind. They won't tear down the monuments they've built to their old hurts and problems.-Vic Johnson
Let us not look back in anger, nor forward in fear, but around in awareness.--James
Thurber
Fear not for the future, weep not for the past.--Percy Bysshe Shelley
Never let your memories be greater than your dreams.--Doug Ivester
We can't afford to waste tears on might-have-beens. We need to turn the tears into sweat
that can take us to what can be.--Denis Waitley
Forget mistakes, forget failures. Forget everything except what you're going to do now and
do it. Today is your lucky day.--Will Durant
People can be more forgiving than you can imagine. But you have to forgive yourself. Let
go of what's bitter and move on.--Bill Cosby
I like the dreams of the future better than the history of the past.--Thomas Jefferson
Your past is not your potential. In any hour you can choose to liberate the future.--Marilyn
Ferguson
You can't start the next chapter of your life if you keep rereading the last one.--Author
unknown
Those who face that which is actually before them, unburdened by the past, undistracted by
the future, these are they who live, who make the best use of their lives; these are those
who have found the secret of contentment.--Alban Goodier
We should regret our mistakes and learn from them, but never carry them forward into the
future with us.--L.M. Montgomery
Getting over a painful experience is much like crossing monkey bars. You have to let go at
some point in order to move forward.--C.S. Lewis
When a thing is done, it's done. Don't look back. Look forward to your next objective.-George C. Marshall
It's always been my philosophy: Turn the page. If something falls through, turn the page. It's
over with, get used to it, get on with it. Very simple. It's always worked for me.--Merv Griffin
I am not a has-been. I am a will be.--Lauren Bacall, American Film and Stage Actress
Write the bad things that are done to you in sand, but write the good things that happen to
you on a piece of marble.--Arabic Proverb
**************************
forgiveness, resentment
When you forgive, you in no way change the past--but you sure do change the future.-Bernard Meltzer
This is certain, that a man that studieth revenge keeps his wounds green, which otherwise
would heal and do well.--Sir Francis Bacon
The problem with holding a grudge ... is that your hands are then too full to hold onto
anything else. It might be the competition or a technology or the lousy things that someone
did a decade ago. None of it is going to get better as a result of revisiting the grudge.--Seth
Godin
The more a man knows, the more he forgives.--Confucius
Often we allow ourselves to be upset by small things we should despise and forget. We
lose many irreplaceable hours brooding over grievances that, in a year's time, will be
forgotten by us and by everybody. No, let us devote our life to worthwhile actions and
feelings, to great thoughts, real affections and enduring undertakings.--Andre Maurois
I shall allow no man to belittle my soul by making me hate him.--Booker T. Washington
The law an eye for an eye makes the whole world blind.--Mohandas Gandhi
Woodrow Wilson used to tell about a group of college professors who were considering the
misconduct of a certain student. One of the professors urged severe punishment. After all,
he said, God has given us eyes. Yes, replied another professor, and he has also given us
eyelids.
Holding on to anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else;
you are the one getting burned.--Buddha
Of the Seven Deadly Sins, anger is possibly the most fun. To lick your wounds, to smack
your lips over grievances long past, to roll over your tongue the prospect of bitter
confrontations still to come, to savor to the last toothsome morsel both the pain you are
given and the pain you are giving back--in many ways it is a feast fit for a king. The chief
drawback is that what you are wolfing down is yourself. The skeleton at the feast is you.-Frederick Buechner
Lack of forgiveness causes almost all of our self-sabotaging behavior.--Mark Victor Hansen,
American Motivational Speaker, Author
There is no revenge so complete as forgiveness.--Josh Billings, 1815-1885, American
Humorist and Lecturer
Forgiveness is almost a selfish act because of its immense benefits to the one who
forgives.--Lawana Blackwell
A chip on the shoulder is too heavy a piece of baggage to carry through life.--John Hancock
(1737-1793), Statesman
Forgiveness does not change the past, but it does enlarge the future.--Paul Boese
The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.--Mahatma Gandhi
The only people with whom you should try to get even are those who have helped you.-John E. Southard
Life appears to me too short to be spent in nursing animosity or registering wrongs.-Charlotte Bronte Jane Eyre
One of the secrets of a long and fruitful life is to forgive everybody, everything, every night
before you go to bed.--Bernard M. Baruch
My idea of forgiveness is letting go of resentment ... ridding yourself of negative thoughts.
All they do is make you miserable. Believe me, you can fret and fume all you want, but
whoever it was that wronged you is not suffering from your anguish whatsoever.--Della
Reese, Actor
He who cannot forgive others destroys the bridge over which he himself must pass.-George Herbert (1593-1633) Poet and cleric
Never does the human soul appear so strong as when it foregoes revenge, and dares
forgive an injury.--E. H. Chapin
Not to forgive is to be imprisoned by the past, by old grievances that do not permit life to
proceed with new business. Not to forgive is to yield oneself to another's control... to be
locked into a sequence of act and response, of outrage and revenge, tit for tat, escalating
always. The present is endlessly overwhelmed and devoured by the past. Forgiveness
frees the forgiver. It extracts the forgiver from someone else's nightmare.--Lance Morrow
Forgiveness is the economy of the heart... Forgiveness saves the expense of anger, the
cost of hatred, the waste of spirits.--Hannah More
If you wish to travel far and fast, travel light. Take off all your envies, jealousies,
unforgiveness, selfishness and fear.--Glenn Clark
Not forgiving is like drinking rat poison and then waiting for the rat to die.--Anne Lamott
Bitterness and an unforgiving spirit can be likened to you taking poison and expecting that
someone else would die from the effect. Forgiveness is about setting the prisoner in your
heart free only to discover that all along, you had been the real prisoner.--Tope Popoola
He who forgives ends the quarrel.--African proverb
Forgiveness is not an occasional art, it is a permanent attitude.--Martin Luther
The pearl of justice is found in the heart of mercy.--Catherine of Siena
One resolution I have made, and try always to keep, is this: To rise above the little things.-John Burroughs
The difference between holding on to a hurt or releasing it with forgiveness is the difference
between laying your head at night on a pillow filled with thorns or a pillow filled with rose
petals.--Loren Fischer
Every day is another chance to get things right.--Lauren Hill
If you're angry with a loved one, hug that person. And mean it. You may not want to hug-which is all the more reason to do so. It's hard to stay angry when someone shows they
love you, and that's precisely what happens when we hug each other.--Walter Anderson
I will waste not even a precious second today in anger or hate or jealousy or selfishness. I
know that the seeds I sow I will harvest, because every action, good or bad, is always
followed by an equal reaction. I will plant only good seeds this day.--Og Mandino
A wise man will make haste to forgive, because he knows the true value of time, and will
not suffer it to pass away in unnecessary pain.--Samuel Johnson
We are told that people stay in love because of chemistry, or because they remain intrigued
with each other, because of many kindnesses, because of luck... But part of it has got to be
forgiveness and gratefulness.--Ellen Goodman
If you can't forgive and forget, pick one.--Robert Brault
We cause as much pain by taking offense as by giving it.--Eleanor Roosevelt
For every minute you are angry you lose sixty seconds of happiness.--Ralph Waldo
Emerson
Hanging on to resentment is letting someone you despise live rent-free in your head.--Ann
Landers
I do not understand the mystery of grace--only that it meets us where we are, but does not
leave us where it found us.--Anne Lamott
Anger is an acid that can do more harm to the vessel in which it is stored than to anything
on which it is poured.--Mark Twain
If you hug to yourself any resentment against anybody else, you destroy the bridge by
which God would come to you.--Peter Marshall
Forgiveness is a gift you give yourself.--Suzanne Somers
Resentment is like taking poison and waiting for the other person to die.--Malachy McCourt,
Writer, Author
Every man should keep a fair-sized cemetery in which to bury the faults of his friends.-Henry Ward Beecher
May I forget what ought to be forgotten; and recall, unfailing, all that ought to be recalled,
each kindly thing, forgetting what might sting.--Mary Carolyn Davies
Don't water your weeds.--Harvey Mackay
**************************
freedom
He only earns his freedom and his life
Who takes them every day by storm.
--Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Freedom is the right to do what you ought to do.--Bishop Fulton J. Sheen, American
religious leader (1895-1979).
Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom. It is the argument of tyrants;
it is the creed of slaves.--William Pitt, British prime-minister (1759-1806)
They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither
liberty nor safety.--Benjamin Franklin, Historical Review of Pennsylvania, 1759
In the end, more than they wanted freedom, they wanted security. They wanted a
comfortable life, and they lost it all--security, comfort, and freedom. When ... the freedom
they wished for was freedom from responsibility, then Athens ceased to be free.--Sir
Edward Gibbon (1737-1794)
Freedom is the right to be wrong; not the right to do wrong.--John G. Diefenbaker (18951979), Politician
I would rather be exposed to the inconveniences attending too much liberty than to those
attending too small a degree of it.--Thomas Jefferson (1743--1826)
Freedom is a choice--it comes when we choose discipline.--Author unknown
The really important kind of freedom involves attention, and awareness, and discipline, and
effort, and being able truly to care about other people and to sacrifice for them, over and
over, in myriad petty little unsexy ways, every day.--David Foster Wallace
Our freedom can be measured by the number of things we can walk away from.--Vernon
Howard
I would rather be ashes than dust! I would rather that my spark burn out in a brilliant blaze
than it be stifled by dry-rot. I would rather be a superb meteor, every atom of me in
magnificent glow, than a sleepy and permanent planet. The function of man is to live, not to
exist. I shall not waste my days trying to prolong them. I shall use my time.--Jack London
(1876-1916), U.S. author
I believe there are more instances of the abridgment of the rights of the people by the
gradual and silent encroachments of those in power than by violent and sudden
usurpations.--James Madison, fourth US president (1751-1836)
**************************
friendship
Angels may not dress the part,
With robes and wings that soar,
Often angels come as friends
Knocking at your door.
--Author unknown
If you go looking for a friend, you're going to find they're very scarce. If you go out to be a
friend, you'll find them everywhere. Ziglar, Zig, American Sales Trainer, Author, Motivational
Speaker
A friend is a gift you give yourself.--Robert Louis Stevenson
I love you not only for what you are, but for what I am when I am with you. I love you not
only for what you have made of yourself, but for what you are making of me. I love you for
the part of me that you bring out.--Elizabeth Barrett Browning
The greatest healing therapy is friendship and love.--Hubert H. Humphrey, 1911-1978,
American Politician and Former Vice President of the United States
Friendship isn't a big thing; it's a million little things.--Source Unknown
Friendship improves happiness, and abates misery, by doubling our joys, and dividing our
grief.--Joseph Addison
Don't make friends who are comfortable to be with. Make friends who will force you to lever
yourself up.--Thomas J. Watson, Sr. (1874-1956), founder of IBM
It is not easy words we say, nor is it the gifts we give that make us friends. Friendship
invites us to share not only bread broken, but our brokenness. Friendship invites us to
share not only wine poured into glasses, but our lives poured out.... We remember Jesus
best when we share in faithful friendship.--Paula Ripple
The value of friendly is beyond measure--it costs nothing, yet it's worth a fortune. And it's
the most contagious disease known to man--catch it.--Jeffrey Gitomer
The glory of friendship is not in the outstretched hand, nor the kindly smile, nor the joy of
companionship; it is in the spiritual inspiration that comes to one when he discovers that
someone else believes in him and is willing to trust him.--Ralph Waldo Emerson
Good friendships are fragile things and require as much care as any other fragile and
precious thing.--Randolph S. Bourne
Rich is the person who has a praying friend.--Janice Hughes
It takes a long time to grow an old friend.--John Leonard
Good friends are good for your health.--Irwin Sarason
A friend can tell you things you don't want to tell yourself.--Frances Ward Weller
Get a life in which you are not alone. Find people you love, and who love you. And
remember that love is not leisure, it is work.--Anna Quindlen
**************************
gifts, talents, anointing, heavenly provision
Don't let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do.--John Wooden
Life is like a ten-speed bike. Most of us have gears we never use.--Charles M. Schultz,
1922-, American Cartoonist, Creator of Peanuts
There are powers inside of you, which, if you could discover and use, would make of you
everything you ever dreamed or imagined you could become.--Orison Swett Marden, 18501924, American Author, Founder of Success Magazine
Use what talent you possess: the woods would be very silent if no birds sang except those
that sang best.--Henry Van Dyke, American Poet, Author
What this power is, I cannot say. All I know is that it exists...and it becomes available only
when you are in that state of mind in which you know exactly what you want...and are fully
determined not to quit until you get it.--Alexander Graham Bell, inventor of the telephone
Hide not your talents, they for use were made. What's a sun-dial in the shade?--Benjamin
Franklin
All kids are gifted; some just open their packages earlier than others.--Michael Carr
Saint Patrick's Breastplate: Old Irish, eighth-century prayer
I rise today
with the power of God to pilot me,
God's strength to sustain me,
God's wisdom to guide me,
God's eye to look ahead for me,
God's ear to hear me,
God's word to speak for me,
God's hand to protect me,
God's way before me,
God's shield to defend me,
God's host to deliver me,
from snares of devils,
from evil temptations,
from nature's failings,
from all who wish to harm me,
far or near,
alone and in a crowd.
Life is not easy for any of us. But what of that? We must have perseverance and above all
confidence in ourselves. We must believe that we are gifted for something and that this
thing must be attained.--Marie Curie
Talent is God-given; be humble. Fame is man-given; be thankful. Conceit is self-given; be
careful.--John Wooden
Always continue the climb. It is possible for you to do whatever you choose, if you first get
to know who you are and are willing to work with a power that is greater than ourselves to
do it.--Ella Wheeler Wilcox
**************************
God: creation
The first gulp from the glass of natural sciences will turn you into an atheist, but at the
bottom of the glass God is waiting for you.--Werner Heisenberg, winner of Nobel Prize in
Physics (1932)
In the hopes of reaching the moon men fail to see the flowers that blossom at their feet.-Albert Schweitzer
What I see in Nature is a grand design that we can understand only imperfectly, one with
which a responsible person must look at with humility. This is a genuine religious feeling
and has nothing to do with mysticism.--Albert Einstein
The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art
and all science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder
and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead: his eyes are closed.--Albert Einstein, 18791955, German-born American Physicist
My religion consists of a humble admiration of the illimitable superior spirit who reveals
himself in the slight details we are able to perceive with our frail and feeble mind.--Albert
Einstein
The heavens declare the glory of God, and the streets declare the sinfulness of man.-Marvin Olasky, World magazine
Spring shows what God can do with a drab and dirty world.--Virgil A. Kraft
Voices of Nature: When the green woods laugh with the voice of joy, And the dimpling
stream runs laughing by; When the air does laugh with our merry wit, And the green hill
laughs with the noise of it.--Lord Byron
How long can men thrive between walls of brick, walking on asphalt pavements, breathing
the fumes of coal and of oil, growing, working, dying, with hardly a thought of wind, and sky,
and fields of grain, seeing only machine-made beauty, the mineral-like quality of life?-Charles Lindbergh
The most beautiful things in the universe are the starry heavens above us and the feeling of
duty within us.--Indian Proverb
He who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe is as good as dead; his eyes
are closed.--Albert Einstein
There are two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as
though everything is a miracle.--Albert Einstein, 1879-1955, German-born American
Physicist
I would rather live in a world where my life is surrounded by mystery than live in a world so
small that my mind could comprehend it.--Harry Emerson Fosdick
I believe that the more thoroughly science is studied, the further does it take us from
anything comparable to atheism.--Lord Kelvin--British Physicist
When I first open my eyes upon the morning meadows and look out upon the beautiful
world, I thank God I am alive.--Ralph Waldo Emerson
People like you and I, though mortal of course like everyone else, do not grow old no matter
how long we live... [We] never cease to stand like curious children before the great mystery
into which we were born.--Albert Einstein
The best remedy for those who are afraid, lonely or unhappy is to go outside, somewhere
where they can be quiet, alone with the heavens, nature and God. Because only then does
one feel that all is as it should be and that God wishes to see people happy, amidst the
simple beauty of nature.--Anne Frank
Nature tops the list of potent tranquilizers and stress reducers. The mere sound of moving
water has been shown to lower blood pressure.--Patch Adams
The world is full of poetry. The air is living with its spirit; and the waves dance to the music
of its melodies, and sparkle in its brightness.--Percival
We need to find God, and He cannot be found in noise and restlessness. God is the friend
of silence. See how nature--trees, flowers, grass--grows in silence; see the stars, the moon
and the sun, how they move in silence. We need silence to be able to touch souls.--Mother
Teresa
A man can no more diminish God's glory by refusing to worship Him than a lunatic can put
out the sun by scribbling the word, 'darkness' on the walls of his cell. --C. S. Lewis
Try and penetrate with our limited means the secrets of nature and you will find that, behind
all the discernible concatenations, there remains something subtle, intangible and
inexplicable. Veneration for this force beyond anything that we can comprehend is my
religion. To that extent I am, in point of fact, religious.--Albert Einstein
**************************
God: love of and for
To praise is an investment in happiness.--George Adams
It is not physical beauty nor temporal glory nor the brightness of light dear to earthly eyes,
nor the sweet melodies of all kinds of songs, nor the gentle odor of flowers, and ointments
and perfumes, nor manna or honey, nor limbs welcoming the embraces of the flesh; it is not
these I love when I love my God. Yet there is a light I love, and a food, and a kind of
embrace when I love my God--a light, voice, odor, food, embrace of my innerness, where
my soul is floodlit by light which space cannot contain, where there is sound that time
cannot seize, where there is a perfume which no breeze disperses, where there is a taste
for food no amount of eating can lessen, and where there is a bond of union that no satiety
can part. That is what I love when I love my God.--Augustine
I may, I suppose, regard myself as or pass for being a relatively successful man. People
occasionally stare at me in the streets--that's fame. I can fairly easily earn enough to qualify
for admission to the higher slopes of the Internal Revenue--that's success. Furnished with
money and a little fame even the elderly, if they care to, may partake of trendy diversions-that's pleasure. It might happen once in a while that something I said or wrote was
sufficiently heeded for me to persuade myself that it represented a serious impact on our
time--that's fulfillment. Yet, I say to you--and I beg you to believe me--multiply these tiny
triumphs by a million, add them all together, and they are nothing--less than nothing, a
positive impediment--measured against one draught of that living water Christ offers to the
spiritually thirsty, irrespective of who or what they are.--Malcolm Muggeridge, a
distinguished English journalist, in his book Jesus Rediscovered.
Though, in terms of history, the darkness falls, blacking out us and our world, You have
overcome history. You came as light into the world in order that whoever believed in You
should not remain in darkness. Your light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not
overcome it. Nor ever will.--Malcolm Muggeridge
Contact with God establishes within us a flow of the same type of energy that re-creates the
world and that renews springtime every year.--Norman Vincent Peale (1898-1993),
Clergyman and writer
Americans are willing to expend some energy in religious activities such as attending
church and reading the Bible, and they are willing to throw some money in the offering
basket. Because of such activities, they convince themselves that they are people of
genuine faith. But when it comes time to truly establishing their priorities and making a
tangible commitment to knowing and loving God, and to allowing him to change their
character and lifestyle, most people stop short. We want to be spiritual and we want to have
God's favor, but we're not sure we want him taking control of our lives and messing with the
image and outcomes we've worked so hard to produce.--George Barna
God's gifts put man's best dreams to shame.--Elizabeth Barrett Browning
My Lord, I have nothing to do in this world, but to seek and serve Thee; I have nothing to do
with my heart and its affections, but to breathe after Thee. I have nothing to do with my
tongue and pen, but to speak to Thee, and for Thee, and to publish Thy glory and Thy will.-Richard Baxter (1615-1691)
To keep a lamp burning we have to keep putting oil in it.--Mother Teresa
I am getting desperately afraid of going to heaven, for I have had the vision of the shame I
shall suffer as I get my first glimpse of the Lord Jesus; His majesty, power and marvelous
love for me, who treated Him so meanly and shabbily on earth, and acted as though I did
Him a favour in serving Him! No wonder God shall have to wipe away the tears off all faces,
for we shall be broken-hearted when we see the depth of His love and the shallowness of
ours.--C.T. Studd (1860-1931).
When you have nothing left but God, you become aware that God is enough.--Guideposts
We ought daily to renew our vows, and to kindle our hearts to zeal, as if each day were the
first day of our conversion, and to say, Help me, O God, in my good resolutions, and in Thy
holy service, and grant that this day I may make a good beginning, for hitherto I have done
nothing!--From The Imitation Of Christ by Thomas a Kempis
For those who feel it, nothing makes the soul so religious and pure as the endeavor to
create something perfect; for God is perfection, and whoever strives after it, is striving after
something divine. True painting is only the image of the perfection of God, a shadow of the
pencil with which he paints, a melody, a striving after harmony.--Michelangelo
There is a God-shaped vacuum in the heart of every man which cannot be filled by any
created thing, but only by God, the Creator, made known through Jesus--Blaise Pascal
Christmas is not just a day, an event to be observed and speedily forgotten. It is a spirit
which should permeate every part of our lives.--William Parks
Christmas is not in tinsel and lights and outward show. The secret lies in an inner glow. It's
lighting a fire inside the heart. Good will and joy a vital part. It's higher thought and a greater
plan. It's glorious dream in the soul of man.--Wilfred A. Peterson
May you have the gladness of Christmas which is hope;
The spirit of Christmas which is peace;
The heart of Christmas which is love.
--Ada V. Hendricks
Because God has made us for Himself, our hearts are restless until they rest in Him.-Augustine of Hippo
Trust the past to the mercy of God, the present to his love, and the future to his
providence.--St. Augustine
**************************
God: power of
There are only two forces in the world, the sword and the spirit. In the long run the sword
will always be conquered by the spirit--Napoleon Bonaparte
There is nothing we cannot live down, rise above, and overcome.--Ella Wheeler Wilcox
(1850-1919) Poet and journalist
Despite our efforts to keep him out, God intrudes. The life of Jesus is bracketed by two
impossibilities: a virgin's womb and an empty tomb. Jesus entered our world through a door
marked No Entrance and left through a door marked No Exit.--Peter Larson, Prism
(Jan/Feb 2001)
If God brings you to it, God will bring you through it.--Robert Schuller
We may face situations beyond our reserves but never beyond God's resources.
What is all our histories, but God showing himself, shaking and trampling on everything that
he has not planted.--Oliver Cromwell
**************************
God: Word
The Word of God. You Christians look after a document containing enough dynamite to
blow all civilization to pieces, turn the world upside down and bring peace to a battle-torn
planet. But you treat it as though it is nothing more than a piece of good literature.-Mahatma Gandhi.
In the spiritual life, the battlefield is the mind. A mind filled and saturated with the Word of
God is a mighty weapon in the hand of the God of that Word.--Pastor Adrian Rogers.
The word of God is like a lion--you don't have to defend it, just turn it loose.--Charles
Spurgeon
The odds of just eight Old Testament prophecies of Jesus coming true is one in 100 million
billion. That's millions more than the total number of people who have ever lived. If you had
this many silver dollars, it would cover the state of Texas two feet deep!--From The Case for
Christ by Lee Strobel (Zondervan, 1998)
All who ask receive, those who seek find, and to those who knock it shall be opened.
Therefore, let us knock at the beautiful garden of Scripture. It is fragrant, sweet, and
blooming with various sounds of spiritual and divinely inspired birds. They sing all around
our ears, capture our hearts, comfort the mourners, pacify the angry, and fill us with
everlasting joy.--John of Damascus (675-753)
The Bible is alive, it speaks to me; it has feet, it runs after me; it has hands, it lays hold of
me.--Martin Luther
**************************
habits
Winning is not a sometime thing; it’s an all-time thing. You don’t win once in a while, you
don’t do things right once in a while, you do them right all the time. Winning is a habit.
Unfortunately, so is losing.--Vince Lombardi
Ill habits gather by unseen degrees, as brooks make rivers, rivers run to seas.--Ovid
Attitude is a reflection of character and character is a reflection of habit.--Tom Ziglar
Choose the life that is most useful, and habit will make it the most agreeable.--Sir Francis
Bacon
Good habits are as addictive as bad habits, and a lot more rewarding.--Harvey Mackay
It is easier to prevent bad habits than to break them.--Benjamin Franklin, 1706-1790,
American Scientist/Publisher/Diplomat
People become attached to their burdens sometimes more than the burdens are attached
to them.--George Barnard Shaw
Habits are like comfortable beds; they are easy to get into, but difficult to get out of.--Denis
Waitley
Bad habits are like a comfortable bed, easy to get into, but hard to get out of.--Author
unknown
Being miserable is a habit; being happy is a habit; and the choice is yours.--Tom Hopkins
Habit is either the best of servants or the worst of masters.--Nathaniel Emmons
As a single footstep will not make a path on the earth, so a single thought will not make a
pathway in the mind. To make a deep physical path, we walk again and again. To make a
deep mental path, we must think over and over the kind of thoughts we wish to dominate
our lives.--Henry David Thoreau
Motivation gets you going; habit gets you there. Make motivation a habit and you will get
there more quickly and have more fun on the trip. --Zig Ziglar
Nothing needs reforming so much as other people's habits.--Mark Twain
Life is all about choices. How many people are trapped in their everyday habits: part numb,
part frightened, part indifferent? To have a better life we must keep choosing how we're
living.--Albert Einstein
**************************
happiness, unhappiness
Whoever is happy will make others happy too.--Anne Frank
The talent for being happy is appreciating and liking what you have, instead of what you
don't have.--Woody Allen
The question is not how to survive, but how to thrive with passion, compassion, humor, and
style.--Maya Angelou
Happiness is not a state to arrive at, but a manner of traveling.--Margaret Lee Runbeck
Happiness is an attitude. We either make ourselves miserable, or happy and strong. The
amount of work is the same.--Carlos Castaneda
Happiness can be found in even the darkest of times, if only one remembers to turn on the
light.--Steve Kloves
Arthur Schopenhauer wrote, There is no more mistaken path to happiness than worldliness,
revelry, high life.
The happiness of life is made up of minute fractions--the little, soon-forgotten charities of a
kiss or smile, a kind look or heartfelt compliment.--Samuel Taylor Coleridge, poet (17721834)
You are moving in the right direction when you clearly understand that others can give you
pleasure but genuine happiness comes when you do things for others. --Zig Ziglar
The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation.--Henry David Thoreau
THE GREATER PART OF HAPPINESS or misery depends on our dispositions, and not on
our circumstances. We carry the seeds of the one or the other about with us in our minds
wherever we go.--MARTHA WASHINGTON (1732-1802)
To make a man happy, fill his hands with work, his heart with affection, his mind with
purpose, his memory with useful knowledge, his future with hope, and his stomach with
food.--Frederick E. Crane, Chief Judge, New York Court of Appeals
Happiness is a perfume you cannot pour on others without getting a few drops on yourself.-Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1803-1882, American Poet, Essayist
The secret of happiness is not doing what one likes to do, but in liking what one has to do.-Sir James M. Barrie, 1860-1937, British Playwright
Lead the life that will make you kindly and friendly to everyone about you, and you will be
surprised what a happy life you will lead.--Charles M. Schwab
Happiness does not come from doing easy work but from the afterglow of satisfaction that
comes after the achievement of a difficult task that demanded our best.--Theodore Rubin
He who would travel happily must travel light.--Antoine de Saint-Exupery
I am more and more convinced that our happiness or our unhappiness depends far more
on the way we meet the events of life than on the nature of those events themselves.--Karl
Wilhelm Von Humboldt, 1767-1835, German Statesman, Philologist
The secret of human happiness is not in self-seeking but in self-forgetting.--Theodor Reik
(1888-1969) Psychoanalyst
Happiness is not achieved by the conscious pursuit of happiness; it is generally the byproduct of other activities.--Aldous Huxley, Vendetta for the Western World, 1945
If you deliberately plan on being less than you are capable of being, then I warn you that
you'll be unhappy for the rest of your life.--Abraham H. Maslow, 1908-1970, American
Psychologist
Happiness comes from spiritual wealth, not material wealth . . . Happiness comes from
giving, not getting. If we try hard to bring happiness to others, we cannot stop it from
coming to us also. To get joy, we must give it, and to keep joy, we must scatter it.--John
Templeton
It is only possible to live happily ever after on a day-to-day basis.--Margaret Bonnano
Real joy comes not from ease or riches or from the praise of men, but from doing
something worthwhile.--Sir Wilfred Grenfell, 1865-1940, English missionary and Physician
Now and then it's good to pause in our pursuit of happiness and just be happy.--Guillaume
Apollinaire, 1880-1918, French Poet and Writer
Many people have a wrong idea of what constitutes true happiness. It is not attained
through self-gratification, but through fidelity to a worthy purpose.--Helen Keller
If you can't be happy where you are, it's a cinch you can't be happy where you ain't.-Charlie Tremendous Jones
Nine requisites for contented living:
Health enough to make work a pleasure.
Wealth enough to support your needs.
Strength to battle with difficulties and overcome them.
Grace enough to confess your sins and forsake them.
Patience enough to toil until some good is accomplished.
Charity enough to see some good in your neighbor.
Love enough to move you to be useful and helpful to others.
Faith enough to make real the things of God.
Hope enough to remove all anxious fears concerning the future.--Johann Wolfgang von
Goethe
Happiness must be cultivated. It is like character. It is not a thing to be safely let alone for a
moment, or it will run to weeds.--Elizabeth Stuart Phelps (1844-1911), Writer
Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you
are doing, you will be successful.--Albert Schweitzer
Happiness is a sunbeam which may pass through a thousand bosoms without losing a
particle of its original ray...--Jane Porter (1776-1850), writer
Happiness comes more from loving than being loved; and often when our affection seems
wounded it is only our vanity bleeding. To love, and to be hurt often, and to love again--this
is the brave and happy life.--J. E. Buckrose (1868-1931), writer
Happiness is not some emotional phantom floating in and out of your life. You can choose
happiness every day. Laughter and enthusiasm are the fuels that move the world. The
world belongs to the enthusiastic, and people will follow them anywhere.--Andy Andrews
Joy is the flag you fly when the Prince of Peace is in residence within your heart.--Wilfred
Peterson
Learn how to be happy with what you have while you pursue all that you want.--Jim Rohn
All who would win joy, must share it; happiness was born a twin.--Lord Byron
We tend to forget that happiness doesn't come as a result of getting something we don't
have, but rather of recognizing and appreciating what we do have.--Frederick Keonig
Who is the happiest of men? He who values the merits of others, and in their pleasure
takes joy, even as though t'were his own.--Johann von Goethe
Happiness is an attitude of mind, born of the simple determination to be happy under all
outward circumstances.--J. Donald Walters
A happy person is not a person in a certain set of circumstances, but rather a person with a
certain set of attitudes.--Hugh Downs
Success is getting what you want. Happiness is wanting what you get.--Dale Carnegie
Being happy doesn't mean everything is perfect. It means you have decided to look beyond
the imperfections.--Gerard Way
Three grand essentials to happiness in this life are something to do, something to love, and
something to hope for.--Jose Addison
You will find yourself refreshed by the presence of cheerful people. Why not make earnest
effort to confer that pleasure on others? Half the battle is gained if you never allow yourself
to say anything gloomy.--Lydia M. Child
Love is the master key which opens the gates of happiness.--Oliver Wendell Holmes, 18091894, American Author and Poet
Material success may result in the accumulation of possessions: but only spiritual success
will enable you to enjoy them.--Nido Qubein
True happiness, we are told, consists in getting out of one's self, but the point is not only to
get out, you must stay out; and to stay out you must have some absorbing errand.--Henry
James
It is sad to see that, in our highly competitive and greedy world, we have lost touch with the
joy of giving. We often live as if our happiness depended on having. But I don't know
anyone who is really happy because of what he or she has. True joy, happiness and inner
peace come from the giving of ourselves to others. A happy life is a life for others.--Henri
J.M. Nouwen
Be happy. Talk happiness. Happiness calls out responsive gladness in others. There is
enough sadness in the world without yours. Never doubt the excellence and permanence of
what is yet to be. Join the great company of those who make the barren places of life fruitful
with kindness. Your success and happiness lie in you. The great enduring realities are love
and service. Resolve to keep happy and your joy and you shall form an invincible host
against difficulties.--Helen Keller
**************************
hatred
Anyone who has ever looked into the glazed eyes of a soldier dying on the battlefield will
think hard before starting a war.--Otto von Bismarck
When we hate our enemies, we are giving them power over us: power over our sleep, our
appetites, our blood pressure, our health and our happiness. Our enemies would dance
with joy if only they knew how they were worrying us, lacerating us, and getting even with
us! Our hate is not hurting them at all, but our hate is turning our days and nights into a
hellish turmoil.--Dale Carnegie
Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only
love can do that. Hate multiplies hate, violence multiplies violence, and toughness multiplies
toughness in a descending spiral of destruction....The chain reaction of evil--hate begetting
hate, wars producing more wars--must be broken, or we shall be plunged into the dark
abyss of annihilation.--Martin Luther King, Jr.
Like an unchecked cancer, hate corrodes the personality and eats away its vital unity. Hate
destroys a man's sense of values and his objectivity. It causes him to describe the beautiful
as ugly and the ugly as beautiful, and to confuse the true with the false and the false with
the true.--Martin Luther King Jr.
I am tired and sick of war. Its glory is all moonshine. It is only those who have neither fired a
shot nor heard the shrieks and groans of the wounded who cry aloud for blood, more
vengeance, more desolation. Some of these young men think that war is all glory, but let
me say war is all hell.--William Tecumseh Sherman.
Hate is like acid. It can damage the vessel in which it is stored as well as destroy the object
on which it is poured.--Ann Landers [see also similar quote by Mark Twain]
How much more grievous are the consequences of anger than the causes of it?--Marcus
Aurelius
What a cruel thing is war: to separate and destroy families and friends, and mar the purest
joys and happiness God has granted us in this world; to fill our hearts with hatred instead of
love for our neighbors, and to devastate the fair face of this beautiful world.--Robert E. Lee,
letter to his wife, 1864
**************************
health
Doctors pour drugs of which they know little, to cure diseases of which they know less, into
human beings of which they know nothing.--Voltaire
Half of the modern drugs could well be thrown out of the window, except that the birds
might eat them.--Dr. Martin Henry Fischer
One of the first duties of the physician is to educate the masses not to take medicine.--Sir
William Osler, Aphorisms from his Bedside Teachings (1961) p.105
God heals, and the doctor takes the fee.--Benjamin Franklin
The art of medicine consists of keeping the patient amused while nature heals the disease.-Voltaire
Cardiovascular problems alone in America create over a thousand funerals a day... and
90% of the problem is neglect.--Jim Rohn
Those who think they have not time for bodily exercise will sooner or later have to find time
for illness.--Edward Stanley, Former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
People who cannot find time for recreation are obligated sooner or later to find time for
illness. -- John Wanamaker
Treat your body like a temple, not a woodshed. The mind and body work together. Your
body needs to be a good support system for the mind and spirit. If you take good care of it,
your body can take you wherever you want to go, with the power and strength and energy
and vitality you will need to get there.--Jim Rohn
Look to your health; and if you have it, praise God and value it next to conscience; for
health is ... a blessing money can't buy.--Izaak Walton
**************************
humility, pride
A humble person never stops learning.--Todd Blackledge
Talent is God-given; be humble. Fame is man-given; be thankful. Conceit is self-given; be
careful.--John Wooden
It takes a great man to be a good listener.--Calvin Coolidge
He who knows best knows how little he knows.--Thomas Jefferson
Let me be a little sweeter-Make my life a bit completer,
By doing what I should do
Every minute of the day.
Let me toil without complaining,
Not a humble task disdaining.
--Unknown
When in doubt, make a fool of yourself. There is a microscopically thin line between being
brilliantly creative and acting like the most gigantic idiot on earth.--Cynthia Heimel
Humility does not mean thinking less of yourself than of other people, nor does it mean
having a low opinion of your own gifts. It means freedom from thinking about yourself at all.-William Temple
It is much easier to be a hero than a gentleman.--Luigi Pirandello
Pride slays thanksgiving, but a humble mind is the soil out of which thanks naturally grow. A
proud man is seldom a grateful man, for he never thinks he gets as much as he deserves-Henry Ward Beecher
Often the best thing about not saying anything is that it can't be repeated.--Suzan Wiener
In three words I can sum up everything I've learned about life--it goes on. Robert Frost,
1875-1963, American Poet
The first virtue is to restrain the tongue; he approaches nearest to the gods who knows how
to be silent, even though he is in the right.--Cato
It is unwise to be too sure of one's own wisdom. It is healthy to be reminded that the
strongest might weaken and the wisest might err.--Mahatma Gandhi
Take the attitude of a student. Never be too big to ask questions. Never know too much to
learn something new. Og Mandino, 1923-1996, American Motivational Author
Don't let your ego get too close to your position, so that if your position gets shot down, your
ego doesn't go with it.--Colin Powell
I like to listen. I have learned a great deal from listening carefully. Most people never listen.-Ernest Hemingway
I believe that the first test of a truly great man is his humility. Really great men have a
curious feeling that the greatness is not in them, but through them. And they see something
divine in every other man.--John Ruskin, author and social reformer (1819-1900)
You can accomplish anything in life, provided that you do not mind who gets the credit.-Harry S. Truman, 1884-1972, Thirty-third President of the USA
Personally, I'm always ready to learn, although I do not always like being taught.--Winston
Churchill, 1874-1965, British Statesman, Prime Minister
The one important thing I have learned over the years is the difference between taking
one's work seriously and taking one's self seriously. The first is imperative, and the second
is disastrous.--Margot Fonteyn
The smaller the mind the greater the conceit.--Aesop
Once we realize that imperfect understanding is the human condition, there is no shame in
being wrong, only in failing to correct our mistakes.--George Soros, American
Businessman, Financier
In all affairs it's a healthy thing now and then to hang a question mark on the things you
have long taken for granted.--Bertrand Russell
I have never met a man so ignorant that I couldn't learn something from him.--Galileo Galilei
There's strength in admitting a weakness. Most of us are vulnerable in certain areas of our
lives, and those who are wise and ambitious will admit their weaknesses and vulnerability.-Zig Ziglar
It is not necessary for all great men to be great in action. The greatest and most sublime
power is often simple patience.--Horace Bushnell
You can't do it yourself. Don't be afraid to rely on others to help you accomplish your goals.-Oprah Winfrey, 1954-, American TV Personality, Producer, Actress, Author
Any man worth his salt will stick up for what he believes right, but it takes a slightly bigger
man to acknowledge instantly and without reservation that he is in error.--Gen. Peyton C.
