I do not believe great organizations have ever been built by trying to emulate another, any more than individual greatness is achieved by trying to copy another “great person”.
—Peter Senge (b.1947) American Management Consultant, Author, Scientist
Thinking is growth; we cannot think without growing.
—Wallace Wattles (1860–1911) American New Thought Author
Each of us in our own way can try to spread compassion into people’s hearts. Western civilizations these days place great importance on filling the human “brain” with knowledge, but no one seems to care about filling the human “heart” with compassion. This is what the real role of religion is.
—The 14th Dalai Lama (b.1935) Tibetan Buddhist Religious Leader, Civil Rights Leader, Philosopher, Author
Without faith it is impossible to please God, and without faith it is impossible for you to become great. The distinguishing characteristic of all really great men and women is an unwavering faith.
—Wallace Wattles (1860–1911) American New Thought Author
The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires.
—William Arthur Ward (1921–94) American Author
Great performers are, by definition, abnormal; they strive throughout their entire careers to separate themselves from the pack.
—John Eliot (b.1971) American Psychologist, Academic
I have no patience for those who say that poverty is a blessing. Poverty is the greatest curse on earth.
—Roger McDonald (b.1941) Australian Novelist, Poet, Screenwriter, Writer
Half a century ago, the Austrian psychiatrist Viktor Frankl wrote that happiness cannot be attained by wanting to be happy – it must come as the unintended consequence of working for a goal greater than oneself.
—Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (1934–2021) Hungarian-American Psychologist
The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.
—Mohandas K. Gandhi (1869–1948) Indian Hindu Political leader
Close your ears to all adverse suggestions. Never mind if people call you a fool and a dreamer. Dream on.
—Wallace Wattles (1860–1911) American New Thought Author
If you want to feel connected to your own purpose, know this for certain: Your purpose will only be found in service to others, and in being connected to the something far greater than your mind/body/ego.
—Wayne Dyer (1940–2015) American Self-Help Author
In reading the lives of great men, I found that the first victory they won was over themselves … self-discipline with all of them came first.
—Harry S. Truman (1884–1972) American Head of State
All the great performers I have worked with are fueled by a personal dream.
—John Eliot (b.1971) American Psychologist, Academic
A great man is always willing to be little.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
There is no greater valor nor no sterner fight. He who would be what he ought to be must stop being what he is.
—Meister Eckhart (c.1260–1327) German Christian Mystic
As used in economics the term “capital” would be defined as follows: Capital refers to resources withheld from immediate consumption in the expectation of greater future returns. However controversial a topic this has been, capital has been the main—if not the only—way of achieving progress, even in violently anticapitalist, socialist countries. A dam, a hospital, a university, a cathedral, or a national park cannot be built without using up resources that would be easier to consume immediately, and none of them would be built at all unless they were believed to provide some greater returns in the future.
—Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (1934–2021) Hungarian-American Psychologist
The way you talk about yourself and your life—your story—has a great deal to do with what shows up in your day-to-day experience. Your thoughts create filters through which you view your life. If you think of yourself as a Victim, you filter all that happens to you through the lens of DDT, and you find plenty of evidence to support that viewpoint. That’s why the orientation you adopt is so important: it exerts a powerful influence on your life direction.
—David Emerald
Fix upon your ideal of what you wish to make of yourself.
—Wallace Wattles (1860–1911) American New Thought Author
You must cease from looking at human mistakes and look at successes; cease from seeing faults and see virtues.
—Wallace Wattles (1860–1911) American New Thought Author
My great concern is not whether you have failed, but whether you are content with your failure.
—Abraham Lincoln (1809–65) American Head of State
Great men are they who see that spiritual is stronger than any material force, that thoughts rule the world.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
I am an old man and have known a great many troubles, but most of them never happened.
—Mark Twain (1835–1910) American Humorist
If love is great, and there are no greater things, then what I feel for you must be the greatest.
—Unknown
Nothing great in this world has been accomplished without passion.
—Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770–1831) German Philosopher
Great performers in all fields seem immune to what outsiders think about them. Their sense of themselves never depends on the feedback—positive or negative—they get from the environment.
—John Eliot (b.1971) American Psychologist, Academic
The prophets and seers and great men and women, past and present, were made great by what they perceived from God, not by what they were taught by men.
—Wallace Wattles (1860–1911) American New Thought Author
The way you create any outcome in your life is to hold the vision of your deepest desires. At the same time, though, you must honestly and accurately assess your current situation and how it relates to your greater vision. By doing this, you engage tension between what is and what can be. This tension is the primary creative force behind the manifestation of any outcome. It’s as natural and powerful as the force of gravity.
