It is better to be high-spirited, even though one makes more mistakes, than to be narrow-minded and all too prudent. It is good to love many things, for therein lies the true strength, and whosoever loves much performs much, and can accomplish much, and what is done in love, is well done.
—Vincent van Gogh (1853–90) Dutch Painter
I don’t want to achieve immortality through my work; I want to achieve immortality through not dying. I don’t want to live on in the hearts of my countrymen; I want to live on in my apartment.
—Woody Allen (b.1935) American Film Actor, Director
I don’t wait for moods. You accomplish nothing if you do that. Your mind must know it has got to get down to earth.
—Pearl S. Buck (1892–1973) American Novelist, Human Rights Activist
One resolution I have made, and try always to keep, is this: “To rise above the little things.”
—John Burroughs (1837–1921) American Naturalist, Writer
The height of your accomplishments will equal the depth of your convictions.
—William F. Scolavino
As long as we separate this ‘oneness’ into two, we won’t achieve realization.
—Bruce Lee (1940–73) American Martial Artist, Actor, Philosopher
As great scientists have said and as all children know, it is above all by the imagination that we achieve perception, and compassion, and hope.
—Ursula K. Le Guin (b.1929) American Science Fiction and Fantasy Writer
Nothing great in this world has been accomplished without passion.
—Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770–1831) German Philosopher
Let us then be up and doing,
With a heart for any fate,
Still achieving, still pursuing,
Learn to labor and to wait.
—Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807–82) American Poet, Educator, Academic
He who possesses the source of Enthusiasm
Will achieve great things.
Doubt not. You will gather friends around you
As a hair clasp gathers the hair.
—I Ching Ancient Chinese Divination Text
Nixon had three goals: to win by the biggest electoral landslide in history; to be remembered as a peacemaker; and to be accepted by the ‘Establishment’ as an equal. He achieved all these objectives at the end of 1972 and the beginning of 1973. And he lost them all two months later-partly because he turned a dream into an obsession
—Henry Kissinger (1923–2023) American Diplomat, Academician
I don’t care how much power, brilliance or energy you have, if you don’t harness it and focus it on a specific target, and hold it there you’re never going to accomplish as much as your ability warrants.
—Zig Ziglar (1926–2012) American Author
Nothing whatever pertaining to godliness and real holiness can be accomplished without grace.
—Augustine of Hippo (354–430) Roman-African Christian Philosopher
Failure is not fatal. Failure should be our teacher, nor our undertaker. It should challenge us to new heights of accomplishments, not pull us to new depths of despair. From honest failure can come valuable experience.
—William Arthur Ward (1921–94) American Author
Your ability to negotiate, communicate, influence, and persuade others to do things is absolutely indispensable to everything you accomplish in life. The most effective men and women in every area are those who can quite competently organize the cooperation and assistance of other people toward the accomplishment of important goals and objectives.
—Brian Tracy (b.1944) American Author, Motivational Speaker
If we fight a war and win it with H-bombs, what history will remember is not the ideals we were fighting for but the methods we used to accomplish them. These methods will be compared to the warfare of Genghis Khan who ruthlessly killed every last inhabitant of Persia.
—Hans Bethe (1906–2005) German-American Theoretical Physicist
Instead of solid accomplishments, the man pursues pleasures and self-gratification. He will never achieve anything so long as he is surrounded by dissipating temptations
—I Ching Ancient Chinese Divination Text
Peace cannot be kept by force. It can only be achieved by understanding.
—Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born Physicist
One must marry one’s feelings to one’s beliefs and ideas. That is probably the only way to achieve a measure of harmony in one’s life.
—Etty Hillesum (1914–43) Jewish Diarist
It is not enough to have knowledge, one must also apply it. It is not enough to have wishes, one must also accomplish.
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) German Poet
It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, and comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.
—Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919) American Historian, Political Leader, Explorer
Discipline is the bridge between goals and accomplishments.
—Jim Rohn (1930–2009) American Entrepreneur, Author, Motivational Speaker
Do not be desirous of having things done quickly. Do not look at small advantages. Desire to have things done quickly prevents their being done thoroughly. Looking at small advantages prevents great affairs from being accomplished.
—Confucius (551–479 BCE) Chinese Philosopher
Leaders aren’t born, they are made. And they are made just like anything else, through hard work. And that’s the price we’ll have to pay to achieve that goal, or any goal.
—Vince Lombardi, Jr. (1913–70) American Football Player, Coach
The salary of the chief executive of a large corporation is not a market award for achievement. It is frequently in the nature of a warm personal gesture by the individual to himself.
—John Kenneth Galbraith (1908–2006) Canadian-Born American Economist
Have courage for the great sorrows of life and patience for the small ones; and when you have laboriously accomplished your daily task, go to sleep in peace. God is awake.
—Victor Hugo (1802–85) French Novelist
In the practical as in the theoretic life, the man whose acquisitions stick is the man who is always achieving and advancing, whilst his neighbors, spending most of their time in relearning what they once knew but have forgotten, simply hold their own.
—William James (1842–1910) American Philosopher, Psychologist, Physician
We may affirm absolutely that nothing great in the world has ever been accomplished without passion.
—Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770–1831) German Philosopher
One of the marks of excellent people is that they never compare themselves with others. They only compare themselves with themselves and with their past accomplishments and future potential
—Brian Tracy (b.1944) American Author, Motivational Speaker
The soul who meditates on the Self is content to serve the Self and rests satisfied within the Self; there remains nothing more for him to accomplish.
—The Bhagavad Gita Hindu Scripture
Leave a Reply