I get up every morning determined both to change the world and to have one hell of a good time. Sometimes, this makes planning the day difficult.
—E. B. White (1985–99) American Essayist, Humorist
Whatever results you’re getting, be they rich or poor, good or bad, positive or negative, always remember that your outer world is simply a reflection of your inner world. If things aren’t going well in your outer life, it’s because things aren’t going well in your inner life. It’s that simple.
—T. Harv Eker (b.1954) American Motivational Speaker, Lecturer, Author
Most people are good at a handful of things and utterly miserable at most.
—Tim Ferriss (b.1977) American Self-help Author
There are no evil people; there are perfectly good people who are of the track, but they do not need condemnation or punishment; they only need to get upon the rails again.
—Wallace Wattles (1860–1911) American New Thought Author
Our doubts are traitors and make us lose the good we oft might win by fearing to attempt.
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616) British Playwright
The Supreme end of education is expert discernment in all things—the power to tell the good from the bad, the genuine from the counterfeit, and to prefer the good and the genuine to the bad and the counterfeit.
—Samuel Johnson (1709–84) British Essayist
Heroism works in contradiction to the voice of mankind and in contradiction, for a time, to the voice of the great and good. Heroism is an obedience to a secret impulse of an individual’s character. Now to no other man can its wisdom appear as it does to him, for every man must be supposed to see a little farther on his own proper path than any one else. Therefore just and wise men take umbrage at his act, until after some little time be past: then they see it to be in unison with their acts. All prudent men see that the action is clean contrary to a sensual prosperity; for every heroic act measures itself by its contempt of some external good. But it finds its own success at last, and then the prudent also extol.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
Some individuals have developed such strong internal standards that they no longer need the opinion of others to judge whether they have performed a task well or not. The ability to give objective feedback to oneself is in fact the mark of the expert.
—Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (b.1934) Hungarian-American Psychologist
When you feel deeply that a certain act is the right act, do it and have perfect faith that the consequences will be good.
—Wallace Wattles (1860–1911) American New Thought Author
Good friends, good books and a sleepy conscience: this is the ideal life.
—Mark Twain (1835–1910) American Humorist
Half a century ago, the Austrian psychiatrist Viktor Frankl wrote that happiness cannot be attained by wanting to be happy – it must come as the unintended consequence of working for a goal greater than oneself.
—Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (b.1934) Hungarian-American Psychologist
The only good is knowledge and the only evil is ignorance.
—Socrates (469BCE–399BCE) Ancient Greek Philosopher
Good is the enemy of great. And that is one of the key reasons why we have so little that becomes great. We don’t have great schools, principally because we have good schools. We don’t have great government, principally because we have good government. Few people attain great lives, in large part because it is just so easy to settle for a good life.
—Jim Collins (b.1958) American Management Consultant
Knowing oneself is not so much a question of discovering what is present in one’s self, but rather the creation of who one wants to be.
—Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (b.1934) Hungarian-American Psychologist
The only way to keep your health is to eat what you don’t want, drink what you don’t like, and do what you’d druther not.
—Mark Twain (1835–1910) American Humorist
Sunshine is delicious, rain is refreshing, wind braces up, snow is exhilarating; there is no such thing as bad weather, only different kinds of good weather.
—John Ruskin (1819–1900) English Writer, Art Critic
Adopt an attitude of “It’s all happening perfectly. Let’s see what good I can create from the situation”.
—Susan Jeffers (1938–2012) American Psychologist, Self-Help Author
In the words of Max DePree: “Management has a lot to do with answers. But leadership is a function of questions. And the first question for a leader always is: ‘Who do we intend to be?’ Not ‘What are we going to do?’ but ‘Who do we intend to be?'”
—Max De Pree (1924–2017) American Businessman
Non-cooperation with evil is a sacred duty.
—Mohandas K. Gandhi (1869–1948) Indian Hindu Political leader
Every good thought you think is contributing its share to the ultimate result of your life.
—Grenville Kleiser (1868–1935) Canadian Author
There are three who are especially beloved by God: he who is forbearing, he who is temperate, and he who is courteous.
—The Talmud Sacred Text of the Jewish Faith
I remember an answer which when quite young I was prompted to make to a valued adviser, who was wont to importune me with the dear old doctrines of the church. On my saying, What have I to do with the sacredness of traditions, if I live wholly from within? my friend suggested, — “But these impulses may be from below, not from above”. I replied, “They do not seem to me to be such; but if I am the Devil’s child, I will live then from the Devil”. No law can be sacred to me but that of my nature. Good and bad are but names very readily transferable to that or this; the only right is what is after my constitution, the only wrong what is against it.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
Not only is there little stigma attributed to going bankrupt among cutting-edge entrepreneurs, it’s even seen as a good source of business experience.
—Unknown
From this moment on, every time you feel afraid, remind yourself that it is simply because you are not feeling good enough about yourself.
