Your automatic creative mechanism is teleological. That is, it operates in terms of goals and end results. Once you give it a definite goal to achieve, you can depend upon its automatic guidance system to take you to that goal much better than “you” ever could by conscious thought. “You” supply the goal by thinking in terms of end results. Your automatic mechanism then supplies the means whereby.
—Maxwell Maltz (1899–1975) American Surgeon, Motivational Writer
Your mind, while blessed with permanent memory, is cursed with lousy recall. Written goals provide clarity. By documenting your dreams, you must think about the process of achieving them.
—Gary Ryan Blair
Use your health, even to the point of wearing it out. That is what it is for. Spend all you have before you die; do not outlive yourself.
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950) Irish Playwright
Objectives are not fate; they are direction. They are not commands; they are commitments. They do not determine the future; they are means to mobilize the resources and energies of the business for the making of the future.
—Peter Drucker (1909–2005) Austrian-born Management Consultant
Pleasure is the object, duty and the goal of all rational creatures.
—Voltaire (1694–1778) French Philosopher, Author
All of the animals except for man know that the principle business of life is to enjoy it.
—Samuel Butler
He who hunts two hares leaves one and loses the other.
—Japanese Proverb
Did you ever hear of a man who had striven all his life faithfully and singly toward an object, and in no measure obtained it? If a man constantly aspires, is he not elevated? Did ever a man try heroism, magnanimity, truth, sincerity, and find that there was no advantage in them-that it was a vain endeavor?
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–62) American Philosopher
Fortunate is the person who has developed the self-control to steer a straight course toward his objective in life, without being swayed from his purpose by either commendation or condemnation.
—Napoleon Hill (1883–1970) American Author, Journalist, Attorney, Lecturer
The woods are lovely, dark and deep, but I have promises to keep and miles to go before I sleep, and miles to go before I sleep.
—Robert Frost (1874–1963) American Poet
Follow your bliss. Find where it is and don’t be afraid to follow it.
—Joseph Campbell (1904–87) American Mythologist, Writer, Lecturer
Goals are not dreamy, pie-in-the-sky ideals. They have every day practical applications and they should be practical.
—Les Brown
Once you say you’re going to settle for second, that’s what happens to you in life, I find.
—John F. Kennedy (1917–63) American Head of State, Journalist
We aim above the mark to hit the mark.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
The time to repair the roof is when the sun is shining.
—John F. Kennedy (1917–63) American Head of State, Journalist
The only thing that has to be finished by next Tuesday is next Monday.
—Jennifer Yane
Ambition is but the evil shadow of aspiration.
—George MacDonald (1824–1905) Scottish Novelist, Lecturer, Poet
If your only goal is to become rich, you will never achieve it.
—John D. Rockefeller (1839-1937) American Oil Magnate, Philanthropist
Until thought is linked with purpose there is no intelligent accomplishment.
—James Lane Allen (1849–1925) American Novelist, Short Story Writer
If you want to accomplish the goals of your life, you have to begin with the spirit.
—Oprah Winfrey (b.1954) American TV Personality
Life is not a having and a getting, but a being and a becoming.
—Matthew Arnold (1822–88) English Poet, Critic
Some people drift along like a cork on a river, feeling that they cannot do anything except drift, moment to moment. This is an attitude of mind. Everyone can be constructive even in tiny ways.
—Edward de Bono (1933–2021) Maltese-British Psychologist, Writer
There are three ingredients in the good life: learning, earning, and yearning.
—Christopher Morley (1890–1957) American Novelist, Essayist
Committing your goals to paper increases the likelihood of your achieving them by one-thousand percent!
—Brian Tracy (b.1944) American Author, Motivational Speaker
Of toiling, uncheered and alone, That wins us the prizes worth earning, and leads us to goals we would own.
—Unknown
There are people who want to be everywhere at once, and they get nowhere.
