Choice of attention – to pay attention to this and ignore that – is to the inner life what choice of action is to the outer. In both cases, a man is responsible for his choice and must accept the consequences, whatever they may be.
—W. H. Auden (1907–73) British-born American Poet, Dramatist
Give me a man who says this one thing I do, and not these fifty things I dabble in.
—Dwight L. Moody (1837–99) Christian Religious Leader, Publisher
The jack-of-all-trades seldom is good at any. Concentrate all of your efforts on one definite chief aim.
—Napoleon Hill (1883–1970) American Author, Journalist, Attorney, Lecturer
No horse gets anywhere until he is harnessed. No steam or gas ever drives anything until it is confined. No Niagara is ever turned into light and power until it is tunneled. No life ever grows great until it is focused, dedicated, disciplined.
—Harry Emerson Fosdick (1878–1969) American Baptist Minister
The human mind is not rich enough to drive many horses abreast and wants one general scheme, under which it strives to bring everything.
—George Santayana (1863–1952) Spanish-American Poet, Philosopher
Concentrate on finding your goal, then concentrate on reaching it.
—Michael Friedsam (1858–1931) American Philanthropist
The successful man is the average man, focused.
—Anonymous
One man; two loves. No good ever comes of that.
—Euripides (480–406 BCE) Ancient Greek Dramatist
To do two things at once is to do neither.
—Publilius Syrus (fl.85–43 BCE) Syrian-born Roman Latin Writer
Concentrate, play your game, and don’t be afraid to win.
—Amy Alcott (b.1956) American Golfer
I’ve learned ruthless concentration. I can write under any circumstances … street noises, loud talk, music, you name it.
—Sylvia Porter (1913–91) American Economist, Journalist
Those who set out to serve both God and Mammon soon discover that there isn’t a God.
—Logan Pearsall Smith (1865–1946) American-British Essayist, Bibliophile
A bird can roost but on one branch. A mouse can drink no more than its fill from a river.
—Chinese Proverb
The difference in men does not lie in the size of their hands, nor in the perfection of their bodies, but in this one sublime ability of concentration: to throw the weight with the blow, to live an eternity in an hour.
—Elbert Hubbard (1856–1915) American Writer, Publisher, Artist, Philosopher
Only when your consciousness is totally focused on the moment you are in can you receive whatever gift, lesson, or delight that moment has to offer.
—Barbara De Angelis (b.1951) American Self-Help Author
You can’t ring the bells and, at the same time, walk in the procession.
—Spanish Proverb
Extended empires are like expanded gold, exchanging solid strength for feeble splendor.
—Samuel Johnson (1709–84) British Essayist
My main focus is on my game.
—Tiger Woods (b.1975) American Sportsperson
The giants of the race have been men of concentration, who have struck sledge-hammer blows in one place until they have accomplished their purpose. The successful men of today are men of one overmastering idea, one unwavering aim, men of single and intense purpose.
—Orison Swett Marden (1850–1924) American New Thought Writer, Physician, Entrepreneur
Put all your eggs in one basket and then watch that basket.
—Mark Twain (1835–1910) American Humorist
Most people have no idea of the giant capacity we can immediately command when we focus all of our resources on mastering a single area of our lives.
—Tony Robbins (b.1960) American Self-Help Author, Entrepreneur
It is only when I daily with what I am about, look back and aside instead of keeping my eyes straight forward, that I feel these cold sinkings of the heart. But the first broadside puts all to rights.
—Walter Scott (1771–1832) Scottish Novelist, Poet, Playwright, Lawyer
The more intensely we feel about an idea or a goal, the more assuredly the idea, buried deep in our subconscious, will direct us along the path to its fulfillment.
—Earl Nightingale (1921–89) American Motivational Speaker, Author
No country can act wisely simultaneously in every part of the globe at every moment of time.
—Henry Kissinger (1923–2023) American Diplomat, Academician
What a great discrepancy there is between men and the results they achieve! It is due to the difference in their power of calling together all the rays of their ability, and concentrating them upon one point
—Orison Swett Marden (1850–1924) American New Thought Writer, Physician, Entrepreneur
The way you overcome shyness is to become so wrapped up in something that you forget to be afraid.
—Lady Bird Johnson (1912–2007) First Lady of the United States, Conservationist
The perplexity of life arises from there being too many interesting things in it for us to be interested properly in any of them.
—G. K. Chesterton (1874–1936) English Journalist, Novelist, Essayist, Poet
Expansion means complexity and complexity decay.
—C. Northcote Parkinson (1909–93) British Historian, Author
Each man is capable of doing one thing well. If he attempts several, he will fail to achieve distinction in any.
—Plato (428 BCE–347 BCE) Greek Philosopher, Mathematician, Educator
With all humility, I think, “Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might.” Infinitely more important than the vain attempt to love one’s neighbor as one’s self. If you want to hit a bird on the wing, you must have all your will in focus, you must not be thinking about yourself, and equally, you must not be thinking about your neighbor: you must be living in your eye on that bird. Every achievement is a bird on the wing.
—Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. (1841–1935) American Jurist, Author
Leave a Reply