The Og Quotes

We've searched our database for all the quotes and captions related to The Og. Here they are! All 100 of them:

I will love the light for it shows me the way, yet I will endure the darkness for it shows me the stars.
Og Mandino
Remind thyself, in the darkest moments, that every failure is only a step toward success, every detection of what is false directs you toward what is true, every trial exhausts some tempting form of error, and every adversity will only hide, for a time, your path to peace and fulfillment.
Og Mandino
Every defeat, every heartbreak, every loss, contains its own seed, its own lesson on how to improve your performance the next time.
Og Mandino
Beginning today, treat everyone you meet as if they were going to be dead by midnight. Extend to them all the care, kindness and understanding you can muster, and do so with no thought of any reward. Your life will never be the same again.
Og Mandino
A smile remains the most inexpensive gift I can bestow on anyone and yet its powers can vanquish kingdoms.
Og Mandino
Count your blessings. Once you realize how valuable you are and how much you have going for you, the smiles will return, the sun will break out, the music will play, and you will finally be able to move forward the life that God intended for you with grace, strength, courage, and confidence.
Og Mandino
A coin is examined, and only after careful deliberation, given to a beggar, whereas a child is flung out into the cosmic brutality without hesitation.
Peter Wessel Zapffe (Essays og Epistler)
Wealth, my son, should never be your goal in life. Your words are eloquent but they are mere words. True wealth is of the heart, not of the purse.
Og Mandino (The Greatest Salesman in the World)
I am here for a purpose and that purpose is to grow into a mountain, not to shrink to a grain of sand. Henceforth will I apply ALL my efforts to become the highest mountain of all and I will strain my potential until it cries for mercy.
Og Mandino (The Greatest Salesman in the World)
Realize that true happiness lies within you. Waste no time and effort searching for peace and contentment and joy in the world outside. Remember that there is no happiness in having or in getting, but only in giving. Reach out. Share. Smile. Hug. Happiness is a perfume you cannot pour on others without getting a few drops on yourself.
Og Mandino
How do I change? If I feel depressed I will sing. If I feel sad I will laugh. If I feel ill I will double my labor. If I feel fear I will plunge ahead. If I feel inferior I will wear new garments. If I feel uncertain I will raise my voice. If I feel poverty I will think of wealth to come. If I feel incompetent I will think of past success. If I feel insignificant I will remember my goals. Today I will be the master of my emotions.
Og Mandino
Take the attitude of a student, never be too big to ask questions, never know too much to learn something new.
Og Mandino
Only a habit can subdue another habit.
Og Mandino (The Greatest Salesman in the World)
Treasure the friendship you receive above all. It will survive long after your gold and good health have vanished.
Og Mandino
I determine to render more and better service, each day, than I am being paid to render. Those that reach the top are the ones who are not content with doing only what is required of them.
Og Mandino (The Greatest Salesman in the World)
Ye always carry your women wi ye into battle, Ian Og. They're the root of your strength, man.
Diana Gabaldon (Written in My Own Heart's Blood (Outlander, #8))
Weak is he who permits his thoughts to control his actions; strong is he who forces his actions to control his thoughts.
Og Mandino
Laugh at yourself and at life. Not in the spirit of derision or whining self-pity, but as a remedy, a miracle drug, that will ease your pain, cure your depression, and help you to put in perspective that seemingly terrible defeat... Never take yourself too seriously.
Og Mandino
Never feel shame for trying and failing, for he who never failed is he who never tried.
Og Mandino
I will greet this day with love in my heart. And how will I do this? Henceforth will I look on all things with love and be born again. I will love the sun for it warms my bones; yet I will love the rain for it cleanses my spirit. I will love the light for it shows me the way; yet I will love the darkness for it shows me the stars. I will welcome happiness as it enlarges my heart; yet I will endure sadness for it opens my soul.
Og Mandino
No, my son, do not aspire for wealth and labor not only to be rich. Strive instead for happiness, to be loved and to love, and most important to acquire peace of mind and serenity.