—Susan Jeffers (1938–2012) American Psychologist, Self-Help Author
Non-comprehenders are often distressed. Not you, though—because with good humor you’re blessed. After all, your thoughts went like this, I dare say: It was none but the Lord who made us that way.
—Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born Physicist
Would you tell me please, which way I ought to go from here? “That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,” said the Cat. “I don’t much care where…” said Alice. “Then it doesn’t matter which way you go,” said the Cat.
—Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (Lewis Carroll) (1832–98) British Anglican Author, Mathematician, Clergyman, Photographer, Logician
Through learning we grow, becoming more than we were before, and in that sense learning is unselfish, because it results in the transformation of what we were before, a setting aside of the old self in favor of a more complex one.
—Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (b.1934) Hungarian-American Psychologist
Cast out envy; you can have all that you want, and you need not envy any man what he has. Above all things, see to it that you do not hold malice or enmity toward any one; to do so cuts you off from the mind whose treasures you seek to make your own. Lay aside all narrow personal ambition and determine to seek the highest good.
—Wallace Wattles (1860–1911) American New Thought Author
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
We believe at once in evil, we only believe in good upon reflection.—Is not this sad?
—Dorothee Luzy Dotinville (1747–1830) French Dancer, Actress
I’ve seen the promised land, and there is good news. You can have it all.
—Tim Ferriss (b.1977) American Self-help Author
Enjoyment, on the other hand, is not always pleasant, and it can be very stressful at times. A mountain climber, for example, may be close to freezing, utterly exhausted, and in danger of falling into a bottomless crevasse, yet he wouldn’t want to be anywhere else. Sipping a pina colada under a palm tree at the edge of the turquoise ocean is idyllic, but it just doesn’t compare to the exhilaration he feels on the windswept ridge.
—Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (b.1934) Hungarian-American Psychologist
Sir John Templeton: “My ethical principle in the first place was: ‘Where could I use my talents that God gave me to help the most people?'”
—Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (b.1934) Hungarian-American Psychologist
The downside, of course, is that over time religions become encrusted with precepts and ideas that are the antithesis of soul, as each faith tries to protect its doctrines and institution instead of nurturing the evolution of consciousness. If one is not careful to distinguish the genuine insights of a religion from its irrelevant accretions, one can go through life following an inappropriate moral compass.
—Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (b.1934) Hungarian-American Psychologist
Nothing terrible has ever happened except in our thinking. Reality is always good, even in situations that seem like nightmares. The story we tell is the only nightmare that we have lived.
—Byron Katie (b.1942) American Speaker, Author
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
I look back on my life like a good day’s work; it is done and I am satisfied with it.
—Grandma Moses (1860–1961) American Painter, Artist
Without respect, the subtle alchemy that binds an organization or that serves as the impetus for a business transaction would dissolve into mutual suspicion and hostility.
—Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (b.1934) Hungarian-American Psychologist
If it is in the highest good for all life everywhere…
—Marlo Morgan (1937–98) American Novelist, Author
Before man is life and death, good and evil; that which he shall choose shall be given him.
—The Holy Bible Scripture in the Christian Faith
You might believe that it’s only for their own good, but how does it feel when you try to manipulate the people you love? Are you teaching them that your love is conditional? Maybe through inquiry we can find another way.
—Byron Katie (b.1942) American Speaker, Author
We can either help to make this world a more incredible place than it has ever been, or we can hasten its return to inorganic dust.
—Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (b.1934) Hungarian-American Psychologist
Child development: Most damaging course of action is attempting to keep children from experience or protect them from pain, for it is this time that children learn that life is a magic thing, if “not a rose garden”. The parent’s role is primarily to stand by with a good supply of band-aids.
—Leo Buscaglia (1924–98) American Motivational Speaker
Contrary to what most of us believe, happiness does not simply happen to us. It’s something that we make happen, and it results from doing our best. Feeling fulfilled when we live up to our potentialities is what motivates differentiation and leads to evolution.
—Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (b.1934) Hungarian-American Psychologist
Attention is psychic energy, and like physical energy, unless we allocate some part of it to the task at hand, no work gets done.
—Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (b.1934) Hungarian-American Psychologist
All good things come to those who wait.
—English Proverb
Good teaching is one-fourth preparation and three-fourths theater.
—Gail Godwin (b.1937) American Novelist, Short Story Writer
To know oneself is the first step toward making flow a part of one’s entire life. But just as there is no free lunch in the material economy, nothing comes free in the psychic one. If one is not willing to invest psychic energy in the internal reality of consciousness, and instead squanders it in chasing external rewards, one loses mastery of one’s life, and ends up becoming a puppet of circumstances.
—Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (b.1934) Hungarian-American Psychologist
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 (b.1934) Hungarian-American Psychologist
He who stops being better stops being good.
—Oliver Cromwell (1599–1658) British Head of State, Military Leader