Positive Mental Attitude

Positive Mental Attitude

Use these quotations in an active way. Start writing down your own thoughts. Make notes expanding on what others have said, and come up with your own original thoughts which you can write down and use to guide yourself toward your goals. Perhaps someday your words might even help lead others down the road to success.

Besides using these quotations to reflect and go inward, you can also use them to enhance your state of mind as you go outward into the world.



The great man shows his greatness by the way he treats the little man.
Anon

You see things and you say, "Why?" But I dream things that never were, and I say, "Why not?"
George Bernard Shaw, British playwright

Do not wish to be anything but what you are, and try to be that perfectly.
St. Frances De Sales, French bishop, author


Who ceases to be a friend never was one.
Greek proverb

Failure is the opportunity to begin again more intelligently.
Henry Ford, American industrialist

One who gains strength by overcoming obstacles possesses the only strength which can overcome adversity.
Albert Schweitzer, Physician, missionary, philosopher, Nobel laureate

Cautious, careful people, always casting about to preserve their reputations can never effect a reform.
Susan B. Anthony, American feminist

Anybody with a little guts and the desire to apply himself can make it; he can make anything he wants to make of himself.
Willie Shoemaker, American jockey

Success can make you go one of two ways. It can make you a prima donna - or it can smooth the edges, take away the insecurities, let the nice things come out.
Barbara Walters, American broadcast journalist

Life loves to be taken by the lapel and told: "I'm with you, kid. Let's go."
Maya Angelou, African-American poet

Hold fast to dreams, for if dreams die, life is a broken winged bird that cannot fly.
Langston Hughes, African-American poet

Any failure will tell you success is nothing but luck.
Anon


I can't imagine a person becoming a success who doesn't give this game of life everything he's got.
Walter Cronkite, American broadcast journalist

Nothing great has ever been accomplished without enthusiasm.
Ralph Waldo Emerson, American writer

In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity.
Albert Einstein, Scientist, Nobel laureate

If the creator had a purpose in equipping us with a neck, he surely meant us to stick it out.
Arthur Koestler, British writer

There is no one giant step that does it. It's a lot of little steps.
Peter A. Cohen, Investment banker

Today's preparation determines tomorrow's achievement.
Anon

Success doesn't come to you...you go to it.
Marva Collins, African-American educator


Well done is better than well said.
Benjamin Franklin, American statesman

If you have made mistakes, even serious ones, there is always another chance for you. What we call failure is not the falling down but the staying down.
Mary Pickford, American actress

You may have to fight a battle more than once to win it.
Margaret Thatcher, British Prime Minister

A failure is not always a mistake, it may simply be the best one can do under the circumstances. The real mistake is to stop trying.
B.F. Skinner, American psychologist

Vision is the art of seeing things invisible.
Jonathan Swift, English satirist

You have to...learn the rules of the game. And then you have to play better than anyone else.
Dianne Feinstein, U.S. Senator

Success to me is having ten honeydew melons and eating only the top half of each one.
Barbra Streisand, American singer, actress

No one knows what he can do till he tries.
Publilius Syrus, Roman writer

To believe a thing is impossible is to make it so.
French proverb


The time for action is now. It's never too late to do something.
Carl Sandburg, American author

Give me a lever long enough and a prop strong enough. I can single-handedly move the world.
Archimedes, Greek mathematician

If you are poor, though you dwell in the busy marketplace, no one will inquire about you; if you are rich, though you dwell in the heart of the mountains, you will have distant relatives.
Chinese proverb

Reflect upon your present blessings, of which every man has plenty; not on your past misfortunes, of which all men have some.
Charles Dickens, English novelist

Some people entertain ideas; others put them to work.
Anon

The time to repair the roof is when the sun is shining.
John F. Kennedy, American President

Man is what he believes.
Anton Chekov, Russian author

If you do it right 51 percent of the time you will end up a hero.
Alfred P. Sloan, Former Chairman

The only place that success comes before work is in the dictionary.
Vidal Sassoon, Hairdresser

Be sure you put your feet in the right place, then stand firm.
Abraham Lincoln, American President


We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.
Oscar Wilde, Irish author

