β
Success is not how high you have climbed, but how you make a positive difference to the world.
β
β
Roy T. Bennett (The Light in the Heart)
β
Let the improvement of yourself keep you so busy that you have no time to criticize others.
β
β
Roy T. Bennett (The Light in the Heart)
β
Never stop dreaming,
never stop believing,
never give up,
never stop trying, and
never stop learning.
β
β
Roy T. Bennett (The Light in the Heart)
β
Success is most often achieved by those who don't know that failure is inevitable.
β
β
Coco Chanel (Believing in Ourselves: The Wisdom of Women)
β
Do not let arrogance go to your head and despair to your heart; do not let compliments go to your head and criticisms to your heart; do not let success go to your head and failure to your heart.
β
β
Roy T. Bennett (The Light in the Heart)
β
The biggest wall you have to climb is the one you build in your mind: Never let your mind talk you out of your dreams, trick you into giving up. Never let your mind become the greatest obstacle to success. To get your mind on the right track, the rest will follow.
β
β
Roy T. Bennett (The Light in the Heart)
β
Successful people have no fear of failure. But unsuccessful people do. Successful people have the resilience to face up to failureβlearn the lessons and adapt from it.
β
β
Roy T. Bennett
β
It's a funny thing about life, once you begin to take note of the things you are grateful for, you begin to lose sight of the things that you lack.
β
β
Germany Kent
β
Failures are the stairs we climb to reach success.
β
β
Roy T. Bennett (The Light in the Heart)
β
There is immense power when a group of people with similar interests gets together to work toward the same goals.
β
β
Idowu Koyenikan (Wealth for All: Living a Life of Success at the Edge of Your Ability)
β
How much you can learn when you fail determines how far you will go into achieving your goals.
β
β
Roy T. Bennett (The Light in the Heart)
β
You just can't let life happen to you, you have to make life happen.
β
β
Idowu Koyenikan (Wealth for All: Living a Life of Success at the Edge of Your Ability)
β
Failure is constructive feedback that tells you to try a different approach to accomplish what you want.
β
β
Idowu Koyenikan (Wealth for All: Living a Life of Success at the Edge of Your Ability)
β
Great Leaders Create More Leaders
Good leaders have vision and inspire others to help them turn vision into reality. Great leaders create more leaders, not followers. Great leaders have vision, share vision, and inspire others to create their own.
β
β
Roy T. Bennett (The Light in the Heart)
β
The level of success you achieve will be in direct proportion to the depth of your commitment.
β
β
Roy T. Bennett (The Light in the Heart)
β
Be an Encourager: When you encourage others, you boost their self-esteem, enhance their self-confidence, make them work harder, lift their spirits and make them successful in their endeavors. Encouragement goes straight to the heart and is always available. Be an encourager. Always.
β
β
Roy T. Bennett (The Light in the Heart)
β
Integrity is doing what is right and truthful, and doing as you say you would do.
β
β
Roy T. Bennett (The Light in the Heart)
β
People are successful because they think and act like successful people.
β
β
Roy T. Bennett (The Light in the Heart)
β
When God takes out the trash, don't go digging back through it. Trust Him.
β
β
Amaka Imani Nkosazana (Heart Crush)
β
Success in love isn't about looks, it's about attitude.
β
β
Sherry Argov (Why Men Love Bitches: From Doormat to DreamgirlβA Woman's Guide to Holding Her Own in a Relationship)
β
Believing in negative thoughts is the single greatest obstruction to success.
β
β
Charles F. Glassman (Brain Drain - The Breakthrough That Will Change Your Life)
β
Well, if it can be thought, it can be done, a problem can be overcome,
β
β
E.A. Bucchianeri (Brushstrokes of a Gadfly (Gadfly Saga, #1))
β
Hard work is only a prison sentence when you lack motivation
β
β
Malcolm Gladwell (Outliers: The Story of Success)
β
Never underestimate the power you have to take your life in a new direction.
β
β
Germany Kent
β
Cultivate an optimistic mind, use your imagination, always consider alternatives, and dare to believe that you can make possible what others think is impossible.
β
β
Rodolfo Costa (Advice My Parents Gave Me: and Other Lessons I Learned from My Mistakes)
β
The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude, to me, is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skill. It will make or break a company...a church....a home. The remarkable thing is we have a choice every day regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past...we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude...I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how I react to it. And so it is with you...we are in charge of our attitudes.
