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The only way of discovering the limits of the possible is to venture a little way past them into the impossible.
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Arthur C. Clarke
“
Leaders must be close enough to relate to others, but far enough ahead to motivate them.
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John C. Maxwell
“
But one of the worst results of being a slave and being forced to do things is that when there is no one to force you any more you find you have almost lost the power of forcing yourself.
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C.S. Lewis (The Horse and His Boy (Chronicles of Narnia, #5))
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L.G.B.T.Q.I.P.O.Z.A.A.C.V………….”
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Adam Scott Huerta (Motive Black: A novel (Motive Black Series Book 1))
“
Always Remember to take your Vitamins: Take your Vitamin A for ACTION, Vitamin B for Belief, Vitamin C for Confidence ,Vitamin D for Discipline, Vitamin E for Enthusiasm!!
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Pablo
“
It’s hard to believe there are people that don’t read books. There’s so much magic in words and well told stories.
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C. Toni Graham
“
Get immersed in the beauty that surrounds you. No filters, edits, or adjustments. Experience the colors, sounds, textures and smells within your reach. Live.
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C. Toni Graham
“
The whole idea of motivation is a trap. Forget motivation.
Just do it. Exercise, lose weight, test your blood sugar, or
whatever. Do it without motivation. And then, guess what?
After you start doing the thing, that's when the motivation
comes and makes it easy for you to keep on doing it.
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John C. Maxwell
“
If reading makes you happy, do it. Whatever makes your heart sing and brings you joy, do that too.
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C. Toni Graham
“
Remember to celebrate the small accomplishments along your journey because they will provide the support needed when the road gets rocky.
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C. Toni Graham
“
To merge on the road you are meant to travel, means making a choice and then taking action.
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”
C. Toni Graham
“
Sustain joy by anchoring yourself with gratitude.
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C. Toni Graham
“
Imagination is not bound by possibilities. The creative mind will always break the shackles—making the impossible, possible.
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C. Toni Graham
“
Believing is halfway to achieving.
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Vitor M.C. Rodrigues
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The elements of the written word can be purely magical. I read and I write...I inspire and I’m living.
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C. Toni Graham
“
Life’s a marathon, not a sprint.
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Phillip C. McGraw
“
It’s not just the big moments that count, it’s all of the small actions that feed our heart and soul on a daily basis. Cherish those moments and reflect on how to replicate them often.
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C. Toni Graham
“
Writers have influenced thoughts, principals, viewpoints and experiences throughout history. A talented writer’s pen is anointed with magic!
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C. Toni Graham
“
Inspiration ignites the spark of magic. Creativity is magic.
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C. Toni Graham
“
Writers create impressions that inspire, stir emotions, evoke questions and sprinkle seeds of awe.
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C. Toni Graham
“
Life’s too short to walk around with your arms crossed and bottom lip poked out. Find a way to smile for yourself even if it’s as simple as licking the spoon clean or putting clean sheets on your bed.
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C. Toni Graham
“
Imagine a place where everyone chooses to bring energy, passion, and a positive attitude every day.
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Stephen C. Lundin
“
Blessings! Count them and be thankful. Ask for an abundance of them and accept with gratitude.
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C. Toni Graham
“
Do not get discouraged. Don’t shrug off your dreams because of the setbacks. Aspirations are not like perspiration, they will not evaporate unless you allow it.
”
”
C. Toni Graham
“
Today is the day you choose to find joy, fulfillment and the path that will make your heart sing. It's your choice, never lose sight of that.
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C. Toni Graham
“
But when your sword breaks, you draw your dagger.
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C.S. Lewis (Prince Caspian (Chronicles of Narnia, #2))
“
Always have a 'Plan C
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Zoltan Andrejkovics (The Invisible Game: The Mindset of a Winning Team)
“
Life is complicated. If life was simple, wouldn’t that make us simpletons?
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C. Toni Graham
“
Keep writing, dreaming and creating. There are no boundaries to your imagination. Writers are gifts to the world.
