Do something!

"Decisiveness is a characteristic of high-performing men and women. Almost any decision is better than no decision at all."

Brian Tracy
Author and Speaker

What we leave behind

"What we have done for ourselves alone, dies with us; what we have done for others and the world, remains and is immortal."

Albert Pike

When you know you're right

"Maturity begins when we're content to feel we're right about something, without feeling the necessity to prove someone else is wrong."

Sydney J. Harris

Starting where you are

"Do not wait; the time will never be 'just right.' Start where you stand, and work with whatever tools you may have at your command, and better tools will be found as you go along."

Napoleon Hill

Making the world a better place

"I believe in taking a positive attitude toward the world. My hope still is to leave the world a little bit better than when I got here."

Jim Henson
1936-1990, Muppets Creator

What's in your mind

"Let a series of happy thoughts run through your mind. They will show on your face."

Norman Vincent Peale

Where you're going

"Paths clear before those who know where they're going and are determined to get there."

Leonard Roy Frank
Editor and Writer

Goals and daily life

"In the absence of clearly-defined goals, we become strangely loyal to performing daily trivia until ultimately we become enslaved by it."

Robert Heinlein
Novelist

Get going!

"The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing."

Walt Disney

Your life

"Accept responsibility for your life. Know that it is you who will get you where you want to go, no one else."

Les Brown
Speaker

Finding happiness

"Plenty of people miss their share of happiness. Not because they never found it - but because they didn't stop to enjoy it."

William Feather
1889-1981, Publisher and Author

Daylight in the mind

"Cheerfulness keeps up a kind of daylight in the mind, and fills it with a steady and perpetual serenity."

Joseph Addison

Facing your fears

"Many of our fears are tissue paper thin, and a single courageous step would carry us clear through them."

Brendan Behan
1923-1964, Poet, Novelist, and Playwright

Believing in yourself

"Believe in yourself and there will come a day when others will have no choice but to believe with you."

Oscar Wilde

Dreaming dreams

"Happy are those who dream dreams and are ready to pay the price to make them come true."

Leo Jozef Suenens

Never quit

"Your biggest break can come from never quitting. Being at the right place at the right time can only happen when you keep moving toward the next opportunity."

Arthur Pine

Telling someone thanks

"Appreciation can make a day, even change a life. Your willingness to put it into words is all that is necessary."

Margaret Cousins
1905-1996, Writer

A cheerful heart

"The cheerful live longest in years, and afterwards in our regards. Cheerfulness is the offshoot of goodness."

Christian Nestell Bovee
1820-1904, Author

Giving pleasure to others

"You find yourself refreshed by the presence of cheerful people. Why not make an honest effort to confer that pleasure on others? Half the battle is gained if you never allow youself to say anything gloomy."

Julia Child

Getting creative

"If you want creative workers, give them enough time to play."

John Cleese
Actor, Comedian, Writer, and Film Producer

Looking to the future

"Fix your eyes forward on what you can do, not back on what you cannot change."

Tom Clancy

What hard work does

"Hard work spotlights the character of people: some turn up their sleeves, some turn up their noses, and some don't turn up at all."

Sam Ewing
Former Major League Baseball Player

Enjoying every minute

"And so it has come to this. I am one of the lucky people in the world. I found something that I always wanted to do and I have enjoyed every single minute of it."

Johnny Carson

The foundation of true progress

"Optimism is essential to achievement and it is also the foundation of courage and true progress."

Nicholas Murray Butler

When someone says you can't do something

"Do just once what others say you can't do, and you will never pay attention to their limitations again."

James R. Cook
1728-1779, Naval Explorer

Life and security

"There never has been security. No man has ever known what he would meet around the next corner; if life were predictable it would cease to be life, and be without flavor."

Eleanor Roosevelt

How to make progress

"Behold the turtle: He only makes progress when he sticks his neck out."

James Bryant Conant

Taking action

"Life is too short to waste. Dreams are fulfilled only through action, not through endless planning to take action."

