I think every person should be able to enjoy life. Try to decide what you most enjoy doing, and then look around to see if there is a job for which you could prepare yourself that would enable you to continue having this sort of joy.
—Linus Pauling (1901–94) American Scientist, Peace Activist
Live. If you live, God will live with you. If you refuse to run his risks, he’ll retreat to that distant heaven and be merely a subject for philosophical speculation. Everyone knows this, but no one takes the first step, perhaps for fear of being called insane.
—Paulo Coelho (b.1947) Brazilian Songwriter, Novelist
You have to decide what your highest priorities are and have the courage—pleasantly, smilingly, nonapologetically—to say “no” to other things. And the way you do that is by having a bigger “yes” burning inside. The enemy of the “best” is often the “good”.
—Stephen Covey (1932–2012) American Self-help Author
Wherever you see a successful business, someone once made a courageous decision.
—Peter Drucker (1909–2005) Austrian-born Management Consultant
In all the woods and forests, God did not create a single leaf the same as any other… People go against nature because they lack the courage to be different.
—Paulo Coelho (b.1947) Brazilian Songwriter, Novelist
Indecision is the thief of opportunity.
—Jim Rohn (1930–2009) American Entrepreneur, Author, Motivational Speaker
An awareness of death encourages us to live more intensely.
—Paulo Coelho (b.1947) Brazilian Songwriter, Novelist
Indecision is often worse than wrong action.
—Henry Ford (1863–1947) American Businessperson, Engineer
The man who insists upon seeing with perfect clearness before he decides, never decides. Accept life, and you must accept regret.
—Henri Frederic Amiel (1821–81) Swiss Moral Philosopher, Poet, Critic
It does not take much strength to do things, but it requires a great deal of strength to decide what to do.
—Elbert Hubbard (1856–1915) American Writer, Publisher, Artist, Philosopher
Be like the fountain that overflows, not like the cistern that merely contains.
—Paulo Coelho (b.1947) Brazilian Songwriter, Novelist
It was dangerous to overflow because we might end up finding ourselves occupied by our loved ones and drowning them with our love and enthusiasm.
—Paulo Coelho (b.1947) Brazilian Songwriter, Novelist
Jane Fonda, who divided her life into three acts, decided after her sixtieth birthday that she was now facing the final act, and came to the following conclusion: “I thought to myself, well if that’s the case and if what I’m scared of isn’t death, but getting to the end with regrets, then I’ve got to figure out what would be the things that I would regret when I got to the last act if I hadn’t done them or achieved them by then. And they were: having an intimate relationship and having made a difference”.
—Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (1934–2021) Hungarian-American Psychologist
Whatever you habitually think yourself to be, that you are. You must form, now, a greater and better habit; you must form a conception of yourself as a being of limitless power, and habitually think that you are that being. It is the habitual, not the periodical thought that decides your destiny.
—Wallace Wattles (1860–1911) American New Thought Author
I have learned over the years that when one’s mind is made up, this diminishes fear; knowing what must be done does away with fear.
—Rosa Parks (1913–2005) American Civil Rights Leader
The danger of an adventure is worth a thousand days of ease and comfort.
—Paulo Coelho (b.1947) Brazilian Songwriter, Novelist
Some day, in years to come, you will be wrestling with the great temptation, or trembling under the great sorrow of your life. But the real struggle is here, now, in these quiet weeks. Now it is being decided whether, in the day of your supreme sorrow or temptation, you shall miserably fail or gloriously conquer. Character cannot be made except by a steady, long-continued process.
—Phillips Brooks (1835–93) American Episcopal Clergyman, Author
You’re someone who’s different, but who wants to be the same as everyone else. And that, in my view, is a serious illness.
—Paulo Coelho (b.1947) Brazilian Songwriter, Novelist
If you put your hand into a fire, does anyone have to tell you to move it? Do you have to decide? No: When your hand starts to burn, it moves. You don’t have to direct it; the hand moves itself. In the same way, once you understand, through inquiry, that an untrue thought causes suffering, you move away from it.
—Byron Katie (b.1942) American Speaker, Author
Whenever I make a bum decision, I just go out and make another.
—Harry S. Truman (1884–1972) American Head of State
I have come to the frightening conclusion that I am the decisive element. It is my personal approach that creates the climate. It is my daily mood that makes the weather. I possess tremendous power to make life miserable or joyous. I can be a tool of torture or an instrument of inspiration, I can humiliate or humor, hurt or heal. In all situations, it is my response that decides whether a crisis is escalated or de-escalated, and a person is humanized or de-humanized. If we treat people as they are, we make them worse. If we treat people as they ought to be, we help them become what they are capable of becoming.
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) German Poet
Thoreau decided to give up his large ambition of knowledge and action for any narrow craft or profession, aiming at a much more comprehensive calling, the art of living.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
Decide upon your major definite purpose in life and then organize all your activities around it.
—Brian Tracy (b.1944) American Author, Motivational Speaker
If only everyone could know and live with their inner craziness…people would be fairer and happier.
—Paulo Coelho (b.1947) Brazilian Songwriter, Novelist
It is fairly predictable, however, that when you’ve finally mastered something and gotten rid of the fear, you will feel so good that you will decide that there is something else out there you want to accomplish, and guess what! The fear begins again as you prepare to meet a new challenge.
—Susan Jeffers (1938–2012) American Psychologist, Self-Help Author
A miracle happened: another day of life.
—Paulo Coelho (b.1947) Brazilian Songwriter, Novelist
The indispensable first step to getting the things you want out of life is this: decide what you want.
—Ben Stein (b.1944) American Lawyer, Writer, Economist, Humorist
People do not decide their futures, they decide their habits and their habits decide their futures.
—F. Matthias Alexander (1869–1955) Australian Actor, Educationalist
When everyone dreams but only a few realize their dreams, that makes cowards of us all.
—Paulo Coelho (b.1947) Brazilian Songwriter, Novelist
A rule of thumb for a warrior is that he makes his decisions so carefully that nothing that may happen as a result of them can surprise him, much less drain his power.
—Carlos Castaneda (1925–98) Peruvian-born American Anthropologist, Author