If I think that someone else is causing my problem, I’m insane.
—Byron Katie (b.1942) American Speaker, Author
A state of expectancy is a great assetl; a state of uncertainty—one moment thinking “perhaps” and the next moment thinking “I don’t know”—will never get desired results.
—Ernest Holmes (1887–1960) American New Thought Writer, Teacher
Sooner or later, those who win are those who think they can.
—Richard Bach (b.1936) American Novelist, Aviator
Short, sweet, and to the point. Clear writing, and therefore clear commands, comes from clear thinking. Think simple.
—Tim Ferriss (b.1977) American Self-help Author
Every moment of our lives we are either growing or dying—and it’s largely a choice, not fate. Throughout its life cycle, every one of the body’s trillions of cells is driven to grow and improve its ability to use more of its innate yet untapped capacity. Research biologist Albert Szent-Gyorgyi, who was twice awarded the Nobel Prize, called this syntropy, which he defined as the “innate drive in living matter to perfect itself”. It turns conventional thinking upside down…As living cells—or as people—there is no staying the same. If we aim for some middle ground or status quo, it’s an illusion—beneath the surface what’s actually happening is we’re dying, not growing. And the goal of a lifetime is continued growth, not adulthood. As Rene Dubos put it, “Genius is childhood recaptured”. For this to happen, studies show that we must recapture—or prevent the loss of—such child-like traits as the ability to learn, to love, to laugh about small things, to leap, to wonder, and to explore. It’s time to rescue ourselves from our grown-up ways before it’s too late.
—Robert Cooper (b.1947) British Diplomat
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
Reading, after a certain age, diverts the mind too much from its creative pursuits. Any man who reads too much and uses his own brain too little falls into lazy habits of thinking.
—Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born Physicist
Start thinking about yourself as a lifetime student at a large university. Your curriculum is your total relationship with the world you live in, from the moment you’re born to the moment you die.
—Susan Jeffers (1938–2012) American Psychologist, Self-Help Author
You are not mentally developed by what you read, but by what you think about what you read.
—Wallace Wattles (1860–1911) American New Thought Author
Thought is cause: experience is effect. If you don’t like the effects in your life, you have to change the nature of your thinking.
—Marianne Williamson (b.1952) American Activist, Author, Lecturer
How do I know what I think, until I hear what I say?
—E. M. Forster (1879–1970) English Novelist, Short Story Writer, Essayist
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
In the blood of the martyrs to intolerance are the seeds of unbelief.
—Walter Lippmann (1889–1974) American Journalist, Political Commentator, Writer
Let your advance worrying become advance thinking and planning.
—Winston Churchill (1874–1965) British Head of State, Political leader, Historian, Journalist, Author
God is dead.
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900) German Philosopher, Scholar, Writer
As you inquire into issues and turn judgments around, you come to see that every perceived problem appearing “out there” is really nothing more than a misperception within your own thinking.
—Byron Katie (b.1942) American Speaker, Author
But when you think you’re supposed to do something with it and imagine that you’re the doer, that’s pure delusion. Just follow your passion. Do what you love. Inquire, and have a happy life while you’re doing it.
—Byron Katie (b.1942) American Speaker, 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
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
If you really want to break from the pack, you have to risk being perceived to be as eccentric as these people. You have to think exception-ally—a LOT!
—John Eliot (b.1971) American Psychologist, Academic
For the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: “If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?” And whenever the answer has been “No” for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something…almost everything – all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure – these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose.
—Steve Jobs (1955–2011) American Entrepreneur, Businessperson
No one is immune to pain, and it shouldn’t be denied when it exists. The key is to know that you can lead a productive and meaningful life no matter what the external circumstances are. What positive thinking does is offer a power boost to help you handle whatever life throws at you. Your “bad breaks” do not dominate your life; your indomitable strength does. And when you feel that indomitable strength, you really can handle any of your fears from a position of power—the kind of power that really can make good things happen.
—Susan Jeffers (1938–2012) American Psychologist, Self-Help Author
When you do The Work, you see who you are by seeing who you think other people are. Eventually you come to see that everything outside you is a reflection of your own thinking. You are the storyteller, the projector of all stories, and the world is the projected image of your thoughts.
—Byron Katie (b.1942) American Speaker, Author
What we think or what we know or what we believe is, in the end, of little consequence. The only consequence is what we do.
—John Ruskin (1819–1900) English Writer, Art Critic
Step aside from all thinking, and there is nowhere you can’t go.
—Jianzhi Sengcan (d.606 CE) Chinese-Buddhist Monk
People are smarter than you think. Give them a chance to prove themselves.
—Tim Ferriss (b.1977) American Self-help Author
Moving along the upward spiral requires us to learn, commit, and do on increasingly higher planes. We deceive ourselves if we think that any one of these is sufficient. To keep progressing, we must learn, commit, and do—learn, commit, and do—and learn, commit, and do again.
—Stephen Covey (1932–2012) American Self-help Author
Overachievers don’t think reasonably, sensibly, or rationally.
—John Eliot (b.1971) American Psychologist, Academic
Oh, Little Blue Engine, cried the dolls and toys. “Will you pull us over the mountain? Our engine has broken down and the boys and girls on the other side won’t have any toys to play with or good food to eat, unless you help us. Please, please, let us, Little Blue Engine”. “I’m not very big,” said the Little Blue Engine. “They use me only for switching trains in the yard. I have never been over the mountains”. … Puff, puff, chug, chug, went the Little Blue Engine. “I think I can—I think I can—I think can—I think can—I think I can—I think can—I think can—I think I can—I think can—I think can”.
—Ray Bradbury (b.1920) American Novelist, Short Story Writer
It isn’t enough to think outside the box. Thinking is passive. Get used to acting outside the box.
—Tim Ferriss (b.1977) American Self-help Author