Great Throughts Treasury

"Change yourself and your work will seem different."

"Cushion the painful effects of hard blows by keeping the enthusiasm going strong, even if doing so requires struggle."

"By success, of course, I do not mean that you may become rich, famous, or powerful for that does not, of necessity, represent achievement. Indeed, not infrequently, such individuals represent pathetic failure as persons. By success I mean the development of mature and constructive personality. Through the application of the principle of constructive thinking you can attain your worthy goals. The natural outcome of living by creative principles is creative results. Believe and create is a basic fact of successful living."

"Do not be awe struck by other people and try to copy them. Nobody can be you as efficiently as you can."

"Build yourself up by competing with yourself."

"But optimism infuses the mind with confidence and builds up belief in oneself."

"Cut the "im" out of impossible, leading that dynamic word standing out free and clear - possible."

"Don't duck the most difficult problems. That just ensures that the hardest part will be left when you are most tired. Get the big one done?it's downhill from then on."

"Every human being is a child of God and has more good in him than evil - but circumstances and associates can step up the bad and reduce the good. I've got great faith in the essential fairness and decency - you may say goodness - of the human being."

"Every individual forms his own estimate of himself and that basic estimate goes far toward determining what he becomes. You can do no more than you believe you can. You can be no more than you believe you are. Belief stimulates power within yourself. Have faith in faith. Don't be afraid to trust faith."

"Find yourself, motivate yourself, commit yourself."

"Every problem has in it the seeds of its own solution. If you don't have any problems, you don't get any seeds."

"Everyone should work hard, but there is no virtue in over-trying or over-pressing to such an extent that you do not work efficiently."

"God loves you. God doesn't want anyone to be hungry and oppressed. He just puts his big arms around everybody and hugs them up against himself."

"Every person has lovable qualities when you really learn to know him."

"Great issues develop from small beginnings."

"First thing every morning before you arise say out loud, ''I believe,'' three times."

"God is vitality. God is life. God is energy."

"How you think about a problem is more important than the problem itself - so always think positively."

"Have great hopes and dare to go all out for them. Have great dreams and dare to live them. Have tremendous expectations and believe in them."

"If you have zest and enthusiasm you attract zest and enthusiasm. Life does give back in kind."

"Happiness will never come if it's a goal in itself; happiness is a by-product of a commitment to worthy causes."

"If you learn to think in terms of peacefulness then, no matter how hectic your circumstances, you can live with calmness and peace of mind."

"I sometimes think we ought to bring a bill before Congress changing our national symbol from the eagle to the buffalo, because we are more like the buffalo than the eagle. The eagle is a powerful bird. It flies alone. It rises up into the sky with authority. It is master of all it surveys. The eagle is an individualist and was selected from among the rest of the birds to be our symbol. But the buffalo was never alone. It always ran in a herd with other buffaloes. And, friends, I call your attention that the buffaloes are gone from the open range, but the eagles are still soaring."

"Imagination is the true magic carpet."

"If you want to get somewhere you have to know where you want to go and how to get there. Then never, never, never give up."

"In every difficult situation is potential value. Believe this, then begin looking for it."

"In a large congregation, while there is a wide diversification of interest, it is also true that there are only a few basic human problems. It must also be taken into consideration that people are people regardless of who they are or what their backgrounds may be. There are certain deep universal appeals to human interest and to these human nature always responds."

"Know that you yourself are a miracle."

"It's not necessary to be born again. You have your way to God, I have mine. I found eternal peace in a Shintoshrine ... I've been to Shinto shrines and God is everywhere. ... Christ is one of the ways! God is everywhere."

"In saying this I certainly do not ignore or minimize the hardships and tragedies of the world, but neither do I allow them to dominate."

"Let a series of happy thoughts run through your mind. They will show on your face."

"Just a moment ago nature put on one of its most spectacular demonstrations.The widest rainbow I have ever seen stretched from the lake over a high snow-clad mountain to touch down in a deep valley in the Alps. There was about this gigantic rainbow a deep benediction of peace and hope. But as ineffable as nature is in the effect of natural beauty on the mind, it cannot match the peace of God in its healing effect on the human mind."

"Live your life and forget your age."

"Love yourself again. I never forgot those words; they were the key that opened the door of the prison of self-hate that I had built around myself. They contained the truth that ultimately made it possible for me to rebuild my life."

"Life's blows cannot break a person whose spirit is warmed at the fire of enthusiasm"

"Lots of people limit their possibilities by giving up easily. Never tell yourself this is too much for me. It's no use. I can't go on. If you do you're licked, and by your own thinking too. Keep believing and keep on keeping on."

"Never mention the worst. Never think of it. Drop it out of your consciousness."

"Modern man is beginning to realize that primarily it is in his thoughts that his happiness and efficiency are determined; he is learning that the condition of his emotional health indicates whether or not he shall have peace, serenity and strength."

"Never say anything to hurt anyone. Moreover... refrain from double talk, from shrewd and canny remarks that are designed to advance our interests at someone's disadvantage. We are to turn our back upon evil, and in every way possible, do good, help people and bring blessings into their lives."

"Never talk defeat. Use words like hope, belief, faith, victory."

"Of vast importance in achieving peace of mind is dealing with the contents of mind itself: the mass of all ill thoughts you have stored up over the years, all the regrets, all the futilities, all the hidden sins, all the hates, all the grudges, all the vindictiveness. The minds of many people are filled with pockets of poison."

"Once we roared like lions for liberty; now we bleat like sheep for security! The solution for America's problem is not in terms of big government, but it is in big men over whom nobody stands in control but God."

"One way to become enthusiastic is to look for the plus sign. To make progress in any difficult situation, you have to start with what's right about it and build on that."

"People must be taught to realize that in faith they have a mechanism and power by which they can actually live victorious, happy, and successful lives."

"Optimism is a philosophy based on the belief that basically life is good, that, in the long run, the good in life overbalances the evil."

"Practice hope. As hopefulness becomes a habit, you can achieve a permanently happy spirit."

"Principle. Act as if, and that which you practice will tend to be."

"Realize that there are no hopeless situations; there are only people who take hopeless attitudes."

"Plan your work for today and every day, then work your plan."