A warrior doesn’t know remorse for anything he has done, because to isolate one’s acts as being mean, or ugly, or evil is to place an unwarranted importance on the self.
—Carlos Castaneda (1925–98) Peruvian-born American Anthropologist, Author
The awakened sages call a person wise when all his undertakings are free from anxiety about results.
—The Bhagavad Gita Hindu Scripture
Agur said, “Give me neither poverty nor riches”; and this will ever be the prayer of the wise. Our incomes should be like our shoes: if too small, they will gall and pinch us, but if too large, they will cause us to stumble and to trip. But wealth, after all, is a relative thing, since he that has little, and wants less, is richer than he that has much, but wants more. True contentment depends not upon what we have; a tub was large enough for Diogenes, but a world was too little for Alexander.
—Charles Caleb Colton (c.1780–1832) English Clergyman, Aphorist
So surely as you find yourself in the mental attitude of haste, just so surely may you know that you are out of the mental attitude of greatness. Hurry and fear will instantly cut your connect with the universal mind.
—Wallace Wattles (1860–1911) American New Thought Author
There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is.
—Unknown
Fame or integrity: which is more important? Money or happiness: which is more valuable? Success or failure: which is more destructive? If you look to others for fulfillment, you will never truly be fulfilled. If your happiness depends on money, you will never be happy with yourself. Be content with what you have; rejoice in the way things are. When you realize there is nothing lacking, the whole world belongs to you.
—Laozi (fl.6th Century BCE) Chinese Philosopher, Sage
There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616) British Playwright
A warrior never worries about his fear.
—Carlos Castaneda (1925–98) Peruvian-born American Anthropologist, Author
Pain is inevitable. Suffering is optional.
—Buddhist Teaching
The more you express gratitude for what you have the more you will have to express gratitude for.
—Zig Ziglar (1926–2012) American Author
Every day may not be good, but there’s something good in every day.
—Unknown
To laugh is to risk appearing the fool.
To weep is to risk appearing sentimental.
To reach for another is to risk involvement.
To expose your feelings is to risk exposing your true self.
To place your ideas, your dreams before a crowd is to risk their loss.
To love is to risk not being loved in return.
To live is to risk dying.
To believe is to risk despair.
To try is to risk failure.
But risks must be taken, because the greatest hazard in life is to risk nothing.
The person who risks nothing does nothing, has nothing, is nothing.
They may avoid suffering and sorrow, but they cannot learn, feel, change, grow, love, live.
Chained by their attitudes they are slaves; they have forfeited their freedom.
Only a person who risks is free.
—Anonymous
When a warrior learns to stop the internal dialogue, everything becomes possible; the most far-fetched schemes become attainable.
—Carlos Castaneda (1925–98) Peruvian-born American Anthropologist, Author
Nurture your mind with great thoughts; to believe in the heroic makes heroes.
—Benjamin Disraeli (1804–81) British Head of State
We cannot direct the wind but we can adjust the sails.
—Anonymous
“Only fools have no doubts;” “Are you sure?”; “I have no doubts!”
—Luciano De Crescenzo (b.1928) Italian Writer, Film Actor, Director, Engineer
The fountain of content must spring up in the mind; and he who has so little knowledge of human nature as to seek happiness by changing anything but his own disposition, will waste his life in fruitless efforts, and multiply the griefs which he proposes to remove.
—Samuel Johnson (1709–84) British Essayist
The moment a person forms a theory, his imagination sees, in every object, only the traits that favor that theory.
—Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826) American Head of State, Lawyer
Win as if you were used to it, lose as if you enjoyed it for a change.
—Anonymous
I would rather be first in a little Iberian village than second in Rome.
—Julius Caesar (c.100–44BCE) Roman Statesman, Military General
The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.
—Eleanor Roosevelt (1884–1962) American First Lady, Diplomat, Humanitarian
I have learned to use the word impossible with the greatest caution.
—Wernher von Braun (1912–77) German-born American Engineer, Scientist
I’ve never run into a guy who could win at the top level in anything today and didn’t have the right attitude, didn’t give it everything he had, at least while he was doing it; wasn’t prepared and didn’t have the whole program worked out.
—Ted Turner (b.1938) American Businessperson, Entrepreneur, Philanthropist
If a man be gloomy let him keep to himself. Nor one has a right to go croaking about society, or, what is worse, looking as if he stifled grief.
