Great Throughts Treasury

"Facts are cheap, information is plentiful – knowledge is precious."

"Today’s action becomes tomorrow’s habit."

"The greatest lever for change is awareness."

"Use your head, but live in your heart."

"If you learn to appreciate more of what you already have, you will find yourself having more to appreciate."

"If you develop the habits of success, you will make success a habit."

"If you ask something of someone and you are upset over their response, then it wasn’t a request, it was a demand."

"The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life."

"A successful day: to learn something new; to laugh at least 10 times; to lift someone up; to make progress on a worthy goal; to practice peace and patience; to do something nice for yourself and another; to appreciate and be grateful for all your blessings."

"Your progress is hindered by the degree that you are upset about where you are."

"Air travel. Always try to reserve a seat in an exit row. You get more leg-room and in the event of an emergency, you won?t have to think about where the nearest exit is. Also, planes are easier to catch BEFORE they take off."

"An upset is an opportunity to see the truth. I don?t always immediately remember this when faced with an upset. But I do eventually look for what the upset can reveal to me. It?s given me great insights."

"Be practical. Some people are so heavenly minded, they?re no earthly good."

"Age has little to do with maturity. I know some very young people who demonstrate great maturity. On the other hand, I?ve met 10-year-olds who?ve had more than 40 birthdays."

"Charisma can kill. All through history, highly-evolved people have always been, at the very least, misunderstood. They have been criticized and condemned and, for the most part, have been killed."

"Clear agreements. With a written agreement, you have a prayer. With a verbal agreement, you have nothing but air. Clarity leads to power and having clear agreements?and keeping them?makes for better relationships."

"Conquer your fears. Otherwise, your fears will conquer you. Fear has killed more dreams and sidetracked more success than anything else I know."

"Do it now! Ideas are worthless. Intentions have no power. Plans are nothing . . . unless they are followed with action."

"Courage. A person with some doubt but taking action is better than one with no doubt taking no action."

"Everything I do, I do to make my heart sing. OK, I haven?t always done this and I don?t always do it now?but I try."

"Comfort. On the road to comfort, one must be willing to sometimes be uncomfortable."

"Becoming. It matters little what road we take. What?s really important is what we become on the journey."

"Correction without invalidation. Being able to see ourselves clearly is a valuable trait. Being able to look at what we?ve done and left undone and make corrections without invalidating who we are is rare. A good question to ask ourselves is, "What kind of a world would this world be if everyone in it was just like me?""

"Dreams are some of the most powerful things on the planet. They have overcome great obstacles. They have inspired greatness in others. They make us stronger and better people. They sustain our spirit. Happy are those who dream dreams and are willing to pay the price to make them come true."

"Facts tell, stories sell. Teaching (or selling) by telling stories is the most effective way to impart information."

"Get it done. There are no honorariums for people to get up and tell how they didn't do it."

"Happiness is a choice. You have a choice to be happy or unhappy. Since you must be one or the other, why not choose happiness?"

"Good judgment comes from experience. Where does one gain experience? Yup, bad judgment."

"Happiness is an inspiring goal. You can only be happy when you are in the process of achieving a goal. Without a goal there can be no accomplishment. Without accomplishment there is no meaning?no satisfaction. Humans were created for accomplishment."

"Failure is feedback. And feedback is the breakfast of champions. And I?ve eaten many breakfasts. They say that what doesn?t kill you makes you stronger. I complete my 50 circumnavigations of the sun much stronger indeed."

"If I can always find a way to survive, then I have the same skills it takes to thrive. Once I realized this, my life started to get much better?and easier. I started to apply my skills in a new direction."

"Happiness is lasting, pleasure is fleeting. There?s nothing wrong with pleasure; it?s just not something to pursue in the false belief that it will buy us happiness."

"Have a soft heart but maintain a thick skin. And never mix them up."

"Having thoughts is not thinking. It?s much more than that. Thinking is hard work?perhaps that?s why so few people engage in it. Voltaire wrote, "No problem can stand the assault of sustained thinking.""

"In order to avoid criticism, say nothing, do nothing and be nothing. If you?re going to accomplish anything in this world, you?ve got to be able to handle the opinions of others. Dogs don't bark at parked cars. It?s a fact that people who want the most approval get the least and people who need approval the least get the most."

"If you?re going to laugh about it later, you might as well laugh about it now. We usually take our problems way too seriously. Most of the predicaments we get into become stories we tell and laugh about for many years. So if we?ll find it funny then, we might as well laugh about it now."

"It doesn?t take guts to quit. Anyone can quit?and most people do?on their dreams and on themselves."

"Inspiration is the art of breathing in. The only thing that has to be done today is to breathe."

"Insanity really is hereditary. You get it from your kids."

"It only takes three points of view to create some reality. What someone thinks of you isn?t that important. However, if one person calls you a horse, you can ignore it. If two people call you a horse, you might want to listen. If three people call you a horse, you?d better consider buying a saddle."

"It rarely does any good to complain. When you complain, 90% of the people don't care and 10% are glad. Whiners have mental BO. Remember, no statue has ever been built of a critic."

"It?s better to talk less and say more. And that?s easier said than done."

"It?s a lot easier to refrain from saying something than it is to take it back after you?ve said it. In fact, you can never really take something you?ve said back. Like an arrow released from a bow?it cannot be called back. I?ve always remembered this little prayer: "God, help me to make my words this day tender and tasty for I may have to eat them.""

"It?s easier to gain weight than it is to take it off. Like I needed 50 years to learn that! A waist is a terrible thing to mind."

"It?s hard to be a prophet in your hometown. People expect an expert to get off a plane. Heck, even Jesus had to get out of Nazareth."

"It?s your attitude more than your aptitude that determines your altitude. This is a Ziglarism?and one I believe in wholeheartedly."

"It's expensive to be a maverick. Starting new things, being the first to do something or to do it in a new way takes time, patience and usually money."

"It's never boring to listen to someone tell the truth. When people are speaking from the heart, you can't help but be interested, regardless of the content or whether or not you agree with them."

"It's important; but it's not serious. Life is too important to take too seriously. I?ve heard that angels fly because they take themselves lightly."

"Kinship. Family relationships are a great laboratory for personal growth. Being related hardly insures relatability."