WHO said it could not be done? And what great victories has he to his credit which qualify him to judge others accurately?
There is always plenty of capital for those who can create practical plans for using it.
Fortunate is the young man or young woman who learns, early in life, to use imagination, and doubly so in this age of greater opportunity.
Success in this world is always a matter of individual effort, yet you will only be deceiving yourself if you believe that you can succeed without the co-operation of other people.
Discovery is a matter of investigation and use of "imagination."
We need not seek opportunity in the distance; we may find it right where we stand!
SUCCESS is a matter of tactful negotiation with other people.
TIME is a Master Worker that heals the wounds of temporary defeat, and equalizes the inequalities and rights the wrongs of the world. There is nothing "Impossible" with time!
Success is very largely a matter of adjusting one's self to the ever-varying and changing environments of life, in a spirit of harmony and poise.
The most successful men and women on earth have had to correct certain weak spots in their personalities before they began to succeed. The most outstanding of these weaknesses which stand between men and women and success are INTOLERANCE, CUPIDITY, GREED, JEALOUSY, SUSPICION, REVENGE, EGOTISM, CONCEIT, THE TENDENCY TO REAP WHERE THEY HAVE NOT SOWN, and the HABIT OF SPENDING MORE THAN THEY EARN.
NO MAN HAS A CHANCE TO ENJOY PERMANENT SUCCESS UNTIL HE BEGINS TO LOOK IN A MIRROR FOR THE REAL CAUSE OF ALL HIS MISTAKES.
People buy personalities as much as merchandise, and it is a question if they are not influenced more by the personalities with which they come in contact than they are by the merchandise.
Regardless of what your major aim in life may be, you will attain it with much less difficulty after you learn how to cultivate a pleasing personality and after you have learned the delicate art of allying yourself with others in a given undertaking without friction or envy.
You cannot enjoy outstanding success in life without power, and you can never enjoy power without sufficient personality to influence other people to cooperate with you in a spirit of harmony.
If you must slander someone don't speak it- but write it - write it in the sand, near the water's edge!
No one may become an Accurate Thinker without practicing tolerance. Intolerance closes the book of Knowledge and writes on cover, "Finis! I have learned it all!" Intolerance makes enemies of those who should be friends. It destroys opportunity and fills the mind with doubt, mistrust and prejudice.
POWER growing out of organized knowledge is the more important because it places in man's possession a tool with which he may transform, redirect and to some extent harness and use the other form of power.
Don't be afraid of a little opposition. Remember that the "Kite" of Success generally rises AGAINST the wind of Adversity - not with it!
Render more service than that for which you are paid and you will soon be paid for more than you render. The law of "Increasing Returns" takes care of this.
Every failure is a blessing in disguise, providing it teaches some needed lesson one could not have learned without it. Most so-called Failures are only temporary defeats.
TO BELIEVE IN THE HEROIC MAKES HEROES.
The human brain, when in this depleted condition, must be recharged, and the manner in which this is done is through contact with a more vital mind or minds.
Power, in unlimited quantities, may, be enjoyed by any group of men, or men and women,who possess the wisdom with which to submerge their own personalities and their own immediate individual interests, through the blending of their minds in a spirit of perfect harmony.
COURAGE IS THE STANDING ARMY OF THE SOUL WHICH KEEPS IT FROM CONQUEST, PILLAGE AND SLAVERY.
MEN cease to interest us when we find their limitations. The only sin is limitation. As soon as you once come up to a man's limitations, it is all over with him.
POWER (man-power) is ORGANIZED KNOWLEDGE, EXPRESSED THROUGH INTELLIGENT EFFORTS!
YOU cannot become a power in your community nor achieve enduring success in any worthy undertaking until you become big enough to blame yourself for your own mistakes and reverses.
Knowledge, general in nature and unorganized, is not POWER; it is only potential power-the material out of which real power may be developed.
One grows out of the other; therefore, any person who has the knowledge and the ability to develop power, through the principle of harmoniousco-ordination of effort between individual minds, or in any other manner, may be successful in any reasonable undertaking that is possible of successful termination.
NEVER, in the history of the world, has there been such abundant opportunity as there is now for the person who is willing to serve before trying to collect.
A man is half whipped the minute he begins to feel sorry for himself, or to spin an alibi with which he would explain away his defects.
Success in life, no matter what one may call success, is very largely a matter of adaptation to environment in such a manner that there is harmony between the individual and his environment.
