Great Throughts Treasury

"The chief thing you are seeking in this world is happiness; and happiness does not depend upon good health or money or fame, though good health is a large factor. It depends, however, principally on one thing only, your thoughts. If you can't have what you want, be grateful for what you have to be thankful for instead of complaining about the little things that annoy you."

"When we hate our enemies, we are giving them power over us: power over our sleep, our appetites, our blood pressure, our health, and our happiness. Our enemies would dance with joy if only they knew how they were worrying us, lacerating us, and getting even with us! Our hate is not hurting them at all, but our hate is turning our own days and nights into a hellish turmoil."

"When you are afraid, keep your mind on what you have to do. And if you have been thoroughly prepared, you will not be afraid."

"The man who grasps an opportunity as it is paraded before him, nine times out of ten make a success; but the man who makes his own opportunities is, barring an accident, a sure-fire success!"

"The man who goes farthest is generally the one who is willing to do and dare. The sure-thing boat never gets far from shore."

"The trouble with most of us is that we keep our eyes closed to opportunities that thrust themselves at us; and rare is the man who searches for his opportunity or sees one even when he stumbles over it."

"When ill luck besets us, to ease the tension we have only to remember that happiness is relative. The next time you are tempted to grumble about what has happened to you, why not pause and be glad that it is no worse than it is."

"When I look at the stars and realize that the light from some of these suns takes a million years to reach my eyes, I realize how tiny and insignificant this earth is, and how microscopic and evanescent are my own little troubles. I will pass on soon; but the sea stretching for a thousand miles in all directions and the stars and spiral nebulae swarming through illimitable space above, they will continue for thousand of millions of years. I marvel that any man looking up at the stars can have an exaggerated opinion of his own importance."

"Three-fourths of the people you will meet tomorrow are hungering and thirsting for sympathy. Give it to them, and they will love you."

"This day is too precious to be corroded by acid worries and vitriolic regrets. Keep your chin high and your thoughts sparkling, a mountain brook leaping in the spring sunshine. Seize the day. It will never come again."

"You can conquer almost any fear if you will only make up your mind to do so. For remember, fear doesn't exist anywhere except in your mind."

"You never achieve real success unless you like what you are doing."

"You can't get anywhere in this world without wanting to do something."

"You can be cured in 14 days patients afflicted with melancholia if you follow this prescription. Try to think every day how you can please someone. It is the individual who is not interested in his fellow man who has the greatest difficulties in life and provides the greatest injury to others. It is from among such individuals that all human failures spring. All that we demand of a human being and the highest praise we can give him, is that he should be a good fellow worker, a friend to all other men, and a true partner in love and marriage."

"Remember happiness doesn’t depend upon who you are or what you have; it depends solely upon what you think."

"You have it easily in your power to increase the sum total of this world's happiness now. How? By giving a few words of sincere appreciation to someone who is lonely and discouraged. Perhaps you will forget tomorrow the kind words you say today, but the recipient may cherish them over a lifetime"

"You can make more friends in two months by becoming really interested in other people than you can in two years by trying to get other people interested in you."

"Act as if you were already happy and that will trend to make you happy. "

"All life is a chance. So take it! The person who goes furthest is the one who is willing to do and dare. "

"Any fool can criticize, condemn, and complain but it takes character and self control to be understanding and forgiving."

"People rarely succeed unless they have fun in what they are doing. "

"In a Nutshell: Six Ways to Make People Like You – Principle 1: Become genuinely interested in other people. Principle 2: Smile. Principle 3: Remember that a person’s name is to that person the sweetest and most important sound in any language. Principle 4: Be a good listener. Encourage others to talk about themselves. Principle 5: Talk in terms of the other person’s interests. Principle 6: Make the other person feel important – and do it sincerely. "

"When dealing with people, let us remember we are not dealing with creatures of logic. We are dealing with creatures of emotion, creatures bristling with prejudices and motivated by pride and vanity. "

"When I look at the stars and realize that the light from some of these suns takes a million years to reach my eyes, I realize how tiny and insignificant this earth is, and how microscopic and evanescent are my own little troubles. I will pass on soon; but the sea stretching for a thousand miles in all directions and the stars and the spiral nebulae swarming through illimitable space above, they will continue for millions of years. I marvel that any man looking up at the stars can have an exaggerated opinion of his own importance. "

"Would you sell both your eyes for a million dollars… or your two legs… or your hands… or your hearing? Add up what you have, and you’ll find that you wouldn’t sell it at all for all the gold in the world. "

"You have it easily in your power to increase the sum total of this world's happiness now. How? By giving a few words of sincere appreciation to someone who is lonely or discouraged. Perhaps you will forget tomorrow the kind words you say today, but the recipient may cherish them over a lifetime. "