If you are possessed by an idea, you find it expressed everywhere, you even smell it.
—Thomas Mann (1875–1955) German Novelist, Short Story Writer, Social Critic, Philanthropist, Essayist
Those see nothing but faults that seek for nothing else.
—Thomas Fuller (1608–61) English Cleric, Historian
The greatest discovery of our generation is that human beings can alter their lives by altering their attitudes of mind. As you think, so shall you be.
—William James (1842–1910) American Philosopher, Psychologist, Physician
A man is a method, a progressive arrangement; a selecting principle, gathering his like unto him wherever he goes. What you are comes to you.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
If you keep on saying things are going to be bad, you have a good chance of being a prophet.
—Isaac Bashevis Singer (1902–91) Polish-born American Children’s Books Writer, Novelist, Short Story Writer
We create our fate every day … most of the ills we suffer from are directly traceable to our own behavior.
—Henry Miller (1891–1980) American Novelist
To expect defeat is nine-tenths of defeat itself.
—Francis Marion Crawford (1854–1909) Italian-born American Novelist, Writer
Every person in the world may not become a personage. But every person may become a personality. The happiest people are those who think the most interesting thoughts. Interesting thoughts can live only in cultivated minds. Those who decide to use leisure as a means of mental development, who love good music, good books, good pictures, good plays at the theater, good company, good conversation-what are they? They are the happiest people in the world; and they are not only happy in themselves, they are the cause of happiness in others.
—William Lyon Phelps (1865–1943) American Author, Critic, Scholar
As you think, you travel, and as you love, you attract. You are today where your thoughts have brought you; you will be tomorrow where your thoughts take you.
—James Lane Allen (1849–1925) American Novelist, Short Story Writer
Our best friends and our worst enemies are our thoughts. A thought can do us more good than a doctor or a banker or a faithful friend. It can also do us more harm than a brick.
—Frank Hall Crane (1873–1948) American Stage and Film Actor, Director
They can, because they think they can.
—Virgil (70–19 BCE) Roman Poet
Clear your mind of ‘can’t”.
—Samuel Johnson (1709–84) British Essayist
Man—being made reasonable, and so a thinking creature, there is nothing more worthy of his being than the right direction and employment of his thoughts, since upon this depends both his usefulness to the public and his own present and future benefit in all respects.
—William Penn (1644–1718) American Entrepreneur, Political leader, Philosopher
Act so as to elicit the best in others and thereby in thyself.
—Felix Adler (1851–1933) German-Born American Philosopher
What all men are really after is some form, or perhaps only some formula, of peace.
—Joseph Conrad (1857–1924) Polish-born British Novelist
All that we are is the result of what we have thought: it is founded on our thoughts, it is made up of our thoughts. If a man speaks or acts with a pure thought, happiness follows him, like a shadow that never leaves him.
—The Dhammapada Buddhist Anthology of Verses
No person is either so happy or so unhappy as he imagines.
—Francois de La Rochefoucauld (1613–80) French Writer
People only see what they are prepared to see.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
If you would be loved, love and be lovable.
—Benjamin Franklin (1706–90) American Political Leader, Inventor, Diplomat
As is our confidence, so is our capacity.
—William Hazlitt (1778–1830) English Essayist
If one should give me a dish of sand, and tell me there were particles of iron in it, I might look for them with my eyes, and search for them with my clumsy fingers, and be unable to detect them; but let me take a magnet and sweep through it; and how would it draw to itself the almost invisible particles by the mere power of attraction! The unthinkful heart, like my finger in the sand, discovers no mercies; but let the thankful heart sweep through the day, and as the magnet finds the iron, so it will find, in every hour, some heavenly blessings.
—Henry Ward Beecher (1813–87) American Clergyman, Writer
The more wary you are of danger, the more likely you are to meet it.
—Jean de La Fontaine (1621–95) French Poet, Short Story Writer
A man is literally what he thinks.
