The value of the goal lies in the goal itself; and therefore the goal cannot be attained unless it is pursued for its own sake.
—Arnold J. Toynbee (1889–1975) British Historian
A salesman must also have flexible goals. You may say, I want to sell 10 accounts this week, and you sell five. You’re ready to die. But, you tell yourself, Five isn’t too bad. You know, next week maybe I’ll sell 10.
—Curtis L. Carlson (1914–99) American Businessman
Do. Or do not. There is no try.
—Yoda Character In ‘Star Wars’
Those who cannot tell what they desire or expect, still sigh and struggle with indefinite thoughts and vast wishes.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
A goal is created three times. First as a mental picture. Second, when written down to add clarity and dimension. And third, when you take action towards its achievement.
—Gary Ryan Blair
If we could first know where we are, and whither we are tending, we could then better judge what to do, and how to do it.
—Abraham Lincoln (1809–65) American Head of State
The only true happiness comes from squandering ourselves for a purpose.
—John Mason Brown (1900–69) American Author, Drama Critic
To put away aimlessness and weakness, and to begin to think with purpose, is to enter the ranks of those strong ones who only recognize failure as one of the pathways to attainment; who make all conditions serve them, and who think strongly, attempt fearlessly, and accomplish masterfully.
—James Lane Allen (1849–1925) American Novelist, Short Story Writer
You must know for which harbor you are headed if you are to catch the right wind to take you there.
—Seneca the Younger (Lucius Annaeus Seneca) (c.4 BCE–65 CE) Roman Stoic Philosopher, Statesman, Tragedian
Your automatic creative mechanism is teleological. That is, it operates in terms of goals and end results. Once you give it a definite goal to achieve, you can depend upon its automatic guidance system to take you to that goal much better than “you” ever could by conscious thought. “You” supply the goal by thinking in terms of end results. Your automatic mechanism then supplies the means whereby.
—Maxwell Maltz (1899–1975) American Surgeon, Motivational Writer
He who wants to do everything will never do anything.
—Andre Maurois (1885–1967) French Novelist, Biographer
The American people can have anything they want; the trouble is they don’t know what they want.
—Eugene V. Debs (1855–1926) American Socialist, Union Leader
Whatever you do, do it with intelligence, and keep the end in view.
—Thomas a Kempis (1379–1471) German Religious Priest, Writer
In the long run men hit only what they aim at. Therefore, though they should fall immediately, they had better aim at something high.
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–62) American Philosopher
As plants take hold, not for the sake of staying, but only that they may climb higher, so it is with men. By every part of our nature we clasp things above us, one after another, not for the sake of remaining where we take hold, but that we may go higher.
—Henry Ward Beecher (1813–87) American Clergyman, Writer
There are people who want to be everywhere at once, and they get nowhere.
—Carl Sandburg (1878–1967) American Biographer, Novelist, Socialist
He might never really do what he said, but at least he had it in mind. He had somewhere to go.
—Louis L’Amour (1908–88) American Novelist, Short-story Writer
You must be the kind of man who can get things done. But to get things done, you must love the doing, not the secondary consequences.
—Ayn Rand (1905–82) Russian-born American Novelist, Philosopher
Aim at perfection in everything, though in most things it is unattainable; however, they who aim at it, and persevere, will come much nearer to it, than those whose laziness and despondency make them give it up as unattainable.
—Earl of Chesterfield (1694–1773) English Statesman, Man of Letters
One never goes further than when they do not know where they are going.
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) German Poet
Reach high, for stars lie hidden in your soul. Dream deep, for every dream precedes the goal.
—Ralph Vaull Starr
Do not let the future be held hostage by the past.
—Neal A. Maxwell (1926–2004) American Mormon Religious Leader
We all live with the objective of being happy; our lives are all different and yet the same.
—Anne Frank (1929–45) Holocaust Victim
When you catch what you’re after, it’s gone.
—Malcolm S. Forbes (1919–1990) American Publisher, Businessperson
The object of war is to survive it.
—John Irving (b.1942) American Novelist, Short-story Writer
The highest principles for our aspirations and judgements are given to us in the Jewish-Christian religious tradition. It is a very high goal which, with our weak powers, we can reach only very inadequately, but which gives a sure foundation to our aspirations and valuations.
—Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born Physicist
He who moves not forward goes backward.
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) German Poet
My father used to play with my brother and me in the yard. Mother would come out and say, “You’re tearing up the grass.” “We’re not raising grass,” my dad would reply, “we’re raising boys.”
—Harmon Killebrew (1936–2011) American Baseball Player
Firmness of purpose is one of the most necessary sinews of character, and one of the best instruments of success. Without it genius wastes its efforts in a maze of inconsistencies.
—Earl of Chesterfield (1694–1773) English Statesman, Man of Letters
People are not lazy. They simply have impotent goals—that is, goals that do not inspire them.
—Tony Robbins (b.1960) American Self-Help Author, Entrepreneur