Mediocrity knows nothing higher than itself, but talent instantly recognizes genius.
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, British author

Don't go around saying the world owes you a living; the world owes you nothing, it was here first.
Mark Twain, American humorist

It is in your moments of decision that your destiny is shaped.
Anthony Robbins, American author, speaker

A pessimist is one who makes difficulties of his opportunities and an optimist is one who makes opportunities of his difficulties.
Harry Truman, American President

I hope I shall possess firmness and virtue enough to maintain what I consider the most enviable of all titles, the character of an "honest man." Your honesty influences others to be honest.
George Washington, American President

There are people who have money and people who are rich.
Coco Chanel, French fashion designer

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, Founder Mary Kay Cosmetics


If you do not believe in yourself, very few other people will.
Anon

But to look back all the time is boring. Excitement lies in tomorrow.
Natalia Makarova, Russian ballerina

The spirit, the will to win, and the will to excel are the things that endure. These qualities are so much more important than the events that occur.
Vince Lombardi, American football coach

Success consists of doing the common things of life uncommonly well.
Anon

One man with courage makes a majority.
Andrew Jackson, American President

No man is ever whipped until he quits in his own mind.
Napoleon Hill, motivational writer

Even a mistake may turn out to be the one thing necessary to a worthwhile achievement.
Henry Ford, American industrialist

Success ... seems to be connected with action. Successful men keep moving. They make mistakes, but they don't quit.
Conrad Hilton, American hotelier

Man's mind, once stretched by a new idea, never regains its original dimensions.
Oliver Wendell Holmes, American jurist

There is always room at the top.
Daniel Webster, American political leader

You have to leave the city of your comfort and go into the wilderness of your intuition. What you'll discover will be wonderful. What you'll discover is yourself.
Alan Alda, American actor



Progress is impossible without change, and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything.
George Bernard Shaw, British playwright

The price of greatness is responsibility.
Winston Churchill, British prime minister

Do the right thing.
Spike Lee, African-American film director

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, American singer

Remember, a dead fish can float downstream, but it takes a live one to swim upstream.
W. C. Fields, American comic actor

The successful man will profit from his mistakes and try again in a different way.
Dale Carnegie, American writer, speaker

The best way to get something done is to begin.
Anon

Do not make yourself so big, you are not so small.
Jewish proverb

Progress is impossible without change, and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything.
George Bernard Shaw, British playwright

The price of greatness is responsibility.
Winston Churchill, British prime minister

Do the right thing.
Spike Lee, African-American film director

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, American singer

Remember, a dead fish can float downstream, but it takes a live one to swim upstream.
W. C. Fields, American comic actor


If people knew how hard I worked to get my mastery, it wouldn't seem so wonderful after all.
Michelangelo, Italian sculptor, painter, architect

If God is for us, who can be against us?
Romans 8:31

The way I see it, if you want the rainbow you gotta put up with the rain.
Dolly Parton, American singer

The difference between a mountain and a molehill is your perspective.
Al Neuharth, American publisher

Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.
Confucius, Chinese philosopher and teacher

You never know what you can do until you try.
Anon

Just what you want to be, you will be in the end.
Justin Hayward, British songwriter, musician

Act quickly, think slowly.
Greek proverb

When I grip the wheel too tight, I find I lose control.
Steve Rapson, American writer

He who is not busy being born is busy dying.
Bob Dylan, American songwriter, musician

Sometimes we stare so long at a door that is closing that we see too late the one that is open.
Alexander Graham Bell, Inventor of the telephone


Success is important only to the extent that it puts one in a position to do more things one likes to do.
Sarah Caldwell, American conductor

You can spend a lifetime, and, if you're honest with yourself, never once was your work perfect.
Charlton Heston, American actor

He who is afraid of a thing gives it power over him.
Moorish proverb

It is not enough to have a good mind, the main thing is to use it well.
René Descartes, French philosopher

Problems are not stop signs, they are guidelines.
Robert Schuller, American evangelist

The time is always right to do what is right.
Martin Luther King, African-American civil rights leader

If we do what is necessary, all the odds are in our favor.
Henry Kissinger, German-born American Secretary of State