—James Lane Allen (1849–1925) American Novelist, Short Story Writer
I have learned to use the word impossible with the greatest caution.
—Wernher von Braun (1912–77) German-born American Engineer, Scientist
Immense power is acquired by assuring yourself in your secret reveries that you were born to control affairs.
—Andrew Carnegie (1835–1919) Scottish-American Industrialist
I am dying, but otherwise quite well.
—Edith Sitwell (1887–1964) British Poet, Literary Critic
Since the human body tends to move in the direction of its expectations—plus or minus—it is important to know that attitudes of confidence and determination are no less a part of the treatment program than medical science and technology.
—Norman Cousins (1915–90) American Journalist, Author, Academic, Activist
Getting people to like you is merely the other side of liking them.
—Norman Vincent Peale (1898–1993) American Clergyman, Self-Help Author
Life is a mirror and will reflect back to the thinker what he thinks into it.
—Ernest Holmes (1887–1960) American New Thought Writer, Teacher
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
What you think means more than anything else in your life.
—George Matthew Adams (1878–1962) American Columnist, Journalist
The man who works need never be a problem to anyone. Opportunities multiply as they are seized; they die when neglected. Life is a long line of opportunities. Wealth is not in making money, but in making the man while he is making money. Production, not destruction, leads to success.
—John Wicker
The only way to make a man trustworthy is to trust him.
—Henry L. Stimson (1867–1950) American Political leader, Military Leader, Lawyer
I cannot discover that anyone knows enough to say definitely what is and what is not possible.
—Henry Ford (1863–1947) American Businessperson, Engineer
Friendship: Never explain—your friends do not need it, and your enemies will not believe it anyway. A real friend never gets in your way, unless you happen to be on the way down. A friend is someone you can do nothing with and enjoy it. However much we guard ourselves against it, we tend to shape ourselves in the image others have of us. It is not so much the example of others we imitate, as the reflection of ourselves in their eyes and the echo of ourselves in their words.
—Eric Hoffer (1902–83) American Philosopher, Author
Hope is like a road in the country; there was never a road, but when many people walk on it, the road comes into existence.
—Lu Xun (1881–1936) Chinese Writer
Failure is impossible.
—Susan B. Anthony (1820–1906) American Civil Rights Leader
Change your thoughts and you change your world.
—Norman Vincent Peale (1898–1993) American Clergyman, Self-Help Author
Misfortunes occur only when a man is false… Events, circumstances, etc., have their origin in ourselves. They spring from seeds which we have sown.
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–62) American Philosopher
A man’s as miserable as he thinks he is.
—Seneca the Younger (Lucius Annaeus Seneca) (c.4 BCE–65 CE) Roman Stoic Philosopher, Statesman, Tragedian
He was a ‘how’ thinker, not an ‘if’ thinker.
—Unknown
A happy life consists in tranquility of mind.
—Cicero (106BCE–43BCE) Roman Philosopher, Orator, Politician, Lawyer
Wait not to honor the physician till thou fallest sick.
—The Talmud Sacred Text of the Jewish Faith
No man can think clearly when his fists are clenched.
—George Jean Nathan (1882–1958) American Drama Critic, Editor
A man is what he thinks about all day long.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
There are in life as many aspects as attitudes towards it; and aspects change with attitudes… Could we change our attitude, we should not only see life differently, but life itself would come to be different. Life would undergo a change of appearance because we ourselves had undergone a change in attitude.
—Katherine Mansfield (1888–1923) New Zealand-born British Author
Thoughts lead on to purpose, purpose leads onto actions, actions form habits, habits decide character, and character fixes our destiny.
—Tryon Edwards American Theologian
We exaggerate misfortune and happiness alike. We are never either so wretched or so happy as we say we are.
—Honore de Balzac (1799–1850) French Novelist
Persistent prophecy is a familiar way of assuring the event.
—George Gissing (1857–1903) English Novelist
He is happy that knoweth not himself to be otherwise.
—Thomas Fuller (1608–61) English Cleric, Historian