Og Mandino (The Greatest Salesman in the World)
Never feel shame for trying and failing for he who has never failed is he who has never tried.
Og Mandino (The Greatest Salesman in the World)
Today will never happen again. Don't waste it with a false start or no start at all.
Og Mandino
My dreams are worthless, my plans are dust, my goals are impossible. All are of no value unless they are followed by action.
Og Mandino (The Greatest Salesman in the World)
Most humans, in varying degrees, are already dead. In one way or another they have lost their dreams, their ambitions, their desire for a better life. They have surrendered their fight for self-esteem and they have compromised their great potential. They have settled for a life of mediocrity, days of despair and nights of tears. They are no more than living deaths confined to cemeteries of their choice. Yet they need not remain in that state. They can be resurrected from their sorry condition. They can each perform the greatest miracle in the world. They can each come back from the dead...
Og Mandino (The Greatest Miracle in World)
There is an immeasurable distance between late and too late.
Og Mandino
I will live this day as if it is my last. …I will waste not a moment mourning yesterday’s misfortunes, Yesterday’s defeats, yesterday’s aches of the heart, for why should I throw good after bad?” I will live this day as if it is my last. This day is all I have and these hours are now my eternity. I greet this sunrise with cries of joy as a prisoner who is reprieved from death. I lift mine arms with thanks for this priceless gift of a new day. So too, I will beat upon my heart with gratitude as I consider all who greeted yesterday’s sunrise who are no longer with the living today. I am indeed a fortunate man and today’s hours are but a bonus, undeserved. Why have I been allowed to live this extra day when others, far better than I, have departed? Is it that they have accomplished their purpose while mine is yet to be achieved? Is this another opportunity for me to become the man I know I can be?
Og Mandino (The Greatest Salesman in the World)
Failure will never overtake me if my determination to succeed is strong enough.
Og Mandino
Do all things with love.
Og Mandino
Never neglect the little things. Never skimp on that extra effort, that additional few minutes, that soft word of praise or thanks, that delivery of the very best that you can do. It does not matter what others think, it is of prime importance, however, what you think about you. You can never do your best, which should always be your trademark, if you are cutting corners and shirking responsibilities. You are special. Act it. Never neglect the little things.
Og Mandino
Sooner or later all mankind will realize that the greatest cure for all the ills and wrongs, the cares, the sorrow and crimes of humanity rests solely in acts of love. Love is the greatest gift from God. It is the divine spark that everywhere produces and restores life. To each and every one of us, love gives us the power to work miracles with your own life and those we touch.
Og Mandino (The Christ Commission)
I will not allow yesterday's success to lull me into today's complacency, for this is the great foundation of failure.
Og Mandino
The secret of success is to triple your rate of failure.
Og Mandino
I will act now. I will act now. I will act now. Henceforth, I will repeat these words each hour, each day, everyday, until the words become as much a habit as my breathing, and the action which follows becomes as instinctive as the blinking of my eyelids. With these words I can condition my mind to perform every action necessary for my success. I will act now. I will repeat these words again and again and again. I will walk where failures fear to walk. I will work when failures seek rest. I will act now for now is all I have. Tomorrow is the day reserved for the labor of the lazy. I am not lazy. Tomorrow is the day when the failure will succeed. I am not a failure. I will act now. Success will not wait. If I delay, success will become wed to another and lost to me forever. This is the time. This is the place. I am the person.
Og Mandino
The victory of success is half won when one gains the habit of setting goals and achieving them. Even the most tedious chore will become endurable as you parade through each day convinced that every task, no matter how menial or boring, brings you closer to achieving your dreams.
Og Mandino
Whenever you make a mistake or get knocked down by life, don't look back at it too long. Mistakes are life's way of teaching you. Your capacity for occasional blunders is inseparable from your capacity to reach your goals. No one wins them all, and your failures, when they happen, are just part of your growth. Shake off your blunders. How will you know your limits without an occasional failure? Never quit. Your turn will come.
