"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, Professor of History and Author

"Living consciously involves being genuine; it involves listening and responding to others honestly and openly; it involves being in the moment."

Sidney Poitier
Actor and Author of The Measure of a Man

"I live by this credo: Have a little laugh at life and look around you for happiness instead of sadness. Laughter has always brought me out of unhappy situations. Even in your darkest moment, you usually can find something to laugh about if you try hard enough."

Red Skelton
1913-1997, Comedian

"Our self image and our habits tend to go together. Change one and you will automatically change the other."

Dr. Maxwell Maltz
1899-1975, Author

"The world cares very little about what a man or woman knows; it is what the man or woman is able to do that counts."

Booker T. Washington
1856-1915, Educator and Reformer

"Whenever you are asked if you can do a job, tell'em, 'certainly I can!' - and get busy and find out how to do it."

Theodore Roosevelt
1858-1919, Twenty-Sixth U.S. President

"You are, at this moment, standing, right in the middle of your own 'acres of diamonds.'"

Earl Nightingale
1921-1989, Syndicated Radio Announcer and Author

"Don't be afraid if things seem difficult in the beginning. That's only the initial impression. The important thing is not to retreat; you have to master yourself."

Olga Korbut
Gymnast - Four Time Olympic Gold Medallist

"So what do we do? Anything - something. So long as we don't just sit there. If we screw it up, start over. Try something else. If we wait until we've satisfied all the uncertainties, it may be too late."

Lee Iacocca
Former Chairman of Chrysler Corporation

"Four short words sum up what has lifted most successful individuals above the crowd: a little bit more. They did all that was expected of them and a little bit more."

A. Lou Vickery
Writer

"If you know what to do to reach your goal, it's not a big enough goal."

Bob Proctor
Author and Speaker

"People of mediocre ability sometimes achieve outstanding success because they don't know when to quit. Most people succeed because they are determined to."

George E. Allen
1832-1907, Publisher and Author

"I have never been a millionaire. But I have enjoyed a crackling fire, a glorious sunset, a walk with a friend and a hug from a child. There are plenty of life's tiny delights for all of us."

Jack Anthony
Author

"Failure will never overtake me if my determination to succeed is strong enough."

Og Mandino
1923-1996, Author and Speaker

"People of character do the right thing, not because they think it will change the world but because they refuse to be changed by the world."

Actor and Author of Michael Josephson
Radio Commentator

"When you judge another, you do not define them, you define yourself."

Wayne Dyer
Psychotherapist, Author and Speaker

"Select a few people to be particularly kind to today - those you were a little harsh with yesterday."

Norman Vincent Peale
1898-1993, Author and Speaker

"If you make the unconditional commitment to reach your most important goals, if the strength of your decision is sufficient, you will find the way and the power to achieve your goals."

Robert Conklin
Teacher, Author and Speaker

"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, Writer

"Bigness comes from doing many small things well. Individually, they are not very dramatic transactions. Together though, they add up."

Edward S. Finkelstein
Author

"Be careful the environment you choose for it will shape you; be careful the friends you choose for you will become like them."

W. Clement Stone
1902-2002, Author and Businessman

"It is time for us all to stand and cheer for the doer, the achiever - the one who recognizes the challenges and does something about it."

Vince Lombardi
1913-1970, American Football Coach

"Nurture your mind with great thoughts, for you will never go any higher than you think."

Benjamin Disraeli
1804-1881, British Statesman and Prime Minister

"If you look at what you have in life, you'll always have more. If you look at what you don't have in life, you'll never have enough."

Oprah Winfrey
Television Host, Actress and Producer

"When you are clear, what you want will show up in your life, and only to the extent you are clear."

Janet Attwood
Author of "The Passion Test"

"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

"Each indecision brings its own delays and days are lost lamenting over lost days... What you can do or think you can do, begin it. For boldness has magic, power, and genius in it."

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
1749-1832, Poet, Novelist and Scientist

"Circumstances may cause interruptions and delays, but never lose sight of your goal. Prepare yourself in every way you can by increasing your knowledge and adding to your experience, so that you can make the most of opportunity when it occurs.'"

Mario Andretti
Auto Racer

"No matter how small and unimportant what we are doing may seem, if we do it well, it may soon become the step that will lead us to better things."