—David Emerald
All great achievements require time.
—David J. Schwartz (1927–87) American Self-help Author
The greatest stock market you can invest in is yourself. Finding this truth is better than finding a gold mine.
—Byron Katie (b.1942) American Speaker, Author
There is not the least cause for worry about financial affairs; every person who wills to do so may rise above want, have all he needs, and become rich.
—Wallace Wattles (1860–1911) American New Thought Author
Because all things are necessary to man’s complete unfoldment, all things in human life are the work of God.
—Wallace Wattles (1860–1911) American New Thought Author
In truth, the only difference between those who have failed and those who have succeeded lies in the difference of their habits. Good habits are the key to all success. Bad habits are the unlocked door to failure. Thus, the first law I will obey, which precedes all others, is—“I will form good habits and become their slaves.”
—Og Mandino (1923–96) American Self-Help Author
I write because it gives me the greatest possible artistic pleasure to write. If my work pleases the few I am gratified. As for the mob, I have no desire to be a popular novelist. It is far too easy.
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish Poet, Playwright
Do every common act as a god should do it; speak every word as a god should speak it.
—Wallace Wattles (1860–1911) American New Thought Author
Wisdom is the essential basis of greatness.
—Wallace Wattles (1860–1911) American New Thought Author
If you desire a thing, picture it clearly and hold the picture steadily in mid until it becomes a definite thought-form.
—Wallace Wattles (1860–1911) American New Thought Author
Why do they always teach us that it’s easy and evil to do what we want and that we need discipline to restrain ourselves? It’s the hardest thing in the world—to do what we want. And it takes the greatest kind of courage. I mean, what we really want.
—Ayn Rand (1905–82) Russian-born American Novelist, Philosopher
Obey your soul, have perfect faith in yourself. Never think of yourself with doubt or distrust, or as one who makes mistakes.
—Wallace Wattles (1860–1911) American New Thought Author
Great performers require a measure of confidence that would strike many as absurd, unfounded, and downright irrational. They believe in themselves utterly, without question, even when everyone else is questioning how good (or sane) they are.
—John Eliot (b.1971) American Psychologist, Academic
The characteristic of genuine heroism is its persistency. All men have wandering impulses, fits and starts of generosity. But when you have resolved to be great, abide by yourself, and do not weakly try to reconcile yourself with the world. The heroic cannot be the common, nor the common the heroic.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
Thinking is the hardest and most exhausting of all labor; and hence many people shrink from it.
—Wallace Wattles (1860–1911) American New Thought Author
Do not talk about your greatness; you are really, in essential nature, no great than those around you.
—Wallace Wattles (1860–1911) American New Thought Author
I would step in the way of a bullet if it were aimed at my husband. It is not self-sacrifice to die protecting that which you value: If the value is great enough, you do not care to exist without it.
—Ayn Rand (1905–82) Russian-born American Novelist, Philosopher
When you see yourself connected to something bigger than yourself, you no longer feel you must do it all alone. Your sense of power becomes highly magnified, and your fears are greatly diminished.
—Susan Jeffers (1938–2012) American Psychologist, Self-Help Author
It is easier to forgive an enemy than a friend.
—Dorothee Luzy Dotinville (1747–1830) French Dancer, Actress
After climbing a great hill, one finds that there are many more hills to climb. I have taken a moment here to rest, to steal a view of the glorious vista that surrounds me, to look back on the distance I have come. But I can only rest for a moment, for with freedom comes responsibilities, and I dare not linger, for my long walk has not yet ended.
—Nelson Mandela (1918–2013) South African Political leader
Faith—not a faith in one’s self or in one’s own powers but faith in principle; in the Something Great which upholds right, and which may be relied upon to give us the victory in due time. Without this faith it is not possible for any one to rise to real greatness.
—Wallace Wattles (1860–1911) American New Thought Author
As the great Confucius said, “The one who would be in constant happiness must frequently change”. Flow. But we keep looking back, don’t we? We cling to things in the past and cling to things in the present…Do you want to enjoy a symphony? Don’t hold on to a few bars of the music. Don’t hold on to a couple of notes. Let them pass, let them flow. The whole enjoyment of a symphony lies in your readiness to allow the notes to pass…
—Anthony de Mello (1931–87) Indian-born American Theologian
Hurry is a manifestation of fear; he who fears not has plenty of time. If you at with perfect faith in your own perceptions of truth, you will never be too late or too early; and nothing will go wrong.
—Wallace Wattles (1860–1911) American New Thought Author
The great aim of education is not knowledge, but action.
—Herbert Spencer (1820–1903) English Polymath, Philosopher, Sociologist, Political Theorist