All truly wise thoughts have been thought already thousands of times; but to make them truly ours, we must think them over again honestly, till they take firm root in our personal experience.
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) German Poet
A man is not idle because he is absorbed in thought. There is a visible labor and there is an invisible labor.
—Victor Hugo (1802–85) French Novelist
It is no good getting furious if you get stuck. What I do is keep thinking about the problem but work on something else. Sometimes it is years before I see the way forward. In the case of information loss and black holes, it was 29 years.
—Stephen Hawking (1942–2018) English Theoretical Physicist, Cosmologist, Academic
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
No amount of energy will take the place of thought. A strenuous life with its eyes shut is a kind of wild insanity.
—Henry van Dyke Jr. (1852–1933) American Author, Educator, Clergyman
Thinking is one thing no one has ever been able to tax.
—Charles F. Kettering (1876–1958) American Inventor, Entrepreneur, Businessperson
The average man never really thinks from end to end of his life. The mental activity of such people is only a mouthing of cliches.
—H. L. Mencken (1880–1956) American Journalist, Literary Critic
If you spend too much time thinking about a thing, you’ll never get it done.
—Bruce Lee (1940–73) American Martial Artist, Actor, Philosopher
Self-worth comes from one thing—thinking that you are worthy.
—Wayne Dyer (1940–2015) American Self-Help Author
We are formed and molded by our thoughts. Those whose minds are shaped by selfless thoughts give joy when they speak or act. Joy follows them like a shadow that never leaves them.
—Buddhist Teaching
Invest a few moments in thinking. It will pay good interest.
—Unknown
If I have done the public any service, it is due to my patient thought.
—Isaac Newton (1643–1727) English Physicist, Mathematician, Astronomer, Theologian
If an Arab in the desert were suddenly to discover a spring in his tent, and so would always be able to have water in abundance, how fortunate he would consider himself; so too, when a man who … is always turned toward the outside, thinking that his happiness lies outside him, finally turns inward and discovers that the source is within him.
—Soren Kierkegaard (1813–55) Danish Philosopher, Theologian
There are lots of people who cannot think seriously without injuring their minds.
—John Jay Chapman (1862–1933) American Biographer, Poet, Essayist, Writer
Did you ever stop to think, and forget to start again?
—A. A. Milne (1882–1956) British Humorist, Playwright, Children’s Writer
Sometimes I think and other times I am.
—Paul Valery (1871–1945) French Critic, Poet
Confidence is not a guarantee of success, but a pattern of thinking that will improve your likelihood of success, a tenacious search for ways to make things work.
—John Eliot (b.1971) American Psychologist, Academic
The how” thinker gets problems solved effectively because he wastes no time with futile “ifs” but goes right to work on the creative “how”.”
—Norman Vincent Peale (1898–1993) American Clergyman, Self-Help Author
It’s only a thought, and a thought can be changed.
—Louise Hay (b.1926) American Author
Reading is equivalent to thinking with someone else’s head instead of with one’s own.
—Arthur Schopenhauer (1788–1860) German Philosopher
Iron rusts from disuse; stagnant water loses its purity and in cold weather becomes frozen; even so does inaction sap the vigor of the mind.
—Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519) Italian Polymath, Painter, Sculptor, Inventor, Architect
It is a rare mind indeed that can render the hitherto non-existent blindingly obvious. The cry ‘I could have thought of that’ is a very popular and misleading one, for the fact is that they didn’t, and a very significant and revealing fact it is too.
—Douglas Adams (1952–2001) English Novelist, Scriptwriter
So what is the difference between “power thinking” and “positive” thinking? The distinction is slight but profound. To me, people us positive thinking to pretend that everything is rosy, when they really believe that it’s not. With power thinking, we understand that everything is neutral, that nothing has meaning except for the meaning we give it, and that we are going to make up a story and give something it’s meaning.This is the difference between positive thinking and power thinking. With positive thinking, people believe that their thoughts are true. Power thinking recognizes that our thoughts are not true, but since we’re making up a story anyway, we might as well make up a story that supports us. We don’t do this because our new thoughts are “true” in an absolute sense, but because they are ore useful to us and feel a heck of a lot better than nonsupportive ones.
—T. Harv Eker (b.1954) American Motivational Speaker, Lecturer, Author
Learning without thought is labor lost; thought without learning is perilous.
