I have not failed. I have merely found 10,000 ways that won't work.
– Thomas Edison
First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.
– Mahatma Gandhi
(1869-1948)
Whether you believe you can, or whether you believe you can't, you're absolutely right.
– Henry Ford
Faith is a knowledge within the heart, beyond the reach of proof.
– Kahlil Gibran
mystic, poet and artist
(1883-1931)
The secret of getting ahead is getting started. The secret of getting started is breaking your complex overwhelming task into small manageable tasks, and then starting on the first one.
– Mark Twain
If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.
– Henry David Thoreau
Satisfaction lies in the effort, not in the attainment. Full effort is full victory.
– Mahatma Gandhi
Mistakes are the portals of discovery.
– James Joyce
Man is made by his belief. As he believes, so he is.
– Bhagavad-Gita
In order to succeed we must first believe that we can.
– Michael Korda
When you're a winner, you come back no matter what happened the day before.
– Billy Martin
A man can succeed at almost anything for which he has unlimited enthusiasm.
– Charles Schwab
Success seems to be largely a matter of hanging on after others have let go.
– William Feather
Success usually comes to those who are too busy to be looking for it.
– Henry David Thoreau
(1817-1862)
To the question whether I am a pessimist or an optimist, I answer that my knowledge is pessimistic, but my willing and hoping are optimistic.
– Albert Schweitzer
philosopher, physician, musician, Nobel laureate
(1875-1965)
Success is a state of mind. If you want success, start thinking of yourself as a success.
– Anonymous
Faith is the strength by which a shattered world shall emerge into the light.
– Helen Keller
Hope is faith holding out its hand in the dark.
– George Iles
You have reached the pinnacle of success as soon as you become uninterested in money, compliments, or publicity.
– Thomas Wolfe
novelist
(1900-1938)
If your project doesn't work, look for the part that you didn't think was important.
– Arther Bloch
Hope is a risk that must be run.
– Georges Bernanos
Last Essays
Anything I've ever done that ultimately was worthwhile… initially scared me to death.
– Betty Bender
Doubt your doubts and believe your beliefs.
– (attributed) Pastor Rick Warren
A Purpose Driven Life
Six essential qualities that are the key to success: Sincerity, personal integrity, humility, courtesy, wisdom, charity.
– William Menninger
If you always think what you've always thought,
You will always do what you've always done.
If you always do what you've always done,
You will always get what you've always got.
If you always get what you've always got,
You will always think what you've always thought.
– unknown
Look for the bright spot and move yourself toward it. There always is a bright spot. Learn to see it. Learn to value it, and you will learn to succeed.
– Ralph Marston
To be the messenger of the invisible is an honor.
– James Levin, M.D.
Hope…
Hope is a flower.
She is like a spreading rainbow.
She radiates, cares, and plays.
She's my best friend…
Hope
– Mattie J.T. Stepanek
(1990-2004)
Making Wishes
The best time to make a wish is when you throw a penny in the fountain.
The best time to make a wish is when you see the first star.
The best time to make a wish is when you blow out the candles on your cake.
And the very best time to make a wish is when you have a special prayer in your heart.
– Mattie J.T. Stepanek
(1990-2004)
Let's take the bouldering mistakes of the past,
And the roadblocking challenges of the present,
And build them into stairs that support our climb into the future.
– Mattie J.T. Stepanek
(1990-2004)
Compared to what we ought to be, we are only half awake. Our fires are dampened, our drafts are checked, we are making use of only a small part of our mental and physical resources.
– William James
You can have anything you want — if you want it badly enough.
You can be anything you want to be, do anything you set out to accomplish
if you hold to that desire with singleness of purpose.
– Abraham Lincoln
16th president of the United States
(1809-1865)
He who keeps his face towards the sun, will find that the shadows fall behind him.
– old Native American saying
Your beliefs create your reality. If you don't believe this is true, the reality you create by not believing it, proves that it is true.
– Harry Palmer
We must do what we conceive to be the right thing and not bother our heads or burden our souls with whether we will be successful. Because if we don't do the right thing, we will be doing the wrong thing and we will just be a part of the disease and not a part of the cure.
– E. F. Schumacher
Failure is impossible.
– Susan B. Anthony
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
If you believe the doctors, nothing is wholesome; if you believe the theologians, nothing is innocent; if you believe the military, nothing is safe.
– Lord Salisbury
British prime minister
(1830-1903)
The things we admire in men, kindness and generosity, openness, honesty, understanding and feeling are the concomitants of failure in our system. And those traits we detest, sharpness, greed, acquisitiveness, meanness, egotism and self-interest are the traits of success. And while men admire the quality of the first they love the produce of the second.
– John Steinbeck
novelist, Nobel laureate
(1902-1968)
It's the constant and determined effort that breaks down all resistance and sweeps away all obstacles.
– Claude M. Bristol
A thing long expected takes the form of the unexpected when at last it comes.
– Mark Twain
author and humorist
(1835-1910)
Only those who risk going too far can possibly find out how far they can go.
– T.S. Elliot
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.
– Bertie C. Forbes
Some men give up their designs when they have almost reached the goal; While others, on the contrary, obtain a victory by exerting, at the last moment, more vigorous efforts than ever before.
– Herodotus
If a man will begin with certainties, he shall end in doubts; but if he will be content to begin with doubts, he shall end in certainties.
– Francis Bacon
essayist, philosopher, and statesman
(1561-1626)
To be hopeful in bad times is not just foolishly romantic. It is based on the fact that human history is a history not only of cruelty but also of compassion, sacrifice, courage, kindness. What we choose to emphasize in this complex history will determine our lives. If we see only the worst, it destroys our capacity to do something. If we remember those times and places–and there are so many–where people have behaved magnificently, this gives us the energy to act, and at least the possibility of sending this spinning top of a world in a different direction. And if we do act, in however small a way, we don't have to wait for some grand utopian future. The future is an infinite succession of presents, and to live now as we think human beings should live, in defiance of all that is bad around us, is itself a marvelous victory.
– Howard Zinn
Those who dare to fail miserably can achieve greatly.
– Robert F. Kennedy
(1925-1968)
Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success.
– Albert Schweitzer
I've MISSED more than 9000 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
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
author, speaker, poet, lyricist & productivity consultant
Procrastination is the fear of success. People procrastinate because they are afraid of the success that they know will result if they move ahead now. Because success is heavy, carries a responsibility with it, it is much easier to procrastinate and live on the "someday I'll" philosophy.
– Denis Waitley
author, speaker, poet, lyricist & productivity consultant
There are no mistakes or failures, only lessons.
– Denis Waitley
author, speaker, poet, lyricist & productivity consultant
To freely bloom – that is my definition of success.
– Gerry Spence, lawyer
(1929 )
Aerodynamically, the bumble bee shouldn’t be able to fly, but the bumble bee doesn’t know it so it goes on flying anyway.
– Mary Kay Ash
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