Inspirational Quotes
Motivated by a desire to share quotes that he found particularly inspirational, Mike began sending out Thoughts of the Day to staff members in 2010. The quotes, which range in topic from life experiences to business, are intended to provoke thought and self-awareness. They are one part of Mike’s quest to foster a caring workplace that promotes both personal and professional growth. Each thought reflects how Mike thinks about and works with his staff, community, and customers.
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Below are some words of wisdom that Mike has shared through past Thoughts of the Day:
“Don’t find fault. Find a remedy.” Henry Ford
“The only people who don’t have problems are in a cemetery.” Norman Vincent Peale
“There is no education like adversity.” Benjamin Disraeli
“The time is always right to do what is right.” Martin Luther King, Jr.
“Failure is the path of least persistence.” Anonymous
“Change is inevitable. Change for the better is a full-time job.” Adlai E. Stevenson
“Never believe your doubts and never doubt your beliefs.” Anonymous
“Relentless, repetitive self-talk is what changes our self-image.” Denis Waitley
“Running from your fear can be more painful than facing it, for better or worse.” Chuck Norris
“Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new.” Albert Einstein
“Pessimism never won any battle.” Dwight D. Eisenhower
“Nothing in life is to be feared. It is only to be understood.” Marie Curie
“Move out of your comfort zone. You can only grow if you are willing to feel awkward and uncomfortable when you try something new.” Brian Tracy
“I’ve got a theory that if you give 100% all of the time, somehow things will work out in the end.” Larry Bird
“Visualize this thing that you want, see it, feel it, believe in it. Make your mental blueprint, and begin to build.” Robert Collier
“Everybody likes a compliment.” Abraham Lincoln
“Each player must accept the cards life deals him or her. But once they are in hand, he or she alone must decide how to play the cards in order to win the game.” Voltaire
“Experience tells you what to do; confidence allows you to do it.” Stan Smith
“Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.” Confucius
“The biggest problem in the world could have been solved when it was small.” Lao Tzu
“Progress is impossible without change; and those who cannot change their minds, cannot change anything.” George Bernard Shaw
“People think too much about what they ‘think’ their limitations are instead of thinking they can do things and accomplish them.” Les Brown
“It is better to offer no excuse than a bad one.” George Washington
“When you were born, you cried and the world rejoiced; live your life so that when you die, the world cries and you rejoice.” White Elk
“It’s not whether you get knocked down, it’s whether you get back up.” Vince Lombardi
“To a quick question, give a slow answer.” Italian proverb
“A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort.” Herm Albright
“Did you ever see an unhappy horse? Did you ever see a bird that had the blues? One reason why birds and horses are not unhappy is because they are not trying to impress other birds and horses.” Dale Carnegie
“Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up.” Pablo Picasso
“The truth is that our finest moments are most likely to occur when we are feeling deeply uncomfortable, unhappy, or unfulfilled. For it is only in such moments, propelled by our discomfort, that we are likely to step out of our ruts and start searching for different ways or truer answers.” M. Scott Pack
“Let us be grateful to people who make us happy; they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom.” Marcel Proust
“Everything’s got a moral, if only you can find it.” Lewis Carroll
“The best remedy for those who are afraid, lonely or unhappy is to go outside, somewhere where they can be quiet, alone with the heavens, nature and God. Because only then does one feel that all is as it should be and that God wishes to see people happy, amidst the simple beauty of nature.” Anne Frank
“True friendship consists not in the multitude of friends, but in their worth and value.” Ben Jonson
“A sense of humor is part of the art of leadership, of getting along with people, of getting things done.” Dwight D. Eisenhower
“Never cut a tree down in the wintertime. Never make a negative decision in the low time. Never make your most important decisions when you are in your worst moods. Wait. Be patient. The storm will pass. The spring will come.” Robert H. Schuller