David J. Schwartz

When it doesn't pay to be 100% sure

"If you put off everything till you're sure of it, you'll never get anything done."

Norman Vincent Peale

2 paths in life

"There are two primary choices in life: to accept conditions as they exist, or accept the responsibility for changing them."

Denis Waitley

Coming up every morning

"If you're feeling low, don't despair. The sun has a sinking spell every night, but it comes back up every morning. The way I see it, if you want the rainbow, you gotta put up with the rain."

Dolly Parton

Doing extraordinary things

"People do not decide to become extraordinary. They decide to accomplish extraordinary things."

Sir Edmund Hillary
1919-2008, Mountaineer, Explorer and Philanthropist

Enjoying the roses

"One of the most tragic things I know about human nature is that all of us tend to put off living. We are all dreaming of some magical rose garden over the horizon - instead of enjoying the roses blooming outside our windows today."

Dale Carnegie

The one who benefits most from forgiveness

"Learn forgiveness. If you are the person who has been wronged, always remember that you have the power to forgive. No one else can give this power to you. Amazingly, by releasing resentment or negative feelings, you are the one who benefits most of all."

Cheryl Hitchcock

No peace without forgiveness

"Forgiveness is not always easy. At times, it feels more painful than the wound we suffered, to forgive the one that inflicted it. And yet, there is no peace without forgiveness."

Marianne Williamson

Laughter is like medicine

"A good laugh overcomes more difficulties and dissipates more dark clouds than any other one thing."

Laura Ingalls Wilder
1867-1957, Author

Determination

"There is no chance, no destiny, no fate, that can hinder or control the firm resolve of a determined soul."

Ella Wheeler Wilcox

"The most wasted of all days is that on which one has not laughed."

Nicolas Chamfort
1741-1794, Writer

Living every moment

"Start living now. Stop saving the good china for that special occasion. Stop withholding your love until that special person materializes. Every day you are alive is a special occasion. Every minute, every breath, is a gift from God."

Mary Manin Morrissey

When money fails

"My father taught me that reputation, not money, was the most important thing in the world."

William Rosenberg
1916-2002, Founder of Dunkin' Donuts

Happiness

"Seize the moments of happiness, love and be loved! That is the only reality in the world, all else is folly."

Leo Tolstoy

Getting clear with your vision

"Your vision will become clear only when you can look into your own heart. Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakens."

Carl Jung
1875-1961, Psychiatrist

What matters

"People who matter are most aware that everyone else does, too."

Malcolm Forbes

What we can do

"We have no choice of what color we're born or who our parents are or whether we're rich or poor. What we do have is some choice over what we make of our lives once we're here."

Mildred Taylor

Those who win

"History has demonstrated that the most notable winners usually encountered heartbreaking obstacles before they triumphed. They won because they refused to become discouraged by their defeats."

Bertie Charles Forbes
1880-1954, Financial Journalist, Author and founder of Forbes Magazine

Life's barricades -- or bridges?

"Setbacks and stressors are bridges to be crossed to our goals... not barricades to keep us from them."

Stephen Pierce
Speaker and Author

lifes

"Setbacks and stressors are bridges to be crossed to our goals... not barricades to keep us from them."

Stephen Pierce
Speaker and Author

Changing the world

"Maybe you can't change the whole world, but if you have love in your heart you can make small differences every day, which really does change the world, one life at a time."

Kristina Koncz

Habits

"We first make our habits, and then our habits make us."

John Dryden

Getting started

"Action is a great restorer and builder of confidence. Inaction is not only the result, but the cause, of fear. Perhaps the action you take will be successful; perhaps different action or adjustments will have to follow. But any action is better than no action at all."

Norman Vincent Peale

Being thankful

"Be thankful for what you have; you'll end up having more. If you concentrate on what you don't have, you will never, ever have enough."

Oprah Winfrey

Making others happy

"You will find yourself refreshed by the presence of cheerful people. Why not make earnest effort to confer that pleasure on others? Half the battle is gained if you never allow yourself to say anything gloomy."

Lydia M. Child
1802-1880, Abolitionist

Being thankful

"Appreciation is a wonderful thing: It makes what is excellent in others belong to us as well."

