Great Throughts Treasury

"Make failure your teacher, not your undertaker."

"Make no small plans for they have no capacity to stir men?s souls."

"Little men with little minds and little imaginations go through life in little ruts, smugly resisting all changes which would jar their little worlds."

"Make a game of finding something positive in every situation. 95% of your emotions are determined by how you interpret events to yourself."

"Look back in forgiveness, forward in hope, down in compassion and up with gratitude."

"Live creatively, friends. . . . Make a careful exploration of who you are and the work you have been given, and then sink yourself into that. Don?t be impressed with yourself. Don?t compare yourself with others."

"Love will die through neglect just as will a flower, tree or bush."

"Life is too short to spend your precious time trying to convince a person who wants to live in gloom and doom otherwise. Give lifting that person your best shot, but don?t hang around long enough for his or her bad attitude to pull you down. Instead, surround yourself with optimistic people."

"Make today worth remembering."

"Many people who want to be great aren?t willing to do the work to make it possible!"

"Many people spend more time in planning the wedding than they do in planning the marriage."

"Many times Christian state their love for the Lord and their willingness to die for Him. I will make no pretense of knowing the Lord's will in your life, but I do feel that in most cases the Lord is for more interested in our living for Him then He is in our dying for Him."

"Many people say, "When I get a million dollars, then I'll be happy because I'll have security," but that's not necessarily so. Most people who acquire a million dollars want another and then another. Or they could be like a good friend of mine who made and lost every dime of a million dollars. It didn't bother him a bit. He wasn't excited about it, but he explained to me, "Zig, I still know everything necessary to make another million dollars, and I've learned what to do not to lost it. I'll simply go back to work and earn it again."

"Many of life?s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up."

"Many marriages would be better if the husband and the wife clearly understood that they are on the same side."

"Man was designed for accomplishment, engineered for success, and endowed with the seeds of greatness."

"Men of genius are admired, men of wealth are envied, men of power are feared, but only men of character are trusted."

"Money is not everything but it ranks right up there with oxygen"

"Money will buy you a bed, but not a good night?s sleep, a house but not a home, a companion but not a friend."

"Money isn?t the most important thing in life, but it?s reasonably close to oxygen on the ?gotta have it? scale."

"Money won't make you happy... but everybody wants to find out for themselves."

"Most of us would be upset if we were accused of being 'silly.' But the word 'silly' comes from the old English word 'selig,' and its literal definition is 'to be blessed, happy, healthy and prosperous.'"

"Most locked doors are in your mind."

"Most men go to their graves with their dreams still inside them."

"Motivation doesn't last, neither does shower. That why we need it everyday"

"Most people consider me an optimist because I laughingly state that I would take my last two dollars and buy a money belt."

"Most people who fail in their dream fail not from lack of ability but from lack of commitment."

"Motivating gets you going and habit gets you there . Make motivating a habit and you will get there more quickly and have more fun on the trip."

"Motivation gets you going and habit gets you there."

"Much about success is just the result of simply the ability to follow up, follow through, and finish what we started."

"Motivation needs to be a part of y our own life for you to be effective in conveying it to other people."

"My favorite writers are all Jews - David, Solomon, Matthew, Mark - well, you get the picture."

"My core philosophy on winning and motivation is summed up by saying that you were born to win, but in order to be the winner you were born to be, you have to plan to win and prepare to win before you can expect to win."

"Motivation is the fuel, necessary to keep the human engine running."

"New information makes new and fresh ideas possible."

"My first professional job was to sell heavy-duty waterless cookware."

"New research shows that you will be dead longer than you will be alive."

"No one is useless in this world who lightens the burden of it to anyone else."

"Obstacles are the things that we see when we take our eyes off our goals."

"Obviously, raw talent is important, but the difference-maker between first and the rest of the pack is usually desire."

"Of all the attitudes we can acquire, surely the attitude of gratitude is the most important and by far the most life-changing."

"Nothing is more inspiring than a person with seemingly mediocre talent rising against the odds to become a champion by way of hard work, effort, and perseverance toward their goals."

"No one on the face of this earth can make you feel inferior without your permission."

"On rare occasions we hear about people who seem to be overnight successes. Actually, the "overnight" success is rare, and it certainly didn't happen in my life. My dream to become a speaker was born in 1952 after I heard speaker Bob Bale from Phoenix, Arizona. He had a lot of fun, did a tremendous amount of good and, I thought, made lots of money. All those things appealed to me. For the next thirteen years I spoke for anyone who would permit me to speak. I spoke to people in service clubs, schools, churches, prisons, drug rehab centers, automobile dealerships, and more. I literally drove hundreds of miles, at my expense, to speak to small groups. My fee? The opportunity to speak and improve my presentation skills. Money seldom changed hands. I did it because I believed I had something of value to say. However, I understood that in order to be paid for saying it, I had to learn how to say it in such a way that the audience would be willing to hear the message and act on the message."

"Of course motivation is not permanent. But then, neither is bathing; but it is something you should do on a regular basis."

"Obviously, there is little you can learn from doing nothing."

"One difference between those who make it and those who don't--regardless of their field of endeavor--is not the "talent" difference. Those who go over the top have a dream and the dream has them. They make the commitment and pursue that dream with dogged patience and persistence. Commitment produces consistent, enthusiastic effort that inevitably produces greater and greater rewards."

"One involved in illegal activity, it is believed that if he was able to convince others to join him, it will relieve his feelings of guilt."

"One of the main reasons people fail to reach their full potential is because they are unwilling to risk anything. They are fearful of losing, failing, or getting hurt and just want to do the things they believe will keep them safe."

"One of the qualities or features, and will already have later, you stick to it first, and then your stick is."