Everything is bilateral in the domain of thought. Ideas are binary. Janus is the myth of criticism and the symbol of genius. Only God is triangular!
—Honore de Balzac (1799–1850) French Novelist
Thoughts lead on to purpose, purpose leads onto actions, actions form habits, habits decide character, and character fixes our destiny.
—Tryon Edwards (1809–94) American Theologian, Author
The soul of God is poured into the world through the thoughts of men.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
We grow by our dreams.
—Woodrow Wilson (1856–1924) American Head of State
Cherish your visions. Cherish your ideals. Cherish the music that stirs in your heart, the beauty that forms in your mind, the loveliness that drapes your purest thoughts, for out of them will grow all delightful conditions, all heavenly environment; of these, if you but remain true to them, your world will at last be built.
—James Allen (1864–1912) British Philosophical Writer
The surprises of thought are like those of love: they wear out. But here too you can carry on for a long time doing your conjugal duty.
—Jean Baudrillard (1929–2007) French Sociologist, Philosopher
Thoughts come into our minds by avenues which we never left open, and thoughts go out of our minds through avenues which we never voluntarily opened.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
Having each some shingles of thought well dried, we sat and whittled them.
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–62) American Philosopher
What we think, we become.
—Buddhist Teaching
Whatever failures I have known, whatever errors I have committed, whatever follies I have witnessed in private and public life have been the consequence of action without thought.
—Bernard M. Baruch (1870–1965) American Financier, Economic Consultant
Why should we think upon things that are lovely? Because thinking determines life. It is a common habit to blame life upon the environment. Environment modifies life but does not govern life. The soul is stronger than its surroundings.
—William James (1842–1910) American Philosopher, Psychologist, Physician
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
Nay, be a Columbus to whole new continents and worlds within you, opening new channels, not of trade, but of thought. Every man is the lord of a realm beside which the earthly empire of the Czar is but a petty state, a hummock left by the ice. Yet some can be patriotic who have no self-respect, and sacrifice the greater to the less. They love the soil which makes their graves, but have no sympathy with the spirit which may still animate their clay. Patriotism is a maggot in their heads. What was the meaning of that South-Sea Exploring Expedition, with all its parade and expense, but an indirect recognition of the fact that there are continents and seas in the moral world to which every man is an isthmus or an inlet, yet unexplored by him, but that it is easier to sail many thousand miles through cold and storm and cannibals, in a government ship, with five hundred men and boys to assist one, than it is to explore the private sea, the Atlantic and Pacific Ocean of one’s being alone. It is not worth the while to go round the world to count the cats in Zanzibar.
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–62) American Philosopher
The greatest events of an age are its best thoughts. It is the nature of thought to find its way into action.
—Christian Nestell Bovee (1820–1904) American Writer, Aphorist
Clarity is the counterbalance of profound thoughts.
—Luc de Clapiers, marquis de Vauvenargues (1715–47) French Moralist, Essayist, Writer
We do not live to think, but, on the contrary, we think in order that we may succeed in surviving.
—Jose Ortega y. Gasset (1883–1955) Spanish Critic, Journalist, Philosopher
No man can ever be greater than his loftiest thoughts.
—Indian Proverb
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
A man might frame, and let loose a star, to roll in its orbit, and yet not have done so memorable a thing before God, as he who lets go a golden-orbed thought to roll through the generations of time.
—Henry Ward Beecher (1813–87) American Clergyman, Writer
Alas, we make a ladder of our thoughts, where angels step, but sleep ourselves at the foot; our high resolves look down upon our slumbering acts.
—Letitia Elizabeth Landon (1802–38) English Poet, Novelist
Beauty is no quality in things themselves: it exists merely in the mind which contemplates them.
—David Hume (1711–76) Scottish Philosopher, Historian
In our course we teach that “no thought lives in your head rent-free”. Each thought you have will either be an investment or a cost. It will either move you toward happiness and success or away from it. It will either empower you or disempower you. That’s why it is imperative you choose your thoughts and beliefs wisely.
—T. Harv Eker (b.1954) American Motivational Speaker, Lecturer, Author
Modern man likes to pretend that his thinking is wide-awake. But this wide-awake thinking has led us into the mazes of a nightmare in which the torture chambers are endlessly repeated in the mirrors of reason.
—Octavio Paz (1914–98) Mexican Poet, Diplomat
Nothing is impossible for those who act after wise counsel and careful thought.
—The Thirukkural (c.5th cent. CE) Tamil Sacred Couplets
It is impossible for men engaged in low and groveling pursuits to have noble and generous sentiments. A man’s thought must always follow his employment.
—Demosthenes (384–322 BCE) Greek Statesman, Orator
Thoughts of themselves have no substance; let them arise and pass away unheeded. Thoughts will not take form of themselves, unless they are grasped by the attention; if they are ignored, there will be no appearing and no disappearing.
—Asvaghosa (80–150 CE) Indian Buddhist Philosopher, Poet
Our goodness comes solely from thinking on goodness; our wickedness from thinking on wickedness. We too are the victims of our own contemplation.
—John Jay Chapman (1862–1933) American Literary Critic, Essayist
Fully to understand a grand and beautiful thought requires, perhaps, as much time as to conceive it.
—Joseph Joubert (1754–1824) French Writer, Moralist
Thoughts are funny little things; they can make paupers or make kings.
—Sidney Madwed (1926–2013) American Poet, Author
It is the task of radical thought, since the world is given to us unintelligibly, to make it more unintelligible, more enigmatic, more fabulous.
—Jean Baudrillard (1929–2007) French Sociologist, Philosopher
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