Voltaire
1694-1778, Philosopher and Writer

Being thankful

"We often take for granted the very things that most deserve our gratitude."

Cynthia Ozick
Writer

Planning your life

"Study as if you were going to live forever; live as if you were going to die tomorrow."

Maria Mitchell
1818-1889, Astronomer

Facing life with integrity

"Have the courage to say no. Have the courage to face the truth. Do the right thing because it is right. These are the magic keys to living your life with integrity."

W. Clement Stone

What kindness does

"When you are kind to others, it not only changes you, it changes the world."

Harold Kushner

Persistence and luck

"When I thought I couldn't go on, I forced myself to keep going. My success is based on persistence, not luck."

Estee Lauder
1906-2004, Entrepreneur

Starting a change

"Everybody talks about wanting to change things and help and fix, but ultimately all you can do is fix yourself. And that's a lot. Because if you can fix yourself, it has a ripple effect."

Rob Reiner

Accomplishing great goals

"All who have accomplished great things have had a great aim, have fixed their gaze on a goal which was high, one which sometimes seemed impossible."

Orison Swett Marden

How much we're worth

"The real measure of our wealth is how much we'd be worth if we lost all our money."

Benjamin Jowett
1817-1893, English Scholar, Classicist and Theologian

Predicting the future

"The best way to predict the future is to create it."

Peter Ferdinand Drucker
1909-2005, Political Economist and Author

How to turn your life around

"What can you do right now to begin to turn your life around? The very first thing is to start making a list of things to be grateful for."

Joe Vitale

Escaping old ideas

"The difficulty lies, not in the new ideas, but in escaping the old ones, which ramify, for those brought up as most of us have been, into every corner of our minds."

John Maynard Keynes

Daily choices

"We have a choice every day - to act on yesterday's good intentions or get an early start on tomorrow's regret."

Robert Brault

How to get more

"Be thankful for what you have; you'll end up having more. If you concentrate on what you don't have, you will never, ever have enough."

Oprah Winfrey

Getting committed

"The moment you commit and quit holding back, all sorts of unforeseen incidents, meetings and material assistance, will rise up to help you. The simple act of commitment is a powerful magnet for help."

Napoleon Hill

Making a hero

"A hero is an ordinary individual who finds the strength to persevere and endure in spite of overwhelming obstacles."

Christopher Reeve

What we aim for

"Who aims at excellence will be above mediocrity; who aims at mediocrity will be far short of it."

Burmese Saying

Without love

"There is no love without forgiveness, and there is no forgiveness without love."

Bryant H. McGill

Happiness in the small things

"The happiness of life is made up of minute fractions - the little soon forgotten charities of a kiss, a smile, a kind look, a heartfelt compliment in the disguise of a playful raillery, and the countless other infinitessimals of pleasurable thought and genial feeling."

Samuel Taylor Coleridge

Taking things for granted

"We often take for granted the very things that most deserve our gratitude."

Cynthia Ozick

How you can become great

"Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great."

Mark Twain

How to not grow old

"Youth is not a time of life - it is a state of mind. It is a temper of the will; a quality of the imagination; a vigor of the emotions; it is a freshness of the deep springs of life. Youth means a temperamental predominance of courage over timidity, of the appetite for adventure over a life of ease... Nobody grows old by merely living a number of years; people grow old by deserting their ideals."

Samuel Ullman

The everyday stuff

"It's not what you do once in a while; it's what you do day in and day out that makes the difference."

Jenny Craig
Co-Founder of Jenny Craig Weight Loss

What it takes to get to the best

"One hour per day of study will put you at the top of your field within three years. Within five years you'll be a national authority. In seven years, you can be one of the best people in the world at what you do."

Earl Nightingale

On real thinking

"A great many people think they are thinking when they are merely rearranging their prejudices."

William James
1842-1910, Psychologist, Philosopher and Author

What makes you happy

"It isn't what you have, or who you are, or where you are, or what you are doing that makes you happy or unhappy. It is what you think about."

