Inspirational Quotations

Inspirational Quotes by Maxwell Maltz (American Surgeon)

Maxwell Maltz (1889–1975) was an American cosmetic surgeon and author. He introduced a system of ideas in his book Psycho-Cybernetics (1960) that he claimed could enhance one’s self-image and ultimately lead to a more successful and satisfying life.

Born in New York City, Maltz attended Columbia University and obtained his medical degree from the College of Physicians and Surgeons in 1923. He held a thriving career as a plastic surgeon, specializing in facial reconstruction and cosmetic procedures.

During the 1950s, Maltz observed that some of his patients, despite successful surgeries, struggled with low self-esteem and emotional challenges. This prompted him to delve into psychology, studying the works of influential figures like Sigmund Freud, Alfred Adler, and Carl Jung. In his influential book, Psycho-Cybernetics: A New Way to Get More Living Out of Life (1960,) he introduced the concept of “self-image psychology.” The book emphasized the significance of nurturing a positive self-image and harnessing the mind’s potential to achieve personal fulfillment and success. The book became a bestseller, propelling Maltz to the forefront of the self-help genre.

Maltz dedicated his efforts to writing and lecturing on self-improvement and motivation, focusing on the power of visualization, goal setting, and cultivating positive habits. His work influenced numerous other self-help teachers and motivational speakers, leaving a lasting impact on the field.

More: Wikipedia READ: Works by Maxwell Maltz

Realizing that our actions, feelings and behavior are the result of our own images and beliefs gives us the level that psychology has always needed for changing personality.
Maxwell Maltz
Topics: Identity

Self-image sets the boundaries of individual accomplishment.
Maxwell Maltz
Topics: Health, Positive Attitudes, Optimism

You may live in an imperfect world but the frontiers are not closed and the doors are not all shut.
Maxwell Maltz
Topics: Adversity

To change a habit, make a conscious decision, then act out the new behavior.
Maxwell Maltz
Topics: Habit, Habits

Remember you will not always win. Some days, the most resourceful individual will taste defeat. But there is, in this case, always tomorrow – after you have done your best to achieve success today.
Maxwell Maltz
Topics: Mistakes, Failure

Study the situation thoroughly, go over in your imagination the various courses of action possible to you and the consequences which can and may follow from each course. Pick out the course which gives the most promise and go ahead.
Maxwell Maltz
Topics: Imagination

For imagination sets the goal “picture” which our automatic mechanism works on. We act, or fail to act, not because of “will,” as is so commonly believed, but because of imagination.
Maxwell Maltz
Topics: Imagination

We are injured and hurt emotionally, Not so much by other people or what they say and don’t say, But by our own attitude and our own response.
Maxwell Maltz
Topics: Attitude

We must have courage to bet on our ideas, to take the calculated risk, and to act. Everyday living requires courage if life is to be effective and bring happiness.
Maxwell Maltz
Topics: Courage, Failure, Risk, Risk-taking, Success

Thus man of all creatures is more than a creature, he is also a creator. Man alone can direct his success mechanism by the use of imagination, or imaging ability.
Maxwell Maltz
Topics: Imagination

Get into the habit of laughing; too many of us have forgotten how to laugh. As people grow older, they sometimes forget that they ever laughed. It is a part of their childhood that they can no longer remember.
Maxwell Maltz
Topics: Laughter

Emptiness is a symptom that you are not living creatively. You either have no goal that is important enough to you, or you are not using your talents and efforts in a striving toward an important goal.
Maxwell Maltz
Topics: Goal

Close scrutiny will show that most “crisis situations” are opportunities to either advance, or stay where you are.
Maxwell Maltz
Topics: Growth

The “self-image” is the key to human personality and human behavior. Change the self image and you change the personality and the behavior.
Maxwell Maltz
Topics: Behavior, Identity

If you make friends with yourself you will never be alone.
Maxwell Maltz
Topics: Realization, Awareness, Acceptance

We are built to conquer environment, solve problems, achieve goals, and we find no real satisfaction or happiness in life without obstacles to conquer and goals to achieve.
Maxwell Maltz
Topics: Difficulty, Obstacles, Goal

Stand up to crises. Don’t let them throw you! Fight to stay calm… even surmount the crisis completely and turn it into an opportunity. Refuse to renounce your self-image. No matter what happens, you must keep your good opinion of yourself. No matter what happens, you must hold your past successes in your imagination, ready for showing in the motion picture screen of your mind. No matter what happens, no matter what you lose, no matter what failures you must endure, you must keep faith in yourself. Then you can stand up to crises, with calm and courage, refusing to buckle; then you will not fall through the floor. You will be able to support yourself.
Maxwell Maltz
Topics: Courage, Bravery, Crises

It is an old psychological axiom that constant exposure to the object of fear immunizes against the fear.
Maxwell Maltz
Topics: Fear

When you believe you can-you can.
Maxwell Maltz
Topics: Attitude

One of the reasons it has seemed so difficult for a person to change his habits, his personality, or his way of life, has been that heretofore nearly all efforts at change have been directed to the circumference of the self, so to speak, rather than to the center.
Maxwell Maltz
Topics: Motivation, Motivational

You can do only one thing at a time. I simply tackle one problem and concentrate all efforts on what I am doing at the moment.
Maxwell Maltz
Topics: Compromise

We, whoever we are, must have a daily goal in our lives, no matter how small or great, to make that day mean something.
Maxwell Maltz

Low self-esteem is like driving through life with your hand-break on.
Maxwell Maltz
Topics: Self Respect, Self-Esteem

Take the trouble to stop and think of the other person’s feelings, his viewpoints, his desires and needs. Think more of what the other fellow wants, and how he must feel.
Maxwell Maltz
Topics: Help, Cooperation

What is opportunity, and when does it knock? It never knocks. You can wait a whole lifetime, listening, hoping, and you will hear no knocking. None at all. You are opportunity, and you must knock on the door leading to your destiny. You prepare yourself to recognize opportunity, to pursue and seize opportunity as you develop the strength of your personality, and build a self-image with which you are able to live—with your self-respect alive and growing.
Maxwell Maltz
Topics: Opportunity

We must have courage to bet on our ideas, on the calculated risk, and to act. Everyday living requires courage if life is to be effective and bring happiness.
Maxwell Maltz
Topics: Happiness, Courage

Our self-image strongly held essentially determines what we become.
Maxwell Maltz
Topics: Identity, Optimism, Positive Attitudes

When you see a thing clearly in your mind, your creative success mechanism within you takes over and does the job much better than you could do it by conscious effort or willpower.
Maxwell Maltz
Topics: Imagination

Often the difference between a successful man and a failure is not one’s better abilities or ideas but the courage that one has to bet on his ideas, to take a calculated risk—and act.
Maxwell Maltz
Topics: Ideas, Ability, Action

Man maintains his balance, poise, and sense of security only as he is moving forward.
Maxwell Maltz
Topics: Security, Balance

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