β
β
Charles R. Swindoll
β
Today is a new day and it brings with it a new set of opportunities for me to act on.
I am attentive to the opportunities and I seize them as they arise.
I have full confidence in myself and my abilities.
I can do all things that I commit myself to.
No obstacle is too big or too difficult for me to handle because what lies inside me is greater than what lies ahead of me.
I am committed to improving myself and I am getting better daily.
I am not held back by regret or mistakes from the past.
I am moving forward daily.
Absolutely nothing is impossible for me.
β
β
Idowu Koyenikan (Wealth for All: Living a Life of Success at the Edge of Your Ability)
β
Make yourself able enough to
not depend on anyone else.
β
β
Ansuman Bhagat (Your Own Thought : A Lot of Thoughts)
β
I will eliminate hatred, envy, jealousy, selfishness, and cynicism, by developing love for all humanity, because I know that a negative attitude toward others can never bring me success. I will cause others to believe in me, because I will believe in them, and in myself.
β
β
Napoleon Hill (Think and Grow Rich)
β
How to win in life:
1 work hard
2 complain less
3 listen more
4 try, learn, grow
5 don't let people tell you it cant be done
6 make no excuses
β
β
Germany Kent
β
The most critical time in any battle is not when Iβm fatigued, itβs when I no longer care.
β
β
Craig D. Lounsbrough
β
I am a strong and powerful woman.
I am proud to be a woman and I celebrate the qualities that I have as a woman.
I am not defined by other peopleβs opinion of who I should be or what I should do as a woman. I determine that, not anyone else.
I am not passed up for a position, title, or promotion because I am a woman.
I fully deserve all the good things that comes my way.
Irrespective of what anyone might think, being a woman places no boundaries or limits on my abilities.
I can do anything I set my mind to.
I celebrate my womanhood and I am beautiful both inside and out.
β
β
Idowu Koyenikan (Wealth for All: Living a Life of Success at the Edge of Your Ability)
β
No guts, no story.
β
β
Chris Brady
β
Your comfort zone is a place where you keep yourself in a self-illusion and nothing can grow there but your potentiality can grow only when you can think and grow out of that zone.
β
β
Rashedur Ryan Rahman
β
Cultural legacies are powerful forces. They have deep roots and long lives. They persist, generation after generation, virtually intact, even as the economic and social and demographic conditions that spawned them have vanished, and they play such a role in directing attitudes and behavior that we cannot make sense of our world without them.
β
β
Malcolm Gladwell (Outliers: The Story of Success)
β
It is not as much about who you used to be, as it is about who you choose to be.
β
β
Sanhita Baruah
β
6 Ways To Give Your Mind A Break:
1. Stop stressing
2. Stop worrying
3. Give rest to the problems weighing you down
4. Lighten up
5. Forgive yourself
6. Forgive others
β
β
Germany Kent
β
The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude, to me, is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, the education, the money, than circumstances, than failure, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skill. It will make or break a company... a church... a home. The remarkable thing is we have a choice everyday regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past... we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude. I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% of how I react to it. And so it is with you... we are in charge of our attitudes.
β
β
Charles R. Swindoll
β
The comfort zone is a psychological state in which one feels familiar, safe, at ease, and secure.
If you always do what is easy and choose the path of least resistance, you never step outside your comfort zone. Great things donβt come from comfort zones.
β
β
Roy T. Bennett (The Light in the Heart)
β
If you are on social media, and you are not learning, not laughing, not being inspired or not networking, then you are using it wrong.
β
β
Germany Kent
β
Donβt build roadblocks out of assumptions.
β
β
Lorii Myers (Targeting Success, Develop the Right Business Attitude to be Successful in the Workplace (3 Off the Tee, #1))
β
Our culture has become hooked on the quick-fix, the life hack, efficiency. Everyone is on the hunt for that simple action algorithm that nets maximum profit with the least amount of effort. Thereβs no denying this attitude may get you some of the trappings of success, if youβre lucky, but it will not lead to a calloused mind or self-mastery. If you want to master the mind and remove your governor, youβll have to become addicted to hard work. Because passion and obsession, even talent, are only useful tools if you have the work ethic to back them up.
β
β
David Goggins (Can't Hurt Me: Master Your Mind and Defy the Odds)
β
The more you can have control over your ego rather than let it run amuck, the more successful youβll be in all areas of life.
