The first requisite of success is the ability to apply your physical and mental energies to one problem without growing weary.
—Thomas Edison (1847–1931) American Inventor, Scientist, Entrepreneur
Eighty percent of success is showing up.
—James Allen (1864–1912) British Philosophical Writer
If you wait until the wind and the weather are just right, you will never plant anything and never harvest anything.
—The Holy Bible Scripture in the Christian Faith
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
Your life is a kind of laboratory where you’re constantly experimenting with your own higher knowing, always increasing your capacity to design the life you choose. Human beings must create; it’s hardwired. The question is, are you consciously creating or only sleepwalking through your human life?
—David Emerald
I have missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I have lost almost 300 games. On 26 occasions I have been entrusted to take the game winning shot…And I missed. And I have failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is precisely…Why I succeed.
—Michael Jordan (b.1963) American Sportsperson, Businessperson
Suppose you were to come upon someone in the woods working feverishly to saw down a tree. “What are you doing?” you ask. “Can’t you see?” comes the impatient reply. “I’m sawing down this tree”. “You look exhausted!” you exclaim. “How long have you been at it?” “Over five hours,” he returns, “and I’m beat! This is hard work”. “Well, why don’t you take a break for a few minutes and sharpen that saw?” you inquire. “I’m sure it would go a lot faster”. “I don’t have time to sharpen the saw,” the man says emphatically. “I’m too busy sawing!”
—Stephen Covey (1932–2012) American Self-help Author
It’s not the will to win that matters—everyone has that. It’s the will to prepare to win that matters.
—Bear Bryant (1913–83) American Sportsperson
Bill Russell is one of the great names in basketball, an all-American… and the only athlete to ever win an NCAA Championship, an Olympic Gold Medal, and a professional championship all in the same year—1956…But Bill Russell had this one problem: He threw up before every game.
—John Eliot (b.1971) American Psychologist, Academic
The world belongs to those who don’t let anxiety about screwing up keep them from moving forward.
—Unknown
I realized that it’s insane to oppose it. When I argue with reality, I lose—but only 100% of the time. How do I know that the wind should blow? It’s blowing!
—Byron Katie (b.1942) American Speaker, Author
A smile is a light in the window of the soul indicating that the heart is at home.
—Unknown
If you don’t know where you’re going, you’ll probably not wind up there.
—Movie: Forrest Gump
God turns you from one feeling to another and teaches by means of opposites, so that you will have two wings to fly, not one.
—Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi (1207–73) Persian Muslim Mystic
Work is love made visible. And if you cannot work with love but only with distaste, it is better that you should leave your work and sit at the gate of the temple and take alms of those who work with joy. For if you break bread with indifference, you bake bitter bread that feeds but half a man’s hunger. And if you grudge the crushing of grapes, your grudge distils a poison in the wine. And if you sing though as angels, and love not the singing, you muffle man’s ears to the voices of the day and the voices of the night.
—Kahlil Gibran (1883–1931) Lebanese-born American Philosopher, Poet, Painter, Theologian, Sculptor
In its knowledges light, we must think and act not only for the moment but for our time. I am reminded of the great French Marshal Lyautey, who once asked his gardener to plant a tree. The gardener objected that the tree was slow-growing and would not reach maturity for a hundred years. The Marshal replied, In that case, there is no time to lose, plant it this afternoon.
—John F. Kennedy (1917–63) American Head of State, Journalist
Warriors do not win victories by beating their heads against walls, but by overtaking the walls. Warriors jump over walls; they don’t demolish them.
—Carlos Castaneda (1925–98) Peruvian-born American Anthropologist, Author
The best horse doesn’t always win the race.
—Irish Proverb
Here is the basic rule for winning success. Let’s mark it in the mind and remember it. The rule is: Success depends on the support of other people. The only hurdle between you and what you want to be is the support of other people.
—David J. Schwartz (1927–87) American Self-help Author
Sooner or later, those who win are those who think they can.
—Richard Bach (b.1936) American Novelist, Aviator
At the age of six I wanted to be a cook. At seven I wanted to be Napoleon. And my ambition has been growing steadily ever since.
—Salvador Dali (1904–89) Spanish Painter
We pay a heavy price for our fear of failure. It is a powerful obstacle to growth. It assures the progressive narrowing of the personality and prevents exploration and experimentation. There is no learning without some difficulty and fumbling. If you want to keep on learning, you must keep on risking failure—all your life.
—John W. Gardner (1912–2002) American Activist
Let’s set the record straight. Money is important! To say that it’s not as important as any other things in life is ludicrous. What’s more important, your arm or your leg? Could it be that both are important?
—T. Harv Eker (b.1954) American Motivational Speaker, Lecturer, Author
It is because we don’t know who we are, because we are unaware that the Kingdom of Heaven is within us, that we behave in the generally silly, the often insane, the sometimes criminal ways that are so characteristically human. We are saved, we are liberated and enlightened, by perceiving the hitherto unperceived good that is already within us, by returning to our eternal ground and remaining where, without knowing it, we have always been.
—Aldous Huxley (1894–1963) English Humanist, Pacifist, Essayist, Short Story Writer, Satirist
Enjoyment, on the other hand, is not always pleasant, and it can be very stressful at times. A mountain climber, for example, may be close to freezing, utterly exhausted, and in danger of falling into a bottomless crevasse, yet he wouldn’t want to be anywhere else. Sipping a pina colada under a palm tree at the edge of the turquoise ocean is idyllic, but it just doesn’t compare to the exhilaration he feels on the windswept ridge.
—Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (1934–2021) Hungarian-American Psychologist
To the person who does not know where he wants to go there is no favorable wind.
—Seneca the Younger (Lucius Annaeus Seneca) (c.4 BCE–65 CE) Roman Stoic Philosopher, Statesman, Tragedian
The most important single ingredient in the formula of success is knowing how to get along with people.
—Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919) American Head of State, Political leader, Historian, Explorer
The first thing I did was commit to my success and playing to win. I swore I would focus and not even consider leaving this business until I was a millionaire or more. This was radically different from my previous efforts, where, because I always thought short-term, I would constantly get side-tracked by either good opportunities or when things got tough.
—T. Harv Eker (b.1954) American Motivational Speaker, Lecturer, Author
To conquer without risk is to triumph without glory.
—Pierre Corneille (1606–84) French Poet, Dramatist
Yes, there are times when the gold medal only goes to the winner. But not in the race of life, where the winners are those who are superior not to others but to their former selves.
—Robert Cooper (b.1947) British Diplomat