The palace of a king becomes as a hovel of a peasant if harmony does not abound within its walls.Conversely stated, the hut of a peasant may be made to yield more happiness than that of the mansion of the rich man, if harmony obtains in the former and not in the latter.
let it be remembered that lack of harmony is the first, and often the last and only, cause of FAILURE!
The leader who successfully develops and directs the energies of a "Master Mind" must possess tact, patience, persistence, self-confidence, intimate knowledge of mind chemistry and the ability to adapt himself (in a state of perfect poise and harmony) to quickly changing circumstances, without showing the least sign of annoyance.
The successful leader must possess the ability to change the color of his mind, chameleon-like, to fit every circumstance that arises in connection with the object of his leadership. Moreover, he must possess the ability to change from one mood to another without showing the slightest signs of anger or lack of self-control.
Power grows out of ORGANIZED KNOWLEDGE, but, mind you, it "grows out of it" through application and use!
An "educated" person is one who knows how to acquire everything he needs in the attainment of his main Purpose in life, without violating the rights of his fellow men.
SEEK the counsel of men who will tell you the truth about yourself, even if it hurts you to hear it. Mere commendation will not bring the improvement you need.
The successful lawyer is not necessarily the one who memorizes the greatest number of principles of law. On the contrary, the successful lawyer is the one who knows where to find a principle of law, plus a variety of opinions supporting that principle which fit the immediate needs of a given case.
True education means mind development; not merely the gathering and classifying of knowledge.
AN AIM IN LIFE IS THE ONLY FORTUNE WORTH FINDING; AND IT IS NOT TO BE FOUND IN FOREIGN LANDS, BUT IN THE HEART ITSELF.
It is a million times better to meet and face criticism than to be dragged down to failure and oblivion on account of alliances which are not harmonious, whether the alliances be of a business or social nature.
IF you cannot do great things yourself, remember that you may do small things in a great way.
An enemy discovered is an enemy half whipped.
Begin, now, to study effects by their causes and soon you will emancipate your mind from your burdens.
You will resemble, tomorrow, the DOMINATING THOUGHTS that you keep alive in your mind today!
In truth, no man knows enough about any worth-while subject to entitle him to feel that he has the last word on that subject.
Humility is a forerunner of success!
Until we become humble in our own hearts we are not apt to profit greatly by the experiences and thoughts of others.
Stagnant minds are the breeding places of fear.
The mind becomes withered, stagnant, narrow and closed unless it searches for new ideas.
The mind becomes more alert, more elastic and more ready to work with speed and accuracy after it has been bathed in new ideas, outside of one's own field of daily labor.
Do not be afraid of new ideas! They may mean to you the difference between success and failure.
There is a principle which is a bar against all information; which is proof against all argument
BY and Large, there is no such thing as "Something for Nothing." In the long run you get exactly that for which you pay, whether you are buying an automobile or a loaf of bread.
Success is the development of the power with which to get whatever one wants in life without interfering with the rights of others.
Power is organized energy or effort.
IF you can run a losing race without blaming your loss on someone else, you have bright prospects of success further down the road in life.
A GOOD Encyclopaedia contains most of the known facts of the world, but they are as useless as Sand Dunes until organized and expressed in terms of action.
NO POSITION IN LIFE CAN BE SECURE, AND NO ACHIEVEMENT CAN BE PERMANENT UNLESS BUILT UPON TRUTH AND JUSTICE.
DO NOT “TELL” THE WORLD WHAT YOU CAN DO – “SHOW” IT!
That you will attract to you people who harmonize with your own philosophy of life, whether you wish it or not.
Followers are willing followers when they know that their leader is a person with a definite chief aim who has the courage to back up that purpose with action.
If a steamship lost its rudder, in mid-ocean, and began circling around, it would soon exhaust its fuel supply without reaching shore, despite the fact that it would use up enough energy to carry it to shore and back several times. The man who labors without a definite purpose that is backed up by a definite plan for its attainment, resembles the ship that has lost its rudder.
Until a man selects a definite purpose in life he dissipates his energies and spreads his thoughts over so many subjects and in so many different directions that they lead not to power, but to indecision and weakness.
Out of allied effort comes greater power.
In your struggle for success you should keep constantly in mind the necessity of knowing what it is that you want-of knowing precisely what is your definite purpose - and the value of the principle of organized effort in the attainment of that which constitutes your definite purpose.
