Your automatic creative mechanism is teleological. That is, it operates in terms of goals and end results. Once you give it a definite goal to achieve, you can depend upon its automatic guidance system to take you to that goal much better than “you” ever could by conscious thought. “You” supply the goal by thinking in terms of end results. Your automatic mechanism then supplies the means whereby.
—Maxwell Maltz (1899–1975) American Surgeon, Motivational Writer
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
All that a man does outwardly is but the expression and completion of his inward thought. To work effectually, he must think clearly; to act nobly, he must think nobly. Intellectual force is a principal element of the soul’s life, and should be proposed by every man as the principal end of his being.
—William Ellery Channing (1780–1842) American Unitarian Theologian, Poet
Thinking is growth; we cannot think without growing.
—Wallace Wattles (1860–1911) American New Thought Author
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
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
Remember, every great leader (or visionary or brave thinker) was initially laughed at. Now they are revered.
—Robin Sharma (b.1964) Canadian Writer, Motivational Speaker
Those who do not study are only cattle dressed up in men’s clothes.
—Chinese Proverb
If our thinking is clear, how could work or money be the problem? Our thinking is all we need to change.
—Byron Katie (b.1942) American Speaker, Author
The significant problems we face today cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them.
—Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born Physicist
You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look at 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 think you think you cannot do.”
—Eleanor Roosevelt (1884–1962) American First Lady, Diplomat, Humanitarian
Nothing terrible has ever happened except in our thinking. Reality is always good, even in situations that seem like nightmares. The story we tell is the only nightmare that we have lived.
—Byron Katie (b.1942) American Speaker, Author
Think of yourself as a container for wealth. If your container is small and your money is big, what’s going to happen? You will lose it. Your container will overflow and the excess money will spill out all over the place. You simply cannot have more money than the container. Therefore you must grow to be a big container so you cannot only hold more wealth but also attract more wealth. The universe abhors a vacuum and if you have a very large money container, it will rush in to fill the space.
—T. Harv Eker (b.1954) American Motivational Speaker, Lecturer, Author
There is only one purpose for all of life, and that is for you and all that lives to experience fullest glory…everything else you say, think, or do is attendant to that function. There is nothing else for your soul to do, and nothing else your soul wants to do.
—Neale Donald Walsch (b.1943) American Spiritual Writer
Think more like the rich if you want to create more wealth.
—T. Harv Eker (b.1954) American Motivational Speaker, Lecturer, Author
Do not merely think that you are great; think that you are great now. Do not think that you will begin to act in a great way at some future time; begin now.
—Wallace Wattles (1860–1911) American New Thought Author
How do I know what I think, until I hear what I say?
—E. M. Forster (1879–1970) English Novelist, Short Story Writer, Essayist
A man is literally what he thinks.
—James Lane Allen (1849–1925) American Novelist, Short Story Writer
I think every person should be able to enjoy life. Try to decide what you most enjoy doing, and then look around to see if there is a job for which you could prepare yourself that would enable you to continue having this sort of joy.
—Linus Pauling (1901–94) American Scientist, Peace Activist
I keep six honest serving men; they taught me all I knew; their names are What and Why and When and How and Where and Who.
—Rudyard Kipling (1865–1936) British Children’s Books Writer, Short story, Novelist, Poet, Journalist
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
Believe nothing, no matter where you read it, or who said it, no matter if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your own common sense.
—Buddhist Teaching
Think of yourself as a role model for others—showing that you can be kind, generous, loving, and rich!
—T. Harv Eker (b.1954) American Motivational Speaker, Lecturer, Author
On some nights, he has nowhere to sleep, on others he suffers from insomnia. “That’s just how it is,” thinks the warrior. “I was the one who chose to walk this path”.
—Paulo Coelho (b.1947) Brazilian Songwriter, Novelist
Superstars think like superstars long before the fans or the press anoint them.
—John Eliot (b.1971) American Psychologist, Academic
Those who think they know everything will learn nothing.
—Roger McDonald (b.1941) Australian Novelist, Poet, Screenwriter, Writer
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
People are smarter than you think. Give them a chance to prove themselves.
