"There is a thinking stuff from which all things are made, and which, in its original state, permeates, penetrates, and fills the interstices of the universe. A thought, in this substance, Produces the thing that is imaged by the thought. Man can form things in his thought, and, by impressing his thought upon formless substance, can cause the thing he thinks about to be created."
-- Wallace D. Wattles
"Cervantes wrote: “The journey is better than the inn.” It’s good to rest at the inn after a long journey, just as it’s good for our ship to tie up at a dock for a few days’ rest after a long sea voyage. But Cervantes was certainly right—the journey is better than the inn. The journey is life and experience; it puts us in the way of new interests and the most astonishing synchronicity."
-- Earl Nightingale
"The basic principle of winning has never changed. It’s about taking the potential you were born with, living up to it, and helping other people at the same time as you realize your own dreams. As a man “thinketh in his heart, so is he” (Proverbs 23:7). You become what you think about most of the time. Thoughts become things."
-- Denis Waitley
"Whenever life gets overwhelming, go back to chapter one of this book and think about your days. Try your best to fill them in ways that get you a little closer to where you want to be. Go easy on yourself and take your time. Worry less about getting things done. Worry more about things worth doing. Worry less about being a great artist. Worry more about being a good human being who makes art. Worry less about making a mark. Worry more about leaving things better than you found them."
-- Austin Kleon
"Every day when he came home from school, there was a neighborhood dog that would start to bark wildly and chase him. Every single day, at the same block, he would be running scared trying to escape that dog. Finally, he just got tired of the chasing and the running and said, ‘Next time I’m going to find a brick and bust that dog in the head.’ “The next day he was walking home, minding his own business, and sure enough, the dog started barking and chasing him. He started running as usual, and then he saw a brick. He stopped, picked it up and turned around. As the dog got closer, he realized it didn’t have any teeth. He just put down the brick and said, ‘Get out of here,’ as the dog whimpered away. All our lives, many of us are running from things that don’t have any teeth to do us harm.”
-- Larry D Angelo
"We are all acquainted with the loathsome consequences of living for the body and denying both mind and soul; and we see that real life means the complete expression of all that man can give forth through body, mind, and soul. Whatever he can say, no man can be really happy or satisfied unless his body is living fully in every function, and unless the same is true of his mind and his soul. Wherever there is unexpressed possibility, or function not performed, there is unsatisfied desire. Desire is possibility seeking expression, or function seeking performance."
-- Wallace D. Wattles
"That’s the way goal-oriented people spend their lives. Each goal, successfully reached, finds them better equipped, with more experience, to set the next goal. Goals for such people tend to ascend in stair-like fashion, each one a bit more demanding and fulfilling than the one before. In a few years they find themselves accomplishing, with surprising ease, goals that would have been impossible for them when they first began their journey into meaning."
-- Earl Nightingale
"We have so little control over our lives. The only thing we can really control is what we spend our days on. What we work on and how hard we work on it. It might seem like a stretch, but I really think the best thing you can do if you want to make art is to pretend you’re starring in your own remake of Groundhog Day: Yesterday’s over, tomorrow may never come, there’s just today and what you can do with it."
-- Austin Kleon
"You must practice being stupid, dumb, unthinking, empty. Then you will be able to DO . . . Try to do some BAD work—the worst you can think of and see what happens but mainly relax and let everything go to hell—you are not responsible for the world—you are only responsible for your work—so DO IT."
-- Sol LeWitt to Eva Hesse
“For anyone trying to discern what to do with their life: PAY ATTENTION TO WHAT YOU PAY ATTENTION TO. That’s pretty much all the info you need.”
-- Amy Krouse Rosenthal
"The people who want to control us through fear and misinformation—the corporations, marketers, politicians—want us to be plugged into our phones or watching TV, because then they can sell us their vision of the world. If we do not get outside, if we do not take a walk out in the fresh air, we do not see our everyday world for what it really is, and we have no vision of our own with which to combat disinformation."
-- Austin Kleon
"The dictionary defines will as choice, intention, inclination, determination, tendency, and in order to make it the will of Omnipotence you must animate it, make it alive within you by enthusiasm, feeling, and animation until it becomes embodied in the subconscious mind. When man learns to choose wisely, he will choose happiness, peace, security, joy, health, abundance, and all the blessings of life."
-- Joseph Murphy
"For now is the only time that we have. It is our only negotiable currency. Yesterday is a canceled check. Tomorrow is a promissory note. It is only today that we may spend in the noble effort of using all the gifts that God gave us."
-- Og Mandino
"Knowledge is different. You can read and gain knowledge; you can go to school and gain knowledge. With self-awareness or introspection, you step back from the canvas of life, and you take an honest look in the mirror at the person behind the mirror and say, “What am I good at? What do I believe in? What’s important to me? What do I really want to be when I grow up?” This has to do with introspection and authentic self-awareness. We don’t do much of that today, in my opinion."
-- Denis Waitley
"It’s interesting—and often quite astonishing—that people with goals tend to live longer than people without them. It’s as if they can extend their lives simply because they have something to do. It must be the interest that lends vitality and energy to their live"
-- Earl Nightingale
"There are no rules, of course. Life is an art, not a science. Your mileage may vary. Take what you need and leave the rest. Keep going and take care of yourself. I’ll do the same."
-- Austin Kleon
"Laugh together. The more laughter, the better the quality of life. So focus on subjects that make you both laugh. That, too, will make you feel present. It’s impossible to laugh without being present. Your mind must be where you are if anything is going to be funny. People who laugh cannot have negative thoughts at the same time."
-- Ichak K. Adize
"Men don’t fail; they give up trying.” Often it is not the wrong start but the wrong stop that makes the difference between success and failure. To quit while we’re ahead would be silly; to quit when we’re behind is even sillier. It requires will to hold on a little longer. It requires wit to know that the measure of success is not the luck, the breaks of the game, but the conquest of failure. 'The trouble with most of us,' it has been said, 'is that we stop trying in trying times.' There is wisdom even in puns."
-- Elihu Root
"The Life Principle as it flows through you takes the shape of the mental mold which you prepare for It. Let us take the analogy of water, which will take the shape of any vessel into which it is poured, yet it ever remains the same H2O, regardless of the shape and size of the container. Your thoughts, imagery, and mental patterns mold, fashion, and shape your life."
-- Joseph Murphy
"Self-confidence comes from proving your belief in yourself by your little achievements and your small successes as you go along. Self-esteem gives you permission to believe that you have something inside of you that should be developed. That in itself creates motivation for you to seek, to learn, to read, to role model, to discover, because you believe that you’re worth more than your present circumstances. It doesn’t matter where you’re coming from. You’re as good as anybody else—no better, but as good."
-- Denis Waitley
