Better to aim at a star than shoot down a well; you’ll hit higher.
—Unknown
All human situations have their inconveniences. We feel those of the present but neither see nor feel those of the future; and hence we often make troublesome changes without amendment, and frequently for the worse.
—Benjamin Franklin (1706–90) American Political Leader, Inventor, Diplomat
The soul never thinks without a mental picture.
—Aristotle (384BCE–322BCE) Ancient Greek Philosopher, Scholar
I am different from Washington; I have a higher, grander standard of principle. Washington could not lie. I can lie, but I won’t.
—Mark Twain (1835–1910) American Humorist
I submit to you that if a man has not discovered something that he will die for, he isn’t fit to live.
—Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929–68) American Civil Rights Leader, Clergyman
Vision looks inwards and becomes duty. Vision looks outwards and becomes aspiration. Vision looks upwards and becomes faith.
—Stephen Samuel Wise (1874–1949) American Jewish Rabbi
The republic is a dream.
Nothing happens unless first a dream.
—Carl Sandburg (1878–1967) American Biographer, Novelist, Socialist
Visualize this thing that you want, see it, feel it, believe in it. Make your mental blue print, and begin to build.
—Robert Collier (1885–1950) American Self-Help Author
The great successful men of the world have used their imagination…they think ahead and create their mental picture in all its details, filling in here, adding a little there, altering this a bit and that a bit, but steadily building – steadily building.
—Robert Collier (1885–1950) American Self-Help Author
The business of a seer is to see; and if he involves himself in the kind of God-eclipsing activities which make seeing impossible, he betrays the trust which his fellows have tacitly placed in him.
—Aldous Huxley (1894–1963) English Humanist, Pacifist, Essayist, Short Story Writer, Satirist
October. This is one of the peculiarly dangerous months to speculate in stocks. The others are July, January, September, April, November, May, March, June, December, August, and February.
—Mark Twain (1835–1910) American Humorist
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
We are all visionaries, and what we see is our soul in things.
—Henri Frederic Amiel (1821–81) Swiss Moral Philosopher, Poet, Critic
You don’t need an explanation for everything, Recognize that there are such things as miracles—events for which there are no ready explanations. Later knowledge may explain those events quite easily.
—Harry Browne (1933–2006) American Politician, Investor, Writer
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
The moment of enlightenment is when a person’s dreams of possibilities become images of probabilities.
—Vic Braden (b.1929) American Sportsperson, Author
A vision without a task is but a dream. A task without a vision is drudgery. A vision with a task is the hope of the world.
—Unknown
If only we could pull out our brain and use only our eyes.
—Pablo Picasso (1881–1973) Spanish Painter, Sculptor, Artist
Learn to see, and then you’ll know that there is no end to the new worlds of our vision.
—Carlos Castaneda (1925–98) Peruvian-born American Anthropologist, Author
The focus in the Creator Orientation is on a Vision or an Outcome. You orient your thoughts and actions toward creating what you most deeply want to see or experience in life.
—David Emerald
A man to carry on a successful business must have imagination. He must see things as in a vision, a dream of the whole thing.
—Charles M. Schwab (1862–1939) American Businessperson
Usually obstacles are the things you see when you take your eyes off the goal.
—Hannah More
The size of your accomplishments, the quality of your achievement, will depend very largely on how big a man you see in yourself, what sort of image you get of your possible self, yourself at your best.
—Orison Swett Marden (1850–1924) American New Thought Writer, Physician, Entrepreneur
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
The time is always right to do what’s right.
—Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929–68) American Civil Rights Leader, Clergyman
Intent is not a thought, or an object, or a wish. Intent is what can make a man succeed when his thoughts tell him that he is defeated. It operates in spite of the warrior’s indulgence. Intent is what makes him invulnerable. Intent is what sends a shaman through a wall, through space, to infinity.
—Carlos Castaneda (1925–98) Peruvian-born American Anthropologist, Author
When we are alone on a starlit night, when by chance we see the migrating birds in autumn descending on a grove of junipers to rest and eat; when we see children in a moment when they are really children, when we know love in our own hearts; or when, like the Japanese poet, Basho, we hear an old frog land in a quiet pond with a solitary splash—at such times the awakening, the turning inside out of all values, the “newness”, the emptiness and the purity of vision that make themselves evident, all these provide a glimpse of the cosmic dance.
