It is fatal to enter any war without the will to win it.
—Douglas MacArthur (1880–1964) American Military Leader
Just imagine you’re four years old, and someone makes the following proposal: If you’ll wait until after he runs an errand, you can have two marshmallows for a treat. If you can’t wait until then, you can have only one–but you can have it right now. It is a challenge sure to try the soul of any four-year-old, a microcosm of the eternal battle between impulse and restraint, id and ego, desire and self-control, gratification and delay… There is perhaps no psychological skill more fundamental than resisting impulse. It is the root of all emotional self-control, since all emotions, by their very nature, led to one or another impulse to act.
—Daniel Goleman (b.1946) American Psychologist, Author, Science Journalist
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, Film Director, Screenwriter
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 (b.1935) American Jewish Religious Leader, Priest
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
Knowing others is intelligence; knowing yourself is true wisdom. Mastering others is strength; mastering yourself is true power. If you realize that you have enough, you are truly rich.
—Laozi (fl.6th Century BCE) Chinese Philosopher, Sage
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
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 Government Official, Political leader
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
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
Don’t say, “I am depressed”. If you want to say, “It is depressed,” that’s all right. If you want to say that depression is there, that’s fine; if you want to say gloominess is there, that’s fine. But not: I am gloomy. You’re defining yourself in terms of the feeling. That’s your illusion; that’s your mistake. There is a depression there right now, but let it be, leave it alone. It will pass. Everything passes, everything. Your depressions and your thrills have nothing to do with happiness. Those are swings of the pendulum. If you seek kicks or thrills, get ready for depression. Do you want your drug? Get ready for the hangover. One end of the pendulum swings over to the other.
—Anthony de Mello (1931–87) Indian-born American Theologian
Our doubts are traitors and make us lose the good we oft might win by fearing to attempt.
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616) British Playwright
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
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
In the depth of winter I finally learned there was inside me an invincible summer.
—Albert Camus (1913–60) Algerian-born French Philosopher, Dramatist, Essayist, Novelist, Author
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
A winner is someone who recognizes his God-given talents, works his tail off to develop them into skills, and uses these skills to accomplish his goals.
—Larry Bird (b.1956) American Basketball Player
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 winds and waves are always on the side of the ablest navigators.
—Edward Gibbon (1737–94) English Historian, Politician
To conquer without risk is to triumph without glory.
—Pierre Corneille (1606–84) French Poet, Dramatist
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
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
Here is the basic rule for winning success. Let’s mark it in the mind and remember it. The rule is: Success depends on the support of other people. The only hurdle between you and what you want to be is the support of other people.
—David J. Schwartz (1927–87) American Self-help Author
You cannot attain mastery by patterning yourself after another or by following custom or tradition. Sheep do that. Masters and leaders never do.
—Roger McDonald (b.1941) Australian Novelist, Poet, Screenwriter, Writer
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 (b.1934) 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
The will to prepare is more important that the will to win.
—LaVell Edwards (1930–2016) American College Football Coach
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 (b.1934) Hungarian-American Psychologist
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