Prevent the things you have been doing and you are half-way home”.
—F. Matthias Alexander (1869–1955) Australian Actor, Educationalist
I will just create, and if it works, it works, and if it doesn’t, I’ll create something else. I don’t have any limitations on what I think I could do or be.
—Oprah Winfrey (b.1954) American TV Personality
Doing more of what doesn’t work won’t make it work any better.
—Charles J. Givens (1941–98) American Self-Help Writer
I saw that we’re all doing the best we can. This is how a lifetime of humility begins.
—Byron Katie (b.1942) American Speaker, Author
The most important thing is for you to be your own best friend. Whatever you are doing—don’t put yourself down. Slowly begin to discover which, for you, is the path of the heart. Which path in life will make you grow? That is the path to take.
—Susan Jeffers (1938–2012) American Psychologist, Self-Help Author
When looking back, usually I’m more sorry for the things I didn’t do than for the things I shouldn’t have done.
—Malcolm S. Forbes (1919–1990) American Publisher, Businessperson
Do to others as you would have others do to you, inspires all men with that other maxim of natural goodness a great deal less perfect, but perhaps more useful: Do good to yourself with as little prejudice as you can to others.
—Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712–78) Swiss-born French Philosopher
Anything that we have to learn we learn by the actual doing of it… we become just by performing just acts, temperate by performing temperate ones, brave by performing brave ones.
—Aristotle (384BCE–322BCE) Ancient Greek Philosopher, Scholar
As I grow older, I pay less attention to what men say. I just watch what they do.
—Andrew Carnegie (1835–1919) Scottish-American Industrialist
One never notices what has been done; one can only see what remains to be done.
—Marie Curie (1867–1934) Polish-born French Physicist, Chemist
In the real world, those of us who are most productive, successful, and satisfied focus not on fixing feelings or manipulating thoughts, but on what needs to be done—and then doing it—no matter what thoughts or feelings arise.
—Dan Millman (b.1946) American Children’s Books Writer, Sportsperson
Contrary to what most of us believe, happiness does not simply happen to us. It’s something that we make happen, and it results from doing our best. Feeling fulfilled when we live up to our potentialities is what motivates differentiation and leads to evolution.
—Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (b.1934) Hungarian-American Psychologist
An acre of performance is worth the whole world of promise.
—Jeremiah Brown Howell
How many years must a man do nothing, before he can at all know what is to be done and how to do it.
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) German Poet
It is the greatest of all mistakes to do nothing because you can only do a little. Do what you can.
—Sydney Smith (1771–1845) English Clergyman, Essayist, Wit
I’ve always believed in magic. When I wasn’t doing anything in this town, I’d go up every night, sit on Mulholland Drive, look out at the city, stretch out my arms, and say, “Everybody wants to work with me. I’m a really good actor. I have all kinds of great movie offers”. I’d just repeat these things over and over, literally convincing myself that I had a couple movies lined up. I’d drive down that hill, ready to take the world on, going, “Movie offers are out there for me, I just don’t hear them yet”. It was like total affirmations, antidotes to the stuff that stems from my family background.
—Jim Carrey (b.1962) Canadian Actor, Comedian
You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong.
—William J. H. Boetcker (1873–1962) American Presbyterian Minister
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 (1888–1955) American Self-Help Author
If you perform the sacrifice of doing your duty, you do not have to do anything else. Devoted to duty, man attains perfection.
—The Bhagavad Gita Hindu Scripture
It’s not enough that we do our best; sometimes we have to do what is required.
—Winston Churchill (1874–1965) British Head of State, Political leader, Historian, Journalist, Author
Reality doesn’t wait for your opinion, vote, or permission, sweetheart. It just keeps being what it is and doing what it does.
—Byron Katie (b.1942) American Speaker, Author
The more you struggle to live, the less you live. Give up the notion that you must be sure of what you are doing. Instead, surrender to what is real within you, for that alone is sure. As stars high above earth, you are above everything distressing. But you must awaken to it. Wake up!
—Baruch Spinoza (1632–77) Dutch Philosopher, Theologian
Everywhere in life the true question is, not what we have gained, but what we do.
—Thomas Carlyle (1795–1881) Scottish Historian, Essayist
Some have an idea that the reason we in this country discard things so readily is because we have so much. The facts are exactly opposite—the reason we have so much is simply because we discard things so readily. We replace the old in return for something that will serve us better.
—Alfred P. Sloan, Jr. (1875–1966) American Businessman, Philanthropist
It is not only what we do, but also what we do not do for which we are accountable.
—Moliere (1622–73) French Playwright
Men do less than they ought, unless they do all that they can.
—Thomas Carlyle (1795–1881) Scottish Historian, Essayist
No man needs sympathy because he has to work. Far and away the best prize that life offers is the chance to work hard at work worth doing.
—Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919) American Head of State, Political leader, Historian, Explorer
If we did the things we are capable of, we would astound ourselves.
—Thomas Edison (1847–1931) American Inventor, Scientist, Entrepreneur
In the blood of the martyrs to intolerance are the seeds of unbelief.
—Walter Lippmann (1889–1974) American Journalist, Political Commentator, Writer
If a thing is worth doing, it is worth doing badly.
—G. K. Chesterton (1874–1936) English Journalist, Novelist, Essayist, Poet
Well done is better than well said.
—Benjamin Franklin (1706–90) American Political Leader, Inventor, Diplomat
Now I know that when I am angry at my husband, I simply have to ask myself, “What am I not doing in my life that I could be doing that I am blaming him for not doing for me?”
—Susan Jeffers (1938–2012) American Psychologist, Self-Help Author
This work somehow awakened my dormant powers of will and I began to practice self-control. At first my resolutions faded like snow in April, but in a little while I conquered my weakness and felt a pleasure I never knew before — that of doing as I willed.
—Nikola Tesla (1856–1943) Serbian-American Electrical Engineer, Inventor
I think every person should be able to enjoy life. Try to decide what you most enjoy doing, and then look around to see if there is a job for which you could prepare yourself that would enable you to continue having this sort of joy.
—Linus Pauling (1901–94) American Scientist, Peace Activist
It takes less time to do a thing right, than it does to explain why you did it wrong.
—Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807–82) American Poet, Educator, Academic