Dale Carnegie

Fear

"Never let the fear of striking out get in your way."

George Herman "Babe" Ruth
1895-1948, Hall of Fame Baseball Player

Not allowing hate

"It is now long ago that I resolved that I would permit no man, no matter what his colour might be, to narrow and degrade my soul by making me hate him."

Booker T. Washington
1856-1915, Educator and Author

Making the future work

"Promises are the uniquely human way of ordering the future, making it predictable and reliable to the extent that this is humanly possible."

Hannah Arendt
1906-1975, Political Theorist

Doing the best that we can

"When we do the best that we can, we never know what miracle is wrought in our life, or in the life of another."

Helen Keller
1880-1968, Author and Lecturer

Going to new worlds

"Imagination will often carry us to worlds that never were. But without it we go nowhere."

Carl Sagan
1934-1996, Astrophysicist and Author

Getting results

"Once you replace negative thoughts with positive ones, you'll start having positive results."

Willie Nelson
Singer-Songwriter

Kind words

"Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless."

Mother Teresa

Heading to success

"The first step toward success is taken when you refuse to be a captive of the environment in which you first find yourself."

Mark Caine
Author

When work is fun

"The more I want to get something done, the less I call it work."

Richard Bach
Author

When he quit being afraid

"I quit being afraid when my first venture failed and the sky didn't fall down."

Allen H. Neuharth
Founder of USA Today

Go for it!

"If you put off everything till you're sure of it, you'll never get anything done."

Norman Vincent Peale
1898-1993, Minister and Author

What's ahead

"The future is open; we decide what's in it."

Wolfgang Sonnenburg

Becoming what you are

"If I accept you as you are, I will make you worse; however, if I treat you as though you are what you are capable of becoming, I help you become that."

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
1749-1832, Author and Philosopher

Setting high sights

"Set your sights high, the higher the better. Expect the most wonderful things to happen, not in the future but right now. Realize that nothing is too good. Allow absolutely nothing to hamper you or hold you up in any way."

Eileen Caddy
Author

The dream and the dreamer

"Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world."

Harriet Tubman
1822-1913, Abolitionist

When things will change

"When you get into a tight place and everything goes against you, till it seems as though you could not hold on a minute longer, never give up then, for that is just the place and time that the tide will turn."

Harriet Beecher Stowe

Making your dreams come true

"Happy are those who dream dreams and are ready to pay the price to make them come true."

Leon Suenens

Obstacles -- and opportunites

"What is the difference between an obstacle and an opportunity? Our attitude toward it. Every opportunity has a difficulty, and every difficulty has an opportunity."

J. Sidlow Baxter

Seeing your goals

"You must see your goals clearly and specifically before you can set out for them. Hold them in your mind until they become second nature."

Les Brown

Making your mind warm and full

"A mind, like a home, is furnished by its owner, so if one's life is cold and bare he can blame none but himself."

Louis L'Amour
1908-1988, Novelist

Don't give up

"Just don't give up trying to do what you really want to do. Where there's love and inspiration, I don't think you can go wrong."

Ella Fitzgerald
1917-1996, Jazz Singer

What the pressure does for you

"You will never be the person you can be if pressure, tension and discipline are taken out of your life."

James G. Bilkey
Author

Paying attention to details

"It's the little things that make the big things possible. Only close attention to the fine details of any operation makes the operation first class."

John Willard Marriott
1900-1985, Entrepreneur and Founder of Marriott Corporation

Counting our blessings

"Man is fond of counting his troubles, but he does not count his joys. If he counted them up as he ought to, he would see that every lot has enough happiness provided for it."

Fyodor Dostoevsky

Who succeeds

"People with goals succeed because they know where they're going. It's that simple."

Earl Nightingale

Growing through problems

"I am grateful for all of my problems. After each one was overcome, I became stronger and more able to meet those that were still to come. I grew in all my difficulties."

James Cash Penney
1875-1971, Entrepreneur and Founder of J.C. Penney Department Stores

What deserves our gratitude

"We often take for granted the very things that most deserve our gratitude."

