We pay a heavy price for our fear of failure. It is a powerful obstacle to growth. It assures the progressive narrowing of the personality and prevents exploration and experimentation. There is no learning without some difficulty and fumbling. If you want to keep on learning, you must keep on risking failure—all your life.
—John W. Gardner (1912–2002) American Activist
Sunshine is delicious, rain is refreshing, wind braces up, snow is exhilarating; there is no such thing as bad weather, only different kinds of good weather.
—John Ruskin (1819–1900) English Writer, Art Critic
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
Genius is Omniscience flowing into man.
—Wallace Wattles (1860–1911) American New Thought Author
It’s only our story that keeps us from knowing that we always have everything we need.
—Byron Katie (b.1942) American Speaker, Author
To conquer without risk is to triumph without glory.
—Pierre Corneille (1606–84) French Poet, Dramatist
To love and win is the best thing. To love and lose, the next best.
—William Makepeace Thackeray (1811–63) English Novelist
The purpose of life is not to win. The purpose of life is to grow and to share. When you come to look back on all that you have done in life, you will get more satisfaction from the pleasure you have brought into other people’s lives that you will from the times that you outdid and defeated them.
—Harold Kushner (1935–2023) American Rabbi, Author
The most important single ingredient in the formula of success is knowing how to get along with people.
—Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919) American Historian, Political Leader, Explorer
You have to believe in yourself when no one else does. That’s what makes you a winner.
—Venus Williams (b.1980) American Tennis Player
The key to every man is his thought. Sturdy and defying though he look, he has a helm which he obeys, which is the idea after which all his facts are classified. He can only be reformed by showing him a new idea which commands his own.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
It is heartening to realize that although we may crave comfort and routine, we nourish the soul’s growth primarily through what is hard. As Darwin saw it, it’s not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent, but those who are most responsive to change.
—Robert K. Cooper (b.1957) American Author, Psychologist
You must take personal responsibility.
You cannot change the circumstances, the seasons,
or the wind, but you can change yourself.
That is something you have charge of.
You don’t have charge of the constellations,
but you do have charge of whether you read,
develop new skills, and take new classes.
—Jim Rohn (1930–2009) American Entrepreneur, Author, Motivational Speaker
The knowledge that you can handle anything that comes your way is the key to allowing yourself to take healthy, life-affirming risks.
—Susan Jeffers (1938–2012) American Psychologist, Self-Help Author
The best horse doesn’t always win the race.
—Irish Proverb
Warriors do not win victories by beating their heads against walls, but by overtaking the walls. Warriors jump over walls; they don’t demolish them.
—Carlos Castaneda (1925–98) Peruvian-born American Anthropologist, Author
To the person who does not know where he wants to go there is no favorable wind.
—Seneca the Younger (Lucius Annaeus Seneca) (c.4 BCE–65 CE) Roman Stoic Philosopher, Statesman, Tragedian
Overachievement is aimed at people who want to maximize their potential. And to do that, I insist you throw caution to the wind, ignore the pleas of parents, coaches, spouses, and bosses to be “realistic”. Realistic people do not accomplish extraordinary things because the odds against success stymie them. The best performers ignore the odds. I will show you that instead of limiting themselves to what’s probable, the best will pursue the heart-pounding, exciting, really big, difference-making dreams—so long as catching them might be possible.
—John Eliot (b.1971) American Psychologist, Academic
I take rejection as someone blowing a bugle in my ear to wake me up and get going, rather than retreat.
—Sylvester Stallone (b.1946) American Actor, Screenwriter, Director
To fear is one thing. To let fear grab you around the tail and swing you around is another.
—Katherine Paterson (b.1932) American Children’s Author
The rain-weeping and the sun burning twine together to make us grow. Keep your intelligence white-hot and your grief glistening, so your life will stay fresh. Cry easily like a little child.
—Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi (1207–73) Persian Muslim Mystic
Thinking is growth; we cannot think without growing.
—Wallace Wattles (1860–1911) American New Thought Author
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
Jane Fonda, who divided her life into three acts, decided after her sixtieth birthday that she was now facing the final act, and came to the following conclusion: “I thought to myself, well if that’s the case and if what I’m scared of isn’t death, but getting to the end with regrets, then I’ve got to figure out what would be the things that I would regret when I got to the last act if I hadn’t done them or achieved them by then. And they were: having an intimate relationship and having made a difference”.
—Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (1934–2021) Hungarian-American Psychologist
Our doubts are traitors and make us lose the good we oft might win by fearing to attempt.
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616) British Playwright
The winds and waves are always on the side of the ablest navigators.
—Edward Gibbon (1737–94) English Historian, Politician
Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.
—James Baldwin (1924–87) American Novelist, Social Critic
The first requisite of success is the ability to apply your physical and mental energies to one problem without growing weary.
—Thomas Edison (1847–1931) American Inventor, Scientist, Entrepreneur
If we listened to our intellect we’d never have a love affair. We’d never have a friendship. We’d never go in business because we’d be cynical: It’s gonna go wrong. Or She’s going to hurt me. Or, I’ve had a couple of bad love affairs, so therefore … Well, that’s nonsense. You’re going to miss life. You’ve got to jump off the cliff all the time and build your wings on the way down.
—Ray Bradbury (b.1920) American Novelist, Short Story Writer
If we expended all our energies solely on taking care of our own needs we would stop growing. In that respect what we call “soul” can be viewed as the surplus energy that can be invested into change and transformation. As such, it is the cutting edge of evolution.
—Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (1934–2021) Hungarian-American Psychologist
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