—Carl Sandburg (1878–1967) American Biographer, Novelist, Socialist
Pleasure is the only thing to live for. Nothing ages like happiness.
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish Poet, Playwright
There is no cure for birth and death save to enjoy the interval. The dark background which death supplies brings out the tender colors of life in all their purity.
—George Santayana (1863–1952) Spanish-American Poet, Philosopher
I cannot believe that the purpose of life is to be happy. I think the purpose of life is to be useful, to be responsible, to be compassionate. It is, above all to matter, to count, to stand for something, to have made some difference that you lived at all.
—Leo Rosten (1908–97) Russian-born American Humorist, Teacher, Academic, Short Story Writer
Firmness of purpose is one of the most necessary sinews of character, and one of the best instruments of success. Without it genius wastes its efforts in a maze of inconsistencies.
—Earl of Chesterfield (1694–1773) English Statesman, Man of Letters
Destiny is an absolutely definite and inexorable ruler. Physical ability and moral determination count for nothing. It is impossible to perform the simplest act when the gods say “no.” I have no idea how they bring pressure to bear on such occasions; I only know that it is irresistible.
—Aleister Crowley (1875–1947) English Occultist, Mystic, Magician
Not what we have, but what we enjoy, constitutes our abundance.
—Jean Antoine Petit-Senn (1792–1870) Swiss Poet
I am here for a purpose and that purpose is to grow into a mountain, not to shrink to a grain of sand. Henceforth will I apply ALL my efforts to become the highest mountain of all and I will strain my potential until it cries for mercy.
—Og Mandino (1923–96) American Self-Help Author
The true object of all human life is play. Earth is a task garden; heaven is a playground.
—G. K. Chesterton (1874–1936) English Journalist, Novelist, Essayist, Poet
Not only must we be good, but we must also be good for something.
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–62) American Philosopher
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
An ignorance of means may minister
To greatness, but an ignorance of aims
Make it impossible to be great at all.
—Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806–61) English Poet
It is when things go hardest, when life becomes most trying, that there is greatest need for having a fixed goal. When few comforts come from without, it is all the more necessary to have a fount to draw from within.
—B. C. Forbes (1880–1954) Scottish-born American Journalist, Publisher
The aim of life is self-development. To realize one’s nature perfectly — that is what each of us is here for.
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish Poet, Playwright
We’re still not where we’re going, but we’re not where we were.
—Natasha Josefowitz
The fact is, nothing comes; at least, nothing good. All has to be fetched.
—Charles Buxton (1823–71) British Politician, Writer
You can’t hit a target you cannot see, and you cannot see a target you do not have.
—Zig Ziglar (1926–2012) American Author
Your circumstances may be uncongenial, but they shall not long remain so if you but perceive an Ideal and strive to reach it.
—James Allen (1864–1912) British Philosophical Writer
One cannot manage too many affairs: like pumpkins in the water, one pops up while you try to hold down the other.
—Chinese Proverb
I am searching for that which every man seeks—peace and rest.
—Dante Alighieri (1265–1321) Italian Poet, Philosopher
When a man has not a good reason for doing a thing, he has one good reason for letting it alone.
—Walter Scott (1771–1832) Scottish Novelist, Poet, Playwright, Lawyer
Our goals can only be reached through a vehicle of a plan, in which we must fervently believe, and upon which we must vigorously act. There is no other route to success.
—Pablo Picasso (1881–1973) Spanish Painter, Sculptor, Artist
The main obligation is to amuse yourself.
—S. J. Perelman (1904–79) American Humorist, Author, Screenwriter
Impossibility is only a sum of greater unrealised possibles. It veils an advanced stage and a yet unaccomplished journey.
—Sri Aurobindo (1872–1950) Indian Mystic, Philosopher, Poet
The important thing is to strive towards a goal which is not immediately visible. That goal is not the concern of the mind, but of the spirit.
—Antoine de Saint-Exupery (1900–44) French Novelist, Aviator