Life can hit you hard.  It can feel like a ton of bricks.  Maybe it’s the loss of a job.  Maybe it’s unbelievable news.  Maybe it’s the loss of a loved one.  Maybe it’s a series of unfortunate events.  Maybe it’s your world turned upside down.

Whatever it is, moving on can be tough.  In fact, one of the toughest things in the world, is to move on.  If you’ve ever ever been inconsolable, you know what I mean.

People might tell you, get over it.  They might say, just move on with your life.  You might even want to.  But then you might find yourself stuck.  Or you might find yourself wallowing.  Or you might find yourself numb.

This is where some of the world’s best words come in to play.  Whether you want to make like a phoenix and rise from the ashes, or you want to bounce back after going down for the count, or you simply want to just find a way forward … moving on quotes can be your best friend.

My gift to you is this deep collection of quotes for moving on.  You’ll find insight and inspiration from Bruce Lee, Buddha, Lao Tzu, Gandhi, and more.  Find three quotes from the collection below.  Hold on to them, and play them in your mind, when you need them most.

Top 10 Moving On Quotes

1. “Don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened.” — Dr. Seuss
2. “Get mad, then get over it.” — Colin Powell
3. “God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; Courage to change the things I can; And wisdom to know the difference.” — Reinhold Niebuhr
4. “I gather strength from life’s storms.” — Jonathan Lockwood Huie
5. “Life is not about waiting for the storms to pass… It’s about learning how to dance in the rain.” — Vivian Greene
6. “Look at life through the windshield, not the rear-view mirror” — Byrd Baggett
7. “Nobody can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start today and make a new ending.” — Maria Robinson
8. “Today is the first day of the rest of your life.” – Author Unknown
9. “Whatever doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.” – Proverb
10. “When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be.” — Lao Tzu

A New Day and Moving On

• “Do not worry if you feel low; the sun has a sinking spell every night, but rises again all right the next morning.” — Author Unknown
• “Don’t let yesterday use up too much of today.” — Cherokee Indian Proverb
• “Goals give you more than a reason to get up in the morning; they are an incentive to keep you going all day.” — Harvey Mackay
• “I have always been delighted at the prospect of a new day, a fresh try, one more start, with perhaps a bit of magic waiting somewhere behind the morning.” –  J. B. Priestley
• “Let every day be the first day of the rest of your life, but especially let today be a new beginning.” — Jonathan Lockwood Huie
• “The darkest night is often the bridge to the brightest tomorrow.” — Jonathan Lockwood Huie
• “Today will never happen again. Don’t waste it with a false start or no start at all.” — Og Mandino
• “Whatever you want in life, start today. Not tomorrow – today. Let it be a small beginning – a tiny beginning. Your happiness depends on starting today – every day.” — Jonathan Lockwood Huie
• “With the new day comes new strength and new thoughts.” — Eleanor Roosevelt

Action and Moving On

• “Achievement seems to be connected with action. Successful men and women keep moving. They make mistakes, but they don’t quit.” — Conrad Hilton
• “Just keep moving forward and don’t give a shit about what anybody thinks. Do what you have to do for you.” — Johnny Depp
• “Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance you must keep moving.” — Albert Einstein
• “Part of being a winner is knowing when enough is enough. Sometimes you have to give up the fight and walk away, and move on to something that’s more productive.” — Donald Trump
• “So what do we do? Anything. Something. So long as we just don’t 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
• “Take the first step in faith. You don’t have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step.” — Martin Luther King Jr.
• “We keep moving forward, opening new doors, and doing new things, because we’re curious and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths.” — Walt Disney
• “What surrounds us we endure better for giving it a name – and moving on.” — Emile M. Cioran
• “When the going gets tough, the tough get going.” — Proverb
• “You got to know when to hold ‘em, know when to fold ‘em, Know when to walk away and know when to run.” – Kenny Rogers

Baggage, Hurts, the Past, and Moving On

• “Get over it – Life isn’t Supposed to be fair.  Get over yourself, and be of service to others.” — Jonathan Lockwood Huie
• “I had to cease to mourn what could never be and make the most of what was possible. And I would begin doing that by trying to mend the hurts of the past.” — Cameron Dokey
• “If you bury the pain deep down it will stay with you indefinitely, but if you open yourself to it, experience it, and deal with it head-on, you’ll find it begins to move on after a while.” — Greg Behrendt
• “Keeping baggage from the past will leave no room for happiness in the future.” — Wayne L. Misner
• “Moving on, is a simple thing, what it leaves behind is hard.” — Dave Mustaine
• “Moving on is easy. It’s staying moved on that’s trickier.” — Katerina Stoykova Klemer
• “My Mama always said you’ve got to put the past behind you before you can move on.” — Forrest Gump
• “Often the thought of pain is actually worse that the pain itself.” — Greg Behrendt
• “People have a hard time letting go of their suffering. Out of a fear of the unknown, they prefer suffering that is familiar.” — Thich Nhat Hanh
• “Sooner or later we’ve all got to let go of our past.” — Dan Brown
• “The secret of joy is the mastery of pain.” — Anaïs Nin
• “Those who do not know how to weep with their whole heart do not know how to laugh either.” — Golda Meir
• “When you are sorrowful look again in your heart, and you shall see that in truth you are weeping for that which has been your delight.” — Kahlil Gibran
• “You can’t look back – you just have to put the past behind you, and find something better in your future.” — Jodi Picoult

Blame, Victim, and Moving On

• “Self-pity is our worst enemy and if we yield to it, we can never do anything wise in this world.” — Helen Keller
• “What’s the point of pointing the finger, other than to stall your own progress in moving on?” — Lisa Steadman
• “You are responsible for your life. You can’t keep blaming somebody else for your dysfunction. Life is really about moving on.” — Oprah Winfrey

Bouncing Back, Resilience, and Moving On

• “Fall down 7 times.  Stand up 8.” – Chinese Proverb
• “He’s a million rubber bands in his resilience.” — Alan K. Simpson
• “Life only demands from you the strength you possess.” — Dag Hammarskjold
• “Man never made any material as resilient as the human spirit.” — Bern Williams
• “The world ain’t all sunshine and rainbows. It’s a very mean and nasty place and I don’t care how tough you are it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it. You, me, or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life. But it ain’t about how hard ya hit. It’s about how hard you can get it and keep moving forward.” — Rocky Balboa
• “Whatever is bringing you down, get rid of it. Because you’ll find that when you’re free . . . your true self comes out.” — Tina Turner
• “You all know that I have been sustained throughout my life by three saving graces – my family, my friends, and a faith in the power of resilience and hope. These graces have carried me through difficult times and they have brought more joy to the good times than I ever could have imagined.” — Elizabeth Edwards
• “You can fall, but you can rise also.” — Angelique Kidjo

Change, Choices, and Moving On

• “Any change, any loss, does not make us victims. Others can shake you, surprise you, disappoint you, but they can’t prevent you from acting, from taking the situation you’re presented with and moving on. No matter where you are in life, no matter what your situation, you can always do something. You always have a choice and the choice can be power.” — Blaine Lee
• “Be miserable. Or motivate yourself. Whatever has to be done, it’s always your choice.” — Wayne Dyer
• “I chose and my world was shaken. So what? The choice may have been mistaken; the choosing was not. You have to move on.” — Stephen Sondheim
• “I choose not to project my past onto my future.” — Jonathan Lockwood Huie
• “I demolish my bridges behind me …then there is no choice but to move forward.” — Fridtjof Nansen
• “I won’t let the sun go down on me.” — Nik Kershaw
• “If you don’t like something, change it.  If you can’t change it, change your attitude.” — Maya Angelou
• “It is our attitude at the beginning of a difficult undertaking which, more than anything else, will determine its successful outcome.” — William James
• “Life is about making the right decisions and moving on.” — Josh Rayburn
• “Notice that the stiffest tree is most easily cracked, while the bamboo or willow survives by bending with the wind.” –  Bruce Lee
• “The only way to change our lives is by changing our minds.” — Author Unknown
• “The world hates change, yet it is the only thing that has brought progress.” — Charles Kettering
• “Things do not change; we change.” – Henry David Thoreau
• “Time heals griefs and quarrels, for we change and are no longer the same persons.” – Pascal
• “We are set in our ways, bound by our perspectives and stuck in our thinking.” — Joel Osteen
• “We can not become what we need to by remaining what we are.” — Oprah Winfrey
• “When you start to abandon your old beliefs or values… you may be stuck at the threshold for two or three years. Before moving on, you have to clear away your cherished beliefs.” — Dick Raymond
• “You must make a decision that you are going to move on. It wont happen automatically. You will have to rise up and say, ‘I don’t care how hard this is, I don’t care how disappointed I am, I’m not going to let this get the best of me. I’m moving on with my life.” — Joel Osteen

Courage, Confidence, and Moving On

• “80% of people’s problems are about how they feel about themselves.” — Joyce Meyer
• “Courage is not the absence of fear, but simply moving on with dignity despite that fear.” — Pat Riley
• “Courage doesn’t always roar. Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying, I will try again tomorrow.” — Mary Anne Radmacher
• “It is only through labor and painful effort, by grim energy and resolute courage, that we move on to better things.” — Theodore Roosevelt
• “Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one’s courage.” — Anaïs Nin
• “The great courageous act that we must all do, is to have the courage to step out of our history and past so that we can live our dreams.” — Oprah Winfrey
• “You can never cross the ocean unless you have the courage to lose sight of the shore.” — Christopher Columbus
• “You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself ‘I have lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along.’ You must do the thing you think you cannot do.” — Eleanor Roosevelt

Endings and Beginnings

• “A graduation is a small but significant tradition that I think everyone should take part in. What a great way to symbolize a part of your journey and to represent your thoughts for moving on.” — Martin Stoleman
• “Another sunrise, another new beginning.” — Jonathan Lockwood Huie
• “Celebrate endings – for they precede new beginnings.” — Jonathan Lockwood Huie
• “Every exit is an entry somewhere.” — Tom Stoppard
• “It’s true that we don’t know what we’ve got until we lost it, but it’s also true that we don’t know what we’ve been missing until it arrives.” — Author Unknown
• “Sometimes the hardest part isn’t letting go but rather learning to start over.” — Nicole Sobon
• “There are things that we never want to let go of, people we never want to leave behind. But keep in mind that letting go isn’t the end of the world, it’s the beginning of a new life.” — Author Unknown
• “Vitality shows in not only the ability to persist but the ability to start over.” — F. Scott Fitzgerald
• “When one door closes, another opens; but we often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door that we do not see the one which has opened for us.” — Alexander Graham Bell

Failures, Setbacks, and Moving On

• “A bend in the road is not the end of the road … unless you fail to make the turn.” — Author Unknown
• “Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried something new.” — Albert Einstein
• “If you’ve fallen down, today is the day you can get back up and try again.” — Amelie Chance
• “Intelligence is not to make no mistakes, but quickly to see how to make them good.” — Bertoit Brecht
• “Keep on beginning and failing. Each time you fail, start all over again, and you will grow stronger until you have accomplished a purpose – not the one you began with perhaps, but one you’ll be glad to remember.” — Anne Sullivan
• “Laughter gives us distance. It allows us to step back from an event, deal with it and then move on.” — Bob Newhart
• “May the world be kind to you, and may your own thoughts be gentle upon yourself.” — Jonathan Lockwood Huie
• “Some things are just never meant to be, no matter how much we wish they were.” — Author Unknown
• “You may encounter many defeats, but you must not be defeated. In fact, it may be necessary to encounter the defeats, so you can know who you are, what you can rise from, how you can still come out of it.” — Maya Angelou

Forgiveness and Moving On

• “By forgiving and choosing to move on, one takes the power back to morph it into positive energy.” — Eugenia Tripputi
• “Cry. Forgive. Learn. Move on. Let your tears water the seeds of your future happiness.” — Steve Maraboli
• “Forgive and forget.” – Proverb
• “Forgive yourself for your faults and your mistakes and move on.” — Les Brown
• “Forgiveness and letting go are steps on our road back to happiness.” — Tina Dayton
• “Forgiving is not a gift to someone else – Forgiving is your gift to yourself — a great gift — the gift of happiness.” — Jonathan Lockwood Huie
• “Forgiveness is the cleansing fire that burns away old regrets and resentments.” — Jonathan Lockwood Huie
• “Hanging onto resentment is letting someone you despise live rent-free in your head.” — Ann Landers
• “Holding on to anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the one who gets burned.” – Buddha
• “People can be more forgiving than you can imagine. But you have to forgive yourself. Let go of what’s bitter and move on.” — Bill Cosby
• “The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.” — Mohandas Gandhi
• “To be able to move on, one has to learn to forgive not only the person (or people) who have done one wrong but also oneself.” — Eugenia Tripputi

Letting Go, Holding On, and Moving On

• “All the art of living lies in a fine mingling of letting go and holding on.” — Havelock Ellis
• “Don’t cry over spilled milk.” – Proverb
• “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
• “Getting over a painful experience is much like crossing monkey bars. You have to let go at some point in order to move forward.” — Author Unknown
• “How do geese know when to fly to the sun? Who tells them the seasons? How do we, humans know when it is time to move on? As with the migrant birds, so surely with us, there is a voice within if only we would listen to it, that tells us certainly when to go forth into the unknown.” — Elisabeth Kubler-Ross
• “Let go. Why do you cling to pain? There is nothing you can do about the wrongs of yesterday. It is not yours to judge. Why hold on to the very thing which keeps you from hope and love?” — Leo Buscaglia
• “Letting go doesn’t mean giving up, but rather accepting that there are things that cannot be.” — Author Unknown
• “Letting go doesn’t mean that you don’t care about someone anymore. It’s just realizing that the only person you really have control over is yourself.” — Deborah Reber
• “Letting go has never been easy, but holding on can be as difficult. Yet strength is measured not by holding on, but by letting go.” — Len Santos
• “Letting go isn’t a one-time thing, it’s something you have to do everyday, over and over again.” — Dawson’s Creek
• “Some of us think holding on makes us strong; but sometimes it is letting go.” — Hermann Hesse
• “You will find that it is necessary to let things go; simply for the reason that they are heavy. So let them go, let go of them. I tie no weights to my ankles.” — C. JoyBell C.