”
”
C. Toni Graham
“
Stay true to your passion as it will lead you to your purpose.
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C. Toni Graham
“
My belief is that we have an opportunity, each and every day, to make choices that can have a positive impact, or not. Each day we awake is like a reset. Decide each day to make impactful choices.
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C. Toni Graham
“
Life is full of twists, turns, hiccups and brick walls. A delay in pursuing your purpose allows you to regroup, recharge and launch again. Treat it as a pause and not an end to capturing your dreams.
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C. Toni Graham
“
Don't use yesterday's state of mind, to make today's decision.
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C. Nzingha Smith (Lust Have Recipes, Aphrodisiac Cookbook)
“
Most people who decide to grow personally find their first mentors in the pages of books.
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John C. Maxwell (The 15 Invaluable Laws of Growth: Live Them and Reach Your Potential)
“
If you do the things you need to do when you need to do them, then someday you can do the things you want do when you want to do them.
”
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John C. Maxwell (The 15 Invaluable Laws of Growth: Live Them and Reach Your Potential)
“
In most cases, those who want power probably shouldn't have it, those who enjoy it probably do so for the wrong reasons, and those who want most to hold on to it don't understand that it's only temporary.
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John C. Maxwell (Becoming a Person of Influence: How to Positively Impact the Lives of Others)
“
Did I love what I was doing, or did I love myself in doing it?
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C. Terry Warner (Bonds That Make Us Free: Healing Our Relationship, Coming to Ourselves)
“
It’s stressful to try to summon up 100% motivation sitting on the couch. Let yourself use 5% motivation to do 5% of the task. Maybe you keep going. Maybe you don’t. That’s ok. Anything worth doing is worth doing partially.
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K.C. Davis (How to Keep House While Drowning: 31 Days of Compassionate Help)
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When you start something, make sure that you're willing to take the time to finish it right because, honey, the work you put into it will be more than worth it in the end. The best things always are.
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C.M. Stunich (Losing Me, Finding You (Triple M, #1))
“
First-class religion teaches one how to love God without any motive. If I serve God for some profit, that is business-not love.
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A.C. Prabhupāda (The Science of Self-Realization)
“
One often has to do what they have to do in order to do what they want to do; however if you only do what you want to do then you will never do what you have to do!
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C. Moorer (From Failure to Promise: An Uncommon Path to Professoriate)
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Necessity may not be the opposite of freedom, and perhaps a man is most free when, instead of producing motives, he could only say, "I am what I do.
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C.S. Lewis
“
The more one sees of human fate and the more one examines its secret springs of action, the more one is impressed by the strength of unconscious motives and by the limitations of free choice
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C.G. Jung
“
Sometimes too late is just in time.
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C.J. Carlyon (The Cherry House)
“
Some roses grow through concrete. Remember that.
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Brandi L. Bates (Red Flags)
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We are afraid that Heaven is a bribe, and that if we make it our goal we shall no longer be disinterested. It is not so. Heaven offers nothing that the mercenary soul can desire. It is safe to tell the pure in heart that they shall see God, for only the pure in heart want to. There are rewards that do not sully motives. A man's love for a woman is not mercenary because he wants to marry her, nor his love for poetry mercenary because he wants to read it, nor his love of exercise less disinterested because he wants to run and leap and walk. Love, by definition, seeks to enjoy its object.
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C.S. Lewis (The Problem of Pain)
“
Uniformity, in its motives, its goals, its far-ranging consequences, is the natural enemy of poetry, not to mention the enemy of trees, the soil, the exemplary life therein.
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”
C.D. Wright
“
The more you have invested in your religion, the more you will be motivated to protect that investment. Stark
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Daniel C. Dennett (Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenon)
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Childhood trauma doesn't excuse toxic behaviors in adulthood. Once you are aware, it's your duty to heal. It's called accountability.