“We are all something, but none of us are everything.” Blaise Pascal
“‘I have done my best.’ That is about all the philosophy of living one needs.” Lin Yutang
“Anger can be an expensive luxury.” Italian proverb
“A strong positive mental attitude will create more miracles than any wonder drug.” Patricia Neal
“Far away there in the sunshine are my highest aspirations. I may not reach them, but I can look up and see their beauty, believe in them, and try to follow them.” Louisa May Alcott
“You can never get enough of what you don’t need to make you happy.” Eric Hoffer
“Every day brings a chance for you to draw in a breath, kick off your shoes, and dance.” Oprah Winfrey
“Human beings, by changing the inner attitudes of their minds, can change the outer aspects of their lives.” William James
“Hope costs nothing.” Colette
“Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are all in harmony.” Mahatma Gandhi
“Tact is the knack of making a point without making an enemy.” Sir Isaac Newton
“If you can’t feed a hundred people, then just feed one.” Mother Teresa
“Prosperity is only an instrument to be used, not a deity to be worshipped.” Calvin Coolidge
“You can do anything in this world if you are prepared to take the consequences.” W. Somerset Maughn
“Our life is frittered away by detail…simplify, simplify.” Henry David Thoreau
“The real voyage of discovery exists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes.” Marcel Proust
“One person with a belief is equal to a force of ninety-nine who have only interests.” John Stuart Mill
“Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, ambition inspired, and success achieved.” Hellen Keller
“It’s faith in something and enthusiasm for something that makes life worth living.” Oliver Wendell Holmes
“There’s only one corner of the universe you can be certain of improving, and that’s your own self.” Aldous Huxley
“Patience is the companion of wisdom.” St. Augustine
“A meowing cat catches no mice.” Yiddish proverb
“Never be afraid to sit a while and think.” Lorraine Hansbury
“More people are ruined by victory, I imagine, than by defeat.” Eleanor Roosevelt
“A human being has a natural desire to have more of a good thing than he needs.” Mark Twain
“It’s where we go, and what we do when we get there, that tells us who we are.” Joyce Carol Oates
“One cannot collect all the beautiful shells on the beach.” Anne Morrow Lindbergh
“Happiness often sneaks in through a door you didn’t know you left open.” John Barrymore
“Work and play are words used to describe the same thing under differing conditions.” Mark Twain
“Both tears and sweat are salty, but they render a different result. Tears will get you sympathy; sweat will get you change.” Jesse Jackson
“Things do not change; we change.” Henry David Thoreau
“To accomplish great things, we must dream as well as act.” Anatole France
“Where I was born and where and how I have lived is unimportant. It is what I have done with where I have been that should be of interest.” Georgia O’Keefe
“Moderation. Small helpings. Sample a little bit of everything. These are the secrets of happiness and good health.” Julia Child
“Hope for a miracle. But don’t depend on one.” Talmud
“Joint undertakings stand a better chance when they benefit both sides.” Euripedes
“Life is not easy for any of us. But what of that? We must have perseverance and above all confidence in ourselves. We must believe that we are gifted for something, and that this thing, at whatever cost, must be attained.” Marie Curie
“The secret of joy in work is contained in one word—excellence. To know how to do something well is to enjoy it.” Pearl S. Buck
“You can’t wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club.” Jack London
“People grow through experience if they meet life honestly and courageously.” Eleanor Roosevelt
“It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.” Aristotle
“I never hit a shot, not even in practice, without having a very sharp, in-focus picture in my head.” Jack Nicklaus
“We see the brightness of a new page where everything yet can happen.” Rainer Maria Wilke
“Ideals are like the stars; we never reach them, but like the mariners of the sea, we chart our course by them.” Carl Shurz
“Jealousy is the only vice that gives no pleasure.” Anonymous
“I am seeking. I am striving. I am in it with all my heart.” Vincent van Gogh
“In the field of observation, chance favors only the prepared mind.” Louis Pasteur
“To find a fault is easy; to do better may be difficult.” Plutarch
