Whatever you can do, or dream you can do, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it.
—William Hutchinson Murray (1913–96) Scottish Mountaineer
The greatest achievement was at first and for a time a dream. The oak sleeps in the acorn, the bird waits in the egg, and in the highest vision of the soul a waking angel stirs. Dreams are the seedlings of realities.
—James Lane Allen (1849–1925) American Novelist, Short Story Writer
If your actions create a legacy that inspires others to dream more, learn more, do more, and become more, than you are an excellent leader.
—Dolly Parton (b.1946) American Musician, Actress
The problems of the world cannot possibly be solved by skeptics or cynics whose horizons are limited by the obvious realities. We need men who can dream of things that never were and ask why not?”.”
—John F. Kennedy (1917–63) American Head of State, Journalist
Our desires presage the capacities within us; they are harbingers of what we shall be able to accomplish. What we can do and want to do is projected in our imagination, quite outside ourselves, and into the future. We are attracted to what is already ours in secret. Thus passionate anticipation transforms what is indeed possible into dreamt-for reality.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
All the great performers I have worked with are fueled by a personal dream.
—John Eliot (b.1971) American Psychologist, Academic
In the end, the overriding factor in whether or not you realize your dreams is going to be you. Not the world. YOU.
—Russell Simmons (b.1957) American Music Promoter
To realize your true nature, you must wait for the right moment and the right conditions. When the time comes, you are awakened as if from a dream. You understand that what you have found is your own and doesn’t come from anywhere outside.
—Buddhist Teaching
For all their bitching about what’s holding them back, most people have a lot of trouble coming up with the defined dreams they’re being held from.
—Tim Ferriss (b.1977) American Self-help Author
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 (b.1939) American Businessman
Overachievement is aimed at people who want to maximize their potential. And to do that, I insist you throw caution to the wind, ignore the pleas of parents, coaches, spouses, and bosses to be “realistic”. Realistic people do not accomplish extraordinary things because the odds against success stymie them. The best performers ignore the odds. I will show you that instead of limiting themselves to what’s probable, the best will pursue the heart-pounding, exciting, really big, difference-making dreams—so long as catching them might be possible.
—John Eliot (b.1971) American Psychologist, Academic
A dream is a wish that our heart makes.
—Unknown
When everyone dreams but only a few realize their dreams, that makes cowards of us all.
—Paulo Coelho (b.1947) Brazilian Songwriter, Novelist
I’m not a big believer in long-term planning and far-off goals. In fact, I generally set 3-month and 6-month dreamlines. The variables change too much and in-the-future distance becomes an excuse for postponing action.
—Tim Ferriss (b.1977) American Self-help Author
When you’re operating on uninvestigated theories of what’s going on and you aren’t even aware of it, you’re in what I call “the dream”. Often the dream becomes troubling; sometimes it even turns into a nightmare. At times like these, you may want to test the truth of your theories by doing The Work on them. The Work always leaves you with less of your uncomfortable story. Who would you be without it? How much of your world is made up of unexamined stories? You’ll never know until you inquire.
—Byron Katie (b.1942) American Speaker, Author
There is only one thing that makes a dream impossible to achieve: the fear of failure.
—Paulo Coelho (b.1947) Brazilian Songwriter, Novelist
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 Playwright
Good thoughts are no better than good dreams, unless they be executed!
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
Always you have been told that work is a curse and labour a misfortune. But I say to you that when you work you fulfil a part of earth’s furthest dream, assigned to you when that dream was born, And in keeping yourself with labour you are in truth loving life, And to love life through labor is to be intimate with life’s inmost secret.
—Kahlil Gibran (1883–1931) Lebanese-born American Philosopher, Poet, Painter, Theologian, Sculptor
He who cherishes a beautiful vision, a lofty ideal in his heart, will one day realize it. Dream lofty dreams, and as you dream, so shall you become. Your Vision is the promise of what you shall one day be; your Ideal is the prophecy of what you shall at last unveil.
—James Allen (1864–1912) British Philosophical Writer
I dream my painting and paint my dream.
—Vincent van Gogh (1853–90) Dutch Painter
We all have the ability…we just don’t all have the courage to follow our dreams and to follow the signs.
—Paulo Coelho (b.1947) Brazilian Songwriter, Novelist
Cherish your visions and your dreams as they are the children of your soul, the blueprints of your ultimate achievements.
—Napoleon Hill (1883–1970) American Author, Journalist, Attorney, Lecturer
Most people never run far enough on their first wind to find out 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 (1842–1910) American Philosopher, Psychologist, Physician
You control your future, your destiny. What you think about comes about. By recording your dreams and goals on paper, you set in motion the process of becoming the person you most want to be. Put your future in good hands: your own.
—Mark Victor Hansen (b.1948) American Public Speaker, Motivational Speaker, Writer
All of us have failed to reach our dream of perfection, so I rate us on the basis of our splendid failure to do the impossible.
—William Faulkner (1897–1962) American Novelist
I slept and I dreamed that life is all joy, I woke and I saw that life is all service. I served and I saw that service is joy.
—Rabindranath Tagore (1861–1941) Bengali Poet, Polymath
The dreamers are the saviors of the world.
—James Allen (1864–1912) British Philosophical Writer
The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.
—Eleanor Roosevelt (1884–1962) American First Lady, Diplomat, Humanitarian
Reality can destroy the dream; why shouldn’t the dream destroy reality?
—George Moore (1852–1933) Irish Writer