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Kierra C.T. Banks
“
Whatever is going on inside your head has everything to do with how well you end up performing.
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D.C. Gonzalez (The Art of Mental Training: A Guide to Performance Excellence (Collector's Edition))
“
My faith in the expertise of physicists like Richard Feynman, for instance, permits me to endorse—and, if it comes to it, bet heavily on the truth of—a proposition that I don't understand. So far, my faith is not unlike religious faith, but I am not in the slightest bit motivated to go to my death rather than recant the formulas of physics. Watch: E doesn't equal mc2, it doesn't, it doesn't! I was lying, so there!
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Daniel C. Dennett (Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenon)
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Encourage others each and every day–nothing’s more important than our words.
Did you know that, on average, each of us speaks about twenty-five thousand words daily? My last book didn’t have that many words. A lot of language is flowing out of our mouths every day and having an impact on those around us. But how much of that flow is fulfilling God’s intended purpose for our speech? How much of it reflects pride, rather than a gospel-motivated humility?
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C.J. Mahaney (Humility: True Greatness)
“
If you were neglected by emotionally immature parents during childhood, you may find yourself willing to put up with unsolicited analysis and unwanted advice from others. This is common among people who are hungry for personal feedback that shows someone is thinking about them. But this kind of “advice” isn’t nourishing attention; rather, it’s motivated by a desire to be in control.
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Lindsay C. Gibson (Adult Children of Emotionally Immature Parents: How to Heal from Distant, Rejecting, or Self-Involved Parents)
“
Profit is good.
Profit motivates businesses to be:
(a) efficient - to do more with less, to consume fewer resources, to reduce and reuse waste.
(b) productive - to allow for bigger profit margins.
(c) Valuable - income, and therefore profit is only possible when we add value to our customers lives. When the value of our product or service is worth more to them than what it cost us to provide it, we profit.
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Hendrith Vanlon Smith Jr.
“
Shame is a horrible long-term motivator. It is more likely to contribute to dysfunction and continued cycles of unsustainable practices.
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K.C. Davis (How to Keep House While Drowning: 31 Days of Compassionate Help)
“
Be (with) someone that promotes a healthy state of being: mind, body, and soul.
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Kierra C.T. Banks
“
Men have selfish motivation, want, and desire tainting their vision; little girls have dreams, ambition, and honesty turning theirs crystal clear
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C.M. Stunich (Havoc at Prescott High (The Havoc Boys, #1))
“
The whole idea of motivation is a trap. Forget motivation. Just do it.
”
”
John C. Maxwell (Failing Forward: Turning Mistakes into Stepping Stones for Success)
“
J. C. Ryle observed, “A man may preach from false motives. A man may write books, and make fine speeches, and seem diligent in good works, and yet be a Judas Iscariot. But a man seldom goes into his closet, and pours out his soul before God in secret, unless he is serious.
”
”
Kevin DeYoung (Crazy Busy: A (Mercifully) Short Book about a (Really) Big Problem)
“
In fact, “talent” is as common as mud; what’s rare is the motivation to sit down and actually do something with one’s talent, the discipline to do it regularly, and the persistence to stick with it until it’s finished.
”
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Patricia C. Wrede
“
If you can find no one to become your ideal to aspire to, no one to be your ultimate example, your idol, your motivation— don't fret! You can and you must become your own ultimate aspiration, your own example, your own idol, ideal, motivation! You go and be what you haven't found yet!
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”
C. JoyBell C.
“
I always try to remember that I am a work in progress. When I maintain that perspective, I realize that I don’t have to be perfect. I don’t have to have it all together. I don’t need to try to have all the answers. And I don’t need to learn everything in a day. When I make a mistake, it’s not because I’m a failure or worthless. I just didn’t do something right because I still haven’t improved enough in some part of the process. And that motivates me to keep growing and improving. If I don’t know something, it’s an opportunity to try to improve in a new area.