Before your purpose could be considered definite, even though that purpose were the accumulation of money, you would have to reach a decision as to the precise method through which you intend to accumulate that money. It would be insufficient for you to say that you would make money by going into some sort of business. You would have to decide just what line of business. You would also have to decide just where you would locate. You would also have to decide the business policies under which you would conduct your business.
ANYONE CAN "START," BUT ONLY THE THOROUGHBRED WILL "FINISH!"
There is some one thing that you can do better than anyone else in the world could do it. Search until you find out what this particular line of endeavor is, make it the object of your definite chief aim and then organize all of your forces and attack it with the belief that you are going to win. In your search for the work for which you are best fitted, it will be well if you bear in mind the fact that you will most likely attain the greatest success by finding out what work you like best, for it is a well known fact that a man generally best succeeds in the particular line of endeavor into which he can throw his whole heart and soul.
Desire is the factor which determines what your definite purpose in life shall be. No one can select your dominating desire for you, but once you select it yourself it becomes your definite chief aim and occupies the spotlight of your mind until it is satisfied by transformation into reality, unless you permit it to be pushed aside by conflicting desires.
Merely desiring freedom would never release a man who was confined in prison if it were not sufficiently strong to cause him to do something to entitle himself to freedom. These are the steps leading from desire to fulfillment: First the burning desire, then the crystallization of that desire into a definite purpose, then sufficient appropriate action to achieve that purpose. Remember that these three steps are always necessary to insure success.
Every line a man writes, and every act in which he indulges, and every word he utters serves as unescapable evidence of the nature of that which is deeply imbedded in his own heart, a confession that he cannot disavow.
keep in mind the never-varying truth that you'll get nowhere if you start nowhere.
If your aim in life is vague your achievements will also be vague, and it might well be added, very meager. Know what you want, when you want it, why you want it and HOW you intend to get it. This is known to teachers and students of psychology as the WWWH formula - "what, when, why and how."
You cannot succeed when surrounded by disloyal and unfriendly associates, no matter what may be the object of your definite chief aim.
Whatever you want you may get if you want it with sufficient intensity, and keep on wanting it,providing the object wanted is one within reason, and you ACTUALLY BELIEVE YOU WILL GET IT
Every noteworthy achievement met with some sort of temporary setback before success came.
Nature cannot be tricked or cheated. She will give up to you the object of your struggles only after you have paid her price, which is CONTINUOUS, UNYIELDING, PERSISTENT EFFORT!
NEGLECTING TO BROADEN THEIR VIEW HAS KEPT SOME MEN DOING ONE THING ALL THEIR LIVES.
We have already discovered the fact that the man who masters fear may march on to successful achievement in practically any undertaking, despite all efforts to defeat him.
The development of self-confidence starts with the elimination of this demon called fear
REMEMBER that when you make an appointment with another person you assume the responsibility of punctuality, and that you have not the right to be a single minute late.
IN every soul there has been deposited the seed of a great future, but that seed will never germinate, much less grow to maturity, except through the rendering of useful service.
YOU are fortunate if you have learned the difference between temporary defeat and failure; more fortunate still, if you have learned the truth that the very seed of success is dormant in every defeat that you experience.
IS it not strange that we fear most that which never happens? That we destroy our initiative by the fear of defeat, when in reality, defeat is a most useful tonic and should be accepted as such.
YOUR work and mine are peculiarly akin; I am helping the laws of Nature create more perfect specimens of vegetation, while you are using those same laws, through the Law of Success philosophy, to create more perfect specimens of thinkers. -Luther Burbank.
Inaction leads to atrophy and this, in turn, leads to loss of ambition and self-confidence, and without these essential qualities a man will be carried through life on the wings of uncertainty, just as a dry leaf may be carried here and there on the bosom of the stray winds.
Forced idleness is far worse than forced labor.Being forced to work, and forced to do your best, will breed in you temperance and self-control and strength of will and content and a hundred other virtues which the idle will never know.
Self-confidence is the quality with which the mind is re-charged and made positive.
Where thought prevails power may be found!
Life's battles don't always go To the stronger or faster man; But soon or late the man who wins Is the man who thinks he can.
THE only man who makes no mistakes is the man who never does anything. Do not be afraid of mistakes providing you do not make the same one twice. -Roosevelt.
Where fear controls, noteworthy achievement becomes an impossibility
"Fear is the dungeon of the mind into which it runs and hides and seeks seclusion. Fear brings on superstition and superstition is the dagger with which hypocrisy assassinates the soul."