“The easiest thing in the world to be is you. The most difficult thing to be is what other people want you to be. Don’t let them put you in that position.” Leo Buscaglia
“There’s nothing wrong with having nothing to say—unless you insist on saying it.” Anonymous
“Laughter is the shortest distance between two people.” Victor Borge
“Call on God, but row away from the rocks.” Indian proverb
“We never reflect how pleasant it is to ask for nothing.” Seneca
“There is always room at the top.” Daniel Webster
“One may have good eyes and yet see nothing.” Italian proverb
“Big shots are only little shots who keep shooting.” Christopher Morley
“Whenever you take a step forward, you are bound to disturb something.” Indira Gandhi
“No great thing is created suddenly.” Epictetus
“Do not look back in anger, or forward in fear, but around in awareness.” James Thurber
“Truth is always exciting. Speak it, then; life is dull without it.” Pearl S. Buck
“The unfortunate thing about this world is that the good habits are much easier to give up than the bad ones.” W. Somerset Maugham
“I couldn’t wait for success, so I went ahead without it.” Jonathan Winters
“We must not, in trying to think about how we can make a big difference, ignore the small daily differences we can make which, over time, add up to big differences that we often cannot foresee.” Marian Wright Edelman
“The best way out is always through.” Robert Frost
“First keep the peace within yourself, then you can also bring peace to others.” Thomas A. Kempis
“I’m in love with the potential of miracles. For me, the safest place is out on a limb.” Shirley MacLaine
“If you do not tell the truth about yourself, you cannot tell it about other people.” Virginia Woolf
“All sins are attempts to fill voids.” Simone Weil
“The crisis of today is the joke of tomorrow.” H.G. Wells
“Don’t find fault, find a remedy.” Henry Ford
“The story of a love is not important—what is important is that one is capable of love. It is perhaps the only glimpse that we are permitted of eternity.” Helen Hayes
“What we need is not the will to believe, but the wish to find out.” Bertrand Russell
“Everything that irritates us about others can lead us to an understanding of ourselves.” Carl Gustav Jung
“Make voyages! Attempt them! There’s nothing else.” Tennessee Williams
“A great wind is blowing, and that gives you either imagination or a headache.” Catherine the Great
“The most wasted of all days is one without laughter.” E.E. Cummings
“All you have to do is look straight and see the road, and when you see it, don’t sit looking at it—walk.” Ayn Rand
“Live with no time out.” Simone de Beauvoir
“I always wondered why somebody doesn’t do something about that. Then I realized that I was somebody.” Lily Tomlin
“Mistakes are part of the dues one pays for a full life.” Sophia Loren
“Change before you have to.” Jack Welch
“Avoid having your ego so close to your position that when your position falls, your ego goes with it.” Colin Powell
“Even if I knew that tomorrow the world would go to pieces, I would still plant my apple tree.” Martin Luther
“Don’t bother just to be better than your contemporaries or your predecessors. Try to be better than yourself.” William Faulkner
“Happiness is good health and a bad memory.” Ingrid Bergman
“The really happy person is the one who can enjoy the scenery on a detour.” Anonymous
“There is nothing like returning to a place that remains unchanged to find the ways in which you yourself have altered.” Nelson Mandela
“Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better.” Samuel Beckett
“In any moment of decision, the best thing you can do is the right thing, the next best thing is the wrong thing, and the worst thing you can do is nothing.” Theodore Roosevelt
“To become different from what we are, we must have some awareness of what we are.” Eric Hoffer
“Though no one can go back and make a brand new start, anyone can start from now and make a brand new ending.” Carl Bard
“I can live for two months on a good compliment.” Mark Twain
“We know what happens to people who stay in the middle of the road. They get run over.” Ambrose Bierce
“Knowledge can be communicated but not wisdom.” Hermann Hesse
“When a friend is in trouble, don’t annoy him by asking if there is anything you can do. Think up something appropriate and do it.” E.W. Howe
“If you find it in your heart to care for someone else, you will have succeeded.” Maya Angelou
“Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen.” Anonymous
“Winning is not everything, but the effort to win is.” Zig Ziglar