”
”
John C. Maxwell (Sometimes You Win--Sometimes You Learn: Life's Greatest Lessons Are Gained from Our Losses)
“
For a lot of people, finding a method that bypasses the most executive functioning barriers or that makes a task a little less intolerable is better than what’s “quickest.” In the end, the approach that you are motivated to do and enjoy doing is the most “efficient,” because you are actually doing it and not avoiding it.
”
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K.C. Davis (How to Keep House While Drowning)
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But if we never acted except when we were certain our motives were pure, we would never act at all.
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”
C.J. Sansom
“
Clearly, unless the Lord chooses to explain Himself to us, which He does not often do, His motivation and purposes are beyond the reach of mortal man.
”
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James C. Dobson (Life on the Edge: The Next Generation's Guide to a Meaningful Future)
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You're FAT - and don't try to sugarcoat it, because you'll just eat that, too.
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”
Phillip C. McGraw
“
Acreditar é meio caminho para alcançar.
”
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Vitor M.C. Rodrigues
“
Progress is quiet until it isn't.
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Kierra C.T. Banks
“
Everyone enjoys being inspired. But here’s the truth when it comes to personal growth: Motivation gets you going, but discipline keeps you growing. That’s the Law of Consistency. It doesn’t matter how talented you are. It doesn’t matter how many opportunities you receive. If you want to grow, consistency is key.
”
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John C. Maxwell (The 15 Invaluable Laws of Growth: Live Them and Reach Your Potential)
“
When all that says 'it is good' has been debunked, what says 'I want' remains. (...) The Conditioners, therefore, must come to be motivated simply by their own pleasure. (...) My point is that those who stand outside all judgements of value cannot have any ground for preferring one of their own impulses to another except the emotional strength of that impulse. (...) I am very doubtful myself whether the benevolent impulses, stripped of that preference and encouragement which the Tao teaches us to give them and left to their merely natural strength and frequency as psychological events, will have much influence. I am very doubtful whether history shows us one example of a man who, having stepped outside traditional morality and attained power, has used that power benevolently.
”
”
C.S. Lewis (The Abolition of Man)
“
It’s up to you to make the conscious choices that bring about a better future. Find new methods to deal with old routines. You have to take charge of your life, to be accountable to yourself and responsible toward others.
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Lynn C. Tolson (Beyond the Tears: A True Survivor's Story)
“
Motives for murder are sometimes very trivial, Madame.” “What are the most usual motives, Monsieur Poirot?” “Most frequent—money. That is to say, gain in its various ramifications. Then there is revenge—and love, and fear, and pure hate, and beneficence—” “Monsieur Poirot!” “Oh, yes, Madame. I have known of—shall we say A?—being removed by B solely in order to benefit C. Political murders often come under the same heading. Someone is considered to be harmful to civilization and is removed on that account. Such people forget that life and death are the affair of the good God.
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Agatha Christie (Death on the Nile (Hercule Poirot, #18))
“
Good leaders motivate others by their listening skills. We are to: avoid prejudicial first impressions; become less self-centered; withhold initial criticism; stay calm; listen with empathy; be active listeners; clarify what we hear; and recognize the healing power of listening. Then we are to act on what we hear
”
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John C. Maxwell (NKJV, Maxwell Leadership Bible: Holy Bible, New King James Version)
“
You must prune to bloom. If the dead weight is not pruned and removed, it compromises the quality, performance, and output of the vine. When you prune what’s not working in your life, you make the space and place for renewal to happen and for new growth to spring forth.
”
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Susan C. Young
“
I am a M.A.G.I.C. child.. Motivated And Growing In Christ! …I hope you too are a M.A.G.I.C. dreamer!
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Israelmore Ayivor (The Great Hand Book of Quotes)
“
Not everyone is always going to like you. What impresses one person may turn another away. To thine own self be true.