LOVE, beauty, joy and worship are forever building, tearing down and rebuilding the foundation of each man's soul.
Solely by the thoughts you think. If you demand success of yourself and back up this demand with intelligent action you are sure to win.
Others will believe in you only when you believe in yourself. They will "tune in" on your thoughts and feel toward you just as you feel toward yourself.
Self-confidence is something which should never be proclaimed or announced except through intelligent performance of constructive deeds.
Opportunity never stalks the person with a highly developed state of egotism, but brick-bats and ugly remarks do.
Bear this in mind and let your Self-confidence speak only through the tongue of constructive service rendered without fuss or flurry.
Self-confidence is the product of knowledge.Know yourself, know how much you know (and how little), why you know it, and how you are going to use it.
What you really are will speak so loudly that what you "claim" you are will not be heard.
Believe in yourself, but do not tell the world what you can do-SHOW IT!
"How often must we learn this lesson? Men cease to interest us when we find their limitations. The only sin is limitation. As soon as you once come up with a man's limitations, it is all over with him."-EMERSON.
The moment a man ceases to cherish the vision of future achievement he is through. Nature has built man so that his greatest and only lasting Happiness is that which he feels in the pursuit of some yet unattained object.
Anticipation is sweeter than realization.
That which is at hand does not satisfy. The only enduring satisfaction is that which comes to the Person who keeps alive in his heart the HOPE of future achievement. When that hope dies write FINIS across the human heart.
THE only lasting favor which the parent may confer upon the child is that of helping the child to help itself.No sacrifice is too great to avoid the misery of debt!
One negative state of mind has a tendency to attract other similar states of mind.
Any idea that frequents the human mind but seldom is not as welcome as that which frequents it often.
EVERY failure, every adversity, every heartache may be a blessing in disguise providing it softens the animal portion of our nature.
ALL salesmen will do well to remember that no one wants anything that someone else is trying to "get rid of."
If a man follows the systematic habit of saving a definite proportion of all money he earns or receives in other ways, he is practically sure to place himself in a position of financial independence. If he saves nothing, he IS ABSOLUTELY SURE NEVER TO BE FINANCIALLY INDEPENDENT, no matter how much his income may be.
THINK well before you speak because your words may plant the seed of either success or failure in the mind of some other person.
FORTUNATE is the person who has learned that the most certain way to "get" is to first "give" through some sort of useful service.
With abundance of health, unfaltering faith,unflagging energy, unceasing optimism, and unbounded confidence that a man can win his fight, even though he commences late in life to realize the kind of fight he must make-is there anything but death to stop him?*
It is far better, in the long run, to be considered a bit behind the times than it is to go along through youth, into the days of maturity, and finally into old age, without having formed the habit of systematic saving.
I AM thankful for the adversities which have crossed my pathway, for they have taught me tolerance, sympathy, selfcontrol, perseverance and some other virtues I might never have known.
There are opportunities on every corner, but they exist only for those who have ready money, or who can command money because they have formed the Habit of Saving, and developed the other characteristics which go with the formation of the savings habit known by the general term of "character."
LOVE and Justice are the real arbiters of all disputes. Give them a chance and you will no longer want to defeat a brother sojourner by the wayside of life.
It may seem like a sad, cruel fact, but it is a FACT none the less, that if you have no money, and have not developed the habit of saving, you are "out of luck" as far as availing yourself of the opportunity to make money is concerned.
Neither a borrower, nor a lender be: For loan oft loses both itself and friend, And borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry. This above all: to thine own self be true, And it must follow, as the night the day, Thou canst not then be false to any man. -SHAKESPEARE
EVERYTHING PASSES AT PAR, TEMPORARILY; TRUTH ALONE REMAINS PERMANENTLY.
WHEN you do not know what to do or which way to turn, smile. This will relax your mind and let the sunshine of happiness into your soul.
THE space you occupy and the authority you exercise may be measured with mathematical exactness by the service you render.
"Initiative is the pass-key that opens the door to opportunity.
CHERISH your visions and your dreams as they are the children of your soul; the blue-prints of your ultimate achievements.
That which is good or great makes itself known, no matter how loud the clamor of denial.
Attempts to destroy real Leadership is love's labor lost, because that which deserves to live, lives!
SERVICE, Sacrifice and Self-Control are three words which must be well understood by the person who succeeds in doing something that is of help to the world.
MAKE excuses for the shortcomings of others, if you wish, but hold yourself to a strict accountability if you would attain leadership in any undertaking.