—Confucius (551–479 BCE) Chinese Philosopher
The way we communicate with others and with ourselves ultimately determines the quality of our lives.
—Tony Robbins (b.1960) American Self-Help Author, Entrepreneur
Doubt is not a pleasant mental state, but certainty is a ridiculous one.
—Voltaire (1694–1778) French Philosopher, Author
All thought is naught but a footnote to Plato.
—George Santayana (1863–1952) Spanish-American Poet, Philosopher
Men fear thought as they fear nothing else on earth—more than ruin—more even than death … Thought is subversive and revolutionary, destructive and terrible, thought is merciless to privilege, established institutions, and comfortable habit. Thought looks into the pit of hell and is not afraid. Thought is great and swift and free, the light of the world, and the chief glory of man.
—Bertrand A. Russell (1872–1970) British Philosopher, Mathematician, Social Critic
Start thinking about yourself as a lifetime student at a large university. Your curriculum is your total relationship with the world you live in, from the moment you’re born to the moment you die.
—Susan Jeffers (1938–2012) American Psychologist, Self-Help Author
An arrow may fly through the air and leave no trace; but an ill thought leaves a trail like a serpent.
—Charles Mackay (1814–89) Scottish Poet, Journalist, Songwriter
All that we are is the result of what we have thought: it is founded on our thoughts, it is made up of our thoughts. If a man speaks or acts with an evil thought, pain follows him, as the wheel follows the foot of the ox that draws the carriage.
—The Dhammapada Buddhist Anthology of Verses
Logic: The art of thinking and reasoning in strict accordance with the limitations and incapacities of the human misunderstanding.
—Ambrose Bierce (1842–1913) American Short-story Writer, Journalist
Every event that a man would master must be mounted on the run, and no man ever caught the reins of a thought except as it galloped past him.
—Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. (1809–94) American Physician, Essayist
I refuse the compliment that I think like a man, thought has no sex, one either thinks or one does not.
—Clare Boothe Luce (1903–87) American Playwright, Diplomat, Journalist, Diplomat, Elected Rep
It is well for people who think to change their minds occasionally in order to keep them clean. For those who do not think, it is best at least to rearrange their prejudices once in a while.
—Luther Burbank (1849–1926) American Botanist, Scientist
You cannot plough a field by turning it over in your mind.
—Unknown
No brain is stronger than its weakest think.
—Thomas Masson (1866–1934) American Journalist, Humorist, Author
Intelligence must follow faith, never precede it. and never destroy it.
—Thomas a Kempis (1379–1471) German Religious Priest, Writer
There are different rules for reading, for thinking, and for talking. Writing blends all three of them.
—Mason Cooley (1927–2002) American Aphorist
A man is like a fraction whose numerator is what he is and whose denominator is what he thinks of himself. The larger the denominator the smaller the fraction.
—Leo Tolstoy (1828–1910) Russian Novelist
Meditation is the life of the soul: Action, the soul of meditation. and honor the reward of action.
—Francis Quarles (1592–1644) English Religious Poet
He who thinks and thinks for himself, will always have a claim to thanks; it is no matter whether it be right or wrong, so as it be explicit. If it is right, it will serve as a guide to direct; if wrong, as a beacon to warn.
—Jeremy Bentham (1748–1832) British Philosopher, Economist
A thought-form held in thinking substance is a reality; it is a real thing, whether it has yet become visible to mortal eye or not.
—Wallace Wattles (1860–1911) American New Thought Author
If you keep thinking about what you want to do or what you hope will happen, you don’t do it, and it won’t happen.
—Desiderius Erasmus (c.1469–1536) Dutch Humanist, Scholar
Thinking about the universe has now been handed over to specialists. The rest of us merely read about it.
—Mason Cooley (1927–2002) American Aphorist
Thought takes man out of servitude, into freedom.
—Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807–82) American Poet, Educator, Academic
It isn’t enough to think outside the box. Thinking is passive. Get used to acting outside the box.
—Tim Ferriss (b.1977) American Self-help Author
Language learning deserves special mention. It is, bar none, the best thing you can do to hone clear thinking.
—Tim Ferriss (b.1977) American Self-help Author
Profundity of thought belongs to youth, clarity of thought to old age.
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900) German Philosopher, Scholar, Writer
The person who sends out positive thoughts activates the world around him positively and draws back to himself positive results.
—Norman Vincent Peale (1898–1993) American Clergyman, Self-Help Author