”
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Susan C. Young (The Art of Being: 8 Ways to Optimize Your Presence & Essence for Positive Impact (The Art of First Impressions for Positive Impact, #1))
“
Before you change your thinking, you have to change what goes into your mind. Zig Ziglar
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Dotchamou Zakari (300 POWERFUL QUOTES FROM TOP MOTIVATORS TONY ROBBINS, ZIG ZIGLAR, ROBERT KIYOSAKI, JOHN C. MAXWELL TO LIFT YOU UP)
“
What you make of life is up to you. You have all the tools and resources you need - what you do with them is up to you. The choice is yours. Stay mindful of your choices!
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”
John C. Maxwell (The Power of Winning: Motivation and Inspiration on How to Be a Winner)
“
If we promoted justice and charity among men, we should be playing directly into the Enemy's hands; but if we guide them to the opposite behaviour, this sooner or later produces (for He permits it to produce) a war or a revolution, and the undisguisable issue of cowardice or courage awakes thousands of men from moral stupor. This, indeed, is probably one of the Enemy's motives for creating a dangerous world—a world in which moral issues really come to the point. He sees as well as you do that courage is not simply one of the virtues, but the form of every virtue at the testing point, which means, at the point of highest reality. A chastity or honesty, or mercy, which yields to danger will be chaste or honest or merciful only on conditions.
”
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C.S. Lewis (The Screwtape Letters)
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It took me 30 years to realize that being fearless doesn't mean not being afraid, but remaining steadfast despite it.
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Kierra C.T. Banks
“
When it comes to the education of our young, this privilege should only be given to those whose visions are solely in the uplifting benefit of the child. There is no room for the ego in the education of children! Children should not be looked after, nor educated, by those who have not made a sacrifice within their hearts, laying down their own personal agenda and dreams, for the total ascension of the child. Even if you are to educate the children simply sitting under a tree; if you have the vision and the heart of a sage, those children will grow to be mighty men and women under your watch! And even if you wine and dine the children, putting them up in a palace; if you do not have the vision and the selfless heart of a sage, all you do is in utter vanity!
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C. JoyBell C.
“
Just as a parent is pleased with the efforts of his little child to please him, though it be only by picking a daisy or walking across a room, so is our Father in heaven pleased with the poor performances of His believing children. He looks at the motive, principle, and intention of their actions, and not merely at their quantity and quality. He regards them as members of His own dear Son,
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J.C. Ryle (Holiness)
“
In a world pulsating with so much information, the only information that you need is the stuff that will lead you straight to your own soul. Think of this: Most of the information that is fed to you, is motivated by the desire to earn money. Forget what the magazines say, what the forums say, what all the experts say. Your soul does not need to be spoon-fed with stuff it doesn't need. Your soul needs to be seen and found, and what leads you to that, is the only information that you need.
”
”
C. JoyBell C.
“
You must realize that the true desire to express affection can be motivated by things other than true love.... In short, one might simply say: save your kisses--you might need them someday. And when anyof you--men and women--are given entrance to the heart of a trusting young friend, you stand on holy ground. In such a place you must be honest with yourself--and with your friend--about love and the expression of it's symbols.
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Bruce C. Hafen
“
The best way to get children to do what you want is to spend time with them before disciplinary problems occur—having fun together and enjoying mutual laughter and joy. When those moments of love and closeness happen, kids are not as tempted to challenge and test the limits. Many confrontations can be avoided by building friendships with kids and thereby making them want to cooperate at home. It sure beats anger as a motivator of little ones!
”
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James C. Dobson (The New Dare to Discipline)
“
See the big picture. Your place on the team makes sense only in the context of the big picture. If your only motivation for finding your niche is personal gain, your poor motives may prevent you from discovering what you desire.
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John C. Maxwell (The 17 Indisputable Laws of Teamwork Workbook: Embrace Them and Empower Your Team)
“
All true Christian love is one and the same in its principle. It comes from the same source or fountain and is communicated to the believer by the same Holy Spirit. In this love, both God and man are loved from the same motive, namely, for holiness' sake.