Mix a conviction with a man and something happens.
Adam Clayton Powell, African-American politician

In soft regions are born soft men.
Herodotus, Greek historian

Success is best measured by how far you've come with the talents you've been given.
Anon

When desire dies, fear is born.
Baltasar Gracian, Spanish writer

Problems can become opportunities when the right people come together.
Robert Redford, American actor

When the best leader's work is done the people say, "We did it ourselves."
Lao-Tzu, Chinese philosopher

Success follows doing what you want to do. There is no other way to be successful.
Malcolm Forbes, American publisher

Hidden talent counts for nothing.
Nero, Roman emperor

You can have everything in life you want, if you will just help enough people get what they want.
Zig Ziglar, American motivational speaker

The easiest thing to be in the world is you. The most difficult thing to be is what other people want you to be. Don't let them put you in that position.
Leo Buscaglia, American educator and author

I feel that the most important requirement in success is learning to overcome failure. You must learn to tolerate it, but never accept it.
Reggie Jackson, African-American baseball player

Never walk away from failure. On the contrary, study it carefully and imaginatively for its hidden assets.
Michael Korda, American publisher


Outside show is a poor substitute for inner worth.
Aesop, Greek fable writer

Work banishes those three great evils: boredom, vice and poverty.
Voltaire, French author

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, U.S. Military Academy, West Point

Experience is not what happens to a man; it is what a man does with what happens to him.
Aldous Huxley, English writer

Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.
James Baldwin, African-American author

Success occurs when opportunity meets preparation.
Anon

A man can be destroyed but not defeated.
Ernest Hemingway, American writer

Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure, than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much because they live in the grey twilight that knows neither victory nor defeat.
Theodore Roosevelt, American President


I learned the value of hard work by working hard.
Sr. Margaret Fitzpatrick, American educator

Do unto others as you would have others do unto you.
Jesus of Nazareth

A mighty flame followeth a tiny spark.
Dante, Italian poet

I'm a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work, the more I have of it.
Thomas Jefferson, American President

I have been poor and I have been rich. Rich is better.
Sophie Tucker, American singer

Getting your house in order and reducing the confusion gives you more control over your life. Personal organization somehow releases or frees you to operate more effectively.
Larry King, American TV host

Nothing in the 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 are omnipotent. The slogan "press on" has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.
Calvin Coolidge, American President

Real success is not on the stage, but off the stage as a human being, and how you get along with your fellow man.
Sammy Davis, Jr.,, American entertainer

If a man can write a better book, preach a better sermon, or make a better mousetrap than his neighbor, though he build his house in the woods, the world will make a beaten path to his door.
Ralph Waldo Emerson, American writer

A leader has the vision and conviction that a dream can be achieved. He inspires the power and energy to get it done.
Ralph Lauren, American designer

There is only one success - to be able to spend your life in your own way.
Christopher Morley, American writer



Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might.
Ecclesiastes 9:10

Do a little more each day than you think you possibly can.
Lowell Thomas, American politician, author

Facing it, always facing it, that's the way to get through. Face it.
Joseph Conrad, British author

Either find a way, or make one.
Hannibal, Carthaginian general

There is only one boss: the customer. And he can fire everybody in the company, from the chairman on down, simply by spending his money somewhere else.
Sam Walton, American retailer

The important thing is to not stop questioning.
Albert Einstein, Scientist, Nobel laureate

It takes less time to do a thing right than to explain why you did it wrong.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, American poet


Character is power.
Booker T. Washington, African-American educator

Good luck is a lazy man's estimate of a worker's success.
Anon

Imagine.
John Lennon, British songwriter, musician

Talk doesn't cook rice.
Chinese proverb

The best index to a person's character is [a] how he treats people who can't do him any good, and [b] how he treats people who can't fight back.
Abigail Van Buren, American advice columnist

Talent alone won't make you a success. Neither will being in the right place at the right time, unless you are ready. The most important question is: "Are you ready?"
Johnny Carson, American TV host

I skate to where the puck is going to be, not where it has been.
Wayne Gretzky, Canadian hockey player