—Benjamin Franklin (1706–90) American Political Leader, Inventor, Diplomat
No one else “makes us angry.” We make ourselves angry when we surrender control of our attitude. What someone else may have done is irrelevant. We choose, not they. They merely put our attitude to a test.
—Jim Rohn (1930–2009) American Entrepreneur, Author, Motivational Speaker
I am an optimist, unrepentant and militant. After all, in order not to be a fool an optimist must know how sad a place the world can be. It is only the pessimist who finds this out anew every day.
—Peter Ustinov (1921–2004) British Actor, Playwright, Director
It is no use to grumble and complain; It is no use to grumble and complain;
It’s just as cheap and easy to rejoice;
When God sorts out the weather and sends rain –
Why, rain’s my choice.
—James Whitcomb Riley (1849–1916) American Children’s Books Writer, Poet, Writer
Life is 10 percent what you make it and 90 percent how you take it.
—Irving Berlin (1888–1989) American Songwriter, Composer
I’m tired of being treated like a second-class citizen.
—Rosa Parks (1913–2005) American Civil Rights Leader
Life is a mirror and will reflect back to the thinker what he thinks into it.
—Ernest Holmes (1887–1960) American New Thought Writer, Teacher
If the skies fall, one may hope to catch larks.
—Francois Rabelais (1494–1553) French Humanist, Satirist
The greatest discovery of our generation is that human beings can alter their lives by altering their attitudes of mind. As you think, so shall you be.
—William James (1842–1910) American Philosopher, Psychologist, Physician
She would rather light candles than curse the darkness and her glow has warmed the world.
—Adlai Stevenson (1900–65) American Diplomat, Politician, Orator
We choose what attitudes we have right now. And it’s a continuing choice.
—John C. Maxwell (b.1947) American Christian Professional Speaker, Author, Clergyman
We find things where we look for them, which is why I never look for a golf ball out of bounds.
—Robert Brault
I never really look for anything. What God throws my way comes. I wake up in the morning and whichever way God turns my feet, I go.
—Pearl Bailey (1918–1990) American Jazz Singer, Actress, Writer
Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal; nothing on earth can help the man with the wrong mental attitude.
—W. W. Ziege
Your attitude determines your altitude.
—Unknown
A warrior must cultivate the feeling that he has everything needed for the extravagant journey that is his life. What counts for a warrior is being alive. Life in itself is sufficient, self-explanatory and complete. Therefore, one may say without being presumptuous that the experience of experiences is being alive.
—Carlos Castaneda (1925–98) Peruvian-born American Anthropologist, Author
Your enthusiasm will be infectious, stimulating and attractive to others. They will love you for it. They will go for you and with you.
—Norman Vincent Peale (1898–1993) American Clergyman, Self-Help Author
The torment of precautions often exceeds the dangers to be avoided. It is sometimes better to abandon one’s self to destiny.
—Napoleon I (1769–1821) Emperor of France
You cannot climb the ladder of success dressed in the costume of failure.
—Zig Ziglar (1926–2012) American Author
Positive anything is better than negative nothing.
—Elbert Hubbard (1856–1915) American Writer, Publisher, Artist, Philosopher
We all need a daily check up from the neck up to avoid stinkin’ thinkin’ which ultimately leads to hardening of the attitudes.
—Zig Ziglar (1926–2012) American Author
Blessed is he who expects nothing, for he shall never be disappointed.
—Alexander Pope (1688–1744) English Poet
The man who has no inner life is a slave to his surroundings.
—Henri Frederic Amiel (1821–81) Swiss Moral Philosopher, Poet, Critic
The world does not have to change … The only thing that has to change is our attitude.
—Gerald Jampolsky (b.1925) American Psychiatrist
The surest way to corrupt a young man is to teach him to esteem more highly those who think alike than those who think differently.
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900) German Philosopher, Scholar, Writer
The excursion is the same when you go looking for your sorrow as when you go looking for your joy.
—Eudora Welty (1909–2001) American Short Story Writer, Novelist
It’s easy to let life deteriorate into making a living instead of making a life. It’s not the hours you put in, but what you out into the hours that count. Learn to express rather than impress. Expressing evokes a “me too” attitude while impressing evokes a “so what” attitude.
—Jim Rohn (1930–2009) American Entrepreneur, Author, Motivational Speaker