β
β
Roy T. Bennett
β
There are no shortcutsβeverything is reps, reps, reps.
β
β
Arnold Schwarzenegger (Total Recall: My Unbelievably True Life Story)
β
Remember how far youβve come, and you wonβt have to rely on a destiny for your future. It will come on your own.
β
β
Shannon A. Thompson (Seconds Before Sunrise (Timely Death, #2))
β
Gratitude is one of the most powerful human emotions. Once expressed, it changes attitude, brightens outlook, and broadens our perspective.
β
β
Germany Kent
β
Success in life is not for those who run fast, but for those who keep running and always on the move.
β
β
Bangambiki Habyarimana (Pearls Of Eternity)
β
Even the smallest changes in our daily routine can create incredible ripple effects that expand our vision of what is possible.
β
β
Charles F. Glassman (Brain Drain - The Breakthrough That Will Change Your Life)
β
My attitude has always been if you get better and you see success, that should motivate you to even work harder, so that's kinda how I approach everything.
β
β
Taylor Swift (Taylor Swift Songbook: Guitar Recorded Versions)
β
...success is not a comparison of what we have done with what others have done.
β
β
Myles Munroe (Understanding Your Potential - Discovering the Hidden You)
β
When you experience a negative circumstance or event, do not dwell on it. Be proactive β put your attention on what you need to do to bring the situation to a positive result.
β
β
Rodolfo Costa (Advice My Parents Gave Me: and Other Lessons I Learned from My Mistakes)
β
You become what you think about
β
β
Napoleon Hill (Success Through a Positive Mental Attitude)
β
The less you associate with some people, the more your life will improve.
Any time you tolerate mediocrity in others, it increases your mediocrity. An
important attribute in successful people is their impatience with negative
thinking and negative acting people. As you grow, your associates will
change. Some of your friends will not want you to go on. They will want you
to stay where they are. Friends that don't help you climb will want you to
crawl. Your friends will stretch your vision or choke your dream. Those that
don't increase you will eventually decrease you.
Consider this:
Never receive counsel from unproductive people. Never discuss your problems
with someone incapable of contributing to the solution, because those who
never succeed themselves are always first to tell you how. Not everyone has
a right to speak into your life. You are certain to get the worst of the
bargain when you exchange ideas with the wrong person. Don't follow anyone
who's not going anywhere.
With some people you spend an evening: with others you invest it. Be careful
where you stop to inquire for directions along the road of life. Wise is the
person who fortifies his life with the right friendships. If you run with
wolves, you will learn how to howl. But, if you associate with eagles, you
will learn how to soar to great heights.
"A mirror reflects a man's face, but what he is really like is shown by the
kind of friends he chooses."
The simple but true fact of life is that you become like those with whom you
closely associate - for the good and the bad.
Note: Be not mistaken. This is applicable to family as well as friends.
Yes...do love, appreciate and be thankful for your family, for they will
always be your family no matter what. Just know that they are human first
and though they are family to you, they may be a friend to someone else and
will fit somewhere in the criteria above.
"In Prosperity Our Friends Know Us. In Adversity We Know Our friends."
"Never make someone a priority when you are only an option for them."
"If you are going to achieve excellence in big things,you develop the habit in little matters.
Excellence is not an exception, it is a prevailing attitude.."..
β
β
Colin Powell
β
To turn your dreams into reality, all your resources, efforts and concentration should be aligned in the same direction.
β
β
Roopleen
β
First steps are always the hardest but until they are taken the notion of progress remains only a notion and not an achievement.
β
β
Aberjhani (Illuminated Corners: Collected Essays and Articles Volume I.)
β
Some of us have great runways already built for us. If you have one, take off. But if you don't have one, realize it is your responsibility to grab a shovel and build one for yourself and for those who will follow after you.
β
β
Amelia Earhart
β
Survival my only hope. Success my only revenge
β
β
Patricia Cornwell (Postmortem (Kay Scarpetta, #1))
β
Learn to adapt. Things change, circumstances change. Adjust yourself and your efforts to what it is presented to you so you can respond accordingly. Never see change as a threat, because it can be an opportunity to learn, to grow, evolve and become a better person.
β
β
Rodolfo Costa (Advice My Parents Gave Me: and Other Lessons I Learned from My Mistakes)
β
H is for Habit, winners make a habit of doing the things losers don't want to do.