Life and Moving On

• “A man who does not leave his hut will bring nothing in.” — West African Proverb
• “I have learned that if you must leave a place that you have lived in and loved and where all your yesteryears are buried deep, leave it any way except a slow way, leave it the fastest way you can. Never turn back and never believe that an hour you remember is a better hour because it is dead. Passed years seem safe ones, vanquished ones, while the future lives in a cloud, formidable from a distance.” — Beryl Markham
• “I postpone death by living, by suffering, by error, by risking, by giving, by losing.” — Anais Nin
• “It is better to conquer yourself than to win a thousand battles. Then the victory is yours. It cannot be taken from you, not by angels or by demons, heaven or hell.” – Buddha
• “Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards.” – Kierkegaard
• “Life is as easy or as hard as you think it is.” — Jonathan Lockwood Huie
• “Life is lived in the living. Set aside convention, caution, and arbitrary “rules” about how life is supposed to be lived. Choose! Explore! Adventure! Live life to the fullest.” — Jonathan Lockwood Huie
• “Life is unlimited – it expands with the generosity, compassion, inventiveness, and service that you contribute.” — Jonathan Lockwood Huie
• “Life’s burdens are lighter when I laugh at myself.” — Jonathan Lockwood Huie
• “Part of growing up is just taking what you learn from that and moving on and not taking it to heart.” — Beverley Mitchell
• “The final wisdom of life requires not the annulment of incongruity but the achievement of serenity within and above it.” — Reinhold Niebuhr
• “We must be willing to let go of the life we have planned, so as to accept the life that is waiting for us.” — Joseph Campbell
• “Your living is determined not so much by what life brings to you as by the attitude you bring to life; not so much by what happens to you as by the way your mind looks at what happens.” — Kahlil Gibran

Loss, Grievance, and Moving On

• “And perhaps there is a limit to the grieving that the human heart can do. As when one adds salt to a tumbler of water, there comes a point where simply no more will be absorbed.” — Sarah Waters
• “The loss of love is not nearly as painful as our resistance to accepting it is.” — Tigress Luv

Now, The Present, and Moving On

• “Breathe. Let go. And remind yourself that this very moment is the only one you know you have for sure.” — Oprah Winfrey
• “The past always looks better than it was because it isn’t here.” — Finley Peter Dunne

Relationships and Moving On

• “Don’t rush into any kind of relationship. Work on yourself. Feel yourself, experience yourself and love yourself. Do this first and you will soon attract that special loving other.” — Russ Von Hoelsche
• “I don’t want to lose you, but I don’t want to use you just to have someone by my side.” — Patty Smyth
• “I think it happens to everyone as they grow up. You find out who you are and what you want, and then you realize that people you’ve known forever don’t see things the way you do. And so you keep the wonderful memories, but find yourself moving on.” — Nicholas Sparks
• “If you really love something set it free. If it comes back it’s yours, if not it wasn’t meant to be.” – Author Unknown
• “It happens to everyone as they grow up. You find out who you are and what you want, and then you realize that people you’ve known forever don’t see things the way you do. So you keep the wonderful memories, but find yourself moving on.” — Nicholas Sparks
• “Loving someone is setting them free, letting them go.” — Kate Winslet
• “Surround yourself with only people who are going to lift you higher.” — Oprah Winfrey
• “The heart was made to be broken.” — Oscar Wilde
• “You may have buried or repressed your own power for so long a time that you feel incapable of moving on without the strength and support of a lover, even the lover you just left behind.” — Howard Bronson

Regret and Moving On

• “I have no regrets in my life. I think that everything happens to you for a reason. The hard times that you go through build character, making you a much stronger person.” — Rita Mero
• “It’s never too late to be who you might have been.” – George Eliot
• “Make it a rule of life never to regret and never to look back. Regret is an appalling waste of energy; you can’t build on it; it’s only good for wallowing in.” — Katherine Mansfield
• “Make the most of your regrets; never smother your sorrow, but tend and cherish it till it comes to have a separate and integral interest. To regret deeply is to live afresh.” — Henry David Thoreau
• “Many of us crucify ourselves between two thieves – regret for the past and fear of the future.” — Fulton Oursler
• “Never regret. If it’s good, it’s wonderful. If it’s bad, it’s experience.” — Victoria Holt
• “Regret of neglected opportunity is the worst hell that a living soul can inhabit.” — Rafael Sabatini
• “The only conquests that are permanent and leave no regrets are our conquests over ourselves.” — Napolean Bonaparte

This is my collection of Richard Branson quotes.  Richard Branson lives to challenge himself, make a difference, and have fun in the process.

As you read through these Richard Branson quotes, you’ll find some common themes:  adventure, brand, business, entrepreneurism, fun, quality, and purpose.  While putting together my Richard Branson quotes, one pattern that really stood out for me, is how deeply Richard Branson cares about both sides of the equation.  He cares deeply about the people that wok for and with him, just as deeply as he cares about the people he builds his businesses to serve,and a make a difference for.

The other pattern that stood out for me is how much Richard Branson wants to improve the quality of life for people.  I realized this as I read his books, that a lot of this drive comes from the pains and challenges he faced growing up.  He has never lost connection with people, and he has never lost sight of what really matters in life.

Please enjoy this collection of Richard Branson quotes.  Use them to inspire you and consider what we can learn from somebody who lives life with passion, purpose, and the pursuit of fun along the way.

Adventure and Fun

• “A business has to be involving, it has to be fun, and it has to exercise your creative instincts.”
• “Customers shouldn’t just think of your business as a place to buy a product or use a service — it should be a fun place to be.”
• “First and foremost, any business proposal I like must sound fun.”
• “I am prepared to try anything once.”
• “I prefer to have a great time and to keep my wits about me.”
• “I think the most important thing is that in the last seven days we’ve just had the greatest adventure of our lifetimes.”
• “I’m inquisitive … and I love a new challenge… and if I feel that we can do it better than it’s been done by other people, we’ll have a go.”
• “Some 80% of your life is spent working. You want to have fun at home; why shouldn’t you have fun at work?”
• “Throwing yourself into a job you enjoy is one of the life’s greatest pleasures!”
• “We’d love to be involved with the creation of something very special, something quite large and something quite exciting.”
• “We’re going where no one has gone before. There’s no model to follow, nothing to copy. That is what makes this so exciting.”

Brand

• “All you have in life is your reputation: you may be very rich, but if you lose your good name, then you’ll never be happy. The thought will always lurk at the back of your mind that people don’t trust you. I had never really focused on what a good name meant before, but that night in prison made me understand.”
• “Branding is everything. A young girl once came up to me and told me I could be famous because I looked just like Richard Branson!”
• “First of all, if you’re setting up a new company, you want to try to find a brand that can work on a global basis.”
• “Good brands reflect the histories of the time and the group of people that made them. They can not be copied. They can not be recycled.”
• “If you get your face and your name out there enough, people will start to recognize you.”
• “In the beginning it was just about the business – now it’s about the brand.”
• “Protect your reputation.  Don’t be afraid of making mistakes.”
• “Quality brands never go bankrupt.”
• “What does the name Virgin mean? We are a company that likes to take on the giants. In too many businesses, these giants have had things their own way. We are going to have fun competing with them.”

Business

• “Above all, you want to create something you’re proud of. This has always been my philosophy of business.”
• “I can honestly say that I have never gone into any business purely to make money. If that is the sole motive, then I believe you are better off not doing it.”
• “Because I don’t see Virgin as a company but as a way of life and I fully enjoy it, I don’t think I’ll ever retire.”
• “Business opportunities are like buses, there`s always another one coming.”
• “Every business, like a painting, operates according to its own rules. There are many ways to run a successful company. What works once may never work again. What everyone tells you never to do may just work, once.”
• “I love stirring the pot.  I love giving big companies a run for their money — especially if they’re offering expensive, poor-quality products.”
• “I never get the accountants in before I start up a business. It’s done on gut feeling, especially if I can see that they are taking the mickey out of the consumer.”
• “Most “necessary evils” are far more evil than necessary.”
• “Our model is to develop each business separately with its own shareholder and management – this way we can concentrate on the job in hand, rather than be part of some enormous and faceless conglomerate.”
• “Perhaps my early problems with dyslexia made me more intuitive: when someone sends me a written proposal, rather than dwelling on detailed facts and figures I find that my imagination grasps and expands on what I read.”
• “We’ve got an engaging, edgy, vibrant, fun product, … It may or may not work, but we’re going to give it our best shot.”
• “When we start a new venture, we base it on hard research and analysis. Typically, we review the industry and put ourselves in our customer’s shoes to see what we could do better.”

Challenges

• “Although my spelling is still sometimes poor, I have managed to overcome the worst of my difficulties through training myself to concentrate.”
• “Complexity is your enemy. Any fool can make something complicated. It is hard to keep things simple.”
• “However tight things are, you still need to have the big picture at the forefront of your mind.”
• “I just like to enjoy life and push myself. Of course, there is method to my madness. When you are entering into a new industry, for example, it helps to do something to get your name on the front pages.”
• “My biggest motivation?  Just to keep challenging myself.  I see life almost like one long university education that I never had.”
• “”My interest in life comes from setting myself huge, apparently unachievable challenges and trying to rise above them.”
• “My mother was determined to make us independent. When I was four years old, she stopped the car a few miles from our house and made me find my own way home across the fields. I got hopelessly lost.”
• “Records are made to be broken. It is in man’s nature to continue to strive to do just that.”

Entrepreneurism

• “I believe that drudgery and clock-watching are a terrible betrayal of that universal, inborn entrepreneurial spirit.”
• “I think a lot of becoming an entrepreneur is something which people have to learn just from getting out there and giving it a go, and having to learn the art of survival.”
• “I wanted to be an editor or a journalist, I wasn’t` really interested in being an entrepreneur, but I soon found I had to become an entrepreneur in order to keep my magazine going.”
• “I was never, ever interested in becoming a businessman or an entrepreneur.  If I was a businessman, or saw myself as a businessman, I would have never gone into the airline business.”
• “The quickest way to become a millionaire in the airline business is to start out as a billionaire.”
• “There are no rules. You don’t learn to walk by following rules. You learn by doing, and by falling over, and it’s because you fall over that you learn to save yourself from falling over. It’s the greatest thrill in the world and it runs away screaming at the first sight of bullet points.”
• “To be successful, you have to be out there, you have to hit the ground running, and if you have a good team around you and more than a fair share of luck, you might make something happen. But you certainly can’t guarantee it just by following someone else’s formula.”
• “What’s the quickest way to become a millionaire? Borrow fivers off everyone you meet.”
• “You never know with these things when you`re trying something new what can happen. This is all experimental.”

Leadership

• “As much as you need a strong personality to build a business from scratch, you also must understand the art of delegation. I have to be good at helping people run the individual businesses, and I have to be willing to step back. The company must be set up so it can continue without me.”
• “I may be a businessman  in that I set up and run companies for profit, but when I try to plan ahead and dream up new products and new companies, I’m an idealist.”
• “Once again, I was the captain of my ship and master of my fate.  I believe in myself. I believe in the hands that work, in the brains that think, and in the hearts that love.”
• “You shouldn’t blindly accept a leader’s advice.  You’ve got to question leaders on occasions.”

Life

• “I am impressed with just the enthusiasm for life and the fact that some of these people are in their 80’s, even 90’s, and they’re absolutely determined to get out there and make a difference.”
• “As we drifted to earth I sat up on the glass roof of the capsule, watching the beauty of the golden dawn as it broke over the desert. This was a day I never thought I’d see and the rising sun and growing warmth of the day seemed very precious. It made me aware that hard-won things are more valuable than those that come too easily. It reminded me to always enjoy the moment. “
• “I don’t think of work as work and play as play. It’s all living.”
• “I love the freedom of movement that my phone gives me. That has definitely transformed my life.”
• “Life can seem rather unreal at times.  Alive and well and loving one day.  No longer there the next.”
• “Life is a helluva lot more fun if you say yes rather than no.”
• “Ridiculous yachts and private planes and big limousines won’t make people enjoy life more, and it sends out terrible messages to the people who work for them. It would be so much better if that money was spent in Africa – and it’s about getting a balance.”
• “You only live once, and I just don’t want to waste a minute of my life.”

People First

• “A company is people … employees want to know … am I being listened to or am I a cog in the wheel? People really need to feel wanted.”
• “Having a personality of caring about people is important. You can’t be a good leader unless you generally like people. That is how you bring out the best in them.”
• “I cannot remember a moment in my life when I have not felt the love of my family. We were a family that would have killed for each other – and we still are.”
• “I know enough to know that no man is an island.”
• “Respect is how to treat everyone, not just those you want to impress.”
• “The companies that look after their people are the companies that do really well. I’m sure we’d like a few other attributes, but that would be the most important one.”

Purpose

• “For a successful entrepreneur it can mean extreme wealth. But with extreme wealth comes extreme responsibility. And the responsibility for me is to invest in creating new businesses, create jobs, employ people, and to put money aside to tackle issues where we can make a difference.”
• “I’ve had to create companies that I believe in 100%. These are companies I feel will make a genuine difference. Then I have to be willing to find the time myself to talk about them, promote them and market them. I don’t want to spend my life doing something that I’m not proud of.”
• “Look, if you can indulge in your passion, life will be far more interesting than if you’re just working.  You’ll work harder at it, and you’ll know more about it. But first you must go out and educate yourself on whatever it is that you’ve decided to do – know more about kite-surfing than anyone else. That’s where the work comes in. But if you’re doing things you’re passionate about, that will come naturally.”
• “People have to decide on priorities if they want to get anywhere.  The best lessons I learned was to just do it.”
• “The important thing is that you’ve got a strong foundation before you start to try to save the world or help other people.”
• “Well, I’m somebody who is just living …living life, and if I get frustrated by something, then I like to try to put it right.”

If you have a favorite Richard Branson quote, please feel free to share it.

Photo by Gulltagen.

This is my deep collection of positive quotes.   It includes insights and positive quotes from Ralph Waldo Emerson, John Milton, Oscar Wilde, and more.  Even Willie Nelson is among the bunch.

What do these positive quotes teach us?  When we scan across the wisdom of the ages, we see that the keys to positivity include letting things go, choosing to focus on the positive, and rolling with the punches.  Whether the glass is half-full or half-empty is often up to you.   Baggage holds you back so let the grudges go.  Life reflects back at us what we put into it and pay backs can be tough, so throw some sunshine Karma’s way.

Maybe the most important lesson from these positive quotes is that it’s a decision, and the choice is yours.  The alternative is much worse.   Related to this is the idea that rather than put positivity on a pedestal, flow it from the inside out.  What you focus on and how you view it, is your reality.  Holding on to bad stuff poisons you, and you’re the one that loses.  Embracing change and adapting is better than worrying about who moved your cheese or dwelling on how things *should* be.    Make like a duck and let things roll off your back.  Remember that the mighty Oak breaks its branches against the wind, while the Willow bends with the breeze.

To make the most of this collection find three new positive quotes that help you in some way, and commit them to memory so they are always at your mental finger tips when you need them most.

