I don’t believe that people create their own visions. Rather, I believe that visions are actually God’s way of communicating with us.
—Russell Simmons (b.1957) American Music Promoter
Rich people…take responsibility for the results in their lives and act upon the mind-set “It will work because I’ll make it work”.
—T. Harv Eker (b.1954) American Motivational Speaker, Lecturer, Author
All say, “How hard it is that we have to die” — a strange complaint to come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
—Mark Twain (1835–1910) American Humorist
The person who can be only serious or only cheerful, is but half a man.
—Leigh Hunt (1784–1859) British Poet, Essayist, Journalist
There are only three types of people; those who have found God and serve him; those who have not found God and seek him, and those who live not seeking, or finding him. The first are rational and happy; the second unhappy and rational, and the third foolish and unhappy.
—Blaise Pascal (1623–62) French Mathematician, Physicist, Theologian
I’ve always been interested in people, but I’ve never liked them.
—W. Somerset Maugham (1874–1965) British Novelist, Short-Story Writer, Playwright
To get into the best society nowadays, one has either to feed people, amuse people, or shock people
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish Poet, Playwright
A warrior-hunter knows that his death is waiting, and the very act he is performing now may well be his last battle on earth. He calls it a battle because it is a struggle. Most people move from act to act without any struggle or thought. A warrior-hunter, on the contrary, assesses every act; and since he has intimate knowledge of his death, he proceeds judiciously, as if every act were his last battle. Only a fool would fail to notice advantage a warrior-hunter has over his fellow men. A warrior-hunter gives his last battle its due respect. It’s only natural that his last act on earth should be the best of himself. It’s pleasurable that way. It dulls the edge of his fright.
—Carlos Castaneda (1925–98) Peruvian-born American Anthropologist, Author
I am convinced we do not only love ourselves in others but hate ourselves in others too.
—Georg Christoph Lichtenberg (1742–99) German Philosopher, Physicist
In general, of course, a stranger who tries to get you into an automobile is anything but noble, and in general a person who quotes great American novelists is anything but treacherous, and in general a man who says you needn’t worry about money, or a man who smokes cigarettes, is somewhere in between.
—Lemony Snicket (Daniel Handler) (b.1970) American Novelist
We have no higher life that is really apart from other people. It is by imagining them that our personality is built up; to be without the power of imagining them is to be a low-grade idiot.
—Charles Cooley (1864–1929) American Sociologist
Plenty of people miss their share of happiness, not because they never found it, but because they didn’t stop to enjoy it.
—William Feather (1889–1981) American Publisher, Author
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
What we know of other people’s only our memory of the moments during which we knew them.
—George Eliot (Mary Anne Evans) (1819–80) English Novelist
Do you know anyone who hasn’t changed his mind? This door was a tree, then it will be firewood for someone, then it will return to air and earth. We’re all like that, constantly changing. It’s simply honest to report that you’ve changed your mind when you have. When you’re afraid of what people will think if you speak honestly, that’s where you become confused.
—Byron Katie (b.1942) American Speaker, Author
No one has ever been able to control his thinking, although people may tell the story of how they have. I don’t let go of my thoughts?—I meet them with understanding. Then they let go of me.
—Byron Katie (b.1942) American Speaker, Author
I learned the most important lesson of my life: that the extraordinary is not the birthright of a chosen and privileged few, but of all people, even the humblest. That is my one certainty: we are all the manifestation of the divinity of God.
—Paulo Coelho (b.1947) Brazilian Songwriter, Novelist
Most people take the limits of their vision to be the limits of the world. A few do not. Join them.
—Arthur Schopenhauer (1788–1860) German Philosopher
Other men are lenses through which we read our own minds. Each man seeks those of different quality from his own, and such as are good of their kind; that is, he seeks other men, and the rest.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
The one who count are those persons who-though they may be of little renown-respond to and are responsible for the continuation of the living spirit.
—Martin Buber (1878–1965) Austrian Jewish Theologian, Philosopher, Novelist
Since the beginning of time, people have been trying to change the world so that they can be happy. This hasn’t ever worked, because it approaches the problem backward. What The Work gives us is a way to change the projector—mind—rather than the projected. It’s like when there’s a piece of lint on a projector’s lens. We think there’s a flaw on the screen, and we try to change this person and that person, whomever the flaw appears on next. But it’s futile to try to change the projected images. Once we realize where the lint is, we can clear the lens itself. This is the end of suffering, and the beginning of a little joy in paradise.
—Byron Katie (b.1942) American Speaker, Author
Why are there men and women that while they are nigh me the sunlight expands my blood? Why when they leave me do my pennants of joy sink flat and lank?
—Walt Whitman (1819–92) American Poet, Essayist, Journalist, American, Poet, Essayist, Journalist
Most people never run far enough on their first wind to find out they’ve got a second. Give your dreams all you’ve got and you’ll be amazed at the energy that comes out of you.