The greatest thing in this world is not so much where we are, but in what direction we are moving.
Oliver Wendell Holmes, American jurist

Believe in yourself! Have faith in your abilities! Without a humble but reasonable confidence in your own powers you cannot be successful or happy.
Norman Vincent Peale, American preacher

We first make our habits, and then our habits make us.
John Dryden, English author

It is not the mountain we conquer, but ourselves.
Edmund Hillary, British explorer and mountaineer

People with goals succeed because they know where they're going.
Earl Nightingale, American motivational writer


If you do what you've always done, you'll get what you've always gotten.
Anthony Robbins, American author and speaker

The only people who never fail are those who never try.
Og Mandino, American motivational writer

Nothing great will ever be achieved without great men, and men are great only if they are determined to be so.
Charles de Gaulle, French general, statesman

Both tears and sweat are salty, but they render a different result. Tears will get you sympathy; sweat will get you change.
Jesse Jackson, African-American civil rights activist

Never leave that till tomorrow which you can do today.
Benjamin Franklin, American statesman

Miracles come in moments. Be ready and willing.
Wayne Dyer, American psychologist, author

If you keep saying that things are going to be bad, you have a chance of being a prophet.
Isaac B. Singer, Yiddish novelist

The fellow who does things that count, doesn't usually stop to count them.
Anon

He has achieved success who has lived well, laughed often, and loved much.
Bessie Anderson Stanley, American counselor

Take time to deliberate; but when the time for action arrives, stop thinking and do it.
Andrew Jackson, American President

The superior man blames himself. The inferior man blames others.
Don Shula, American football coach

Imagination is more important than knowledge.
Albert Einstein, Scientist, Nobel laureate

If we don't stand for something, we may fall for anything.
Anon

Your success and happiness lie in you.
Helen Keller, American essayist and lecturer

A man who does not read good books has no advantage over the man who can't read them.
Mark Twain, American humorist

Men are not prisoners of fate, but only prisoners of their own minds.
Franklin D. Roosevelt, American President

There is no man living who isn't capable of doing more than he thinks he can do.
Henry Ford, American industrialist

What the mind of man can conceive and believe, the mind of a man can achieve.
Napoleon Hill, motivational writer

A man is not finished when he is defeated. He is finished when he quits.
Richard M. Nixon, American President

Live one day at a time emphasizing ethics rather than rules.
Wayne Dyer, American psychologist, author

Don't let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do.
John Wooden, American basketball coach

Work as though you would live forever, and live as though you would die today. Go another mile!
Og Mandino, American motivational writer

If you can dream it, you can do it.
Walt Disney, American film producer

Ah, but a man's reach should exceed his grasp, or what's a heaven for?
Robert Browning, English poet

He who is not courageous enough to take risks will accomplish nothing in life.
Muhammad Ali, African-American professional prize fighter

I have found that being honest is the best technique I can use. Right up front, tell people what you're trying to accomplish and what you're willing to sacrifice to accomplish it.
Lee Iacocca, American industrialist

Excellence is the gradual result of always striving to do better.
Pat Riley, American basketball coach

The desire for safety stands against every great and noble enterprise.
Publius Cornelius Tacitus, Roman orator


The great secret of success in life is for a man to be ready when his opportunity comes.
Benjamin Disraeli, British Prime Minister

Nothing is interesting if you are not interested.
Helen MacInness, Scottish author

Where I was born and where and how I have lived is unimportant. It is what I have done with where I have been that should be of interest.
Georgia O'Keeffe, American painter

He who controls others may be powerful, but he who has mastered himself is mightier still.
Tao Te King

Always do more than is required of you.
George S. Patton, American general

Our doubts are traitors, and make us lose the good we oft might win by fearing to attempt.
William Shakespeare, English writer

He who has begun has half done. Dare to be wise; begin.
Horace, Roman poet

You just can't beat the person who never gives up.
Babe Ruth, American baseball legend

As I grow older, I pay less attention to what men say. I just watch what they do.
Andrew Carnegie, American industrialist

It's nice to be nice.
Harry Twible, American grandpa


Give, and it shall be given to you ... For whatever measure you deal out to others, it will be dealt to you in return.
Luke 6:38