Og Mandino
Welcome every morning with a smile. Look on the new day as another special gift from your Creator, another golden opportunity to complete what you were unable to finish yesterday. Be a self-starter. Let your first hour set the theme of success and positive action that is certain to echo through your entire day. Today will never happen again. Don't waste it with a false start or no start at all. You were not born to fail.
Og Mandino
Always do your best. What you plant now, you will harvest later.
Og Mandino
The only certain means of success is to render more and better service than is expected of you, no matter what your task may be.
Og Mandino
He who worries about calamities suffers them twice over.
Og Mandino
I will persist until I succeed. I was not delivered into this world in defeat, nor does failure course in my veins. I am not a sheep waiting to be prodded by my shepherd. I am a lion and I refuse to talk, to walk, to sleep with the sheep. The slaughterhouse of failure is not my destiny. I will persist until I succeed.
Og Mandino (The Greatest Salesman in the World)
Wealth is good when it brings joy to others.
Og Mandino (The Greatest Salesman in the World)
To be always intending to make a new and better life but never to find time to set about it is as to put off eating and drinking and sleeping from one day to the next until you're dead.
Og Mandino
Obstacles are necessary for success because in selling, as in all careers of importance, victory comes only after many struggles and countless defeats. Yet each struggle, each defeat, sharpens your skills and strengths, your courage and your endurance, your ability and your confidence and thus each obstacle is a comrade-in-arms forcing you to become better... or quit. Each rebuff is an opportunity to move forward; turn away from them, avoid them, and you throw away your future.
Og Mandino (The Greatest Salesman in the World)
This guy is an epic douche. Kick his shiny ass, Atticus, Oberon said. I compartmentalized his comment and resolved to enjoy it later. I glared at this would be usurper and said in my most authoritative voice, "Aenghus Og, you have broken Druidic law by killing the land around us and opening a gate to hell, unleashing demons on this plane. I judge you guilty and sentence you to death." Amen, Atticus! Testify!
Kevin Hearne (Hounded (The Iron Druid Chronicles, #1))
I will greet this day with love in my heart.
Og Mandino (The Greatest Salesman in the World)
I will persist until I succeed. Always will I take another step. If that is of no avail I will take another, and yet another. In truth, one step at a time is not too difficult... I know that small attempts, repeated, will complete any undertaking.
Og Mandino
The hours are numerous and the clock seldom measures the time that passes inside us, the real lifetime, and because of this many days can fit into a few hours, and vice versa, and numbers of years can be an imprecise measure of a man's lifetime, he who dies at forty has perhaps actually lived much longer than he who dies at ninety.
Jón Kalman Stefánsson (Himnaríki og helvíti)
An Excerpt from “The Greatest Miracle in the World” - "Consider a painting by Rembrandt or a bronze by Degas or a violin by Stradivarius or a play by Shakespeare.  They have great value for two reasons:  their creators were masters and they are few in number.  Yet there are more than one of each of these. On that reasoning you are the most valuable treasure on the face of the earth, for you know who created you and there is only one of you. Never, in all of the seventy billion humans who have walked this planet since the beginning of time has there been anyone exactly like you.  Never, until the end of time, will there be another such as you. You have shown no knowledge or appreciation of your uniqueness. Yet, you are the rarest thing in the world.
Og Mandino (The Greatest Miracle in World)
[Wheel] rocks. The best part is where John Mayer says how our connections are permanent, how if you drift apart from someone there's always a chance you can be a part of their life again. How everything comes back around again. I have a theoru that the answers to all og life's major questions can be found in a John Mayer song.
Susane Colasanti (Waiting for You)
Today.....I begin a new life".
Og Mandino
Sound character provides the power with which a person may ride the emergencies of life instead of being overwhelmed by them. Failure is... the highway to success.
Og Mandino
Extend to each person, no matter how trivial the contact, all the care and kindness and understanding and love that you can muster, and do it with no thought of any reward. Your life will never be the same again
Og Mandino
I will become a firefly and even in the day my glow will be seen in spite of the sun. Let others be as butterflies who preen their wings yet depend on the charity of a flower for life.
