Great Throughts Treasury

"Enthusiasm is at the bottom of all progress. With it there is accomplishment. Without it there are only habits."

"He would really benefit mankind must reach them through their work."

"If there is any great secret of success in life, it lies in the ability to put yourself in the other person's place and to see things from his point of view - as well as your own."

"Life is a series of experiences, each one of which makes us bigger, even though sometimes it is hard to realize this. For the world was built to develop character, and we must learn that the setbacks and griefs which we endure help us in our marching onward."

"The whole secret of a successful life is to find out what it is one’s destiny to do, and then do it."

"There are two fools in this world. One is the millionaire who thinks that by hoarding money he can somehow accumulate real power, and the other is the penniless reformer who thinks that if only he can take the money from one class and give it to another, all the world’s ills will be cured."

"There are two ways of making money - one at the expense of others, the other by service to others. The first method does not “make” money, does not create anything; it only “gets” money - and does not always succeed at that."

"We now know that anything which is economically right is also morally right; there can be no conflict between good economics and good morals."

"To do more for the world than the world does for you - that is success."

"You can't build a reputation on what you're going to do."

"You will find men who want to be carried on the shoulders of others, who think that the world owes them a living. They don't seem to see that we must all lift together and pull together."

"A man who cannot think is not an educated man, however many college degrees he may have acquired."

"All Fords are exactly alike, but no two men are just alike. Every new life is a new thing under the sun; there has never been anything just like it before, never will be again. A young man ought to get that idea about himself; he should look for the single spark of individuality that makes him different from other folks, and develop that for all he is worth. Society and schools may try to iron it out of him; their tendency is to put it all in the same mold, but I say don't let that spark be lost; it is your only real claim to importance."

"Anyone who stops learning is old, whether this happens at twenty or at eighty. Anyone who keeps on learning not only remains young but becomes constantly more valuable, regardless of physical capacity."

"Capital punishment is as fundamentally wrong as a cure for crime as charity is wrong as a cure for poverty."

"Coming together is a beginning; keeping together is progress; working together is success."

"Even a mistake may turn out to be the one thing necessary to a worthwhile achievement."

"Failure is only opportunity to more intelligently begin again."

"Few people realize what a substantial thing faith is."

"I am looking for a lot of men who have an infinite capacity to not know what can't be done."

"I believe God is managing affairs and that He doesn't need any advice from me. With God in charge, I believe everything will work out for the best in the end. So what is there to worry about."

"If money is your only hope for independence, you will never have it. The only real security that a man can have in this world is a reserve of knowledge, experience and ability."

"If you think you can do a thing or think you can't do a thing, you're right."

"It has been my observation that most people get ahead during the time that others waste."

"It is not the employer who pays wages - he only handles the money. It is the product that pays the wages."

"Law never does anything constructive. We have had enough of legislators promising to do that which laws can not do."

"Life is a series of experiences, each one of which makes us bigger, even though it is hard to realize this. For the world was built to develop character, and we must learn that the setbacks and griefs which we endure help us in our marching onward."

"Money, after all, is extremely simple. It is a part of our transportation system. It is a simple and direct method of conveying goods from one person to another. Money is in itself most admirable. It is essential. It is not intrinsically evil. It is one of the most useful devices in social life, and when it does what it was intended to do, it is all help and no hindrance."

"Nobody can think straight who does not work. Idleness warps the mind. Thinking without constructive action becomes a disease."

"One of the greatest discoveries a man makes, one of his great surprises, is to find he can do what he was afraid he couldn't do."

"One who fears failure limits his activities. Failure is only the opportunity more intelligently to begin again."

"Paying attention to simple things that most men neglect makes a few men rich."

"Profit is a by-product of work; happiness is its chief product."

"The cure for "Materialism" is to have enough for everybody and to spare. When people are sure of having what they need they cease to think about it."

"The farther we get away from the land, the greater our insecurity."

"The great trouble today is that there are too many people looking for someone else to do something for them. The solution of most of our troubles is to be found in everyone doing something for himself."

"The highest use of capital is not to make more money, but to make money do more for the betterment of life."

"The hold which comptrollers of money are able to maintain on productive forces is seen to be more powerful when it is remembered that, although money is supposed to represent the real wealth of the world, there is always much more wealth that there is money, and real wealth is often compelled to wait upon money, thus leading to that most paradoxical situation - a world filled with wealth but suffering want."

"The majority of people are naturally straddlers. They are not in the world to pioneer but to be as happy as possible. If pioneering in a cause brings discomfort, they would rather not be among the pioneers. they would rather stand on the sidelines and, in the combat between truth and error, wait and see which proves the stronger. Though they may have a lazy faith that truth at last will win, they do not wish to lend a premature support."

"The object of living is work, experience, happiness. There is joy in work. All that money can do is buy us some one else's work in exchange for our own. There is no happiness in the realization that we have accomplished something."

"The question, "Who ought to be boss?" is like asking "who ought to be the tenor in the quartet?" Obviously, the man who can sing tenor."

"There are two fools in this world. One is the millionaire who thinks that by hoarding money he can somehow accumulate real power, and the other is the penniless reformer who thinks that if only he can take the money from one class and give it to another, all the world's ills will be cured."

"Thinking is the hardest work there is, which is the probably reason why so few engage in it.'"

"What causes war is not patriotism, not that human beings are willing to die in defense of their dearest ones. It is the false doctrine, fostered by the few, that war spells gain."

"Youth has one great element in its favor - it can live in the future."

"Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty. Anyone who keeps learning stays young. The greatest thing in life is to keep your mind young."

"Don’t find a fault. Find a remedy."

"A business devoted to service will have only one worry profits. They will be embarrassingly large."

"History is more or less bunk. It's tradition. We don't want tradition. We want to live in the present and the only history that is worth a tinker's damn is the history we make today."

"Good will is one of the few really important assets of life. A determined man can win almost anything he goes after, but unless, in his getting he gains good will he has not profited much."