It’s simpler and easier to flatter people than to praise them.
—Jean Paul (1763–1825) German Novelist, Humorist
How do I change?
If I feel depressed I will sing.
If I feel sad I will laugh.
If I feel ill I will double my labour.
If I feel fear I will plunge ahead.
If I feel inferior I will wear new garments.
If I feel uncertain I will raise my voice.
If I feel poverty I will think of wealth to come.
If I feel incompetent I will think of past success.
If I feel insignificant I will remember my goals.
Today I will be the master of my emotions.
—Og Mandino (1923–96) American Self-Help Author
Don’t spur a willing horse.
—Common Proverb
Nobody motivates today’s workers. If it doesn’t come from within, it doesn’t come. Fun helps remove the barriers that allow people to motivate themselves.
—Herman Cain (1945–2020) American Businessman
People often say motivation doesn’t last. Neither does bathing—that’s why we recommend it daily.
—Zig Ziglar (1926–2012) American Author
Aerodynamically, the bumblebee shouldn’t be able to fly, but the bumblebee doesn’t know that; so it goes on flying anyway.
—Mary Kay Ash (1918–2001) American Entrepreneur, Businessperson
Next to excellence, comes the appreciation of it.
—William Makepeace Thackeray (1811–63) English Novelist
Five minutes of today are worth as much to me, as five minutes in the next millennium.
Let us be poised, and wise, and our own, today.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, I have lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along.” … You must do the thing you think you cannot do.”
—Eleanor Roosevelt (1884–1962) American First Lady, Diplomat, Humanitarian
Our lives are not determined by what happens to us but by how we react to what happens, not by what life brings to us, but by the attitude we bring to life. A positive attitude causes a chain reaction of positive thoughts, events, and outcomes. It is a catalyst, a spark that creates extraordinary results.
—Anonymous
I want you to be everything that’s you, deep at the center of your being.
—Confucius (551–479 BCE) Chinese Philosopher
All your life you are told the things you cannot do. All your life they will say you’re not good enough or strong enough or talented enough; they will say you’re the wrong height or the wrong weight or the wrong type to play this or be this or achieve this. THEY WILL TELL YOU NO, a thousand times no, until all the no’s become meaningless. All your life they will tell you no, quite firmly and very quickly.
AND YOU WILL TELL THEM YES.
—Anonymous
You cannot raise a man up by calling him down.
—William J. H. Boetcker (1873–1962) American Presbyterian Minister
Men who for truth and honor’s sake
Stand fast and suffer long.
Brave men who work while others sleep,
Who dare while others fly…
They build a nation’s pillars deep
And lift them to the sky.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
I will act now. I will act now. I will act now. Henceforth, I will repeat these words each hour, each day, everyday, until the words become as much a habit as my breathing, and the action which follows becomes as instinctive as the blinking of my eyelids. With these words I can condition my mind to perform every action necessary for my success. I will act now. I will repeat these words again and again and again. I will walk where failures fear to walk. I will work when failures seek rest. I will act now for now is all I have. Tomorrow is the day reserved for the labor of the lazy. I am not lazy. Tomorrow is the day when the failure will succeed. I am not a failure. I will act now. Success will not wait. If I delay, success will become wed to another and lost to me forever. This is the time. This is the place. I am the person.
—Og Mandino (1923–96) American Self-Help Author
The world is not respectable; it is mortal, tormented, confused, deluded forever; but it is shot through with beauty, with love, with glints of courage and laughter; and in these, the spirit blooms timidly, and struggles to the light amid the thorns.
—George Santayana (1863–1952) Spanish-American Poet, Philosopher
Am I motivated by what I really want out of life—or am I mass-motivated?
—Earl Nightingale (1921–89) American Motivational Speaker, Author
Instruction does much, but encouragement does everything.
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) German Poet
There is only one way… to get anybody to do anything. And that is by making the other person want to do it.
—Dale Carnegie (1888–1955) American Self-Help Author
The best morale exists when you never hear the word mentioned. When you hear a lot of talk about it, it’s usually lousy.
—Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890–1969) American Head of State, Military Leader
I’ve always felt that a manager has achieved a great deal when he’s able to motivate one other person. When it comes to making the place run, motivation is everything. You might be able to do the work of two people, but you can’t be two people. Instead, you have to inspire the next guy down the line and get him to inspire his people.
—Lee Iacocca (1924–2019) American Businessperson
If you do not wish a man to do a thing, you had better get him to talk about it; for the more men talk, the more likely they are to do nothing else.
—Thomas Carlyle (1795–1881) Scottish Historian, Essayist
It’s not my job to motivate players. They bring extraordinary motivation to our program. It’s my job not to de-motivate them.
—Lou Holtz (1893–1980) American Stage Performer
Comfort the afflicted, and afflict the comfortable.
—Finley Peter Dunne (1867–1936) American Author, Writer, Humorist
You must rouse into people’s consciousness their own prudence and strength, if you want to raise their character.
—Luc de Clapiers, marquis de Vauvenargues (1715–47) French Moralist, Essayist, Writer
What comes from the heart, goes to the heart.
—Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772–1834) English Poet, Literary Critic, Philosopher
We would frequently be ashamed of our good deeds if people saw all of the motives that produced them.
—Francois de La Rochefoucauld (1613–80) French Writer
One of the reasons it has seemed so difficult for a person to change his habits, his personality, or his way of life, has been that heretofore nearly all efforts at change have been directed to the circumference of the self, so to speak, rather than to the center.
—Maxwell Maltz (1899–1975) American Surgeon, Motivational Writer
I set myself on fire and people come to watch me burn.
—John Wesley (1703–91) British Methodist Religious Leader, Preacher, Theologian
It is not the horse that draws the cart, but the oats.
—Russian Proverb
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