—William James (1842–1910) American Philosopher, Psychologist, Physician
Do you want a successful career or a close relationship with your family? Both! Do you want a focus on business or have fun and play? Both! Do you want money or meaning in your life? Both! Do you want to earn a fortune or do the work you love? Both! Poor people always choose one, rich people choose both.
—T. Harv Eker (b.1954) American Motivational Speaker, Lecturer, Author
Part of your mission in life then must be to share your gifts with as many people as possible. That means being willing to play big.
—T. Harv Eker (b.1954) American Motivational Speaker, Lecturer, Author
Things turn out best for the people who make the best out of the way things turn out.
—Art Linkletter (1912–2010) Canadian-born American Radio Personality, TV Personality
Too many people spend money they haven’t earned, to buy things they don’t want, to impress people they don’t like.
—Will Rogers (1879–1935) American Actor, Rancher, Humorist
If you were to fault yourself in one of three areas, which would it be: (1) the inability to prioritize; (2) the inability or desire to organize around those priorities; or (3) the lack of discipline to execute around them? … Most people say their main fault is a lack of discipline. On deeper thought, I believe that is not the case. The basic problem is that their priorities have not become deeply planted in their hearts and minds. They haven’t really internalized Habit 2 [Begin with the end in mind].
—Stephen Covey (1932–2012) American Self-help Author
I hate the irreverent rabble and keep them far from me.
—Horace (Quintus Horatius Flaccus) (65–8 BCE) Roman Poet
A small man can be just as exhausted as a great man.
—Arthur Miller (1915–2005) American Playwright, Essayist
In each of us there is a little of all of us.
—Georg Christoph Lichtenberg (1742–99) German Philosopher, Physicist
If you look for the bad in people expecting to find it, you surely will.
—Abraham Lincoln (1809–65) American Head of State
Social movements are at once the symptoms and the instruments of progress. Ignore them and statesmanship is irrelevant; fail to use them and it is weak.
—Walter Lippmann (1889–1974) American Journalist, Political Commentator, Writer
People who refuse to take risks live with a feeling of dread that is far more severe than what they would feel if they took the risks necessary to make them less helpless—only they don’t know it!
—Susan Jeffers (1938–2012) American Psychologist, Self-Help Author
Hardening of the heart ages people faster than hardening of the arteries.
—Unknown
Spiritual superiority only sees the individual. But alas, ordinarily we human beings are sensual and, therefore, as soon as it is a gathering, the impression changes—we see something abstract, the crowd, and we become different. But in the eyes of God, the infinite spirit, all the millions that have lived and now live do not make a crowd, He only sees each individual.
—Soren Kierkegaard (1813–55) Danish Philosopher, Theologian
His voice was as intimate as the rustle of sheets.
—Dorothy Parker (1893–1967) American Humorist, Journalist
One of the principles we teach in our programs is “If you shoot for the stars, you’ll at least hit the moon”. Poor people don’t even shoot for the ceiling in their house, and then they wonder why they’re not successful.
—T. Harv Eker (b.1954) American Motivational Speaker, Lecturer, Author
The world owes all its onward impulses to men ill at ease. The happy man inevitably confines himself within ancient limits.
—Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804–64) American Novelist, Short Story Writer
We don’t attach to people or to things; we attach to uninvestigated concepts that we believe to be true in the moment.
—Byron Katie (b.1942) American Speaker, Author
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
Good humor is a tonic for mind and body. It is the best antidote for anxiety and depression. It is a business asset. It attracts and keeps friends. It lightens human burdens. It is the direct route to serenity and contentment.
—Grenville Kleiser (1868–1935) Canadian Author
People living deeply have no fear of death.
—Anais Nin (1903–77) French-American Essayist
Thinking is the hardest and most exhausting of all labor; and hence many people shrink from it.
—Wallace Wattles (1860–1911) American New Thought Author
Some people are electrifying, they light up a room when they leave.
—Yiddish Proverb
Poor people either mismanage their money or they avoid the subject of money altogether.
—T. Harv Eker (b.1954) American Motivational Speaker, Lecturer, Author
Self-actualizing people must be what they can be.
—Abraham Maslow (1908–70) American Psychologist, Academic, Humanist
The personal power that comes from principle-centered living is the power of a self-aware, knowledgeable, proactive individual, unrestricted by the attitudes, behaviors, and actions of others or by many of the circumstances and environmental influences that limit other people.
—Stephen Covey (1932–2012) American Self-help Author
There are people who in spite of their merit disgust us, and others who please us in spite of their faults.
—Francois de La Rochefoucauld (1613–80) French Writer
Self-actualizing people have a deep feeling of identification, sympathy, and affection for human beings in general. They feel kinship and connection, as if all people were members of a single family.
—Abraham Maslow (1908–70) American Psychologist, Academic, Humanist