It’s not what happens to you, but how you react to it that matters.
—Epictetus (55–135) Ancient Greek Philosopher
How we think shows through in how we act. Attitudes are mirrors of the mind. They reflect thinking.
—David J. Schwartz (1927–87) American Self-help Author
The internal dialogue is what grounds people in the daily world. The world is such and such or so and so, only because we talk to ourselves about its being such and such and so and so. The passageway into the world of shamans opens up after the warrior has learned to shut off his internal dialogue.
—Carlos Castaneda (1925–98) Peruvian-born American Anthropologist, Author
It’s kind of fun to do the impossible.
—Walt Disney (1901–66) American Entrepreneur
If you don’t get everything you want, think of the things you don’t get that you don’t want.
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish Poet, Playwright
Success or failure in business is caused more by the mental attitude even than by mental capacities.
—Walter Scott (1771–1832) Scottish Novelist, Poet, Playwright, Lawyer
It is our attitude at the beginning of a difficult undertaking which, more than anything else, will determine its successful outcome.
—William James (1842–1910) American Philosopher, Psychologist, Physician
Whatever is expressed is impressed. Whatever you say to yourself, with emotion, generates thoughts, ideas and behaviors consistent with those words.
—Brian Tracy (b.1944) American Author, Motivational Speaker
Misery is a communicable disease.
—Martha Graham (1894–1991) American Choreographer
Determine that the thing can and shall be done, and then we shall find the way.
—Abraham Lincoln (1809–65) American Head of State
Thought is the fountain of action, life and manifestation; make the fountain pure, and all will be pure.
—James Allen (1864–1912) British Philosophical Writer
You got to sing like you don’t need the money; Love like you’ll never get hurt; You got to dance like nobody’s watchin’; It’s gotta come from the heart if you want it to work.
—Susanna Clark
We cannot choose our external circumstances, but we can always choose how we respond to them.
—Epictetus (55–135) Ancient Greek Philosopher
Don’t spend time beating on a wall, hoping to transform it into a door.
—Laura Schlessinger (b.1947) American Radio Talk-Show Host, Author
The only real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes, in seeing the universe with the eyes of another, of hundreds of others, in seeing the hundreds of universes that each of them sees.
—Marcel Proust (1871–1922) French Novelist
When you feel dog tired at night, it may be because you’ve growled all day long.
—Unknown
Optimism is the cheerful frame of mind that enables a teakettle to sing, though in hot water up to its nose.
—Indian Proverb
In the depths of winter I finally learned there was in me an invincible summer.
—Albert Camus (1913–60) Algerian-born French Philosopher, Dramatist, Essayist, Novelist, Author
Nothing is interesting if you’re not interested.
—Helen MacInnes (1907–85) Scottish-born American Novelist
To establish true self-esteem we must concentrate on our successes and forget about the failures and the negatives in our lives.
—Denis Waitley (b.1933) American Motivational Speaker, Author
Our attitude toward life determines life’s attitude towards us.
—Earl Nightingale (1921–89) American Motivational Speaker, Author
To this military attitude of the soul we give the name of Heroism… It is a self-trust which slights the restraints of prudence, in the plenitude of its energy and power to repair the harms it may suffer. The hero is a mind of such balance that no disturbances can shake his will…
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
Bless a thing and it will bless you. Curse it and it will curse you… If you bless a situation, it has no power to hurt you, and even if it is troublesome for a time, it will gradually fade out, if you sincerely bless it.
—Emmet Fox (1886–1951) Irish-American New Thought Leader
Enjoy the little things, for one day you may look back and realize they were the big things.
—Robert Brault
Clouds come floating into my life, no longer to carry rain or usher storm, but to add color to my sunset sky.
—Rabindranath Tagore (1861–1941) Bengali Poet, Polymath
Very often a change of self is needed more than a change of scene.
—A. C. Benson (1862–1925) English Essayist, Poet, Author
Wherever you go, no matter what the weather, always bring your own sunshine.
—Anthony J. D’Angelo
Physical strength is measured by what we can carry; spiritual by what we can bear.
—Unknown
There are in life as many aspects as attitudes towards it; and aspects change with attitudes… Could we change our attitude, we should not only see life differently, but life itself would come to be different. Life would undergo a change of appearance because we ourselves had undergone a change in attitude.
—Katherine Mansfield (1888–1923) New Zealand-born British Author
Nothing can go wrong in this world but yourself ; and you can go wrong only by getting into the wrong mental attitude.
—Wallace Wattles (1860–1911) American New Thought Author