β
β
Lucas Remmerswaal (The A-Z of 13 Habits: Inspired by Warren Buffett)
Lorii Myers (Targeting Success, Develop the Right Business Attitude to be Successful in the Workplace (3 Off the Tee, #1))
β
Advice to my younger self:
1 Start where you are with what you have
2 Try not to hurt other people
3 Take more chances
4 If you fail, keep trying
β
β
Germany Kent
β
Whatever your passion is, keep doing it. Don't waste time chasing after success or comparing yourself to others. Every flower blooms at a different pace. Excel at doing what your passion is and only focus on perfecting it. Eventually people will see what you are great at doing, and if you are truly great, success will come chasing after you.
β
β
Suzy Kassem (Rise Up and Salute the Sun: The Writings of Suzy Kassem)
β
If the fire in your heart is strong enough, it will burn away any obstacles that come your way.
β
β
Suzy Kassem (Rise Up and Salute the Sun: The Writings of Suzy Kassem)
β
Before I can become an expert on anything, I must first become an expert on me.
β
β
Charles F. Glassman (Brain Drain - The Breakthrough That Will Change Your Life)
β
A life fueled by passions is like riding on the back of a dragon.
β
β
Suzy Kassem (Rise Up and Salute the Sun: The Writings of Suzy Kassem)
β
I will not allow my mistakes of the past compromise my hope for the future.
β
β
Charles F. Glassman (Brain Drain - The Breakthrough That Will Change Your Life)
β
The only walls that exist are those you have placed in your mind. And whatever obstacles you conceive, exist only because you have forgotten what you have already achieved.
β
β
Suzy Kassem (Rise Up and Salute the Sun: The Writings of Suzy Kassem)
β
REMEMBER YOUR GREATNESS
Before you were born,
And were still too tiny for
The human eye to see,
You won the race for life
From among 250 million competitors.
And yet,
How fast you have forgotten
Your strength,
When your very existence
Is proof of your greatness.
You were born a winner,
A warrior,
One who defied the odds
By surviving the most gruesome
Battle of them all.
And now that you are a giant,
Why do you even doubt victory
Against smaller numbers,
And wider margins?
The only walls that exist,
Are those you have placed in your mind.
And whatever obstacles you conceive,
Exist only because you have forgotten
What you have already
Achieved.
Poetry by Suzy Kassem
β
β
Suzy Kassem (Rise Up and Salute the Sun: The Writings of Suzy Kassem)
β
Some people will insult your intelligence by suddenly being nice or nicer to you once you make it β¦ or they think you have.
β
β
Mokokoma Mokhonoana
β
If you're reading this, I hope God opens incredible doors for your life this year. Greatness is upon you. You must believe it though.
β
β
Germany Kent
β
Every flower blooms at its own pace.
β
β
Suzy Kassem (Rise Up and Salute the Sun: The Writings of Suzy Kassem)
β
A lion does not flinch at laughter coming from a hyena.
β
β
Suzy Kassem (Rise Up and Salute the Sun: The Writings of Suzy Kassem)
β
Yours are the only shoes made to walk your journey.
β
β
Charles F. Glassman (Brain Drain - The Breakthrough That Will Change Your Life)
β
When you are destined for greatness, it shows in everything you do.
It becomes you. Greatness becomes you.
β
β
Lorii Myers (Targeting Success, Develop the Right Business Attitude to be Successful in the Workplace (3 Off the Tee, #1))
β
Any day above ground is a good day. Before you complain about anything, be thankful for your life and the things that are still going well.
β
β
Germany Kent
β
You become what you digest into your spirit. Whatever you think about, focus on, read about, talk about, youβre going to attract more of into your life. Make sure they're all positive.
β
β
Germany Kent
β
The worst disability in life is a bad attitude.
β
β
SupaNova Slom
β
If life throws you a few bad notes or vibrations, don't let them interrupt or alter your song.
β
β
Suzy Kassem (Rise Up and Salute the Sun: The Writings of Suzy Kassem)
β
At the very moment when people underestimate you is when you can make a breakthrough.
β
β
Germany Kent
β
Take time daily to reflect on how much you have. It may not be all that you want but remember someone somewhere is dreaming to have what you have.
β
β
Germany Kent
β
Live your everyday extraordinary!