Top 10 Positive Quotes

1. “A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort.” –  Herm Albright
2. “Attitudes are contagious.  Are yours worth catching?” — Dennis and Wendy Mannering
3. “Be enthusiastic.  Remember the placebo effect – 30% of medicine is showbiz.” — Ronald Spark
4. “I think, what has this day brought me, and what have I given it?” — Henry Moore
5. “I will not let anyone walk through my mind with their dirty feet.” — Mahatma Gandhi
6. “Life is a shipwreck but we must not forget to sing in the lifeboats.” – Voltaire
7. “That which does not kill us makes us stronger.” — Friedrich Nietzsche
8. “Very often a change of self is needed more than a change of scene.” — Arthur Christopher Benson
9. “Wag more.  Bark less.” — Author Unknown
10. “We all live under the same sky, but we don’t all have the same horizon.” — Konrad Adenauer

Actions

• “I always plucked a thistle and planted a flower where I thought a flower would grow.” — Abraham Lincoln
• “If the sky falls, hold up your hands.” — Author Unknown
• “Make your optimism come true.” — Author Unknown
• “People deal too much with the negative, with what is wrong … Why not try and see positive things, to just touch those things and make them bloom?” –  Thich Nhat Hanh
• “Some days there won’t be a song in your heart.  Sing anyway.” — Emory Austin
• “The excursion is the same when you go looking for your sorrow as when you go looking for your joy.” — Eudora Welty
• “The world is full of cactus, but we don’t have to sit on it.” — Will Foley
• “There are souls in this world which have the gift of finding joy everywhere and of leaving it behind them when they go.” — Frederick Faber
• “There is nothing so easy but that it becomes difficult when you do it reluctantly.” — Publius Terentius Afer
• “Turn your face to the sun and the shadows fall behind you.” — Maori Proverb

Adaptability and Flexibility

• “For every day that there is sunshine, there will be days of rain, it’s how we dance within them both that shows our love and pain.” — Joey Tolbert
• “To be interested in the changing seasons is a happier state of mind than to be hopelessly in love with spring.” — George Santayana
• “We cannot direct the wind but we can adjust the sails.” — Author Unknown
• “You can’t stop the waves, but you can learn how to surf.” — Jon Kabat-Zinn
• “You have to learn the rules of the game. And then you have to play better than anyone else.” — Albert Einstein

Anger and Frustration

• “Consider how much more you often suffer from your anger and grief, than from those very things for which you are angry and grieved.” — Marcus Antonius
• “To be upset over what you don’t have is to waste what you do have.” — Ken S. Keyes
• “When you feel dog tired at night, it may be because you’ve growled all day long.” — Author Unknown

Appreciation and Gratitude

• “Enjoy the little things, for one day you may look back and realize they were the big things.” — Robert Brault
• “If you are not enjoying the journey, you probably won’t enjoy the destination.” — Author Unknown
• “If you don’t get everything you want, think of the things you don’t get that you don’t want.” — Oscar Wilde
• “If you don’t think every day is a good day, just try missing one.” — Cavett Robert
• “It is important that you recognize your progress and take pride in your accomplishments. Share your achievements with others. Brag a little. The recognition and support of those around you is nurturing.” — Rosemarie Rossetti
• “Leroy bet me I couldn’t find a pot of gold at the end, and I told him that was a stupid bet because the rainbow was enough.” — Rita Mae Brown
• “Think big thoughts but relish small pleasures.” — H. Jackson Brown, Jr
• “True contentment depends not upon what we have; a tub was large enough for Diogenes, but a world was too little for Alexander.” — Charles Caleb Colton
• “Why not learn to enjoy the little things – there are so many of them.” — Author Unknown

Attitude, Disposition, and Character

• “A cloudy day is no match for a sunny disposition.” — William Arthur Ward
• “A happy person is not a person in a certain set of circumstances, but rather a person with a certain set of attitudes.” — Hugh Downs
• “Attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference.” — Winston Churchill
• “Be the light in the dark, be the calm in the storm and be at peace while at war.” — Mike Dolan
• “Being a sex symbol has to do with an attitude, not looks.  Most men think it’s looks, most women know otherwise.” — Kathleen Turner
• “Could we change our attitude, we should not only see life differently, but life itself would come to be different.” — Katherine Mansfield
• “Excellence is not a skill.  It is an attitude.” — Ralph Marston
• “Happiness is an attitude.  We either make ourselves miserable, or happy and strong.  The amount of work is the same.” — Francesca Reigler
• “He who has so little knowledge of human nature as to seek happiness by changing anything but his own disposition will waste his life in fruitless efforts.” — Samuel Johnson
• “Heaven is under our feet, as well as over our heads.” — Henry David Thoreau
• “I am an optimist.  It does not seem too much use being anything else.” — Winston Churchill
• “If you have the will to win, you have achieved half your success; if you don’t, you have achieved half your failure.” ~David Ambrose
• “If you aren’t fired with enthusiasm, you will be fired with enthusiasm.” — Vince Lombardi
• “It isn’t our position but our disposition which makes us happy.” — Author Unknown
• “No life is so hard that you can’t make it easier by the way you take it.” — Ellen Glasgow
• “Oh, my friend, it’s not what they take away from you that counts.  It’s what you do with what you have left.” — Hubert Humphrey
• “People seem not to see that their opinion of the world is also a confession of character.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson
• “Persons are judged to be great because of the positive qualities they possess, not because of the absence of faults.” — Author Unknown
• “The greatest discovery of my generation is that a human being can alter his life by altering his attitudes.” — William James
• “The only difference between a good day and a bad day is your attitude.” — Dennis S. Brown
• “There are no menial jobs, only menial attitudes.” — William J. Bennett
• “There is little difference in people, but that little difference makes a big difference. The little difference is attitude. The big difference is whether it is positive or negative.” — W. Clement Stone
• “Things turn out best for the people who make the best out of the way things turn out.” — Art Linkletter
• “Toughness is in the soul and spirit, not in muscles.” — Alex Karras
• “Whatever you think the world is withholding from you, you are withholding from the world.” — Eckhart Tolle
• “Wherever you go, no matter what the weather, always bring your own sunshine.” — Anthony J. D’Angelo
• “You must start with a positive attitude or you will surely end without one.” — Carrie Latet
• “You’ve done it before and you can do it now. See the positive possibilities. Redirect the substantial energy of your frustration and turn it into positive, effective, unstoppable determination.” — Ralph Marston

Defeat, Setbacks, and Failures

• “A car can’t operate without the mechanical systems working, but it can operate with a few dents and scratches … you are the same.” — Mike Dolan
• “Defeat is not bitter unless you swallow it.” — Joe Clark
• “If you can wear the hard times of your life as furrows on your brow, you can wear the good times as a twinkle in your eye.” — Robert Brault
• “In the depth of winter I finally learned that there was in me an invincible summer.” — Albert Camu
• “Physical strength is measured by what we can carry; spiritual by what we can bear.” — Author Unknown
• “The block of granite which was an obstacle in the pathway of the weak, became a stepping-stone in the pathway of the strong.” — Thomas Carlyle
• “The human spirit is stronger than anything that can happen to it.” — C.C. Scott
• “Think like a queen. A queen is not afraid to fail. Failure is another steppingstone to greatness.” — Oprah Winfrey
• “To begin to think with purpose is to enter the ranks of those strong ones who only recognize failure as one of the pathways to attainment.” — James Allen
• “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
• “Whenever you fall, pick something up.” — Oswald Avery

Expectations

• “Expect nothing.  Live frugally on surprise.” — Alice Walker
• “I am not afraid of tomorrow, for I have seen yesterday and I love today.” — William Allen White
• “I am sure that nothing has such a decisive influence upon a man’s course as his personal appearance, and not so much his appearance as his belief in its attractiveness or unattractiveness.” — Leo Tolstoy
• “I don’t like that man.  I must get to know him better.” — Abraham Lincoln
• “If you keep on saying things are going to be bad, you have a good chance of becoming a prophet.” — Isaac Bashevis Singer
• “If you think about disaster, you will get it. Brood about death and you hasten your demise. Think positively and masterfully, with confidence and faith, and life becomes more secure, more fraught with action, richer in achievement and experience.” –  Swami Vivekananda
• “The best things in life are unexpected – because there were no expectations.” — Eli Khamarov
• “The sun won’t shine until you put the umbrella away.  Be free.” — Author Unknown
• “These then are my last words to you. Be not afraid of life. Believe that life is worth living and your belief will help create the fact.” –  William James
• “Too many people miss the silver lining because they’re expecting gold.” — Maurice Setter
• “Unhappiness is best defined as the difference between our talents and our expectations.” — Edward de Bono
• “We awaken in others the same attitude of mind we hold toward them.” — Elbert Hubbard
• “We must be willing to get rid of the life we’ve planned, so as to have the life that is waiting for us.” — Joseph Campbell

Focus and Perspective

• “Every day may not be good, but there’s something good in every day.” — Author Unknown
• “I don’t think of all the misery but of the beauty that still remains.” — Anne Frank
• “I have never met a man so ignorant that I couldn’t learn something from him.” — Galileo Galilei
• “If we shall take the good we find, asking no questions, we shall have heaping measures.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson
• “If you call a thing bad you do little, if you call a thing good you do much.” — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
• “If you don’t like something change it; if you can’t change it, change the way you think about it.” — Mary Engelbreit
• “Instead of thinking about what you’re missing, try thinking about what you have that everyone else is missing.” – Unknown
• “It’s so hard when I have to, and so easy when I want to.” — Annie Gottlier
• “Just because you’re miserable doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy your life.” — Annette Goodheart
• “May I never miss a sunset or a rainbow because I am looking down.” — Sara June Parker
• “Nothing is interesting if you’re not interested.” — Helen MacInness
• “People are not disturbed by things, but by the view they take of them.” – Epictetus
• “Swallow a toad in the morning and you will encounter nothing more disgusting the rest of the day.” — Nicholas Chamfort
• “That’s my gift. I let that negativity roll off me like water off a duck’s back. If it’s not positive, I didn’t hear it. If you can overcome that, fights are easy.” — George Foreman
• “The mind is its own place, and in itself can make a Heaven of Hell, a Hell of Heaven.” — John Milton
• “The sun shines and warms and lights us and we have no curiosity to know why this is so; but we ask the reason of all evil, of pain, and hunger, and mosquitoes and silly people.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson
• “There are always flowers for those who want to see them.” –  Henri Matisse
• “There are exactly as many special occasions in life as we choose to celebrate.” — Robert Brault
• “There are two types of people – those who come into a room and say, ‘Well, here I am!’ and those who come in and say, ‘Ah, there you are.’” — Frederick L. Collins
• “There’s a saying among prospectors:  ‘Go out looking for one thing, and that’s all you’ll ever find.’” — Robert Flaherty
• “Two people can have a middling day, but one rounds up and the other rounds down.” — Robert Brault
• “We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.” — Oscar Wilde
• “Whatever my day may have lacked, yet I have tonight’s pearl moon.” — Dr. SunWolf
• “Work is either fun or drudgery.  It depends on your attitude.  I like fun.” — Colleen C. Barrett

Hope and Fear

• “A strong positive mental attitude will create more miracles than any wonder drug.” — Patricia Neal
• “Either way, things are a lot better – either a lot better than they were or a lot better than they’re going to be.” — Robert Brault
• “Fear less, hope more; Eat less, chew more; Whine less, breathe more; Talk less, say more; Love more, and all good things will be yours.” — Swedish Proverb
• “I am a little deaf, a little blind, a little impotent, and on top of this are two or three abominable infirmities, but nothing destroys my hope.” – Voltaire
• “I not only bow to the inevitable; I am fortified by it.” — Thornton Wilder
• “The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in the mind at the same time, and still retain the ability to function.  One should, for example, be able to see that things are hopeless and yet be determined to make them otherwise.” — F. Scott Fitzgerald
• “My friends, love is better than anger.  Hope is better than fear.  Optimism is better than despair.  So let us be loving, hopeful and optimistic.  And we’ll change the world.” — Jack Layton
• “When you put faith, hope and love together, you can raise positive kids in a negative world.” — Zig Ziglar

Humor

• “A friend will remind you that assumptions born of malice are better dealt with by gleefully sticking your tongue out.” – Dodinsky
• “A person will sometimes devote all his life to the development of one part of his body – the wishbone.” — Robert Frost
• “I was going to buy a copy of ‘The Power of Positive Thinking’, and then I thought: What the hell good would that do?” –  Ronnie Shakes
• “Optimist: someone who isn’t sure whether life is a tragedy or a comedy but is tickled silly just to be in the play.” — Robert Brault
• “Reach for the stars, even if you have to stand on a cactus.” — Susan Longacre
• “Scratch less.  Purr more.” — Author Unknown
• “Sometimes life’s Hell.  But hey!  Whatever gets the marshmallows toasty.” — J. Andrew Helt
• “The basis of optimism is sheer terror.” –  Oscar Wilde
• “The only disability in life is a bad attitude.” — Scott Hamilton
• “The only people who find what they are looking for in life are the fault finders.” — Foster’s Law

Letting Things Go and Forgiveness

• “For my part I believe in the forgiveness of sin and the redemption of ignorance.” — Adlai Stevenson
• “The best thing to give to your enemy is forgiveness; to an opponent, tolerance; to a friend, your heart; to your child, a good example; to a father, deference; to your mother, conduct that will make her proud of you; to yourself, respect; to all men, charity.” — Benjamin Franklin
• “To be wronged is nothing unless you continue to remember it.” — Confucius

Love and Liking

• “A loving person lives in a loving world.  A hostile person lives in a hostile world; everyone you meet is your mirror.” — Ken Keyes, Jr.
• “Anywhere you go liking everyone, everyone will be likeable.” — Mignon McLaughlin
• “I have found that if you love life, life will love you back.” — Arthur Rubinstein
• “Surrounded by people who love life, you love it too; surrounded by people who don’t, you don’t.” — Mignon McLaughlin
• “The sun does not shine for a few trees and flowers, but for the wide world’s joy.” — Henry Ward Beecher

Opportunity and Possibility

• “A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.” — Winston Churchill
• “Become a possibilitarian.  No matter how dark things seem to be or actually are, raise your sights and see possibilities – always see them, for they’re always there.” — Norman Vincent Peale
• “I have learned to use the word impossible with the greatest caution.” — Wernher von Braun
• “If the skies fall, one may hope to catch larks.” — Francis Rabelais
• “Impossible is a word only to be found in the dictionary of fools.” – Napoleon
• “Keep a green tree in your heart and perhaps a singing bird will come.” — Chinese Proverb
• “Learn to smile at every situation.  See it as an opportunity to prove your strength and ability.” — Joe Brown
• “Nothing is impossible to a willing heart.” — John Heywood
• “The impossible can always be broken down into possibilities.” — Author Unknown
• “Where the loser saw barriers, the winner saw hurdles.” — Robert Brault

Positive Thinking

• “A man is but the product of his thoughts what he thinks, he becomes.” –  Mahatma Gandhi
• “A person who has good thoughts cannot ever be ugly.  You can have a wonky nose and a crooked mouth and a double chin and stick-out teeth, but if you have good thoughts they will shine out of your face like sunbeams and you will always look lovely.” — Roald Dahl
• “Being in a good frame of mind helps keep one in the picture of health.” — Author Unknown
• “Care not what they say about the color of your skin let the brilliant light of your soul blind them.” — Mike Dolan
• “Change your thoughts and you change your world.” — Norman Vincent Peale
• “Clouds come floating into my life, no longer to carry rain or usher storm, but to add color to my sunset sky.” — Rabindranath Tagore
• “Every thought is a seed.  If you plant crab apples, don’t count on harvesting Golden Delicious.” — Bill Meyer
• “Henceforth I ask not good-fortune, I myself am good-fortune.” — Walt Whitman
• “It takes but one positive thought when given a chance to survive and thrive to overpower an entire army of negative thoughts.” –  Robert H. Schuller
• “Look at everything as though you were seeing it either for the first or last time.” — Betty Smith
• “Once you replace negative thoughts with positive ones, you’ll start having positive results.” — Willie Nelson
• “People are zealous for a cause when they are not quite positive that it is true” — Bertrand Russell
• “Positive anything is better than negative thinking.” — Elbert Hubbard
• “Positive thinking will let you do everything better than negative thinking will.” — Zig Ziglar
• “So our human life but dies down to its root, and still puts forth its green blade to eternity.” — Henry David Thoreau
• “Some people are always grumbling because roses have thorns; I am thankful that thorns have roses.” — Alphonse Karr
• “The best way to dispel negative thoughts is to require that they have a purpose.” — Robert Brault
• “The man who has no inner life is a slave to his surroundings.” — Henri Frédéric Amiel
• “The positive thinker sees the invisible, feels the intangible, and achieves the impossible.” — Author Unknown
• “They can betray me, but I choose not to betray my peace of mind.” – Dodinsky
• “When I examine myself and my methods of thought, I come to the conclusion that the gift of fantasy has meant more to me than any talent for abstract, positive thinking.” — Albert Einstein

Enjoy and best wishes for a positive outlook and positive action for your road ahead.

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You’ve probably come across several quotes attributed to Buddha over the years. I’ve always enjoyed the precision, profoundness, and pragmatism of his quotes.

His words of wisdom have stood the test of time on a number of broad topics.   For this collection of Buddha quotes, I’ve arranged them by key themes including: Action, Anger, Fear, Health, Life, Love, Mind, Personal Development, Self-Reliance, Speech, and Truth.

As you read through the quotes, see if his words, inspire new insight or echo your experience, or challenge your beliefs in some new way.

