People are all exactly alike. There’s no such thing as a race and barely such a thing as an ethnic group. If we were dogs, we’d be the same breed. George Bush and an Australian Aborigine have fewer differences than a Lhasa apso and a toy fox terrier. A Japanese raised in Riyadh would be an Arab. A Zulu raised in New Rochelle would be an orthodontist. People are all the same, though their circumstances differ terribly.
—P. J. O’Rourke (1947–2022) American Journalist, Political Satirist
The purpose of life is not to win. The purpose of life is to grow and to share. When you come to look back on all that you have done in life, you will get more satisfaction from the pleasure you have brought into other people’s lives that you will from the times that you outdid and defeated them.
—Harold Kushner (b.1935) American Jewish Religious Leader, Priest
You can have everything in life you want if you’ll just help enough other people get what they want.
—Zig Ziglar (1926–2012) American Author
Good humor is a tonic for mind and body. It is the best antidote for anxiety and depression. It is a business asset. It attracts and keeps friends. It lightens human burdens. It is the direct route to serenity and contentment.
—Grenville Kleiser (1868–1935) Canadian Author
The people who have achieved more than you, in any area, are only a half step ahead of you in time. Bless them and praise their gifts, and bless and praise your own. The world would be less rich without their contributions, and it would be less rich without yours. There’s more than room for everyone; in fact, there’s a need for everyone.
—Marianne Williamson (b.1952) American Activist, Author, Lecturer
Everyone is kneaded out of the same dough but not baked in the same oven.
—Yiddish Proverb
We have no higher life that is really apart from other people. It is by imagining them that our personality is built up; to be without the power of imagining them is to be a low-grade idiot.
—Charles Cooley (1864–1929) American Sociologist
Many people die with their music still in them. Why is this so? Too often it is because they are always getting ready to live. Before they know it, time runs out.
—Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. (1809–94) American Physician, Essayist
We cannot teach people anything; we can only help them discover it within themselves.
—Galileo Galilei (1564–1642) Italian Astronomer, Physicist, Mathematician
Men often treat others worse than they treat themselves, but they rarely treat anyone better. It is the height of folly to expect consideration and decency from a person who mistreats himself.
—Thomas Szasz (1920–2012) Hungarian-American Psychiatrist, Psychoanalyst
There is a secret psychology of money. Most people don’t know about it. That’s why most people never become financially successful. A lack of money is not the problem; it is merely a symptom of what’s going on inside of you.
—T. Harv Eker (b.1954) American Motivational Speaker, Lecturer, 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
Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.
—Margaret Mead (1901–78) American Anthropologist, Social Psychologist
Most people take the limits of their vision to be the limits of the world. A few do not. Join them.
—Arthur Schopenhauer (1788–1860) German Philosopher
People travel to wonder at the height of mountains, at the huge waves of the sea, at the long courses of rivers, at the vast compass of the ocean, at the circular motion of the stars; and they pass by themselves without wondering.
—Augustine of Hippo (354–430) Roman-African Christian Philosopher
Who is wise? He that learns from everyone. Who is powerful? He that governs his passions. Who is rich? He who is content. Who is that? Nobody.
—Benjamin Franklin (1706–90) American Political Leader, Inventor, Diplomat
I wonder if we are all wrong about each other, if we are just composing unwritten novels about the people we meet?
—Rebecca West (1892–1983) English Author, Journalist, Literary Critic
I don’t want an epitaph on my gravestone that says, ‘He would have pursued some big dreams in his life, but other people wouldn’t let him.
—Tom Peters (b.1942) American Management Consultant, Author
If all power is in the people, if there is no higher law than their will, and if by counting their votes, their will may be ascertained—then the people may entrust all their power to anyone, and the power of the pretender and the usurper is then legitimate. It is not to be challenged since it came originally from the sovereign people.
—Walter Lippmann (1889–1974) American Journalist, Political Commentator, Writer
There are only three types of people; those who have found God and serve him; those who have not found God and seek him, and those who live not seeking, or finding him. The first are rational and happy; the second unhappy and rational, and the third foolish and unhappy.
—Blaise Pascal (1623–62) French Mathematician, Physicist, Theologian
The only thing that could spoil a day was people. People were always the limiters of happiness except for the very few that were as good as spring itself.
—Ernest Hemingway (1899–1961) American Author, Journalist, Short Story Writer
If people knew how hard I had to work to gain my mastery, it wouldn’t seem so wonderful at all.
—Michelangelo (1475–1564) Italian Painter, Sculptor, Architect, Poet, Engineer
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
We hold the view that the people make the best judgment in the long run.
—John F. Kennedy (1917–63) American Head of State, Journalist
The one who count are those persons who-though they may be of little renown-respond to and are responsible for the continuation of the living spirit.