—Tim Ferriss (b.1977) American Self-help Author
What I must do is all that concerns me, not what the people think. This rule, equally arduous in actual and in intellectual life, may serve for the whole distinction between greatness and meanness.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
Rich people think long-term. They balance their spending on enjoyment today with investing for freedom tomorrow.
—T. Harv Eker (b.1954) American Motivational Speaker, Lecturer, Author
When God lets loose a great thinker on this planet, then all things are at risk. There is not a piece of science but its flank may be turned tomorrow; nor any literary reputation or the so-called eternal names of fame that may not be refused and condemned.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
Frozen in fear, you avoid responsibility because you think your experience is beyond your control. This stance keeps you from making decisions, solving problems, or going after what you want in life.
—David Emerald
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
Don’t be deceived into thinking that by changing the external, the internal will be changed. It works the other way around. The path that needs changing is the one in your mind.
—Susan Jeffers (1938–2012) American Psychologist, Self-Help Author
The crime which bankrupts men and states is job-work—declining from your main design, to serve a turn here and there. Nothing is beneath you, if it is in the direction of your life, nothing is great or desirable if it is off from that. I think we are entitled here to draw a straight line and say that society can never prosper but must always be bankrupts, until every man does that which he was created to do.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
As long as you think that the cause of your problem is “out there”—as long as you think that anyone or anything is responsible for your suffering—the situation is hopeless. It means that you are forever in the role of victim, that you’re suffering in paradise.
—Byron Katie (b.1942) American Speaker, Author
Extraordinary things like this occur frequently to most of us, but we disregard them, because of our lack of understanding, and we think they are mere coincidences.
—Roger McDonald (b.1941) Australian Novelist, Poet, Screenwriter, Writer
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
Thinking is a habit, and like any other habit, it can be changed; it just takes effort and repetition.
—John Eliot (b.1971) American Psychologist, Academic
The word mantra comes from two Sanskrit words man, (“to think”) and tra (“tool”). So the literal translation is “a tool of thought”. And that’s how mantras are used in Buddhist and Hindu practices, as tools that clear your mind of distractions. Because when you focus on repeating that mantra over and over again, soon the noise will die down and all you will hear is your inner voice.
—Russell Simmons (b.1957) American Music Promoter
Overachievers don’t think reasonably, sensibly, or rationally.
—John Eliot (b.1971) American Psychologist, Academic
You must be what it is that you’re seeking. This is a universe of attraction and energy. You can’t have a desire to attract a mate who’s confident, generous, non-judgmental, and gentle, and expect that desire to be manifested if you’re thinking and acting in nonconfident, selfish, judgmental, or arrogant ways…
—Wayne Dyer (1940–2015) American Self-Help Author
Whatever you habitually think yourself to be, that you are. You must form, now, a greater and better habit; you must form a conception of yourself as a being of limitless power, and habitually think that you are that being. It is the habitual, not the periodical thought that decides your destiny.
—Wallace Wattles (1860–1911) American New Thought Author
If you think you’re too small to make an impact, try going to bed with a mosquito in the room.
—Anita Roddick (1942–2007) English Businessperson, Activist, Environmentalist
Those who take bold chances don’t think failure is the opposite of success. They believe complacency is.
—Unknown
Step aside from all thinking, and there is nowhere you can’t go.
—Jianzhi Sengcan (d.606 CE) Chinese-Buddhist Monk
While you can think in terms of efficiency in dealing with time, a principle-centered person thinks in terms of effectiveness in dealing with people.
—Stephen Covey (1932–2012) American Self-help Author
Do not stop thinking of life as an adventure. You have no security unless you can live bravely, excitingly, imaginatively, unless you can choose a challenge instead of a competence.
—Eleanor Roosevelt (1884–1962) American First Lady, Diplomat, Humanitarian
Everyone thinks that the principal thing to the tree is the fruit, but in point of fact the principal thing to it is the seed.
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900) German Philosopher, Scholar, Writer
Perfect love is to feeling what perfect white is to color. Many think that white is the absence of color. It is not. It is the inclusion of all color. White is every other color that exists, combined. So, too, is love not the absence of an emotion (hatred, anger, lust, jealousy, covetousness), but the summation of all feeling. It is the sum total. The aggregate amount. The everything.
—Neale Donald Walsch (b.1943) American Spiritual Writer