Top 10 Buddha Quotes

1. “Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment.”
2. “It is better to conquer yourself than to win a thousand battles. Then the victory is yours. It cannot be taken from you, not by angels or by demons, heaven or hell.”
3. “It is better to travel well than to arrive.”
4. “Peace comes from within. Do not seek it without.”
5. “The only real failure in life is not to be true to the best one knows.”
6. “The way is not in the sky. The way is in the heart.”
7. “There is nothing more dreadful than the habit of doubt. Doubt separates people. It is a poison that disintegrates friendships and breaks up pleasant relations. It is a thorn that irritates and hurts; it is a sword that kills.”
8. “Thousands of candles can be lighted from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared.”
9. “We are what we think. All that we are arises with our thoughts. With our thoughts, we make the world.”
10. “What we think, we become.“

Action

• “A jug fills drop by drop.”
• “An idea that is developed and put into action is more important than an idea that exists only as an idea.”
• “Chaos is inherent in all compounded things. Strive on with diligence.”
• “Holding on to anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the one who gets burned.”
• “However many holy words you read, however many you speak, what good will they do you if you do not act on upon them?”
• “I do not believe in a fate that falls on men however they act; but I do believe in a fate that falls on them unless they act.”
• “I never see what has been done; I only see what remains to be done.”
• “To be idle is a short road to death and to be diligent is a way of life; foolish people are idle, wise people are diligent.”

Anger, Forgiveness, and Compassion

• “Hatred does not cease through hatred at any time. Hatred ceases through love. This is an unalterable law.”
• “Have compassion for all beings, rich and poor alike; each has their suffering. Some suffer too much, others too little.”
• “In a controversy the instant we feel anger we have already ceased striving for the truth, and have begun striving for ourselves.”
• “Teach this triple truth to all: A generous heart, kind speech, and a life of service and compassion are the things which renew humanity.”
• “To understand everything is to forgive everything.”
• “You will not be punished for your anger, you will be punished by your anger.”

Fear

• “Even death is not to be feared by one who has lived wisely.”
• “The whole secret of existence is to have no fear. Never fear what will become of you, depend on no one. Only the moment you reject all help are you freed.”
• “When one has the feeling of dislike for evil, when one feels tranquil, one finds pleasure in listening to good teachings; when one has these feelings and appreciates them, one is free of fear.”

Health

• “Every human being is the author of his own health or disease.”
• “Health is the greatest gift, contentment the greatest wealth, faithfulness the best relationship.”
• “The secret of health for both mind and body is not to mourn for the past, worry about the future, or anticipate troubles, but to live in the present moment wisely and earnestly.”
• “To enjoy good health, to bring true happiness to one’s family, to bring peace to all, one must first discipline and control one’s own mind. If a man can control his mind he can find the way to Enlightenment, and all wisdom and virtue will naturally come to him.”
• “To keep the body in good health is a duty … otherwise we shall not be able to keep our mind strong and clear.”
• “Without health life is not life; it is only a state of languor and suffering an image of death.”

Life and Living

• “He who experiences the unity of life sees his own Self in all beings, and all beings in his own Self, and looks on everything with an impartial eye.”
• “Just as a candle cannot burn without fire, men cannot live without a spiritual life.”
• “Just as treasures are uncovered from the earth, so virtue appears from good deeds, and wisdom appears from a pure and peaceful mind. To walk safely through the maze of human life, one needs the light of wisdom and the guidance of virtue.”
• “Life is suffering.”
• “On life’s journey faith is nourishment, virtuous deeds are a shelter, wisdom is the light by day and right mindfulness is the protection by night. If a man lives a pure life, nothing can destroy him.”
• “The foot feels the foot when it feels the ground.”
• “There has to be evil so that good can prove its purity above it.”
• “To live a pure unselfish life, one must count nothing as one’s own in the midst of abundance.”
• “When you realize how perfect everything is you will tilt your head back and laugh at the sky.”
• “You cannot travel the path until you have become the path itself.”
• “Your work is to discover your work and then with all your heart to give yourself to it.”

Love, Connection, and Unity

• “All things appear and disappear because of the concurrence of causes and conditions. Nothing ever exists entirely alone; everything is in relation to everything else.”
• “Ambition is like love, impatient both of delays and rivals.”
• “He who loves 50 people has 50 woes; he who loves no one has no woes.”
• “Unity can only be manifested by the Binary. Unity itself and the idea of Unity are already two.”
• “You can search throughout the entire universe for someone who is more deserving of your love and affection than you are yourself, and that person is not to be found anywhere. You yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe deserve your love and affection.”
• “You, yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe, deserve your love and affection.”

Mind, Thought, and Thinking

• “All wrong-doing arises because of mind. If mind is transformed can wrong-doing remain?”
• “An insincere and evil friend is more to be feared than a wild beast; a wild beast may wound your body, but an evil friend will wound your mind.”
• “Believe nothing, no matter where you read it, or who said it, no matter if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your own common sense.”
• “He is able who thinks he is able.”
• “It is a man’s own mind, not his enemy or foe, that lures him to evil ways.”
• “The mind is everything. What you think you become.”
• “Those who are free of resentful thoughts surely find peace.”
• “We are what we think. All that we are arises with our thoughts. With our thoughts, we make the world.”

Personal Development

• “Do not overrate what you have received, nor envy others. He who envies others does not obtain peace of mind.”
• “The virtues, like the Muses, are always seen in groups. A good principle was never found solitary in any breast.”
• “To conquer oneself is a greater task than conquering others.”
• “Virtue is persecuted more by the wicked than it is loved by the good.”
• “We are shaped by our thoughts; we become what we think. When the mind is pure, joy follows like a shadow that never leaves.”

Self-Reliance

• “No one saves us but ourselves. No one can and no one may. We ourselves must walk the path.”
• “Work out your own salvation. Do not depend on others.”

Speech

• “A dog is not considered a good dog because he is a good barker. A man is not considered a good man because he is a good talker.”
• “Better than a thousand hollow words, is one word that brings peace.”
• “The tongue like a sharp knife … Kills without drawing blood.”
• “The wise ones fashioned speech with their thought, sifting it as grain is sifted through a sieve.”
• “Whatever words we utter should be chosen with care for people will hear them and be influenced by them for good or ill.”

Truth

• “In the sky, there is no distinction of east and west; people create distinctions out of their own minds and then believe them to be true.”
• “There are only two mistakes one can make along the road to truth; not going all the way, and not starting.”
• “Three things cannot be long hidden: the sun, the moon, and the truth.”

Photo by UggBoy / UggGirl.

This is a collection of Confucius quotes to put his wisdom at your finger tips. Confucius was a Chinese thinker and social philosopher with a knack for nailing some big ideas for life.

Confucius tackled topics like anger, character, failure, happiness, intelligence, truth, virtue, and more. The beauty of Confucius’s quotes is how elegantly they express ideas and get you thinking. For example, Confucius said, “No matter where you go – there you are.” This reminds us that we always bring ourselves to any situation, baggage, beliefs, and all. It helped me realize early on in life, that you need to be your own best friend, or, life will be a rough ride.

Another thing I like about Confucius’s quotes is how they are sticky in the mind.   I’ve come across a lot of Confucius’s quotes throughout life and they stuck with me.  Partly it’s because of how they ring true, and partly it’s because of how they are expressed.  Great quotes echo in the mind.

Enjoy these quotes by Confucius and may they serve you well in the journey of life.

Top 10 Confucius Quotes

1. “Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.”
2. “Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it.”
3. “I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand.”
4. “If I am walking with two other men, each of them will serve as my teacher. I will pick out the good points of the one and imitate them, and the bad points of the other and correct them in myself.”
5. “It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop.”
6. “Men’s natures are alike, it is their habits that carry them far apart.”
7. “No matter where you go – there you are”
8. “Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in getting up every time we do.”
9. “Wherever you go, go with all your heart.”
10. “Worry not that no one knows of you; seek to be worth knowing.”

Ability

• “Ability will never catch up with the demand for it.”
• “The expectations of life depend upon diligence; the mechanic that would perfect his work must first sharpen his tools.”

Alertness

• “The superior man, when resting in safety, does not forget that danger may come.”
• “When in a state of security he does not forget the possibility of ruin. When all is orderly, he does not forget that disorder may come. Thus his person is not endangered, and his States and all their clans are preserved.”

Anger and Blame

• “If a man be under the influence of anger his conduct will not be correct.”
• “It was by music that the ancient kings gave elegant expression to their joy. By their armies and axes they gave the same to their anger.”
• “To be wronged is nothing unless you continue to remember it.”
• “When anger rises, think of the consequences.”

Character

• “Earnest in practicing the ordinary virtues, and careful in speaking about them, if, in his practice, he has anything defective, the superior man dares not but exert himself; and if, in his words, he has any excess, he dares not allow himself such license.”
• “Faced with what is right, to leave it undone shows a lack of courage.”
• “Forget injuries, never forget kindnesses.”
• “Great as heaven and earth are, men still find some things in them with which to be  dissatisfied. Thus it is that, were the superior man to speak of his way in all its greatness, nothing in the world would be found able to embrace it, and were he to speak of it in its minuteness, nothing in the world would be found able to split it.”
• “Hold faithfulness and sincerity as first principles. Then no friends would not be like yourself.”
• “I will not be concerned at other men’s not knowing me;I will be concerned at my own  want of ability.”
• “In archery we have something like the way of the superior man. When the archer misses the center of the target, he turns round and seeks for the cause of his failure in himself.”
• “It is easy to hate and it is difficult to love. This is how the whole scheme of things works. All good things are difficult to achieve; and bad things are very easy to get.”
• “Look at the means which a man employs, consider his motives, observe his pleasures. A man simply cannot conceal himself!”
• “Never give a sword to a man who can’t dance.”
• “Only the wisest and stupidest of men never change.”
• “Respect yourself and others will respect you.”
• “Sincerity is that whereby self-completion is effected, and its way is that by which man must direct himself.”
• “The man who in view of gain thinks of righteousness; who in the view of danger is prepared to give up his life; and who does not forget an old agreement however far back it extends – such a man may be reckoned a complete man.”
• “The superior man acts before he speaks, and afterwards speaks according to his action.”
• “The superior man cannot be known in little matters, but he may be entrusted with great concerns. The small man may not be entrusted with great concerns, but he may be known in little matters.”
• “The superior man has nothing to compete for. But if he must compete, he does it in  an archery match, wherein he ascends to his position, bowing in deference.   Descending, he drinks the ritual cup.”
• “The superior man is all-embracing and not partial. The inferior man is partial and not all-embracing.”
• “The superior man is aware of Righteousness, the inferior man is aware of advantage.”
• “There is nothing more visible than what is secret, and nothing more manifest than  what is minute.” Therefore the superior man is watchful over himself, when he is alone.”
• “What the superior man seeks is in himself; what the small man seeks is in others.”
• “Wisdom, compassion, and courage are the three universally recognized moral qualities of men.”
• “Without an acquaintance with the rules of propriety, it is impossible for the character to be established.”
• “Without feelings of respect, what is there to distinguish men from beasts?”

Failure, Mistakes, and Flaws

• “A man who has committed a mistake and doesn’t correct it, is committing another mistake.”
• “Be not ashamed of mistakes and thus make them crimes.”
• “Better a diamond with a flaw than a pebble without.”
• “If you make a mistake, do not be afraid to correct it.”
• “In all things success depends on previous preparation, and without such previous preparation there is sure to be failure.”
• “The cautious seldom err.”
• “The faults of a superior man are like the sun and moon. They have their faults, and everyone sees them; they change and everyone looks up to them.”
• “Things that are done, it is needless to speak about … things that are past, it is needless to blame.”
• “When you have faults, do not fear to abandon them.”

Friends and Friendship

• “I do not want a friend who smiles when I smile, who weeps when I weep, for my shadow in the pool can do better than that.”
• “It is more shameful to distrust our friends than to be deceived by them.”
• “Never contract friendship with a man that is not better than thyself.”
• “Silence is a true friend who never betrays.”

Goals

• “When it is obvious that the goals cannot be reached, don’t adjust the goals, adjust the action steps.”

Habits

• “To practice five things under all circumstances constitutes perfect virtue; these five are gravity, generosity of soul, sincerity, earnestness, and kindness.”

Happiness

• “If a man has no humaneness what can his propriety be like? If a man has no humaneness what can his happiness be like?”
• “If a man takes no thought about what is distant, he will find sorrow near at hand.”
• “The superior man is satisfied and composed; the mean man is always full of distress.”
• “The wise find pleasure in water; the virtuous find pleasure in hills. The wise are active; the virtuous are tranquil. The wise are joyful; the virtuous are long-lived.”
• “They must often change who would be constant in happiness or wisdom.”
• “We should feel sorrow, but not sink under its oppression.”
• “With coarse rice to eat, with water to drink, and my bended arm for a pillow – I have still joy in the midst of these things. Riches and honors acquired by unrighteousness are to me as a floating cloud.”

Heart and Love

• “Can there be a love which does not make demands on its object?”
• “If you look into your own heart, and you find nothing wrong there, what is there to worry about? What is there to fear?”
• “Recompense injury with justice, and recompense kindness with kindness.”
• “The superior man examines his heart, that there may be nothing wrong there, and that he may have no cause for dissatisfaction with himself. That wherein the superior man cannot be equaled is simply this — his work which other men cannot see.”

How to Live

• “Although your father and mother are dead, if you propose to yourself any good work, only reflect how it will make their names illustrious, and your purpose will be fixed.”
• “At fifteen my heart was set on learning; at thirty I stood firm; at forty I had no more doubts; at fifty I knew the mandate of heaven; at sixty my ear was obedient; at seventy I could follow my heart’s desire without transgressing the norm.”
• “Being in humaneness is good. If we select other goodness and thus are far apart from humaneness, how can we be the wise?”
• “”Consideration for others is the basic of a good life, a good society.”
• “Death and life have their determined appointments; riches and honors depend upon heaven.”
• “Do not impose on others what you yourself do not desire.”
• “He who will not economize will have to agonize.”
• “How great is the path proper to the Sage! Like overflowing water, it sends forth  and nourishes all things, and rises up to the height of heaven. All-complete is its  greatness! It embraces the three hundred rules of ceremony, and the three thousand rules of demeanor. It waits for the proper man, and then it is trodden. Hence it is  said, ‘Only by perfect virtue can the perfect path, in all its courses, be made a fact.’”
• “I want you to be everything that’s you, deep at the center of your being.”
• “If we don’t know life, how can we know death?”
• “Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated.”
• “Old age, believe me, is a good and pleasant thing. It is true you are gently shouldered off the stage, but then you are given such a comfortable front stall as spectator.”
• “Speak the truth, do not yield to anger; give, if thou art asked for little; by these three steps thou wilt go near the gods.”
• “Study the past, if you would define the future.”
• “The more man meditates upon good thoughts, the better will be his world and the world at large.”
• “The Path is not far from man. When men try to pursue a course, which is far from the common indications of consciousness, this course cannot be considered The Path.”
• “The superior man does what is proper to the station in which he is; he does not desire to go beyond this. In a position of wealth and honor, he does what is proper to a position of wealth and honor. In a poor and low position, he does what is proper to a poor and low position.”
• “The superior man honors his virtuous nature, and maintains constant inquiry and study, seeking to carry it out to its breadth and greatness, so as to omit none of the more exquisite and minute points which it embraces, and to raise it to its greatest height and brilliancy.”
• “The way of the superior man may be compared to what takes place in traveling, when to go to a distance we must first traverse the space that is near, and in ascending a height, when we must begin from the lower ground.”
• “There are three things which the superior man guards against. In youth … lust.   When he is strong … quarrelsomeness.   When he is old … covetousness.”
• “What you do not want done to yourself, do not do to others.”
• “When one cultivates to the utmost the principles of his nature, and exercises them on the principle of reciprocity, he is not far from the path.”
• “When the Superior Man eats he does not try to stuff himself; at rest he does not seek perfect comfort; he is diligent in his work and careful in speech. He avails himself to people of the Tao and thereby corrects himself. This is the kind of person of whom you can say, ‘he loves learning.’”
• “When you are laboring for others let it be with the same zeal as if it were for yourself.”