“No person was ever honored for what he received. Honor has been the reward for what he gave.” Calvin Coolidge
“Never express yourself more clearly than you are able to think.” Niels Bohr
“When you’re following your energy and doing what you want all the time, the distinction between work and play dissolves.” Shakti Gawain
“With an eye made quiet by the power of harmony, and the deep power of joy, we see into the life of things.” William Wordsworth
“The way a team plays together as a whole determines its success. You may have the greatest bunch of individual stars in the world, but if they don’t play together, the club won’t be worth a dime.” Babe Ruth
“I feel that the greatest opportunity for doing is the opportunity to do more.” Jonas Salk
“Now and then it’s good to pause in our pursuit of happiness and just be happy.” Guillaume Apollinaire
“People are like stained glass windows. They sparkle and shine when the sun is out, but when the darkness sets in, their true beauty is revealed only if there is a light within.” Elisabeth Kubler-Ross
“You have it easily in your power to increase the sum total of this world’s happiness right now. How? By giving a few words of sincere appreciation to someone who is lonely or discouraged. Perhaps you will forget tomorrow the kind words you say today, but the recipient may cherish them for a lifetime.” Dale Carnegie
“The truth of the matter is that you always know the right thing to do. The hard part is doing it.” Norman Schwarzkopf
“The secret of health for both mind and body is not to mourn for the past, not to worry about the future, or not to anticipate troubles, but to live in the present moment wisely and earnestly.” Buddha
“Learning is a treasure that will follow its owner everywhere.” Chinese proverb“It is our attitude at the beginning of a difficult task which, more than anything else, will affect its successful outcome.” William James
“We are all full of weakness and errors; let us mutually pardon each other our follies; it is the first law of nature.” Voltaire
“A great many people think they are thinking when they are merely rearranging their prejudices.” Edward R. Murrow
“Do a little more each day than you think you possibly can.” Lowell Thomas
“Here is a test to find out whether your mission on earth is finished: If you are alive, it isn’t.” Richard Bach
“Once we know our own weaknesses they cease to do us any harm.” Georg Christoph Lichtenberg
“It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.” Charles Darwin
“Life is like an onion; you peel it off one layer at a time and sometimes you weep.” Carl Sandburg
“What is now proved was only once imagined.” William Blake
“Never fail to know that if you are doing all the talking, you are boring somebody.” Helen Gurley Brown
“We must have strong minds, ready to accept facts as they are.” Harry S. Truman
“Listening, not imitation, may be the sincerest form of flattery.” Dr. Joyce Brothers
“Humility is the only true wisdom by which we prepare our minds for all the possible changes of life.” George Arliss
“We can chart our future clearly and wisely only when we know the path which has led to the present.” Adlai E. Stevenson
“It doesn’t matter how many say it cannot be done or how many people have tried it before; it’s important to realize that whatever you’re doing, it’s your first attempt at it.” Wally Amos
“Others have seen what it is and asked why. I have seen what could be and asked why not.” Robert F. Kennedy
“The main dangers in this life are the people who want to change everything or nothing.” Lady Nancy Astor
“If you have only one smile in you, give it to the people you love. Don’t be surly at home, then go out in the street and start grinning, ‘Good morning’ at total strangers.” Maya Angelou
“Character builds slowly, but it can be torn down with incredible swiftness.” Faith Baldwin
“I am beginning to learn that it is the sweet, simple things of life which are the real ones after all.” Laura Ingalls Wilder
“Regardless of how you feel inside, always try to look like a winner. Even if you are behind, a sustained look of control and confidence can give you a mental edge that results in victory.” Arthur Ashe
“The race is not always to the swift, but to those who keep on running.” Anonymous
“It’s choice—not chance—that determines your destiny.” Jean Nidetch
“Success isn’t a result of spontaneous combustion. You must set yourself on fire.” Arnold H. Glasgow
“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act, but a habit.” Aristotle
“Never underestimate your power to change yourself.” H. Jackson Brown, Jr.