Channing Pollock
Actor, Writer and Composer

"You can achieve anything you want in life if you have the courage to dream it, the intelligence to make a realistic plan, and the will to see that plan through to the end."

Sidney A. Friedman
Entrepreneur, Speaker and Author

"The road to happiness lies in two simple principles: find what it is that interests you and that you can do well, and when you find it put your whole soul into it - every bit of energy and ambition and natural ability you have."

John D. Rockefeller
1839-1937, Industrialist and Philanthropist

"When you face your fear, most of the time you will discover that it was not really such a big threat after all. We all need some form of deeply rooted, powerful motivation - it empowers us to overcome obstacles so we can live our dreams."

Les Brown
Speaker and Author

"Consciously or unconsciously, every one of us does render some service or other. If we cultivate the habit of doing this service deliberately, our desire for service will steadily grow stronger, and will make, not only our own happiness, but that of the world at large."

Mahatma Gandhi
1869-1948, Indian Political and Spiritual Leader

"The books that help you most are those which make you think the most. A great book that comes from a great thinker is a ship of thought, deep freighted with truth and beauty."

Theodore Parker
1810-1860, Minister

"Genuine kindness is not what we do. It is what we are."

Vernon Howard
Author of Psycho-Pictography

"Whenever encountering a troublesome person, do not identify him as being cruel or stupid or rude or anything else like that. Instead, see him as a frightened person."

Vernon Howard
Author of Psycho-Pictography

"If we are basically positive in attitude, expecting and envisioning pleasure, satisfaction and happiness, we will attract and create people, situations, and events which conform to our positive expectations."

Shakti Gawain
Author of Creative Visualization

"Years may wrinkle the skin, but to give up enthusiasm wrinkles the soul."

Samuel Ullman
1840-1924, Educator, Writer and Poet

"I don't know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everybody."

Bill Cosby
Actor and Comedian

"Every time I've done something that doesn't feel right, it's ended up not being right."

Mario Cuomo
Lawyer and Former Governor of New York

"I am more and more convinced that our happiness or our unhappiness depends far more on the way we meet the events of life than on the nature of those events themselves."

Karl Wilhelm Von Humboldt
1767-1835, German Statesman

"See that any time you feel pained or defeated, it is only because you insist on clinging to what doesn't work. Dare to let go and you won't lose a thing except for a punishing idea."

Guy Finley
Author of The Secret of Letting Go

"Believe there is a great power silently working all things for good, behave yourself and never mind the rest."

Beatrix Potter
1866-1943, Author and Illustrator

"If things are not going well with you, begin your effort at correcting the situation by carefully examining the service you are rendering, and especially the spirit in which you are rendering it."

Roger Babson
1875-1967, Statistician and Columnist

"One day at a time - this is enough. Do not look back and grieve over the past, for it is gone: and do not be troubled about the future, for it has not yet come. Live in the present, and make it so beautiful that it will be worth remembering."

Ida Scott Taylor
1820-1915, Author

"Pain is temporary. It may last a minute, or an hour, or a day, or a year, but eventually it will subside and something else will take its place. If I quit, however, it lasts forever."

Lance Armstrong
Cancer Survivor and Athlete

"In times of change, learners inherit the earth, while the learned find themselves beautifully equipped to deal with a world that no longer exists."

Eric Hoffer

"When we can begin to take our failures seriously, it means we are ceasing to be afraid of them. It is of immense importance to learn to laugh at ourselves."

Katherine Mansfield
1888-1923, Author

"Throughout all history, the great wise men and teachers, philosophers, and prophets have disagreed with one another on many different things. It is only on this one point that they are in complete and unanimous agreement. - We become what we think about."

Earl Nightingale
1921-1989, Author of "The Strangest Secret"

"We lift ourselves by our thought. If you want to enlarge your life, you must first enlarge your thought of it and of yourself. Hold the ideal of yourself as you long to be, always everywhere."

Orison Swett Marden
1850-1924, Author and Founder of Success Magazine

"In the final analysis, the questions of why bad things happen to good people transmutes itself into some very different questions, no longer asking why something happened, but asking how we will respond, what we intend to do now that it happened."

Harold S. Kushner
Rabbi, Author of When Bad Things Happen To Good People