March
God gave us two ears but only one mouth. Some people say that's because He wanted us
to spend twice as much time listening as talking. Others claim it's because He knew that
listening was twice as hard.--Unknown
Each generation imagines itself to be more intelligent than the one that went before it, and
wiser than the one that comes after it.--GEORGE ORWELL (1903-1950) Essayist and
writer.
What separates those who achieve from those who do not is in direct proportion to one's
ability to ask others for help.--Donald Keough, former president of Coca-Cola
Macho does not prove mucho.--Zsa Zsa Gabor, Hungarian-born Film actress
When a man realizes his littleness, his greatness can appear.--H.G. Wells
It is a sign of strength, not of weakness, to admit that you don't know all the answers.--John
P. Lougbrane
Nobody stands taller than those willing to stand corrected.--William Safire, Columnist
We come nearest to the great when we are great in humility.--Rabindranath Tagore, 18611941, Bengali Poet/Writer/Nobel Prize Winner
Knowledge speaks, but wisdom listens.--Jimi Hendrix, 1942-1970, Hall of Fame American
Guitarist/Singer/Songwriter
Our friends are those who know their own faults well enough to forgive us ours.--Moulton
Farnham
I define ego as Edging God Out.--Kenneth Blanchard co-author of The One-Minute
Manager.
Humility that low, sweet root, from which all heavenly virtues shoot.--Thomas More
Humility is to make a right estimate of one's self.--Charles H. Spurgeon
God uses broken things. Broken soil to produce a crop, broken clouds to give rain, broken
grain to give bread, broken bread to give strength. It is the broken alabaster box that gives
forth perfume. It is Peter, weeping bitterly, who returns to greater power than ever.--Vance
Havner
I remind myself every morning: Nothing I say this day will teach me anything. So if I'm going
to learn, I must do it by listening.--Larry King
Why can't life's problems hit us when we're seventeen and know everything?--A.C. Jolly
Being humble is the first step to greatness. You have two choices in athletics and in life; be
humble or be humiliated.--George Foreman
No matter who says what, you should accept it with a smile and do your own work.--Mother
Teresa
It is what we think we know already that often prevents us from learning.--Claude Bernard,
1813-1878, French Physiologist
Those who travel the high road of humility are not troubled by heavy traffic.--Alan Simpson,
politician
We know nothing until we know all the ways that we're not who we should be. Only then do
we have a chance at becoming the people we've wanted to be, and God intended us to be,
from the day we were born.--Marianne Williamson, American author and lecturer
Tension is who you think you should be. Relaxation is who you are.--Chinese Proverb
When you realize you've made a mistake, make amends immediately. It's easier to eat crow
while it's still warm.--Dan Heist
God has two dwellings; one in heaven, and the other in a meek and thankful heart.--Izaak
Walton
An egotist is not a man who thinks too much of himself. He is a man who thinks too little of
other people.--J. F. Newton
I'm in a wonderful position: I'm unknown, I'm underrated, and there's nowhere to go but up.-Pierre S. DuPont IV, Lawyer and politician
No one has a finer command of language than the person who keeps his mouth shut.--Sam
Rayburn
A man should never be ashamed to own that he has been in the wrong, which is but saying
that he is wiser today than he was yesterday.--Alexander Pope
Ask for what you want. Ask for help, ask for input, ask for advice and ideas--but never be
afraid to ask.--Brian Tracy
Be humble or you'll stumble.--Dwight Moody
The more humble a man is in himself, and the more obedient towards God, the wiser will he
be in all things, and the more shall his soul be at peace.--From The Imitation of Christ by
Thomas a Kempis
To admit you were wrong is to declare you are wiser now than before.--Unknown
Never look down on anybody unless you're helping them up.--Jesse Jackson
Pride makes us artificial and humility makes us real.--Thomas Merton
Most of us tend to suffer from 'agenda anxiety,' the feeling that what we want to say to
others is more important than what we think they might want to say to us.--Nido Qubein
The sufficiency of my merit is to know that my merit is not sufficient.--St. Augustine
The real test of character is how you treat other people when you're most certain you're
right.--Wayne Jacobsen
Greatness is a two-faced coin--and its reverse is humility.--Marguerite Steen
I have three precious things which I hold fast and prize. The first is gentleness; the second
frugality; the third is humility, which keeps me from putting myself before others. Be gentle
and you can be bold; be frugal and you can be liberal; avoid putting yourself before others
and you can become a leader among men.--Lao-Tzu
Humility leads to strength and not weakness. It is the highest form of self-respect to admit
mistakes and to make amends for them.--John J. McCloy
Tact is rubbing out another's mistake instead of rubbing it in.--Farmer's Almanac
Humility is the surest sign of strength.--Thomas Merton
There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to
your former self.-Ernest Hemingway
Advice is like snow; the softer it falls, the longer it dwells upon, and the deeper it sinks into
the mind.--Samuel Taylor Coleridge
If you could kick the person in the pants responsible for most of your trouble, you wouldn't
sit for a month.--Theodore Roosevelt
As long as you're green, you're growing. As soon as you're ripe, you start to rot.--Ray Kroc
It is good to be children sometimes, and never better than at Christmas, when its mighty
Founder was a child Himself.--Charles Dickens
When I became a man I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the
desire to be very grown up.--C. S. Lewis
Humility is not thinking less of yourself, it's thinking of yourself less.--C. S. Lewis
People with humility don't think less of themselves -- they just think about themselves less.-Ken Blanchard
A strong nation, like a strong person, can afford to be gentle, firm, thoughtful, and
restrained. It can afford to extend a helping hand to others. It is a weak nation, like a weak
person, that must behave with bluster and boasting and rashness and other signs of
insecurity.--Jimmy Carter
You can do anything, but not everything.--David Allen
It is never too late to give up your prejudices.--Henry David Thoreau
When a person can no longer laugh at himself, it is time for others to laugh at him.--Thomas
Szasz
In one lifetime I have seen my fellow countrymen ruling over a quarter of the world, the
great majority of them convinced, in the words of what is still a favorite song, that God
who's made the mighty would make them mightier yet. I've heard a crazed, cracked
Austrian proclaim to the world the establishment of a German Reich that would last for a
thousand years; an Italian clown announce that he would restart the calendar to begin with
his own assumption of power; a murderous Georgian brigand in the Kremlin acclaimed by
the intellectual elite of the Western world as wiser than Solomon, more enlightened than
Asoka, more humane than Marcus Aurelius. I've seen America wealthier and in terms of
weaponry more powerful than all the rest of the world put together, so that Americans, had
they so wished, could have outdone an Alexander or a Julius Caesar in the range and scale
of their conquests. All in one little lifetime. All gone with the wind.
--From Malcolm Muggeridge, excerpted from The End of Christendom: Inaugural address of
The Pascal Lectures on Christianity and the University, as given at the University of
Waterloo, October 1978 and published by Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, Grand
Rapids, Mich., 1980.
If it fails, admit it frankly and try another. But above all, try something.--Franklin D.
Roosevelt, 1882-1945, 32nd President of the United States
Sometimes a player's greatest challenge is coming to grips with his role on the team.-Scottie Pippen, American Basketball Player
Those who would learn to serve must first learn to think little of themselves. ... Only those
who live by the forgiveness of their sin in Jesus Christ will think little of themselves in the
right way. They will know that their own wisdom completely came to an end when Christ
forgave them.--Dietrich Bonhoeffer
I have realized that faith, humility and success are inseparable.--Ahmed Omar Kipkoech
Cheruiyot (formerly Robert Kipkoech Cheruiyot), four-time winner of the Boston Marathon
Hearing is one of the body's five senses. But listening is an art.--Frank Tyger
To have respect for ourselves guides our morals; and to have a deference for others
governs our manners.--Lawrence Sterne, 1713-1768
Many times, when I was having a hard time with one of my children, God would always
remind me that He was having a harder time with me than I was with them.--Charlie
Tremendous Jones
Angels can fly because they take themselves lightly.--G.K. Chesterton
**************************
humor
A well-developed sense of humor is the pole that adds balance to your steps as you walk
the tightrope of life.--William A. Ward
A good laugh is sunshine in a house.--William Makepeace Thackery, 1811-1863, Indianborn British Novelist
I live by this credo: Have a little laugh at life and look around you for happiness instead of
sadness. Laughter has always brought me out of unhappy situations. Even in your darkest
moment, you usually can find something to laugh about if you try hard enough.--Red
Skelton, 1913-1997, Comedian
Laughter and tears are both responses to frustration and exhaustion. I myself prefer to
laugh, since there is less cleaning up to do afterward.--Kurt Vonnegut
Laughter is the sun that drives winter from the human face.--Victor Hugo, 1802-1885,
French Poet/Dramatist/Novelist
A sense of humor is part of the art of leadership, of getting along with people, of getting
things done.--Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1890-1969, 34th President of the United States
Humor is tragedy plus time.--Mark Twain
Laugh at yourself and at life. Not in the spirit of derision or whining self-pity, but as a
remedy, a miracle drug, that will ease your pain, cure your depression, and help you to put
in perspective that seemingly terrible defeat and worry with laughter at your predicaments,
thus freeing your mind to think clearly toward the solution that is certain to come.--Og
Mandino
Laughter is to life what shock absorbers are to automobiles: It won't take the potholes out of
the road, but it sure makes the ride smoother.--Barbara Johnson
If you can't make it better, you can laugh at it.--Erma Bombeck
**************************
humor: humorous quotes
Imagination was given to us to compensate for what we are not; a sense of humor was
given to us to console us for what we are.--Mark McGinnis
God put me on this earth to accomplish a certain number of things. Right now I am so far
behind that I will never die.--Humorist Bill Watterson
Don't sweat the petty things and don't pet the sweaty things.--George Carlin
Bishop Fulton Sheen is one of several people who have been credited with saying, An
atheist is a man with no invisible means of support.
I have long been of the opinion that if work were such a splendid thing the rich would have
kept more of it for themselves.--Bruce Grocott
A lot of fellows nowadays have a B.A., M.D., or Ph.D. Unfortunately, they don't have a
J.O.B.--Fats Domino
Experts agree that the best type of computer for your individual needs is one that comes on
the market about two days after you actually purchase some other computer.--Dave Barry
Behind every successful man is a woman, behind her is his wife.--Groucho Marx
Love is much nicer to be in than an automobile accident, a tight girdle, a higher tax bracket
or a holding pattern over Philadelphia.--Judith Viorst
Status quo is Latin for 'the mess we're in.'--A Texas farmer.
I think that I shall never see
a billboard lovely as a tree.
Perhaps, unless the billboards fall,
I'll never see a tree at all.
--Ogden Nash
The trouble with being punctual is that nobody's there to appreciate it.--Franklin P. Jones
From now on, ending a sentence with a preposition is something up with which I will not
put.--Sir Winston Churchill
Reality is the leading cause of stress for those in touch with it.--Lily Tomlin, quoted in the
Los Angeles Daily News
The quickest way to double your money is to fold it and put it back in your pocket.--Will
Rogers, quoted in the Chattanooga Times Free Press
Only one man in a thousand is a leader of men. The other 999 follow women.--Groucho
Marx, quoted in the Bangkok Post
I'd rather be a could-be if I cannot be an are; because a could-be is a maybe who is
reaching for a star. I'd rather be a has-been than a might-have-been, by far; for a might
have-been has never been, but a has was once an are.--Milton Berle, 1908-2002, American
Comedian
Sometimes I get the feeling the whole world is against me, but deep down I know that's not
true. Some of the smaller countries are neutral.--Robert Orben, American comedy writer
If the English language made any sense, a catastrophe would be an apostrophe with fur.-Doug Larson, Olympic Gold Medalist (1902-1981)
Life expectancy would grow by leaps and bounds if green vegetables smelled as good as
bacon.--Doug Larson
Angels can fly because they take themselves lightly.--G.K. Chesterton
Status quo, you know, is Latin for 'the mess we're in'.--Ronald Reagan
Be careful about reading health books. You may die of a misprint.--Mark Twain
When your outgo exceeds your income, the upshot may be your downfall.--Paul Harvey
Procrastination is the art of keeping up with yesterday.--Don Marquis
I always wanted to be somebody. I should have been more specific.--Lily Tomlin
All my life, I always wanted to be somebody. Now I see that I should have been more
specific.--Jane Wagner
I have noticed even people who claim everything is predestined, and that we can do
nothing to change it, look before they cross the road.--Steven Hawking
Part of the good part of being a parent is a constant sense of deja vu. But some of what you
have to vu you never want to vu again.--Anna Quindlen, Writer
If the new father feels bewildered and even defeated, let him take comfort from the fact that
whatever he does in any fathering situation has a fifty percent chance of being right.--Bill
Cosby
Parents are not interested in justice, they're interested in peace and quiet.--Bill Cosby
Any man who can drive safely while kissing a pretty girl is simply not giving the kiss the
attention it deserves.--Albert Einstein
I know God promises not to give me more than I can handle. I just wish he didn't trust me
so much.--Mother Teresa
I know God won't give me more than I can handle. I just wish he didn't trust me so much.-Mother Theresa
If I'd known I was going to live this long, I would have taken better care of myself!--Eubie
Blake
**************************
initiative and lack of
The secret of getting ahead is getting started. The secret of getting started is breaking your
complex, overwhelming tasks into smaller manageable tasks, and then starting on the first
one.--Mark Twain
The most difficult thing is the decision to act, the rest is merely tenacity.--Amelia Earhart
Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can.--Arthur Ashe
It is easy to sit up and take notice. What is difficult is getting up and taking action.--Al Batt
It had long since come to my attention that people of accomplishment rarely sat back and
let things happen to them. They went out and happened to things.--Leonardo da Vinci
Iron rusts from disuse; water loses its purity from stagnation ... even so does inaction sap
the vigor of the mind.--Leonardo da Vinci
In any moment of decision, the best thing you can do is the right thing, the next best thing is
the wrong thing, and the worst thing you can do is nothing.--Theodore Roosevelt
I couldn't wait for success, so I went ahead without it.--Jonathan Winters
Eighty percent of success is showing up.--Woody Allen
Defeat is not the worst of failures. Not to have tried is the true failure.--George Woodberry
A person will sometimes devote all his life to the development of one part of his body -- the
wishbone.--Robert Frost
The question for each man to settle is not what he would do if he had means, time,
influence and educational advantages; the question is what he will do with the things he
has. The moment a young man ceases to dream or to bemoan his lack of opportunities and
resolutely looks his conditions in the face, and resolves to change them, he lays the
cornerstone of a solid and honorable success.--Hamilton Wright Mabie
The people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do.-Steve Jobs
You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any
direction you choose.--Dr. Seuss
One today is worth two tomorrows.--Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790).
If you see a snake, just kill it--don't appoint a committee on snakes.--H. Ross Perot
Even if you are on the right track, you will get run over if you just sit there.--Will Rogers
Most of us die with our music unplayed. ... We should try to step out of our comfort zones
and do the things we're capable of.--Mary Kay Ash (1918-2001) Founder of Mary Kay
Cosmetics
There is a great difference between worry and concern. A worried person sees a problem,
and a concerned person solves a problem.--Harold Stephens
You can't hit a home run unless you step up to the plate. You can't catch fish unless you put
your line in the water. You can't reach your goals if you don't try.--Kathy Seligman
If your ship doesn't come in, sail out to it--Jonathan Winters, Actor
He who is not courageous enough to take risks will accomplish nothing in life.--Muhammad
Ali, 1942-, American Boxer
Be bold, and mighty forces will come to your aid.--Goethe, 1749-1832, German Poet,
Dramatist, Novelist (--Basil King (1859-1928) Cleric and writer)
The only man who never makes mistakes is the man who never does anything.--Theodore
Roosevelt, 1858-1919, Twenty-sixth President of the USA
You have said it thousands of times I am sure: you will never know what you can do until
you try. However, the sad truth is that most people never try anything until they know they
can do it.--Bob Proctor, Author and Speaker
But the only way of discovering the limits of the possible is to venture a little way past them
into the impossible.--Arthur C. Clark 1917-, British Science Fiction Writer
No man ever achieved worthwhile success who did not, at one time or other, find himself
with at least one foot hanging well over the brink of failure.--Napoleon Hill, 1883-1970,
American Speaker, Motivational Writer
Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than
the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the
trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.--Mark Twain, American humorist
Because it hasn't been done before, doesn't mean it can't be done. Those who are afraid to
make a mistake will never make a significant achievement.--Ted Hood, America's Cup
winner
Action is the antidote to despair.--Joan Baez, American Folk Singer and Songwriter
The only thing that stands between a man and what he wants from life is often merely the
will to try it and the faith to believe that it is possible.--Richard M. DeVos
Nothing would be done at all if a man waited until he could do it so well that no one could
find fault with it.--Cardinal John Henry Newman (1801-1890) Religious leader
A man would do nothing, if he waited until he could do it so well that no one at all would find
fault with what he has done.--Cardinal Newman, 1801-1890
Nothing will ever be attempted, if all possible objections must first be overcome.--Samuel
Johnson (1709-1784) English Author
The Christian life is best lived dangerously. Playing it safe won't yield much fruit. People
who risk friendships or jobs or, even worse, their own lives for the sake of the Gospel will
get the most results. Living the faith well--fighting the good fight--requires strict discipline,
self-denial, and a willingness to expose oneself to danger. This is where trust comes in.
God may not deliver you from suffering right away, but he will sustain you and ultimately
reward you. And the knowledge that you have risked all for his sake will exhilarate you.-Brad Locke
It is not because things are difficult that we do not dare; it is because we do not dare that
they are difficult.--Seneca
It's a strange thing, you have said it thousands of times I am sure...you will never know
what you can do until you try. However the sad truth is that most people never try anything
until they know they can do it.--Bob Proctor
Many a man never fails because he never tries.--Norman MacEwan
You have to take it as it happens, but you should try to make it happen the way you want to
take it.--German Proverb
Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a
whole experience it. Life is a daring adventure or nothing at all.--Helen Keller
Stop rationalizing, stop stewing. Get up out of your chair and start doing.--Denis Waitley
It's the job that's never started as takes longest to finish.--J. R. R. Tolkien (1892-1973),
Writer
All growth is a leap in the dark, a spontaneous, unpremeditated act without benefit of
experience.--Henry Miller
If you are not willing to risk the unusual, you will have to settle for the ordinary.--Jim Rohn
Sport is not about being wrapped up in cotton wool. Sport, like all life, is about taking risks.-Roger Bannister, first man to break the 4-minute mile
If we did all the things we are capable of doing, we would literally astonish ourselves.-Thomas Edison
The best angle from which to approach any problem is the try-angle.--Source Unknown
Most people can do extraordinary things if they have the confidence or take the risks. Yet
most people don't. They sit in front of the telly and treat life as if it goes on forever.--Philip
Adams
You don't have to be great to get started, but you have to get started to be great.--Les
Brown
When you come to a fork in the road, take it.--Yogi Berra
Far better to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure,
than to take rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because
they live in the gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat.--Theodore Roosevelt, 1899.
I do not believe in a fate that falls on men and women however they act; but I do believe in
a fate that falls on them unless they act.--G.K. Chesterton
There are risks and costs to a program of action. But they are far less than the long-range
risks and costs of comfortable inaction.--John F. Kennedy, 1917-1963, Thirty-fifth President
of the USA
You cannot change anything in your life with intention alone, which can become a watereddown, occasional hope that you'll get to tomorrow. Intention without action is useless.-Caroline Myss
Whatever you do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius and power and magic in
it.--Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Often the difference between a successful person and a failure is not one has better
abilities or ideas, but the courage that one has to bet on one's ideas, to take a calculated
risk--and to act.--Andre Malraux
There is no comparison between that which is lost by not succeeding and that which is lost
by not trying.--Francis Bacon, 1561-1626, English Philosopher/Essayist/Statesman
You will never stub your toe standing still. The faster you go, the more chance there is of
stubbing your toe, but the more chance you have of getting somewhere.--Charles F.
Kettering, 1876-1958, American Engineer and Inventor
The important thing is not being afraid to take a chance. Remember, the greatest failure is
to not try. Once you find something you love to do, be the best at doing it.--Debbi Fields
Better to do something imperfectly than to do nothing flawlessly.--Robert Schuller
The best way to predict the future is to create it.--Stephen Covey, author
Progress always involves risks. You can't steal second base and keep your foot on first.-Frederick Wilcox
Let us not be content to wait and see what will happen, but give us the determination to
make the right things happen.--Peter Marshall (--Horace Mann)
What kind of man would live where there is no daring? I don't believe in taking foolish
chances, but nothing can be accomplished without taking any chance at all.--Charles A.
Lindbergh, American aviator
The men who try to do something and fail are infinitely better than those who try to do
nothing and succeed.--Lloyd Jones
Anything I've ever done that ultimately was worthwhile initially scared me to death.--Betty
Bender
We must dare and dare again, and go on daring.--Georges Jacques Danton
Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do.--John Wooden
At various points in your careers, you will be called to take a risk. And I think you will find,
as I have found, those will be the times of your greatest opportunities.--Raymond V.
Gilmartin
If I have learned one thing in this life, it is that God will not tie my shoes without me.--Doug
Boyd
Take calculated risks. That is quite different from being rash.--General George S. Patton
Why not go out on a limb? That's where the fruit is.--Will Rogers (--Frank Scully)
Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. Life is either a daring
adventure, or nothing. To keep our faces toward change and behave like free spirits in the
presence of fate is strength undefeatable.--Helen Keller
You cannot take the mild approach to the weeds in your mental garden. You have got to
hate weeds enough to kill them. Weeds are not something you handle; weeds are
something you devastate.--Jim Rohn
A great deal more failure is the result of an excess of caution than of bold experimentation
with new ideas. The frontiers of the kingdom of God were never advanced by men and
women of caution.--Oswald Sanders
The most effective way to do it, is to do it.--Amelia Earhart
There is nothing impossible to him who will try.--Alexander the Great, 356-323 B.C.,
Macedonian Ruler
Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go.--T.S. Eliot
You can't wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club.--Jack London
Man cannot discover new oceans unless he has the courage to lose sight of the shore.-Lord Chesterfield
One does not discover new lands without consenting to lose sight of the shore for a very
long time.--Andre Gide, 1869-1951, French Author and Nobel Prize Winner
People who don't take risks generally make about two big mistakes a year. People who do
take risks generally make about two big mistakes a year.--Peter Drucker, AustrianAmerican writer and management consultant
Don't let the fear of striking out hold you back.--Babe Ruth
Never let the fear of striking out get in your way.--Babe Ruth, 1895-1948, American
Baseball Player
Life is inherently risky. There is only one big risk you should avoid at all costs, and that is
the risk of doing nothing.--Denis Waitley
The man who says it can't be done is often interrupted by the man doing it.-David Dean
The world is moving so fast these days that the man who says it can't be done is generally
interrupted by someone doing it.--Elbert Hubbard
The person who says it cannot be done should not interrupt the person doing it.--Chinese
proverb
Get action. Seize the moment. Man was never intended to become an oyster.--Theodore
Roosevelt
Risk more than others think is safe.
Care more than others think is wise.
Dream more than others think is practical.
Expect more than others think is possible.
--Cadet maxim, West Point
Life is a series of sales situations, and the answer is NO if you don't ask.--Patricia Fripp
Someday is not a day of the week.--Unknown
Can anything be sadder than work unfinished? Yes, work never begun.--Christina Rossetti
I always wondered why somebody didn't do something about that, then I realized I was
somebody.--Lily Tomlin
You may never know what results come from your action. But if you do nothing, there will
be no result.--Mahatma Gandhi
Success is not the result of spontaneous combustion. You must set yourself on fire.-Unknown
Go to the effort. Invest the time. Write the letter. Make the apology. Take the trip. Purchase
the gift. Do it. The seized opportunity renders joy. The neglected brings regret.--Max
Lucado
Be like the turtle. If he didn't stick his neck out, he wouldn't get anywhere at all.--Harvey
Mackay
I am always doing that which I cannot do, in order that I may learn how to do it.--Pablo
Picasso
It is better to fail in a cause that will ultimately succeed than to succeed in a cause that will
ultimately fail.--Peter Marshall
To think too long about doing a thing often becomes its undoing.--Eva Young
The man who insists upon seeing with perfect clearness before he decides, never decides.
Accept life, and you must accept regret.-Henri Frederic Amiel
Do not be too timid and squeamish about your actions. All life is an experiment.--Ralph
Waldo Emerson
Pursue something so important that even if you fail, the world is better off with you having
tried.--Tim O'Reilly
To dare is to lose one's footing momentarily. To not dare is to lose oneself.--Soren
Kierkegaard
Wishes cost nothing unless you want them to come true.--Frank Tyger
There are two kinds of men who never amount to much: those who cannot do what they are
told, and those who can do nothing else.--Cyrus H. Curtis
He has a right to criticize, who has a heart to help.--Abraham Lincoln, 1809-1865, 16th
President of the United States
I am only one, but I am one;
I cannot do everything,
But I can do something.
What I can do I ought to do,
And what I ought to do
By God's grace I will do.
--Edward Everett Hale
I am only one, but I am still one. I cannot do everything, but still I can do something. And
because I cannot do everything I will not refuse to do the something that I can do.--Helen
Keller
Do not wait to strike till the iron is hot; but make it hot by striking.--William Butler Yeats (-William B. Sprague)
Every accomplishment starts with the decision to try.--Gail Devers
My dad always used to say, If you're falling off a cliff, you may as well try to fly. You have
nothing to lose.--Captain John Sheridan, Babylon 5
Faith is daring to put your dream to the test. It is better to try to do something and fail than
to try to do nothing and succeed.--Robert H. Schuller
You can't build a reputation on what you are going to do.--Henry Ford
You miss 100 percent of the shots you never take.--Wayne Gretzky
I'd rather be a could-be if I cannot be an are; because a could-be is a maybe who is
reaching for a star. I'd rather be a has-been than a might-have-been, by far; for a might
have-been has never been, but a has was once an are.--Milton Berle, 1908-2002, American
Comedian
There is no moment like the present. The man who will not execute his resolutions when
they are fresh upon him can have no hope from them afterwards.--Marie Edgeworth
No one could make a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could do only a
little.--Edmund Burke
The question should be, is it worth trying to do, not can it be done.--Allard Lowenstein
**************************
integrity, honesty, and lack of
Live so that your friends can defend you but never have to.--Arnold H. Glasow
Labor to keep alive in your breast that little spark of celestial fire, called conscience.-George Washington
It is not necessary that whilst I live I live happily; but it is necessary that so long as I live I
should live honourably.--Immanuel Kant
Do your best when no one is looking.--Bob Cousy
Do right and risk the consequences.--Sam Houston
Death is not the greatest loss in life. The greatest loss is what dies within us while we live.-Norman Cousins
Conscience is that still, small voice that is sometimes too loud for comfort.--Bert Murray
Be at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors, and let every new year find you a
better man.--Benjamin Franklin
Success is what you attract by the person you become.--Jim Rohn
Too often reason deceives us ... but conscience never deceives.--Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Character is doing the right thing when nobody’s looking. There are too many people who
think that the only thing that’s right is to get by, and the only thing that’s wrong is to get
caught.--J.C. Watts
The foundation stones for a balanced success are honesty, character, integrity, faith, love
and loyalty.--Zig Ziglar
What is morally wrong can never be advantageous, even when it enables you to make
some gain that you believe to be to your advantage. The mere act of believing that some
wrongful course of action constitutes an advantage is pernicious.--Marcus Tullius Cicero
The hottest places in Hell are reserved for those who, in times of great moral crisis,
maintain their neutrality.--Dante Alighier (1265-1321) Italian poet
Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him
power.--Abraham Lincoln
Character, in the long run, is the decisive factor in the life of an individual and of nations
alike.--Theodore Roosevelt
During my eighty-seven years I have witnessed a whole succession of technological
revolutions. But none of them has done away with the need for character in the individual or
the ability to think.--Bernard M. Baruch
Recommend to your children virtue; that alone can make them happy, not gold.--Ludwig
van Beethoven
Everything is not relative. Some things are right; some things are wrong. No
businessperson would knowingly hire a treasurer who admitted that he or she was only
relatively honest. --Zig Ziglar
Moral courage is a rarer commodity than bravery in battle or great intelligence. Yet it is the
one essential, vital quality of those who seek to change a world that yields most painfully to
change.--Robert Kennedy, 1925-1968, American Attorney General, Senator
Many a man thinks he is buying pleasure, when he is really selling himself to it.--Ben
Franklin
We've all been given a gift. The challenge is to figure out what you're going to do with what
you've been given. ... Are you going to stand for good or for evil? ... Because in the world
we live in today, it's what each one of us has to do: decide just where we're going to stand.
Me? I'm standing on the side of God.--Actor Denzel Washington, in an interview in Essence
magazine. (from Religion News Service)
History fails to record a single precedent in which nations subject to moral decay have not
passed into political and economic decline. There has been either a spiritual awakening to
overcome the moral lapse, or a progressive deterioration leading to ultimate national
disaster--General Douglas MacArthur (1880-1964) U.S. military commander.
'Tis the business of little minds to shrink, but he whose heart is firm, and whose conscience
approves his conduct, will pursue his principles unto death.
--Thomas Paine
You can tell more about a person by what he says about others than you can by what
others say about him.--Leo Aikman, Writer and Newspaper Editor
I will not let anyone walk through my mind with their dirty feet.--Mohandas K. Gandhi
If only I may grow: firmer, simpler--quieter, warmer.--Dag Hammarskjold, Secretary General
of the United Nations, Nobel laureate (1905-1961)
When my enemies stop hissing, I shall know I'm slipping.--Maria Callas
The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and
convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.--Martin Luther
King,1929-1968, American Black Leader, Nobel Prize Winner, 1964
Courage is not limited to the battlefield or the Indianapolis 500 or bravely catching a thief in
your house. The real tests of courage are much quieter. They are the inner tests, like
remaining faithful when nobody's looking, like enduring pain when the room is empty, like
standing alone when you're misunderstood.--Charles Swindoll, inspirational speaker
The question is not whether we will die, but how we will live.--Joan Borysenko
Cowardice asks the question: is it safe? Expediency asks the question: is it politic? Vanity
asks the question: is it popular? But conscience asks the question: is it right? And there
comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular-but one must take it simply because it is right.--Martin Luther King Jr., 1929-1968
A single lie destroys a whole reputation for integrity.--Baltasar Gracian, Spanish philosopher
and writer, 1601-1658
The voice of conscience is so delicate that it is easy to stifle it; but it is also so clear that it is
impossible to mistake it.--Germaine De Stael
If you smile when no one else is around, you really mean it.--Andy Rooney, American
Television News Personality
Character is the ability to follow through on a resolution long after the emotion with which it
was made has passed.--Brian Tracy
Character is the ability to carry out a good resolution long after the excitement of the
moment has passed.--Cavett Robert
Live in such a way that you would not be ashamed to sell your parrot to the town gossip.-Will Rogers
When you choose your friends, don't be short-changed by choosing personality over
character.--W. Somerset Maugham, 1874-1965, British Novelist and Playwright
Set the course of your lives by the three stars--sincerity, courage, unselfishness. From
these flow a host of other virtues....He who follows them and does not seek success, will
attain the highest type of success, that which lies in the esteem of those among whom he
dwells.--Monroe E. Deutsch (1879-1955) Educator
Live so that when your children think of fairness, caring and integrity, they think of you.--H.
Jackson Brown, Jr.
A life lived with integrity--even if it lacks the trappings of fame and fortune is a shinning star
in whose light others may follow in the years to come.--Denis Waitley
Four things a man must learn to do,
If he would make his life more true.
To think without confusion clearly.
To love his fellow man sincerely.
To act from honest motives purely.
To trust in God and Heaven securely.
--Reverend Henry Van Dyke
There can be no happiness if the things we believe in are different from the things we do.-Freya Stark, 1893-1993, British Travel Writer
Riches adorn the dwelling; virtue adorns the person.--Chinese proverb
The measure of a man's real character is what he would do if he knew he never would be
found out.--Thomas Babington Macaulay (1800-1859), Historian and statesman
Whenever you do a thing, act as if all the world were watching.--Thomas Jefferson (17431846), 3rd U. S. President
If it is not right do not do it; if it is not true do not say it.--Marcus Aurelius
You don't do the right thing because of the consequences. If you're wise, you do it
regardless of the consequences.--Jeannette Rankin (1880-1973) Activist and politician
Each time you are honest and conduct yourself with honesty, a success force will drive you
toward greater success. Each time you lie, even with a little white lie, there are strong
forces pushing you toward failure.--Joseph Sugarman
Better keep yourself clean and bright. You are the window through which you must see the
world.--George Bernard Shaw, 1856-1950, Irish Playwright
Your integrity will affect your destiny; don't leave home without it.--Clarence E. Hodge
I will not flinch in the face of sacrifice, hesitate in the presence of adversity, negotiate ... at
the table of the enemy, ponder at the pool of popularity, or meander in a maze of
mediocrity. I won't give up, shut up, let up, or slow up.--Robert Moorehead
Reputation is character minus what you've been caught doing.--Michael Lapoce
The things that will destroy us are: politics without principle; pleasure without conscience;
wealth without work; knowledge without character; business without morality; science
without humanity; and worship without sacrifice.--Mahatma Gandhi
Let no man turn aside, ever so slightly, from the broad path of honour, on the plausible
pretence that he is justified by the goodness of his end. All good ends can be worked out by
good means.--Charles Dickens
Some day, in years to come, you will be wrestling with the great temptation, or trembling
under the great sorrow of your life. But the real struggle is here, now, in these quiet weeks.
Now it is being decided whether, in the day of your supreme sorrow or temptation, you shall
miserably fail or gloriously conquer. Character cannot be made except by a steady, long
continued process.--Phillips Brooks
Your worth consists in what you are and not in what you have.--Thomas Edison, 18471931, American Inventor and Entrepreneur
Right is right, even if everyone is against it; and wrong is wrong, even if everyone is for it.-William Penn
He is rich or poor according to what he is, not according to what he has.--Henry Ward
Beecher
The proof of integrity is what you do when no one is looking.--Denis Waitley
I hope I shall always possess firmness and virtue enough to maintain what I consider the
most enviable of all titles, the character of an honest man.--George Washington
There may be a wrong way to do the right thing, but never a right way to do a wrong thing.
Justice is as strictly due between neighbor nations as between neighbor citizens. A
highwayman is as much a robber when he plunders in a gang as when single; and a nation
that makes an unjust war is only a great gang.--Benjamin Franklin to Benjamin Vaughan, 14
March 1785 (B 11:16-7)
Ability may get you to the top, but it takes character to keep you there.--John Wooden
Character is not a gift. It is a conquest, and its kingdom lives upstream. You never get there
by drifting.--Dale Turner
Character is a quality that embodies many important traits, such as integrity, courage,
perseverance, confidence and wisdom. Unlike your fingerprints that you are born with and
can't change, character is something that you create within yourself and must take
responsibility for changing--Jim Rohn
No man can always be right. So the struggle is to do one's best, to keep the brain and
conscience clear, never to be swayed by unworthy motives or inconsequential reasons, but
to strive to unearth the basic factors involved, then do one's duty.--Dwight D. Eisenhower
Aspire to decency. Practice civility toward one another. Admire and emulate ethical
behavior wherever you find it. Apply a rigid standard of morality to your lives; and if,
periodically, you fail--as you surely will--adjust your lives, not the standards.--Ted Koppel
To have respect for ourselves guides our morals; and to have a deference for others
governs our manners.--Lawrence Sterne, 1713-1768
I had rather do and not promise than promise and not do.--Arthur Warwick
Always demanding the best of oneself, living with honor, devoting one's talents and gifts to
the benefits of others--these are the measures of success that endure when material things
have passed away.--Gerald Ford
The truth of the matter is that you always know the right thing to do. The hard part is doing
it.--Norman Schwarzkopf
Maturity is the ability to do a job whether or not you are supervised, to carry money without
spending it, and to bear an injustice without wanting to get even.--Ann Landers
Just as an oak tree grows from a little acorn so does great character grow from a great
many decisions that may at the time seem very minor.--Ben M. Herbster
Let us endeavor so to live that when we come to die even the undertaker will be sorry.-Mark Twain
Always err on the side of doing right. You and only you are responsible for your ethics.-Griffin Bell
We make our decisions, and then our decisions turn around and make us.--R.W. Boreham
Live as if you were living a second time, and as though you had acted wrongly the first
time.--Viktor E. Frankl
Conscience is thoroughly well bred and soon leaves off talking to those who do not wish to
hear it.--Samuel Butler
Leadership is doing what is right when no one is watching.--George Van Valkenburg
To sin by silence, when we should protest, makes cowards out of men.--Ella Wheeler
Wilcox
Decide what's right before you decide what's possible.--Brian Tracy
In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock.--Thomas
Jefferson
Be always at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors, and let each new year find
you a better man.--Benjamin Franklin
It's not what we do once in a while that shapes our lives. It's what we do consistently.-Anthony Robbins
Be careful the environment you choose, for it will shape you; be careful the friends you
choose, for you will become like them.--W. Clement Stone
Regard your good name as the richest jewel you can be possessed of--for credit is like fire;
when once you have kindled it you may easily preserve it, but if you once extinguish it, you
will find it an arduous task to rekindle it again. The way to gain a good reputation is to
endeavor to be what you desire to appear.--Socrates
It is better to be hated for what you are than to be loved for what you are not.--Andre Gide,
1869-1951
A man can do only what a man can do. But if he does that each day, he can sleep at night
and do it again the next day.--Albert Schweitzer
To think is easy. To act is difficult. To act as one thinks is the most difficult.--Johann
Wolfgang Von Goethe
Work Hard--Do your best--Keep your word--Never get too big for your britches--Trust in
God--Have no fear--and Never forget a friend.--Harry S. Truman
The principles you live by create the world you live in; if you change the principles you live
by, you will change your world.--Blaine Lee
Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.--Martin Luther
King, Jr.