“A life is not important except in the impact it has on other lives.” Jackie Robinson
“As a well-spent day brings happy sleep, so a life well spent brings happy death.” Leonardo da Vinci
“You don’t just stumble into your future. You create your own future.” Roger Smith
“Begin with the end in mind.” Steven Covey
“Your net worth to the world is usually determined by what remains after your bad habits are subtracted from your good ones.” Ben Franklin
“We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.” Albert Einstein
“We can have more than we’ve got because we can become more than we are.” Jim Rohn
“Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any other one thing.” Abraham Lincoln
“Some of us have great runways already built for us. If you have one, take off! But if you don’t have one, realize it is your responsibility to grab a shovel and build one for yourself and for those who will follow after you.” Amelia Earhart
“You can make things happen, or you can make excuses; but you cannot do both at the same time.” Anonymous
“How much more grievous are the consequences of anger than the causes of it.” Marcus Aurelius
“Greatness is not a function of circumstance. Greatness, it turns out, is largely a matter of conscious choice, and discipline.” Jim Collins
“Successful people are simply those with successful habits.” Brian Tracy
“Within you right now is the power to do things you never dreamed possible. This power becomes available to you just as soon as you can change your beliefs.” Dr. Maxwell Maltz
“Successful people are always looking for opportunities to help others. Unsuccessful people are always asking, ‘What’s in it for me?’” Brian Tracy
“We all suffer from one of the two pains: the pain of discipline or the pain of regret. The difference is discipline weighs ounces while regret weighs tons.” Jim Rohn
“He that is good for making excuses is seldom good for anything else.” Benjamin Franklin
“Feeling sorry for yourself, and your present condition, is not only a waste of energy but the worst habit you could possibly have.” Dale Carnegie
“If you are going to achieve excellence in big things, you develop the habit in little matters. Excellence is not an exception, it is a prevailing attitude.” General Colin Powell
“Understand that the right to choose your own path is a sacred privilege. Use it. Dwell in possibility.” Oprah Winfrey
“Look for your choices, pick the best one, then go with it.” Pat Riley
“I attribute my success to this: I never gave or took any excuse.” Florence Nightingale
“Your future depends on many things, but mostly on you.” Anonymous
“God helps those who help themselves.” Benjamin Franklin
“You cannot expect to achieve new goals or more beyond your present circumstances unless you change.” Les Brown
“We’re not all equal as far as intelligence is concerned. We’re not equal as far as size. We’re not all equal as far as appearance. We do not all have the same opportunities. We’re not born in the same environments, but we’re all absolutely equal in having the opportunity to make the most of what we have and not comparing or worrying about what others have.” John Wooden
“The good news is that it doesn’t cost much money to change your thinking. In fact, it can be done for free.” Robert Kiyosaki
“Your current situation does not determine your future. Your future is determined by your decision to succeed.” Tony Robbins
“Nurture your mind with great thoughts, for you will never go any higher than you think.” Benjamin Disraeli
“How you think determines how you act. How you act in turn determines how others react to you.” David J. Schwartz
“Everything begins with an idea.” Earl Nightingale
“Pleasure in the job puts perfection in the work.” Aristotle
“I honestly think it is better to be a failure at something you love than to be a success at something you hate.” George Burns
“All successful men and women are big dreamers. They imagine what their future could be, ideal in every respect, and then they work every day toward their distant vision, that goal or purpose.” Brian Tracy
“The roots of true achievement lie in the will to become the best that you can become.” Harold Taylor
“By asking for the impossible we obtain the best possible.” Giovanni Niccolini
“Wise people learn when they can. Fools learn when they must.” Duke of Wellington
“Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty. Anyone who keeps learning stays young. The greatest thing in life is to keep your mind young.” Henry Ford
“Emotion can be the enemy. If you give in to your emotion, you lose yourself. You must be at one with your emotions because the body always follows the mind.” Bruce Lee
“It doesn’t matter where you are coming from. All it matters is where you are going.” Brian Tracy
“It pays to plan ahead. It wasn’t raining when Noah built the ark.” Anonymous
“Champions take responsibility. When the ball is coming over the net, you can be sure I want the ball.” Billie Jean King
“Discipline is the bridge between goals and accomplishment.” Jim Rohn
“The best day of your life is the one on which you decide your life is your own. No apologies or excuses. No one to lean on, rely on, or blame. The gift is yours—it is an amazing journey—and you alone are responsible for the quality of it. This is the day your life really begins.” Bob Moawad
“Any fool can criticize, condemn and complain and most fools do.” Benjamin Franklin
“While we are free to choose our actions, we are not free to choose the consequences of our actions.” Steven Covey
“The only difference between those who have failed and those who have succeeded lies in the difference of their habits. Good habits are the key to all success. Bad habits are the unlocked door to failure.” Og Mandino
“Believe and succeed.” Earl Nightingale
“The kind of commitment I find among the best performers across virtually every field is a single-minded passion for what they do, an unwavering desire for excellence in the way they think and the way they work. Genuine confidence is what launches you out of bed in the morning, and through your day with a spring in your step.” Jim Collins
“I have always admired the ability to bite off more than one can chew and then chew it.” William DeMille
“An organization’s ability to learn, and translate that learning into action rapidly, is the ultimate competitive advantage.” Jack Welch
“He who conquers himself is the mightiest warrior.” Confucius
“Concentrate all your thoughts on the task at hand. The sun’s rays do not burn until brought to a focus.” Alexander Graham Bell
“We can’t become what we need to be by remaining what we are.” Oprah Winfrey
“If I had six hours to chop down a tree, I’d spend the first hour sharpening the axe.” Abraham Lincoln
“Ninety-nine percent of the failures come from people who have the habit of making excuses.” George Washington Carver
“Be miserable. Or motivate yourself. Whatever has to be done, it’s always your choice.” Wayne Dyer
“If you think you CAN do a thing, or think you CAN’T do a thing, you’re RIGHT!” Henry Ford
“Live with passion!” Tony Robbins
“The better I get, the more I realize how much better I can get.” Martina Navratilova
“The great thing in this world is not so much where we stand as in what direction we are moving.” Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.