”
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R.C. Sproul (Loved by God)
“
Passion is that strong feeling of emotion, ecstasy, or excitement which you feel for something or someone. This sizzling desire can light up your soul and fuel your commitment to be persistent in spite of obstacles and unfavorable circumstances. This depth of motivation can transform your life unlike anything else and reignite your purpose and your passion.
”
”
Susan C. Young
“
First importance. The Bible tells us that, while there are many different callings and many possible areas of service in the kingdom of God, one transcendent truth should define our lives. One simple truth should motivate our work and affect every part of who we are.
Christ died for our sins.
If there's anything in life that we should be passionate about, it's the gospel. And I don't mean passionate only about sharing it with others. I mean passionate in thinking about it, dwelling on it, rejoicing in it, allowing it to color the way we look at the world. Only one thing can be of first importance to each of us. And only the gospel ought to be.
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C.J. Mahaney (The Cross Centered Life: Keeping the Gospel The Main Thing)
“
Here, I believe, was mercy; and, lying very close to it, the root of the novelist’s art. The novel’s structure is a structure of suggnômê—of the penetration of the life of another into one’s own imagination and heart. It is a form of imaginative and emotional receptivity, in which the reader, following the author’s lead, comes to be inhabited by the tangled complexities and struggles of other concrete lives.54 Novels do not withhold all moral judgment, and they contain villains as well as heroes. But for any character with whom the form invites our participatory identification, the motives for mercy are engendered in the structure of literary perception itself. VII.
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”
Martha C. Nussbaum (Sex and Social Justice)
“
People are often unreasonable and self-centered. Forgive them anyway. If you are kind, people may accuse you of ulterior motives. Be kind anyway. If you are honest, people may cheat you. Be honest anyway. If you find happiness, people may be jealous. Be happy anyway. The good you do today may be forgotten tomorrow. Do good anyway. Give the world the best you have and it may never be enough. Give your best anyway. For you see, in the end, it is between you and God. It was never between you and them anyway.
”
”
K.C. Lynn (Resisting Temptation (Men of Honor, #3))
“
In thinking about these questions I have been stimulated by criticisms of the prevailing scientific world picture... by the defenders of intelligent design. Even though writers like Michael Behe and Stephen C. Meyer are motivated at least in part by their religious beliefs, the empirical arguments they offer against the likelihood that the origin of life and its evolutionary history can be fully explained by physics and chemistry are of great interest in themselves. Another skeptic, David Berlinski, has brought out these problems vividly without reference to the design inference. Even if one is not drawn to the alternative of an explanation by the actions of a designer, the problems that these iconoclasts pose for the orthodox scientific consensus should be taken seriously. They do not deserve the scorn with which they are commonly met. It is manifestly unfair.
”
”
Thomas Nagel
“
To readers who tend to think primarily in terms of liking or disliking characters: these people are fictional. They do not stand before us asking to be liked. They stand before us asking to be read. They ask to be seen and heard and maybe even understood, or at least for their motives to be understood, if that is what the author is after. But, for the sake of argument, let’s pretend these characters are in fact real, that they are human beings standing before us. Let us open up at least a little to those we might not like—in their presence, we might experience something new. To me, facing those we might not want to face is crucial to living in a diverse world.
”
”
T. Coraghessan Boyle (The Best American Short Stories 2015)
“
...the naive forms of Christian moral motivation - bare threats of hell and the bribery of heaven - stunt moral growth by ensuring believers remain emotional children, never achieving the cognitive moral development of adults. Psychologists have established that mature adults are moral not because of bare threats and bribes (that stage of moral development typifies children, not adults), but because they care about the effects their behavior has on themselves and others.