Would the boy you were be proud of the man you are?--Laurence J. Peter
Values are like fingerprints. Nobody's are the same, but you leave 'em all over everything
you do.--Elvis Presley
A man has to live with himself, and he should see to it that he always has good company.-Charles Evans Hughes, jurist (1862-1948)
There are two freedoms--the false where one is free to do what he likes, and the true where
he is free to do what he ought.--Charles Kingsley
Fame is a vapor, popularity an accident, riches take wing, and only character endures.-Horace Greeley
Your reputation and integrity are everything. Follow through on what you say you're going to
do. Your credibility can only be built over time, and it is built from the history of your words
and actions.--Maria Razumich-Zec
Real integrity is doing the right thing, knowing that nobody's going to know whether you did
it or not.--Oprah Winfrey
Don't just let your business or your job make something for you; let it make something of
you.--Jim Rohn
You cannot dream yourself into a character; you must hammer and forge yourself one.-Henry David Thoreau
Success is not so much what we have as it is what we are.--Jim Rohn
Affability, mildness, tenderness, and a word which I would fain bring back to its original
signification of virtue--I mean good nature--are of daily use; they are the bread of mankind
and the staff of life.--John Dryden
Be more concerned with your character than your reputation, because your character is
what you really are, while your reputation is merely what others think you are.--John
Wooden
He is not great who is not greatly good.--William Shakespeare
Morality, like art, means drawing a line someplace.--Oscar Wilde, 1854-1900
The safest road to Hell is the gradual one--the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden
turnings, without milestones, without signposts.--C. S. Lewis The Screwtape Letters
If you can take care of the internal, you can easily take care of the external. Then you can
avoid the infernal and latch on to the eternal.--Joseph Lowery
Heroes come in all sizes, and you don't have to be a giant hero. You can be a very small
hero. It's just as important to understand that accepting self-responsibility for the things you
do, having good manners, caring about other people--these are heroic acts. Everybody has
the choice of being a hero or not being a hero every day of their lives.--George Lucas
Our character is basically a composite of our habits. Because they are consistent, often
unconscious patterns, they constantly, daily, express our character...--Stephen Covey
He that is good for making excuses is seldom good for anything else.--Benjamin Franklin
Our character is but the stamp on our souls of the free choices of good and evil we have
made through life.--John C. Geikie, 1824-1898
The world is a dangerous place to live, not because of the people who are evil, but because
of the people who don't do anything about it.--Albert Einstein
Lives of great men all remind us we can make our lives sublime; and, departing, leave
behind us, footprints on the sands of time.--Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Life is all about choices. How many people are trapped in their everyday habits: part numb,
part frightened, part indifferent? To have a better life we must keep choosing how we're
living.--Albert Einstein
Character is much easier kept than recovered.--Thomas Paine
Great occasions do not make heroes or cowards; they simply unveil them to the eyes.
Silently and imperceptibly, as we wake or sleep, we grow strong or we grow weak, and at
last some crisis shows us what we have become.--Bishop Westcott
It is our choices that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities. --J.K. Rowling
It only takes one lie to taint your entire testimony in a court of law. Honesty is a vital part of
having a good reputation.--Jim Rohn
Life is a question and your choices are your answer.--Gary Keller
The time is always right to do what is right.--Martin Luther King, Jr.
A people that values its privileges above its principles soon loses both.--Dwight D.
Eisenhower
Character is what you think in the dark.--Dwight L. Moody
Character is what you are in the dark--Dwight L. Moody
The essence of immorality is the tendency to make an exception of myself.--Jane Addams
To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it.--G.K.
Chesterton
There is a big difference between what we have the right to do and what is right.--POTTER
STEWART (1915-1985) U.S. Supreme Court Justice
Integrity is not a conditional word. It doesn't blow in the wind or change with the weather. It
is your inner image of yourself, and if you look in there and see a man who won't cheat,
then you know he never will.--John MacDonald
Always do right. This will gratify some people and astonish the rest.--Mark Twain, 18351910, American Humorist, Writer
You will regret many things in life but you will never regret being too kind or too fair.--Brian
Tracy
Too often the price exacted by society for security and respectability is that the Christian
movement in its formal expression must be on the side of the strong against the weak. This
is a matter of tremendous significance, for it reveals to what extent a religion that was born
of a people acquainted with persecution and suffering has become the cornerstone of a
civilization and of nations whose very position in modern life has too often been secured by
a ruthless use of power applied to weak and defenseless people.--Howard Thurman
What we do upon some great occasion will probably depend on what we already are; and
what we are will be the result of previous years of self-discipline.--Henry Parry Liddon
(1829-1890), Cleric
We all create the person we become by our choices as we go through life. In a real sense,
by the time we are adults, we are the sum total of the choices we have made.--Eleanor
Roosevelt
One's philosophy is not best expressed in words; it is expressed in the choices one makes.
In the long run, we shape our lives and we shape ourselves. The process never ends until
we die. And, the choices we make are ultimately our own responsibility.--Eleanor
Roosevelt, 1884-1962, American First Lady, Columnist and Lecturer
Character may be manifested in the great moments, but it is made in the small ones.-Phillips Brooks (--Sir Winston Churchill)
Adversity is a crossroads that makes a person choose one of two paths: character or
compromise. Every time he chooses character, he becomes stronger, even if that choice
brings negative consequences.--John C. Maxwell
**************************
kindness
When you carry out acts of kindness you get a wonderful feeling inside. It is as though
something inside your body responds and says, yes, this is how I ought to feel.--Rabbi
Harold Kushner
We think too much and feel too little. More than machinery, we need humanity. More than
cleverness, we need kindness and gentleness.--Charlie Chaplin
The greatest work that kindness does to others is that it makes them kind themselves.-Amelia Earhart
Sometimes it is better to be kind than to be right. We do not need an intelligent mind that
speaks, but a patient heart that listens.--Unknown
Neither genius, fame, nor love show the greatness of the soul. Only kindness can do that.-Jean Baptiste Henri Lacordaire
Kindness makes a fellow feel good, whether it's being done to him or by him.--Frank A.
Clark
Courtesy is as much a mark of a gentleman as courage.--Theodore Roosevelt
Before you speak, ask yourself, is it kind, is it necessary, is it true, does it improve on the
silence?--Sai Baba
If the world seems cold to you, kindle fires to warm it.--Lucy Larcom
If the world is cold make it your business to build fires.--Horace Traubel
About all that has been learned really of importance in the last thousand years is that it
pays to be gentle and kind--and only a minority of mankind has learned that.--William Allen
White, Pulitzer Prize-winning editor of the Emporia Gazette, in an editorial to usher in the
new century in 1901.
Christmas! 'Tis the season for kindling the fire of hospitality in the hall, the genial fire of
charity in the heart.--Washington Irving
Tenderness and kindness are not signs of weakness and despair, but manifestations of
strength and resolutions.--Kahlil Gibran, 1883-1931, Lebanese Poet, Novelist
Constant kindness can accomplish much. As the sun makes ice melt, kindness causes
misunderstanding, mistrust, and hostility to evaporate.--Dr. Albert Schweitzer, 1875-1965,
Medical Missionary and Nobel Prize Winner
That best portion of a good man's life; His little, nameless, unremembered acts; Of kindness
and love.--William Wordsworth, 1770-1850, British Poet
Kindness is more important than wisdom, and the recognition of this is the beginning of
wisdom.--THEODORE ISAAC RUBIN, Psychiatrist and writer
I always prefer to believe the best of everybody--it saves so much trouble.--Rudyard Kipling
(1865-1936), Writer
Treat everyone with politeness, even those who are rude to you--not because they are nice,
but because you are.--Source Unknown
In life you can never be too kind or too fair; everyone you meet is carrying a heavy load.
When you go through your day expressing kindness and courtesy to all you meet, you
leave behind a feeling of warmth and good cheer, and you help alleviate the burdens
everyone is struggling with.--Brian Tracy, American Trainer/Speaker/Author
One of the greatest victories you can gain over someone is to beat him at politeness.--Josh
Billings, 1815-1885, American Humorist and Lecturer
Hospitality is making your guests feel at home, even if you wish they were.--Source
Unknown
Our small efforts at kindness can change people's lives more than we will ever know. Since
it takes so little time and energy to change the world for the better, why not make an effort
to do it every day?--Pat Williams Basketball executive
You will regret many things in life but you will never regret being too kind or too fair.--Brian
Tracy
Kindness is a language which the deaf can hear, and the blind can read.--Mark Twain,
1835-1910, American Writer and Humorist
Kindness has converted more sinners than zeal, eloquence, or learning.--Frederick W.
Faber
Kind words do not cost much. They never blister the tongue or lips. Mental trouble was
never known to arise from such quarters. Though they do not cost much yet they
accomplish much. They make other people good natured. They also produce their own
image on men's souls, and a beautiful image it is.--Blaise Pascal
A kind heart is a fountain of gladness, making everything in its vicinity freshen into smiles.-Washington Irving (1783-1859) Writer
I wonder why it is that we are not all kinder to each other than we are. How much the world
needs it! How easily it is done!--Henry Drummond (1851-1897) Cleric and writer
When you find yourself overpowered, as it were, by melancholy, the best way is to go out
and do something kind to somebody or other.--John Keble (1792-1866) Cleric and poet
As much as we need a prosperous economy, we also need a prosperity of kindness and
decency.--Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg, Attorney
Sometimes people say unkind or thoughtless things, and when they do, it is best to be a
little hard of hearing--to tune out and not snap back in anger or impatience.--Ruth Bader
Ginsburg, Jurist
Kindness consists in loving people more than they deserve.--Joseph Joubert
Kind thoughts are rarer than either kind words or deeds. They imply a great deal of thinking
about others. This in itself is rare. But they also imply a great deal of thinking about others
without the thoughts being criticisms. This is rarer still.--Frederick William Faber
Nothing is so strong as gentleness and nothing is so gentle as real strength.--Ralph W.
Sockman
Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless.--Mother
Teresa
Good manners will open doors that the best education cannot.--Clarence Thomas
Good manners will often take people where neither money nor education will take them.-Fanny Jackson Coppin
Let no one ever come to you without leaving better and happier. Be the living expression of
God's kindness: kindness in your face, kindness in your eyes, kindness in your smile.-Mother Teresa
How beautiful a day can be when kindness touches it.--G. Elliston
I expect to pass through this world but once; any good thing therefore that I can do, or any
kindness that I can show to any fellow creature, let me do it now; let me not defer or neglect
it, for I shall not pass this way again.--Ettiene De Grellet, 1773-1855
Ask yourself: Have you been kind today? Make kindness your daily modus operandi and
change your world.--Annie Lennox
A single act of kindness throws out roots in all directions, and the roots spring up and make
new trees.--Amelia Earhart
Guard well within yourself that treasure, kindness. Know how to give without hesitation, how
to lose without regret, how to acquire without meanness.--George Sand
Courtesy is the one coin you can never have too much of or be stingy with.--John
Wanamaker
The best portion of a good man's life: his little, nameless unremembered acts of kindness
and love.--William Wordsworth
Today will never come again. Be a blessing. Be a friend. Encourage someone. Take time to
care. Let your words heal, and not wound.--Unknown
Never lose a chance of saying a kind word.--William Thackeray, 1811-1863
Wise sayings often fall on barren ground; but a kind word is never thrown away.--Sir Arthur
Helps (1813-1875), Writer
Kindly words, sympathizing attentions, watchfulness against wounding men's sensitiveness-these cost very little, but they are priceless in their value.--F.W. Robertson
You have not lived today until you have done something for someone who can never repay
you.--John Bunyan
In this world, you must be a bit too kind to be kind enough.--Pierre Carlet de Chamblain de
Marivaux
Nothing makes you like other human beings so much as doing things for them.--Zora Neale
Hurston
The greatness of a man can nearly always be measured by his willingness to be kind.--G.
Young
You cannot do a kindness too soon, for you never know how soon it will be too late.--Ralph
Waldo Emerson, 1803-1882, American Poet, Essayist
You and I can never do a kindness too soon, for we never know how soon it will be too
late.--Ralph Waldo Emerson
There is no greater loan than a sympathetic ear.-- Frank Tyger
How far you go in life depends on your being tender with the young, compassionate with
the aged, sympathetic with the striving, and tolerant of the weak and the strong, because
someday in your life, you will have been all of these.--George Washington Carver (18641943), American Scientist
Remember not only to say the right thing in the right place, but far more difficult still, to
leave unsaid the wrong thing at the tempting moment.--Benjamin Franklin
The real art of conversation is not only to say the right thing at the right place but to leave
unsaid the wrong thing at the tempting moment.--Dorothy Nevill
The first thing a kindness deserves is acceptance, the next is transmission.--George
MacDonald
Always try to be a little kinder than is necessary.--J.M. Barrie
The happiness of life is made up of minute fractions--the little, soon-forgotten charities of a
kiss or smile, a kind look or heartfelt compliment.--Samuel Taylor Coleridge, poet (17721834)
No man is really wise until he is kind and courteous.--Charles Haas
The real test of character is how you treat other people when you're most certain you're
right.--Wayne Jacobsen
There's no such thing as a small act of kindness. Every act creates a ripple with no logical
end.--Scott Adams
**************************
leadership
No person can be a great leader unless he takes genuine joy in the successes of those
under him.--W. A. Nance
Management is efficiency in climbing the ladder of success; leadership determines whether
the ladder is leaning against the right wall. Covey, Stephen R. American Speaker, Trainer,
Author of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
Wars may be fought with weapons, but they are won by men. It is the spirit of men who
follow and of the man who leads that gains the victory.--George S Patton, 1885-1945,
American Army General during World War II
You don't lead by hitting people over the head--that's assault, not leadership.--Eisenhower
Treat people as if they were what they ought to be, and you'll help them to become what
they are capable of becoming.--Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe, 1749-1832, German Poet,
Dramatist, Novelist
A great leader truly believes that personal development is a never-ending journey. If you
can help people embrace and love continuous development, then you are really making a
difference in their lives and careers.--AT&T President Betsy Bernard
Leadership is not magnetic personality...that can just as well be a glib tongue. It is not
'making friends and influencing people'...that is flattery. Leadership is lifting a person's
vision to higher sights, the raising of a person's performance to a higher standard, the
building of a personality beyond its normal limitations.--Peter Drucker
A leader takes people where they want to go. A great leader takes people where they don't
necessarily want to go but ought to be.--ROSALYNN CARTER, U.S. First Lady
Be willing to make decisions. That's the most important quality in a good leader. Don't fall
victim to what I call the ready-aim-aim-aim-aim syndrome. You must be willing to fire.--T.
BOONE PICKENS, Financier.
Leadership is not something that is done to people, like fixing your teeth. Leadership is
unlocking people's potential to become better.--Bill Bradley, American Basketball Player,
US Senator
Leaders must be seen to be up front, up to date, up to their job and up early in the
morning.--Marcus Sieff (1913-2001) Business executive
Leadership is the art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he
wants to do it.--Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1890-1969, 34th President of the United States
Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things.--Peter F. Drucker,
American Management Consultant and Author
The leaders who work most effectively, it seems to me, never say 'I'. And that's not because
they have trained themselves not to say 'I'. They don't think 'I'. They think 'we'; they think
'team'. They understand their job to be to make the team function. They accept
responsibility and don't sidestep it, but 'we' gets the credit.... This is what creates trust, what
enables you to get the task done.--Peter Drucker
There is no such thing as a self-made spiritual leader.--J. Oswald Sanders (1902-1992),
Missionary and writer
I suppose leadership at one time meant muscles; but today it means getting along with
people.--Indira Gandhi, 1917-1984, Former Prime Minister of India
Leadership is a potent combination of strategy and character. But if you must be without
one, be without the strategy.--Norman Schwarzkopf, American General of the Gulf War
A real leader faces the music, even when he doesn't like the tune.--Source Unknown
Managers help people to see themselves as they are. Leaders help people to see
themselves better than they are.--Jim Rohn
The very essence of leadership is that you have to have a vision. It's got to be a vision you
articulate clearly and forcefully on every occasion. You can't blow an uncertain trumpet.-Theodore Hesburgh Cleric and educator
A leader is a dealer in hope.--Napoleon Bonaparte
A true leader is not the one with the most followers, but one who creates the most leaders.-Neale Donald Walsch
Leadership is based on a spiritual quality; the power to inspire, the power to inspire others
to follow.--Vince Lombardi
If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you
are a leader.--John Quincy Adams
A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way.--John C. Maxwell
Leadership is practiced not so much in words as in attitude and in actions.--Harold S.
Geneen
The best executive is the one who has sense enough to pick good men to do what he
wants done, and self-restraint enough to keep from meddling with them while they do it.-Theodore Roosevelt
If you wish others to believe in you, you must first convince them that you believe in them.-Harvey Mackay
A man who trusts nobody is apt to be the kind of man nobody trusts.--Harold Macmillan
Few things help an individual more than to place responsibility upon him, and to let him
know you trust him.--Booker T. Washington
The truly successful person inspires others to do more than they have thought possible for
themselves.--Denis Waitley
A sense of humor is part of the art of leadership, of getting along with people, of getting
things done.--Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1890-1969, 34th President of the United States
A leader, once convinced that a particular course of action is the right one, must...be
undaunted when the going gets tough.--Ronald Reagan
A leader leads by example, whether he intends to or not.--Source Unknown
Leadership is doing what is right when no one is watching.--George Van Valkenburg
There is no greater leadership challenge than parenting.--Jim Rohn
There are no office hours for champions.--Paul Dietzel
There are no office hours for leaders.--Cardinal Gibbons
**************************
life: enjoyment
If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier
world.--J.R.R. Tolkien
What is this life if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare?
--W.H. Davies
The lust for comfort, that stealthy thing that enters the house a guest and then becomes a
host, and then a master.--Khalil Gibran, Arab poet
Don't put off for tomorrow what you can do today, because if you enjoy it today you can do
it again tomorrow.--James Michener
Enjoy the little things, for one day you may look back and realize they were the big things.-Robert Brault
You can always find reasons to work. There will always be one more thing to do. But when
people don't take time out, they stop being productive. They stop being happy, and that
affects the morale of everyone around them.--Carisa Bianchi
Love wholeheartedly, be surprised, give thanks and praise--then you will discover the
fullness of your life.--Brother David Steindl-Rast
A perfect summer day is when the sun is shining, the breeze is blowing, the birds are
singing, and the lawn mower is broken.--James Dent
It is better to live rich than to die rich.--Samuel Johnson
Life does not have to be perfect to be wonderful.--Annette Funicello
One of the most tragic things I know about human nature is that all of us tend to put off
living. We are all dreaming of some magical rose garden over the horizon instead of
enjoying the roses that are blooming outside our windows today.--Dale Carnegie
The world is full of poetry. The air is living with its spirit; and the waves dance to the music
of its melodies, and sparkle in its brightness.--Percival
**************************
little things
Men stumble over pebbles, never over mountains.--H. Emilie Cady
Blessed are they who see beautiful things in humble places where other people see
nothing.--Camille Pissarro
It is the loose ends with which men hang themselves.--Zelda Fitzgerald
Success is the sum of small efforts repeated day in and day out.--Robert Collier
When you do the common things in life in an uncommon way, you will command the
attention of the world.--George Washington Carver
We cannot all do great things, but we can do small things with great love.--Mother Teresa
It has long been an axiom of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important.--Sir
Arthur Conan Doyle, (Sherlock Holmes)
Little strokes fell great oaks.--Ben Franklin
Great things are not done by impulse, but by a series of small things brought together.-Vincent Van Gogh, 1853-1890, Dutch Painter
Life is made up of little things. It is very rarely that an occasion is offered for doing a great
deal at once. True greatness consists in being great in the little things.--Charles Simmons
It is the little bits of things that fret and worry us; we can dodge an elephant, but we can't
dodge a fly.--Josh Billings
Nothing is particularly hard if you divide it into small jobs.--Henry Ford, 1863-1947,
American Industrialist and Founder of Ford Motor Company
Whoever wants to reach a distant goal must take small steps.--Saul Bellow, 1915-2005,
American Writer and Nobel Prize Winner
We must not, in trying to think about how we can make a big difference, ignore the small
daily differences we can make which, over time, add up to big differences that we often
cannot foresee.--Marian Wright Edelman
No matter how small and unimportant what we are doing may seem, if we do it well, it may
soon become the step that will lead us to better things.--Channing Pollock
Step by step. I can't think of any other way of accomplishing anything.--Michael Jordan
Most people seem to want tremendous improvement, instantly. But you'll probably find it's
the little things you do that eventually add up to big results.--Joel Weldon
Be master of your petty annoyances and conserve your energies for the big, worthwhile
things. It isn't the mountain ahead that wears you out--it's the grain of sand in your shoe.-Robert Service (1874-1958)
Almost everything comes from almost nothing.--Henri Frederic Amiel (1821-1881),
Philosopher and writer
The world is not moved only by the mighty shoves of the heroes, but also by the aggregate
of the tiny pushes of each honest worker.--Helen Keller
The man who removes a mountain begins by carrying away small stones.--Chinese
Proverb (--William Faulkner)
Sometimes when I consider what tremendous consequences come from little things. I am
tempted to think there are no little things.--Bruce Barton
Most of the critical things in life, which become the starting points of human destiny, are
little things.--R. Smith
Courtesies of a small and trivial character are the ones which strike deepest in the grateful
and appreciating heart.--Henry Clay, American Statesman (1777-1852)
Everyone is trying to accomplish something big, not realizing that life is made up of little
things.--Frank A. Clark
Life is made up not of great sacrifices or duties, but of little things, in which smiles and
kindness and small obligations given habitually, are what preserve the heart and secure
comfort.--William Davy
Don't be afraid to give your best to what seemingly are small jobs. Every time you conquer
one it makes you that much stronger. If you do the little jobs well, the big ones tend to take
care of themselves.--Dale Carnegie
Great things are done by a series of small things brought together.--Vincent Van Gogh
There's no such thing as a small act of kindness. Every act creates a ripple with no logical
end.--Scott Adams
The secret of success is to do common things uncommonly well.--John D. Rockefeller
If you are going to achieve excellence in big things, you develop the habit in little matters.
Excellence is not an exception, it is a prevailing attitude.--Charles R. Swindoll
Everything started as nothing.--Ben Weissenstein
Character may be manifested in the great moments, but it is made in the small ones.-Phillips Brooks (--Sir Winston Churchill)
Always remember that the future comes one day at a time.--Dean Acheson
Great acts are made up of small deeds.--Lao Tzu
When you can do the common things of life in an uncommon way, you will command the
attention of the world.--George Washington Carver
Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can.--Arthur Ashe
Not the maker of plans and promises, but rather the one who offers faithful service in small
matters. This is the person who is most likely to achieve what is good and lasting.--Johann
Wolfgang von Goethe
Most time is wasted, not in hours, but in minutes. A bucket with a small hole in the bottom
gets just as empty as a bucket that is deliberately emptied.--Paul J. Meyer
Enjoy the little things, for one day you may look back and realize they were the big things.-Robert Brault
Show me a man who cannot bother to do little things and I'll show you a man who cannot
be trusted to do big things.--Lawrence Bell
It's the little things you do day in and day out that count. That's the way you teach your
children.--Amanda Pays, Actor
Let it never be forgotten that glamour is not greatness, applause is not fame, prominence is
not eminence, the man of the hour is not apt to be the man of the ages, a stone may
sparkle but that does not make it a diamond, and man may have money, but that does not
make him a success. It is what the unimportant do that really counts and determines the
course of history. The greatest forces in the universe are never spectacular. Summer
showers are more effective than hurricanes, but they get no publicity. The world would soon
die but for the fidelity, loyalty and consecration of those whose names are unhonored and
unsung.--Dr. Joseph R. Sizoo
To the world you may be just one person, but to one person you may be the world. --G.K.
Chesterton
**************************
love
The True Gentleman is the man whose conduct proceeds from good will and an acute
sense of propriety, and whose self-control is equal to all emergencies; who does not make
the poor man conscious of his poverty, the obscure man of his obscurity, or any man of his
inferiority or deformity; who is himself humbled if necessity compels him to humble another;
who does not flatter wealth, cringe before power, or boast of his own possessions or
achievements; who speaks with frankness but always with sincerity and sympathy; whose
deed follows his word; who thinks of the rights and feelings of others, rather than his own;
and who appears well in any company, a man with whom honor is sacred and virtue safe.-John Walter Wayland
Do not think that love, in order to be genuine, has to be extraordinary.--Mother Teresa
What we need is a cup of understanding, a barrel of love, and an ocean of patience.--St.
Francis de Sales
To love for the sake of being loved is human, but to love for the sake of loving is angelic.-Alphonse de Lamartine
There is hunger for ordinary bread, and there is hunger for love, for kindness, for
thoughtfulness; and this is the great poverty that makes people suffer so much.--Mother
Teresa
Love is an act of faith, and whoever is of little faith is also of little love.--Erich Fromm
Let us always meet each other with a smile, for the smile is the beginning of love.--Mother
Teresa, 1910-1997
If I knew that this would be the last time you pass through this door, I'd embrace you, kiss
you, and call you back for one more. If I knew that this would be the last time I would hear
your voice, I'd take hold of each word to be able to hear it over and over again. If I knew this
is the last time I see you, I'd tell you I love you, and would not just assume foolishly you
know it already.--Gabriel Garcia Marquez
I will love you always. When this red hair is white, I will still love you. When the smooth
softness of youth is replaced by the delicate softness of age, I will still want to touch your
skin. When your face is full of the lines of every smile you have ever smiled, of every
surprise I have seen flash through your eyes, when every tear you have ever cried has left
its mark upon your face, I will treasure you all the more, because I was there to see it all.-Laurell K. Hamilton, A Lick of Frost
Go out into the world today and love the people you meet. Let your presence light new light
in the hearts of people.--Mother Teresa
Frequently people think compassion and love are merely sentimental. No! They are very
demanding. If you are going to be compassionate, be prepared for action.--Archbishop
Desmond Tutu
Are you willing to forget what you have done for other people, and to remember what other
people have done for you ... to remember the weakness and loneliness of people who are
growing old ... Are you willing to believe that love is the strongest thing in the world ...
stronger than hate, stronger than evil, stronger than death... Then you can keep Christmas!
But you can never keep it alone.--Henry van Dyke
I truly believe that if we keep telling the Christmas story, singing the Christmas songs, and
living the Christmas spirit, we can bring joy and happiness and peace to this world.-Norman Vincent Peale
Christmas is not the tinsel and lights and outward show...
The secret lies in an inner glow.
It's lighting a fire inside the heart...
Good will and joy a vital part.
It's higher thought and a greater plan.
It's a glorious dream in the soul of man.
Christmas begins deep down inside...
Then engulfs the world like a mighty tide!
--Wilfred A. Peterson
Peace on earth will come to stay,
When we live Christmas every day.
--Helen Steiner Rice
Christmas is not as much about opening our presents as opening our hearts.--Janice
Maeditere
Every time we love, every time we give, it's Christmas.--Dale Evans Rogers
Love isn’t a state of perfect caring. It is an active noun like struggle. To love someone is to
strive to accept that person exactly the way he or she is, right here and now--and to go on
caring even through times that may bring us pain.--Fred Rogers
Love isn’t blind; it just only sees what matters.--William Curry
If you were going to die soon and had only one phone call you could make, who would you
call and what would you say? And why are you waiting?--Stephen Levine
If you can’t feed a hundred people, then feed just one.--Mother Teresa
We come to love not by finding a perfect person, but by learning to see an imperfect person
perfectly.--Sam Keen
Nothing truly valuable arises from ambition or from a mere sense of duty; it stems rather
from love and devotion towards men and towards objective things.--Albert Einstein
We can all be angels to one another. We can choose to obey the still small stirring within,
the little whisper that says, Go. Ask. Reach out. Be an answer to someone's plea. You have
a part to play. Have faith. We can decide to risk that He is indeed there, watching, caring,
cherishing us as we love and accept love. The world will be a better place for it. And
wherever they are, the angels will dance.--Joan Wester Anderson, author
Have a heart that never hardens, and a temper that never tires, and a touch that never
hurts.--Charles Dickens, novelist (1812-1870)
If you could only love enough, you could be the most powerful person in the world.--Emmet
Fox
Treat others as ends, never as means.--Dag Hammerskjold
For it was not into my ear you whispered, but into my heart. It was not my lips you kissed,
but my soul.--Judy Garland
Christmas is most truly Christmas when we celebrate it by giving the light of love to those
who need it most.--Ruth Carter Stapleton
Love in its essence is spiritual fire.--Seneca
A baby is born with a need to be loved--and never outgrows it.--Frank A. Clark
We waste time looking for the perfect lover, instead of creating the perfect love.--Tom
Robbins
Loving is not just looking at each other, it's looking in the same direction.--Antoine de SaintExupery
Love takes up where knowledge leaves off.--Saint Thomas Aquinas
Many a man has fallen in love with a girl in a light so dim he would not have chosen a suit
by it.--Maurice Chevalier
Love is an irresistible desire to be irresistibly desired.--Robert Frost
Better to have loved and lost, than to have never loved at all.--Saint Augustine
When you like someone, you like them in spite of their faults. When you love someone, you
love them with their faults.--Elizabeth Cameron.
Persistent love--like the dripping of water on a rock--can wear away a person's resistance.
It's nearly impossible to stay angry with or emotionally distant from someone who
unconditionally loves you.--Gary Smalley, Christian author.
To love and be loved is to feel the sun from both sides.--David Viscott
True love does not come by finding the perfect person, but by learning to see an imperfect
person perfectly.
The best thing to give to your enemy is forgiveness; to an opponent, tolerance; to a friend,
your heart; to your child, a good example; to a father, deference; to your mother, conduct
that will make her proud of you; to yourself, respect; to all men, charity.--Francis Maitland
Balfour (1851-1882) Embryologist
Love is a medicine for the sickness of the world; a prescription often given, too rarely
taken.--Karl A. Menninger (1893-1990) Psychiatrist
If you haven't any charity in your heart, you have the worst kind of heart trouble.--Bob Hope
Love will find a way. Indifference will find an excuse.--Author unknown.
We can only learn to love by loving.--IRIS MURDOCH (1919-1999) Writer.
Life has taught us that love does not consist in gazing at each other but in looking outward
together in the same direction.--ANTOINE DE SAINT-EXUPERY (1900-1944) Writer.
To love is to stop comparing.--Bernard Grasset, Writer
If you love somebody, let them go, for if they return, they were always yours. And if they
don't, they never were.--Kahlil Gibran, 1883-1931, Lebanese Poet, Novelist
One word frees us of all the weight and pain of life: That word is love.--Sophocles, 496 BC-406 BC, Greek Dramatist
When love and skill work together, expect a masterpiece.--John Ruskin, 1819-1900, British
Critic and Social Theorist
Love isn't like a reservoir. You'll never drain it dry. It's much more like a natural spring. The
longer and the farther it flows, the stronger and the deeper and the clearer it becomes.-Eddie Cantor (1892-1964), entertainer
What the world really needs is more love and less paper work.--Pearl Bailey, 1918-1990,
American Vocalist and Actress
Do not keep the alabaster boxes of your love and tenderness sealed up until your friends
are dead. Fill their lives with sweetness. Speak approving, cheering words while their ears
can hear them and while their hearts can be thrilled by them.--Henry Ward Beecher
A good criterion for measuring your success in life is the number of people you have made
happy.--Robert J. Lumsden
The rule for all of us is perfectly simple. Do not waste time bothering whether you 'love' your
neighbour; act as if you did. As soon as we do this, we find one of the great secrets. When
you are behaving as if you loved someone, you will presently come to love him. If you injure
someone you dislike, you will find yourself disliking him more. If you do him a good turn,
you will find yourself disliking him less.--C.S. Lewis, in Mere Christianity
Life is short. Be swift to love! Make haste to be kind!--Henri Frederic Amiel philosopher and
writer (1821-1881)
Love means loving the unlovable--or it is no virtue at all.--G.K. Chesterton
Do what you love, love what you do, and deliver more than you promise.--Harvey Mackay,
American Businessman
When we grow old, there can only be one regret: not to have given enough of ourselves.-Eleonora Duse (1858-1924) Actor
After the verb to Love, to Help is the most beautiful verb in the world.--Bertha von Suttner,
1843-1914, Austrian Novelist/Pacifist/Nobel Peace Prïze Winner
Blessed is the influence of one true, loving human soul on another.--George Eliot, 18191880, English novelist
Love is the master key which opens the gates of happiness.--Oliver Wendell Holmes, 18091894, American Author and Poet
I have never met a person whose greatest need was anything other than real, unconditional
love. You can find it in a simple act of kindness toward someone who needs help. There is
no mistaking love. You feel it in your heart. It is the common fiber of life, the flame of that
heats our soul, energizes our spirit and supplies passion to our lives. It is our connection to
God and to each other.--Elizabeth Kubler-Ross
To love is to take delight in the happiness of another, or, what amounts to the same thing, it
is to account another's happiness one's own.--Gottfried Leibniz (1646-1716) Philosopher
and mathematician
When you are behaving as if you love someone, you will presently come to love him.--C. S.
Lewis (1898-1963), Writer
Treasure the love that you receive above all. It will survive long after your gold and good
health have vanished.--Og Mandino (1923-1996) Motivational writer
You will find, as you look back upon your life, that the moments when you really lived are
the moments when you have done things in the spirit of love.--Henry Drummond
Love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into friend.--Martin Luther King, Jr.,
1929-1968, American Civil Rights Leader
To find a person who will love you for no reason, and to shower that person with reasons,
that is the ultimate happiness.--Robert Brault
Love is an attachment to something or someone that eventually welds itself to the heart...-Doug Firebaugh
O tell her, brief is life but love is long.--Lord Alfred Tennyson
In the United States, it is now possible for a person eighteen years of age, female as well
as male, to graduate from high school, college, or university without ever having cared for,
or even held, a baby; without ever having comforted or assisted another human being who
really needed help. . . . No society can long sustain itself unless its members have learned
the sensitivities, motivations, and skills involved in assisting and caring for other human
beings.--Urie Bronfenbrenner
Of all the music that reached farthest into heaven, it is the beating of a loving heart.--Henry
Ward Beecher, 1813-1887, American Preacher/Orator/Writer
Love has nothing to do with what you are expecting to get . . . Only with what you are
expected to give. . . . Which is everything.--Katharine Hepburn
Get a life in which you are not alone. Find people you love, and who love you. And
remember that love is not leisure, it is work.--Anna Quindlen
Find the person who will love you because of your differences and not in spite of them and
you have found a lover for life.--Leo Buscaglia, 1924-1998, American Author
You are obliged to love your neighbor as yourself, and loving him, you ought to help him
spiritually, with prayer, counseling him with words, and assisting him both spiritually and
temporally, according to the need in which he may be, at least with your goodwill if you
have nothing else.--Catharine of Siena (1347-1380), from The Dialogue
A loving heart is the beginning of all knowledge.--Thomas Carlyle, 1795-1881, Scottish
Philosopher and Author
Love is not finding someone you can live with, it's finding someone you can't live without.-Rafael Ortiz
There never was any heart truly great and gracious, that was not also tender and
compassionate.--Robert South (1634-1716) Cleric
I have found the paradox, that if you love until it hurts, there can be no more hurt, only more
love.--Mother Teresa (1910-1997)
Truth and love are two of the most powerful things in the world; and when they both go
together they cannot easily be withstood.--Ralph Cudworth (1617-1688), theologian and
philosopher
Our Lord asks but two things of us; Love for [God] and for our neighbor. We cannot know
whether we love God...but there can be no doubt about whether we love our neighbor or
no.--Teresa of Avila
The heart of all problems, whether economic, political or social, is a human heart.--L. M.
Charles-Edwards, Cleric
Some of us learned early on that there is no facelift that works better than love, that nothing
clears the sinuses better than a kiss, and there is no pension plan to compare with the
prospect of spending your years with someone who promises to love, honor, and cherish
you.--Lois Wyse, writer and columnist
Give until it hurts, because real love hurts.--Mother Teresa
I will make love my greatest weapon and none on who I call can defend against its force...
My love will melt all hearts, like to the sun whose rays soften the coldest day.--Og Mandino
We are shaped and fashioned by what we love.--Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, 1749-1832,
German Poet
My idea of Christmas, whether old-fashioned or modern, is very simple: loving others.
Come to think of it, why do we have to wait for Christmas to do that?--Bob Hope, American
film actor and comedian
It is Christmas every time you let God love others through you ... yes, it is Christmas every
time you smile at your brother and offer him your hand.--Mother Teresa
Love keeps the cold out better than a cloak.--Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, 1807-1882,
American Poet
Blessed is the season which engages the whole world in a conspiracy of love.--Hamilton
Wright Mabie
Christmas is forever, not for just one day,
for loving, sharing, giving, are not to put away
like bells and lights and tinsel, in some box upon a shelf.
The good you do for others is good you do yourself...