Humility

• “A superior man is modest in his speech, but exceeds in his actions.”
• “He who speaks without modesty will find it difficult to make his words good.”
• “The superior man is distressed by the limitations of his ability; he is not distressed by the fact that men do not recognize the ability that he has.”

Influence

• “All things are nourished together without their injuring one another. The courses  of the seasons, and of the sun and moon, are pursued without any collision among  them. The smaller energies are like river currents; the greater energies are seen  in mighty transformations. It is this which makes heaven and earth so great.”
• “Among the appliances to transform the people, sound and appearances are but trivial  influences.”
• “Sincerity becomes apparent. From being apparent, it becomes manifest. From being manifest, it becomes brilliant. Brilliant, it affects others. Affecting others, they are changed by it. Changed by it, they are transformed. It is only he who is possessed of the most complete sincerity that can exist under heaven, who can transform.”

Intelligence

• “When we have intelligence resulting from sincerity, this condition is to be ascribed to nature; when we have sincerity resulting from intelligence, this condition is to be ascribed to instruction. But given the sincerity, and there shall be the intelligence; given the intelligence, and there shall be the sincerity.”

Knowledge and Learning

• “By three methods we may learn wisdom: First, by reflection, which is noblest; Second, by imitation, which is easiest; and third by experience, which is the bitterest.”
• “He who learns but does not think, is lost! He who thinks but does not learn is in great danger.”
• “I am not one who was born in the possession of knowledge; I am one who is fond of antiquity, and earnest in seeking it there.”
• “If you think in terms of a year, plant a seed; if in terms of ten years, plant trees; if in terms of 100 years, teach the people.”
• “Ignorance is the night of the mind, but a night without moon and star.”
• “Learn as though you would never be able to master it; Hold it as though you would be in fear of losing it.”
• “Learning without thought is labor lost; thought without learning is perilous.”
• “Real knowledge is to know the extent of one’s ignorance.”
• “Reviewing what you have learned and learning anew, you are fit to be a teacher.”
• “The scholar who cherishes the love of comfort is not fit to be deemed a scholar.”
• “Things have their root and their branches. Affairs have their end and their beginning. To know what is first and what is last will lead near to what is taught in the Great Learning.”
• “To be fond of learning is to be near to knowledge. To practice with vigor is to be near to magnanimity. To possess the feeling of shame is to be near to energy.”
• “To study and not think is a waste. To think and not study is dangerous.”
• “When you know a thing, to hold that you know it, and when you do not know a thing, to allow that you do not know it – this is knowledge.”
• “You cannot open a book without learning something.”

Personal Development

• “The will to win, the desire to succeed, the urge to reach your full potential… these are the keys that will unlock the door to personal excellence.”
• “When we see men of worth, we should think of equaling them; when we see men of a contrary character, we should turn inwards and examine ourselves.”
• “When you meet someone better than yourself, turn your thoughts to becoming his equal. When you meet someone not as good as you are, look within and examine your own self.”

Revenge

• “Before you embark on a journey of revenge, dig two graves.”

Truth

• “The object of the superior man is truth.”
• “The superior man does not set his mind either for anything, or against anything; what is right he will follow.”
• “The superior man, even when he is not moving, has a feeling of reverence, and while he speaks not, he has the feeling of truthfulness.”
• “They who know the truth are not equal to those who love it, and they who love it are not equal to those who delight in it.”

Uniqueness

• “The way of Heaven and Earth may be completely declared in one sentence: They are without any doubleness, and so they produce things in a manner that is unfathomable.”

Virtue

• “Fine words and an insinuating appearance are seldom associated with true virtue.”
• “Go before the people with your example, and be laborious in their affairs.”
• “I have not seen a person who loved virtue, or one who hated what was not virtuous.  He who loved virtue would esteem nothing above it.”
• “Is virtue a thing remote? I wish to be virtuous, and lo! Virtue is at hand.”
• “The determined scholar and the man of virtue will not seek to live at the expense of injuring their virtue. They will even sacrifice their lives to preserve their virtue complete.”
• “The firm, the enduring, the simple, and the modest are near to virtue.”
• “The man of virtue makes the difficulty to be overcome his first interest; success only comes later.”
• “The superior man thinks always of virtue; the common man thinks of comfort.”
• “The virtuous man is driven by responsibility, the non-virtuous man is driven by profit.”
• “Virtue is more to man than either water or fire. I have seen men die from treading on water and fire, but I have never seen a man die from treading the course of virtue.”
• “Virtue is not left to stand alone. He who practices it will have neighbors.”
• “Virtuous people often revenge themselves for the constraints to which they submit by the boredom which they inspire.”
• “What the great learning teaches, is to illustrate illustrious virtue; to renovate the people; and to rest in the highest excellence.”
• “When a man’s knowledge is sufficient to attain, and his virtue is not sufficient to enable him to hold, whatever he may have gained, he will lose again.”

Photo by Ivan Walsh.

This is my collection of leadership quotes drawing from John Maxwell, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Sun Tzu, and more.   It’s wisdom of the ages and modern sages, all focused on the topic of leadership.  Use these quotes to add to your own repertoire of leadership knowledge.

When you think of your favorite leaders, what words come to mind?   Some of the words I think of are courage, compassion, connection, and conviction.  I also think of heart, hope, encouragement, inspiration, and optimism.  I also think of accountability, self-awareness, learning and growth.  These are the words I used to organize my leadership quotes.

There are many lessons we can learn on the art of leadership, but some of the most important I think are start with heart, lead by example, lead yourself first, focus on the greater good, know when to follow, don’t ask people to do what you wouldn’t do yourself, and balance connection with conviction.

For me, to put it simply, I think effective leaders bring out the best in people.

Read on to explore leadership in depth from a variety of people and perspectives.

Top 10 Leadership Quotes

1. “A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way.” –  John C. Maxwell
2. “A real leader faces the music, even when he doesn’t like the tune.” – Anonymous
3. “All Leadership is influence.” — John C. Maxwell
4. “Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson
5. “Lead me, follow me, or get out of my way.” — General George Patton
6. “Leadership is the capacity to translate vision into reality.” — Warren Bennis
7. “Managers help people see themselves as they are; Leaders help people to see themselves better than they are.” — Jim Rohn
8. “The art of leadership is saying no, not yes.  It is very easy to say yes.” — Tony Blair
9. “The price of greatness is responsibility.” — Winston Churchill
10. “When the effective leader is finished with his work, the people say it happened naturally.” — Lao Tzu

A Leader Is …

• “A good leader is a person who takes a little more than his share of the blame and a little less than his share of the credit.” — John C. Maxwell
• “A leader is not an administrator who loves to run others, but someone who carries water for his people so that they can get on with their jobs.” — Robert Townsend
• “A leader’s role is to raise people’s aspirations for what they can become and to release their energies so they will try to get there.” — David R. Gergen
• “A leader is best when people barely know he exists, when his work is done, his aim fulfilled, they will say: we did it ourselves.” — Lao Tzu
• “A leader is one who sees more than others see, who sees farther than others see, and who sees before others see.” — Leroy Eimes

Boldness and Courage

• “A ship in the harbor is safe, but that is not what ships are built for.” — William Shedo
• “Boldness, more boldness, and always boldness!” — George Jacques Danton
• “Courage is the enforcing virtue, the one that makes possible all the other virtues common
  to exceptional leaders: honesty, integrity, confidence, compassion and humility.” — John McCain
• “Leaders make decisions that create the future they desire.” — Mike Murdock
• “Rely on your own strength of body and soul. Take for your star self-reliance, faith, honesty and industry. Don’t take too much advice — keep at the helm and steer your own ship, and remember that the great art of commanding is to take a fair share of the work. Fire above the mark you intend to hit. Energy, invincible determination with the right motive, are the levers that move the world.” — Noah Porter
• “The only safe ship in a storm is leadership.” — Faye Wattleton

Challenges and Difficulty

• “Anyone can hold the helm when the sea is calm.” — Publilius Syrus
• “Big jobs usually go to the men who prove their ability to outgrow small ones.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson
• “Confront issues and challenges – not each Other.” — Suzanne Mayo Frindt
• “Difficulties mastered are opportunities won.” — Winston Churchill
• “In any moment of decision, the best thing you can do is the right thing.  The worst thing you can do is nothing.” — Theodore Roosevelt
• “Leaders aren’t born, they are made. And they are made just like anything else, through hard work. And that’s the price we’ll have to pay to achieve that goal, or any goal.” — Vince Lombardi
• “Leaders do not avoid, repress, or deny conflict, but rather see it as an opportunity.” — Warren Bennis
• “Misfortunes, untoward events, lay open, disclose the skill of a general, while success conceals his weakness, his weak points.” – Horace
• “One of the true tests of leadership is the ability to recognize a problem before it becomes an emergency.” — Arnold H. Glasgow
• “People who let events and circumstances dictate their lives are living reactively. That means that they don’t act on life, they only react to it.” — Stedman Graham
• “Success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which have been overcome while trying to succeed.” — Booker T. Washington
• “The hallmark of a well-managed organization is not the absence of problems, but whether or not problems are effectively resolved.” — Steve Ventura
• “The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.” — Martin Luther King, Jr.
• “To do great things is difficult; but to command great things is more difficult.” — Friedrich Nietzsche
  Character
• “Character creates consistency, and if your people know what they can expect from you, they will continue to look to you for leadership.” — John Maxwell
• “Character makes trust possible, and trust is the foundation of leadership.” — John Maxwell
• “I am personally convinced that one person can be a change catalyst, a “transformer” in any situation, any organization. Such an individual is yeast that can leaven an entire loaf. It requires vision, initiative, patience, respect, persistence, courage, and faith to be a transforming leader.” — Stephen R. Covey
• “I have three precious things which I hold fast and prize. The first is gentleness; the second is frugality; the third is humility, which keeps me from putting myself before others. Be gentle and you can be bold; be frugal and you can be liberal; avoid putting yourself before others and you can become a leader among men.” — Lao-Tzu
• “If you have no character to lose, people will have no faith in you.” — Mahatma Gandhi
• “It’s true that charisma can make a person stand out for a moment, but character sets a person apart for a lifetime.” — John Maxwell
• “Leadership consists not in degrees of technique but in traits of character; it requires moral rather than athletic or intellectual effort, and it imposes on both leader and follower alike the burdens of self-restraint.” — Lewis H. Lapham
• “Leadership is a potent combination of strategy and character. But if you must be without one, be without the strategy.” — Norman Schwarzkopf
• “Over time, is it easier or harder to sustain your influence within your organization?  With charisma alone, influence becomes increasingly more difficult to sustain. With character, as time passes, influence builds and requires less work to sustain.” — John Maxwell
• “The challenge of leadership is to be strong, but not rude; be kind, but not weak; be bold, but not bully; be thoughtful, but not lazy; be humble, but not timid; be proud, but not arrogant; have humor, but without folly.” — Jim Rohn
• “The greater a man is in power above others, the more he ought to excel them in virtue. None ought to govern who is not better than the governed.” — Publius Syrus
• “The real leader has no need to lead — he is content to point the way.” — Henry Miller
• “The three C’s of leadership are Consideration,Caring,and Courtesy.Be polite to everyone.” — Brian Tracy

Communication

• “Diligent follow-up and follow-through will set you apart from the crowd and communicate excellence.” – John Maxwell
• “Earn the right to be heard by listening to others. Seek to understand a situation before making judgments about it.” – John Maxwell
• “Great communication depends on two simple skills—context, which attunes a leader to the same frequency as his or her audience, and delivery, which allows a leader to phrase messages in a language the audience can understand.” – John Maxwell
• “Great leaders are almost always great simplifiers, who can cut through argument, debate, and doubt to offer a solution everybody can understand.” — General Colin Powel
• “Leadership is about magnetic communication. Leaders have a way of communicating that draws people toward the vision and the horizon.” — Doug Firebaugh
• “Persuasive communication involves enthusiasm, animation, audience participation, authenticity and spontaneity.” — John Maxwell
• “Speak softly and carry a big stick; you will go far.” — Theodore Roosevelt
• “Take the emotional temperature of those listening to you. Facial expressions, voice inflection and posture give clues to a person’s mood and attitude.” – John Maxwell
• “The final test of a leader is that he leaves behind him in other men the conviction and will to carry on.” — Walter J. Lippmann

Connection

• “A big man is one who makes us feel bigger when we are with him.” — John C. Maxwell
• “A good leader can’t get too far ahead of his followers.” — Franklin D. Roosevelt
• “A great leader’s courage to fulfill his vision comes from passion, not position.” –  John Maxwell
• “As a leader you should always start with where people are before you try to take them to where you want them to go.” — Jim Rohn
• “I light my candle from their torches.” — Robert Burton
• “I suppose leadership at one time meant muscles; but today it means getting along with people.” — Indira Gandhi
• “High sentiments always win in the end, The leaders who offer blood, toil, tears and sweat always get more out of their followers than those who offer safety and a good time. When it comes to the pinch, human beings are heroic.” — George Orwell
• “Leaders must be close enough to relate to others, but far enough ahead to motivate them.” – John Maxwell
• “The day soldiers stop bringing you their problems is the day you have stopped leading them. They have either lost confidence that you can help them or concluded that you do not care. Either case is a failure of leadership.” — Colin Powell
• “The ear of the leader must ring with the voices of the people.” — Woodrow Wilson
• “To become truly great, one has to stand with people, not above them.” — Charles de Montesquieu
• “To lead people, walk beside them.  As for the best leaders, the people do not notice their existence. The next best, the people honor and praise. The next, the people fear; and the next, the people hate.  When the best leader’s work is done the people say, ‘We did it ourselves.’” — Lao-Tsu

Conviction

• “A leader has the vision and conviction that a dream can be achieved. He inspires the power and energy to get it done.” — Ralph Nader
• “A leader takes people where they want to go. A great leader takes people where they don’t necessarily want to go but ought to be.” — Rosalynn Carter
• “A man who wants to lead the orchestra must turn his back on the crowd.” — Max Lucado
• “Consensus is the negation of leadership.” — Margaret Thatcher
• “Every person who wins in any undertaking must be willing to cut all sources of retreat. Only by doing so can one be sure of maintaining that state of mind known as a burning desire to win which is one of the essentials to success.” — Napoleon Hill
• “I cannot give you the formula for success, but I can give you the formula for failure: which is: Try to please everybody.” — Herbert B. Swope
• “If I have the belief that I can do it, I will surely acquire the capacity to do it, even if I may not have it at the beginning.” — Mahatma Gandhi
• “In this world a man must either be an anvil or hammer.” — Henry W. Longfellow
• “Leadership does not always wear the harness of compromise.” — Woodrow Wilson
• “Let him who would be moved to convince others, be first moved to convince himself.” — Thomas Carlyle
• “My leadership began to take flight when I allowed myself to press people to change—whether they thanked me or cursed me.” – John Maxwell
• “Nothing will ever be attempted if all possible objections must first be overcome.” — Samuel Johnson
• “With the power of conviction, there is no sacrifice.” — Jim Rohn
• “We will either find a way or make one.” – Hannibal

Credibility

• “A highly credible leader under-promises and over-delivers.” – John Maxwell
• “Credibility is a leader’s currency. With it, he or she is solvent; without it, he or she is bankrupt.” – John Maxell
• “Few things help an individual more than to place responsibility upon them and to let them know that you trust them.” — Booker T. Washington
• “Most people who want to get ahead do it backward. They think, ‘I’ll get a bigger job, then I’ll learn how to be a leader.’ But showing leadership skill is how you get the bigger job in the first place. Leadership isn’t a position, it’s a process.” — John Maxwell