Become so well informed that men will hunt you up to ask questions; that your brother officers will say to one another, "Ask Smith - he knows."
Self-confidence results from accurate knowledge;
Not only must the leader know but he must be able to put what he knows into grammatical, interesting, forceful English. He must learn to stand on his feet and speak without embarrassment.
While self-confidence is the result of knowing more than your men, Moral Ascendency over them is based upon your belief that you are the better man. To gain and maintain this ascendency you must have selfcontrol, physical vitality and endurance and moral force. You must have yourself so well in hand that, even though in battle you be scared stiff, you will never show fear. For if by so much as a hurried movement or a trembling of the hands, or a change of expression, or a hasty order hastily revoked, you indicate your mental condition it will be reflected in your men in a far greater degree.
An officer should never apologize to his men; also an officer should never be guilty of an act for which his sense of justice tells him he should apologize.
Make light of your troubles, belittle your trials and you will help vitally to build up within your organization an esprit whose value in time of stress cannot be measured.
Moral force is the third element in gaining Moral Ascendency. To exert moral force you must live clean; you must have sufficient brain power to see the right and the will to do right.
Your company will be the reflection of yourself! If you have a rotten company it will be because you are a rotten captain.
NO accurate thinker will judge another person by that which the other person's enemies say about him.
In war there is glory enough for all. Give the man under you his due. The man who always takes and never gives is not a leader. He is a parasite.
Every time you change your orders without obvious reason you weaken your authority and impair the confidence of your men. Have the moral courage to stand by your order and see it through.
Courage is more than bravery. Bravery is fearlessness - the absence of fear. The merest dolt may be brave, because he lacks the mentality to appreciate his danger; he doesn't know enough to be afraid. Courage, however, is that firmness of spirit, that moral backbone which, while fully appreciating the danger involved, nevertheless goes on with the undertaking. Bravery is physical; courage is mental and moral.
NO man may become an accurate thinker until he learns how to separate mere gossip and information from facts.
Trying to solve problems through one single source, whereas there were actually THREE SOURCES of solution available.
Initiative is the moving force that pushes the Leader ahead, but Imagination is the guiding spirit that tells him which way to go.
We win or lose according to the nature of the plans we build and carry out, a fact which serves to emphasize the value of the Laws of Initiative and Leadership, Imagination, Selfconfidence and a Definite Chief Aim. With the intelligent use of these four laws one may build plans, for any purpose whatsoever, which cannot be defeatedby any person or group of persons who do not employ or understand these laws.
TIME is the mighty hand that rocks the eternal cradle of progress and nurses struggling humanity through that period when man needs protection against his own ignorance.
If you must give expression to prejudice and hatred and intolerance, do not speak it, but write it; write it in the sands, near the water's edge.
Intolerance binds man's legs with the shackles of IGNORANCE and covers his eyes with the scales of FEAR AND SUPERSTITION. Intolerance closes the book of knowledge and writes on the cover "Open not this book again. The last word has been herein written."
It is not your DUTY to be tolerant; it is your PRIVILEGE!
When you feel yourself preparing to "lock horns" with someone remember that it will be more profitable if you LOCK HANDS instead! A warm, hearty handshake leaves no bones bleaching in the sun.
"LOVE is the only bow on life's dark cloud. It is the Morning and the Evening Star. It shines upon the cradle of the babe, and sheds its radiance upon the quiet tomb. It is the mother of Art, inspirer of poet, patriot and philosopher. It is the air and light of every heart, builder of every home, kindler of every fire on every hearth. It was the first to dream of immortality. It fills the world with melody, for Music is the voice of Love. Love is the magician, the enchanter, that changes worthless things to joy, and makes right royal kings and queens of common clay. It is the perfume ofthe wondrous flower - the heart - and without that sacred passion, that divine swoon, we are less than beasts; but with it, earth is heaven and we are gods” - INGERSOL
NO ONE HAS GIVEN YOU AN OPPORTUNITY? HAS IT EVER OCCURRED TO YOU TO CREATE OPPORTUNITY FOR YOURSELF?
Just as the oak tree develops from the germ that lies in the acorn, and the bird develops from the germ that lies asleep in the egg, so will your material achievements grow out of the organized plans that you create in your imagination.
THE MAN WHO SLANDERS HIS FELLOWMAN UNWITTINGLY UNCOVERS THE REAL NATURE OF HIS INNER SELF.