--Norman Wesley Brooks, Let Every Day Be Christmas, 1976
There is abundant testimony that if we choose love rather than self, we gain immeasurably.-Federico Fellini
If criticism is mistaken or mean-spirited, rise above it. Maintain the high ground when you're
under fire. No victory is worth winning at the expense of picking up the mud that has been
slung at you and throwing it back.--Rubel Shelly
You will be happier if you will give people a bit of your heart rather than a piece of your
mind.--Author unknown
If you would be loved, love and be lovable.--Benjamin Franklin
Happiness and love are just a choice away.--Leo Buscaglia
Never let a problem to be solved become more important than a person to be loved.-Barbara Johnson
A man who works with his hands is a laborer; a man who works with his hands and his
brain is a craftsman; but a man who works with his hands and his brain and his heart is an
artist.--Louis Nizer
Love is a better master than duty.--Albert Einstein
This is the miracle that happens every time to those who really love; the more they give, the
more they possess.--Rainer Maria Rilke
Love and kindness are never wasted. They always make a difference. They bless the one
who receives them, and they bless you, the giver.--Barbara De Angelis
Love means to love that which is unlovable, or it is no virtue at all; forgiving means to
pardon that which is unpardonable, or it is no virtue at all.--G.K. Chesterton
Love one another. My final lesson of history is the same as that of Jesus. You may think
that's a lot of lollipop, but just try it. Love is the most practical thing in the world. If you take
an attitude of love toward everybody you meet, you'll eventually get along.--Historian Will
Durant, when asked how he'd summarize what history teaches
Love is the strongest force the world possesses, and yet it is the humblest imaginable.-Mohandas K. Gandhi
Those who love deeply never grow old; they may die of old age, but they die young.--Sir
Arthur Wing Pinero
Love feels no burden, thinks nothing of trouble, attempts what is above its strength, pleads
no excuse of impossibility; for it thinks all things lawful for itself, and all things possible.-Thomas a Kempis
It is not how much we do, but how much love we put in the doing. It is not how much we
give, but how much love we put in the giving.--Mother Teresa
It's not what you do, but how much love you put into it that matters.--Rick Warren
A good head and a good heart are always a formidable combination.--Nelson Mandela
Love is an act of endless forgiveness, a tender look which becomes a habit.--Peter Ustinov
In love, one and one are one.--Jean-Paul Sartre
Neither a lofty degree of intelligence nor imagination nor both together to the making of
genius. Love, love, love, that is the soul of genius.--Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
The supreme happiness of life is the conviction of being loved for yourself, or, more
correctly, being loved in spite of yourself.--Victor Hugo
The greatest happiness of life is the conviction that we are loved--loved for ourselves, or
rather, loved in spite of ourselves.--Victor Hugo (1802-1885) French writer
Everyone loves to be loved.--Mark Spitz
Generosity is a principle, not an amount.--Millie Thornton
The greatest degree of inner tranquility comes from the development of love and
compassion. The more we care for the happiness of others, the greater is our own sense of
well-being.--The Dalai Lama
Love ennobles us to maintain a steadfast commitment to the well-being of someone or
some cause greater than our own petty ego. Yet there is no love without the courage to
surrender to something more priceless than yourself.--Cornel West
It is easy to love the people far away. It is not always easy to love those close to us...Bring
love into your home, for this is where our love for each other must start.--Mother Teresa
Love is not only something you feel, it is something you do.--David Wilkerson
Power coerces, knowledge persuades, love converts.--Author unknown
The measure of love is love without measure.--St. Bernard of Clairvaux
You come to love not by finding the perfect person, but by learning to see an imperfect
person perfectly.--Sam Keen
The message of the early Christians, which lies at the heart of the notion of a Christian
foundation whether it be a University or a hospital or a family or indeed a country, is that
true greatness comes through sacrificial love, that true leadership consists in self-giving
service, and that truth itself ... is not something we can simply discover, put in our pockets,
and use to our own advantage.--N. T. Wright
Christmas is not a time nor a season, but a state of mind. To cherish peace and goodwill, to
be plenteous in mercy, is to have the real spirit of Christmas.--Calvin Coolidge
Love came down at Christmas; love all lovely, love divine; love was born at Christmas, stars
and angels gave the sign.--Christina G. Rossetti
I will honor Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year.--Charles Dickens
Christmas, my child, is love in action. Every time we love, every time we give, it's
Christmas.--Dale Evans Rogers
Christmas waves a magic wand over this world, and behold, everything is softer and more
beautiful.--Norman Vincent Peale
The only real blind person at Christmas-time is he who has not Christmas in his heart.-Helen Keller
Christmas gift suggestions:
To your enemy, forgiveness.
To an opponent, tolerance.
To a friend, your heart.
To a customer, service.
To all, charity.
To every child, a good example.
To yourself, respect.
--Oren Arnold
The true spirit of Christmas is love.--Linda Willis
It is not beauty that endears; it's love that makes us see beauty.--Leo Tolstoy
Love is not blind--it sees more and not less, but because it sees more--it is willing to see
less.--Will Moss (--Rabbi Julins Gordon)
Love is like quicksilver in the hand. Leave the fingers open and it stays. Clutch it and it darts
away.--Dorothy Parker
There is nothing more truly artistic than to love people.--Vincent van Gogh
There are two ways of spreading light: to be the candle or the mirror that reflects it.--Edith
Wharton
To love another person is to see the face of God.--Victor Hugo (Les Miserables)
We look forward to the time when the Power of Love will replace the Love of Power. Then
will our world know the blessings of peace.--William Ewart Gladstone
When the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace.--Jimi
Hendrix
What we once enjoyed and deeply loved we can never lose, for all that we love deeply
becomes a part of us.--Helen Keller
But surely for everything you love you have to pay some price.--Agatha Christie
Sometimes love means letting go when you want to hold on tighter.--Melissa Marr
I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear.--Martin Luther King, Jr.
Where there is great love, there are always miracles.--Willa Cather
One can give without loving, but one cannot love without giving.--Amy Carmichael
This is one of the miracles of love: It gives a power of seeing through its own enchantments
and yet not being disenchanted.--C. S. Lewis
The greatest possession we have costs nothing, it's known as love.--Brian Jett
Love is a fruit in season at all times, and within the reach of every hand.--Mother Teresa
Every genuine expression of love grows out of a consistent and total surrender to God.-Martin Luther King, Jr.
A good heart will help you to a bonny face, my lad ... and a bad one will turn the bonniest
into something worse than ugly.--Emily Bronte
We cannot all do great things, but we can do small things with great love.--Mother Teresa
A loving heart is the truest wisdom.--Charles Dickens
The greatest healing therapy is friendship and love.--Hubert H. Humphrey, 1911-1978,
American Politician and Former Vice President of the United States
If someone listens, or stretches out a hand, or whispers a kind word of encouragement, or
attempts to understand a lonely person, extraordinary things begin to happen.--Loretta
Girzartis
It takes so little to make people happy--just a touch, if we know how to give it, just a word
fitly spoken, or a slight readjustment of some bolt or pin or bearing in the delicate machinery
of a human soul.--Frank Crane (1861-1928), Writer
The world is too dangerous for anything but truth and too small for anything but love.-William Sloan Coffin
Age does not protect you from love. But love, to some extent, protects you from age.-Jeanne Moreau
Love wholeheartedly, be surprised, give thanks and praise--then you will discover the
fullness of your life.--Brother David Steindl-Rast
Fear less, hope more, eat less, chew more, whine less, breathe more, talk less, say more,
hate less, love more; all good things will be yours.--Swedish Proverb
**************************
marriage
To keep your marriage brimming, With love in the loving cup, Whenever you're wrong,
admit it; Whenever you're right, shut up.--Ogden Nash
The ultimate test of a relationship is to disagree but to hold hands.--Alexandra Penney
A successful marriage requires falling in love many times, always with the same person.-Mignon McLaughlin, American journalist and author.
A happy marriage is a long conversation which always seems too short.--Andre Maurois
Every enduring marriage involves an unconditional commitment to an imperfect person-your spouse.--From It Takes Two to Tango by Gary and Norma Smalley
A successful marriage is an edifice that must be rebuilt every day.--ANDRÉ MAUROIS
(1885-1967), Writer
Success in marriage does not come merely through finding the right mate, but through
being the right mate.--Barnett Brickner
What counts in making a happy marriage is not so much how compatible you are, but how
you deal with incompatibility.--George Levinger
Often the difference between a successful marriage and a mediocre one consists of leaving
about three or four things a day unsaid.--Harlan Miller
A good marriage is where both people feel like they're getting the better end of the deal.-Anne Lamott (Joe Jones)
Marriage is an alliance entered into by a man who can't sleep with the window shut, and a
woman who can't sleep with the window open.--George Bernard Shaw
Trouble is part of your life, and if you don't share it, you don't give the person who loves you
a chance to love you enough.--Dinah Shore, singer and talk-show host
**************************
moderation
To be satisfied with what one has; that is wealth. As long as one sorely needs a certain
additional amount, that man isn't rich.--Mark Twain
What some people mistake for the high cost of living is really the cost of high living.--Doug
Larson
They are as sick that surfeit with too much as they that starve with nothing.--Shakespeare
To climb steep hills requires slow pace at first.--William Shakespeare
**************************
money
The problem with getting rich quick is you have to do it so often.--Jason Zweig
Why pay a dollar for a bookmark? Why not use the dollar for a bookmark?--Steven
Spielberg
Beware of small expenses; a small leak will sink a great ship.--Ben Franklin
It's good to have money and the things money can buy, but it's good, too, to check up once
in a while and make sure that you haven't lost the things money can't buy.--George Horace
Lorimer, American editor of The Saturday Evening Post
Money never made a man happy yet, nor will it. There is nothing in its nature to produce
happiness.--Benjamin Franklin
Happy is harder than money. Anyone who thinks money will make them happy, doesn't
have money.--David Geffen, American entertainment executive
One fifth of humanity lives in countries where many people think nothing of spending $2 a
day on a cappuccino. Another fifth of humanity survives on less than $1 a day and lives in
countries where children die for want of a simple anti-mosquito bed net.--The United
Nation's Human Development Report as reported in The Guardian
If you make money your god, it will plague you like the devil.--Henry Fielding
Economic disaster begins with a philosophy of doing less and wanting more.--Jim Rohn
Frugality is one of the most beautiful and joyful words in the English language, and yet one
that we are culturally cut off from understanding and enjoying. The consumption society has
made us feel that happiness lies in having things, and has failed to teach us the happiness
of not having things.--Elise Boulding
The price of anything is the amount of life you exchange for it.--Henry David Thoreau
People are being persuaded to spend money we don't have, on things we don't need, to
create impressions that won't last, on people we don't care about.--Tim Jackson
If money be not thy servant, it will be thy master. The covetous man cannot so properly be
said to possess wealth, as that may be said to possess him.--Francis Bacon
Many people take no care of their money till they come nearly to the end of it, and others do
just the same with their time.--Goethe, German poet and scientist
If you laid economists end to end, you would still never reach a conclusion.--George
Bernard Shaw
**************************
music
Music is well said to be the speech of angels; in fact, nothing among the utterances allowed
to man is felt to be so divine. It brings us near to the infinite.--Thomas Carlyle, 1795--1881
Music can name the unnamable and communicate the unknowable.--Leonard Bernstein,
1918--1990
Music is a strange thing. I would almost say it is a miracle. For it stands halfway between
thought and phenomenon, between spirit and matter.--Heinrich Heine, 1797--1856
Music is the harmonious voice of creation; an echo of the invisible world.--Giuseppe
Mazzini, 1805--1872
Music washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life.--Berthold Auerbach, 18121882, German Poet and Author
**************************
obedience, acceptance, submission
Nothing is impossible to a willing heart.--John Heywood (c.1497-1580), British Dramatist
The more we let God take us over, the more truly ourselves we become--because He made
us. He invented all the different people that you and I were intended to be.... It is when I
turn to Christ, when I give up myself to His personality, that I first begin to have a real
personality of my own.--C.S. Lewis
What God asks is a will which will no longer be divided between him and any creature, a
will pliant in his hands, which neither desires anything, nor refuses anything, which wants
without reservation everything which he wants, and which never, under any pretext, wants
anything which he does not want.--Francis De Fenelon (1651-1715)
Surely God Means What He Says
When He says, Go, He means, Go!
When He says, Go ye, He means, Go ye!
When He says, Into all the World, He means Into all the World!
When He says, Preach the Gospel, He means Preach the Gospel!
When He says, To every creature, He means, To every creature!
Surely God means what He says!
--William Carey, 1761-1834, missionary to India
When you put a limit on what you will do, you have put a limit on what you can do.--Charles
Schwab
Some luck lies in not getting what you thought you wanted but getting what you have, which
once you have got it you may be smart enough to see it's what you would have wanted had
you known.--Garrison Keillor
Willfulness must give way to willingness and surrender. Mastery must yield to mystery.-Gerald G. May
I wonder what would happen if we all agreed to read one of the Gospels until we came to a
place that told us to do something, then went out to do it, and only after we had done it,
began reading again? There are aspects of the Gospel that are puzzling and difficult to
understand. But our problems are not centered around the things we don't understand, but
rather in the things we do understand, the things we could not possibly misunderstand. Our
problem is not so much that we don't know what we should do. We know perfectly well, but
we don't want to do it.--Peter Marshall, former chaplain of the United States Senate
The most difficult thing I have ever had to do is follow the guidance I prayed for.--Albert
Schweitzer
Don't spend time beating on a wall, hoping to transform it into a door.--Coco Chanel
The more humble a man is in himself, and the more obedient towards God, the wiser will he
be in all things, and the more shall his soul be at peace.--From The Imitation of Christ by
Thomas a Kempis
For all that has been, thank you. For all that is to come, yes!--Dag Hammarskjold
Every genuine expression of love grows out of a consistent and total surrender to God.-Martin Luther King, Jr.
**************************
opinions of men
You don’t become indispensable merely because you are different. But the only way to
become indispensable is to be different. That’s because if you’re the same, so are plenty of
other people.--Seth Godin
You wouldn't worry so much about what others think of you if you realized how seldom they
do.--Eleanor Roosevelt
There is only one way to avoid criticism: do nothing, say nothing, and be nothing.--Aristotle
It takes a great deal of bravery to stand up to our enemies, but just as much to stand up to
our friends.--J. K. Rowling
How much time he saves who does not look to see what his neighbor says or does or
thinks.--Marcus Aurelius
Almost every man wastes part of his life in attempts to display qualities which he does not
possess, and to gain applause which he cannot keep.--Samuel Johnson
A man who wants to lead the orchestra must turn his back on the crowd.--Max Lucado
I don't know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everybody.--Bill
Cosby
A time comes when silence is betrayal. Even when pressed by the demands of inner truth,
men do not easily assume the task of opposing their government's policy, especially in time
of war. Nor does the human spirit move without great difficulty against all the apathy of
conformist thought, within one's own bosom and in the surrounding world.--Dr. Martin
Luther King Jr.
In America, through pressure of conformity, there is freedom of choice, but nothing to
choose from.--Peter Ustinov
The moment we begin to fear the opinions of others and hesitate to tell the truth that is in
us, and from motives of policy are silent when we should speak, the divine floods of light
and life no longer flow into our souls.--Elizabeth Cady Stanton--Reformer, Writer, Lecturer,
1815-1902
Too often the price exacted by society for security and respectability is that the Christian
movement in its formal expression must be on the side of the strong against the weak. This
is a matter of tremendous significance, for it reveals to what extent a religion that was born
of a people acquainted with persecution and suffering has become the cornerstone of a
civilization and of nations whose very position in modern life has too often been secured by
a ruthless use of power applied to weak and defenseless people.--Howard Thurman
Cautious, careful people always casting about to preserve their reputation or social
standards never can bring about reform. Those who are really in earnest are willing to be
anything or nothing in the world's estimation, and publicly and privately, in season and out,
avow their sympathies with despised ideas and their advocates, and bear the
consequences.--Susan B. Anthony
It takes a strong man to swim against the current; any dead fish will float with it.-Anonymous
Whatever course you decide upon, there is always someone to tell you that you are wrong.
There are always difficulties arising which tempt you to believe that your critics are right. To
map out a course of action and follow it to an end requires ... courage.--Ralph Waldo
Emerson
Many great ideas have been lost because the people who had them couldn't handle being
laughed at.--Author unknown
I do not regret having braved public opinion, when I knew it was wrong and was sure it
would be merciless.--Horace Greeley
We probably wouldn't worry about what other people think of us if we could know how
seldom they do.--Olin Miller
When I became an adult I put away childish things, including the fear of seeming childish
and the desire to be very grown-up.--C. S. Lewis
Let it never be forgotten that glamour is not greatness, applause is not fame, prominence is
not eminence, the man of the hour is not apt to be the man of the ages, a stone may
sparkle but that does not make it a diamond, and man may have money, but that does not
make him a success. It is what the unimportant do that really counts and determines the
course of history. The greatest forces in the universe are never spectacular. Summer
showers are more effective than hurricanes, but they get no publicity. The world would soon
die but for the fidelity, loyalty and consecration of those whose names are unhonored and
unsung.--Dr. Joseph R. Sizoo
My mother drew a distinction between achievement and success. She said that
'achievement is the knowledge that you have studied and worked hard and done the best
that is in you. Success is being praised by others, and that's nice, too, but not as important
or satisfying. Always aim for achievement and forget about success.'--Helen Hayes
As to people saying a few idle words about us, we must not mind that, any more than the
old church-steeple minds the rooks cawing about it.--George Eliot
You'll worry less about what people think about you when you realize how seldom they do.-David Foster Wallace
Few are willing to brave the disapproval of their fellows, the censure of the colleagues, the
wrath of their society. Moral courage is a rarer commodity than bravery in battle or great
intelligence. Yet it is the one essential, vital quality for those who seek to change a world
that yields most painfully to change. Each time a person stands up for an idea, or acts to
improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, (s)he sends forth a tiny ripple of
hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring, those
ripples build a current that can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and
resistance.--Robert F. Kennedy
We need to learn to set our course by the stars, not by the lights of every passing ship.-Omar N. Bradley (1893-1981) U.S. Army General
Right is right, even if everyone is against it; and wrong is wrong, even if everyone is for it.-William Penn
It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or
where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is
actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives
valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without
error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who
spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high
achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that
his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor
defeat.--Theodore Roosevelt
**************************
opportunity
Your big opportunity may be where you are right now.--Napoleon Hill
To each there comes in their lifetime a special moment when they are figuratively tapped on
the shoulder and offered the chance to do a very special thing, unique to them and fitted to
their talents. What a tragedy if that moment finds them unprepared or unqualified for that
which could have been their finest hour.--Winston Churchill
New beginnings are often disguised as painful endings.--Laozi
Our lives are defined by opportunities. Even the ones we miss.--F. Scott Fitzgerald
When one door closes another door opens; but we so often look so long and so regretfully
upon the closed door, that we do not see the ones which open for us.--Alexander Graham
Bell
When one door of happiness closes, another opens, but often we look so long at the closed
door that we do not see the one that has been opened for us.--Helen Keller
A day dawns, quite like other days; in it, a single hour comes, quite like other hours; but in
that day and in that hour the chance of a lifetime faces us.--Maltbie Babcock
Written in Chinese, the word crisis is composed of two characters. One represents danger
and the other represents opportunity.--John F. Kennedy,1917-1963, Thirty-fifth President of
the USA
There is no security on this Earth, there is only opportunity.--General Douglas MacArthur,
1880-1964, American Army General in WW II
One of the major reasons why people are not doing well is because they keep trying to get
through the day. A more worthy challenge is to try to get from the day. We must become
sensitive enough to observe and ponder what is happening around us. Be alert. Be awake.
Often, the most extraordinary opportunities are hidden among the seemingly insignificant
events of life. If we do not pay attention to these events, we can easily miss the
opportunities.--Jim Rohn
Small opportunities are often the beginning of great enterprises.--Demosthenes, 384-322
B.C., Greek Statesman and Orator
Pressure is nothing more than the shadow of great opportunity.--Michael Johnson
Opportunities are like sunrises--if you wait too long, you miss them.--William Arthur Ward
There is no security in life, only opportunity.--Denis Waitley
Whenever you see darkness, there is extraordinary opportunity for the light to burn
brighter.--Bono
Opportunities multiply as they are seized.--Sun Tzu
Jump at opportunities to take on responsibilities. People should try new things--that's how
to grow.--Kevin Murray
He who refuses to embrace a unique opportunity loses the prize as surely as if he had tried
and failed.--William James
Life opens up opportunities to you, and you either take them or you stay afraid of taking
them.--Jim Carrey
Most successful men have not achieved their distinction by having some new talent or
opportunity presented to them. They have developed the opportunity that was at hand.-Bruce Barton
What is the difference between an obstacle and an opportunity? Our attitude toward it.
Every opportunity has a difficulty, and every difficulty has an opportunity.--J. Sidlow Baxter
Effective people are not problem-minded; they're opportunity-minded. They feed
opportunities and starve problems.--Stephen Covey
The entrepreneur always searches for change, responds to it, and exploits it as an
opportunity.--Peter Drucker
Let your hook be always cast; in the pool where you least expect it, there will be a fish.-Ovid
Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.-Thomas Edison
If opportunity doesn't knock, build a bigger door.--Milton Berle
We are all inventors, each sailing out on a voyage of discovery, guided each by a private
chart, of which there is no duplicate. The world is all gates, all opportunities.--Ralph Waldo
Emerson
Opportunities do not come with their values stamped upon them. Everyone must be
challenged. A day dawns, quite like other days; in it a single hour comes, quite like other
hours; but in that day and in that hour the chance of a lifetime faces us.--Maltbie Davenport
Babcock
The secret of success in life is for a man to be ready for his opportunity when it comes.-Benjamin Disraeli
You were born rich, with 18 billion bountiful, beautiful, totally available and in all probability
underused brain cells awaiting your desire, decision and directional compass to take you
onward, upward, and Godward.--Mark Victor Hansen
I'm in a wonderful position: I'm unknown, I'm underrated, and there's nowhere to go but up.-Pierre S. DuPont IV, Lawyer and politician
Circumstances may cause interruptions and delays, but never lose sight of your goal.
Prepare yourself in every way you can by increasing your knowledge and adding to your
experience, so that you can make the most of opportunity when it occurs.--Mario Andretti
Problems are only opportunities in work clothes.--Henry J. Kaiser
At various points in your careers, you will be called to take a risk. And I think you will find,
as I have found, those will be the times of your greatest opportunities.--Raymond V.
Gilmartin
Often when you think you're at the end of something, you're at the beginning of something
else.--Mister Rogers
**************************
parenting
The words a father speaks to his children in the privacy of the home are not overheard at
the time, but, as in whispering galleries, they will be clearly heard at the end and by
posterity.--Jean Paul Richter
Too many parents make life hard for their children by trying, too zealously, to make it easy
for them.--Goethe
Anyone who thinks the art of conversation is dead ought to tell a child to go to bed.--Robert
Gallagher.
Parents learn a lot from their children about coping with life.--Muriel Spark, British Novelist
In case you're worried about what's going to become of the younger generation, it's going to
grow up and start worrying about the younger generation.--Roger Allen
Our children will define the future, which makes them our most significant and enduring
legacy. After all, God never told his followers to take over the world through force or
intelligence. He simply told us to have children and then raise them to honor God in all they
do.--George Barna, Transforming Children into Spiritual Champions
God sends children for another purpose than merely to keep up the race--to enlarge our
hearts and to make us unselfish and full of kindly sympathies and affections; to give our
souls higher aims; to call out all our faculties to extended enterprise and exertion; and to
bring round our firesides bright faces, happy smiles, and loving tender hearts. My soul
blesses the great Father every day, that he has gladdened the earth with little children.-Mary Howitt, English author
Making the decision to have a child--it's momentous. It is to decide forever to have your
heart go walking around outside your body.--Elizabeth Stone
Our children give us the opportunity to become the parents we always wished we'd had.-Louise Hart Writer
Part of the good part of being a parent is a constant sense of deja vu. But some of what you
have to vu you never want to vu again.--Anna Quindlen, Writer
As Christian parents, we are not to simply socialize our children into civil human beings; we
are to train them to advance the Kingdom of God. Christian parenting is less like a cotillion
and more like a boot camp. It's not simply about manners and proper decorum in public; it's
about being conditioned and prepared to take on life's challenges. It's not about fussing with
their collar so they'll look cute at the dance. It's about getting them ready to do battle.-Timothy Smith, The Danger of Raising Nice Kids (InterVarsity, 2006)
If the new father feels bewildered and even defeated, let him take comfort from the fact that
whatever he does in any fathering situation has a fifty percent chance of being right.--Bill
Cosby
A hundred years from now, it won't matter what your bank account was, the sort of house
you lived in, or the kind of car you drove, but the world may be different because you were
important in the life of a child.--Author unknown
Teaching kids to count is fine, but teaching them what counts is best.--Bob Talbert (19361999), Columnist
I believe the time we really look big in a child's eyes is when we go to them and apologize
for our mistakes and we say, 'I was wrong. Will you forgive me?'--Kevin Leman
Life affords no greater responsibility, no greater privilege, than the raising of the next
generation.--C. Everett Koop
Sometimes in our attempt to give children what we did not have, we forget to give our
children what we did have.--Connie Podesta
Parents are not interested in justice, they're interested in peace and quiet.--Bill Cosby
Many times, when I was having a hard time with one of my children, God would always
remind me that He was having a harder time with me than I was with them.--Charlie
Tremendous Jones
There is no greater leadership challenge than parenting.--Jim Rohn
Each day we make deposits in the memory banks of our children.--Charles Swindoll
Be the person you want your child to be.--Betsy Brown
It's the little things you do day in and day out that count. That's the way you teach your
children.--Amanda Pays, Actor
**************************
patience
Patience is also a form of action.--Auguste Rodin
Patience serves as a protection against wrongs as clothes do against cold. For if you put on
more clothes as the cold increases, it will have no power to hurt you. So in like manner you
must grow in patience when you meet with great wrongs, and they will then be powerless to
vex your mind.--Leonardo da Vinci, painter, engineer, musician, and scientist (1452-1519)
Patience is the companion of wisdom.--Saint Augustine
One moment of patience may ward off a great disaster; one moment of impatience may ruin
a whole life.--CHINESE PROVERB
Patience is not passive; on the contrary, it is active; it is concentrated strength.--Edward G.
Bulwer-Lytton, 1803-1873, British Novelist, Poet
Have patience with all things, but chiefly have patience with yourself. Do not lose courage
in considering your own imperfections but instantly set about remedying them--every day
begin the task anew.--St. Francis of Sales, 17th Century Bishop of Geneva
Endurance is patience concentrated.--Thomas Carlyle, 1795-1881, Scottish Philosopher
and Author
What is the test of human character? It is probably this: that man will know how to be
patient in the midst of hard circumstance, and can continue to be personally effective while
living through whatever discouragements beset him and his companions.--Samuel Lyman
Atwood Marshall (1900-1977) Military historian
Be not afraid of growing slowly, be afraid only of standing still.--Chinese Proverb
Patience strengthens the spirit, sweetens the temper, stifles anger, extinguishes envy,
subdues pride, bridles the tongue, restrains the hand, and tramples upon temptations.-George Horne (1730-1792), Cleric and scholar
Patience and perseverance have a magical effect before which difficulties disappear and
obstacles vanish.--John Quincy Adams
Patience is a bitter plant that produces sweet fruit.--Charles Swindoll
What makes you a man isn't the ability to conceive a child; it's having the courage to raise
one.--Barack Obama
Hold on; hold fast; hold out. Patience is genius.--Georges-Louis Leclerc
Never think that God's delays are God's denials. Hold on; hold fast; hold out. Patience is
genius.--Comte de Buffon
Patience is power. Patience is not an absence of action; rather it is 'timing'; it waits on the
right time to act, for the right principles and in the right way.--Fulton J. Sheen
What we need is a cup of understanding, a barrel of love, and an ocean of patience.--St.
Francis de Sales
Patience and fortitude conquer all things.--Ralph Waldo Emerson
Endurance is the crowning quality, and patience all the passion of great hearts.--James
Russell Lowell
**************************
perseverance
When nothing seems to help, I go look at a stone-cutter hammering away at his rock
perhaps a hundred times without as much as a crack showing in it. Yet at the hundred and
first blow it will split in two, and I know it was not that blow that did it, but all that had gone
before.--Jacob Riis
Patience and fortitude conquer all things.--Ralph Waldo Emerson
Ninety percent of all those who fail are not actually defeated. They simply quit.--Paul J.
Meyer
It's the steady, quiet, plodding ones who win in the lifelong race.--Robert Service
If you really want to do something, you'll find a way. If you don't, you'll find an excuse.--Jim
Rohn
Every strike brings me closer to the next home run.--Babe Ruth
Every artist was first an amateur.--Ralph Waldo Emerson
A champion doesn't become a champion in the ring, he's merely recognized in the ring. His
becoming happens during his daily routine.--Joe Louis
Champions do not become champions when they win the event, but in the hours, weeks,
months and years they spend preparing for it. The victorious performance itself is merely
the demonstration of their championship character.--T. Alan Armstrong
Endurance is the crowning quality, and patience all the passion of great hearts.--James
Russell Lowell
Saints are sinners who kept on going.--Robert Louis Stevenson
Everybody comes to a point in their life when they want to quit. But it’s what you do at that
moment that determines who you are.--David Goggins
Always continue the climb. It is possible for you to do whatever you choose, if you first get
to know who you are and are willing to work with a power that is greater than ourselves to
do it.--Ella Wheeler Wilcox
Never give up on a dream because of the time it will take to accomplish it. The time will
pass anyway.--Earl Nightingale
My greatest point is my persistence. I never give up in a match. However down I am, I fight
until the last ball. My list of matches shows that I have turned a great many so-called
irretrievable defeats into victories.--Bjorn Borg
The baby rises to its feet, takes a step, is overcome with triumph and joy--and falls flat on
its face. It is a pattern for all that is to come! But learn from the bewildered baby. Lurch to
your feet again. You'll make the sofa in the end.--Pam Brown
On Persistence: When we see ourselves in a situation which must be endured and gone
through, it is best to make up our minds to it, meet it with firmness and accommodate
everything to it in the best way practicable. This lessens the evil, while fretting and fuming
only serves to increase your own torments.--Thomas Jefferson (1743--1826)
The probability that we may fail in the struggle ought not to deter us from the support of a
cause we believe to be just.--Abraham Lincoln
When you get into a tight place, and everything goes against you, till it seems as though
you could not hold on a moment longer, never give up then--for that is just the place and
time that the tide will turn.--Harriet Beecher Stowe, 1811-1896, American Novelist,
Antislavery Campaigner
Big shots are only little shots who keep shooting.--Christopher Morley, 1890-1957,
American Novelist, Journalist, Poet
Little minds are tamed and subdued by misfortune; great minds rise above them.-Washington Irving
When I have fully decided that a result is worth getting I go ahead of it and make trial after
trial until it comes.--Thomas A. Edison
Most people give up just when they're about to achieve success. They quit on the one yard
line. They give up at the last minute of the game one foot from a winning touchdown.--H.
Ross Perot
Through perseverance many people win success out of what seemed destined to be certain
failure.--Benjamin Disraeli
Never give in--never, never, never, never.--Winston Churchill, 1874-1965, British
Statesman, Prime Minister
First, they ignore you. Then they laugh at you. Then they fight you. Then you win.--Gandhi
The difference between the impossible and the possible lies in a person's determination.-Tommy Lasorda, American baseball manager.
The most successful men in the end are those whose success is the result of steady
accretion... It is the man who carefully advances step by step, with his mind becoming wider
and wider--and progressively better able to grasp any theme or situation--persevering in
what he knows to be practical, and concentrating his thought upon it, who is bound to
succeed in the greatest degree.--Alexander Graham Bell
The longer I live, the more I am certain that the great difference between the feeble and the
powerful, between the great and the insignificant is energy--invincible determination--a
purpose once fixed, and then death or victory. This quality will do anything that can be done
in this world.--Sir Thomas Buxton
Effort only fully releases its reward after a person refuses to quit.--Napoleon Hill
It's always too early to quit.--Normal Vincent Peale
It's always too soon to quit.-Norman Vincent Peale
Our greatest glory is not in never failing, but in rising up every time we fail.--Ralph Waldo
Emerson
You have to find something that you love enough to be able to take risks, jump over the
hurdles, and break through the brick walls that are always going to be placed in front of you.
If you don't have that kind of feeling for what it is you're doing, you'll stop at the first giant
hurdle.--George Lucas, Director, Star Wars saga and Indiana Jones series
I do not think that there is any other quality so essential to success of any kind as the
quality of perseverance. It overcomes almost everything, even nature.--John D. Rockefeller,
1839-1937, American Industrialist, Philanthropist, Founder E x x o n
Perseverance is not a long race; it is many short races one after another.--Walter Elliot
Ninety-nine percent of all failures come from people who have the habit of making
excuses.--George Washington Carver
With ordinary talent and extraordinary perseverance, all things are attainable.--Sir Thomas
Buxton, 1786-1846, Baronet
Being defeated is often a temporary condition. Giving up is what makes it permanent.-Marilyn Vos Savant, US columnist, writer
In the confrontation between the stream and the rock, the stream always wins--not through
strength but by perseverance.--H. Jackson Brown, Author, Life's Little Instruction Book
Achievement seems to be connected with action. Successful men and women keep
moving. They make mistakes, but they don't quit.--Conrad Hilton, 1887-1979, Founder of
Hilton Hotels
It's the constant and determined effort that breaks down all resistance, sweeps away all
obstacles.--Claude M. Bristol, 1891-1951, Author of The Magic of Believing
Success seems to be largely a matter of hanging on after others have let go.--William
Feather, 1888-18, American Writer, Businessman
When you have exhausted all possibilities, remember this: You haven't!--Thomas Edison,
1847-1931, American Inventor, Entrepreneur, Founder of GE
Nearly every person who develops an idea works at it up to the point where it looks
impossible, and then gets discouraged. That's not the place to become discouraged.-Thomas A. Edison
Anyone who proposes to do good must not expect people to roll stones out of his way, but
must accept his lot calmly if they even roll a few more upon it.--Albert Schweitzer
I tell people that if you stay committed, your dreams can come true. I left home at 17 and
had nothing but rejections for 25 years. I wrote more than 20 screenplays, but I never gave
up.--Michael Blake, author of Dances with Wolves
If you're going through hell, keep going.--Sir Winston Churchill (1874--1965) Statesman
The first requisite for success is the ability to apply your physical and mental energies to
one problem incessantly without growing weary.--Thomas Edison
There is but one secret to success--never give up.--BEN NIGHTHORSE CAMPBELL, U.S.
Senator.
Persistent people begin their success where others end in failure.--Edward Eggleston,
American Writer, Historian
My motto was always to keep swinging. Whether I was in a slump or feeling badly or having
trouble off the field, the only thing to do was keep swinging.--Hank Aaron, Hall of Fame
American Baseball Player (known for holding the record for most career home runs)
Perseverance is the hard work you do after you get tired of doing the hard work you already
did.--Newt Gingrich, Former Speaker of the United States House of Representatives
What is defeat? Nothing but education; nothing but the first step to something better.-Wendell Phillips, 1811-1884, American Abolitionist
Obstacles don't have to stop you. If you run into a wall, don't turn around and give up.
Figure out how to climb it, go through it, or work around it.--Michael Jordan, Legendary
American Basketball Player
I can't change the direction of the wind, but I can adjust my sails to always reach my
destination.--Jimmy Dean, American Singer/Television Performer
Whenever I hear, It can't be done, I know I'm close to success.--Michael Flatley, IrishAmerican Step Dancer
A hero is an ordinary individual who finds the strength to persevere and endure in spite of
overwhelming obstacles.--Christopher Reeve
Obstacles cannot crush me, every obstacle yields to stern resolve. He who is fixed to a star
does not change his mind.--Leonardo da Vinci, 1452-1519, Scientist, Inventor, Artist
Life has two rules: Number one, never quit; Number two, always remember rule number
one.--Duke Ellington (1899-1974) Musician and composer
If it fails, admit it frankly and try another. But above all, try something.--Franklin D.
Roosevelt, 1882-1945, 32nd President of the United States
Persistence is what makes the impossible possible, the possible likely and the likely
definite.--Robert Half
Persistence is failing 19 times and succeeding the 20th.--J. Andrews
The race is not always to the swift, but to those who keep on running.--Anonymous
Perhaps there is no more important component of character than steadfast resolution. The
boy who is going to make a great man, or who is going to count in any way in afterlife, must
make up his mind not merely to overcome a thousand obstacles, but to win in spite of a
thousand repulses and defeats.--Theodore Roosevelt
Stick to your task till it sticks to you,
Beginners are many but enders are few.
Honor, power, place and praise
Come in time to the one who stays.--Unknown
Strength does not come from physical capacity. It comes from an indomitable will.-Mahatma Gandhi, 1869-1948, Indian Political and Spiritual Leader
Just keep going. Everybody gets better if they keep at it.--Ted Williams (1918-2002)
Baseball player
Anyone can carry his burden, however heavy, until nightfall. Anyone can do his work,
however hard, for one day. Anyone can live sweetly, patiently, lovingly, purely, till the sun
goes down and that is all that life really means.--Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894)
Writer
Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try
just one more time.--Thomas Edison
The conditions of conquest are always easy. We have but to toil awhile, endure awhile,
believe always, and never turn back.--William Gilmore Simms (1806-1870) Historian and
writer
Let me tell you the secret that has led me to my goal. My strength lies solely in my tenacity.-Louis Pasteur, 1822-1895, French Chemist
The difference between perseverance and obstinacy is that one often comes from a strong
will, and the other from a strong won't.--Henry Ward Beecher (1813-1887) Cleric
Determination gives you the resolve to keep going in spite of the roadblocks that lay before
you.--Denis Waitley
Success is almost totally dependent upon drive and persistence. The extra energy required
to make another effort or try another approach is the secret of winning.--Denis Waitley
Great works are performed not by strength but by perseverance.--Samuel Johnson
One worthwhile task carried to a successful conclusion is worth half-a-hundred half-finished
tasks.--Malcolm S. Forbes, 1917-1990, American Publisher
The last dejected effort often becomes the winning stroke.--W.J. Cameron
A man can get discouraged many times but he is not a failure until he begins to blame
somebody else and stops trying.--John Burroughs
Mountains DO move . . . one stone at a time.--Rick Beneteau
I can't do it never yet accomplished anything: I will try has accomplished wonders.--George
P. Burnham
By perseverance the snail reached the ark.--Charles Haddon Spurgeon (1834-1892) Cleric
There aren't any rules to success that will work unless you do.--Author unknown
When the morning's freshness has been replaced by the weariness of midday, when the leg
muscles give under the strain, the climb seems endless, and suddenly nothing will go quite
as you wish--it is then that you must not hesitate.--Dag Hammarskjold
Tough times don't last but tough people do.--A.C. Green
Life is full of obstacle illusions.--Grant Frazier
The majority of men meet with failure because of their lack of persistence in creating new
plans to take the place of those which fail.--Napoleon Hill
You can measure a man by the opposition it takes to discourage him.--Robert C. Savage
The majority of people are ready to throw their aims and purposes overboard and give up at
the first sign of opposition or misfortune. A few carry on despite all opposition until they
attain their goal. There may be no heroic connotation to the word 'persistence,' but the
quality is to the character of man what carbon is to steel.--Napoleon Hill
Good work done little by little becomes great work. Your house of success will be built brick
by brick.--Max Steingart
A leader, once convinced that a particular course of action is the right one, must...be
undaunted when the going gets tough.--Ronald Reagan
We will either find a way, or make one.--Hannibal
We must either find a way or make one.--Hannibal
Either I will find a way, or I will make one.--Sir Philip Sidney, 1554-1586, English
Poet/Courtier/Soldier
I never failed once. It just happened to be a 20001-step process.--Thomas A. Edison
The great victories are never won in the first blow.--Johan Falkberget
It is inevitable that some defeat will enter even the most victorious life. The human spirit is
never finished when it is defeated--it is finished when it surrenders.--Ben Stein
Winners are losers who got up and gave it one more try.--Dennis DeYoung
To have a great idea, have a lot of them.--Thomas Edison
Ride on! Rough-shod if need be, smooth-shod if that will do, but ride on! Ride over all
obstacles, and win the race!--Charles Dickens
The life that conquers is the life that moves with a steady resolution and persistence toward
a predetermined goal. Those who succeed are those who have thoroughly learned the
immense importance of plan in life, and the tragic brevity of time.--W.J. Davison
We must all wage an intense, lifelong battle against the constant downward pull. If we relax,
the bugs and weeds of negativity will move into the garden and take away everything of
value.--Jim Rohn
There is a sense of exhilaration that comes from facing head-on the hard truths and saying,
'We will never give up. We will never capitulate. It might take a long time, but we will find a
way to prevail.--Jim Collins
Good ideas are not adopted automatically. They must be driven into practice with
courageous patience.--Hyman Rickover, 1900-1986
The trouble with a lot of self-made men is they quit the job too early.--Author unknown
Run when you can, walk when you have to, crawl if you must; just never give up.--Dean
Karnazes
Don't make excuses--make good.--Elbert Hubbard
Having once decided to achieve a certain task, achieve it at all costs of tedium and distaste.
