Great Throughts Treasury

"If you think you can, you can. And if you think you can’t, you’re right."

"A mediocre idea that generates enthusiasm will go further than a great idea that inspires no one."

"Don't limit yourself. Many people limit themselves to what they think they can do. You can go as far as you mind lets you. What you believe, you can achieve."

"There are three types of people in this world: those who make things happen, those who watch things happen and those who wonder what happened. We all have a choice. You can decide which type of person you want to be. I have always chosen to be in the first group."

"Everyone wants to be appreciated, so if you appreciate someone, don't keep it a secret."

"A good goal is like a strenuous exercise - it makes you stretch."

"People are definitely a company's greatest asset. It doesn't make any difference whether the product is cars or cosmetics. A company is only as good as the people it keeps."

"Dare to risk public criticism. "

"Criticize the act, not the person. "

"Every silver lining has a cloud. "

"For every failure, there's an alternative course of action. You just have to find it. When you come to a roadblock, take a detour."

"Most people live and die with their music still unplayed. They never dare to try."

"Pretend that every single person you meet has a sign around his or her neck that says, "Make me feel important." Not only will you succeed in sales, you will succeed in life."

"Honesty is the cornerstone of all success, without which confidence and ability to perform shall cease to exist."

"People fall forward to success. "

"Those who are blessed with the most talent don't necessarily outperform everyone else. It's the people with follow-through who excel."

"Sandwich every bit of criticism between two layers of praise."

"We must have a theme, a goal, a purpose in our lives. If you don't know where you're aiming, you don't have a goal. My goal is to live my life in such a way that when I die, someone can say, she cared."

"The speed of the leader is the speed of the gang."

"We treat our people like royalty. If you honor and serve the people who work for you, they will honor and serve you."

"The greatest pollution problem we face today is negativity. "

"We need leaders who add value to the people and the organization they lead; who work for the benefit of others and not just for their own personal gain. Leaders who inspire and motivate, not intimidate and manipulate; who live with people to know their problems in order to solve them and who follow a moral compass that points in the right directions regardless of the trends."

"Our company was begun with only one objective and that is to give women the chance to succeed; an opportunity that simply did not exist in the 60s."

"You can have anything in this world you want, if you want it badly enough and you're willing to pay the price."

"A strong beginning is a good thing only when coupled with a strong finish."

"Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm."

"An average person with average talents and average ambition can outstrip the most brilliant genius in our society; if that person has clear focused goals."

"I can say unequivocally that every decision we make at Mary Kay Cosmetics is based on the golden rule. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you."

"Make every day count. Make every hour count. Make every minute count. And don't stop until you have exercised your full potential, realizing your impossible dream and fulfilling your total destiny to become the person that you, and only you, are capable of being."

"When God made men, he was just practicing."

"Focusing, planning and working towards your success daily will ultimately give you the edge to see your success come to fruition. Give it all you can and your victory will happen! "

"Mary Kay Cosmetics is known for praising people to success. We think this is so important, we base our entire marketing plan on it."

"When children know their mothers believe in them, they develop self-confidence. On the other hand, if a parent repeatedly tells a child that he's shy, he's stupid, he's mean or he's going to grow up to be a bank robber, he'll probably develop that quality or bring that vision to pass. "

"It's not so much what happened to us as how we react to what happens that makes the difference. Cultivate the happy side of life. Have you ever stopped to think about how, when something really bad happens to us, we later see that it really happened to the best? That's so often true. So look for the silver lining in that cloud. IT IS THERE! "

"It is important for you to have a goal. You simply can't get there if you don't know where you are going. Begin to build in your mind a dream. The write it down and make your goal realistic. Aim high enough that you will have to stretch your ability and your potential to reach it."

"The human mind is incredible. And, for that matter, so are the minds of all living creatures. God programmed a tiny spider, for instance, to weave a web. He programmed a salmon to swim thousands of miles upstream to the exact location where it was hatched. If the brains of spiders and salmon can be programmed to perform such feats, imagine what capability of the human brain can achieve. "

"Courage is having the strength and the vision to make a commitment in life, then standing by that commitment simply because you know it's the right decision. "

"Believe in yourself and know that you can do anything in this world that you want to do if you want to do it badly enough and you are willing to travel the road. Whatever you vividly imagine, ardently desire, sincerely believe and enthusiastically act upon must inevitably come to pass. "

"Courage is confidence. No matter how dark night may be, courage always finds the light and the promise of a distant star. "

"I firmly believe that all we send into the lives of other does indeed come back into our own. I also believe that Christmas is that wondrous time of year when each of us renews our faith that a better world is possible. By trying to live Christmas 12 months a year, we CAN make this world a better place to live - for others and for ourselves. "

"A person is actually a product of her own thoughts; and when you think big, you achieve big things. Shakespeare said, "this is nothing good or bad but thinking makes it so." He would attain greatness must make no little plans. "

"Did you ever notice that when you light a candle from one already illuminated, the original candle does not lose any of its brilliance! And in doing so, the light from the original candle can light up the entire room, magnifying itself over and over again by lighting other candles. ...you can illuminate the lives of others. "

"Faith is wanting something with all your heart. Faith is taking a chance on something before you are sure how everything will work out. Almost anything can be accomplished by the person who really wants to succeed. But no woman will ever believe she can move a mountain unless she really wants that mountain to move. Apply this definition of faith to your dreams. "

"Set a goal and do something about it every day. Don't make "the best that I can" your objective. This gives you an open door for excuses. Tell someone about your goal. Have a plan of action that keeps you on-target every day. "

"As my own life has been woven under the tutelage of the master weaver, I have learned many things. But one of the greatest is that you can make giving a way of life! If you do this, first of all, you will find that you will be happier than you could ever have believed or imagined. "

"Remember that a leader has two important characteristics: First, she is going somewhere; secondly, she is able to persuade others to go with her. "

"Give the world the best you have, and the best will come back to you. The go-getter doesn't look around to see how much the other fellow is doing. Instead, she sets her own pace, knowing that is she can do a little thing well, she can do bigger things better. It's the spirit that makes people great. Be doers, not wishers. Have the will to win. "

"We all have failures, some little ones and some big ones. But it is very important to have a firm conviction that is not what happened to us that is important - it's the way we react to what happens to us We can't control the events of our lives, but we can control out reactions to those events. "

"If you're in sales, putting yourself in the other person's shoes should be an automatic reaction. But instead of focusing on how closing the sales will benefit the customer, too many sales people are focusing on the commission they'll get. This in terms of what's good for the other person, and success will seek you out. "

"To me, happiness is, first, having work that you love to do - something you like so much you'd do it even if you weren't paid. Second, happiness is someone to love. And third, it is having something to look forward to. "