A hunch is creativity trying to tell you something.
Frank Capra, Italian-born American film director

Do not wait for leaders; do it alone, person to person.
Mother Theresa, Roman Catholic nun, humanitarian

Man is born to live and not to prepare to live.
Boris Pasternak, Russian author

Ingenuity, plus courage, plus work, equals miracles.
Bob Richards, Olympic athlete

Reality is something you rise above.
Liza Minnelli, American singer, actress

People gravitate toward people with the positive charisma of the entrepreneurial spirit.
Bill FitzPatrick, Motivational speaker

From small beginnings come great things.
American proverb

Courage is doing what you are afraid to do. There can be no courage unless you are scared.
Eddie Rickenbacker, American aviator

I've never seen a monument erected to a pessimist.
Paul Harvey, American broadcast journalist

We cannot direct the wind but we can adjust the sails.
Anon

Sometimes if you want to see a change for the better, you have to take things into your own hands.
Clint Eastwood, American actor, director

To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.
Alfred Lord Tennyson, English poet

Inspiration comes of working every day.
Charles Pierre Baudelaire, French poet

I don't know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everybody.
Bill Cosby, American actor and comedian

Better late than never.
Latin proverb

Change your thoughts and you change your world.
Norman Vincent Peale, American preacher

The only way to reach your long range goals is through achieving your short range objectives.
Anon

Do it now. Then it's done.
Anon


This is America. You can do anything here.
Robert E. Turner III, American cable-TV pioneer

You already have every characteristic necessary for success.
Anon

The reading of all good books is like a conversation with all the finest men of past centuries.
René Descartes, French philosopher

Nothing will come of nothing.
William Shakespeare, English writer

Promise only what you can deliver. Then deliver more than you promise.
Anon

The greatest discovery of my generation is that a human being can alter his life by altering his attitudes.
William James, American philosopher

One can never consent to creep when one feels an impulse to soar.
Helen Keller, American essayist and lecturer

Things may come to those who wait, but only the things left by those who hurry.
Abraham Lincoln, American President

It's the economy, stupid.
Bill Clinton, American President


Honesty is the best policy. If I lose mine honor, I lose myself.
William Shakespeare, English writer

Remember: the average is as close to the bottom as it is to the top.
Anon

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 lives.
Abraham Maslow, American psychologist

We must open the doors of opportunity.
Lyndon B. Johnson, American President

The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.
Eleanor Roosevelt, American humanitarian, author, First Lady

Practice is the best master.
Latin proverb

An ant on the move does more than a dozing ox.
Mexican proverb

The best way to have a good idea is to have a lot of ideas.
Linus Pauling, American chemist, Nobel laureate

Nothing will ever be attempted if all possible objections must first be overcome.
Samuel Johnson, British author

Nobody can be successful if he doesn't love his work, love his job.
David Sarnoff, American industrialist, Founder, RCA

Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great.
Mark Twain, American humorist

Thinking will not overcome fear but action will.
W. Clement Stone, American businessman, author

Experience taught me a few things. One is to listen to your gut, no matter how good something sounds on paper. The second is that you're generally better off sticking with what you know. And the third is that sometimes your best investments are the ones you don't make.
Donald Trump, American real estate executive

Honesty is the single most important factor having a direct bearing on the final success of an individual, corporation, or product.
Ed McMahon, American TV host

Relentless, repetitive self talk is what changes our self-image.
Denis Waitley, American writer

Never give up, for that is just the place and time that the tide will turn.
Harriet Beecher Stowe, American novelist

The future comes one day at a time.
Dean Acheson, American statesman

If you really want something you can figure out how to make it happen.
Cher, American singer, actress

If you don't invest very much, then defeat doesn't hurt very much and winning is not very exciting.
Dick Vermeil, American football coach, sportscaster

It is your work in life that is the ultimate seduction.
Pablo Picasso, Spanish painter

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 strong. Because some day in life you will have been all these.
George Washington Carver, African-American scientist

If you keep thinking about what you want to do or what you hope will happen, you don't do it, and it won't happen.
Joe DiMaggio, American baseball player