The gain in self-confidence of having accomplished a tiresome labor is immense.--Arnold
Bennett, British writer
History has noted that the most notable winners usually encounter heartbreaking obstacles
before they triumphed. They won because they refused to become discouraged by their
defeats. If it really hurts that bad, go ahead and cry--you'll feel better.--B. C. Forbes
Ever tried? Ever failed? No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better.--Samuel Beckett
We can't float through life. We can't be incidental or accidental. We must fix our gaze on a
guiding star as soon as one comes upon the horizon, and once we have attached ourselves
to that star we must keep our eyes on it and our hands on the plow.--Ossie Davis
To finish first, you must first finish.--Rick Mears
Perseverance is a great element of success. If you only knock long enough at the gate, you
are sure to wake up somebody.--Longfellow
Persistent people begin their success where others end in failure.--Edward Eggleston
Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not: nothing is more
common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a
proverb. Education will not: the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and
determination alone are omnipotent.--Calvin Coolidge
When things go wrong as they sometimes will,
When the road you're trudging seems all uphill,
When the funds are low and the debts are high,
And you want to smile but you have to sigh,
When care is pressing you down a bit,
Rest, if you must, but don't you quit.
Life is queer with its twists and turns,
As every one of us sometimes learns,
And many a failure turns about,
When he might have won had he stuck it out;
Don't give up though the pace seems slow-You may succeed with another blow.
Often the goal is nearer than,
It seems to a faint and faltering man,
Often the struggler has given up,
When he might have captured the victor's cup,
And he learned too late when the night slipped down,
How close he was to the golden crown.
Success is failure turned inside out,
The silver tint on the clouds of doubt,
And you can never tell how close you are,
It may be near when it seems afar.
So, stick to the fight when you're hardest hit
It's when things go wrong that you mustn't quit.
--Unknown
Energy and persistence conquer all things.--Benjamin Franklin
It's not whether you get knocked down; it's whether you get back up.--Vince Lombardi
Faithfulness is the crowbar of God. His promises will eventually open to those who don't
quit.--J. Lee Grady
There is no telling how many miles you will have to run while chasing a dream.-Anonymous
I may win and I may lose, but I will never be defeated.--Emmitt Smith
All endeavor calls for the ability to tramp the last mile, shape the last plan, endure the last
hours' toil. The fight to the finish spirit is the one... characteristic we must possess if we are
to face the future as finishers.--Henry David Thoreau
The great thing and the hard thing is to stick to things when you have outlived the first
interest, and not yet got the second, which comes with a sort of mastery.--Janet Erskine
Stuart
You've got to say, I think that if I keep working at this and want it badly enough I can have it.
It's called perseverance.--Lee Iacocca
Genius is often only the power of making continuous efforts. The line between failure and
success is so fine that we scarcely know when we pass it--so fine that we are often on the
line and do not know it. How many a man has thrown up his hands at a time when a little
more effort, a little more patience, would have achieved success. As the tide goes clear out,
so it comes clear in. In business sometimes prospects may seem darkest when really they
are on the turn. A little more persistence, a little more effort, and what seemed hopeless
failure may turn to glorious success. There is no failure except in no longer trying. There is
no defeat except from within, no really insurmountable barrier save our own inherent
weakness of purpose.--Elbert Hubbard
Failure is the hallmark of success. It can be the starting point of a new venture, such as
when a baby learns to walk; it has to fall down a lot to learn the new skill. Failure is also the
mark of a success you've worked for. When a pole vaulter finally misses in competition, it
shows how far he's come. That failure becomes the starting point for his next effort, proving
that failure is not final!--Dave Anderson
All things are difficult before they are easy.--Thomas Fuller, British churchman and
historian, 1732
Successful and unsuccessful people do not vary greatly in their abilities. They vary in their
desires to reach their potential.--John Maxwell
No great thing is created suddenly.--Epictetus
Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when
they gave up.--Thomas Edison
We have not wings we cannot soar; but, we have feet to scale and climb, by slow degrees,
by more and more, the cloudy summits of our time.--Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
You may have to fight a battle more than once to win it.--Margaret Thatcher
One of the most common causes of failure is the habit of quitting when one is overtaken by
temporary defeat.--Napoleon Hill
He conquers who endures.--Persius, Roman poet and satirist
The difference between a successful person and others is not a lack of strength, not a lack
of knowledge, but rather in a lack of will.--Vince Lombardi
The only difference between successful people and unsuccessful people is extraordinary
determination.--Mary Kay Ash
Nothing great is created suddenly, any more than a bunch of grapes or a fig.--Epictetus
People of mediocre ability sometimes achieve outstanding success because they don't
know when to quit. Most men succeed because they are determined to.--George Allen,
American football coach
I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work.--Thomas Alva Edison
Success is not final. Failure is not fatal. It is the courage to continue that counts.--Winston
Churchill
Nearly every man who develops an idea works it up to the point where it looks impossible,
and then he gets discouraged. That's not the place to become discouraged.--Thomas A.
Edison
Victory belongs to the most persevering.--Napoleon, 1769-1821, French General, Emperor
The best way out is always through.--Robert Frost
A hard beginning maketh a good ending.--John Heywood
There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from
failure.--Colin Powell
Never confuse a single defeat with a final defeat.--F. Scott Fitzgerald
What is harder than rock, or softer than water? Yet soft water hollows out hard rock.
Persevere.--Ovid
Most of the important things in the world have been accomplished by people who have kept
on trying when there seemed to be no hope at all.--Dale Carnegie
What do I think about when I strike out? I think about hitting home runs. Babe Ruth Hall of
Fame Baseball Player 1895-1948
Flaming enthusiasm, backed up by horse sense and persistence, is the quality that most
frequently makes for success.--Dale Carnegie
Courage and perseverance have a magical talisman, before which difficulties disappear
and obstacles vanish into air.--John Quincy Adams (1767-1848), 6th U.S. President.
What this power is, I cannot say. All I know is that it exists...and it becomes available only
when you are in that state of mind in which you know exactly what you want...and are fully
determined not to quit until you get it.--Alexander Graham Bell, inventor of the telephone
Endurance is patience concentrated.--Thomas Carlyle, 1795-1881, Scottish Philosopher
and Author
Happy are those who dream dreams and are ready to pay the price to make them come
true.--Cardinal Leo Jozef Suenens (1904-1996)
What is the test of human character? It is probably this: that man will know how to be
patient in the midst of hard circumstance, and can continue to be personally effective while
living through whatever discouragements beset him and his companions.--Samuel Lyman
Atwood Marshall (1900-1977) Military historian
The man who removes a mountain begins by carrying away small stones.--Chinese
Proverb (--William Faulkner)
Be sure you put your feet in the right place, then stand firm.--Abraham Lincoln
Patience and perseverance have a magical effect before which difficulties disappear and
obstacles vanish.--John Quincy Adams
Pain is temporary. It may last a minute, or an hour, or a day, or a year, but eventually it will
subside and something else will take its place. If I quit, however, it lasts forever. That
surrender, even the smallest act of giving up, stays with me. So when I feel like quitting, I
ask myself, which would I rather live with?--Lance Armstrong
Age may wrinkle the face, but lack of enthusiasm wrinkles the soul.--Danish Proverb
If wrinkles must be written upon our brows, let them not be written upon the heart. The spirit
should never grow old.--James A. Garfield, 1831-1881, 20th President of the United States
Years wrinkle the skin, but to give up enthusiasm wrinkles the soul.--Douglas MacArthur,
1880-1964, American Military General
Age wrinkles the body. Quitting wrinkles the soul.--Douglas MacArthur
Even if I knew that tomorrow the world would go to pieces, I would still plant my apple tree.-Martin Luther
There is no road too long to the man who advances deliberately and without undue haste;
there are no honors too distant to the man who prepares himself for them with patience.-Jean de la Bruyere
Every noble work is at first impossible.--Thomas Carlyle
Start by doing what's necessary; then do what's possible; and suddenly you are doing the
impossible.--St. Francis of Assisi, 1181-1226, Italian Preacher, Founder of the Franciscan
Order
I have found that there are three stages in every great work of God; first, it is impossible,
then it is difficult, then it is done.--Hudson Taylor (1832-1905)
Most of the things worth doing in the world were said to be impossible before they were
done.--Louis Brandeis (1856-1941) Jurist
So many of our dreams at first seem impossible, then they seem improbable, and then,
when we summon the will, they soon become inevitable.--Christopher Reeve
**************************
political commentary, societal priorities, the media
A politician is a fellow who will lay down your life for his country.--Tex Guinan
War does not determine who is right, only who is left.--Bertrand Russell
The propitious smiles of Heaven can never be expected on a nation that disregards the
external rules of order and right, which Heaven itself has ordained.--George Washington, in
his inaugural address.
On America. We are a nation where some political leaders quote from the Scriptures on
national television, but deny the practice of those Scriptures in their private lives. We are a
nation where the voice of the ACLU is more feared than the voice of God. We are a nation
which has become a vacuum that sucks in every form of filth and perversion and then gives
it a stage on which to perform. We are a nation which embraces pornography in the name
of freedom of the press and forbids prayer in the name of separation of church and state.
We are a nation which has been so foolish as to sow the seeds of violence, immorality,
rebellion and hypocrisy and now the crops are being harvested.--Jerry Drace, president of
the Conference of Southern Baptist Evangelists, Baptist Press.
What experience and history teach is this: that people and governments have never learned
anything from history.--Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, German philosopher (1770-1831).
Since Auschwitz we know what man is capable of. And since Hiroshima we know what is at
stake.--Viktor Frankl, author, neurologist and psychiatrist, Holocaust survivor (1905-1997)
Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies in the final
sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not
clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its
laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children. This is not a way of life at all
in any true sense. Under the clouds of war, it is humanity hanging on a cross of iron.-Dwight Eisenhower, 1953 speech
Dr. Kelvin Kamm, Ph.D. of Pretoria, South Africa noted, When a Boeing 747 smashes into
the ground killing all on board, it makes massive international headlines. But seven of those
747s full of people is the same number of Africans who die every day from malaria, and
there are no international headlines.
A diplomat is a person who can tell you to go to hell in such a way that you actually look
forward to the trip.--Caskie Stinnett
I believe there are more instances of the abridgment of the rights of the people by the
gradual and silent encroachments of those in power than by violent and sudden
usurpations.--James Madison, fourth US president (1751-1836)
It is enough that the people know there was an election. The people who cast the votes
decide nothing. The people who count the votes decide everything.--Joseph Stalin
There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics.--Benjamin Disraeli
Television is an invention that permits you to be entertained in your living room by people
you wouldn't have in your home.--David Frost
Never believe anything in politics until it has been officially denied.--Otto von Bismark
The end move in politics is always to pick up a gun.--R. Buckminster Fuller
A politician needs the ability to foretell what is going to happen tomorrow, next week, next
month, and next year. And to have the ability afterwards to explain why it didn't happen.--Sir
Winston Churchill
Government's view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves,
tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it.--Ronald Reagan
All the president is, is a glorified public relations man who spends his time flattering, kissing,
and kicking people to get them to do what they are supposed to do anyway.--Harry S.
Truman
Diplomacy is the art of saying "Nice doggie!" until you can find a rock.--Will Rogers
History is the version of past events that people have decided to agree upon.--Napoleon
Bonaparte
All of us who are concerned for peace and triumph of reason and justice must be keenly
aware how small an influence reason and honest good will exert upon events in the political
field.--Albert Einstein
Democracy is being allowed to vote for the candidate you dislike least.--Robert Byrne
Politics is the gentle art of getting votes from the poor and campaign funds from the rich, by
promising to protect each from the other.--Oscar Ameringer
Majority rule only works if you're also considering individual rights. Because you can't have
five wolves and one sheep voting on what to have for supper.--Larry Flynt
The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average
voter.--Sir Winston Churchill
In the absence of justice, what is sovereignty but organized robbery?--Saint Augustine
These capitalists generally act harmoniously and in concert to fleece the people.--Abraham
Lincoln in the Illinois Legislature, January 1837.
There are 10^11 stars in the galaxy. That used to be a huge number. But it's only a hundred
billion. It's less than the national deficit! We used to call them astronomical numbers. Now
we should call them economical numbers.--Richard Feynman
Any American who is prepared to run for president should automatically, by definition, be
disqualified from ever doing so.--Gore Vidal
Under democracy one party always devotes its chief energies to trying to prove that the
other party is unfit to rule--and both commonly succeed, and are right.--H. L. Mencken
Politics is perhaps the only profession for which no preparation is thought necessary.-Robert Louis Stevenson
Ninety percent of the politicians give the other ten percent a bad reputation.--Henry
Kissinger
Priorities in citizenship: President James Madison, in his Memorial and Remonstrance,
wrote: Before any man can be considered as a member of Civil Society, he must be
considered as a subject of the Governor of the Universe.
We live in the United States of Entertainment. Everything is a show, including a war with
Iraq ... People are going to die, so they may cover it very seriously. But the promotion is
where the show business comes in. It's the same as the promotion for a stupid reality
show.--Media critic and former CBS correspondent Bernard Goldberg in The Dallas
Morning News.
The danger of the past was that men became slaves. The danger of the future is that men
may become robots.--Erich Fromm
We have heard (our national leaders) proclaim that there will be no accounting for Iraqi
casualties, combatant and noncombatant, nor an acceptance of responsibility for the
collapse of social order and the chaos that is now being experienced in many parts of Iraq.
In the middle of this Christian Holy Week, the image of Pilate comes to mind, he who
washed his hands of responsibility after condemning Jesus to death.--Catholics for a
Peaceful End to War and Terrorism, a coalition of Catholic groups including Pax Christi
USA and the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, in an April 16 statement
(Religion News Service).
The West won the world not by the superiority of its ideas or values or religion but rather by
its superiority in applying organized violence. Westerners often forget this fact, nonWesterners never do.--Samuel P. Huntington, author
Politics is not a bad profession. If you succeed there are many rewards, if you disgrace
yourself you can always write a book.--Ronald Reagan
Anything important is never left to the vote of the people. We only get to vote on some man;
we never get to vote on what he is to do.--Will Rogers
It could probably be shown by facts and figures that there is no distinctly American criminal
class except Congress.--Mark Twain
If you laid economists end to end, you would still never reach a conclusion.--George
Bernard Shaw
People everywhere confuse what they read in newspapers with news.--A. J. Liebling
We hang the petty thieves and appoint the great ones to public office.--Aesop
Youth is the first victim of war--the first fruit of peace. It takes 20 years or more of peace to
make a man; it takes only 20 seconds of war to destroy him.--Boudewijn I, King of Belgium
(1934-1993)
An honest politician is one who, when he is bought, stays bought.--Simon Cameron
(Lincoln's Secretary of War)
When a whole nation is roaring patriotism at the top of its voice, I am fain to explore the
cleanness of its hands and purity of its heart.--Ralph Waldo Emerson
If you want total security, go to prison. There you're fed, clothed, given medical care and so
on. The only thing lacking... is freedom.--Dwight Eisenhower
Patriotism is your conviction that this country is superior to all other countries because you
were born in it.--George Bernard Shaw
What kind of victory is it when someone is left defeated? What difference does it make to
the dead, the orphans, and the homeless, whether the mad destruction is wrought under
the name of totalitarianism or the holy name of liberty and democracy. What is a war
criminal? Was not war itself a crime against God and humanity, and, therefore, were not all
those who sanctioned, engineered and conducted wars, war criminals? ... Non-cooperation
with evil is a sacred duty.--Gandhi
The cry has been that when war is declared, all opposition should therefore be hushed. A
sentiment more unworthy of a free country could hardly be propagated. If the doctrine be
admitted, rulers have only to declare war and they are screened at once from scrutiny.-William Ellery Channing
We in America do not have government by the majority. We have government by the
majority who participate.--Thomas Jefferson
There is no nonsense so errant that it cannot be made the creed of the vast majority by
adequate governmental action.--Bertrand Russell
Ancient Rome declined because it had a Senate; now what's going to happen to us with
both a Senate and a House?--Will Rogers
We live in a dirty and dangerous world. There are some things the general public does not
need to know, and shouldn't. I believe democracy flourishes when the government can take
legitimate steps to keep its secrets and when the press can decide whether to print what it
knows.--Katherine Graham: Speech to CIA recruits in 1988
Our government has kept us in a perpetual state of fear--kept us in a continuous stampede
of patriotic fervor--with the cry of grave national emergency. Always, there has been some
terrible evil at home, or some monstrous foreign power that was going to gobble us up if we
did not blindly rally behind it.--General Douglas MacArthur (1880-1964)
U.S. military commander.
Once a government is committed to the principle of silencing the voice of opposition, it has
only one way to go, and that is down the path of increasingly repressive measures, until it
becomes a source of terror to all its citizens and creates a country where everyone lives in
fear:--Harry S. Truman
Television is altering the meaning of being informed by creating a species of information
that might properly be called disinformation... Disinformation does not mean false
information. It means misleading information--misplaced, irrelevant, fragmented or
superficial information--information that creates the illusion of knowing something, but which
in fact leads one away from knowing.--Neil Postman
Every time anyone says that Israel is our only friend in the Middle East, I can't help but think
that before Israel, we had no enemies in the Middle East.--John Sheehan, S.J. (a Jesuit
priest)
When the politicians complain that TV turns the proceedings into a circus, it should be
made clear that the circus was already there, and that TV has merely demonstrated that not
all the performers are well trained.--Edward R. Murrow
Our position is that whatever grievances a nation may have, however objectionable it finds
the status quo, aggressive warfare is an illegal means for settling those grievances or for
altering those conditions.--Supreme Court Justice Robert Jackson. American prosecutor at
the Nuremberg trials, in his opening statement to the tribunal
One of the things I learned during my tenure in Washington is that the civics book picture of
government in operations is completely inaccurate. The idea that our elected officials take
part in a careful decision-making process--monitoring events, reviewing options,
responsibly selecting policies--has almost no connection with reality. A more accurate
image would be that of a runaway train with the throttle stuck wide open--while the
passengers and crew are living it up in the dining car.--Former U.S. Treasury Secretary
William Simon, A Time For Action
Next the statesmen will invent cheap lies, putting the blame upon the nation that is
attacked, and every man will be glad of those conscience-soothing falsities, and will
diligently study them, and refuse to examine any refutations of them; and thus he will by
and by convince himself that the war is just, and will thank God for the better sleep he
enjoys after this process of grotesque self-deception.--Mark Twain, 1916
Heroism on command, senseless violence, and all the loathsome nonsense that goes by
the name of patriotism--how passionately I hate them!--Albert Einstein
If you came and you found a strange man... teaching your kids to punch each other, or
trying to sell them all kinds of products, you'd kick him right out of the house, but here you
are; you come in and the TV is on, and you don't think twice about it.--Jerome Singer
If ignorance is bliss, America might have cornered the market on happiness.--Col. David H.
Hackworth (USA Ret.)
In archaeology you uncover the unknown. In diplomacy you cover the known.--Thomas
Pickering
I'm often amazed at the way politicians, who spend hours poring over opinion poll results in
a desperate attempt to discover what the public thinks, are certain they know precisely what
God's views are on everything--Simon Hoggart
Do not fear the enemy, for your enemy can only take your life. It is far better that you fear
the media, for they will steal your Honor. That awful power, the public opinion of a nation, is
created in America by a horde of ignorant, self-complacent simpletons who failed at ditching
and shoemaking and fetched up in journalism on their way to the poorhouse.--Mark Twain.
All successful newspapers are ceaselessly querulous and bellicose. They never defend
anyone or anything if they can help it; if the job is forced on them, they tackle it by
denouncing someone or something else.--H. L. Mencken
The point of public relations slogans like Support our troops is that they don't mean
anything... That's the whole point of good propaganda. You want to create a slogan that
nobody's going to be against, and everybody's going to be for. Nobody knows what it
means, because it doesn't mean anything. Its crucial value is that it diverts your attention
from a question that does mean something: Do you support our policy? That's the one
you're not allowed to talk about.--Noam Chomsky
The president has adopted a policy of 'anticipatory self-defense' that is alarmingly similar to
the policy that imperial Japan employed at Pearl Harbor, on a date which, as an earlier
American president said it would, lives in infamy. Franklin D. Roosevelt was right, but today
it is we Americans who live in infamy.--Arthur Schlesinger.
It is the man who does not want to express an opinion whose opinion I want.--Abraham
Lincoln
Television news is like a lightning flash. It makes a loud noise, lights up everything around
it, leaves everything else in darkness and then is suddenly gone.--Hodding Carter
Why does the Air Force need expensive new bombers? Have the people we've been
bombing over the years been complaining?--George Wallace
Arundhati Roy, author and activist: The International Coalition Against Terror is largely a
cabal of the richest countries in the world. Between them, they manufacture and sell almost
all of the world's weapons, and they possess the largest stockpile of weapons of mass
destruction- chemical, biological and nuclear. They have fought the most wars, account for
most of the genocide, subjection, ethnic cleansing and human rights violations in modem
history, and have sponsored, armed and financed untold numbers of dictators and despots.
Between them, they have worshipped, almost deified, the cult of violence and war.
William Blum: From 1945 to 2003, the United States attempted to overthrow more than 40
foreign governments, and to crush more than 30 populist-nationalist movements fighting
against intolerable regimes. In the process, the US bombed some 25 countries, caused the
end of life for several million people, and condemned many millions more to a life of agony
and despair.
Hermann Goering: Why of course the people don't want war... That is understood. But after
all it is the leaders of the country who determine the policy, and it is always a simple matter
to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a
parliament, or a communist dictatorship ...Voice or no voice, the people can always be
brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is to tell them they are
being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country
to danger.
William Blum: [American leaders] are perhaps not so much immoral as they are amoral. It's
not that they take pleasure in causing so much death and suffering. It's that they just don't
care ... the same that could be said about a sociopath. As long as the death and suffering
advance the agenda of the empire, as long as the right people and the right corporations
gain wealth and power and privilege and prestige, as long as the death and suffering aren't
happening to them or people close to them ... then they just don't care about it happening to
other people, including the American soldiers whom they throw into wars and who come
home--the ones who make it back alive--with Agent Orange or Gulf War Syndrome eating
away at their bodies. American leaders would not be in the positions they hold if they were
bothered by such things.
Mark Hertzgaard: Americans cannot escape a certain responsibility for what is done in our
name around the world. In a democracy, even one as corrupted as ours, ultimate authority
rests with the people. We empower the government with our votes, finance it with our taxes,
bolster it with our silent acquiescence. If we are passive in the face of America's official
actions overseas, we in effect endorse them.
Carl Boggs: The U.S. record of war crimes has been, from the nineteenth century to the
present, a largely invisible one, with no government, no political leaders, no military officials,
no lower-level operatives held accountable for criminal actions... Anyone challenging this
mythology is quickly marginalized, branded a traitor or Communist or terrorist or simply a
lunatic beyond the pale of reasonable discussion.
Arundhati Roy, author and activist: America continues to remain the enigma it has always
been--a curiously insular people administered by a pathologically meddlesome,
promiscuous government.
Robert Jensen: The United States is a society in which people not only can get by without
knowing much about the wider world but are systematically encouraged not to think
independently or critically and instead to accept the mythology of the United States as a
benevolent, misunderstood giant as it lumbers around the world trying to do good.
Neil Postman: Television is altering the meaning of being informed by creating a species of
information that might properly be called disinformation... Disinformation does not mean
false information. It means misleading information--misplaced, irrelevant, fragmented or
superficial information--information that creates the illusion of knowing something, but which
in fact leads one away from knowing.
Arundhati Roy, Indian author and activist: In America, the arms industry, the oil industry and
the major media networks--indeed, U.S. foreign policy--are all controlled by the same
business combines. (shadows of President Eisenhower's warning about the industrialCongressional- military complex)
Walter Lippmann: The news and truth are not the same thing.
Tom Fenton: Americans are too broadly underinformed to digest nuggets of information that
seem to contradict what they know of the world ... Instead, news channels prefer to feed
Americans a constant stream of simplified information, all of which fits what they already
know. That way they don't have to devote more air time or newsprint space to explanations
or further investigations.
Michael Parenti: The enormous gap between what US leaders do in the world and what
Americans think their leaders are doing is one of the great propaganda accomplishments of
the dominate political mythology.
Mark Crispin Miller: Media manipulation in the U.S. today is more efficient than it was in
Nazi Germany, because here we have the pretense that we are getting all the information
we want. That misconception prevents people from even looking for the truth.
Theodore Dreiser, 1871-1945: The American press, with a very few exceptions, is a kept
press. Kept by the big corporations the way a whore is kept by a rich man.
Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf: The size of the lie is a definite factor in causing it to be believed,
for the vast masses of the nation are in the depths of their hearts more easily deceived than
they are consciously and intentionally bad. The primitive simplicity of their minds renders
them a more easy prey to a big lie than a small one, for they themselves often tell little lies
but would be ashamed to tell a big one.
William Shirer: For the last fifty years we've been supporting right-wing governments, and
that is a puzzlement to me...I don't understand what there is in the American character...
that almost automatically, even when we have a liberal President, we support fascist
dictatorships or are tolerant towards them.
Alex Carey: The twentieth century has been characterized by three developments of great
political importance: the growth of democracy, the growth of corporate power, and the
growth of corporate propaganda as a means of protecting corporate power against
democracy.
Star Wars filmmaker George Lucas: All democracies turn into dictatorships--but not by
coup. The people give their democracy to a dictator, whether it's Julius Caesar or Napoleon
or Adolf Hitler. Ultimately, the general population goes along with the idea... That's the issue
that I've been exploring: How did the Republic turn into the Empire ... and how does a
democracy become a dictatorship?
Huey Long: If fascism ever came to the United States, it would be wrapped in an American
flag.
The American Heritage Dictionary, 1983: fascism--A system of government that exercises a
dictatorship of the extreme right, typically through the merging of state and business
leadership, together with belligerent nationalism.
Noam Chomsky: The point of public relations slogans like 'Support our troops' is that they
don't mean anything... That's the whole point of good propaganda. You want to create a
slogan that nobody's going to be against, and everybody's going to be for. Nobody knows
what it means, because it doesn't mean anything. Its crucial value is that it diverts your
attention from a question that does mean something: Do you support our policy? That's the
one you're not allowed to talk about.
Dalton Trumbo, Johnny Got His Gun: You can always hear the people who are willing to
sacrifice somebody else's life. They're plenty loud and they talk all the time. You can find
them in churches and schools and newspapers and legislatures and congress. That's their
business. They sound wonderful. Death before dishonor. This ground sanctified by blood.
These men who died so gloriously. They shall not have died in vain. Our noble dead.
Edward Abbey: A patriot must always be ready to defend his country against his
government.
J. William Fulbright, US Senator: To criticize one's country is to do it a service ... Criticism,
in short, is more than a right; it is an act of patriotism--a higher form of patriotism, I believe,
than the familiar rituals and national adulation.
So I became a newspaperman. I hated to do it but I couldn't find honest employment.--Mark
Twain
Looking at yourself through the media is like looking at one of those rippled mirrors in an
amusement park.--Edmund S. Muskie
Our only political party has two right wings, one called Republican, the other Democratic.
But Henry Adams figured all that out back in the 1890s. 'We have a single system,' he
wrote, and 'in that system the only question is the price at which the proletariat is to be
bought and sold, the bread and circuses.'--Gore Vidal, The Decline and Fall of the
American Empire
A great industrial nation is controlled by its system of credit. Our system of credit is
concentrated. The growth of the nation and all our activities are in the hands of a few men.
We have come to be one of the worst ruled, one of the most completely controlled and
dominated governments in the world--no longer a government of free opinion, no longer a
government by conviction and vote of the majority, but a government by the opinion and
duress of small groups of dominant men.--Woodrow Wilson, from his campaign speeches,
1912 [note: He probably was telling people what was already common knowledge. Actions
speak louder than words. Under his administration, the U.S. entered World War I, he
established the Federal Reserve banking system (with the power to print money), and a
federal income tax.]
Behind the ostensible government sits enthroned an invisible government owing no
allegiance and acknowledging no responsibility to the people. To destroy this invisible
government, to befoul the unholy alliance between corrupt business and corrupt politics is
the first task of the statesmanship of today.--President Theodore Roosevelt (1906)
It is far easier to make war than to make peace.--Georges Clemenceau
We're not a democracy. It's a terrible misunderstanding and a slander to the idea of
democracy to call us that. In reality, we're a plutocracy: a government by the wealthy.-Ramsey Clark, former U.S. Attorney General
The enemy aggressor is always pursuing a course of larceny, murder, rapine and
barbarism. We are always moving forward with high mission, a destiny imposed by the
Deity to regenerate our victims while incidentally capturing their markets, to civilise savage
and senile and paranoid peoples while blundering accidentally into their oil wells.--John
Flynn, 1944
[T]his is the crime of which I accuse my country and my countrymen, and for which neither I
nor time nor history will ever forgive them, that they have destroyed and are destroying
hundreds of thousands of lives and do not know it and do not want to know it.--James
Baldwin, from The Fire Next Time
If they do it, it's terrorism, if we do it, it's fighting for freedom.--Anthony Quainton, U.S.
Ambassador to Nicaragua, 1984 (Off the record response of the ambassador to a group of
concerned U.S. citizens when asked to explain the difference between U.S. government
actions in Nicaragua and the violence it condemns as terrorism elsewhere in the world).
I see in the near future a crisis approaching that unnerves me and causes me to tremble for
the safety of my country. As a result of war, corporations have been enthroned, and an era
of corruption in high places will follow, and the money power of the country will endeavor to
prolong its reign by working upon the prejudices of the people until all the wealth is
aggregated in a few hands and the republic is destroyed. I feel, at this moment, more
anxiety for the safety of my country than ever before, even in the midst of war. God grant
that my suspicions may prove groundless.--Abraham Lincoln in a letter to Col. William F.
Elkins on November 21, 1864
The things that will destroy America are prosperity-at-any-price, peace-at-any-price, safetyfirst instead of duty-first, the love of soft living, and the get-rich-quick theory of life.-Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919) 26th US President, from a letter written 01/10/1917
A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on
programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death.--Martin Luther King Jr.
I believe that if we had and would keep our dirty, bloody, dollar-soaked fingers out of the
business of these nations so full of depressed, exploited people, they will arrive at a
solution of their own--and if unfortunately their revolution must be of the violent type
because the 'haves' refuse to share with the 'have-nots' by any peaceful method, at least
what they get will be their own, and not the American style, which they don't want and
above all don't want crammed down their throats by Americans.--General David M. Shoup,
Commandant of the Marine Corps 1960-63, winner of the Congressional Medal of Honor
Seas of blood have been shed for the sake of patriotism. One would expect the harm and
irrationality of patriotism to be self-evident to everyone. But the surprising fact is that
cultured and learned [socially conditioned and indoctrinated] people not only do not notice
the harm and stupidity of patriotism, they resist every unveiling of it with the greatest
obstinacy and passion (with no rational grounds), and continue to praise it as beneficent
and elevating.--Leo Tolstoy
Blessed are the young, for they shall inherit the national debt.--Herbert Hoover (18741964), U.S. President
Good intentions will always be pleaded for every assumption of authority. It is hardly too
strong to say that the Constitution was made to guard the people against the dangers of
good intentions. There are men in all ages who mean to govern well, but they mean to
govern. They promise to be good masters, but they mean to be masters.--Daniel Webster
America is the only country that went from barbarism to decadence without civilization in
between.--Oscar Wilde
How many does it take to metamorphose wickedness into righteousness? One man must
not kill. If he does, it is murder.... But a state or nation may kill as many as they please, and
it is not murder. It is just, necessary, commendable, and right. Only get people enough to
agree to it, and the butchery of myriads of human beings is perfectly innocent. But how
many does it take?--Adin Ballou, 5 February 1845
If you put the federal government in charge of the Sahara Desert, in 5 years there'd be a
shortage of sand.--Milton Friedman
The average age of the world's greatest civilizations has been two hundred years. These
nations have progressed through this sequence:
From bondage to spiritual faith;
from spiritual faith to great courage;
from courage to liberty;
from liberty to abundance;
from abundance to selfishness;
from selfishness to complacency;
from complacency to apathy;
from apathy to dependence;
from dependency back again into bondage.
--Sir Alex Fraser Tyler (1742-1813), Scottish jurist and historian
You can't say that civilization don't advance, for in every war they kill you a new way.--Will
Rogers (1879-1935)
The principal beneficiary of America's foreign assistance programs has always been the
United States.--US Agency for International Development, Source: Direct Economic
Benefits of U.S. Assistance Programs, 1999
Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly and
applying the wrong remedies.--Groucho Marx
Indeed I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just.--Thomas Jefferson
It is dangerous to be right when the government is wrong.--Voltaire (1694-1778)
If you don't read the newspaper you are uninformed; if you do read the newspaper you are
misinformed.--Mark Twain
It is indeed probable that more harm and misery have been caused by men determined to
use coercion to stamp out a moral evil than by men intent on doing evil.--Fredrich von
Hayek, Nobel Laureate in Economics, from The Constitution of Liberty
It'll be a great day when education gets all the money it wants and the Air Force has to hold
a bake sale to buy bombers.--Author unknown
Give me the money that has been spent in war and I will clothe every man, woman, and
child in an attire of which kings and queens will be proud. I will build a schoolhouse in every
valley over the whole earth. I will crown every hillside with a place of worship consecrated
to peace--Charles Sumner
The line separating good and evil passes not through states, nor between political parties
either--but right through every human heart.--Alexsandr Solzhenitsyn
We Americans are the best informed people on earth as to the events of the last twentyfour hours; we are the not the best informed as the events of the last sixty centuries.--Will
Durant
What a cruel thing is war: to separate and destroy families and friends, and mar the purest
joys and happiness God has granted us in this world; to fill our hearts with hatred instead of
love for our neighbors, and to devastate the fair face of this beautiful world.--Robert E. Lee,
letter to his wife, 1864
The direct use of force is such a poor solution to any problem, it is generally employed only
by small children and large nations.--David Friedman, American economist and writer
The corporate grip on opinion in the United States is one of the wonders of the Western
world. No First World country has ever managed to eliminate so entirely from its media all
objectivity--much less dissent.--Gore Vidal
Anyone who has ever looked into the glazed eyes of a soldier dying on the battlefield will
think hard before starting a war.--Otto von Bismarck
A time comes when silence is betrayal. Even when pressed by the demands of inner truth,
men do not easily assume the task of opposing their government's policy, especially in time
of war. Nor does the human spirit move without great difficulty against all the apathy of
conformist thought, within one's own bosom and in the surrounding world.--Dr. Martin
Luther King Jr.
Television's perfect. You turn a few knobs, a few of those mechanical adjustments at which
the higher apes are so proficient, and lean back and drain your mind of all thought. And
there you are, watching the bubbles in the primeval ooze. You don't have to concentrate.
You don't have to react. You don't have to remember. You don't miss your brain because
you don't need it. Your heart and liver and lungs continue to function normally. Apart from
that, all is peace and quiet. You are in man's nirvana. And if some poor nasty minded
person comes along and says you look like a fly on a can of garbage, pay him no mind. He
probably hasn't got the price of a television set.--Raymond Thornton Chandler, writer (18881959)
I am tired and sick of war. Its glory is all moonshine. It is only those who have neither fired a
shot nor heard the shrieks and groans of the wounded who cry aloud for blood, more
vengeance, more desolation. Some of these young men think that war is all glory, but let
me say war is all hell.--William Tecumseh Sherman.
Political language. . . is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and
to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind.--George Orwell
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prayer
We can reach our world, if we will. The greatest lack today is not people or funds. The
greatest need is prayer.--Wesley Duewel
The prayer power has never been tried to its full capacity. If we want to see mighty wonders
of divine power and grace wrought in the place of weakness, failure and disappointment, let
us answer God's standing challenge, 'Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and show thee
great and mighty things which thou knowest not!'--J. Hudson Taylor
The main lesson about prayer is just this: Do it! Do it! Do it! You want to be taught to pray.
My answer is pray and never faint, and then you shall never fail.--John Laidlaw
The great people of the earth today are the people who pray! I do not mean those who talk
about prayer; nor those who say they believe in prayer; nor those who explain prayer; but I
mean those who actually take the time to pray. They have not time. It must be taken from
something else. That something else is important, very important and pressing, but still,
less important and pressing than prayer.--S.D. Gordon
The Word of God represents all the possibilities of God as at the disposal of true prayer.--A.