β
β
Charles F. Glassman (Brain Drain - The Breakthrough That Will Change Your Life)
β
This crippling of individuals I consider the worst evil of capitalism. Our whole educational system suffers from this evil. An exaggerated competitive attitude is inculcated into the student, who is trained to worship acquisitive success as a preparation for his future career.
β
β
Albert Einstein (Why Socialism?)
β
Those not chasing their dreams should stay out of the way of those who are.
β
β
Tim Fargo
β
It is very normal for one ugly weed to not want to stand alone.
β
β
Suzy Kassem (Rise Up and Salute the Sun: The Writings of Suzy Kassem)
β
Your mind can be your enemy or friend. If you always follow your heart, your mind will feel neglected. If you follow only your mind, your heart will never forgive you. Never ignore your conscience, yet always be conscious of reason. Make your heart and mind friends and you will have peace of mind throughout life's seasons.
β
β
Suzy Kassem (Rise Up and Salute the Sun: The Writings of Suzy Kassem)
β
My attitude toward friendship has remained the same. I will support and encourage you with all the love in my heart, but if it's not reciprocal, I gotta go [...] If your friends are bitter about your success to the extent that they act out, don't expect them to change [...] Move on.
β
β
RuPaul (Workin' It! Rupaul's Guide to Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Style)
β
I like Texas and Texans. In Texas, everything is bigger. When Texans win, they win big. And when they lose, it's spectacular.
If you really want to learn the attitude of how to handle risk, losing and failure, go to San Antonio and visit the Alamo. The Alamo is a great story of brave people who chose to fight, knowing there was no hope of success against overwhelming odds. They chose to die instead of surrendering. It's an inspiring story worthy of study; nonetheless, it's still a tragic military defeat. They got their butts kicked. A failure if you will. They lost. So how do Texans handle failure? They still shout, "Remember the Alamo!"
That's why I like Texans so much. They took a great failure and turned it into a tourist destination that makes them millions.
Texans don't bury their failures. They get inspired by them. They take their failures and turn them into rallying cries. Failure inspires Texans to become winners. But that formula is not just the formula for Texans. It is formula for all winners.
β
β
Robert T. Kiyosaki (Rich Dad Poor Dad: What the Rich Teach Their Kids About Money - That the Poor and the Middle Class Do Not!)
β
Attitude is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, than education, money, circumstances, than failures and success, than what other people think, say, or do. It is more important than appearance, ability, or skill. It will make or break a business, a home, a friendship, an organization. The remarkable thing is I have a choice every day of what my attitude will be. I cannot change my past. I cannot change the actions of others. I cannot change the inevitable. The only thing I can change is attitude. Life is ten percent what happens to me and ninety percent how I react to it.
β
β
Charles R. Swindoll
β
Quitting is never an option on the road to success. Find the way forward. If you have a positive mindset and are willing to persevere, there is little that is beyond your reach. The attitude of being ready to work even in the face of challenges and despite odds is what will make all the difference in your life.
β
β
Roopleen
β
IQ is a measure, to some degree, of innate ability. But social savvy is knowledge. It's a set of skills that have to be learned. It has to come from somewhere, and the place where we seem to get these kinds of attitudes and skills is from our families.
β
β
Malcolm Gladwell (Outliers: The Story of Success)
β
If you hold a candle close to you, its flame rises. And if you hold it away from you, its flame shrinks. The same way you hold a candle close to you, keep all your plans, aspirations, projects, and dreams close to you too. Do not share your plans or goals until you complete them, because as you hold your candle away from you β envy, jealousy, and resentment may put out your flame before it grows.
β
β
Suzy Kassem (Rise Up and Salute the Sun: The Writings of Suzy Kassem)
β
Antonia had always been one to leave images in the mind that did not fade - that grew stronger with time. In my memory there was a succession of such pictures, fixed there like the old woodcuts of one's first primer...She lent herself to immemorial human attitudes which we recognize by instinct as universal and true...She was a battered woman now, not a lovely girl; but she still had that something which fires the imagination, could still stop one's breath for a moment by a look or gesture...All the strong things of her heart came out in her body, that had been so tireless in serving generous emotions.
β
β
Willa Cather (My Γntonia)
β
The true test of a warrior is how your 'stance' holds up after any 'circumstance'. Meaning, even after the stormiest weather, a true warrior will still reflect the brilliant rays of the magnificent sun through both his or her eyes. You may get hit by sudden lightning or take severe beatings from the cruel wind, but you will always get back up and stand strong on your feet again, soak in the sunlight, and be prepared to get hit by even the most merciless hail - time and time again.