“Live out of your imagination, not your history.”Stephen Covey
“If you want different, you have to think and act different.” Pat Croce
“If you do what you’ve always done, you’ll get what you’ve always gotten.” Tony Robbins
“The winners in life think constantly in terms of I can, I will, and I am. Losers, on the other hand, concentrate their waking thoughts on what they should have or would have done, or what they can’t do.” Denis Waitley
“Winning is not a sometimes thing: it’s an all the time thing. You don’t win once in a while; you don’t do the right thing once in a while; you do them right all the time. Winning is a habit. Unfortunately, so is losing.” Vince Lombardi
“Motivation gets you going but habit gets you there.” Zig Ziglar
“We have no limitations except those that we place in our own minds.” Napoleon Hill
“I am here for a purpose and that purpose is to grow into a mountain, not to shrink to a grain of sand. Henceforth will I apply ALL my efforts to become the highest mountain of all and I will strain my potential until it cries for mercy.” Og Mandino
“Discipline is the foundation upon which all success is built. Lack of discipline inevitably leads to failure.” Jim Rohn
“A constant hammering on one nail will generally drive it home at last.” P. T. Barnum
“The will to succeed is important, but what’s more important is the will to prepare.” Bobby Knight
“There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure.” General Colin Powell
“Mistakes are always forgivable, if one has the courage to admit them.” Bruce Lee
“If only the people who worry about their liabilities would think about the riches they do possess, they would stop worrying.” Dale Carnegie
“A clear vision, backed by definite plans, gives you a tremendous feeling of confidence and personal power.” Brian Tracy
“In life, as in football, you won’t go far unless you know where the goal posts are.” Arnold H. Glasgow
“In the end, the only people who fail are those who do not try.” David Viscott
“People are always blaming their circumstances for what they are. I don’t believe in circumstances. The people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want, and if they can’t find them, make them.” George Bernard Shaw
“If you think in positive terms, you will achieve positive results.” Norman Vincent Peale
“Disciplining yourself to do what you know is right and important, although difficult, is the high road to pride, self-esteem, and personal satisfaction.” Margaret Thatcher
“Nothing can add more power to your life than concentrating all your energies on a limited set of targets.” Nido Qubein
“Someone once said there are two great days in life—the day you were born and the day you discover why.” John C. Maxwell
“Regardless of who you are or what you have been, you can be what you want to be.” W. Clement Stone
“With everything that has happened to you, you can either feel sorry for yourself or treat what has happened as a gift. Everything is either an opportunity to grow or an obstacle to keep you from growing. You get to choose.” Wayne Dyer
“The real truth is that there is only one person responsible for the quality of the life you live. That person is YOU.” Jack Canfield
“You can’t manage what you don’t measure.” Dr. W. Edwards Deming
“A dream doesn’t become reality through magic; it takes sweat, determination, and hard work.” General Colin Powell
“Control your own destiny or someone else will.” Jack Welch
“Don’t put off until tomorrow what you can do today.” Benjamin Franklin
“Once you learn to quit, it becomes a habit.” Vince Lombardi
“Paint your vision, develop tasks, prioritize action steps and do it now.” Pat Croce
“Motivation gets you going but habit gets you there.” Zig Ziglar
“I know for sure that what we dwell on is who we become.” Oprah Winfrey
“Winners, I am convinced, imagine their dreams first. They want it with all their heart and expect it to come true. There is, I believe, no other way to live.” Joe Montana
“Refrain from allowing your mind to wander toward other people’s goals or to focus away from your own.” Pat Croce
“People think focus means saying yes to the thing you’ve got to focus on. But that’s not what it means at all. It means saying no to the hundred other good ideas that there are. You have to pick carefully.” Steve Jobs
“Expect the best. Prepare for the worst. Capitalize on what comes.” Zig Ziglar
“Face reality as it really is, not as it was or as you wish it to be.” Jack Welch
