Great Throughts Treasury

"The power of thought is the only thing over which any human being has complete, unquestionable means of control - a fact so astounding that it connotes a close relationship between the mind of man and the source of all power - Infinite Intelligence."

"All achievement, all earned riches, have their beginning in an idea."

"Before success in any man's life he is sure to meet with much temporary defeat and, perhaps, some failure. When defeat overtakes a man, the easiest and most logical thing to do is to quit. That is exactly what the majority of men do."

"Cherish your vision and your dreams as they are the children of your soul; the blue prints of your ultimate achievements."

"Any ideas, plan, or purpose may be placed in the mind through repetition of thought."

"If your imagination leads you to understand how quickly people grant your requests when those requests appeal to their self-interest, you can have practically anything you go after."

"Just as our eyes need light in order to see, our minds need ideas in order to conceive."

"First comes thought; then organization of that thought, into ideas and plans; then transformation of those plans into reality. The beginning, as you will observe, is in your imagination. "

"No man can succeed in a line of endeavor which he does not like."

"Reduce your plan to writing. The moment you complete this, you will have definitely given concrete form to the intangible desire."

"No man ever achieved worthwhile success who did not at one time or other, find himself with at least one foot hanging well over the brink of failure."

"Success comes to those who become success conscious. Failure comes to those who indifferently allow themselves to become failure conscious."

"Strength and growth come only through continuous effort and struggle."

"Success in highest and noblest form call for peace of mind and enjoyment and happiness which comes only to the man who has found the work he likes best."

"Through some strange and powerful principle of "mental chemistry" which has never divulged, Nature wraps up in the impulse of strong desire, "that something" which recognizes no such word as "impossible," and accepts no such reality as failure."

"The starting point of all achievement is desire. Keep this constantly in mind. Weak desires bring weak results, just as a small amount of fire make a small amount of heat."

"We begin to see, therefore, the importance of selecting our environment with the greatest of care, because environment is the mental feeding ground out of which the food that goes into our minds is extracted."

"Understand this law and you will then know, beyond room from the slightest doubt, that you are constantly punishing yourself for every wrong you commit and rewarding yourself for every act of constructive conduct in which you indulge."

"Your ability to use the principle of autosuggestion will depend, very largely, upon your capacity to concentrate upon a given desire until that desire becomes a burning obsession."

"You can start right where you stand and apply the habit of going the extra mile by rendering more service and better service than you are now being paid for."

"When your desires are strong enough you will appear to possess superhuman powers to achieve."

"Create a definite plan for carrying out your desire, and begin at once, whether you're ready or not, to put it into action.""

"Anything the human mind can believe, the human mind can achieve."

"A goal is a dream with a deadline."

"No two minds ever come together in a spirit of harmony without, thereby, creating a third, invisible, intangible force which may be likened to a third mind."

"No accurate thinker will judge another person by that which the other person’s enemies say about him."

"Every adversity carries with it the seed of an equal or greater benefit."

"Success requires no explanations. Failure permits no alibis."

"The majority of men meet with failure because of their lack of persistence in creating new plans to take the place of those which fail."

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

"What the mind of man can conceive and believe, it can achieve."

"The strongest oak of the forest is not the one that is protected from the storm and hidden from the sun. It's the one that stands in the open where it is compelled to struggle for its existence against the winds and rains and the scorching sun."

"If you do not learn from your mistakes, you might just as well not make them."

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

"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 - essential to success."

"Effort only fully releases its reward after a person refuses to quit. "

"Hold a picture of yourself long and steadily enough in your mind's eye, and you will be drawn toward it. "

"Lack of loyalty is one of the major causes of failure in every walk of life."

"The most interesting thing about a postage stamp is the persistence with which it sticks to its job."

"There are no limitations to the mind except those we acknowledge - both poverty and riches are offspring of thought."

"If you cannot do great things, do small things in a great way."

"Opportunity often comes disguised in the form of misfortune, or temporary defeat."

"There is one quality which one must possess to win, and that is definiteness of purpose, the knowledge of what one wants, and a burning desire to possess it."

"Deliberately seek the company of people who influence you to think and act on building the life you desire.""

"Desire is the starting point of all achievement, not a hope, not a wish, but a keen pulsating desire which transcends everything"

"A quitter never wins and a winner never quits. "

"Action is the real measure of intelligence. "

"Adversity will do something too you or for you."

"Happiness is found in doing, not merely possessing. "

"If you are not learning while you’re earning, you are cheating yourself out of the better portion of your compensation."