There are lots of people who cannot think seriously without injuring their minds.
—John Jay Chapman (1862–1933) American Biographer, Poet, Essayist, Writer
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
If I have done the public any service, it is due to my patient thought.
—Isaac Newton (1643–1727) English Physicist, Mathematician, Astronomer, Theologian
When I am getting ready to reason with a man, I spend one-third of my time thinking about myself and what I am going to say and two-thirds about him and what he is going to say.
—Abraham Lincoln (1809–65) American Head of State
Some thoughts always find us young, and keep us so. Such a thought is the love of the universal and eternal beauty.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
Thinkers perish, thoughts don’t.
—Malcolm S. Forbes (1919–1990) American Publisher, Businessperson
Men fear thought as they fear nothing else on earth—more than ruin—more even than death … Thought is subversive and revolutionary, destructive and terrible, thought is merciless to privilege, established institutions, and comfortable habit. Thought looks into the pit of hell and is not afraid. Thought is great and swift and free, the light of the world, and the chief glory of man.
—Bertrand A. Russell (1872–1970) British Philosopher, Mathematician, Social Critic
Think success, don’t think failure. At work, in your home, substitute success thinking for failure thinking. When you face a difficult situation, think, “I’ll win,” not “I’ll probably lose.” When you compete with someone else, think, “I’m equal to the best,” not “I’m out-classed.” When opportunity appears, think “I can do it,” never “I can’t. Let the master thought “I-will-succeed” dominate your thinking process. Thinking success conditions your mind to create plans that produce success. Thinking failure does the exact opposite. Failure thinking conditions the mind to think other thoughts that produce failure.
—David J. Schwartz (1927–87) American Self-help Author
To announce truths is an infallible receipt for being persecuted.
—Voltaire (1694–1778) French Philosopher, Author
It is better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to open your mouth and prove it.
—Abraham Lincoln (1809–65) American Head of State
Thoughts are but dreams till their effects be tried.
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616) British Playwright
The ego is not master in its own house.
—Sigmund Freud (1856–1939) Austrian Psychiatrist, Psychoanalytic
You can’t drop concepts. You can only shine a little flashlight on them as you do inquiry, an you see that what you thought was true wasn’t. And when the truth is seen, there’s nothing you can do to make the lie true for you again.
—Byron Katie (b.1942) American Speaker, Author
The busiest of living agents are certain dead men’s thoughts; they are forever influencing the opinions and destinies of men.
—Christian Nestell Bovee (1820–1904) American Writer, Aphorist
The pursuit of truth and beauty is a sphere of activity in which we are permitted to remain children all our lives.
—Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born Physicist
If we examine our thoughts, we shall find them always occupied with the past and the future.
—Blaise Pascal (1623–62) French Mathematician, Physicist, Theologian
What is the hardest task in the world? To think.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
Our life always expresses the result of our dominant thoughts.
—Soren Kierkegaard (1813–55) Danish Philosopher, Theologian
‘He insulted me, he cheated me, he beat me, he robbed me’—those who are free of resentful thoughts surely find peace.
—Buddhist Teaching
Meditation is the life of the soul: Action, the soul of meditation. and honor the reward of action.
—Francis Quarles (1592–1644) English Religious Poet
Beauty is no quality in things themselves: it exists merely in the mind which contemplates them.
—David Hume (1711–76) Scottish Philosopher, Historian
Thinkers think and doers do. But until the thinkers do and the doers think, progress will be just another word in the already overburdened vocabulary of the talkers who talk.
—Indian Proverb
If we are not ashamed to think it, we should not be ashamed to say it.
—Cicero (106BCE–43BCE) Roman Philosopher, Orator, Politician, Lawyer
No brain is stronger than its weakest think.
—Thomas Masson (1866–1934) American Journalist, Humorist, Author
When thought becomes excessively painful, action is the finest remedy.
—Salman Rushdie (b.1947) Indian-born British Novelist
We grow by our dreams.
—Woodrow Wilson (1856–1924) American Head of State
We like a man to come right out and say what he thinks, if we agree with him.
—Mark Twain (1835–1910) American Humorist
I’ve dreamt in my life dreams that have stayed with me ever after, and changed my ideas; they’ve gone through and through me, like wine through water, and altered the color of my mind.
—Emily Bronte (1818–48) English Novelist, Poet
Think of your own faults the first part of the night when you are awake, and of the faults of others the latter part of the night when you are asleep.
—Chinese Proverb
The man who never alters his opinion is like standing water, and breeds reptiles of the mind.
—William Blake (1757–1827) English Poet, Painter, Printmaker
Thought is the labor of the intellect, reverie is its pleasure.
—Victor Hugo (1802–85) French Novelist
You’re either attaching to your thoughts or inquiring. There’s no other choice.
—Byron Katie (b.1942) American Speaker, Author
Every intellectual effort sets us apart from the commonplace, and leads us by hidden and difficult paths to secluded spots where we find ourselves amid unaccustomed thoughts.
—Jose Ortega y. Gasset (1883–1955) Spanish Critic, Journalist, Philosopher
It takes but one positive thought when given a chance to survive and thrive to overpower an entire army of negative thoughts.
—Robert H. Schuller (1926–2015) American Christian Televangelist, Author
People who are unable to motivate themselves must be content with mediocrity, no matter how impressive their other talents.
—Andrew Carnegie (1835–1919) Scottish-American Industrialist
Thinking in its lower grades is comparable to paper money, and in its higher forms it is a kind of poetry.
—Havelock Ellis (1859–1939) British Sexologist, Physician, Social Reformer
Intelligence must follow faith, never precede it. and never destroy it.
—Thomas a Kempis (1379–1471) German Religious Priest, Writer
What we think, we become.
—Buddhist Teaching
If you think you can, you can.
And if you think you can’t, you’re right.
—Mary Kay Ash (1918–2001) American Entrepreneur, Businessperson
I was a freethinker before I knew how to think.
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950) Irish Playwright
I admire people who are suited to the contemplative life. They can sit inside themselves like honey in a jar and just be. It’s wonderful to have someone like that around, you always feel you can count on them. You can go away and come back, you can change your mind and your hairdo and your politics, and when you get through doing all these upsetting things, you look around and there they are, just the way they were, just being.
—Elizabeth Janeway (1913–2005) American Writer, Feminist
I refuse the compliment that I think like a man, thought has no sex, one either thinks or one does not.
—Clare Boothe Luce (1903–87) American Playwright, Diplomat, Journalist, Diplomat, Elected Rep
We do not live to think, but, on the contrary, we think in order that we may succeed in surviving.
—Jose Ortega y. Gasset (1883–1955) Spanish Critic, Journalist, Philosopher
Everything that is beautiful and noble is the product of reason and calculation.
—Charles Baudelaire (1821–67) French Poet, Art Critic, Essayist, Translator
We think in generalities, but we live in detail.
—Alfred North Whitehead (1861–1947) English Mathematician, Philosopher
Even if I knew that tomorrow the world would go to pieces, I would still plant my apple tree.
—Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929–68) American Civil Rights Leader, Clergyman
Thoughts, like fleas, jump from man to man, but they don’t bite everybody.
—Stanislaw Jerzy Lec (1909–1966) Polish Aphorist, Poet
Those who have finished by making all others think with them, have usually been those who began by daring to think for themselves.
—Charles Caleb Colton (c.1780–1832) English Clergyman, Aphorist
They use thought only to justify their injustices, and speech only to disguise their thoughts.
—Voltaire (1694–1778) French Philosopher, Author
Think then act safely.
—Unknown