“Just because Fate doesn’t deal you the right cards doesn’t mean you should give up. It just means you have to play the cards you get to their maximum potential.” Les Brown
“The quality of a person’s life is in direct proportion to their commitment to excellence, regardless of their chosen field or endeavor.” Vince Lombardi
“You must have long term goals to keep you from being frustrated by short term failures.” Charles C. Noble
“Goals are as essential to success as air is to life. No one ever stumbles into success without a goal. No one ever lives without air. Get a clear fix on where you want to go.” David J. Schwartz
“Whatever we expect with confidence becomes our own self-fulfilling prophecy.” Brian Tracy
“Commitment separates the doers from the dreamers.” Anonymous
“Surround yourself only with people who are going to lift you higher.” Oprah Winfrey
“You can have anything you want, if you want it badly enough. You can be anything you want to be, do anything you set out to accomplish if you hold to that desire with singleness of purpose.” Abraham Lincoln
“Circumstances—what are circumstances? I make circumstances.” Napoleon Bonaparte
“It’s not what you’ve got, it’s what you use that makes the difference.” Zig Ziglar
“The winner says, ‘It may be difficult, but it is possible.’ The loser says, ‘It may be possible, but it is too difficult.’” Anonymous
“Setting a goal is not the main thing. It is deciding how you will go about achieving it and staying with that plan.” Tom Landry
“High expectations are the key to everything.” Sam Walton
“Procrastination is one of the most common and deadliest of diseases, and its toll on success and happiness is heavy.” Wayne Dyer
“If a man does his best, what else is there?” General George S. Patton
“Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.” Ralph Waldo Emerson
“Why not go out on a limb? That’s where the fruit is.” Will Rogers
“Success is a state of mind. If you want success, start thinking of yourself as a success.” Dr. Joyce Brothers
“Pessimism is an excuse for not trying and a guarantee to a personal failure.” Bill Clinton
“It’s not that I’m so smart, it’s just that I stay with problems longer.” Albert Einstein
“Really great people make you feel that you, too, can become great.” Mark Twain
“Making good decisions is a crucial skill at every level.” Peter Drucker
“You might well remember that nothing can bring you success but yourself.” Napoleon Hill
“We must free ourselves of the hope that the sea will ever rest. We must learn to sail in high winds.” Aristotle Onassis
“The big secret in life is that there is no big secret. Whatever your goal, you can get there if you’re willing to work.” Oprah Winfrey
“Those who wait until all the lights are on green before starting will never leave home.” Zig Ziglar
“Do your best every day. Live each day as if it’s your masterpiece.” John Wooden
“Your chances of success in any undertaking can always be measured by your belief in yourself.” Robert Collier
“It is not because things are difficult that we do not dare; it is because we do not dare that things are difficult.” Seneca
“Look at things not as they are, but as they can be. Visualization adds value to everything.” David J. Schwartz
“You cannot discover new oceans unless you have the courage to lose sight of the shore.” Andre Gide
“You miss 100% of the shots you never take.” Wayne Gretzky
“You can’t succeed by being good. That’s what you get paid for. You can’t succeed by being excellent. That’s what you’re expected to do. You can only succeed by being outstanding.” Tony Robbins
“Whenever you do a thing, act as if all the world were watching.” Thomas Jefferson
“You can conquer almost any fear if you will only make up your mind to do so. For remember, fear doesn’t exist anywhere except in the mind.” Dale Carnegie
“I don’t believe in pessimism. If something doesn’t come up the way you want, forge ahead. If you think it’s going to rain, it will.” Clint Eastwood
“Attitudes are more important than intelligence.” David J. Schwartz
“What do I think about when I strike out? I think about hitting home runs.” Babe Ruth
“Energy and persistence conquer all things.” Benjamin Franklin
“Attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference.” Winston Churchill
“The mind that opens to a new idea never comes back to its original size.” Albert Einstein
“We all have dreams. But in order to make dreams come into reality, it takes an awful lot of determination, dedication, self-discipline, and effort.” Jesse Owens
“Look for opportunity. You can’t wait for it to knock on the door…you might not be home.” Jinger Heath