T. Pierson
I have benefited by my praying for others; for by making an errand to God for them, I have
gotten something for myself.--Samuel Rutherford
Four things let us ever keep in mind: God hears prayer, God heeds prayer, God answers
prayer, and God delivers by prayer.--E. M. Bounds
Prayer breaks all bars, dissolves all chains, opens all prisons, and widens all straits by
which God's saints have been held.--E. M. Bounds
Don't pray when you feel like it. Have an appointment with the Lord and keep it. A man is
powerful on his knees.--Corrie ten Boom
Beware in your prayers, above everything else, of limiting God, not only by unbelief, but by
fancying that you know what He can do. Expect unexpected things ‘above all that we ask or
think.’--Andrew Murray
As is the business of tailors to make clothes and cobblers to make shoes, so it is the
business of Christians to pray.--Martin Luther
Prayer is not monologue, but dialogue. God's voice in response to mine is its most essential
part.--Andrew Murray
Any concern too small to be turned into a prayer is too small to be made into a burden.-Corrie ten Boom
The great tragedy of life is not unanswered prayer, but unoffered prayer.--F. B. Meyer
The circumstances of our lives are another medium of God's communication with us. God
opens some doors and closes others.... The happy coincidences and frustrating impasses
of daily life are laden with messages. Patient listening and the grace of the Spirit are the
decoding devices of prayer. It is a good habit to ask, What is God saying to me in this
situation? Listening is part of prayer.--Marjorie J. Thompson
Prayer is a participation in willing God's will.--Marjorie J. Thompson
Prayer is not conquering God's reluctance, but taking hold of God's willingness.--Phillip
Brooks
Prayer is not an old woman's idle amusement. Properly understood and applied, it is the
most potent instrument of action.--Mahatma Gandhi
Coincidence is when God chooses to remain anonymous.--Unknown
Heaven is full of answers to prayer for which no one bothered to ask.--Billy Graham
The only way to worry about nothing is to pray about everything.--Author unknown
More things are wrought by prayer than this world dreams of.--Alfred Lord Tennyson
When I pray, coincidences happen. When I stop, they don't.--Mother Teresa
You can do more than pray after you have prayed, but you cannot do more than pray until
you have prayed.--Adoniram Judson
If you've made a habit of communing with God when the sun is shining, you'll find it much
easier to sing in the rain.--Bill Pannell
Prayer is not asking for what you think you want, but asking to be changed in ways you
can't imagine.--Kathleen Norris
I've studied carefully and prayerfully some who are remarkably faithful and effective
witnesses of the Savior and His Church. There is no single pattern in what they do. There is
no common technique. Each has prayed to know what to do. They each seem to get a
different answer, suited especially to them and to the people they meet. Pray for the chance
to encounter people who sense there could be something better in their lives. Pray to know
what you should do to help them. Your prayers will be answered.--Henry B. Eyring
Pray as if everything depended upon God and work as if everything depended upon man.-Francis Cardinal Spellman
Speak to Him, thou, for He hears, and
Spirit with Spirit shall meet-Closer is He than breathing, and
Nearer than hands and feet.
--Tennyson
It is more important to know where you are going than to get there quickly. Do not mistake
activity for achievement.--Mabel Newcomber
Never mistake activity for achievement.--John Wooden, Hall of Fame American Basketball
Player and Coach
Rich is the person who has a praying friend.--Janice Hughes
We need to find God, and He cannot be found in noise and restlessness. God is the friend
of silence. See how nature--trees, flowers, grass--grows in silence; see the stars, the moon
and the sun, how they move in silence. We need silence to be able to touch souls.--Mother
Teresa
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preparedness
It is better to look ahead and prepare than to look back and regret.--Jackie Joyner-Kersee
I can give you a six-word formula for success: Think things through--then follow through.-Captain Edward V. Rickenbacker (1890-1973) Aviator
You better live your best and act your best and think your best today, for today is the sure
preparation for tomorrow and all the other tomorrows that follow.--Harrie Martineau
It is better to be prepared for an opportunity and not have one than to have an opportunity
and not be prepared.--Whitney Young, JR.
Spectacular achievement is always preceded by unspectacular preparation.--Robert H.
Schuller, American Televangelist and Pastor
The most successful people in every area invariably spend far more time in preparation
than the least successful.--Brian Tracy
The secret of success in life is for a man to be ready for his opportunity when it comes.-Benjamin Disraeli
One of life's most painful moments comes when we must admit that we didn't do our
homework, that we are not prepared.--Merlin Olsen
My own experience has taught me this: If you wait for the perfect moment when all is safe
and assured, it may never arrive. Mountains will not be climbed, races won, or lasting
happiness achieved.--Maurice Chevalier (1888-1972) Entertainer
A good plan today is better than a perfect plan tomorrow.--General George S. Patton
Prepare! The time will come when winter will ask you what you were doing all summer.-Henry Clay
When plans are laid in advance, it is surprising how often the circumstances fit in with
them.--Sir William Osler
I skate to where the puck is going to be, not where it has been.--Wayne Gretzky
Planning is bringing the future into the present so that you can do something about it now.-Alan Lakein
Circumstances may cause interruptions and delays, but never lose sight of your goal.
Prepare yourself in every way you can by increasing your knowledge and adding to your
experience, so that you can make the most of opportunity when it occurs.--Mario Andretti
When in doubt, overprepare, I always say.--Charlie Sheen
For every finish line tape a runner breaks--complete with the cheers of the crowd and the
clicking of hundreds of cameras--there are the hours of hard and often lonely work that
rarely gets talked about.--Grete Waitz
No man ever reached to excellence in any one art or profession without having passed
through the slow and painful process of study and preparation.--Horace
My interest is in the future because I am going to spend the rest of my life there.--Charles
Kettering
Expect the best, plan for the worst, and prepare to be surprised.--Denis Waitley
No battle was ever won according to plan, but no battle was ever won without one . . . Plans
are useless, but planning is indispensable.--Dwight D. Eisenhower
It's better to look ahead and prepare than to look back and regret.--Jackie Joyner-Kersee
Victory awaits him who has everything in order -- luck, people call it. Defeat is certain for
him who has neglected to take the necessary precautions in time; this is called bad luck.-Roald Amundsen, polar explorer
A year from now you may wish you had started today.---Karen Lamb
The future starts today, not tomorrow.--Pope John Paul II
We can't cross a bridge until we come to it, but I always like to lay down a pontoon ahead of
time.--Bernard M. Baruch
Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.-Abraham Lincoln
The will to win is important, but the will to prepare is vital.--Joe Paterno, Head Football
Coach of Penn State
The will to win is nothing without the will to prepare to win. --Zig Ziglar
The will to win means nothing if you haven't the will to prepare.--Juma Ikanhaa, 1989 NYC
Marathon winner
The will to win is worthless if you do not have the will to prepare.--Thane Yost
It's not the will to win that matters--everyone has that. It's the will to prepare to win that
matters.--Paul Bear Bryant
To every person there comes a time when he is tapped on the shoulder to do a very special
thing unique to him. What a tragedy if that moment finds him unprepared for the work that
would be his finest hour.--Winston Churchill
To every man there comes in his lifetime that special moment when he is figuratively
tapped on the shoulder and offered the chance to do a very special thing, unique to him and
fitted to his talents. What a tragedy if that moment finds him unprepared or unqualified for
the work which could be his finest hour.--Sir Winston Churchill
I run on the road long before I dance under the lights.--Muhammad Ali
You can't have the fruits without the roots. It's the principle of sequencing: Private Victories
precede Public Victories. Self-mastery and self-discipline are the foundation of good
relationships with others.--Stephen Covey
**************************
priorities
Most of us spend too much time on what is urgent and not enough time on what is
important.--Stephen Covey
It's not what's happening to you now or what has happened in your past that determines
who you become. Rather, it's your decisions about what to focus on, what things mean to
you, and what you're going to do about them that will determine your ultimate destiny.-Anthony Robbins
You have to decide what your highest priorities are and have the courage--pleasantly,
smilingly, non-apologetically--to say 'no' to other things. And the way you do that is by
having a bigger 'yes' burning inside. The enemy of the 'best' is often the 'good.'--Stephen
Covey
What is the most important thing that you should do right now? It's easy to figure out the
answer--the most important thing is usually the item you least want to do. So jump on it. Get
it out of the way. Then go on to the next thing you don't want to do and get rid of that item
by completing it. You'll be amazed at how it frees your spirit not to have them hanging over
you.--Tom Hopkins
Technology should improve your life, not become your life.--Harvey Mackay
Do first things first, and second things not at all.--Peter Drucker
One-half of knowing what you want is knowing what you must give up before you get it.-Sidney Howard
People think focus means saying yes to the thing you've got to focus on. But that's not what
it means at all. It means saying no to the hundred other good ideas that there are. You have
to pick carefully.--Steve Jobs
There is never enough time to do everything, but there is always enough time to do the
most important thing.--Brian Tracy
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reflection, meditation, thoughtfulness, and lack of
The world is full of magic things, patiently waiting for our senses to grow sharper.--W. B.
Yeats
Learn to pause ... or nothing worthwhile will catch up to you.--Doug King
It's not what you look at that matters, it's what you see.--Henry David Thoreau
It is a common experience that a problem difficult at night is resolved in the morning after
the committee of sleep has worked on it.--John Steinbeck
Don't just do something, sit there! Sit there long enough each morning to decide what is
really important during the day ahead.--Richard Eyre, Director
The most decisive actions of our life--I mean those that are most likely to decide the whole
course of our future--are, more often than not, unconsidered.--ANDRE GIDE, The
Counterfeiters
Perhaps it would be a good idea, fantastic as it sounds, to muffle every telephone, stop
every motor and halt all activity for one hour some day just to give people a chance to
ponder for a few minutes on what it is all about, why they are living and what they really
want.--James Truslow Adams (1878-1949) Historian
We need quiet time to examine our lives openly and honestly... spending quiet time alone
gives your mind an opportunity to renew itself and create order.--Susan Taylor
**************************
relations with people: general
In prosperity, our friends know us; in adversity, we know our friends.--John Churton Collins
Women and cats will do as they please, and men and dogs should relax and get used to
the idea.--Robert A. Heinlein
Tact is the ability to describe others as they see themselves.--Abraham Lincoln
Treat everyone you meet as though they're the most important person you'll meet that day.-Roger Dawson
It's crucial that we develop healthy relationships. Doctors have found that tension from a
poor marriage or friendship can actually cause illness and shorten a person's life! Not only
that, but our children also gain or suffer from the model we provide them every day.--From
It Takes Two to Tango by Gary and Norma Smalley
You are 100 percent responsible for 50 percent of any relationship.--Wyatt Webb,
Psychotherapist.
Someone has to give way. There is a rule in sailing that the more maneuverable ship
should give way to the less maneuverable craft. I think this is sometimes a good rule to
follow in human relationships as well.--Dr. Joyce Brothers
It is not who is right, but what is right, that is of importance.--Thomas Huxley
You can make more friends in two months by becoming interested in other people than you
can in two years by trying to get other people interested in you.--Dale Carnegie
One of the best ways to persuade others is with your ears--by listening to them.--Dean
Rusk, US Public Official and Educator
The most important single ingredient in the formula of success is knowing how to get along
with people.--Theodore Roosevelt, 1858-1919, Twenty-sixth President of the USA
Never part without loving words to think of during your absence. It may be that you will not
meet again in this life.--Jean Paul Richter, 1763-1825, German Novelist
You can never have a SECOND chance to make a FIRST impression.
If someone listens, or stretches out a hand, or whispers a kind word of encouragement, or
attempts to understand a lonely person, extraordinary things begin to happen.--Loretta
Girzartis
It takes so little to make people happy--just a touch, if we know how to give it, just a word
fitly spoken, or a slight readjustment of some bolt or pin or bearing in the delicate machinery
of a human soul.--Frank Crane (1861-1928), Writer
When building a team, I always search first for people who love to win. If I can't find any of
those, I look for people who hate to lose.--H. Ross Perot
A team is a group of people who may not be equal in experience, talent, or education but in
commitment.--Patricia Fripp
You can be totally rational with a machine. But, if you work with people, sometimes logic
has to take a back seat to understanding.--Akio Morita (1921-1999), Business executive
Always assume each and every person wants to do a better job and grow.--Steve Farrar,
Business executive
Trust men and they will be true to you; treat them greatly, and they will show themselves
great.--Ralph Waldo Emerson
We should quietly hear both sides.--Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Your family and your love must be cultivated like a garden. Time, effort, and imagination
must be summoned constantly to keep any relationship flourishing and growing.--Jim Rohn
The person who tries to live alone will not succeed as a human being. His heart withers if it
does not answer another heart. His mind shrinks away if he hears only the echoes of his
own thoughts and finds no other inspiration.--Pearl S. Buck
Goodness is achieved not in a vacuum, but in the company of other men, attended by love.-Saul Bellow
The aim of an argument or discussion should not be victory, but progress.--Joseph Joubert
If there is any one secret of success, it lies in the ability to get the other person's point of
view and see things from that person's angle as well as from your own.--Henry Ford
There are four ways, and only four ways, in which we have contact with the world. We are
evaluated and classified by these four contacts: what we do, how we look, what we say,
and how we say it.--Dale Carnegie
Hearing is one of the body's five senses. But listening is an art.--Frank Tyger
Life is relationships; the rest is just details.--Gary Smalley
The shoe that fits one person pinches another; there is no recipe for living that suits all
cases.--Carl Jung
Tact is the rare ability to keep silent while two friends are arguing, and you know both of
them are wrong.--Hugh Allen
If you make it plain you like people, it's hard for them to resist liking you back.--Lois
McMaster Bujold
When we put ourselves in the other person's place, we're less likely to want to put him in his
place.--Farmer's Digest
You are in the people business, no matter what you do or where you do it.--Brian Tracy
The best thing to give to your enemy is forgiveness; to an opponent, tolerance; to a friend,
your heart; to your child, a good example; to a father, deference; to your mother, conduct
that will make her proud of you; to yourself, respect; to all men, charity.--Francis Maitland
Balfour (1851-1882) Embryologist
The man who gets the most satisfactory results is not always the man with the most brilliant
single mind, but rather the man who can best coordinate the brains and talents of his
associates.--Sir William Alton Jones, 18th-Century English Philologist And Jurist
**************************
relaxation
Jesus doesn't say, 'Come to me all who are burdened and I'll give you more to do.' He says
he'll give you rest.--Rick Warren
Take rest; a field that has rested gives a bountiful crop.--Ovid
The time to relax is when you don't have time for it.--Sydney Harris (1917-1986) Journalist
Those who think they have not time for bodily exercise will sooner or later have to find time
for illness.--Edward Stanley, Former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
People who cannot find time for recreation are obligated sooner or later to find time for
illness. -- John Wanamaker
**************************
responsibility
There is a choice you have to make in everything you do. So keep in mind that in the end,
the choice you make, makes you.--John Wooden
The man who complains about the way the ball bounces is likely to be the one who dropped
it.--Lou Holtz
Take time to accept responsibility. Your life is exactly that--it's your life. It is created by you.
You are constantly making choices, constantly creating new experiences. And although we
can be affected by circumstances which can seem to be completely out of our control,
essentially, we decide the direction in which we walk.--Nicholas Watkins
It is not what we do, but also what we do not do, for which we are accountable.--Moliere,
actor and playwright (1622-1673)
We are living in a new culture, one of responsibility dodgers and corner cutters. Nobody
cares if a thing is right or not. If you try to trace a poor job or craftsmanship back, you will
find, inevitably, that nobody did it.--Robert Fontaine
A penny saved is a penny earned.--Ben Franklin
People are always blaming their circumstances for what they are. I don't believe in
circumstances. The people who get on in the world are the people who get up and look for
the circumstances they want, and if they can't find them, make them.--George Bernard
Shaw
All blame is a waste of time. No matter how much fault you find with another, and
regardless of how much you blame him, it will not change you. The only thing blame does is
to keep the focus off you when you are looking for external reasons to explain your
unhappiness or frustration. You may succeed in making another feel guilty about something
by blaming him, but you won't succeed in changing whatever it is about you that is making
you unhappy.--Wayne Dyer, Psychotherapist, Author and Speaker
The price of greatness is responsibility.--Winston Churchill
Few things help an individual more than to place responsibility upon him, and to let him
know you trust him.--Booker T. Washington
It is easy to dodge our responsibilities, but we cannot dodge the consequences of dodging
our responsibilities.--Josiah Stamp (1880-1941), Economist and financier
Thank God every day when you get up that you have something to do that day which must
be done whether you like it or not. Being forced to work and forced to do your best will
breed in you temperance and self-control, diligence and strength of will, cheerfulness and
content, and a hundred virtues which the idle will never know.--Basil Carpenter
In the final analysis, the one quality that all successful people have...is the ability to take on
responsibility.--Michael Korda, Publisher
If passion drive you, let reason hold the reins.--Benjamin Franklin
Adulthood is defined by the willingness to accept full responsibility for where you are at in
life; no longer blaming others or circumstances.--Joe Westbrook
Success is not measured by what you do compared to what others do, it is measured by
what you do with the ability God gave you.--Zig Ziglar
No man was ever endowed with a right without being at the same time saddled with a
responsibility.--Gerald White Johnson
We are made wise not by the recollection of our past, but by the responsibility for our
future.--George Bernard Shaw
I think of a hero as someone who understands the degree of responsibility that comes with
his freedom.--Bob Dylan
A man can get discouraged many times but he is not a failure until he begins to blame
somebody else and stops trying.--John Burroughs
In the end, more than they wanted freedom, they wanted security. They wanted a
comfortable life, and they lost it all--security, comfort, and freedom. When ... the freedom
they wished for was freedom from responsibility, then Athens ceased to be free.--Sir
Edward Gibbon (1737-1794)
**************************
sacrifice
God will not look you over for medals, degrees or diplomas, but for scars.--Elbert Hubbard,
Epigrams
For anything worth having one must pay the price; and the price is always work, patience,
love, self-sacrifice. No paper currency, no promises to pay, but the gold of real service.-John Burroughs, 1837-1921, Author and Naturalist
The future belongs to those who are willing to make short-term sacrifices for long-term
gains.--Fred A. Manske, Sr.
He who would accomplish little must sacrifice little; he who would achieve much must
sacrifice much.--James Allen
In this world it is not what we take up, but what we give up, that makes us rich.--Henry Ward
Beecher
Only when we die to all about us do we live to God above us.--Author unknown
You must pay the price if you wish to secure the blessing.--Andrew Jackson
For every promise, there is a price to pay.'--Jim Rohn
Values were meant to be costly. If it doesn't cost much, we probably wouldn't appreciate the
value.--Jim Rohn
Great achievement is usually born of great sacrifice, and is never the result of selfishness.-Napoleon Hill
What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly; it is dearness only that gives everything
its value.--Thomas Paine, 1737-1809, English-born Pamphleteer (Common Sense) and
Founding Father of the United States
One-half of knowing what you want is knowing what you must give up before you get it.-Sidney Howard
But surely for everything you love you have to pay some price.--Agatha Christie
**************************
salvation
I place no hope in my strength, nor in my works: but all my confidence is in God my
protector, who never abandons those who have put all their hope and thought in him.-Francois Rabelais (c. 1483-1553), Writer and physician
The body of B. Franklin, Printer
(Like the Cover of an Old Book
Its Contents torn Out
And Stript of its Lettering and Gilding)
Lies Here, Food for Worms.
But the Work shall not be Lost;
For it will (as he Believ'd) Appear once More
In a New and More Elegant Edition
Revised and Corrected
By the Author.
Epitaph of Benjamin Franklin
Repent and believe in the Gospel, Jesus says. Turn around and believe that the good news
that we are loved is gooder than we ever dared hope, and that to believe in that good news,
to live out of it and toward it, to be in love with that good news, is of all glad things in this
world the gladdest thing of all.--Frederick Buechner
For the Christian, death is not gloom but glory.
Every loss leaves a space that can be filled by God's presence.
If Christ is risen, nothing else matters. And if Christ is not risen--nothing else matters.-Jaroslav Pelikan (1923-2006)
We weren't meant to be somebody-we were meant to know Somebody.--John Piper
There was a gift for each of us left under the tree of life 2,000 years ago by Him Whose
birthday we celebrate today. The gift was withheld from no man. Some have left the
packages unclaimed. Some have accepted the gift and carried it around, but have failed to
remove the wrappings and look inside to discover the hidden splendor. The packages are
all alike; in each is a scroll on which is written, All that the Father hath is thine. Take and
live!--Frank S. Mead
A world of nice people, content in their own niceness, looking no further, turned away from
God, would be just as desperately in need of salvation as a miserable world--and might
even be more difficult to save.--C. S. Lewis
**************************
sample not sermon
All the darkness in the world cannot extinguish the light of a single candle.--Francis of
Assisi
All the beautiful sentiments in the world weigh less than a single lovely action.--James
Russell Lowell
Example is not the main thing in influencing others. It is the only thing.--Albert Schweitzer
A good example is far better than a good precept.--Dwight L. Moody
It is no use walking anywhere to preach unless our walking is our preaching.--Saint Francis
of Assisi
It ill becomes us to invoke in our daily prayers the blessings of God, the Compassionate, if
we in turn will not practice elementary compassion towards our fellow creatures.--Gandhi
Religion News Service
When it comes to religion and public life, we are already worse off than we were on Sept.
10. Following the slowly mounting antipathy toward religion stoked by the religious right
over the last 25 years, 9/11 had the effect of cementing the conclusion that religion is the
problem-at least for educated people.-Os Guinness, senior fellow of the Trinity Forum, a
McLean, Va.-based academy that helps leaders integrate faith in their personal and public
lives. He was quoted by World magazine.
I believe that the Christian life is a conversation with God and man. We should live as if the
world is listening to what our every action says about the validity of our faith.-Contemporary Christian artist Shaun Groves, quoted by Baptist Press.
How many observe Christ's birthday! How few, his precepts! O! 'tis easier to keep holidays
than commandments.--Benjamin Franklin
The deeds you do today may be the only sermon some people will hear today.--St. Francis
of Assisi, 1182-1226, Italian Preacher
Well done is better than well said.--Ben Franklin, 1706-1790, American Scientist, Publisher,
Diplomat
It is good to dream, but it is better to dream and work. Faith is mighty, but action with faith is
mightier.--Thomas Robert Gaines, Author, The Achieving Life
Before you can inspire with emotion, you must be swamped with it yourself. Before you can
move their tears, your own must flow. To convince them, you must yourself believe.-Winston Churchill, 1874-1965, British Statesman, Prime Minister
The virtue of man ought to be measured, not by his extraordinary exertions, but by his
everyday conduct.--Blaise Pascal, 1623-1662, French Scientist, Religious Philosopher
You get the best out of others when you give the best of yourself.--Harvey Firestone (18681938) Founder of Firestone Tire & Rubber Co.
I'd rather watch a winner, than hear one any day;
So please, my loving parents, let your lives show me the way.
I'm only a reflection of what you taught today,
I may misunderstand you and the high advice you give;
But there's no misunderstanding how you act and how you live.
So teach me by example, don't preach about what's right;
And show me by your actions every day and night.
I know that you're not perfect, in the things you do and say;
And the lectures you deliver are to help me find my way;
But I'd rather watch a winner, than hear one any day.
You can preach a better sermon with your life than with your lips.--Oliver Goldsmith (c.
1730-1774), Playwright and poet
Actions, not words, are the true criterion of the attachment of friends.--George Washington,
1732-1799, 1st President of the United States
The hardest job kids face today is learning good manners without seeing any.--Fred
Astaire, 1899-1987, American Dancer/Singer/Actor
The smallest good deed is better than the grandest good intention.--Duguet
The smallest act of kindness is worth more than the grandest intention.--Oscar Wilde
The smallest deed is better than the largest intention.--Author unknown
Conduct is more convincing than language.--John Woolman (1720-1772), Cleric and
abolitionist
Conviction is worthless unless it is converted into conduct.--Thomas Carlysle
A good example is the best sermon.--Thomas Fuller (1608-1661) Cleric
Of one hundred men, one will read the Bible; the other ninety-nine will read the Christian.-Dwight L. Moody
As I grow older, I pay less attention to what men say. I just watch what they do.--Andrew
Carnegie
Make sure that your actions and behaviors live up to and reflect the words and ideas,
promises and commitments that come out of your mouth.--Steve Farber
People must not only hear about the kingdom of God, but must see it in actual operation, on
a small scale perhaps and in imperfect form, but a real demonstration nevertheless.-Pandita Ramabai
Aim above morality. Be not simply good, be good for something.--Henry David Thoreau,
1817-1862, American Essayist/Poet/Naturalist
He does not believe who does not live according to his belief.--Thomas Fuller
Parents can tell but never teach, unless they practice what they preach.--Arnold Glasow
Don't judge a man by his opinions, but what his opinions have made of him.--Georg
Christoph Lichtenberg
To the world you may be just one person, but to one person you may be the world. --G.K.
Chesterton
Into the hands of every individual is given a marvelous power for good or evil--the silent,
unconscious, unseen influence of his life. This is simply the constant radiation of what man
really is, not what he pretends to be.--William George Jordan
After all is said and done, more is said than done.--Aesop
When all is said and done, more is said than done.--Lou Holtz
A leader leads by example, whether he intends to or not.--Source Unknown
When men speak ill of thee, live so as nobody may believe them.--Plato
If you want to motivate people, show them first how highly motivated you are. I always want
people to work with me, not for me.--Billy Cunningham
The life I touch for good or ill will touch another life, and that in turn another, until who
knows where the trembling stops or in what far place my touch will be felt.--Frederick
Buechner
To live is not to learn, but to apply.--Ernest Wilfrid Legouve
Give me the ready hand rather than the ready tongue.--Giuseppe Garibaldi
People take your example far more seriously than your advice.--Author unknown
You don't advertise your religion by wearing a label--you do it by living a life.--Author
unknown
If you are a Christian, people will judge the Lord by you.--Author unknown
Don't be just another member of society, be a living example of your dreams and goals.-Author Unknown
In the last analysis, what we are communicates far more eloquently than anything we say or
do.--Stephen Covey
A single sunbeam is enough to drive away many shadows.--Saint Francis of Assisi
We have committed the Golden Rule to memory; let us now commit it to life.--Edwin
Markham
True religion is the life we live, not the creed we profess.--J. F. Wright
What you do speaks so loudly that I cannot hear what you say.--Ralph Waldo Emerson
How far that little candle throws its beams! So shines a good deed in a naughty world.-William Shakespeare
Remember, people will judge you by your actions, not your intentions. You may have a
heart of gold; but so does a hard-boiled egg.--Author unknown
Act as if what you do makes a difference. It does.--William James
Sympathy is no substitute for action.--David Livingstone
Christianity is not a theory or speculation, but a life; not a philosophy of life, but a life and
living process.--Samuel Taylor Coleridge
The proof of Christianity is not a book but a life. The power of Christianity is not a creed but
a Christian character.--William Woodfin
As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to
utter words, but to live by them.--John Fitzgerald Kennedy
Carve your name on hearts, not tombstones. A legacy is etched into the minds of others
and the stories they share about you.--Shannon L. Alder
That which we are, we are all the while teaching, not voluntarily, but involuntarily.--Ralph
Waldo Emerson
Behavior is the mirror in which everyone shows their image.--Goethe
The highest and most beautiful things in life are not to be heard about, nor read about, nor
seen, but are to be lived.--S. Kierkegaard
Be the person you want your child to be.--Betsy Brown
It is easier to fight for one's principles than to live up to them.--Alfred Adler
It is often easier to fight for principles than to live up to them.--Adlai Stevenson II
Each of our acts makes a statement as to our purpose.--Leo Buscaglia
Govern thy life and thoughts as if the whole world were to see the one, and read the other.-Thomas Fuller
Let him that would move the world first move himself.--Socrates
Let him who would move the world, first move himself.--Socrates
Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Willing is not enough; we must do.--Johann
Wolfgang von Goethe (--Bruce Lee)
Make yourself an honest man, and then you may be sure there is one less rascal in the
world.--Thomas Carlyle
Every action of our lives touches on some chord that will vibrate in eternity.--Sean O'Casey
It takes as much energy to wish as it does to plan.--Eleanor Roosevelt
He has been with Jesus.--Charles Spurgeon
And they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus.--Acts 4:13
A Christian should be a striking likeness of Jesus Christ. You have read lives of Christ,
beautifully and eloquently written, but the best life of Christ is his living biography, written
out in the words and actions of his people. If we were what we profess to be, and what we
should be, we should be pictures of Christ; yea, such striking likenesses of him, that the
world would not have to hold us up and say, Well, it seems somewhat of a likeness; but
they would, when they once beheld us, exclaim, He has been with Jesus; he has been
taught of him; he is like him ... in his life and everyday actions.
A Christian should be like Christ in his boldness. Never blush to own your religion; your
profession will never disgrace you: take care you never disgrace that. Be like Jesus, very
valiant for your God.
Imitate him in your loving spirit; think kindly, speak kindly, and do kindly, that men may say
of you, He has been with Jesus. Imitate Jesus in his holiness. Was he zealous for his
Master? So be you; ever go about doing good. In all ways and by all means, so live that all
may say of you, He has been with Jesus.
We all create the person we become by our choices as we go through life. In a real sense,
by the time we are adults, we are the sum total of the choices we have made.--Eleanor
Roosevelt
One's philosophy is not best expressed in words; it is expressed in the choices one makes.
In the long run, we shape our lives and we shape ourselves. The process never ends until
we die. And, the choices we make are ultimately our own responsibility.--Eleanor
Roosevelt, 1884-1962, American First Lady, Columnist and Lecturer
**************************
service
Not the maker of plans and promises, but rather the one who offers faithful service in small
matters. This is the person who is most likely to achieve what is good and lasting.--Johann
Wolfgang von Goethe
I would rather have it said 'He lived usefully' than 'He died rich.'--Ben Franklin
Service to others is the rent you pay for your room here on Earth.--Muhammad Ali
At the center of the universe is a loving heart that continues to beat and that wants the best
for every person. Anything we can do to help foster the intellect and spirit and emotional
growth of our fellow human beings, that is our job. Those of us who have this particular
vision must continue against all odds. Life is for service.--Fred Rogers (of Mister Rogers TV
fame)
No person was ever honored for what he received. Honor has been the reward for what he
gave.--Calvin Coolidge, 1872-1933, Thirtieth President of the United States
If you're not serving the Lord, it proves you don't love Him; if you don't love Him, it proves
you don't know Him. Because to know Him is to love Him, and to love Him is to serve Him.-R. G. LeTourneau
Do all the good you can, in all the ways you can, as long as ever you can.-John Wesley
(1703-1791) Founder of the Methodist Church
Try not to become a man of success but rather try to become a man of value.--Albert
Einstein, 1879-1955, German-born American Physicist
I am a little pencil in the hand of a writing God who is sending a love letter to the world.-Mother Teresa
Make sure you are in trouble for Jesus, because if the idols that are surrounding you are
leaving you alone, chances are that's because you are worshipping them and not walking
the way of the cross.--Ronald Boyd-MacMillan, Faith that Endures, Revell, 2006
Those who would learn to serve must first learn to think little of themselves. ... Only those
who live by the forgiveness of their sin in Jesus Christ will think little of themselves in the
right way. They will know that their own wisdom completely came to an end when Christ
forgave them.--Dietrich Bonhoeffer
One should guard against preaching to young people success in the customary form as the
main aim in life. The most important motive for work in school and in life is pleasure in work,
pleasure in its result, and the knowledge of the value of the result to the community.--Albert
Einstein
Sometimes I think the whole Christian world is made up of just two groups: those who
speak their faith and accomplish significant things for God, and those who criticize and
malign the first group.--Don Basham, Christianity Today, Vol. 30, No. 12.
Life is a place of service. Joy can be real only if people look upon their life as a service and
have a definite object in life outside themselves and their personal happiness.--Leo Tolstoy,
Russian author
What is the value of a Christianity in which Jesus is worshipped as Lord, but Christian
discipleship--the way of Jesus--is regarded as largely irrelevant to life in the modern world?-René Padilla, Argentine Baptist theologian
The most beautiful motion is that which accomplishes the greatest results with the least
amount of effort.--Plato
It is not your customer's job to remember you; it is your obligation and responsibility to
make sure they don't have the chance to forget you.--Patricia Fripp
Everyone can be great because everyone can serve.--Martin Luther King, Jr.,
When you cease to make a contribution, you begin to die.--Eleanor Roosevelt
If a commission by an earthly king is considered an honor, how can a commission by a
Heavenly King be considered a sacrifice?--David Livingstone
It is not how many years we live, but what we do with them. It is not what we receive, but
what we give to others.--Evangeline Booth, (1865-1950) Social reformer
Somewhere out there is a unique place for you to help others--a unique life role for you to
fill that only you can fill.--Thomas Kinkade, artist
Life's most persistent question is: What are you doing for others?--Martin Luther King, Jr.
Life's most urgent question is: What are you doing for others?--Martin Luther King, Jr.
Life's most persistent and urgent question is, 'What are you doing for others?'--Martin
Luther King Jr.
The message of the early Christians, which lies at the heart of the notion of a Christian
foundation whether it be a University or a hospital or a family or indeed a country, is that
true greatness comes through sacrificial love, that true leadership consists in self-giving
service, and that truth itself ... is not something we can simply discover, put in our pockets,
and use to our own advantage.--N. T. Wright
**************************
simplicity
Simplicity is the glory of expression.--Walt Whitman
The greatest truths are the simplest: and so are the greatest men.--A.W. Hare and J.C.
Hare
Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.--Leonardo da Vinci
Out of intense complexities, intense simplicities emerge.--Winston Churchill
He who would travel happily must travel light.--Antoine de Saint-Exupery
**************************
singlemindedness, doublemindedness
I will either find a way or make one.--Hannibal
Any man who can drive safely while kissing a pretty girl is simply not giving the kiss the
attention it deserves.--Albert Einstein
Never look back unless you are planning to go that way.--Henry David Thoreau
I think the one lesson I have learned is that there is no substitute for paying attention -Diane Sawyer
**************************
strength, weakness
You are never strong enough that you don't need help.--Cesar Chavez
If a small thing has the power to make you angry, does that not indicate something about
your size?--Sydney J. Harris (1917-1986) Journalist
And Satan trembles when he sees,
the weakest saint upon his knees.
--William Cowper, English poet and hymn writer
If I were asked to give what I consider the single most useful bit of advice for all humanity, it
would be this: Expect trouble as an inevitable part of life, and when it comes, hold your
head high. Look it squarely in the eye, and say, 'I will be bigger than you. You cannot defeat
me.'--Ann Landers
Strength is the ability to break a chocolate bar into four pieces with your bare hands--and
then eat just one of those pieces.--Judith Viorst
There's a crack (or cracks) in everyone...that's how the light of God gets in.--Elizabeth
Gilbert
God uses men who are weak and feeble enough to lean on Him.--Hudson Taylor
All God's giants have been weak men, who did great things for God because they believed
that God would be with them.--Hudson Taylor
I place no hope in my strength, nor in my works: but all my confidence is in God my
protector, who never abandons those who have put all their hope and thought in him.-Francois Rabelais (c. 1483-1553), Writer and physician
Humility is the surest sign of strength.--Thomas Merton
Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember, you have within you the
strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world.--Harriet
Tubman
**************************
teaching and educational system
Education is what remains after one has forgotten what one has learned in school.--Albert
Einstein
Noah Webster wrote in the preface to his 26-year project, Webster's Dictionary: In my view,
the Christian religion is the most important and one of the first things in which all children,
under a free government ought to be instructed. No truth is more evident to my mind than
that the Christian religion must be the basis of any government intended to secure the
rights and privileges of a free people.
You aren't compelled to loan your car to anyone who wants it, but you are compelled to
surrender your school-age children to strangers who process children for a livelihood, even
though one in every nine schoolchildren is terrified of physical harm happening to them in
school, terrified with good cause; about 33 are murdered there every year.--John Taylor
Gatto, New York State Teacher of the Year and author of the book The Underground
History of American Education
On this day, October 31, 1517, Martin Luther posted his ninety-five theses on the door of
the Wittenberg Palace Church, thus beginning the Reformation. He was summoned to
stand trial before the twenty-one year old Emperor Charles V and was declared an outlaw.
Luther was protected by Frederick of Saxony in the Wartburg castle, where he translated
the New Testament into German. Among his works, Martin Luther wrote: I am much afraid
that schools will prove to be the great gates of hell unless they diligently labor in explaining
the Holy Scriptures, engraving them in the hearts of youth.
The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates.
The great teacher inspires.--William Arthur Ward
You do not really understand something unless you can explain it to your grandmother.-Albert Einstein, quoted in the Idaho Statesman
The principal goal of education is to create men who are capable of doing new things, not
simply of repeating what other generations have done--men who are creative, inventive and
discoverers.--Jean Piaget, 1896-1980, Swiss Experimenter and Theorist
A teacher affects eternity; he can never tell where his influence stops.--Henry Adams
(1838-1918) Writer and historian
To teach is to learn twice.--Joseph Joubert
The best way to show that a stick is crooked is not to argue about it or to spend time
denouncing it, but to lay a straight stick alongside it.--Dwight L. Moody
We are now at a point where we must educate our children in what no one knew yesterday,
and prepare our schools for what no one knows yet.--Margaret Mead, 1901-1978, American
Cultural Anthropologist
**************************
temptation
Temptations, of course, cannot be avoided, but because we cannot prevent the birds from
flying over our heads, there is no need that we should let them nest in our hair.--Martin
Luther
Some day, in years to come, you will be wrestling with the great temptation, or trembling
under the great sorrow of your life. But the real struggle is here, now, in these quiet weeks.
Now it is being decided whether, in the day of your supreme sorrow or temptation, you shall
miserably fail or gloriously conquer. Character cannot be made except by a steady, long
continued process.--Phillips Brooks
The two great words of antiquity are behold and beware. Behold the possibilities and
beware the temptations.--Jim Rohn
**************************
thankfulness
Man is fond of counting his troubles, but he does not count his joys. If he counted them up
as he ought to, he would see that every lot has enough happiness provided for it.--Fyodor
Dostoevsky
Let us rise up and be thankful, for if we didn't learn a lot today, at least we learned a little,
and if we didn't learn a little, at least we didn't get sick, and if we got sick, at least we didn't
die; so, let us all be thankful.--Buddha
Learn to write your hurts in sand. Learn to carve your blessings in stone!--Unknown
I think I learned to appreciate and treasure each day, because you don't know how many
you're going to be given.--Sandra Day O'Connor
Gratitude is the sign of noble souls.--Aesop
Gratitude is a quality similar to electricity: it must be produced and discharged and used up
in order to exist at all.--William Faulkner
Reflect upon your present blessings, of which every man has many; not on your past
misfortunes, of which all men have some.--Charles Dickens (1812-1870) English writer
When you arise in the morning, think of what a precious privilege it is to be alive--to
breathe, to think, to enjoy, to love.--Marcus Aurelius
Develop an attitude of gratitude, and give thanks for everything that happens to you,
knowing that every step forward is a step toward achieving something bigger and better
than your current situation. American Author, Businessman, Brian Tracy
A man should always consider how much he has more than he wants and how much more
unhappy he might be than he really is.--Joseph Addison
Gratitude creates the most wonderful feeling. It can resolve disputes. It can strengthen
friendships. And it makes us better men and women.--Gordon B. Hinckley, Religious leader.