β
β
Suzy Kassem (Rise Up and Salute the Sun: The Writings of Suzy Kassem)
β
The struggle of the artist against the art-ideology, against the creative impulse and even against his own work also shows itself in his attitude towards success and fame; these two phenomena are but an extension, socially, of the process which began subjectively with the vocation and creation of the personal ego to be an artist. In this entire creative process, which begins with self-nomination as artist and ends in the fame of posterity, two fundamental tendencies β one might almost say, two personalities of the individual β are in continual conflict throughout: one wants to eternalize itself in artistic creation, the other in ordinary life β in brief, immortal man vs. the immortal soul of man.
β
β
Otto Rank (Art and Artist: Creative Urge and Personality Development)
β
Research has shown that we virtually become like the average of the five people we spend the most time with. Who you spend your time with may be the single most determining factor in the person you become and in your quality of life. If you are surrounded with lazy, weak-minded, excuse-making people, youβll inevitably become like them. Spend time with positive, successful achievers and inevitably their attitudes and successful habits will reflect on you. Youβll become more and more like them.
β
β
Hal Elrod (The Miracle Morning: The Not-So-Obvious Secret Guaranteed to Transform Your Life: Before 8AM)
β
In space flight, βattitudeβ refers to orientation: which direction your vehicle is pointing relative to the Sun, Earth and other spacecraft. If you lose control of your attitude, two things happen: the vehicle starts to tumble and spin, disorienting everyone on board, and it also strays from its course, which, if youβre short on time or fuel, could mean the difference between life and death. In the Soyuz, for example, we use every cue from every available sourceβperiscope, multiple sensors, the horizonβto monitor our attitude constantly and adjust if necessary. We never want to lose attitude, since maintaining attitude is fundamental to success.
In my experience, something similar is true on Earth. Ultimately, I donβt determine whether I arrive at the desired professional destination. Too many variables are out of my control. Thereβs really just one thing I can control: my attitude during the journey, which is what keeps me feeling steady and stable, and what keeps me headed in the right direction. So I consciously monitor and correct, if necessary, because losing attitude would be far worse than not achieving my goal.
β
β
Chris Hadfield (An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth)
β
It's a poem about moths. But it's also a poem about psychopaths.
I get it copied. And stick it in a frame.
And now it glowers redoubtably above my desk:an entomological keepsake of the horizons of existence.
And the brutal, star-crossed wisdom of those who seek them out.
i was talking to a moth
the other evening
he was trying to break into
an electric bulb
and fry himself on the wires
why do you fellows
pull this stunt i asked him
because it is the conventional
thing for moths or why
if that had been an uncovered
candle instead of an electric
light bulb you would
now be a small unsightly cinder
have you no sense
plenty of it he answered
but at times we get tired
of using it
we get bored with routine
and crave beauty
and excitement
fire is beautiful
and we know that if we get
too close it will kill us
but what does that matter
it is better to be happy
for a moment
and be burned up with beauty
than to live a long time
and be bored all the while
so we wad all our life up
into one little roll
and then we shoot the roll
that is what life is for
it is better to be part of beauty
our attitude toward life
is come easy go easy
we are like human beings
used to be before they became
too civilized to enjoy themselves
and before i could argue him
out of his philosophy
he went and immolated himself
on a patent cigar lighter
i do not agree with him
myself i would rather have
half the happiness and twice
the longevity
but at the same time i wish
there was something i wanted
as badly as he wanted to fry himself
β
β
Kevin Dutton (The Wisdom of Psychopaths: What Saints, Spies, and Serial Killers Can Teach Us About Success)
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Maybe I should let my faithful manservant answer the rest of your questions, since he seems to have all the answers."
"I'm saving her time," Bodie replied. "She brings you a redhead, you'll give her grief. Look for women with class, Annabelle. That's most important. The sophisticated types who went to boarding schools and speak French. She has to be the real thing because he can spot a phony a mile away. And he likes them athletic."
"Of course he does," she said dryly. "Athletic, domestic, gorgeous, brilliant, socially connected, and pathologically submissive. It'll be a snap."
"You forgot hot." Heath smiled. "And defeatist thinking is for losers. If you want to be a success in this world, Annabelle, you need a positive attitude. Whatever the client wants, you get it for him. First rule of a successful business."