Encouragement and Empowerment

• “A boss creates fear, a leader confidence. A boss fixes blame, a leader corrects mistakes. A boss knows all, a leader asks questions. A boss makes work drudgery, a leader makes it interesting. A boss is interested in himself or herself, a leader is interested in the group.” — Russell H. Ewing
• “As we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.” — Marianne Williamson
• “As we look ahead into the next century, leaders will be those who empower others.” — Bill Gates
• “Coaching isn’t an addition to a leader’s job, it’s an integral part of it.” — George S. Odiorne
• “I have yet to find the man, however exalted his station, who did not do better work and put forth greater effort under a spirit of approval than under a spirit of criticism.” — Charles M. Schwab
• “If you are going to help people reach their potential, they need to be recognised and rewarded. Everyone needs that.” — Jacqueline Norcel
• “If you wish a general to be beaten, send him a ream full of instructions; if you wish him to succeed, give him a destination, and bid him conquer.” — Augustus William Hare and Julius Charles Hare
• “Never tell people how to do things. Tell them what to do and they will surprise you with their ingenuity.” — George Patton
• “No general can fight his battles alone. He must depend upon his lieutenants, and his success depends upon his ability to select the right man for the right place.” — Philip Armour
• “Nothing else can quite substitute for a few well-chosen, well-timed, sincere words of praise.   They’re absolutely free and worth a fortune.” — Sam Walton
• “People change when they hurt enough that they have to, learn enough that they want to, or receive enough that they are able to.” – John Maxwell
• “Talented performers flock to the best and brightest leaders, and these leaders in turn lift the lids off their people and uncork the latent talent inside of them.” – John Maxwell
• “The best executive is the one who has sense enough to pick good men to do what he wants done, and self-restraint to keep from meddling with them while they do it.” — Theodore Roosevelt
• “The people who are lifting the world onward and upward are those who encourage more than they criticize.” — Elizabeth Harrison
• “The task of leadership is not to put greatness into people, but to elicit it, for the greatness is there already.” — John Buchan
• “The way to develop the best that is in a man is by appreciation and encouragement.” — Charles Schwab
• “There is no more noble occupation in the world than to assist another human being to help someone succeed.” — Alan Loy McGinnis
• “Treat people as if they were what they ought to be, and you help them to become what they are capable of being.” — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
• “Trust men and they will be true to you; treat them greatly, and they will show themselves great.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson

Example and Leading by Example

• “A leader leads by example not by force.” — Sun Tzu
• “Become the kind of leader that people would follow voluntarily;even if you had no title or position.” — Brian Tracy
• “Example is not the main thing in influencing others, it is the only thing.” — Albert Schweitzer
• “I think leadership comes from integrity – that you do whatever you ask others to do. I think there are non-obvious ways to lead. Just by providing a good example as a parent, a friend, a neighbor makes it possible for other people to see better ways to do things. Leadership does not need to be a dramatic, fist in the air and trumpets blaring, activity.” — Scott Berkun
• “Not the cry, but the flight of a wild duck, leads the flock to fly and follow.” – Proverb
• “Nothing so conclusively proves a man’s ability to lead others as what he does from day to day to lead himself.” — Thomas J. Watson
• “The older I get the less I listen to what people say and the more I look at what they do.” — Andrew Carnegie
• “True leaders always practice the three R’s: Respect for self, Respect for others, Responsibility for all their actions.” — Anonymous

Fear and Failure

• “Don’t buy into the notion that mistakes can somehow be avoided. They can’t be.” – John Maxwell
• “’Failing forward’ is the ability to get back up after you’ve been knocked down, learn from your mistake, and move forward in a better direction.” – John Maxwell
• “Failure is not a one-time event; it’s how you deal with life along the way. Until you breathe your last breath, you’re still in the process, and there is still time to turn things around for the better.” – John Maxwell
• “It’s hard to beat a person who never gives up.” — Babe Ruth
• “Leaders are visionaries with a poorly developed sense of fear and no concept of the odds against them. “ — Robert Jarvik
• “Seek advice, but make sure it’s from someone who has successfully handled mistakes or adversities.” – John Maxwell
• “The leader has a clear idea of what he wants to do professionally and personally, and the strength to persist in the face of setbacks, even failures.” — Warren G. Bennis
• “You are the only person who can label what you do a failure. Failure is subjective.” – John Maxwell

Following

• “A man is only a leader when a follower stands beside him.” — Mark Brouwer
• “Every leader needs to look back once in a while to make sure he has followers.” – Anonymous
• “He that cannot obey, cannot command.” — Benjamin Franklin
• “He who has learned how to obey will know how to command.” – Solon
• “He who has never learned to obey cannot be a good commander.” – Aristotle
• “If you want to lead, first learn how to follow.” — Rick Beneteau
• “Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower.” — Steve Jobs
• “Leaders don’t create followers, they create more leaders.” — Tom Peters
• “Look over your shoulder now and then to be sure someone’s following you.” — Henry Gilmer
• “One measure of leadership is the caliber of people who choose to follow you.” — Dennis A. Peer
• “Take care, don’t fight, and remember: if you do not choose to lead, you will forever be led by others. Find what scares you, and do it. And you can make a difference, if you choose to do so.” — J. Michael Straczynski
• “The function of leadership is to produce more leaders, not more followers.” — Ralph Nader
• “The height of ability in the least able consists in knowing how to submit to the good leadership of others.” — François de la Rochefoucauld
• “The leader is one who mobilizes others toward a goal shared by leaders and followers … Leaders, followers and goals make up the three equally necessary supports for leadership.” — Gary Wills
• “The led must not be compelled, they must be able to choose their own leader.” — Albert Einstein
• “Those who try to lead the people can only do so by following the mob.” — Oscar Wilde
• “To lead the people, walk behind them.” — Lao-Tzu
• “You cannot be a leader, and ask other people to follow you, unless you know how to follow, too.” — Sam Rayburn

Heart

• “A ruler should be slow to punish and swift to reward.” – Ovid
• “Great leadership usually starts with a willing heart, a positive attitude, and a desire to make a difference.” — Mac Anderson
• “He is greatest whose strength carries up the most hearts by the attraction of his own.” — Henry Ward Beecher
• “It is impossible to imagine anything which better becomes a ruler than mercy.” – Seneca
• “People do not care how much you know until they know how much you care.” — John C. Maxwell
• “People don’t mind being challenged to do better if they know the request is coming from a caring heart.” — Ken Blanchard
• “The ability to summon positive emotions during periods of intense stress lies at the heart of effective leadership.” — Jim Loehr
• “The power is detested, and miserable the life, of him who wishes to be feared rather than to be loved.” — Cornelius Nepos
• “They may forget what you said, they may forget what you did, but they will never forget how you made them feel.” — Carl W. Buecher

Influence

• “He who has great power should use it lightly.” – Seneca
• “I strongly believe that the responsibility of leadership is to shape the debate—to practice and project the right attributes—whether in a business enterprise, in our society, and even in our religions.” — Farooq Kathwari
• “Ill can he rule the great that cannot reach the small.” — Edmund Spenser
• “In the past a leader was a boss. Today’s leaders must be partners with their people … they no longer can lead solely based on positional power.” — Ken Blanchard
• “No man is good enough to govern another man without that other’s consent.” — Abraham Lincoln
• “The key to successful leadership today is influence, not authority.” — Kenneth Blanchard
• “There is no power on earth that can neutralize the influence of a high, simple, and useful life.” — Booker T. Washington
• “What makes leadership is the ability to get people to do what they don’t want to do and like it.” — Harry Truman
• “What you cannot enforce, do not command.” – Sophocles
• “You don’t lead by pointing and telling people some place to go. You lead by going to that place and making a case.” — Ken Kesey

Inspiration and Hope

• “A leader is a dealer in hope.” — Napoleon Bonaparte
• “A person, who no matter how desperate the situation, gives others hope, is a true leader.” — Daisaku Ikeda
• “If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up people together to collect wood and don’t assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea.” — Antoine de Saint-Exupery
• “If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.” — John Quincy Adams
• “Good leaders make people feel that they’re at the very heart of things, not at the periphery. Everyone feels that he or she makes a difference to the success of the organization.   When that happens, people feel centered and that gives their work meaning.” — Warren Bennis
• “Lead and inspire people. Don’t try to manage and manipulate people. Inventories can be managed but people must be lead.” — Ross Perot
• “Nobody rises to low expectations.” — Calvin Lloyd
• “One cannot consent to creep when one feels the impulse to soar.” — Helen Keller
• “Our chief want is someone who will inspire us to be what we know we could be.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson
• “There are two ways of spreading light: to be the candle, or to be the mirror that reflects it.” — Edith Wharton
• “We should seize every opportunity to give encouragement. Encouragement is oxygen to the soul. The days are always dark enough. There is no need for us to emphasize the fact by spreading further gloom.” — George M. Adams
• “Where there is no hope in the future, there is no power in the present.” — John Maxwell

Leadership Is …

• “Leadership is action, not position.” — Donald H. McGannon
• “Leadership is based on a spiritual quality; the power to inspire, the power to inspire others to follow.” — Vince Lombardi
• “Leadership is getting people to help you when they are not obligated to do so.” — John C. Maxwell
• “Leadership is getting someone to do what they don’t want to do, to achieve what they want to achieve.” — Tom Landry
• “Leadership is influence.” — John C. Maxwell
• “Leadership is much more an art, a belief, a condition of the heart, than a set of things to do. The visible signs of artful leadership are expressed, ultimately, in its practice.” — Max Depree
• “Leadership is no longer about your position. It’s now more about your passion for excellence and making a difference.  You can lead without a title.” — Robin Sharma
• “Leadership is not so much about technique and methods as it is about opening the heart. Leadership is about inspiration — of oneself and of others. Great leadership is about human experiences, not processes. Leadership is not a formula or a program, it is a human activity that comes from the heart and considers the hearts of others. It is an attitude, not a routine.” — Lance Secretan
• “Leadership is practiced not so much in words as in attitude and in actions.” — Harold S. Geneen
• “Leadership is the ability to establish standards and manage a creative climate where people are self-motivated toward the mastery of long term constructive goals, in a participatory environment of mutual respect, compatible with personal values.” — Mike Vance
• “Leadership is the ability to get extraordinary achievement from ordinary people.” — Brian Tracy
• “Leadership is the capacity to translate vision into reality.” — Warren G. Bennis
• “Leadership is the challenge to be something more than average.” — Jim Rohn

Learning and Growth

• “Confront your inadequacies and push your personal boundaries: It’s the surest way to grow, improve and expand the scope of your influence.” – John Maxwell
• “Education is the mother of leadership.” — Wendell Lewis Wilkie
• “Every relationship in your organization will affect you one way or another.  Those who do not increase you will inevitably decrease you. “ – John Maxwell
• “It all comes down to this: If you want one year of happiness, grow grain, if you want 10 years of happiness, grow trees, if you want 100 years of happiness, grow people.” — Harvey Mackay
• “In order to be happy, human beings must feel they are continuing to grow. Clearly, we must adopt the concept of continuous improvement as a daily principle.” — Tony Robbins
• “Leaders don’t rise to the pinnacle of success without developing the right set of attitudes and habits; they make every day a masterpiece.” – John Maxwell
• “Leaders never outgrow the need to change.” — John Maxwell
• “Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other.” — John F. Kennedy
• “Leadership cannot really be taught. It can only be learned.” — Harold Geneen
• “The better you are at surrounding yourself with people of high potential, the greater your chance for success.” – John Maxwell
• “The leadership instinct you are born with is the backbone.  You develop the funny bone and the wishbone that go with it.” — Elaine Agather
• “The more seriously you take your growth, the more seriously your people will take you.” — John Maxwell
• “The most important part of being a leader is maintaining the desire to keep on learning. That means learning about yourself, about your peers, and about the people you serve.” — Brian Koval
• “The most valuable “currency” of any organization is the initiative and creativity of its members. Every leader has the solemn moral responsibility to develop these to the maximum in all his people. This is the leader’s highest priority.” — W. Edwards Deming

Self-Leadership

• “It’s amazing how many cares disappear when you decide not to be something, but to be someone. “ — Coco Chanel
• “Personal leadership is not a singular experience. It is, rather, the ongoing process of keeping your vision and values before you and aligning your life to be congruent with those most important things.” — Stephen Covey
• “The place to improve the world is first in one’s own heart and head and hands.” — Robert M. Pirsig
• “To be able to lead others, a man must be willing to go forward alone.” — Harry Truman
• “Whatever you are, be a good one.” — Abraham Lincoln

Servant Leadership

• “A person who is worthy of being a leader wants power not for himself, but in order to be of service.” — J. Ervin, Jr.
• “Earn your success based on service to others, not at the expense of others.” — H. Jackson Brown, Jr.
• “Everybody can be great because anybody can serve. You don’t have to have a college degree to serve. You don’t have to make your subject and verb agree to serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love.” — Martin Luther King Jr
• “Men are governed only by serving them; the rule is without exception.” — V. Cousin
• “Servant-leadership is more than a concept, it is a fact. Any great leader, by which I also mean an ethical leader of any group, will see herself or himself as a servant of that group and will act accordingly.” — M. Scott Peck
• “The adventure of life is to learn. The purpose of life is to grow. The nature of life is to change. The challenge of life is to overcome. The essence of life is to care. The opportunity of like is to serve. The secret of life is to dare. The spice of life is to befriend. The beauty of life is to give.” — William Arthur Ward
• “The first responsibility of a leader is to define reality. The last is to say thank you. In between, the leader is a servant.” — Max DePree
• “True leadership must be for the benefit of the followers, not to enrich the leader.” — John C. Maxwell

Teamwork

• “Coming together is a beginning, and staying together is progress, but only when teams sweat together do they find success.” – John Maxwell
• “It is the very essence of good leadership to give away all credit for positive achievement, to identify only team goals and always to refer to them as such.” — Joe Klock
• “Remember the difference between a boss and a leader; a boss says ‘Go!’ … a leader says ‘Let’s go!’  — E.M. Kelly
• “Teams make you better than you are, multiply your value, enable you to do what you do best, allow you to help others do their best, give you more time, provide you with companionship, help you fulfill the desires of your heart and compound your vision and effort.” – John Maxwell
• “The leaders who work most effectively, it seems to me, never say ‘I’. And that’s not because they have trained themselves not to say ‘I’. They don’t think ‘I’. They think ‘we’; they think ‘team’. They understand their job to be to make the team function. They accept responsibility and don’t sidestep it, but ‘we’ gets the credit…. This is what creates trust, what enables you to get the task done.” — Peter Drucker
• “The goal of an effective leader is to recondition your team to be solution focused rather than problem focused.” — Jim Rohn
• “Values hold the team together, provide stability for the team to grow upon, measure the team’s performance, give direction and guidance and attract like-minded people.” – John Maxwell

Vision

• “A leader’s job is to look into the future and see the organization, not as it is, but as it should be.” — Jack Welch
• “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
• “Big thinkers are specialists in creating positive, forward-looking, optimistic pictures in their own minds and in the minds of others.” — David J. Schwartz
• “Dream no small dreams for they have no power to move the hearts of men.” – Goethe
• “Good business leaders create a vision, articulate the vision, passionately own the vision, and relentlessly drive it to completion.” — John Welch
• “If I have seen farther than others, it is because I was standing on the shoulder of giants.” — Isaac Newton
• “Leaders need to be optimists.  Their vision is beyond the present.” — Rudy Giuliani
• “Management is efficiency in climbing the ladder of success; leadership determines whether the ladder is leaning against the right wall.” — Stephen R. Covey
• “The leader has to be practical and a realist, yet must talk the language of the visionary and the idealist.” — Eric Hoffer
• “The most elusive and desired quality of leadership is vision. Vision is the perfume of the mind.” — Harriet Rubin
• “The very essence of leadership is that you have to have vision. You can’t blow an uncertain trumpet.” — Theodore M. Hesburgh
• “Transmit your vision emotionally by gaining credibility, demonstrating passion, establishing relationships and communicating a felt need. Transmit it logically by confronting reality, formulating strategy, accepting responsibility, celebrating victory and learning from defeat.“ – John Maxwell

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This is my collection of Seth Godin quotes.  They’ll make you think and ponder as you wonder around from one idea to the next.

