The very first step towards success in any occupation is to become interested in it.
—William Osler (1849–1919) Canadian Physician
I stake to where the puck is going to be, not where it has been.
—Wayne Gretzky (b.1961) Canadian Sportsperson
Become a possibilitarian. No matter how dark things seem to be or actually are, raise your sights and see the possibilities—always see them, for they’re always there.
—Norman Vincent Peale (1898–1993) American Clergyman, Self-Help Author
Musicians must make music, artists must paint, poets must write if they are to be ultimately at peace with themselves. What human beings can be, they must be. They must be true to their own nature. This need we may call self-actualization.
—Abraham Maslow (1908–70) American Psychologist, Academic, Humanist
Personal mastery is the discipline of continually clarifying and deepening our personal vision, of focusing our energies, of developing patience, and of seeing reality objectively.
—Peter Senge (b.1947) American Management Consultant, Author, Scientist
At the age of six I wanted to be a cook. At seven I wanted to be Napoleon. And my ambition has been growing steadily ever since.
—Salvador Dali (1904–89) Spanish Painter
Every man takes the limits of his own field of vision for the limits of the world.
—Arthur Schopenhauer (1788–1860) German Philosopher
Every age needs men who will redeem the time by living with a vision of the things that are to be.
—Adlai Stevenson (1900–65) American Diplomat, Politician, Orator
All successful people men and women are big dreamers. They imagine what their future could be, ideal in every respect, and then they work every day toward their distant vision, that goal or purpose.
—Brian Tracy (b.1944) American Author, Motivational Speaker
Sometimes the heart sees what is invisible to the eye.
—H. Jackson Brown, Jr. (b.1940) American Self-Help Author
He had always wanted to write Music and he could give no other identity to the thing he sought. If you want to know what it is, he told himself, listen to the first phrases of Tchaikowsky’s First Concerto, or the last movement of Rachmaninoff’s Second. Men have not found the words for it nor the deed nor the thought, but they have found the Music. Let me see that in one single act of man on earth. Let me see it made real. Let me see the answer to the promise of that Music. Not servants nor those served; not altars and immolations; but the final, the fulfilled, innocent of pain. Don’t help me or serve me, but let me see it once, because I need it. Don’t work for my happiness, my brothers – Show me yours – show me that it is possible – show me your achievement – and the knowledge will give me courage for mine.
—Ayn Rand (1905–82) Russian-born American Novelist, Philosopher
I can see, and that is why I can be happy, in what you call the dark, but which to me is golden. I can see a God-made world, not a man-made world.
—Helen Keller (1880–1968) American Author
Disciplining yourself to do what you know is right and important, although difficult, is the highroad to pride, self-esteem, and personal satisfaction.
—Ayn Rand (1905–82) Russian-born American Novelist, Philosopher
When there is no vision, a people perish.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
I find the great thing in this world is not so much where we stand, as in what direction we are moving: To reach the port of heaven, we must sail sometimes with the wind and sometimes against it,—but we must sail, and not drift, nor lie at anchor.
—Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. (1809–94) American Physician, Essayist
A man who becomes conscious of the responsibility he bears toward a human being who affectionately waits for him, or to an unfinished work, will never be able to throw away his life. He knows the “why” for his existence, and will be able to bear almost any “how”.
—Viktor Frankl (1905–97) Austrian Psychiatrist, Psychotherapist
If you want to reach a goal, you must ‘see the reaching’ in your own mind before you actually arrive at your goal.
—Zig Ziglar (1926–2012) American Author
People who cannot invent and reinvent themselves must be content with borrowed postures, secondhand ideas, fitting in instead of standing out.
—Warren Bennis (1925–2014) American Business Academic, Author
To be a star, you must shine your own light, follow your own path, and don’t worry about the darkness, for that is when the stars shine brightest.
—Unknown
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
There are lone figures armed only with ideas, sometimes with just one idea, who blast away whole epochs in which we are enwrapped like mummies. Some are powerful enough to resurrect the dead. Some steal on us unawares and put a spell over us which it takes centuries to throw off. Some put a curse on us, for our stupidity and inertia, and then it seems as if God himself were unable to lift it.
—Henry Miller (1891–1980) American Novelist
Seeing yourself as you want to be is the key to personal growth.
—Anonymous
The Three Armies can be deprived of their commanding officer, but even a common man cannot be deprived of his purpose.
—Confucius (551–479 BCE) Chinese Philosopher
The visionary disciplines himself to see the world always as if he had only just seen it for the first time.
—Colin Wilson (b.1931) British Philosopher, Novelist
Three levels of organizational vision: 1. The Do-able 2. The Conceivable 3. The Previously Unthinkable.
—Indian Proverb
It is good to realize that if love and peace can prevail on earth, and if we can teach our children to honor nature’s gifts, the joys and beauties of the outdoors will be here forever.
—Jimmy Carter (b.1924) American Head of State, Military Leader
We are limited, not by our abilities, but by our vision.
—Anonymous
Never look down to test the ground before taking your next step; only he who keeps his eye fixed on the far horizon will find his right road.
—Dag Hammarskjold (1905–61) Swedish Statesman, UN Diplomat
The very essence of leadership is [that] you have a vision. It’s got to be a vision you articulate clearly and forcefully on every occasion. You can’t blow an uncertain trumpet.
—Theodore Hesburgh (1917–2015) American Catholic Educator, Clergyman
Its marvelous what you can see when you open your eyes.
—Unknown