Always make a total effort, even when the odds are against you.
Arnold Palmer, American professional golfer

You can't lead a cavalry if you think that you look funny riding a horse.
John Peers, President, Logical Machine Corporation

Success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which one has overcome while trying to succeed.
Booker T. Washington, African-American educator

I can do something else besides stuff a ball through a hoop. My biggest resource is my mind.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, African-American professional basketball player

Many strokes overthrow the tallest oak.
John Lyly, English writer

Some people grin and bear it; others smile and do it.
Anon

Habits change into character.
Ovid, Roman poet

Whoever is winning at the moment will always seem to be invincible.
George Orwell, English novelist

He who would search for pearls must dive below.
John Dryden, English poet

Success is a state of mind. If you want success, start thinking of yourself as a success.
Dr. Joyce Brothers, American psychologist, TV personality

Follow the crowd and you will never be followed by a crowd.
Anon

May you live all the days of your life.
Jonathan Swift, English satirist

Character is what you know you are, not what others think you have.
Marva Collins, African-American educator

I have discovered that all human evil comes from this: man's being unable to sit still and quiet in a room alone.
Blaise Pascal, French scientist

The magic formula that successful businesses have discovered is to treat customers like guests and employees like people.
Thomas J. Peters, American business writer

The will to win is important, but the will to prepare is vital.
Joe Paterno, Penn State football coach

You may be disappointed if you fail, but you are doomed if you don't try.
Beverly Sills, American opera singer

Fall seven times and stand up eight.
Japanese proverb

No rules for success will work if you don't.
Anon

If thou can't believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.
Mark 9:23

I hope I have convinced you - the only thing that separates successful people from the ones who aren't is the willingness to work very, very hard.
Helen Gurley Brown, Founder, Cosmopolitan Magazine

The dog that trots about finds a bone.
Gypsy proverb

The harder you work, the luckier you get.
Gary Player, American professional golfer

The past does not equal the future.
Anthony Robbins, American author and speaker

Belief in oneself is one of the most important bricks in building any successful venture.
Frank Gifford, American sportscaster

Better to try something and fail than to try nothing and succeed.
Anon

Example is leadership.
Albert Schweitzer, Physician, missionary, philosopher, Nobel laureate

Millions saw the apple fall, but Newton asked why.
Bernard Baruch, American diplomat

Little things affect little minds.
Benjamin Disraeli, British Prime Minister

I mean to make myself a man, and if I succeed in that, I shall succeed in everything else.
James A. Garfield, American President

I cannot live without books.
Thomas Jefferson, American President (b. 1743)

It is always your next move.
Napoleon Hill, motivational writer

The two qualities which chiefly inspire regard and affection [are] that a thing is your own and that it is your only one.
Aristotle, Greek philosopher

To be a leader, you have to make people want to follow you, and nobody wants to follow someone who doesn't know where he is going.
Joe Namath, American professional football player

Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: to choose one's own way.
Viktor Frankl, Austrian psychiatrist

Even if I knew that tomorrow the world would go to pieces, I would still plant my apple tree.
Martin Luther, German religious reformer

You can make more friends in two months by becoming interested in other people than you can in two years of trying to get other people interested in you.
Dale Carnegie, American writer and speaker

Things turn our best for the people who make the best of the way things turn out.
John Wooden, American basketball coach

A healthy attitude is contagious but don't wait to catch it from others. Be a carrier.
Anon

The only way to start is to start.
Anon

Experience is the name that everyone gives to their mistakes.
Oscar Wilde, Irish author

He who strikes first, strikes twice.
Mexican proverb

The greatest education in the world is watching the masters at work.
Michael Jackson, African-American singer

Nothing is so contagious as enthusiasm.
Samuel Taylor Coleridge, English poet

It is easy to be brave when far away from danger.
Aesop, Greek fable writer

Accept the challenges, so that you may feel the exhilaration of victory.
George S. Patton, American general

Little minds have little worries, big minds have no time for worries.
Ralph Waldo Emerson, American writer

A man does what he must - in spite of personal consequences, in spite of obstacles and dangers and pressures - and that is the basis of all human morality.
John F. Kennedy, American President (b.1917)