Cynthia Ozick

The life you love

"If you are lucky enough to find a way of life you love, you have to find the courage to live it."

John Irving

What's needed

"Very little is needed to make a happy life; it is all within yourself, in your way of thinking."

Marcus Aurelius

What do you want to do?

"Most people are so busy knocking themselves out trying to do everything they think they should, they never get around to do what they want to do."

Kathleen Winsor

Work and action

"The big secret in life is that there is no secret. Whatever your goal, you can get there if you are willing to work. It is called massive action. Action is the gas in the tank. Without you, the car will not run."

Marcy Blochowiak

Doubts and faith

"When doubt comes upon you in your inquiry, bring faith to bear, for it is the surest solution."

Justin Martyr

What you attract

"Everybody is like a magnet. You attract to yourself reflections of that which you are. If you're friendly, then everybody else seems to be friendly too."

Dr. David Hawkins

Life and security

"Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature nor do the children of man as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing."

Helen Keller

Do it now

"You'll seldom experience regret for anything that you've done. It is what you haven't done that will torment you. The message, therefore, is clear. Do it! Develop an appreciation for the present moment. Seize every second of your life and savor it. Value your present moments. Using them up in any self-defeating ways means you've lost them forever."

Wayne Dyer

The greater part of happiness

"I am determined to be cheerful and happy in whatever situation I may find myself. For I have learned that the greater part of our misery or unhappiness is determined not by our circumstance but by our disposition."

Martha Washington

What you're not seeing

"Think BIG. There are unseen forces ready to support your dreams."

Cheryl Richardson

What you need to achieve

"To achieve great things, two things are needed; a plan, and not quite enough time."

Leonard Bernstein
Conductor and Composer

Falling in love with an idea

"The day you catch an idea you fall in love with, even a small one, is a beautiful day."

David Lynch
Filmmaker and Television Director

Making yourself do what you have to do

"Perhaps the most valuable result of all education is the ability to make yourself do the thing you have to do, when it ought to be done, whether you like it or not; it is the first lesson that ought to be learned; and however early a man's training begins, it is probably the last lesson that he learns thoroughly."

Thomas H. Huxley
1825-1895, Biologist

The force of habit

"The individual who wants to reach the top in business must appreciate the might of the force of habit and must understand that practices are what create habits. He must be quick to break those habits that can break him and hasten to adopt those practices that will become the habits that help him achieve the success he desires."

J. Paul Getty
1892-1976, American Oil Tycoon

Looking at the big picture

"Often we allow ourselves to be upset by small things we should despise and forget. We lose many irreplaceable hours brooding over grievances that, in a year's time, will be forgotten by us and by everybody. No, let us devote our life to worthwhile actions and feelings, to great thoughts, real affections and enduring undertakings."

Andre Maurois
1885-1967, Writer

Passing time

"Don't let the fear of the time it will take to accomplish something stand in the way of your doing it. The time will pass anyway; we might just as well put that passing time to the best possible use."

Earl Nightingale
1921-1989, Author

Going above and beyond

"No one ever attains very eminent success by simply doing what is required of him; it is the amount and excellence of what is over and above the required that determines the greatness of ultimate distinction."

Charles Kendall Adams
1835-1902

Saying and thinking

"It is a great mistake for men to give up paying compliments, for when they give up saying what is charming, they give up thinking what is charming."

Oscar Wilde

Doing good where you are

"Do your little bit of good where you are; its those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world."

Desmond Tutu

New roads

"If you don't like the road you're walking, start paving another one."

Dolly Parton

Letting go

"Even though you may want to move forward in your life, you may have one foot on the brakes. In order to be free, we must learn how to let go. Release the hurt. Release the fear. Refuse to entertain your old pain.

The energy it takes to hang onto the past is holding you back from a new life. What is it you would let go of today?"

Mary Manin Morrissey

Looking ahead -- and looking back

"It is better to look ahead and prepare than to look back and regret."

Jackie Joyner-Kersee
Multiple Olympic Gold Medal Champion