Gratitude is the most exquisite form of courtesy.--Jacques Maritain, 1882-1973, French
Philosopher
Everything has its wonders, even darkness and silence, and I learn whatever state I may be
in, therein to be content.--Helen Keller, 1880-1968, American Blind/Deaf Author and
Lecturer
Just think how happy you'd be if you lost everything and everyone you have right now, and
then, somehow got everything back again.
The essence of all beautiful art, all great art, is gratitude.--Friedrich Nietzsche, 1844-1900,
German Philosopher
When we learn to give thanks, we are learning to concentrate not on the bad things, but on
the good things in our lives.--Amy Vanderbilt (1908-1974), Etiquette expert
Feelings of gratitude release positive endorphins throughout the body, creating health.-Sharon Huffman
On Thanksgiving Day we acknowledge our dependence.--William Jennings Bryan
Almighty God, Father of all mercies, we, thine unworthy servants, do give thee most humble
and hearty thanks for all thy goodness and loving-kindness to us and to all men. We bless
thee for our creation, preservation, and all the blessings of this life; but above all, for thine
inestimable love in the redemption of the world by our Lord Jesus Christ; for the means of
grace, and for the hope of glory. And, we beseech thee, give us that due sense of all thy
mercies, that our hearts may be unfeignedly thankful; and that we show forth thy praise, not
only with our lips, but in our lives, by giving up our selves to thy service, and by walking
before thee in holiness and righteousness all our days; through Jesus Christ our Lord, to
whom with thee and the Holy Ghost, be all honour and glory, world without end. Amen.
--Book of Common Prayer, 1928
Of all the attitudes we can acquire, surely the attitude of gratitude is the most important and
by far the most life-changing.--Zig Ziglar
If you concentrate on finding whatever is good in every situation, you will discover that your
life will suddenly be filled with gratitude, a feeling that nurtures the soul.--Rabbi Harold
Kushner
You were born rich, with 18 billion bountiful, beautiful, totally available and in all probability
underused brain cells awaiting your desire, decision and directional compass to take you
onward, upward, and Godward.--Mark Victor Hansen
The hardest arithmetic to master is that which enables us to count our blessings.--Eric
Hoffer, 1902-1983, American Social Writer
Gratitude is from the same root word as grace, which signifies the free and boundless
mercy of God.--Anonymous
Thanksgiving Day comes, by statute, once a year; to the honest man it comes as frequently
as the heart of gratitude will allow.--Edward Sandford Martin
Teach me, Lord, to sing of your mercies. Turn my soul into a garden, where the flowers
dance in the gentle breeze, praising you with their beauty. Let my soul be filled with
beautiful virtues; let me be inspired by your Holy Spirit; let me praise you always.--Teresa of
Avila
Silent gratitude isn't much good to anyone.--Gladys Browyn Stern
Those who thank God much are the truly wealthy.--Albert Schweitzer
I would maintain that thanks are the highest form of thought, and that gratitude is happiness
doubled by wonder.--Gilbert Keith Chesterton, English writer (1874-1936)
When I hear somebody sigh, Life is hard, I am always tempted to ask, Compared to what?-Sydney J. Harris
God gave you a gift of 86,400 seconds today. Have you used one to say thank you?-William Arthur Ward
Too many people overvalue what they are not and undervalue what they are.--Malcolm
Forbes
An attitude of gratitude creates blessings.--Sir John Templeton
We never question whether something is fair when it's good. But when something bad
happens, the first thing we say is, This isn't fair.--Rabbi Roy Walter
If you don't get everything you want, think of the things you don't get that you don't want.-Oscar Wilde
He is a wise man who does not grieve for the things which he has not, but rejoices for those
which he has.--Epictetus
Gratitude can transform common days into thanksgivings, turn routine jobs into joy, and
change ordinary opportunities into blessings.--William Arthur Ward
For each new morning with its light,
For rest and shelter of the night,
For health and food, for love and friends,
For everything Thy goodness sends.
--Ralph Waldo Emerson
To speak gratitude is courteous and pleasant, to enact gratitude is generous and noble, but
to live gratitude is to touch Heaven.--Johannes A. Gaertner
Content makes poor men rich; discontentment makes rich men poor.--Benjamin Franklin,
1706-1790
I've learned that if I don't celebrate the exquisiteness of each day that I've lost something I'll
never get back.--Sally P. Karioth
Be thankful for what you have; you'll end up having more. If you concentrate on what you
don't have, you will never, ever have enough.--Oprah Winfrey
Gratitude is something of which none of us can give too much.--A. J. Cronin
Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it.--William
Arthur Ward
Joy is a heart full and a mind purified by gratitude.--Marietta McCarty
Were there no God, we would be in this glorious world with grateful hearts, and no one to
thank.--Christina Rossetti
Count your blessings and you'll lose count of your misfortunes--Jean Clervil
In ordinary life we hardly realize that we receive a great deal more than we give, and that it
is only with gratitude that life becomes rich.--Dietrich Bonhoeffer
For all that has been, thank you. For all that is to come, yes!--Dag Hammarskjold
Gratitude is heaven itself.--William Blake
The more you recognize and express gratitude for the things you have, the more things you
will have to express gratitude for.--Zig Ziglar
Those blessings are sweetest that are won with prayer and worn with thanks.--Thomas
Goodwin
If you live for having it all, what you have is never enough.--Vicki Robin
Not what we say about our blessings, but how we use them, is the true measure of our
thanksgiving.--W.T. Purkiser
We often take for granted the very things that most deserve our gratitude.--Cynthia Ozick
The unthankful heart... discovers no mercies; but let the thankful heart sweep through the
day and, as the magnet finds the iron, so it will find, in every hour, some heavenly
blessings!--Henry Ward Beecher
Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns
denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a
house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings
peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow.--Melody Beattie
Don't cry because it's over. Smile because it happened.--Dr. Seuss
I avoid looking forward or backward, and try to keep looking upward.--Charlotte Brontë
The earlier you learn that you should focus on what you have and not obsess about what
you don't have, the happier you will be.--Amy Poehler
You simply will not be the same person two months from now after consciously giving
thanks each day for the abundance that exists in your life. And you will have set in motion
an ancient spiritual law: the more you have and are grateful for, the more will be given you.-Sarah Ban Breathnack
Pride slays thanksgiving, but a humble mind is the soil out of which thanks naturally grow. A
proud man is seldom a grateful man, for he never thinks he gets as much as he deserves-Henry Ward Beecher
Do not worry about your difficulties in Mathematics. I can assure you mine are still greater.-Albert Einstein
We are told that people stay in love because of chemistry, or because they remain intrigued
with each other, because of many kindnesses, because of luck... But part of it has got to be
forgiveness and gratefulness.--Ellen Goodman
**************************
thoughts and positiveness, negativeness
As my sufferings mounted I soon realized that there were two ways in which I could
respond to my situation -- either to react with bitterness or seek to transform the suffering
into a creative force. I decided to follow the latter course.--Martin Luther King Jr.
Our attitudes control our lives. Attitudes are a secret power working twenty-four hours a
day, for good or bad. It is of paramount importance that we know how to harness and
control this great force.--Tom Blandi
As a single footstep will not make a path on the earth, so a single thought will not make a
pathway in the mind. To make a deep physical path, we walk again and again. To make a
deep mental path, we must think over and over the kind of thoughts we wish to dominate
our lives.--Henry David Thoreau
A negative mind will never give you a positive life.--Author unknown
If things go wrong, don’t go with them.--Roger Babson
The brain is good at learning from bad experiences, but bad at learning from good ones... if
the mind is like a garden, the ‘soil’ of your brain is more fertile for weeds than for flowers.
So it’s really important to plant the seeds of inner strengths by repeatedly taking in the
good.--Rick Hanson
If you don’t like something, change it. If you can’t change it, change your attitude. Don’t
complain.--Maya Angelou
No pessimist ever discovered the secrets of the stars, or sailed to an uncharted land, or
opened a new heaven to the human spirit.--Helen Keller.
A strong positive mental attitude will create more miracles than any wonder drug.--Patricia
Neal
Change your thoughts and you change your world.--Norman Vincent Peale
For myself I am an optimist--it does not seem to be much use being anything else.--Winston
Churchill
The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the realist
adjusts the sails.--William Arthur Ward
Life is 10 percent what you make it and 90 percent how you take it.--Ben Franklin (--Irving
Berlin, 1888-1989, Russian Composer)
Life is 10% what happens to me and 90% of how I react to it.--Charles Swindoll
Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote of cheerfulness, the more it is spent, the more of it remains.
Positive thinking won't let you do anything, but it will let you do everything better than
negative thinking will, because it will permit you to use the ability, education, training and
experience you have already acquired. --Zig Ziglar
You are what you are and where you are because of what has gone into your mind. You
can change what you are and where you are by changing what goes into your mind. --Zig
Ziglar
MAN OFTEN BECOMES what he believes himself to be. If I keep on saying to myself that I
cannot do a certain thing, it is possible that I may end by really becoming incapable of doing
it. On the contrary, if I shall have the belief that I can do it, I shall surely acquire the capacity
to do it, even if I may not have it at the beginning.--MAHATMA GANDHI (1869-1948)
It is said that an Eastern monarch once charged his wise men to invent him a sentence to
be ever in view, and which should be true and appropriate in all times and situations. They
presented him the words: And this, too, shall pass away.--Abraham Lincoln
If you think you are beaten, you are.
If you think you dare not, you don't.
If you'd like to win but think you can't,
It's almost certain that you won't.
Life's battles don't always go
To the stronger woman or man,
But sooner or later, those who win
Are those who think they can.
-Author Unknown
Some doctors say that cheerful people resist disease better than grumpy ones. The surly
bird catches the germ.--Unknown.
The greatest discovery of my generation is that human beings can alter their lives by
altering their attitudes of mind.--William James, 1842-1910, American Psychologist,
Professor, Author
Success comes in a can...I can!--Wally Amos Founder of Famous Amos Cookies
You are today where your thoughts have brought you, you will be tomorrow where your
thoughts take you.--Ralph Waldo Emerson
Do not worry about your difficulties in Mathematics. I can assure you mine are still greater.-Albert Einstein
No one has a right to sit down and feel hopeless. There is too much work to do.--Dorothy
Day
You cannot tailor make the situations in life, but you can tailor-make the attitudes to fit those
situations before they arise.--Zig Ziglar
A small trouble is like a pebble. Hold it too close to your eye and it fills the whole world and
puts everything out of focus. Hold it at a proper distance and it can be examined and
properly classified. Throw it at your feet and it can be seen in its true setting, just one more
tiny bump on the pathway of life.--Celia Luce
You have the capacity to choose what you think about. If you choose to think about past
hurts, you will continue to feel bad. While it's true you can't change the effect past
influences had on you once, you can change the effect they have on you now.--Gary
McKay, Ph.D.
What ought one to say then as each hardship comes? I was practicing for this, I was
training for this.--Epictetus (55-135 AD) Roman Philosopher
Perhaps the best Yuletide decoration is being wreathed in smiles.--Source Unknown
Life is ten percent what happens to you and ninety percent how you respond to it.--Lou
Holtz, American Football Coach
I've learned from experience that the greater part of our happiness or misery depends on
our dispositions and not on our circumstances.--Martha Washington, 1731-1802, Former
First Lady of the United States
Fear less, hope more, eat less, chew more, whine less, breathe more, talk less, say more,
hate less, love more; all good things will be yours.--Swedish Proverb
Act as if you were already happy and that will tend to make you happy.--Dale Carnegie
(1888-1955) Writer and speaker
The difference between a mountain and a molehill is your perspective.--Al Neuharth,
American Publisher/Columnist/Founder of USA Today
Happiness does not depend on outward things, but on the way we see them.--Leo Tolstoy
We can choose to see life as a series of trials and tribulations, or we can choose to see life
as an accumulation of treasures.--Author unknown
A cloudy day is no match for a sunny disposition.--William Arthur Ward
Gray skies are just clouds passing over.--Duke Ellington, 1899-1974, American Jazz
Composer/Pianist/Bandleader
Optimists...have a strength that allows them to interpret their setbacks as surmountable,
particular to a single problem, and resulting from temporary circumstances or other people.
Pessimists, I have found over the last two decades, are up to eight times more likely to
become depressed when bad events occur; they do worse at school, sports and most jobs
than their talents augur; they have worse physical health and shorter lives; they have
rockier interpersonal relations, and they lose American Presidential elections to their more
optimistic opponents.--Martin Seligman
Cheerfulness and contentment are great beautifiers and are famous preservers of youthful
looks.--Charles Dickens, 1812-1870, British Novelist
Knock the t off the can't.--George Reeves (1914-1959), Actor
I am still determined to be cheerful and happy, in whatever situation I may be; for I have
also learned from experience that the greater part of our happiness or misery depends
upon our dispositions, and not upon our circumstances.--Martha Washington
You can't always change your situation, but you can always change your attitude.--Larry
Hargraves
Positive thinking will let you do everything better than negative thinking will.--Zig Ziglar
There is no personal charm so great as the charm of a cheerful temperament.--Henry Van
Dyke
Too many of us are hung up on what we don't have, can't have, or won't ever have. We
spend too much energy being down, when we could use that same energy--if not less of it-doing some of the things we really want to do.--Terry McMillan, Writer
You can't think your way into acting positively, but you can act your way into thinking
positively.--Nido Qubein
It's easier to act your way into a new way of thinking than to think your way into a new way
of acting.--Millard Fuller (founder of Habitat for Humanity)
Treat your friends as you do you pictures, and place them in their best light.--Jennie Jerome
Churchill
It's not what you are that holds you back. It's what you think you're not.--Denis Waitley
Every minute your mouth is turned down you lose 60 seconds of happiness.--Tom Walsh
Talk happiness; talk faith; talk health. Say you are well, and all is well with you, and God
shall hear your words and make them true.--Ella Wheeler-Wilcox
Sometimes your joy is the source of your smile, but sometimes your smile can be the
source of your joy.--Thich Nhat Hanh
Make it a bad moment, not a bad day.--Katherine Mylius
No one can defeat us unless we first defeat ourselves.--Dwight Eisenhower
Being an optimist after you've got everything you want doesn't count.--Kin Hubbard, 18681930, American Journalist/Humorist/Cartoonist
Focus on your potential instead of your limitations.--Alan Loy McGinnis
Your mind is a sacred enclosure into which nothing harmful can enter except by your
promotion.--Ralph Waldo Emerson
Negativity makes a person look at the land of milk and honey and see only calories and
cholesterol.--Harvey Mackay
Just because something doesn't do what you planned it to do doesn't mean it's useless.-Thomas A. Edison
The soul is dyed the color of its thoughts. Think only on those things that are in line with
your principles and can bear the light of day. The content of your character is your choice.
Day by day, what you do is who you become.--Heraclitus
My mind is a garden.
My thoughts are the seeds.
My harvest will be either flowers or weeds.
--Mel Weldon
Life is an attitude. Have a good one.--Eric L. Lungaard
You'll never find rainbows if you're looking down.--Charlie Chaplin
The biggest quality in successful people, I think, is an impatience with negative thinking ...
my feeling was, even if it's as bad as I think it is, we'll make it work.--Edward McCabe
We either make ourselves happy or miserable. The amount of work is the same.--Carlos
Castaneda
Your thoughts are the architects of your destiny.--David O. McKay
Clear your mind of can't.--Dr. Samuel Johnson
If you are not happy with your life, you can change it in two ways: either improve the
conditions in which you live, or improve your inner spiritual state. The first is not always
possible, but the second is.--Leo Tolstoy
May I forget what ought to be forgotten; and recall, unfailing, all that ought to be recalled,
each kindly thing, forgetting what might sting.--Mary Carolyn Davies
I've learned that even when I have pains, I don't have to be one.--Maya Angelou
I've never been poor, only broke. Being poor is a frame of mind. Being broke is only a
temporary situation.--Mike Todd
Consult not your fears, but your hopes and dreams. Think not about your frustrations, but
about your unfulfilled potential. Concern yourself not with what you tried and failed in, but
with what is still possible for you to do.--Pope John X X I I I
Handle them carefully, for words have more power than atom bombs.--Pearl Strachan
Sometimes only a change of viewpoint is needed to convert a tiresome duty into an
interesting opportunity.--Alberta Flanders
Think excitement, talk excitement, act out excitement, and you are bound to become an
excited person. Life will take on a new zest, deeper interest and greater meaning. You can
think, talk and act yourself into dullness or into monotony or into unhappiness. By the same
process you can build up inspiration, excitement and surging depth of joy.--Norman Vincent
Peale
The destiny of every human being is decided by what goes on inside his skull when
confronted with what goes on outside his skull.--Dr. Eric Berne
Things turn out best for the people who make the best out of the way things turn out.--Art
Linkletter
Things work out best for those who make the best of how things work out.--John Wooden
Write the bad things that are done to you in sand, but write the good things that happen to
you on a piece of marble.--Arabic Proverb
A pessimist is one who makes difficulties of his opportunities and an optimist is one who
makes opportunities of his difficulties.--Harry Truman [also, Winston Churchill]
Men are not prisoners of fate, but only prisoners of their own minds.--Franklin D. Roosevelt
Being challenged in life is inevitable, being defeated is optional.--Roger Crawford
Don't be concerned with what you can't do. Work on what you can do--then count your
blessings.--Alan Robinson, 56-year-old partially paralyzed marathon runner
There are no language barriers when you are smiling.--Allen Klein
Be happy. Talk happiness. Happiness calls out responsive gladness in others. There is
enough sadness in the world without yours. Never doubt the excellence and permanence of
what is yet to be. Join the great company of those who make the barren places of life fruitful
with kindness. Your success and happiness lie in you. The great enduring realities are love
and service. Resolve to keep happy and your joy and you shall form an invincible host
against difficulties.--Helen Keller
Don't water your weeds.--Harvey Mackay
Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement. Nothing can be done without hope and
confidence.--Helen Keller
I have always been delighted at the prospect of a new day, a fresh try, one more start, with
perhaps a bit of magic waiting somewhere behind the morning.--J. B. Priestly
If you can't change your fate, change your attitude.--Amy Tan
Use your imagination not to scare yourself to death but to inspire yourself to life.--Adele
Brookman
Keep your thoughts positive, because your thoughts become your words.
Keep your words positive, because your words become your behavior.
Keep your behavior positive, because your behavior become your habits.
Keep your habits positive, because your habits become your values.
Keep your values positive, because your values become your destiny.
--Mahatma Gandhi
The longer we dwell on our misfortunes, the greater is their power to harm us.--Voltaire
One of the things I learned the hard way was that it doesn't pay to get discouraged.
Keeping busy and making optimism a way of life can restore your faith in yourself.--Lucille
Ball
A bad attitude is the worst thing that can happen to a group of people. It's infectious.--Roger
Allan Raby
Make the most of the best and the least of the worst.--Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894)
Writer
Attitude is a little thing that makes a BIG difference.--Winston Churchill
Each morning when I open my eyes I say to myself: I, not events, have the power to make
me happy or unhappy today.--Groucho Marx
The pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; the optimist sees the opportunity in
every difficulty.--Sir Winston Churchill
An optimist is one who sees an opportunity in every difficulty. A pessimist is one who sees
a difficulty in every opportunity.--L. P. Jacks
A vigorous five-mile walk will do more good for an unhappy but otherwise healthy adult than
all the medicine and psychology in the world.--Paul Dudley White, physician (1886-1973)
We become what we think about.--Earl Nightingale
Watch your thoughts; they become words.
Watch your words; they become actions.
Watch your actions; they become habits.
Watch your habits; they become character.
Watch your character; it becomes your destiny.
--Lao-Tze (--Frank Outlaw)
I truly believe that if we keep telling the Christmas story, singing the Christmas songs, and
living the Christmas spirit, we can bring joy and happiness and peace to this world.-Norman Vincent Peale
If you don't like something change it; if you can't change it, change the way you think about
it.--Mary Engelbreit
If you don't like something change it. If you can't change it, change your attitude. Don't
complain.--Maya Angelou
I am more and more convinced that our happiness or our unhappiness depends far more
on the way we meet the events of life than on the nature of those events themselves.--Karl
Wilhelm Von Humboldt, 1767-1835, German Statesman, Philologist
Being miserable is a habit; being happy is a habit; and the choice is yours.--Tom Hopkins
**************************
time: redeem and waste
Tomorrow is the most important thing in life. Comes into us at midnight very clean. It's
perfect when it arrives and it puts itself in our hands. It hopes we've learned something from
yesterday.--John Wayne
Time is the coin of life. Only you can determine how it will be spent.--Carl Sandburg
Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion.--C. Northcote Parkinson
Don't say you don't have enough time. You have exactly the same number of hours per day
that were given to Helen Keller, Pasteur, Michelangelo, Mother Teresa, Leonardo da Vinci,
Thomas Jefferson, and Albert Einstein. --H. Jackson Brown Jr.
It is an undoubted truth, that the less one has to do, the less time one finds to do it in.--Lord
Chesterfield, English author and statesman (1694-1773).
Live as though it were your last day on earth. Some day you will be right.--Robert Anthony,
American psychologist
If we take care of the minutes, the years will take care of themselves.--Ben Franklin
Many people take no care of their money till they come nearly to the end of it, and others do
just the same with their time.--Goethe, German poet and scientist
Know the value of time; snatch, seize, and enjoy every moment of it.--Lord Chesterfield
Let him who would enjoy a good future waste none of his present.--Roger Babson
Those who make the worse use of their time are the first to complain of its shortness.--Jean
De La Bruyere
Hold fast the time! Guard it, watch over it, every hour, every minute! Unregarded, it slips
away like a lizard, smooth, slippery, faithless. Hold every moment sacred. Give each clarity
and meaning, each the weight of thine awareness, each its true and due fulfillment.-Thomas Mann (1875-1955), writer.
Most time is wasted, not in hours, but in minutes. A bucket with a small hole in the bottom
gets just as empty as a bucket that is deliberately emptied.--Paul J. Meyer
Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time, for that is the stuff that life is made of.-Benjamin Franklin, 1706-1790, American Scientist, Publisher, Diplomat
Television's perfect. You turn a few knobs, a few of those mechanical adjustments at which
the higher apes are so proficient, and lean back and drain your mind of all thought. And
there you are, watching the bubbles in the primeval ooze. You don't have to concentrate.
You don't have to react. You don't have to remember. You don't miss your brain because
you don't need it. Your heart and liver and lungs continue to function normally. Apart from
that, all is peace and quiet. You are in man's nirvana. And if some poor nasty minded
person comes along and says you look like a fly on a can of garbage, pay him no mind. He
probably hasn't got the price of a television set.--Raymond Thornton Chandler, writer (18881959)
Time never stops to rest, never hesitates, never looks forward or backward. Life's raw
material spends itself now, this moment--which is why how you spend your time is far more
important than all the material possessions you may own or positions you may attain.-Denis Waitley, 1933-, American Author
No matter how much time you've wasted in the past, you still have an entire today.--Denis
Waitley
Would that I could stand on a busy corner, hat in hand, and beg people to throw me all their
wasted hours.--Bernard Berenson
Guard well your spare moments. They are like uncut diamonds. Discard them and their
value will never be known. Improve them and they will become the brightest gems in a
useful life.--Ralph Waldo Emerson
Minutes are worth more than money. Spend them wisely.--Thomas P. Murphy
Time is a fixed income and, as with any income, the real problem facing most of us is how
to live successfully within our daily allotment.--Margaret B. Johnstone
Time is free, but it's priceless. You can't own it, but you can use it. You can't keep it, but you
can spend it. Once you've lost it, you can never get it back.--Harvey Mackay
Lost time is never found again.--Benjamin Franklin
No matter how you used yesterday, you received 24 hours today.--Author unknown
You cannot kill time without injuring eternity.--Henry David Thoreau
We are always complaining that our days are few, and acting as though there would be no
end of them.--Seneca, Roman philosopher, statesman and playwright
The future is something which everyone reaches at the rate of 60 minutes an hour,
whatever he does, whoever he is. --C. S. Lewis
If you want to make good use of your time, you've got to know what's most important and
then give it all you've got.--Lee Iacocca
I find television very educating. Every time somebody turns on the set, I go into the other
room and read a book.--Groucho Marx
The bad news is time flies. The good news is you're the pilot.--Michael Altshuler
Time is at once the most valuable and the most perishable of all our possessions.--John
Randolph
Much may be done in those little shreds and patches of time which every day produces,
and which many men throw away.--Charles Caleb Colton
How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives.--Annie Dillard
The most beautiful motion is that which accomplishes the greatest results with the least
amount of effort.--Plato
**************************
truth, delusion
You can't get away from yourself by moving from one place to another.--Ernest Hemingway
Advertising is the art of convincing people to spend money they don't have for something
they don't need.--Will Rogers
Truth does not change according to our ability to stomach it.--Flannery O'Connor
One of the things we have to recognize is that it's hard to preach good news to the poor
without preaching bad news to the rich.--Evangelist Tony Campolo, a professor of sociology
at Eastern College in St. Davids, Pa., and a clergyman of the American Baptist Churches
USA, speaking at a United Methodist hunger summit in Washington on May 10. He was
quoted by United Methodist News Service
I never did give anybody hell. I just told the truth, and they thought it was hell.--Harry S.
Truman
Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one.--Albert Einstein
Those who think it is permissible to tell white lies soon grow color-blind.--Austin O'Malley.
The most dangerous of all falsehoods is a slightly distorted truth.--G.C. Lichtenberg
When you must shoot an arrow of truth, dip its point in honey.--GEORGE MAPIR (18441929) Hungarian politician.
A disbelief in God does not result in a belief in nothing; disbelief in God usually results in a
belief in anything.--Author unknown
It's the first effect of not believing in God that you lose your common sense and can't see
things as they are.--G.K. Chesterton
A friend can tell you things you don't want to tell yourself.--Frances Ward Weller
Reason often makes mistakes, but conscience never does.--Josh Billings, 1815-1885,
American Humorist and Lecturer
Think truly, and thy thoughts shall the world's famine feed.
Speak truly, and each word of thine shall be a fruitful seed.
Live truly, and thy life shall be a great and noble creed.--Horatius Bonar
Weak eyes are fondest of glittering objects.--Thomas Carlyle, 1795-1881, Scottish
Philosopher and Author
The one spiritual disease is that of thinking that one is quite well.--G.K. Chesterton
The world is too dangerous for anything but truth and too small for anything but love.-William Sloan Coffin
Errant assumptions lie at the root of every failure. What are yours? What if they are wrong?-Brian Tracy
To see what is in front of one's nose needs a constant struggle.--George Orwell
Political language. . . is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and
to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind.--George Orwell
Anyone who believes exponential [economic] growth can go on forever in a finite world is
either a madman or an economist.--Kenneth Boulding
People never lie so much as after a hunt, during a war, or before an election.--Otto von
Bismarck
Truth does not become more true by virtue of the fact that the entire world agrees with it,
nor less so even if the whole world disagrees with it.--Maimonides
An error does not become truth by reason of multiplied propagation, nor does truth become
error because nobody sees it.--Mohandas Gandhi
Oh what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive.--Sir Walter Scott
Rumor travels faster, but it don't stay put as long as truth.--Will Rogers
Every war when it comes, or before it comes, is represented not as a war but as an act of
self-defense against a homicidal maniac.--George Orwell
To see ourselves as others see us is a most salutary gift. Hardly less important is the
capacity to see others as they see themselves.--Aldous Huxley
He is the freeman whom the truth makes free, And all are slaves besides.--William Cowper
There are two ways to be fooled. One is to believe what isn't true; the other is to refuse to
believe what is true.--Søren Kierkegaard
Not facing a fire doesn't put it out.--Tennessee Williams
Truth and love are two of the most powerful things in the world; and when they both go
together they cannot easily be withstood.--Ralph Cudworth (1617-1688), theologian and
philosopher
Even truth needs to be clad in new garments if it is to appeal to a new age.--Georg
Christoph Lichtenberg (1742-1799), physicist and philosopher
We simply assume that the way we see things is the way they really are or the way they
should be. And our attitudes and behaviors grow out of these assumptions.--Stephen
Covey
**************************
unity, disunity
We must indeed all hang together, or most assuredly, we shall all hang separately.-Benjamin Franklin
I not only use all the brains that I have, but all that I can borrow.--Woodrow Wilson, 18561924, Twenty-eighth President of the USA
Remember, we all stumble, every one of us. That's why it's a comfort to go hand in hand.-Emily Kimbrough, author and broadcaster (1899-1989)
Individual commitment to a group effort--that is what makes a team work, a company work,
a society work, a civilization work.--Vince Lombardi, 1913-1970, Hall of Fame American
Football Coach
Sometimes a player's greatest challenge is coming to grips with his role on the team.-Scottie Pippen, American Basketball Player
Many times, often with the best of intentions, people at work decide it's more productive to
remain silent about their differences than to air them. But as new research....shows,
silencing doesn't smooth things over or make people more productive. It merely pushes
differences beneath the surface and can set in motion powerfully destructive forces.--Leslie
Perlow and Stephanie Williams, Is Silence Killing Your Company? Harvard Business
Review
Couples who never argue are 35 per cent more likely to divorce. On the surface, that
seems like a strange finding, since we associate arguments with bad outcomes, but an
inability to share frustration is a dangerous thing. If you don't argue, [frustrations] build up
within you until they get bigger and bigger.--David Niven, psychologist, Florida Atlantic
University and author of The 100 Simple Secrets of Relationships.
I argue very well. Ask any of my remaining friends. I can win an argument on any topic,
against any opponent. People know this, and steer clear of me at parties. Often, as a sign
of their great respect, they don't even invite me.--Dave Barry, American humorist, author,
journalist
No member of a crew is praised for the rugged individuality of his rowing.--Ralph Waldo
Emerson, 1803-1882, American Poet and Essayist
You can't win if you don't play as a unit.--Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, American Basketball Player
It is far easier to leave angry words unspoken than to mend the heart those words have
broken.--Author unknown
The man who gets the most satisfactory results is not always the man with the most brilliant
single mind, but rather the man who can best coordinate the brains and talents of his
associates.--Sir William Alton Jones, 18th-Century English Philologist And Jurist
Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence wins championships.--Michael Jordan
Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much.--Helen Keller
I am a member of a team, and I rely on the team, I defer to it and sacrifice for it, because
the team, not the individual, is the ultimate champion.--Mia Hamm
Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is
success.--Henry Ford
Men are like steel. When they lose their temper, they lose their worth.--Chuck Norris
Never argue with a fool; onlookers may not be able to tell the difference.--Mark Twain
Harmony makes small things grow; lack of it makes great things decay.--Sallust, Roman
historian and politician
**************************
unselfishness, selfishness
Ultimately, it is through serving others that we become fully human.--Marsha Sinetar
The joy of brightening other lives, bearing each other's burdens, easing other's loads and
supplanting empty hearts and lives with generous gifts becomes for us the magic of
Christmas.--W. C. Jones
The fragrance always stays in the hand that gives the rose.--Hadia Bejar
That's what I consider true generosity. You give your all, and yet you always feel as if it
costs you nothing.--Simone de Beauvoir
No one has ever become poor by giving.--Anne Frank
Life isn't about getting and having, it's about giving and being.--Kevin Kruse
If you are all wrapped up in yourself, you are overdressed.--Kate Halverson
It’s not what you gather, but what you scatter that tells what kind of life you have lived.-Helen Walton
There was a man, though some did count him mad,
The more he cast away, the more he had.
--From The Pilgrim's Progress, by John Bunyan.
Not he who has much is rich, but he who gives much.--Erich Fromm
Those who bring sunshine into the lives of others cannot keep it from themselves.--Sir
James M. Barrie
Manners are a sensitive awareness of the feelings of others. If you have that awareness,
you have good manners, no matter what fork you use, [and] nothing is less important than
which fork you use.--Emily Post, 1873-1960, American Hostess, Etiquette
Humanity is acquiring all the right technology for all the wrong reasons.--R. Buckminster
Fuller
Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely.--Lord Acton
A bit of fragrance always clings to the hand that gives the rose.--Chinese proverb
It is expressly at those times when we feel needy that we will benefit the most from giving.-Ruth Ross, (1929-1994) Writer
The man who lives for himself is a failure; the man who lives for others has achieved true
success.--Norman Vincent Peale
We make a living by what we get; we make a life by what we give.--Winston Churchill,
quoted in Business First
From what we get, we can make a living: what we give, however, makes a life.--Arthur Ashe
1943-1993, Tennis Player
Make one person happy each day and in 40 years you will have made 14,600 human
beings happy for a little time at least.--Charley Willey.
It is one of the most beautiful compensations of life, that no man can sincerely try to help
another without helping himself.--Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1803-1882, American Poet,
Essayist
When we seek to discover the best in others, we somehow bring out the best in ourselves.-William Arthur Ward
The best way to cheer yourself up is to try to cheer somebody else up.--Mark Twain, 18351910, American Humorist, Writer
Every one of us is given the gift of life, and what a strange gift it is. If it is preserved
jealously and selfishly, it impoverishes and saddens. But if it is spent for others, it enriches
and beautifies.--IGNAZIO SILONE (1900-1978) Writer.
You cannot live a perfect day without doing something for someone who will never be able
to repay you.--John Wooden
The greatest pleasure I know is to do a good action by stealth, and to have it found out by
accident.--Charles Lamb, 1775-1834, British Essayist, Critic
In every part and corner of our life, to lose oneself is to be gainer; to forget oneself is to be
happy.--Robert Louis Stevenson
Think of giving not as a duty but as a privilege.--John D. Rockefeller Jr., 1874-1960,
American Philanthropist
A truly charming person never has time for envy, self-pity, or gossip.--Loretta Young (19132000), Actress
Maturity begins to grow when you can sense your concern for others outweighing your
concern for yourself.--John MacNaughton
Strange as it may seem, life becomes serene and enjoyable precisely when selfish
pleasures and personal success are no longer the guiding goals.--Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
Psychologist and educator
The mistake we make is when we seek to be loved, instead of loving.--Charlotte Yonge
(1823-1901), Writer
Self-pity in its early stages is as snug as a feather mattress. Only when it hardens does it
become uncomfortable.--Maya Angelou
Just as the wave cannot exist for itself, but is ever a part of the heaving surface of the
ocean, so must I never live my life for itself, but always in the experience which is going on
around me. It is an uncomfortable doctrine which the true ethics whisper into my ear. You
are happy, they say; therefore you are called upon to give much.--Albert Schweitzer
When a person finds themselves predisposed to complaining about how little they are
regarded by others, let them reflect how little they have contributed to the happiness of
others.--Author Unknown
None are so empty as those who are full of themselves.--Andrew Jackson
You do not have to be rich to be generous. If he has the spirit of true generosity, a pauper
can give like a prince.--Corrine U. Wells
Not what we give,
But what we share,
For the gift without the giver
Is bare.
--James Russell Lowell
Life is an exciting business, and most exciting when it is lived for others.--Helen Keller,
1880-1968, American Blind/Deaf Author and Lecturer
Man should not consider his material possessions his own, but common to all, so as to
share them without hesitation when others are in need.--Thomas Aquinas (1224-1274)
Philosopher
True happiness, we are told, consists in getting out of one's self, but the point is not only to
get out, you must stay out; and to stay out you must have some absorbing errand.--Henry
James
Instead of looking for a miracle in your life, look to see if you are the miracle in someone
else's life.--Nola Rohde Vollmer
Life becomes harder for us when we live for others, but it also becomes richer and happier.-Albert Schweitzer, 1875-1965, Medical Missionary
Only when we give joyfully, without hesitation or thought of gain, can we truly know what
love means.--Leo Buscaglia (1924-1998)
Self-pity is our worst enemy and if we yield to it, we can never do anything wise in this
world.--Helen Keller
The best way to forget oneself is to look at the world with attention and love.--Red
Auerbach
It is sad to see that, in our highly competitive and greedy world, we have lost touch with the
joy of giving. We often live as if our happiness depended on having. But I don't know
anyone who is really happy because of what he or she has. True joy, happiness and inner
peace come from the giving of ourselves to others. A happy life is a life for others.--Henri
J.M. Nouwen
Life's most persistent question is: What are you doing for others?--Martin Luther King, Jr.
Life's most urgent question is: What are you doing for others?--Martin Luther King, Jr.
Life's most persistent and urgent question is, 'What are you doing for others?'--Martin
Luther King Jr.
The miracle is this--the more we share, the more we have.--Leonard Nimoy
Give according to your income, lest God make your income according to your giving.-Unknown
A pessimist, they say, sees a glass of water as being half-empty; an optimist sees the same
glass as half-full. But a giving person sees a glass of water and starts looking for someone
who might be thirsty.--G. Donald Gale
You give but little when you give of your possessions. It is when you give of yourself that
you truly give.--Kahlil Gibran, 1883-1931, Lebanese Poet and Novelist
The greatest crimes do not arise from a want of feeling for others but from an oversensibility for ourselves and an over-indulgence to our own desires--Edmund Burke
I can think of nothing less pleasurable than a life devoted to pleasure.--John D. Rockefeller
We cannot hold a torch to light another person's path without brightening our own.--Ben
Sweetland
Life is a gift, and it offers us the privilege, opportunity, and responsibility to give something
back by becoming more.--Anthony Robbins
Simply seek happiness, and you are not likely to find it. Seek to create and love without
regard to your happiness, and you will likely be happy much of the time.--M. Scott Peck
We may not be able to give much but we can always give the joy that springs in a heart that
is in love with God.--Mother Teresa
What we do for ourselves dies with us. What we do for others and the world remains and is
immortal.--Albert Pine
True heroism is remarkably sober, very undramatic. It is not the urge to surpass all others at
whatever cost, but the urge to serve others at whatever cost.--Arthur Ashe
Everybody can be great, because everybody can serve. You don't have to have a college
degree to serve. You don't have to make your subject and your verb agree to serve. You
don't have to know Plato and Aristotle--Einstein's theory--the second law of
thermodynamics--you only need a heart full of grace; a soul generated by love.--Martin
Luther King Jr.