If you wait till the wind and the weather are just right, you will never plant anything and never harvest anything.
Ecclesiastes 11:4

Never lose sight of the fact that the most important yardstick of your success will be how you treat other people - your family, friends and co-workers, and even strangers you meet along the way.
Barbara Bush, American First Lady

If a man is called to be a streetsweeper, he should sweep streets even as Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music, or Shakespeare composed 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, African-American civil rights leader

People are always blaming their circumstances for what they are. I don't believe in circumstances. The people who get on in this 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, British playwright


There is little difference in people but that little difference makes a big difference. The little difference is attitude. The big difference is whether it is positive or negative.
W. Clement Stone, American businessman, author

Who dares wins.
Motto of the British Special Air Service

Success is simply of luck. Ask any failure.
Earl Wilson, American newspaper columnist

In the depth of winter I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer.
Albert Camus, French philosopher

Opportunities are usually disguised as hard work, so most people don't recognize them.
Ann Landers, American advice columnist

If your life is free of failures, you're not taking enough risks.
Anon

Hard work is the key to success, so work diligently on any project you undertake ... If you truly want to be successful, be prepared to give up your leisure time and work past 5 PM and on weekends ... Also, have faith in yourself. If you come up with a new idea that you believe in, don't allow other people to discourage you from pursuing it.
Charles Lazarus, American retailer

This is where you will win the battle, in the theater of your mind.
Maxwell Maltz, American author

Action is the antidote to despair.
Joan Baez, American folk singer, songwriter

If you think education is expensive, try ignorance.
Derek Bok, American academic

The mind is the limit. As long as the mind can envision the fact that you can do something, you can do it - as long as you really believe 100 percent.
Arnold Schwarzenegger, Governor, Actor, Bodybuilder

Many receive advice, only the wise profit from it.
Publilius Syrus, Roman writer

Don't compromise yourself. You are all you've got.
Betty Ford, American First Lady

Make the most of yourself, for that is all there is of you.
Ralph Waldo Emerson, American writer

To become different from what we are we must have some awareness of what we are.
Bruce Lee, Chinese-American martial artist, actor

Pride is a personal commitment. It is an attitude which separates excellence from mediocrity.
Anon

It took me a long time not to judge myself through someone else's eyes.
Sally Field, American actress

Blessed is he who makes his companions laugh.
The Koran

Make the mistakes of yesterday your lessons for today.
Anon

Knowledge Is Power
Francis Bacon, English philosopher

The price of success is hard work, dedication to the job at hand, and the determination that whether we win or lose, we have applied the best of ourselves to the task at hand.
Anon


Luck is infatuated with the efficient.
Persian proverb

Prosperity begins with a state of mind.
Anon

The man who has nothing to do is always the busiest.
French proverb

You are never a loser until you quit trying.
Mike Ditka, American football coach

Ask and you will receive. Seek and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.
Matthew 7:7

There is only one corner of the universe you can be certain of improving and that is your own self.
Aldous Huxley, English writer

There is only one time that is important - NOW! It is the most important time because it is the only time that we have any power.
Leo Tolstoy, Russian novelist

No one can make you feel small without your consent.
Eleanor Roosevelt, American humanitarian, author, First Lady

If there are things you don't like in the world you grew up in, make your own life different.
R. David Thomas, American entrepreneur

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, American author

Knowledge of what is possible is the beginning of happiness.
George Santayana, Spanish-born American philosopher

Thou hast seen nothing yet.
Miguel de Cervantes, Spanish author

Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow.
Anon

Never confuse a single defeat with a final defeat.
F. Scott Fitzgerald, American writer

Laziness may appear attractive but work gives satisfaction.
Anne Frank, Jewish holocaust victim

They always say that time changes things, but you actually have to change them yourself.
Andy Warhol, American artist

Be bold. If you are going to make an error, make a doozy, and don't be afraid to hit the ball.
Billie Jean King, American tennis player

Desire is the key to motivation, but it's the 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, Italian professional race car driver

A problem is your chance to do your best.
Duke Ellington, American jazz musician


The only limit to our realization of tomorrow will be our doubts of today.
Franklin D. Roosevelt, American President

Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, German author

There is no security on this earth; there is only opportunity.
Douglas MacArthur, American general

Success comes in cans, failure in can'ts.
Anon

Small opportunities are often the beginning of great enterprises.
Demosthenes, Athenian orator

I am not concerned that you have fallen - I am concerned that you arise.
Abraham Lincoln, American President (b.1809)

Nobody ever drowned in his own sweat.
Ann Landers, American advice columnist

Others have done it before me. I can, too.
Corporal John Faunce, American soldier

Whatever fortune brings, don't be afraid of doing things.
A.A. Milne, English children's author

If Columbus had turned back, no one would have blamed him. Of course, no one would have remembered him either.
Anon

When the sun rises, it rises for everyone.
Cuban proverb

The very act of believing creates strength of its own.
Anon

Information is a negotiator's greatest weapon.
Victor Kiam, American industrialist

This became a credo of mine: attempt the impossible in order to improve your work.
Bette Davis, American actress

The wave of the future is coming and there is no fighting it.
Anne Morrow Lindbergh, American author

If you put off everything till you're sure of it, you'll never get anything done.
Norman Vincent Peale, American preacher

Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly.
Robert F. Kennedy, American Senator

In order to win, you must expect to win.
Dan Fouts, American professional football player

Empty pockets never held anyone back. Only empty heads and empty hearts can do that.
Norman Vincent Peale, American preacher


The man who believes he can do something is probably right, and so is the man who believes he can't.
Anon

I don't think of myself as a poor deprived ghetto girl who made good. I think of myself as someone who from an early age knew I was responsible for myself, and I had to make good.
Oprah Winfrey, American TV host

To win you have to risk loss.
Jean-Claude Killy, French professional skier

One may go a long way after one is tired.
French proverb

Behold the turtle: He only makes progress when he sticks his neck out.
James Bryant Conant, American educator

Those who can - do. Those who can't - criticize.
Anon

What counts is not necessarily the size of the dog in the fight; it's the size of the fight in the dog.
Dwight D. Eisenhower, American President

I love fools' experiments. I am always making them.
Charles Darwin, British naturalist

People may doubt what you say, but they will believe what you do.
Anon

What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.
Ralph Waldo Emerson, American writer

Many of life's failures are men who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.
Anon

A friend is known when needed.
Arabian proverb

Wise men do not quarrel with each other.
Danish proverb

Failure doesn't mean you are a failure ... it just means you haven't succeeded yet.
Robert Schuller, American evangelist

It's not hard to make decisions when you know what your values are.
Roy Disney, American broadcast executive

You have to expect things of yourself before you can do them.
Michael Jordan, African-American basketball player

The secret of success is seldom well-kept.
Anon

I believe that every person is born with talent.
Maya Angelou, African-American poet

When the doors of opportunity swing open, we must make sure that we are not too drunk or too indifferent to walk through.
Jesse Jackson, African-American civil rights activist

The early bird gets the worm.
American proverb


In all our deeds, the proper value and respect for time determines success or failure.
Malcolm X, African-American author, activist

There is one thing stronger than all the armies in the world, and that is an idea whose time has come.
Victor Hugo, French author

In the long run, men hit only what they aim at. Therefore ... they had better aim at something high.
Henry David Thoreau, American essayist, poet

I will prepare, and some day my chance will come.
Abraham Lincoln, American President

The view only changes for the lead dog.
Sergeant Preston of the Yukon, Fictional 1950's TV star

And the trouble is, if you don't risk anything, you risk even more.
Erica Jong, American writer

Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one's courage.
Anais Nin, French author

Follow effective action with quiet reflection. From the quiet reflection will come even more effective action.
James Levin, American educator

Enthusiasm: A little thing that makes a BIG difference.
Anon

Do right. Do your best. Treat others as you want to be treated.
Lou Holtz, Notre Dame football coach

Be swift to hear, slow to speak, and slow to wrath.
James 1:19

Act as if you have already achieved your goal and it is yours.
Dr. Robert Anthony, American educator

One important key to success is self-confidence. An important key to self-confidence is preparation.
Arthur Ashe, African-American tennis player