Seth’s sweet spot is marketing but his quotes easily span business, change, greatness, innovation, leadership, mediocrity, and strategy.  Seth’s quotes teach us that the individual is a powerful force, that multiplies when we dare to be different, take action, test our ideas, stay true to our authentic self, tell inspiring stories, make things meaningful, and lead tribes of like minds and shared values.

Perhaps the most important lesson we learn from Seth Godin is this:  Think and do great things.  And do the tough stuff, because it’s worth it.

Enjoy.

Top 10 Seth Godin Quotes

Here are my top 10 favorite quotes by Seth Godin:

1. “Are you a serial idea-starting person? The goal is to be an idea-shipping person.”
2. “Change is not a threat, it’s an opportunity. Survival is not the goal, transformative success is.”
3. “Don’t try to please everyone. There are countless people who don’t want one, haven’t heard of one or actively hate it. So what?”
4. “Expectations are the engines of our perceptions.”
5. “Go ahead, do something impossible. “
6. “Ideas in secret die. They need light and air or they starve to death.”
7. “If you could do tomorrow over again, would you?”
8. “Instead of wondering when your next vacation is, you ought to set up a life you don’t need to escape from.”
9. “Why waste a sentence saying nothing? “
10. “You can’t shrink your way to greatness! “

Business

• “As an organization grows and succeeds, it sows the seeds of its own demise by getting boring.”
• “Choose your customers, choose your future.”
• “Choose your customers. Fire the ones that hurt your ability to deliver the right story to the others.”
• “Developing expertise or assets that are not easily copied is essential; otherwise you’re just a middleman. “
• “Don’t try to be the ‘next’. Instead, try to be the other, the changer, the new. “
• “Everyone is not your customer. “
• “Fire the committee. No great website in history has been conceived of by more than three people. Not one. This is a deal breaker.”
• “Give up control and give it away … The more you give your idea away, the more your company is going to be worth. “
• “If your organization requires success before commitment, it will never have either. “
• “In a world of free, everyone can play.”
• “It’s better to make a decision, even the wrong one, than to be in limbo.”
• “Lack of resources (payroll), time and competing priorities are why so many nonprofits haven’t done well. It’s that simple.”
• “Make a decision. It doesn’t have to be a wise decision or a perfect one. Just make one.”
• “Once you have permission to talk to someone, finding new products or services for them is a smart way to grow.”
• “One way to think about running a successful business is to figure out what the least you can do is, and do that. “
• “Playing safe is very risky. “
• “The application process changes the list of who applies. Your applicants reflect your methods.”
• “The best time to do great customer service is when a customer is upset.”
• “The market and the consumer and idea trump the system.”
• “Your best customers are worth far more than your average customers.”

Change

• “Change almost never fails because it’s too early. It almost always fails because it’s too late.”
• “Change is not a threat, it’s an opportunity. Survival is not the goal, transformative success is.”
• “If you want to dig a big hole, you need to stay in one place.”
• “Knowing what to do is very, very different than actually doing it.”
• “Little changes cost you. Big changes benefit you by changing the game, but only if you go first.”
• “No, everything is not going to be okay. It never is. It isn’t okay now. Change, by definition, changes things”
• “Sometimes we spend more time than we should defending the old thing, instead of working to take advantage of the new thing.”

Choice

• “If religion comprises rules you follow, faith is demonstrated by the actions you take.”
• “If there’s time for an emergency, why isn’t there time for brilliance, generosity or learning? “
• “If you could do tomorrow over again, would you? “
• “If you’re not proud of where you work, go work somewhere else. “
• “Just saying yes because you can’t bear the short-term pain of saying no is not going to help you do the work.”
• “Saying no to loud people gives you the resources to say yes to important opportunities. “
• “We notice what we choose to notice.”
• “Who gets to decide what you want?”

Greatness

• “Art is what we’re doing when we do our best work.”
• “Be personal. Be relevant. Be specific.”
• “Becoming a superstar takes about 10,000 hours of hard work.”
• “Doing justice to the work is your task, not setting a world record. “
• “Go ahead, do something impossible.”
• “If there isn’t a good reason, go home. If there is, then do something … loud, now, and memorable.”
• “Positive thinking is hard. Worth it, though.”
• “Tribes makes our lives better, and leading a tribe is the best life of all. “
• “When kids grow up wanting to be you, you matter.”
• “When the legacy you leave behind lasts for hours, days or a lifetime, you matter.”
• “When the room brightens when you walk in, you matter.”
• “When you see the world as it is, but insist on making it more like it could be, you matter.”
• “You are not your resume, you are your work. “
• “You can’t shrink your way to greatness! “

Ideas

• “Are you a serial idea-starting person? The goal is to be an idea-shipping person. “
• “Big ideas are little ideas that no-one killed too soon. “
• “Ideas in secret die. They need light and air or they starve to death. “
• “No organization ever created an innovation. People innovate, not companies.”
• “There’s no correlation between how good your idea is and how likely your organization will be to embrace it. “
• “You can’t have good ideas unless you’re willing to generate a lot of bad ones.”

Leadership / Management

• “Are you a serial idea-starting person? The goal is to be an idea-shipping person. “
• “If you’re not uncomfortable in your work as a leader, it’s almost certain you’re not reaching your potential as a leader. “
• “Leadership is scarce because few people are willing to go through the discomfort required to lead.”
• “Leadership on the other hand, is about creating change you believe in.”
• “’Teamwork’ is the word that bosses use when they actually mean ‘Do what I say’”
• “The easiest thing is to react. The second easiest thing is to respond. But the hardest thing is to initiate. – When people ask you to tell them what to do, resist.”

Marketing

• “Advertising is just a symptom, a tactic. Marketing is about far more than that.”
• “Bullhorns are overrated: having ten times as many Twitter followers generates approximately zero times as much value. “
• “But this is a remarkable egg, an egg worth talking about, an egg worth crossing the street for, an egg worth writing about. “
• “Good marketers measure. “
• “Good marketers tell stories. “
• “If you can’t make money from attention, you should do something else for a living. “
• “If you can’t sell to 1 in 1000, why market to a million? “
• “If you’re a marketer who doesn’t know how to invent, design, influence, adapt, and ultimately discard products, then you’re no longer a marketer. You’re deadwood.“
• “Low price is a great way to sell a commodity. That’s not marketing though, that’s efficiency.”
• “Market-driven design builds the success of the product’s marketing into the product itself.”
• “Marketing is the way your people answer the phone, the typesetting on your bills and your return policy.”
• “Marketing management is now tribal leadership. “
• “Most of the time, creative entrepreneurs lose interest long before their marketing message loses its power. “
• “People don’t believe what you tell them. They rarely believe what you show them. They often believe what their friends tell them. They always believe what they tell themselves. “
• “People rarely buy what they need. They buy what they want.”
• “Perhaps marketing is about to transition to a new kind of profession, one that requires insight, dedication and smarts. “
• “Relying too much on proof distracts you from the real mission–which is emotional connection.”
• “Selling to people who actually want to hear from you is more effective than interrupting strangers who don’t. “
• “The best marketing strategy is to destroy your industry before your competition does. “
• “The reason it seems that price is all your customers care about is that you haven’t given them anything else to care about. “
• “Why waste a sentence saying nothing? “
• “You can win with consistent benefits, delivered over time. You win by incrementally earning share, attention and trust.”

Mediocrity / Status Quo

• “’Good enough’ stopped being good enough a long time ago. so why not be great? “
• “If you make a difference, people will gravitate to you. They want to engage, to interact and to get you more involved.”
• “It’s uncomfortable to challenge the status quo.”
• “It’s uncomfortable to resist the urge to settle.”
• “In our desire to please everyone, it’s very easy to end up being invisible or mediocre.”
• “Once you free yourself from the need for perfect acceptance, it’s a lot easier to launch work that matters.”
• “Successful people are the ones who are breaking the rules. “
• “The reason they want you to fit in… is that once you do, then they can ignore you.
• “The status quo is leaving the building, and quickly.”
• “You can raise the bar or you can wait for others to raise it, but it’s getting raised regardless. “
• “You don’t have to settle. It’s a choice you get to make every day.”

Passion

• “If there was ever a moment to follow your passion and do work that matters, this is it.”
• “If you have no wish, how can it possibly come true? “

Relationships

• “A long walk and calm conversation are an incredible combination if you want to build a bridge.”
• “Be with the ones you love (and the ones that love you.) Ignore everyone else.”
• “You can be right or you can have empathy. You can’t do both.”

Strategy

• “Don’t have any meetings about your web strategy. Just do stuff. First you have to fail, then you can improve. “
• “Put aside your need for a step-by-step manual and instead realize that analogies are your best friend.“
• “The scalable, profitable strategy is to change the game, not to become the most average.”

Seth Godin Books
Here is a roundup of Seth Godin books you migh enjoy:

• All Marketers Tell Stories
• Free Prize Inside
• Linchpin: Are You Indispensable?
• Meatball Sundae: Is Your Marketing out of Sync?
• Permission Marketing
• Poke the Box
• Purple Cow
• Small Is the New Big
• Survival Is Not Enough: Why Smart Companies Abandon Worry and Embrace Change
• The Big Red Fez: How To Make Any Web Site Better
• The Big Moo: Stop Trying to Be Perfect and Start Being Remarkable
• The Dip: A Little Book That Teaches You When to Quit (and When to Stick)
• Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us
• Unleashing the Ideavirus
• We are All Weird

My Related Posts

• Lessons Learned from Seth Godin
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Photo by jurvetson.

Oprah is a wealth of wisdom and a great source of inspirational quotes.

You can learn a lot about Oprah and her insights through her quotable quotes.  Oprah is a great example of driving life from the fundamental questions, “Who do you want to be?” and, “What experiences do you want to create?”

What comes across for me is that Oprah built strong pillars in determination, gratitude, and growth to support her through life.   Maybe, perhaps, the most significant thing we learn from Oprah is how empowering or limiting your belief in yourself can actually be.  For Oprah, she believed she was destined for greatness and that’s exactly the path she chose to drive her life from.

Enjoy.

Top 10 Oprah Winfrey Quotes

Here are my top 10 favorite Oprah Winfrey quotes:

1. “Breathe. Let go. And remind yourself that this very moment is the only one you know you have for sure.”
2. “Every time you suppress some part of yourself or allow others to play you small, you are in essence ignoring the owner’s manual your creator gave you and destroying your design.”
3. “I knew there was a way out. I knew there was another kind of life because I had read about it. I knew there were other places, and there was another way of being.”
4. “The greatest discovery of all time is that a person can change his future by merely changing his attitude.”
5. “The key to realizing a dream is to focus not on success but significance – and then even the small steps and little victories along your path will take on greater meaning.”
6. “Turn your wounds into wisdom.”
7. “We are each responsible for our own life – no other person is or even can be.”
8. “What I know is, is that if you do work that you love, and the work fulfills you, the rest will come.”
9. “What I know for sure is that if you want success, you can’t make success your goal.  The key is not to worry about being successful, but to instead work toward being significant, and the success will naturally follow.”
10. “You know you are on the road to success if you would do your job, and not be paid for it.”

Choice

• “Be more splendid, more extraordinary. Use every moment to fill yourself up.”
• “Follow your instincts. That’s where true wisdom manifests itself.”
• “I believe that every single event in life happens in an opportunity to choose love over fear.”
• “I believe that uncertainty is really my spirit’s way of whispering, “I’m in flux. I can’t decide for you. Something is off-balance here.”
• “I believe the choice to be excellent begins with aligning your thoughts and words with the intention to require more from yourself.”
• “It’s much easier for me to make major life, multi-million dollar decisions, than it is to decide on a carpet for my front porch. That’s the truth.”
• “My philosophy is that not only are you responsible for your life, but doing the best at this moment puts you in the best place for the next moment.”
• “Real integrity is doing the right thing, knowing that nobody’s going to know whether you did it or not.”
• “Understand that the right to choose your own path is a sacred privilege. Use it. Dwell in possibility.”
• “With every experience, you alone are painting your own canvas, thought by thought, choice by choice.”

Dreams / Destiny / Purpose

• “Before you agree to do anything that might add even the smallest amount of stress to your life, ask yourself: What is my truest intention? Give yourself time to let a yes resound within you. When it’s right, I guarantee that your entire body will feel it.”
• “Excellence is the best deterrent to racism or sexism.”
• “I believe that everyone is the keeper of a dream – and by tuning into one another’s secret hopes, we can become better friends, better partners, better parents, and better lovers.”
• “I knew there was a way out. I knew there was another kind of life because I had read about it. I knew there were other places, and there was another way of being.”
• “I know for sure that what we dwell on is who we become.”
• “I trust that everything happens for a reason, even when we’re not wise enough to see it.”
• “I’ve come to believe that each of us has a personal calling that’s as unique as a fingerprint – and that the best way to succeed is to discover what you love and then find a way to offer it to others in the form of service, working hard, and also allowing the energy of the universe to lead you.”
• “It isn’t until you come to a spiritual understanding of who you are – not necessarily a religious feeling, but deep down, the spirit within – that you can begin to take control.”
• “Often we don’t even realize who we’re meant to be because we’re so busy trying to live out someone else’s ideas. But other people and their opinions hold no power in defining our destiny.”
• “The biggest adventure you can take is to live the life of your dreams.”
• “The key to realizing a dream is to focus not on success but significance – and then even the small steps and little victories along your path will take on greater meaning.”
• “Use what you have to run toward your best – that’s how I now live my life.”
• “You can have it all. You just can’t have it all at once.”

Giving / Gratitude

• “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.”
• “I don’t think you ever stop giving. I really don’t. I think it’s an on-going process. And it’s not just about being able to write a check. It’s being able to touch somebody’s life.”
• “I finally realized that being grateful to my body was key to giving more love to myself.”
• “Living in the moment brings you a sense of reverence for all of life’s blessings.”
• “The more you praise and celebrate your life, the more there is in life to celebrate.”
• “What I know for sure is that what you give comes back to you.”

Growth

• “Challenges are gifts that force us to search for a new center of gravity. Don’t fight them. Just find a different way to stand.”
• “I am a woman in process. I’m just trying like everybody else. I try to take every conflict, every experience, and learn from it. Life is never dull.”
• “Getting my lifelong weight struggle under control has come from a process of treating myself as well as I treat others in every way.”
• “The whole point of being alive is to evolve into the complete person you were intended to be.”
• “You are built not to shrink down to less but to blossom into more.”

Fear / Failure

• “Do the one thing you think you cannot do. Fail at it. Try again. Do better the second time. The only people who never tumble are those who never mount the high wire. This is your moment. Own it.”
• “Every one of us gets through the tough times because somebody is there, standing in the gap to close it for us.”
• “I believe that one of life’s greatest risks is never daring to risk.”
• “I don’t believe in failure. It is not failure if you enjoyed the process.”
• “I have a lot of things to prove to myself. One is that I can live my life fearlessly.”
• “It is confidence in our bodies, minds and spirits that allows us to keep looking for new adventures, new directions to grow in, and new lessons to learn – which is what life is all about.”
• “So go ahead. Fall down. The world looks different from the ground.”
• “The thing you fear most has no power. Your fear of it is what has the power. Facing the truth really will set you free.”
• “Think like a queen. A queen is not afraid to fail. Failure is another steppingstone to greatness.”
• “You can take from every experience what it has to offer you. And you cannot be defeated if you just keep taking one breath followed by another.”