“Failure is success if we learn from it.” Malcolm S. Forbes
“It is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool than to open it and remove all doubt.” Mark Twain
“The most important persuasion tool you have in your entire arsenal is integrity.” Zig Ziglar
“The goal as a company is to have customer service that is not just the best, but legendary.” Sam Walton
“Leaders don’t create followers, they create more leaders.” Tom Peters
“Anything can be worked out, between anyone, at anytime, when you want the outcome bad enough.” Pat Croce
“The most important single ingredient to the formula of success is knowing how to get along with people.” Theodore Roosevelt
“Either you run the day or the day runs you.” Jim Rohn
“Yesterday’s home runs don’t win today’s games.” Babe Ruth
“It is impossible to begin to learn that which one thinks one already knows.” Epictetus
“Few things in the world are more powerful than a positive push. A smile. A world of optimism and hope. A ‘you can do it’ when things are tough.” Richard M. DeVos
“In all human affairs there are efforts, and there are results, and the strength of the effort is the measure of the result.” James Allen
“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 missed. And I have failed over and over and over again. And that is why…I succeed.” Michael Jordan
“You never get a second chance to make a first impression.” Will Rogers
“Most people spend more time and energy going around problems than in trying to solve them.” Henry Ford
“The secret of health for both mind and body is not to mourn for the past, not to worry about the future, not to anticipate the future, but to live the present moment wisely and earnestly.” Buddha
“If opportunity doesn’t knock, build a door.” Milton Berle
“Reputation is the shadow. Character is the tree.” Abraham Lincoln
“An optimist is someone who goes after Moby Dick in a rowboat and takes the tartar sauce with him.” Zig Ziglar
“The first problem for us all, men and women, is not to learn, but to unlearn.” Gloria Steinem
“You can never cross the ocean unless you have the courage to lose sight of the shore.” Christopher Columbus
“Obstacles don’t have to stop you. If you run into a wall, don’t turn around and give up. Figure out how to climb it, go through it, or work around it.” Michael Jordan
“Good character is more to be praised than outstanding talent. Most talents are, to some extent, a gift. Good character, by contrast, is not given to us. We have to build it piece by piece—by thought, choice, courage, and determination.” Anonymous
“Do what you do so well that they will want to see it again and bring their friends.” Walt Disney
“One thing at a time is my motto—and just play that thing for all it is worth, even if it’s only two pair and a jack.” Mark Twain
“Life is too short to waste on things that don’t matter.” Patrick Dixon
“Losers live in the past. Winners learn from the past and enjoy working in the present toward the future.” Denis Waitley
“The reason a lot of people do not recognize opportunity is because it usually disguises itself as hard work.” Thomas Edison
“I do not think there is any other quality so essential to success of any kind as the quality of perseverance. It overcomes almost everything…” John D. Rockefeller, Jr.
“Don’t let tradition paralyze your mind. Be receptive to new ideas. Be experimental. Try new approaches. Be progressive in everything you do.” Les Brown
“To do a common thing uncommonly well brings success.” Henry J. Heinz
“If you wish to find, you must search. Rarely does a good idea interrupt you.” Jim Rohn
“What you do not want others to do to you, do not do to others.” Confucius
“The problem is never how to get new, innovative thoughts into your mind, but how to get old ones out.” Dee Hock
“Courage is doing what you’re afraid to do. There can be no courage unless you’re scared.” Eddie Rickenbacker
“You must maintain unwavering faith that you can and will prevail in the end, regardless of the difficulties, and at the same time, have the discipline to confront the most brutal facts of your current reality, whatever they might be.” Jim Collins
“If you want to make good use of your time, you’ve got to know what’s most important and then give it all you’ve got.” Lee Iacocca
“The future depends on what we do in the present.” Mahatma Gandhi
“Without an open-minded mind, you can never be a great success.” Martha Stewart
“Opportunity often comes disguised in the form of misfortune, or temporary defeat.” Napoleon Hill