”
”
Richard C. Carrier
“
Most people fear that if they embrace this type of self-kindness, it will simply enable them to stay unfunctional forever. I think this fear is unfounded. I don’t believe in laziness, but even if I did the good news is that self-kindness is extremely motivating. It might be that when you first start giving yourself full permission to rest without guilt you find yourself resting a lot. Maybe that’s what your body and mind need. Research shows that people who report feeling burnout can take months or even years before they start feeling recovered
”
”
K.C. Davis (How to Keep House While Drowning)
“
We may legitimately hope that among the impulses which arise in minds thus emptied of all ‘rational’ or ‘spiritual’ motives, some will be benevolent. I am very doubtful myself whether the benevolent impulses, stripped of that preference and encouragement which the Tao teaches us to give them and left to their merely natural strength and frequency as psychological events, will have much influence. I am very doubtful whether history shows us one example of a man who, having stepped outside traditional morality and attained power, has used that power benevolently.
”
”
C.S. Lewis (The Abolition of Man)
“
It has recently occured to me, that I must be the person who believes in myself. I hear that all the time, I hear it so much it doesn't mean anything anymore; not until the thought broke ground for me under the sunshine of my own mind: "you must believe in yourself, you must be the one to stand in front of yourself and tell yourself that you are in the right place at the right time and nobody can be you, better than you can.
”
”
C. JoyBell C.
“
Many people have lived with a negative self-concept so long that they can no longer feel how it affects them. Instead of feeling indignation or hurt feelings, these people have conditioned themselves to accept subjugation and disrespect. This dulls the pain of being treated badly, but it’s important to awaken to the high cost of a low self-concept. Once they finally realize how painful it is to feel so diminished by others, they can do something about it. As Tony Robbins (1992) has described, sometimes the best way to motivate yourself to change is by deliberately amplifying how painful the old way is.
”
”
Lindsay C. Gibson (Recovering from Emotionally Immature Parents: Practical Tools to Establish Boundaries & Reclaim Your Emotional Autonomy)
“
Liberals are more likely to see people as victims of circumstance and oppression, and doubt whether individuals can climb without governmental help. My own analysis using 2005 survey data from Syracuse University shows that about 90 percent of conservatives agree that “While people may begin with different opportunities, hard work and perseverance can usually overcome those disadvantages.” Liberals — even upper-income liberals — are a third less likely to say this.
”
”
Arthur C. Brooks
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A disdain for the practical swept the ancient world. Plato urged astronomers to think about the heavens, but not to waste their time observing them. Aristotle believed that: “The lower sort are by nature slaves, and it is better for them as for all inferiors that they should be under the rule of a master.… The slave shares in his master’s life; the artisan is less closely connected with him, and only attains excellence in proportion as he becomes a slave. The meaner sort of mechanic has a special and separate slavery.” Plutarch wrote: “It does not of necessity follow that, if the work delight you with its grace, the one who wrought it is worthy of esteem.” Xenophon’s opinion was: “What are called the mechanical arts carry a social stigma and are rightly dishonoured in our cities.” As a result of such attitudes, the brilliant and promising Ionian experimental method was largely abandoned for two thousand years. Without experiment, there is no way to choose among contending hypotheses, no way for science to advance. The anti-empirical taint of the Pythagoreans survives to this day. But why? Where did this distaste for experiment come from? An explanation for the decline of ancient science has been put forward by the historian of science, Benjamin Farrington: The mercantile tradition, which led to Ionian science, also led to a slave economy. The owning of slaves was the road to wealth and power. Polycrates’ fortifications were built by slaves. Athens in the time of Pericles, Plato and Aristotle had a vast slave population. All the brave Athenian talk about democracy applied only to a privileged few. What slaves characteristically perform is manual labor. But scientific experimentation is manual labor, from which the slaveholders are preferentially distanced; while it is only the slaveholders—politely called “gentle-men” in some societies—who have the leisure to do science. Accordingly, almost no one did science. The Ionians were perfectly able to make machines of some elegance. But the availability of slaves undermined the economic motive for the development of technology. Thus the mercantile tradition contributed to the great Ionian awakening around 600 B.C., and, through slavery, may have been the cause of its decline some two centuries later. There are great ironies here.
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Carl Sagan (Cosmos)