We all have possibilities we don’t know about. We can do things we don’t even dream we can do.
—Dale Carnegie (1888–1955) American Self-Help Author
It is wise to keep in mind that no success or failure is necessarily final.
—Unknown
As you start to see the possibilities in the impossible, you will begin to see that the world works “perfectly”. You can find reason and purpose in everything—if you open your mind to it.
—Susan Jeffers (1938–2012) American Psychologist, Self-Help Author
You can have it all. You just can’t have it all at once.
—Oprah Winfrey (b.1954) American TV Personality
Today Americans are overcome not by the sense of endless possibility but by the banality of the social order they have erected against it.
—Christopher Lasch (1932–94) American Historian, Moralist, Social Critic
Of course we all have our limits, but how can you possibly find your boundaries unless you explore as far and as wide as you possibly can? I would rather fail in an attempt at something new and uncharted than safely succeed in a repeat of something I have done.
—A. E. Hotchner (1917–2020) American Author, Playwright
Everyone knows on any given day that there are energies slumbering in him which the incitements of that day do not call fourth. … Compared with what we ought to be, we are only half awake. Our fires are damped, our drafts are checked. We are making use of only a small part of our possible mental and physical resources. … Stating the thing broadly, the human individual thus lives fare within his limits he possesses powers of various sorts he habitually fails to use.
—William James (1842–1910) American Philosopher, Psychologist, Physician
I realized that if what we call human nature can be changed, then absolutely anything is possible. And from that moment, my life changed.
—Shirley MacLaine (b.1934) American Actor, Dancer, Author, Activist
Everything is theoretically impossible, until it is done. One could write a history of science in reverse by assembling the solemn pronouncements of highest authority about what could not be done and could never happen.
—Robert A. Heinlein (1907–88) American Science Fiction Writer
There is no such thing as no chance.
—Malcolm S. Forbes (1919–1990) American Publisher, Businessperson
Perhaps nobody ever accomplishes all that he feels lies in him to do but nearly every one who tries his power touches the walls of his being occasionally, and learns about how far to attempt to spring.
—Charles Dudley Warner (1829–1900) American Essayist, Novelist
Our sun is one of 100 billion stars in our galaxy. Our galaxy is one of the billions of galaxies populating the universe. It would be the height of presumption to think that we are the only living things within that enormous immensity.
—Wernher von Braun (1912–77) German-born American Engineer, Scientist
Two people can do anything as long as one of them is the Lord.
—Indian Proverb
If your mind is empty, it is always ready for anything; it is open to everything. In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities; in the expert’s mind there are few.
—Shunryu Suzuki (1904–71) Zen Buddhist Monk, Author
Alleged “impossibilities” are opportunities for our capacities to be stretched.
—Chuck Swindoll (b.1934) American Evangelical Christian Pastor, Author
There are no limits to your possibilities! Your successes will multiply and increase in proportion to your mastery of the law.
—Roger McDonald (b.1941) Australian Novelist, Poet, Screenwriter, Writer
It’s kind of fun to do the impossible.
—Walt Disney (1901–66) American Entrepreneur
Deep within man dwell those slumbering powers; powers that would astonish him, that he never dreamed of possessing; forces that would revolutionize his life if aroused and put into action.
—Orison Swett Marden (1850–1924) American New Thought Writer, Physician, Entrepreneur
The young do not know enough to be prudent, and therefore they attempt the impossible—and achieve it, generation after generation.
—Pearl S. Buck (1892–1973) American Novelist, Human Rights Activist
Anything that has been accomplished by any other human being in the physical realm is within the field of possibility.
—Wayne Dyer (1940–2015) American Self-Help Author
Alice laughed. “There’s no use trying,” she said. “One can’t believe impossible things.” “I daresay you haven’t had much practice,” said the Queen. “When I was your age, I always did it half an hour a day. Why, sometimes, I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.”
—Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (Lewis Carroll) (1832–98) British Anglican Author, Mathematician, Clergyman, Photographer, Logician
The barriers are not erected which can say to aspiring talents and industry, “Thus far and no farther.”
—Ludwig van Beethoven (1770–1827) German Composer, Musician
The purpose of life for man is growth, just as the purpose of life for trees and plants is growth. Trees and plants grow automatically and along fixed lines; man can grow as he will. Trees and plants can only develop certain possibilities and characteristics; man can develop any power which is or has been shown by any person anywhere. Nothing that is possible in spirit is impossible in flesh and blood. Nothing that man can think is impossible. Nothing that man can imagine is impossible of realization.
—Wallace Wattles (1860–1911) American New Thought Author
Our thoughts and imagination are the only real limits to our possibilities.
—Orison Swett Marden (1850–1924) American New Thought Writer, Physician, Entrepreneur
The power which resides in him is new in nature, and none but he knows what that is which he can do, nor does he know until he has tried.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
Become a possibilitarian. No matter how dark things seem to be or actually are, raise your sights and see the possibilities—always see them, for they’re always there.
—Norman Vincent Peale (1898–1993) American Clergyman, Self-Help Author
Nothing is impossible; there are ways that lead to everything, and if we had sufficient will we should always have sufficient means. It is often merely for an excuse that we say things are impossible.
—Francois de La Rochefoucauld (1613–80) French Writer
Argue for your limitations, and sure enough, they’re yours.
—Richard Bach (b.1936) American Novelist, Aviator
You never know what you can do until you try.
—Unknown
Sometimes I think we’re alone in the universe, and sometimes I think we’re not. In either case the idea is quite staggering
—Abraham Maslow (1908–70) American Psychologist, Academic, Humanist