—Martin Buber (1878–1965) Austrian Jewish Theologian, Philosopher, Novelist
How would you feel if you had no fear? Feel like that. How would you behave toward other people if you realized their powerlessness to hurt you? Behave like that. How would your react to so-called misfortune if you saw its inability to bother you? React like that. How would you think toward yourself if you knew you were really all right? Think like that.
—Vernon Howard (1918–92) American Spiritual Teacher, Philosopher
Taking a new step, uttering a new word, is what people fear most.
—Fyodor Dostoyevsky (1821–81) Russian Novelist, Essayist, Writer
What is the most beautiful in virile men is something feminine; what is most beautiful in feminine women is something masculine.
—Susan Sontag (1933–2004) American Writer, Philosopher
There are two kinds of people in the world. Those who walk into a room and say, “There you are” and those who say, “Here I am.”
—Pauline Phillips (Abigail van Buren) (b.1918) American Columnist
The fishing is best where the fewest go, and the collective insecurity of the world makes it easy for people to hit home runs while everyone else is aiming for base hits. There is just less competition for bigger goals.
—Tim Ferriss (b.1977) American Self-help Author
I am convinced we do not only love ourselves in others but hate ourselves in others too.
—Georg Christoph Lichtenberg (1742–99) German Philosopher, Physicist
The man who follows the crowd will usually get no further than the crowd. The man who walks alone is likely to find himself in places no one has ever been.
—Alan Ashley-Pitt (Francis Phillip Wernig) American Writer, Aphorist
Life is ever giving of Itself. We must receive, utilize and extend the gift. Success and prosperity are spiritual attributes belonging to all people.
—Ernest Holmes (1887–1960) American New Thought Writer, Teacher
Things turn out best for the people who make the best out of the way things turn out.
—Art Linkletter (1912–2010) Canadian-born American Radio Personality, TV Personality
I absolutely believe that people, unless coached, never reach their maximum capabilities.
—Robert Nardelli (b.1948) American Business Executive
Rich people are committed to enough to do whatever it takes. Period.
—T. Harv Eker (b.1954) American Motivational Speaker, Lecturer, Author
No one has ever been able to control his thinking, although people may tell the story of how they have. I don’t let go of my thoughts?—I meet them with understanding. Then they let go of me.
—Byron Katie (b.1942) American Speaker, Author
A leader is best when people barely know he exists, not so good when people obey and acclaim him, worse when they despise him. But of a good leader who talks little when his work is done, his aim fulfilled, they will say: “we did it ourselves.”
—Laozi (fl.6th Century BCE) Chinese Philosopher, Sage
In general, of course, a stranger who tries to get you into an automobile is anything but noble, and in general a person who quotes great American novelists is anything but treacherous, and in general a man who says you needn’t worry about money, or a man who smokes cigarettes, is somewhere in between.
—Lemony Snicket (Daniel Handler) (b.1970) American Novelist
Rich people do not back away from problems, do not avoid problems, and do not complain about problems. Rich people are financial warriors.
—T. Harv Eker (b.1954) American Motivational Speaker, Lecturer, Author
Rich people are almost always excellent promoters. They can are willing to promote their products, their services, and their ideas with passion and enthusiasm.
—T. Harv Eker (b.1954) American Motivational Speaker, Lecturer, Author
There are people in the world so hungry, that God cannot appear to them except in the form of bread.
—Mohandas K. Gandhi (1869–1948) Indian Hindu Political leader
Part of your mission in life then must be to share your gifts with as many people as possible. That means being willing to play big.
—T. Harv Eker (b.1954) American Motivational Speaker, Lecturer, Author
If you once forfeit the confidence of your fellow citizens, you can never regain their respect and esteem. It is true that you may fool all of the people some of the time; you can even fool some of the people all of the time; but you can’t fool all of the people all of the time.
—Abraham Lincoln (1809–65) American Head of State
We are the people our parents warned us about.
—Unknown
Poor people choose now. Rich people choose balance.
—T. Harv Eker (b.1954) American Motivational Speaker, Lecturer, Author
If you treat people right they will treat you right—ninety percent of the time.
—Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882–1945) American Head of State, Lawyer
Choose to be in close proximity to people who are empowering, who appeal to your sense of connection to intention, who see the greatness in you, who feel connected to God, who live a life that gives evidence that Spirit has found celebration through them.
—Wayne Dyer (b.1940) American Motivational Writer, Author, Motivational Speaker
In influencing other people, what you do is not the only thing, it’s everything.
—Albert Schweitzer (1875–1965) French Theologian, Musician, Philosopher, Physician
The worst-tempered people I’ve ever met were people who knew they were wrong.
—Wilson Mizner (1876–1933) American Playwright, Entrepreneur