—Thomas Merton (1915–68) American Trappist Monk
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 weed is a plant whose virtues have not yet been discovered.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
Whoever wishes to win in this game must have patience and money, since the values are so little constant and the rumors so little founded on truth.
—Jonathan Swift (1667–1745) Irish Satirist
Some of the steps you take may end up being detours or out-and-out mistakes. By staying focused on your vision, though, you’ll find even those steps useful in the creating process.
—David Emerald
Now, having seen the differences between where you are and where you want to be, begin to change—consciously change—your thoughts, words, and actions to match your grandest vision.
—Neale Donald Walsch (b.1943) American Spiritual Writer
The most common commodity in this country is unrealized potential.
—Calvin Coolidge (1872–1933) American Head of State, Lawyer
Remember, every great leader (or visionary or brave thinker) was initially laughed at. Now they are revered.
—Robin Sharma (b.1964) Canadian Writer, Motivational Speaker
The greatest achievement was at first and for a time a dream. The oak sleeps in the acorn, the bird waits in the egg, and in the highest vision of the soul a waking angel stirs. Dreams are the seedlings of realities.
—James Lane Allen (1849–1925) American Novelist, Short Story Writer
Find something you love to do and you’ll never have to work a day in your life.
—Harvey Mackay (b.1932) American Businessman, Columnist, Author
Our thoughts take the wildest flight: Even at the moment when they should arrange themselves in thoughtful order.
—Lord Byron (George Gordon Byron) (1788–1824) English Romantic Poet
My interest is in the future because I’m going to spend the rest of my life there.
—Charles F. Kettering (1876–1958) American Inventor, Entrepreneur, Businessperson
It’s easy to see—hard to foresee.
—Benjamin Franklin (1706–90) American Political Leader, Inventor, Diplomat
It is a terrible thing to see and have no vision.
—Helen Keller (1880–1968) American Author
Apathy can only be overcome by enthusiasm, and enthusiasm can only be aroused by two things: first, an ideal which takes the imagination by storm, and second, a definite intelligible plan for carrying that ideal into practice.
—Arnold J. Toynbee (1889–1975) British Historian
You have to think big to be big.
—Claude M. Bristol (1891–1951) American Journalist, Self-Help Author
Give to us clear vision that we may know where to stand and what to stand for—because unless we stand for something, we shall fall for anything.
—Peter Marshall
Everything—a horse, a vine—is created for some duty…For what task, then, were you yourself created? A man’s true delight is to do the things he was made for.
—Marcus Aurelius (121–180) Emperor of Rome, Stoic Philosopher
Faith is the confidence, the assurance, the enforcing truth, the knowing…
—Robert Collier (1885–1950) American Self-Help Author
Trust your hunches… Hunches are usually based on facts filed away just below the conscious level. Warning! Do not confuse your hunches with wishful thinking. This is the road to disaster.
—Joyce Brothers (1927–2013) American Psychologist, Advice Columnist
The painter will produce pictures of little merit if he takes the works of others as his standard.
—Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519) Italian Polymath, Painter, Sculptor, Inventor, Architect
I have nothing new to teach the world. Truth and Non-violence are as old as the hills. All I have done is to try experiments in both on as vast a scale as I could.
—Mohandas K. Gandhi (1869–1948) Indian Hindu Political leader
Anything is one of a million paths. Therefore, a warrior must always keep in mind that a path is only a path; if he feels that he should not follow it, he must not stay with it under any conditions. His decision to keep on that path or to leave it must be free of fear or ambition. He must look at every path closely and deliberately. There is a question that a warrior has to ask, mandatorily: ‘Does this path have a heart?’
—Carlos Castaneda (1925–98) Peruvian-born American Anthropologist, Author
Reach high, for stars lie hidden in your soul. Dream deep, for every dream precedes the goal.
—Ralph Vaull Starr