The Time Will Never Be Just Right

"Don’t wait; the time will never be “just right”. Start where you stand and work with whatever tools you have at your command and better tools will be found as you go along."

-— Napoleon Hill

Opportunity is Missed by Most People

“Opportunity is missed by most people because it comes dressed in overalls and looks like work”.

-— Thomas Edison

The Greatest Discovery of My Generation

"The greatest discovery of my generation is that human being can alter their lives by altering their attitude of mind."

-— William James

The Strange Ironies of This Strange Life

"It is one of the strange ironies of this strange life (that) those who work the hardest, who subject themselves to the strictest discipline who give up their certain pleasurable things in order to achieve goal are the happiest people."

-— Brutus Hamilton

The Talent of Success

"The talent of success is nothing more than doing what you can do well."

-— Henry W. Longfellow

Genius is 1 Per Cent Inspiration

"Genius is 1 per cent inspiration, and 99 percent perspiration”

-— Thomas Edison

Never Too Old To Set Another Goal

"You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream."

-- Les Brown

Finding The Limits of The Possible

"The only way of finding the limits of the possible is by going beyond them into the impossible."

-- Arthur C. Clarke

The Rewards in Life Don’t Always Go To Them

"There’s always going to be someone faster, smarter, taller, more experienced than you, but the rewards in life don’t always go to them, the rewards in life go to the dogged, the determined, those who can keep going and pick themselves back up and never say die and just hang in there, sometimes quietly and undramatically."

-- Bear Grylls

Decided It Was a Worthwhile Endeavor

"Humans did not know how to land on the moon, but we decided it was a worthwhile endeavor, and so we struggled for a decade to puzzle it out. We became capable of the impossible."

-- Brendon Burchard

Aim To Become Best in the World

"It was neither original nor complicated, but it is probably the single-most important driver of success – You have to really focus. Just do one thing. And aim to become best in the world at it."

-- Jony Ive

Creates a Sense of Vitality

"Choosing our own aims and seeking to bring them to fruition creates a sense of vitality and motivation in life. The only things that derail our efforts are fear and oppression."

-- Brendon Burchard

Get Back That Sense of Wonderment

"I have never met a child that is not fascinated by our natural world, the animal kingdom and the wonders within it. It is only as we get older that we sometimes lose that sense of wonderment. But I think we would all be better off if we kept it. So my advice is to never lose that, do what you can to always keep that sense of magic with our natural world alive."

-- Sir David

What Person Do I Want To Be

"In life, we are not what we look like, we are not our gender, sexuality or religion or race, we are how we act and the impact that we have on others. And the best way to think about the impact we have on others is in adjectives. I ask myself “What person do I want to be?” But in adjectives, not nouns. How about kind? Healthy? Ambitious? Does thinking like that get me to a more fruitful and satisfying place? I think it probably does."

-- Clare Balding

People Tend Not To Be Accidentally Successful

"People tend not to be accidentally successful. If you see anyone very, very good at something, they tend to be very driven by what they do and they work really hard at it. So find the thing that makes you passionate and do that. And if you can find something you’re passionate about that also makes a difference to others, it will be a greatly fulfilling quality in your life. In the end, the things that give the most fulfilment are the things you do for others."

-- Tony Blair

Give and You Get Back What You Give

"Give and you get back what you give. Treat everyone as individuals: understand how people are and encourage them. There is real discipline too underpinning the work they do. I strongly believe that you achieve more in a work environment with hope rather than fear … the whole concept of people shouting or bullying or intimidating is foreign to me."

-- Dada Rogers, Via Ruthie Rogers

The Day is Meant To Be Ours

"The day is meant to be ours, and our purpose within it is to live as who we truly are and enjoy the full terrain of life’s freedom as we chase our own meaning and purpose, our own legacy."

-- Brendon Burchard

Laugh Happily Every Day

"Being able to smile when misunderstood is a kind of attainment; being able to smile frankly when aggrieved is a form of generosity; being able to smile happily when disadvantaged is a form of open-mindedness; being able to laugh at oneself when in distress is a form of wisdom; being able to laugh when helpless is a realm, being able to laugh calmly when being slighted is a form of self-confidence.  No matter what happens for what reason...we must all laugh happily every day."

-- Buddha

Do To The Best of Your Ability

"‘If you’re ever lucky enough to be successful in what you choose to do, don’t ever believe your own hype, and remember it could all stop tomorrow. Do whatever you do to the best of your ability. Take the job seriously, but not yourself. And most of all, be nice to work with."

-- Olivia Colman

The Most Important Thing of All

"Well, it starts with the usual stuff that you hear: work hard, be lucky. No one is successful without those two things. But the most important thing of all is maintenance of aim. If I could pass on one thing, it is that. My business success came from maintenance of aim. I said to myself, no matter what else I will make the best programmes I can."

-- Lord Waheed Alli

Just Survive Any Way You Can

"Well, you can say all the normal things like talk to people, look after yourself, ask for help. But none of that makes any difference. It makes no difference at all. I guess my advice is, and it’s not really advice, it’s more a wish: I wish that you’re lucky enough to survive when you don’t want to, because things can get better. Just survive. Just survive any way you can."

-- James Rhodes

You Have To Forgive Yourself

"Don’t get depressed about the depression. Depression can bring with it a sense of shame, that we beat ourselves up for having it, that we’re ashamed to have this vulnerability. But you have to forgive yourself and allow yourself to feel it. It’s normal and it’s natural and a basic human foible that affects one in four of us. Take strength and solidarity from those numbers."

-- Ruby Wax

Find The Thing That Drives You

"Find the thing that drives you. It’s not easy. Most of us are not obvious to ourselves. But we occasionally pick up indistinct signals, some kind of vague longing, from something that feels like a ghost-self, deep within us, something that refuses to die but is not quite alive either. That ghost is our true self, trying to come out. Listen out for it. We have to turn our ghost-self into a real person. We need to bring the ghost to life."

-- Alain de Botton

Search For The Thing You’re Good At

"There is an inner steel that comes from knowing you’re good at something. It might be plumbing or building tables or driving a cab or whatever, but being able to say “When it comes to this, I know what I’m doing” is good for one’s confidence. So my advice to someone younger is search for the thing you’re good at and don’t stop."

-- James Corden

Do What Makes You Happy

"My advice is follow your bliss. If you want to have a good life, you have to find out, and then only do, what makes you happy."

-- Shep Gordon

Make a Habit of Courage

"Make a habit of courage. Whenever you have a choice of backing up or going forward, always dare to go forward. There is a Zulu saying, “If you face two dangers, one behind you and one in front of you, always go forward toward the one in front of you.” Keep making the decision to go forward until it becomes so automatic that you don’t back away from anything."

-- Brian Tracy

The Way To Get Rid of Darkness

"You are the sum total of your own thoughts. You can keep from entertaining negative thought and imagery. The way to get rid of darkness is with light; the way to overcome cold is with heat; the way to overcome the negative thought is to substitute the good thought. Affirm the good, and the bad will vanish."

-- Joseph Murphy

A Person Who Has a Dream

"A person who has a dream knows what he is willing to give up in order to go up. He is able to measure everything he does according to whether or not it contributes to the dream, concentrating his attention on the things that bring him closer to it and giving less attention to everything that doesn’t."

--  John C. Maxwell

Do Not Be Possessive

"Do not be possessive. It is one of the most dangerous things, especially in relation to sex. There are a lot of people who think it’s indecent to not be possessive when you are married. I think it’s fatal. Don’t let your passion trap you into trying to own the person. The trick is to love them, not to possess them."

-- Diana Athill