"Uh-huh. What about career women?"
"I don't see how that would work."
"The kind of potential mate you're describing isn't going to be sitting around waiting for her prince to show up. She's heading a major corporation. In between those Victoria's Secret modeling gigs."
He lifted an eyebrow. "Attitude, Annabelle. Attitude.
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Susan Elizabeth Phillips (Match Me If You Can (Chicago Stars, #6))
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In theory, the risk of business failure can be reduced to a number, the probability of failure multiplied by the cost of failure. Sure, this turns out to be a subjective analysis, but in the process your own attitudes toward financial risk and reward are revealed.
By contrast, personal risk usually defies quantification. It's a matter of values and priorities, an expression of who you are. "Playing it safe" may simply mean you do not weigh heavily the compromises inherent in the status quo. The financial rewards of the moment may fully compensate you for the loss of time and fulfillment. Or maybe you just don't think about it. On the other hand, if time and satisfaction are precious, truly priceless, you will find the cost of business failure, so long as it does not put in peril the well-being of you or your family, pales in comparison with the personal risks of no trying to live the life you want today.
Considering personal risk forces us to define personal success. We may well discover that the business failure we avoid and the business success we strive for do not lead us to personal success at all. Most of us have inherited notions of "success" from someone else or have arrived at these notions by facing a seemingly endless line of hurdles extending from grade school through college and into our careers. We constantly judge ourselves against criteria that others have set and rank ourselves against others in their game. Personal goals, on the other hand, leave us on our own, without this habit of useless measurement and comparison.
Only the Whole Life Plan leads to personal success. It has the greatest chance of providing satisfaction and contentment that one can take to the grave, tomorrow. In the Deferred Life Plan there will always be another prize to covet, another distraction, a new hunger to sate. You will forever come up short.
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Randy Komisar (The Monk and the Riddle: The Education of a Silicon Valley Entrepreneur)
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To the extent that propaganda is based on current news, it cannot permit time for thought or reflection. A man caught up in the news must remain on the surface of the event; he is carried along in the current, and can at no time take a respite to judge and appreciate; he can never stop to reflect. There is never any awareness -- of himself, of his condition, of his society -- for the man who lives by current events. Such a man never stops to investigate any one point, any more than he will tie together a series of news events. We already have mentioned man's inability to consider several facts or events simultaneously and to make a synthesis of them in order to face or to oppose them. One thought drives away another; old facts are chased by new ones. Under these conditions there can be no thought. And, in fact, modern man does not think about current problems; he feels them. He reacts, but be does not understand them any more than he takes responsibility for them. He is even less capable of spotting any inconsistency between successive facts; man's capacity to forget is unlimited. This is one of the most important and useful points for the propagandist, who can always be sure that a particular propaganda theme, statement, or event will be forgotten within a few weeks. Moreover, there is a spontaneous defensive reaction in the individual against an excess of information and -- to the extent that he clings (unconsciously) to the unity of his own person -- against inconsistencies. The best defense here is to forget the preceding event. In so doing, man denies his own continuity; to the same extent that he lives on the surface of events and makes today's events his life by obliterating yesterday's news, he refuses to see the contradictions in his own life and condemns himself to a life of successive moments, discontinuous and fragmented.
This situation makes the "current-events man" a ready target for propaganda. Indeed, such a man is highly sensitive to the influence of present-day currents; lacking landmarks, he follows all currents. He is unstable because he runs after what happened today; he relates to the event, and therefore cannot resist any impulse coming from that event. Because he is immersed in current affairs, this man has a psychological weakness that puts him at the mercy of the propagandist. No confrontation ever occurs between the event and the truth; no relationship ever exists between the event and the person. Real information never concerns such a person. What could be more striking, more distressing, more decisive than the splitting of the atom, apart from the bomb itself? And yet this great development is kept in the background, behind the fleeting and spectacular result of some catastrophe or sports event because that is the superficial news the average man wants. Propaganda addresses itself to that man; like him, it can relate only to the most superficial aspect of a spectacular event, which alone can interest man and lead him to make a certain decision or adopt a certain attitude.
But here we must make an important qualification. The news event may be a real fact, existing objectively, or it may be only an item of information, the dissemination of a supposed fact. What makes it news is its dissemination, not its objective reality.
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Jacques Ellul (Propaganda: The Formation of Men's Attitudes)