It's not what you gather, but what you scatter that tells what kind of life you have lived.-Helen Walton
Getters generally don't get happiness; givers get it. You simply give to others a bit of
yourself--a thoughtful act, a helpful idea, a word of appreciation, a lift over a rough spot, a
sense of understanding, a timely suggestion. You take something out of your mind,
garnished in kindness out of your heart, and put it into the other fellow's mind and heart.-Charles H. Burr
If you want to lift yourself up, lift up someone else.--Booker T. Washington
For attractive lips,
Speak words of kindness.
For lovely eyes,
Seek out the good in people.
For a slim figure,
Share your food with the hungry.
For beautiful hair,
Let a child run his/her fingers through it once a day.
For poise,
Walk with the knowledge that you never walk alone.
People, even more than things,
Have to be restored, renewed, revived, reclaimed,
And redeemed; never throw out anyone.
Remember, if you ever need a helping hand,
You will find one at the end of each of your arms.
As you grow older, you will discover that you have two hands;
One for helping yourself, and the other for helping others.
--Audrey Hepburn
Networking is simply the cultivating of mutually beneficial, give and take, win-win
relationships. It works best, however, when emphasizing the 'give' part.--Bob Burg
Be unselfish. That is the first and final commandment for those who would be useful and
happy in their usefulness.--Charles W. Eliot
If you are not generous with a meager income, you will never be generous with
abundance.--Harold Nye
A man wrapped up in himself makes a very small bundle.--Benjamin Franklin
Happiness held is the seed; happiness shared is the flower.--Author unknown
Seek first to understand, then to be understood.--Stephen Covey
There is incredible value in being of service to others. I think if many of the people in
therapy offices were dragged out to put their finger in a dike, or take up their place in a
working line, they would be relieved of terrible burdens.--Elizabeth Berg
The only gift is a portion of thyself.--Ralph Waldo Emerson
Being considerate of others will take your children further in life than any college degree.-Marian Wright Edelman
Consider the rights of others before your own feelings, and the feelings of others before
your own rights.--John Wooden
I began learning long ago that those who are happiest are those who do the most for
others.--Booker T. Washington
The function of freedom is to free someone else.--Toni Morrison
The way to happiness: Keep your heart free from hate, your mind from worry. Live simply,
expect little, give much. Scatter sunshine, forget self, think of others. Try this for a week and
you will be surprised.--Norman Vincent Peale
It is well to remember that the entire population of the universe, with one trifling exception,
is composed of others.--Andrew J. Holmes
One thing I am convinced more and more is true and that is this: The only way to be truly
happy is to make others happy. When you realize that and take advantage of the fact,
everything is made perfect.--William Carlos Williams
Nothing that you have not given away will ever be really yours. --C. S. Lewis
Unselfish and noble actions are the most radiant pages in the biography of souls.--David
Thomas
Somehow, not only for Christmas
But all the long year through,
The joy that you give to others
Is the joy that comes back to you.
And the more you spend in blessing
The poor and lonely and sad,
The more of your heart's possessing
Returns to you glad.
--John Greenleaf Whittier
Far too many people are looking for the right person, instead of trying to be the right
person.--Gloria Steinem
Beginning today, treat everyone you meet as if they were going to be dead by midnight.
Extend to them all the care, kindness and understanding you can muster, and do with no
thought of any reward. Your life will never be the same again.--Og Mandino
One of the greatest gifts you can give to anyone is the gift of attention.--Jim Rohn
To be loved, be lovable.--Ovid
Feeling sorry for yourself, and your present condition, is not only a waste of energy but the
worst habit you could possibly have.--Dale Carnegie
Great opportunities to help others seldom come, but small ones surround us every day.-Sally Koch
I don't know what your destiny will be, but one thing I do know: the only ones among you
who will be really happy are those who have sought and found how to serve.--Albert
Schweitzer
When a man is wrapped up in himself he makes a pretty small package.--John Ruskin
No one is useless in this world who lightens the burden of it for anyone else.--Charles
Dickens
Successful people are always looking for opportunities to help others. Unsuccessful people
are always asking, 'What's in it for me?'--Brian Tracy, American Trainer, Speaker, Author,
Businessman
You are moving in the right direction when you clearly understand that others can give you
pleasure but genuine happiness comes when you do things for others. --Zig Ziglar
Christmas is forever, not for just one day,
for loving, sharing, giving, are not to put away
like bells and lights and tinsel, in some box upon a shelf.
The good you do for others is good you do yourself...
--Norman Wesley Brooks, Let Every Day Be Christmas, 1976
It is not how much we do, but how much love we put in the doing. It is not how much we
give, but how much love we put in the giving.--Mother Teresa
It's not what you do, but how much love you put into it that matters.--Rick Warren
The measure of a life, after all, is not its duration, but its donation.--Corrie ten Boom
The great gift of conversation lies less in displaying it ourselves than in drawing it out in
others. He who leaves your company pleased with himself and his own cleverness is
perfectly well pleased with you.--Jean de la Bruyere
One can give without loving, but one cannot love without giving.--Amy Carmichael
A strong nation, like a strong person, can afford to be gentle, firm, thoughtful, and
restrained. It can afford to extend a helping hand to others. It is a weak nation, like a weak
person, that must behave with bluster and boasting and rashness and other signs of
insecurity.--Jimmy Carter
**************************
vision and lack of
Never tell a young person that anything cannot be done. God may have been waiting
centuries for someone ignorant enough of the impossible to do that very thing.--G. M.
Trevelyan
You cannot change your destination overnight, but you can change your direction
overnight.--Jim Rohn
The greatest danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that it
is too low and we reach it.--Michelangelo
The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now.--Chinese
Proverb
If you hesitate to map out your future, to make a big plan or to set a goal, you've just gone
ahead and mapped your future anyway.--Seth Godin
If you don't make the time to work on creating the life you want, you're eventually going to
be forced to spend a lot of time dealing with a life you don't want.--Kevin Ngo
I would rather attempt to do something great and fail than to attempt to do nothing and
succeed.--Robert H. Schuller
I dwell in Possibility.--Emily Dickinson
Nothing is less productive than to make more efficient what should not be done at all.-Peter Drucker
Far away there in the sunshine are my highest aspirations. I may not reach them, but I can
look up and see their beauty, believe in them, and try to follow where they lead.--Louisa
May Alcott
Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off your goals.-Hannah More 1745-1833, British Writer, Reformer, Philanthropist
Eternity is not something that begins after you are dead. It is going on all the time. We are
in it now.--Charlotte P Gilman
James Russell Lowell declared, Not failure, but low aim, is crime.
People often say that motivation doesn't last. Well, neither does bathing-that's why we
recommend it daily. Zig Ziglar, American Sales Trainer, Author, Motivational Speaker
I find the great thing in this world is not so much where we stand, as in what direction we
are moving.--Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.
The best thing about the future is that it comes only one day at a time. Abraham Lincoln,
1809-1865, Sixteenth President of the USA
With vision, every person, organization and country can flourish. The Bible says, 'Without
vision we perish.--Mark Victor Hansen, American Motivational Speaker, Author
I've never met a person, I don't care what his condition, in whom I could not see
possibilities. I don't care how much a man may consider himself a failure, I believe in him,
for he can change the thing that is wrong in his life at any time he is ready and prepared to
do it. Whenever he develops the desire, he can take away from his life the thing that is
defeating it. The capacity for reformation and change lies within.--Preston Bradley
As long as you're going to be thinking anyway, think big.--Donald Trump
A goal is a dream that has an ending.--Duke Ellington
Most men die at age 25, but aren't buried until age 65.--Benjamin Franklin, 1706-1790,
American Scientist, Publisher, Diplomat
You were born to win, but to be the winner you were born to be you must plan to win,
prepare to win, and then and only then can you legitimately expect to win. --Zig Ziglar
Motivation gets you going; habit gets you there. Make motivation a habit and you will get
there more quickly and have more fun on the trip. --Zig Ziglar
A man without a purpose is like a ship without a rudder.--Thomas Carlyle, 1795-1881,
Scottish Philosopher, Author
Dream no small dreams for they have no power to move the hearts of men.--Johann
Wolfgang von Goethe
Confidence is contagious. So is lack of confidence.--Vince Lombardi
All men who have achieved great things have been great dreamers.--Orison Swett Marden
They are ill discoverers that think there is no land, when they can see nothing but sea.--Sir
Francis Bacon
Most people see what is, and never see what can be.--ALBERT EINSTEIN (1879-1955)
The victory of success is half won when one gains the habit of setting goals and achieving
them. Even the most tedious chore will become endurable as you parade through each day
convinced that every task, no matter how menial or boring, brings you closer to achieving
your dreams.--Og Mandino, 1923-1996, Author
Ordinary people believe only in the possible. Extraordinary people visualize not what is
possible or probable, but rather what is impossible. And by visualizing the impossible, they
begin to see it as possible.--Cherie Carter-Scott, Author
It is not enough to be busy, so are the ants. The question is, 'What are we busy about?'-Henry David Thoreau, 1817-1862, American Essayist, Poet, Naturalist
It is not enough to be industrious; so are the ants. What are you industrious about?--Henry
David Thoreau
Champions aren't made in the gyms. Champions are made from something they have deep
inside them--a desire, a dream, a vision.--Muhammad Ali, American Boxer
We grow great by dreams. All big men are dreamers. They see things in the soft haze of a
spring day or in the red fire of a long winter's evening. Some of us let these dreams die, but
others nourish and protect them; nurse them through bad days till they bring them to the
sunshine and light which comes always to those who hope that their dreams will come
true.--Woodrow Wilson, 1856-1924, Twenty-eighth President of the USA
I honestly think it is better to be a failure at something you love than to be a success at
something you hate.--George Burns
The tragedy of life doesn't lie in not reaching your goal. The tragedy lies in having no goal to
reach.--Benjamin Mays, President of Morehouse College in Atlanta
Find a purpose in life so big it will challenge every capacity to be at your best.--David O.
McKay (1873-1970) Church leader
Don't judge each day by the harvest you reap, but by the seeds you plant.--Robert Louis
Stevenson, 1850-1895, Scottish Essayist, Poet, Novelist
The real winners in life are the people who look at every situation with an expectation that
they can make it work or make it better.--Barbara Pletcher, Author
Believe and act as if it were impossible to fail.--Charles F. Kettering, 1876-1958, American
Engineer, Inventor
He who does not know where he is heading will take the longest time to get there.--Chinese
Proverb
Nothing splendid has ever been achieved except by those who dared believe that
something inside of them was superior to circumstance.--Bruce Barton, 1886-1967,
American Author, Advertising Executive
The biggest human temptation is to settle for too little.--Thomas Merton, 1915-1968,
American Religious Writer, Poet
Nobody grows old merely by living a number of years. We grow old by deserting our ideals.-Samuel Ullman
The greater danger for most of us lies not in setting our aim too high and falling short; but in
setting our aim too low, and achieving our mark.--Michelangelo Buonarroti, Painter,
Sculptor
The key to success is holding in your conscious mind what you want to achieve and then
striving in everything you do to make the image reality.--Dr. Norman Vincent Peale
It is our duty as men and women to proceed as though the limits to our abilities do not
exist.--Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, 1881-1955, French Christian Mystic, Author
Most people spend most of their days doing what they do not want to do in order to earn the
right, at times, to do what they may desire.--JOHN BROWN
When we are motivated by goals that have deep meaning, by dreams that need completion,
by pure love that needs expressing, then we truly live life.--Greg Anderson
The Old Year has gone. Let the dead past bury its own dead. The New Year has taken
possession of the clock of time. All hail the duties and possibilities of the coming twelve
months!--Edward Payson Powell
We need to learn to set our course by the stars, not by the lights of every passing ship.-Omar N. Bradley (1893-1981) U.S. Army General
The poor man is not he who is without a cent, but he who is without a dream.--Harry Kemp
(1883-1960) Poet
To the wrongs that need resistance, To the right that needs assistance, To the future in the
distance, Give yourselves.--Carrie Chapman Catt
Dream no small dream; it lacks magic. Dream large. Then make the dream real.--Donald
Douglas, 1892-1981, American Aircraft Industrialist
All things are possible until they are proved impossible--and even the impossible may only
be so as of now.--Pearl S. Buck
He who every morning plans the transaction of the day and follows out that plan, carries a
thread that will guide him through the maze of the most busy life. But where no plan is laid,
where the disposal of time is surrendered merely to the chance of incidence, chaos will
soon reign.--Victor Hugo
A hero is someone who has given his or her life to something bigger than oneself.--Joseph
Campbell, 1904-1987, American Professor/Writer/Orator
Act the way you'd like to be and soon you'll be the way you act.--George W. Crane
Act the way you'd like to be and soon you'll be the way you act.--Leonard Cohen
I am not a has-been. I am a will be.--Lauren Bacall, American Film and Stage Actress
No one travels so high as he who knows not where he is going.--Oliver Cromwell
Make no small plans for they have no power to stir the soul.--Niccolo Machiavelli, 14691527, Italian Philosopher
Happy are those who dream dreams and are ready to pay the price to make them come
true.--Cardinal Leo Jozef Suenens (1904-1996)
A life that hasn't a definite plan is likely to become driftwood.--David Sarnoff (1891-1971)
Media executive
Dwell in possibility.--Emily Dickinson
The important thing is this: To be able at any moment to sacrifice what we are for what we
could become.--Charles du Bois
Live out of your imagination, not your history.--Stephen Covey
Desire is the starting point of all achievement, not a hope, not a wish, but a keen pulsating
desire which transcends everything.--Napoleon Hill
If you can dream it, you can do it. Always remember this whole thing was started by a
mouse.--Walt Disney
You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream.--C. S. Lewis (18981963) Writer
He who thinks most of heaven will do most for earth.---Anonymous
Define your future by your dreams and not by your memories, by your hopes and not by
your fears.--Joe Tye, Motivational speaker
Become a possibilitarian. No matter how dark things seem to be or actually are, raise your
sights and see possibilities--always see them, for they're always there.--Dr. Norman Vincent
Peale
I think the purpose of life is to be useful, to be responsible, to be honorable; to be
compassionate. It is, after all, to matter: to count, to stand for something, to have made
some difference that you lived at all.--Leo C. Rosten
Think little goals and expect little achievements. Think big goals and win big success.-David Joseph Schwartz
People who want to retire so they can sit under a coconut tree watching the grass grow
baffle me. We were created for meaningful work, and one of life's greatest pleasures is the
satisfaction of a job well done.--John Maxwell
How am I going to live today in order to create the tomorrow I'm committed to?--Tony
Robbins
Dreams are renewable. No matter what our age or condition, there are still untapped
possibilities within us and new beauty waiting to be born.--Dale Turner
Evaluation of the past is the first step toward vision for the future.--Chris Widener
The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeing new landscapes but in having new
eyes.--Marcel Proust
Achievement requires more than a vision--it takes courage, resolve and tenacity.--Neil
Eskelin
Vision without action is merely a dream. Action without vision just passes the time. Vision
with action can change the world.--Joel A. Barker
The human heart refuses to believe in a universe without a purpose.--Immanuel Kant
The first step toward success is taken when you refuse to be a captive of the environment
in which you first find yourself.--Mark Caine
Man does not live by a turkey in every oven or a color TV set in every home. Man lives by
faith and hope and love, by the star on the horizon, by the trumpet that will not call retreat.-E. Merrill Root
If I were to wish for anything, I should not wish for wealth and power, but for the passionate
sense of the potential, for the eye which, ever young and ardent, sees the possible.
Pleasure disappoints, possibility never.--Soren Kierkegaard
He who does not look ahead remains behind.--Spanish proverb
The wise Christian gears his goals to Heaven's gains.
There is only one failure in life possible, and that is not to be true to the best one knows.-George Eliot
It is never too late to be who you might have been.--George Eliot, 1819-1880, English
Novelist
Your dream is not big enough if it doesn't scare you.--Matthias Schmelz
If you would hit the mark, you must aim a little above it; every arrow that flies feels the
attraction of earth.--Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
A life without purpose is a languid, drifting thing. Every day we ought to review our purpose,
saying to ourselves: This day let me make a sound beginning, for what we have hitherto
done is naught!--Thomas A. Kempis
It is difficult to say what is impossible, for the dream of yesterday is the hope of today and
the reality of tomorrow.--Robert H. Goddard, 1882-1945
I like Thinking Big. If you're going to be thinking anyway, you might as well Think Big.-Donald Trump
Just don't give up trying to do what you really want to do. Where there is love and
inspiration, I don't think you can go wrong.--Ella Fitzgerald
Work as if you were to live a hundred years. Pray as if you were to die tomorrow.--Benjamin
Franklin
If we are not to go to pieces or wither away, we all must have some purpose in life; for no
man can live for himself alone.--Ross Parmenter
Goals. There's no telling what you can do when you get inspired by them. There's no telling
what you can do when you believe in them. And there's no telling what will happen when
you act upon them.--Jim Rohn
In the absence of clearly defined goals, we become strangely loyal to performing daily trivia
until ultimately we become enslaved by it.--Robert Heinlein, 1907-1988
The future is given shape by our faith, or condemned to drift and disaster by our
indifference.--Page Smith
I am looking for a lot of men who have an infinite capacity to not know what can't be done.-Henry Ford
Every day you may make progress. Every step may be fruitful. Yet there will stretch out
before you an ever-lengthening, ever-ascending, ever-improving path. You know you will
never get to the end of the journey. But this, so far from discouraging, only adds to the joy
and glory of the climb.--Sir Winston Churchill, 1874-1965
The most rewarding things you do in life are often the ones that look like they cannot be
done.--Arnold Palmer
Our chief want is someone who will inspire us to be what we know we could be.--Ralph
Waldo Emerson
Don't let life discourage you; everyone who got where he is had to begin where he was.-Richard L. Evans (--Robert Louis Stevenson 1850-1895, Scottish Essayist, Poet, Novelist)
Success lies not in achieving what you aim at but in aiming at what you ought to achieve.-Author unknown
To think creatively, we must be able to look afresh at what we normally take for granted.-George Kneller
You ask, what is our aim? I can answer in one word. It is victory.--Winston Churchill
It is more important to know where you are going than to get there quickly. Do not mistake
activity for achievement.--Mabel Newcomber
Never mistake activity for achievement.--John Wooden, Hall of Fame American Basketball
Player and Coach
The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.--Eleanor Roosevelt
Personal leadership is not a singular experience. It is, rather, the ongoing process of
keeping your vision and values before you and aligning your life to be congruent with those
most important things.--Stephen Covey
No one rises to low expectations.--Les Brown
Learn how to separate the majors and the minors. A lot of people don't do well simply
because they major in minor things.--Jim Rohn
Either you run the day or the day runs you.--Jim Rohn
The greatest achievements were at first and for a time dreams.--James Allen
The two great words of antiquity are behold and beware. Behold the possibilities and
beware the temptations.--Jim Rohn
When a goal matters enough to a person, that person will find a way to accomplish what at
first seemed impossible.--Nido Qubein
Keep your feet on the ground, but let your heart soar as high as it will. Refuse to be
average or to surrender to the chill of your spiritual environment.--A. W. Tozer
The man without a purpose is like a ship without a rudder. Have a purpose in life, and,
having it, throw such strength of mind and muscle into your work as God has given you.-Thomas Carlyle
The man without a purpose is like a ship without a rudder--a waif, a nothing, a no man.-Thomas Carlyle
Though no one can go back and make a brand new start, anyone can start from now and
make a brand new ending.--Carl Bard
Nobody can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start today and make a
new ending.--Maria Robinson
Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help
me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything--all external expectations, all
pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure--these things just fall away in the face of death,
leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I
know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked.
There is no reason not to follow your heart.--Steve Jobs, Stanford commencement speech
2005
Efforts and courage are not enough without purpose and direction.--John F. Kennedy
When you reach for the stars, you may not quite get one, but you won't come up with a
handful of mud either.--Leo Burnett, 1891-1971, American Advertising Executive
The more faithfully you listen to the voice within you, the better you hear what is sounding
outside.--Dag Hammarskjöld
Have great hopes and dare to go all out for them. Have great dreams and dare to live them.
Have tremendous expectations and believe in them.--Norman Vincent Peale
Somehow I can't believe that there are any heights that can't be scaled by a man who
knows the secrets of making dreams come true. This special secret--curiosity, confidence,
courage, and constancy, and the greatest of all is confidence. When you believe in a thing,
believe in it all the way, implicitly and unquestionably.--Walt Disney
One way to keep momentum going is to have constantly greater goals.--Michael Korda
So long as you have courage and a sense of humor, it is never too late to start life afresh.-Freeman Dyson
A dream is just a dream. A goal is a dream with a plan and a deadline.--Harvey Mackay
Yesterday is not ours to recover, but tomorrow is ours to win or lose.--Lyndon Johnson
Often when you think you're at the end of something, you're at the beginning of something
else.--Mister Rogers
What the caterpillar calls the end, the rest of the world calls a butterfly.--Lao Tzu
The object of a New Year is not that we should have a new year. It is that we should have a
new soul.--G.K. Chesterton
The only way to find the limits of the possible is by going beyond them to the impossible.-Arthur C. Clarke
Nothing is impossible for the man who will not listen to reason.--John Belushi
Your potential lies ahead of you--whether you're 8, 18, 48, or 80. You still have room to
improve yourself. You can become better tomorrow than you are today. As the Spanish
proverb says, 'He who does not look ahead remains behind.'--John C. Maxwell
Discovery consists of seeing what everybody has seen and thinking what nobody has
thought.--Albert von Szent-Gyorgyi
You have enemies? Good. It means you've stood up for something, sometime in your life.-Winston Churchill
What we need is more people who specialize in the impossible.--Theodore Roethke,
American poet
The future belongs to those who give the next generation reason for hope.--Pierre Teilhard
de Chardin
Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.--attributed to
Mahatma Gandhi [see similar quote by Benjamin Franklin]
Learn as if you were going to live forever. Live as if you were going to die tomorrow.-Mahatma Gandhi
The basic goal-reaching principle is to understand that you go as far as you can see, and
when you get there you will always be able to see farther.--Zig Ziglar
Some men see things as they are and say, Why? I Dream things that never were, and say,
Why not?--George Bernard Shaw 1856-1950, Irish-born British Dramatist
You see things; and you say, 'Why?' But I dream things that never were; and I say, 'Why
not?'--George Bernard Shaw
One can never consent to creep when one feels an impulse to soar.--Helen Keller
Few people take objectives really seriously. They put average effort into too many things,
rather than superior thought and effort into a few important things. People who achieve the
most are selective as well as determined.--Richard Koch
In the long run, men hit only what they aim at. Therefore, though they should fail
immediately, they had better aim at something high.--Henry David Thoreau
It always seems impossible until it's done.--Nelson Mandela
Vision is the spectacular that inspires us to carry out the mundane.--Chris Widener
Today I will do what others won't, so tomorrow I can accomplish what others can't.--Jerry
Rice
There is no road too long to the man who advances deliberately and without undue haste;
there are no honors too distant to the man who prepares himself for them with patience.-Jean de la Bruyere
Hard work is painful when life is devoid of purpose. But when you live for something greater
than yourself and the gratification of your own ego, then hard work becomes a labor of
love.--Steve Pavlina
One must maintain a little bit of summer, even in the middle of winter.--Henry David
Thoreau
The trouble with not having a goal is that you can spend your life running up and down the
field and never scoring.--Bill Copeland, cricket umpire
Vision is the art of seeing what is invisible to others.--Jonathan Swift
Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember, you have within you the
strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world.--Harriet
Tubman
Every noble work is at first impossible.--Thomas Carlyle
Always dream and shoot higher than you know you can do. Don't bother just to be better
than your contemporaries or predecessors. Try to be better than yourself.--William
Faulkner, 1897-1962, American Novelist
Hope smiles on the threshold of the year to come, whispering that it will be happier.--Alfred,
Lord Tennyson, 1809-1892, English Poet
The very essence of leadership is that you have to have a vision. It's got to be a vision you
articulate clearly and forcefully on every occasion. You can't blow an uncertain trumpet.-Theodore Hesburgh Cleric and educator
If we did all the things we are capable of doing, we would literally astonish ourselves.-Thomas Edison
I hated every minute of training, but I said, Don't quit. Suffer now and live the rest of your
life as a champion.--Muhammad Ali, American Boxer
People think I'm disciplined. It is not discipline. It is devotion. There is a great difference.-Luciano Pavarotti
It's not what's happening to you now or what has happened in your past that determines
who you become. Rather, it's your decisions about what to focus on, what things mean to
you, and what you're going to do about them that will determine your ultimate destiny.-Anthony Robbins
On reality: The poker player learns that sometimes both science and common sense are
wrong; that the bumblebee can fly; that, perhaps, one should never trust an expert; that
there are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of by those with an academic
bent.--David Mamet, playwright
Never be afraid to take on a really tough problem. When you solve it, the benefits will be
that much greater.--Carl A. Gerstacker (1916-1995) Business executive
Think 'impossible' and dreams get discarded, projects get abandoned, and hope for
wellness is torpedoed. But let someone yell the words 'It's possible,' and resources we
hadn't been aware of come rushing in to assist us in our quest. I believe we are all
potentially brilliant and creative--but only if we believe it, only if we have an attitude of
positive expectancy toward our ideas, and only if we act on them.--Greg Anderson
Hope is a risk that must be run.--Georges Bernanos
Every man should be born again on the first day of January. Start with a fresh page. Take
up one hole more in the buckle if necessary, or let down one, according to circumstances;
but on the first of January let every man gird himself once more, with his face to the front,
and take no interest in the things that were and are past.--Henry Ward Beecher
Heads are wisest when they are cool, and hearts are strongest when they beat in response
to noble ideals.--Ralph J. Bunche
My interest is in the future because I am going to spend the rest of my life there.--Charles
Kettering
Everything started as nothing.--Ben Weissenstein
Treat a man as he is, and he will remain as he is. Treat a man as he could be, and he will
become what he should be.--Ralph Waldo Emerson
Start by doing what's necessary; then do what's possible; and suddenly you are doing the
impossible.--St. Francis of Assisi, 1181-1226, Italian Preacher, Founder of the Franciscan
Order
I have found that there are three stages in every great work of God; first, it is impossible,
then it is difficult, then it is done.--Hudson Taylor (1832-1905)
Most of the things worth doing in the world were said to be impossible before they were
done.--Louis Brandeis (1856-1941) Jurist
So many of our dreams at first seem impossible, then they seem improbable, and then,
when we summon the will, they soon become inevitable.--Christopher Reeve
Take the first step in faith. You don't have to see the whole staircase, just take the first
step.--Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Life is not easy for any of us. But what of that? We must have perseverance and above all
confidence in ourselves. We must believe that we are gifted for something and that this
thing must be attained.--Marie Curie
One-half of knowing what you want is knowing what you must give up before you get it.-Sidney Howard
**************************
wisdom, foolishness
Too often we enjoy the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought.--John F.
Kennedy
Think like a man of action, act like a man of thought.--Henri Bergson
The more sand that has escaped from the hourglass of our life, the clearer we should see
through it.--Jean-Paul Sartre
The art of being wise is the art of knowing what to overlook.--William James
Experience is a jewel, and it had need be so, for it is often purchased at an infinite rate.-William Shakespeare
Everyone is a fool for at least 5 minutes a day. Wisdom consists of not exceeding the limit.-Elbert Hubbard
By three methods we may learn wisdom: First, by reflection, which is noblest; Second, by
imitation, which is easiest; and third by experience, which is the bitterest.--Confucius
Quotes are just sayings of our own souls that formed through other mouths: part of a
collective whole that makes a beautiful novel.--Paul Kelly
Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge? Where is the knowledge we have lost in
information?--T. S. Eliot (1888-1965)
The wind and the waves are always on the side of the ablest navigators.--Edward Gibbon,
1737-1794, British Historian
William James said, The art of being wise is the art of knowing what to overlook.
Every man is a fool for at least five minutes every day. Wisdom consists in not exceeding
the limit.--Elbert Hubbard, author, editor, printer (1856-1915)
The science which teacheth arts and handicrafts is merely science for the gaining of a
living; but the science which teacheth deliverance from worldly existence, is not that the
true science?--Thomas Hobbes
If we could read the secret history of our enemies we should find in each man's life sorrow
and suffering enough to disarm all hostility.--Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Science shows us what exists but not what to do about it.--Heinz R. Pagels
History teaches us that men and nations behave wisely once they have exhausted all other
alternatives.--Abba Eban
Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the
former.--Albert Einstein
Everything that irritates us about others can lead us to an understanding of ourselves.--Carl
Jung, 1875-1961, Swiss Psychiatrist
Do not believe that it is very much of an advance to do the unnecessary three times as
fast.--Peter Drucker
Hear reason, or she'll make you feel her.--Ben Franklin
You have a choice. You can either let the past teach you or beat you. --Zig Ziglar
The world has achieved brilliance without wisdom, power without conscience. Our is a
world of nuclear giants and ethical infants.--Gen Omar N. Bradley
Do you know the difference between education and experience? Education is when you
read the fine print; experience is what you get when you don't.--Pete Seeger
There is nothing so easy to learn as experience and nothing so hard to apply.--Josh Billings
Wisdom doesn't necessarily come with age. Sometimes age just shows up all by itself.-Tom Wilson
Sixty years ago I knew everything; now I know nothing; education is a progressive
discovery of our own ignorance.--Will Durant
A loving heart is the truest wisdom.--Charles Dickens
Defer not till tomorrow to be wise... tomorrow's sun to thee may never rise.--William
Congreve
From the errors of others a wise man corrects his own.--Publilius Syrus
After the event even a fool is wise.--Homer
Common sense in an uncommon degree is what the world calls wisdom.--Samuel Taylor
Coleridge
When you want to test the depths of a stream, don't use both feet.--Chinese Proverb
Men are born ignorant, not stupid. They are made stupid by education--Bertrand Russell
One of the lessons of history is that nothing is often a good thing to do and always a clever
thing to say.--Will Durant
The road to wisdom? Well it plain and simple to express: Err and err and err again, but less
and less and less.--Piet Hein, poet and scientist (1905-1996)
Success is a journey, not a destination.--Ben Sweetland
Common sense is the knack of seeing things as they are, and doing things as they ought to
be done.--Harriet Beecher Stowe, 1811-1896, American Novelist, Antislavery Campaigner
Nothing is so useless as doing efficiently that which should not be done at all.--Peter
Drucker
Experience is something I always think I have until I get more of it.--Dan Kaercher Editor
and writer
One cool judgment is worth a dozen hasty councils. The thing to do is to supply light and
not heat.--Woodrow Wilson (1856-1924), Twenty-eighth President of the USA
Wisdom is the reward you get for a lifetime of listening when you'd have preferred to talk.-Doug Larson
Wisdom is often times nearer when we stoop than when we soar.--William Wordsworth
An education isn't how much you have committed to memory, or even how much you know.
It's being able to differentiate between what you do know and what you don't.--Anatole
France
Much learning does not teach understanding.--Heraclitus, 540-480 B.C., Greek Philosopher
Look back over the past, with its changing empires that rose and fell, and you can foresee
the future, too.--Marcus Aurelius
Wisdom is ofttimes nearer when we stoop than when we soar.--William Wordsworth, 17701850, British Poet
All travelers, somewhere along the way, find it necessary to check their course, to see how
they are doing. We wait until we are sick, or shocked into stillness, before we do the
commonplace thing of getting our bearings. And yet, we wonder why we are depressed,
why we are unhappy, why we lose our friends, why we are ill-tempered. This condition we
pass on to our children, our husbands, our wives, our associates, our friends. Cultivate
[checking in]. Linger. ... Who knows? God may whisper to you in the quietness what He has
been trying to say to you, oh, for so long a time.--Howard Thurman
If you think education is expensive, try ignorance.--Derek Bok
Learning is not compulsory; neither is survival.--Peter Zwack, Business executive
The man who views the world at fifty the same as he did at twenty has wasted thirty years
of his life.--Muhammad Ali
Real education should educate us out of self into something far finer; into a selflessness
which links us with all humanity.--Nancy Astor
If you would not have affliction visit you twice, listen at once to what it teaches.--James
Burgh
Good questions outrank easy answers.--Paul A. Samuelson
We're drowning in information and starving for knowledge.--Rutherford Rogers
To know the Word of God, to live the Word of God, to preach the Word, to teach the Word,
is the sum of all wisdom, the heart of all Christian service.--Charles E. Fuller
There is nothing wrong with making mistakes. Just don't respond with encores.--Author
unknown
The church is not a gallery for the exhibition of eminent Christians, but a school for the
education of imperfect ones.--Henry Ward Beecher
I never let my schooling interfere with my education.--Mark Twain
No man is really wise until he is kind and courteous.--Charles Haas
The human heart feels things the eyes cannot see, and knows what the mind cannot
understand.--Robert Vallett
You can't solve a problem on the same level that it was created. You have to rise above it
to the next level.--Albert Einstein
Many people may listen, but few people actually hear.--Harvey Mackay
Education would be so much more effective if its purpose were to ensure that by the time
they leave school every boy and girl should know how much they don't know, and be
imbued with a lifelong desire to know it.--Sir William Haley
Heads are wisest when they are cool, and hearts are strongest when they beat in response
to noble ideals.--Ralph J. Bunche
Self-education is, I firmly believe, the only kind of education there is.--Isaac Asimov, former
professor of biochemistry at Boston University and author of over five hundred books
Sometimes the road less traveled is less traveled for a reason.--Jerry Seinfeld
Wisely and slow; they stumble that run fast.--William Shakespeare
Colors fade, temples crumble, empires fall, but wise words endure.--Edward Thorndike
To make no mistakes is not in the power of man; but from their errors and mistakes, the
wise and good learn wisdom for the future.--Plutarch
Experience is what enables you to make a different mistake the next time.--Author unknown
It's what you learn after you know it all that counts.--John Wooden
Formal education will make you a living; self-education will make you a fortune.--Jim Rohn
Good judgment comes from experience, and experience comes from bad judgment.--Barry
LePatner (--Rita Mae Brown)
I find my joy of living in the fierce and ruthless battles of life, and my pleasure comes from
learning something, from being taught something.--August Strindberg (1849-1912)
Dramatist and novelist
Has fortune dealt you some bad cards? Then let wisdom make you a good gamester.-Francis Quarles, British poet
It is easier to be wise for others than for ourselves.--Francois De La Rochefoucauld, 16131680
To listen well is as powerful a means of communication and influence as to talk well.--John
Marshall, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, 1801-1835
Want of foresight, unwillingness to act when action would be simple and effective, lack of
clear thinking, confusion of counsel until the emergency comes, until self-preservation
strikes its jarring gong, these are the features which constitute the endless repetition of
history.--Winston Churchill
Today is yesterday's pupil.--Thomas Fuller
By the time a man realizes that maybe his father was right, he usually has a son who thinks
he's wrong.--Charles Wadsworth
Wisdom is learning to let go when you want to hang on. Courage is learning to hang on
when you want to let go.--Mark Amend
Life is my college. May I graduate well, and earn some honors.--Louisa May Alcott
Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better.--Maya
Angelou
I am learning all the time. The tombstone will be my diploma.--Eartha Kitt
Never mistake knowledge for wisdom. One helps you make a living, the other helps you
make a life.--Sandra Carey
Preconceived notions are the locks on the door to wisdom.--Merry Browne
Human beings, who are almost unique in having the ability to learn from the experience of
others, are also remarkable for their apparent disinclination to do so.--Douglas Adams
Learn from the mistakes of others. You can never live long enough to make them all
yourself.--Groucho Marx
The saddest aspect of life right now is that science gathers knowledge faster than society
gathers wisdom.--Isaac Asimov
Wisdom is knowing what to do next, skill is knowing how to do it, and virtue is doing it.-David Starr Jordan, 1851-1931, American Biologist and Educator
Wisdom is the quality that keeps you from getting into situations where you need it.--Doug
Larson
Experience is not what happens to a man; it is what a man does with what happens to him.-Aldous Huxley
Experience is not what happens to you; it is what you do with what happens to you.--Aldous
Huxley
Proverbs are short sentences drawn from long experience.--Miguel de Cervantes
He who knows best knows how little he knows.--Thomas Jefferson
It is a mistake to suppose that any technological innovation has a one-sided effect. Every
technology is both a burden and a blessing; not either-or, but both-and. Nothing could be
more obvious, especially to those who have given more than two minutes of thought to the
matter. Nonetheless, we are currently surrounded by throngs of one-eyed prophets who
see only what new technologies can do and are incapable of imagining what they will undo.
They gaze on technology as a lover does on his beloved, seeing it as without blemish and
entertaining no apprehension for the future.--Neil Postman.
A lot of fellows nowadays have a B.A., M.D., or Ph.D. Unfortunately, they don't have a
J.O.B.--Fats Domino
Fear less, hope more, eat less, chew more, whine less, breathe more, talk less, say more,
hate less, love more; all good things will be yours.--Swedish Proverb
Success does not consist in never making mistakes but in never making the same one a
second time.--George Bernard Shaw, 1856-1950, Irish Playwright
One of the functions of intelligence is to take account of the dangers that come from trusting
solely to the intelligence.--Lewis Mumford
People like you and I, though mortal of course like everyone else, do not grow old no matter
how long we live... [We] never cease to stand like curious children before the great mystery
into which we were born.--Albert Einstein
**************************
witnessing and soul winning
A missionary does not necessarily go outside of his country, his state or even his own
community. A true missionary needs only to go outside himself.--Author unknown
I should be sorry, my Lord, if I have only succeeded in entertaining them; I wished to make
them better.--George Friedrich Handel to Lord Kinnoull after a performance of his Messiah
first staged on April 13, 1742. (Reuters)
Don't be a soda witness ...
We have a precious gift, but we're hawking it like third-rate soda.--Missions researcher
Justin Long, associate editor of the new World Christian Encyclopedia, speaking about
ineffective evangelistic efforts in the June 26 report of Charisma News Service.
A true Christian is neither ashamed of the gospel nor a shame to the gospel.
Joy is a net of love by which you can catch souls.--Mother Teresa, 1910-1997, Albanianborn Humanitarian and Missionary
Be brave enough to start a conversation that matters.--Margaret Wheatley
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