Identity / Individuality

• “All these years I’ve been feeling like I was growing into myself. Finally, I feel grown.”
• “As you become more clear about who you really are, you’ll be better able to decide what is best for you … the first time around.”
• “Biology is the least of what makes someone a mother.”
• “I always knew I was destined for greatness.”
• “I don’t think of myself as a poor deprived ghetto girl who made good. I think of myself as somebody who from an early age knew I was responsible for myself, and I had to make good.”
• “I still have my feet on the ground, I just wear better shoes.”
• “I’m black, I don’t feel burdened by it and I don’t think it’s a huge responsibility. It’s part of who I am. It does not define me.”
• “If you come to fame not understanding who you are, it will define who you are.”
• “In every aspect of our lives, we are always asking ourselves, How am I of value? What is my worth? Yet I believe that worthiness is our birthright.”
• “Let your light shine. Shine within you so that it can shine on someone else. Let your light shine.”
• “Partake of some of life’s sweet pleasures. And yes, get comfortable with yourself.”
• “Though I am grateful for the blessings of wealth, it hasn’t changed who I am. My feet are still on the ground. I’m just wearing better shoes.”
• “What we’re all striving for is authenticity, a spirit-to-spirit connection.”

Opportunity / Possibility

• “Cheers to a new year and another chance for us to get it right.”
• “Doing the best at this moment puts you in the best place for the next moment.”
• “Every day brings a chance for you to draw in a breath, kick off your shoes, and dance.”
• “Every time you state what you want or believe, you’re the first to hear it. It’s a message to both you and others about what you think is possible. Don’t put a ceiling on yourself.”
• “If you want your life to be more rewarding, you have to change the way you think.”
• “When I look into the future, it’s so bright it burns my eyes.”

Passion / Energy

• “Energy is the essence of life. Every day you decide how you’re going to use it by knowing what you want and what it takes to reach that goal, and by maintaining focus.”
• “I define joy as a sustained sense of well-being and internal peace – a connection to what matters.”
• “If you neglect to recharge a battery, it dies. And if you run full speed ahead without stopping for water, you lose momentum to finish the race.”
• “Passion is energy. Feel the power that comes from focusing on what excites you.”

Relationships

• “I think that when you invite people to your home, you invite them to yourself.”
• “Lots of people want to ride with you in the limo, but what you want is someone who will take the bus with you when the limo breaks down.”
• “My idea of heaven is a great big baked potato and someone to share it with.”
• “Surround yourself with only people who are going to lift you higher.”
• “When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time.”

Success

• “For every one of us that succeeds, it’s because there’s somebody there to show you the way out.”
• “I feel that luck is preparation meeting opportunity.”
• “If you want to accomplish the goals of your life, you have to begin with the spirit.”
• “I’ve learned that you can’t have everything and do everything at the same time.”
• “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.”
• “There’s no easy way out. If there were, I would have bought it. And believe me, it would be one of my favorite things!”
• “Unless you choose to do great things with it, it makes no difference how much you are rewarded, or how much power you have.”
• “What material success does is provide you with the ability to concentrate on other things that really matter. And that is being able to make a difference, not only in your own life, but in other people’s lives.”

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This is a collection of John Maxwell quotes you can use to inspire yourself and others.

As you’ll see in his quotes, John Maxwell flows inspiration and wisdom in a relevant way.  While many of John Maxwell’s quotes are focused on teams and leaders, he also tackles interesting topics like character, choice, and every day success,.  There is truly something for everyone.

Enjoy.

Top 10 Quotes

Here are my top 10 favorite John Maxwell quotes:

1. “Change is inevitable. Growth is optional.”
2. “Do not take the agenda that someone else has mapped out for your life.”
3. “Growth inside fuels growth outside.”
4. “Learn to say ‘no’ to the good so you can say ‘yes’ to the best.”
5. “Life is 10% of what happens to me and 90% of how I react to it.”
6. “People do not care how much you know until they know how much you care.”
7. “The pessimist complains about the wind. The optimist expects it to change. The leader adjusts the sails.”
8. “We all stand on the shoulders of the past generation.”
9. “You don’t overcome challenges by making them smaller but by making yourself bigger.”
10. “You must manage your thought life daily and then you can manage your life.”

Character

• “Character creates consistency, and if your people know what they can expect from you, they will continue to look to you for leadership.”
• “Character makes trust possible, and trust is the foundation of leadership.
  It’s true that charisma can make a person stand out for a moment, but character sets a person apart for a lifetime.”
• “Good character is more to be praised than outstanding talent.”
• “Over time, is it easier or harder to sustain your influence within your organization?  With charisma alone, influence becomes increasingly more difficult to sustain. With character, as time passes, influence builds and requires less work to sustain.”
• “There are three qualities a leader must exemplify to build trust: competence, connection, and character.”
• “You build trust with others each time you choose integrity over image, truth over convenience, or honor over personal gain.”

Choice and Decisions

• “Everything begins with a decision. Then, we have to manage that decision for the rest of your life.”
• “If you don’t change the direction you are going, then you’re likely to end up where you’re heading… “
• “The law of the [Cub Scout] pack guides the boys to move in the direction of being helpful, friendly, courteous, trustworthy and promote qualities which parents and the community are looking for. The whole purpose of scouting is to help the children grow up making good decisions in life.”
• “There are two paths people can take. They can either play now and pay later, or pay now and play later. Regardless of the choice, one thing is certain. Life will demand a payment.”
• “We choose what attitudes we have right now. And it’s a continuing choice.”
• “You cannot overestimate the unimportance of practically everything.”

Communication

• “A good leader is a person who takes a little more than his share of the blame and a little less than his share of the credit.”
• “Educators take something simple and make it complicated. Communicators take something complicated and make it simple.”
• “Leaders must be close enough to relate to others, but far enough ahead to motivate them.”
• “People buy into the leader before they buy into the vision.”
• “Relational skills are the most important abilities in leadership.”
• “Remember, man does not live on bread alone: sometimes he needs a little buttering up.”
• “Talk to people, not above them.”

Credibility

• “A highly credible leader under-promises and over-delivers.”
• “Diligent follow-up and follow-through will set you apart from the crowd and communicate excellence.”
• “Credibility is a leader’s currency. With it, he or she is solvent; without it, he or she is bankrupt.”
• “Don’t hide bad news. With multiple information channels available, bad news always becomes known. Be candid right from the start.”

Daily Impact

• “As you begin changing your thinking, start immediately to change your behavior. Begin to act the part of the person you would like to become. Take action on your behavior. Too many people want to feel, then take action. This never works.”
• “Doing the right thing daily, compounds over time.”
• “Doing the wrong thing daily, compounds over time.”
• “It is truly one day at a time.”
• “Stay focused instead of getting offended or off track by others.”
• “Success is not a destination thing, it’s a daily thing.”
• “The law of process says — leaders develop daily, not in a day.”
• “The secret of your success is found in your daily routine.”
• “Today matters.”
• “What is the main event today? What do you want me to focus on today?”
• “What you are going to be tomorrow, you are becoming today.”
• “Where there is no hope in the future, there is no power in the present.”

Failure

• “Don’t buy into the notion that mistakes can somehow be avoided. They can’t be.”
• “‘Failing forward’ is the ability to get back up after you’ve been knocked down, learn from your mistake, and move forward in a better direction.”
• “Failure is not a one-time event; it’s how you deal with life along the way. Until you breathe your last breath, you’re still in the process, and there is still time to turn things around for the better.”
• “Generally speaking, there are two kinds of learning: experience, which is gained from your own mistakes, and wisdom, which is learned from the mistakes of others.”
• “Seek advice, but make sure it’s from someone who has successfully handled mistakes or adversities.”
• “You are the only person who can label what you do a failure. Failure is subjective.”

Growth

• “A difficult time can be more readily endured if we retain the conviction that our existence holds a purpose, a cause to pursue, a person to love, a goal to achieve.”
• “A man must be big enough to admit his mistakes, smart enough to profit from them, and strong enough to correct them.”
• “If we’re growing, we’re always going to be out of our comfort zone.”
• “Image is what people think we are; integrity is what we really are.”
• “The depth of your mythology is the extent of your effectiveness.”
• “Life doesn’t do anything to you. It only reveals your spirit.”
• “The greatest day in your life and mine is when we take total responsibility for our attitudes. That’s the day we truly grow up.”
• “The greatest mistake we make is living in constant fear that we will make one.”
• “You must do right before you feel good.”

Leaders and Leadership

• “A great leader’s courage to fulfill his vision comes from passion, not position.”
• “A leader is great, not because of his or her power, but because of his or her ability to empower others.”
• “A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way.”
• “A leader who produces other leaders multiples their influences.”
• “Believing in people before they have proved themselves is the key to motivating people to reach their potential.”
• “Encourage the many; mentor the few.”
• “Everyone is a leader because everyone influences someone.”
• “Leadership is developed daily, not in a day.”
• “Leadership is influence.”
• “Leaders must live by higher standards than their followers.”
• “Most People have a desire to look for the exception instead of the desire to become exceptional. “
• “Not everyone will become a great leader, but everyone can become a better leader.”
• “One is too small a number to achieve greatness.”
• “The first step to leadership is servant hood.”
• “The law of process says leaders develop daily, not in a day.”
• “The more credible you are, the more confidence people place in you, thereby allowing you the privilege of influencing their lives.”
• “We cannot lead anyone farther than we have been ourselves.”
• “What is the main event today? What do you want me to focus on today?”
• “You can’t become a leader in one conference.”

Success

• “Happiness simply cannot be relied upon as a measure of success.”
• “If you start today to do the right thing, you are already a success even if it doesn’t show yet.”
• “Once our minds are ‘tattooed’ with negative thinking, our chances for long-term success diminish.”
• “Successful leaders have the courage to take action while others hesitate.”
• “Successful people are willing to do things unsuccessful people will not do.”
• “To collaborative team members, completing one another is more important than competing with one another.”
• “True success comes only when every generation continues to develop the next generation.”
• “We all stand on the shoulders of the past generation”
• “You don’t become a success when you get your diploma, you became a success when you decided to go to college when you get your diploma you get the rewards of success.”
• “You have to sow excellent seeds to have an excellent life. You must start with sowing excellent thoughts.”

Teamwork

• “Coming together is a beginning, and staying together is progress, but only when teams sweat together do they find success.”
• “Talented performers flock to the best and brightest leaders, and these leaders in turn lift the lids off their people and uncork the latent talent inside of them.”
• “Teams make you better than you are, multiply your value, enable you to do what you do best, allow you to help others do their best, give you more time, provide you with companionship, help you fulfill the desires of your heart and compound your vision and effort.”
• “The best way to serve the individuals on the team is to see that the whole team wins.”
• “The Wrong Person in the Wrong Place = Regression. The Wrong Person in the Right Place = Frustration. The Right Person in the Wrong Place = Confusion. The Right Person in the Right Place = Progression. The Right People in the Right Places = Multiplication.”
• “Values hold the team together, provide stability for the team to grow upon, measure the team’s performance, give direction and guidance and attract like-minded people.”

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Dr. Seuss had a wonderful way with his words.  He managed to say, in a sentence or two, how to live with more life, or how to be more like you.

This is my collection of Dr. Seuss quotes to put his wisdom and words at your finger tips.

Top 10

1. Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don’t matter and those who matter don’t mind.
2. Don’t cry because it’s over. Smile because it happened.
3. Only you can control your future.
4. So the writer who breeds more words than he needs, is making a chore for the reader who reads.
5. The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.
6. Today is gone. Today was fun. Tomorrow is another one.
7. Today you are You, that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is Youer than You.
8. Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It’s not.
9. You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself, any direction you choose.
10. You know you’re in love when you can’t fall asleep because reality is finally better than your dreams.

Aloneness

• All alone! Whether you like it or not, alone is something you’ll be quite a lot.
• I’m afraid sometimes you’ll play lonely games too, games you can’t win because you’ll play against you.
• You can get help from teachers, but you are going to have to learn a lot by yourself, sitting alone in a room.

Balance

• So be sure when you step, Step with care and great tact. And remember that life’s A Great Balancing Act.
• Words and pictures are yin and yang. Married, they produce a progeny more interesting than either parent.

Be Yourself

• Be awesome! Be a book nut!
• If you’d never been born, then you might be an Isn’t! An Isn’t has no fun at all. No, he disn’t.
• Why fit in when you were born to stand out?
• You are you. Now, isn’t that pleasant?
• You’re in pretty good shape for the shape you are in.

Challenges

• I have heard there are troubles of more than one kind. Some come from ahead and some come from behind. But I’ve bought a big bat. I’m all ready you see. Now my troubles are going to have troubles with me!
• I’m sorry to say so but, sadly it’s true that bang-ups and hang-ups can happen to you.
• It’s a troublesome world. All the people who’re in it are troubled with troubles almost every minute. You ought to be thankful, a whole heaping lot, for the places and people you’re lucky you’re not.

Christmas

• Christmas doesn’t come from a store, maybe Christmas perhaps means a little bit more …

Everybody Deserves a Shot

• A person’s a person, no matter how small.
• I know, up on top you are seeing great sights, but down here at the bottom we, too, should have rights.
• Kid, you’ll move mountains!  Today is your day! Your mountain is waiting. So…get on your way!”

Fun

• Fantasy is a necessary ingredient in living, It’s a way of looking at life through the wrong end of a telescope. Which is what I do, And that enables you to laugh at life’s realities.
• From there to here, and here to there, funny things are everywhere.
• I like nonsense, it wakes up the brain cells. Fantasy is a necessary ingredient in living, It’s a way of looking at life through the wrong end of a telescope. Which is what I do, And that enables you to laugh at life’s realities.
• If you never did you should. These things are fun and fun is good.
• I’m glad we had the times together just to laugh and sing a song, seems like we just got started and then before you know it, the times we had together were gone.
• It is fun to have fun, but you have to know how.
• Look at me! Look at me! Look at me NOW! It is fun to have fun, but you have to know how.

Life Happens

• If things start happening, don’t worry, don’t stew, just go right along and you’ll start happening too.
• I’m sorry to say so but, sadly it’s true that bang-ups and hang-ups can happen to you.
• Things may happen and often do to people as brainy and footsy as you.

Make Things Happen

• Oh, the things you can find if you don’t stay behind!
• There’s no limit to how much you’ll know, depending how far beyond zebra you go.
• Today is your day! Your mountain is waiting. So… get on your way.
• Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It’s not.

Positivity

• And will you succeed? Yes indeed, yes indeed! Ninety-eight and three-quarters percent guaranteed!
• If you keep your eyes open enough, oh the stuff you will learn. Oh the most wonderful stuff.
• It’s opener, out there, in the wide, open air.
• Just tell yourself, Duckie, you’re really quite lucky.
• You’ll miss the best things if you keep your eyes shut.

Simplicity

• Sometimes the questions are complicated and the answers are simple.

Thinking

• Think and wonder, wonder and think.
• Think left and think right and think low and think high. Oh, the things you can think up if only you try!

Time Flies

• How did it get so late so soon? Its night before its afternoon. December is here before its June. My goodness how the time has flewn. How did it get so late so soon?
• They say I’m old-fashioned, and live in the past, but sometimes I think progress progresses too fast!
• Think and wonder, wonder and think.

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