It’s not the will to win that matters—everyone has that. It’s the will to prepare to win that matters.
—Bear Bryant (1913–83) American Sportsperson
The most important single ingredient in the formula of success is knowing how to get along with people.
—Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919) American Head of State, Political leader, Historian, Explorer
Your pain is the breaking of the shell that encloses your understanding. Even as the stone of the fruit must break, that its heart may stand in the sun, so must you know pain. And could you keep your heart in wonder at the daily miracles of your life, your pain would not seem less wondrous than your joy; And you would accept the seasons of your heart, even as you have always accepted the seasons that pass over your fields. And you would watch with serenity through the winters of your grief.
—Kahlil Gibran (1883–1931) Lebanese-born American Philosopher, Poet, Painter, Theologian, Sculptor
To love and win is the best thing. To love and lose, the next best.
—William Makepeace Thackeray (1811–63) English Novelist
The first thing I did was commit to my success and playing to win. I swore I would focus and not even consider leaving this business until I was a millionaire or more. This was radically different from my previous efforts, where, because I always thought short-term, I would constantly get side-tracked by either good opportunities or when things got tough.
—T. Harv Eker (b.1954) American Motivational Speaker, Lecturer, 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
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 Cooper (b.1947) British Diplomat
Whatever we focus on is bound to expand. Where we see the negative, we call forth more negative. And where we see the positive, we call forth more positive. Having loved and lost, I now love more passionately. Having won and lost, I now win more soberly. Having tasted the bitter, I now savor the sweet.
—Marianne Williamson (b.1952) American Activist, Author, Lecturer
I have missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I have lost almost 300 games. On 26 occasions I have been entrusted to take the game winning shot…And I missed. And I have failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is precisely…Why I succeed.
—Michael Jordan (b.1963) American Sportsperson, Businessperson
The will to prepare is more important that the will to win.
—LaVell Edwards (1930–2016) American College Football Coach
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
Knowing oneself is not so much a question of discovering what is present in one’s self, but rather the creation of who one wants to be.
—Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (1934–2021) Hungarian-American Psychologist
Be like the bird, who, feeling the branch break beneath him sings, knowing that he has wings.
—Victor Hugo (1802–85) French Novelist
Our doubts are traitors and make us lose the good we oft might win by fearing to attempt.
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616) British Playwright
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
The winds and waves are always on the side of the ablest navigators.
—Edward Gibbon (1737–94) English Historian, Politician
A smile is a light in the window of the soul indicating that the heart is at home.
—Unknown
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
Too many of those with unrealized aspirations have set them aside due to fear of failure. The bigger the dream, the greater the fear. Doing less than our best allays this fear. I could have done better if I’d tried, we assure ourselves. Among the least appreciated reasons for doing superficial, second-rate work of any kind is the comfort of knowing it’s not our best that’s on the line. By not trying too hard, we avoid learning what our true potential is, and having to fulfill it. Doing our best can be deeply threatening. It forces us to consider what we’re actually capable of accomplishing. Once we learn that lesson, we can’t unlearn it. Our true potential becomes both a shining light we can follow and an oppressive burden of expectation that might, or might not, be met.
—Unknown
The downside, of course, is that over time religions become encrusted with precepts and ideas that are the antithesis of soul, as each faith tries to protect its doctrines and institution instead of nurturing the evolution of consciousness. If one is not careful to distinguish the genuine insights of a religion from its irrelevant accretions, one can go through life following an inappropriate moral compass.
—Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (1934–2021) Hungarian-American Psychologist
He who binds to himself a joy
Doth the winged life destroy;
But he who kisses the joy as it flies
Lives in Eternity’s sunrise.
—William Blake (1757–1827) English Poet, Painter, Printmaker
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
The greatest happiness that you can have is knowing that you do not necessarily require happiness.
—William Saroyan (1908–81) American Playwright, Novelist
If you wait until the wind and the weather are just right, you will never plant anything and never harvest anything.
—The Holy Bible Scripture in the Christian Faith
I have learned over the years that when one’s mind is made up, this diminishes fear; knowing what must be done does away with fear.
—Rosa Parks (1913–2005) American Civil Rights Leader
No bird soars too high if he soars with his own wings.
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900) German Philosopher, Scholar, Writer
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
In its knowledges light, we must think and act not only for the moment but for our time. I am reminded of the great French Marshal Lyautey, who once asked his gardener to plant a tree. The gardener objected that the tree was slow-growing and would not reach maturity for a hundred years. The Marshal replied, In that case, there is no time to lose, plant it this afternoon.
—John F. Kennedy (1917–63) American Head of State, Journalist
Bring the full tithes into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house; and thereby put me to the test, says the Lord of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you an overflowing blessing.
—The Holy Bible Scripture in the Christian Faith
It’s only our story that keeps us from knowing that we always have everything we need.
—Byron Katie (b.1942) American Speaker, Author