Og Mandino (The Greatest Salesman in the World)
And so long as I can laugh never will I be poor.
Og Mandino (The Greatest Salesman In The World)
Wealth should never be your goal in life. True wealth is of the heart, not of the purse.
Og Mandino (The Greatest Salesman in the World)
I will persist until I succeed. I was not delivered into this world into defeat, nor does failure course in my veins. I am not a sheep waiting to be prodded by my shepherd. I am a lion and I refuse to talk, to walk, to sleep with the sheep. The slaughterhouse of failure is not my destiny. I will persist until I succeed.
Og Mandino (The Greatest Salesman In The World)
Og kjærligheten blev verdens ophav og verdens hersker, men alle dens veier er fulle av blomster og blod, blomster og blod.
Knut Hamsun (Victoria)
...o Inferno é ter braços mas ninguém a quem abraçar.
Jón Kalman Stefánsson (Himnaríki og helvíti)
Let others build a cave with their clay. I will build a castle with mine.
Og Mandino (The Greatest Salesman In The World)
... women have their roots in the ground, and often those roots are starved and ravaged, yet there is not a human alive who cannot reach and touch, with... her fingers, the very top of God's rainbow.
Og Mandino
Never allow anyone to rain on your parade and thus cast a pall of gloom and defeat on the entire day. Remember that no talent, no self-denial, no brains, no character, are required to set up in the fault-finding business. Nothing external can have any power over you unless you permit it. Your time is too precious to be sacrificed in wasted days combating the menial forces of hate, jealously, and envy.
Og Mandino
Work as though you would live forever, and live as though you would die today. Go another mile!
Og Mandino
Only action determines my value in the market place and to multiply my value I will multiply my actions.
Og Mandino (The Greatest Salesman In The World)
There are two kinds of discontented in this world, the discontented that works and the discontented that wrings its hands. The first gets what it wants and the second loses what it has. There is no cure for the first but success and there is no cure at all for the second. The very worst of my vices and bad habits will abate of themselves if they are brought to an accounting every day.
Og Mandino (The Greatest Salesman in the World)
In truth, the only difference between those who have failed and those who have succeeded lies in the difference of their habits. Good habits are the key to all success. Bad habits are the unlocked door to failure. Thus, the first law I will obey, which precedeth all others is—I will form good habits and become their slave.
Og Mandino (The Greatest Salesman In The World)
He wants to accomplish something in life, learn languages, see the world, read a thousand books, he wants to discover whether there is any core, but sometimes it's hard to think and read when one is stiff and sore after a difficult fishing voyage, wet and cold after twelve hours' working in the meadows, when his thoughts can be so heavy that he can hardly lift them, then it's a long way to the core.
Jón Kalman Stefánsson (Himnaríki og helvíti)
Maðurinn finnur það sem hann leitar að, og sá sem trúir á draug finnur draug.
Halldór Laxness (Independent People)
Og tror du det var ensomt å ferdes slik alene Der skog og tundra sprer seg krevende og vill Da feiler du min kjære, for det er blant mennesker at ensomhet blir til.
Helge Ingstad
Even though Xavier was only human, it seemed he could protect me from anything and everything. I wouldn't have been worried if a fire-breathing dragon had torn of the roof, because I knew that Xavier was there. I wondered fleetingly if I was expecting to much og him, but dismissed the idea.
Alexandra Adornetto (Halo (Halo, #1))
Obstacles are necessary for success because in selling, as in all careers of importance, victory comes only after many struggles and countless defeats.
Og Mandino
What we call chaos is just pat­terns we haven’t rec­og­nized. What we call ran­dom is just pat­terns we can’t de­ci­pher. What we can’t un­der­stand we call non­sense. What we can’t read we call gib­ber­ish.
Chuck Palahniuk (Survivor)
I am convinced that the greatest legacy we can leave our children are happy memories: those precious moments so much like pebbles on the beach that are plucked from the white sand and placed in tiny boxes that lay undisturbed on tall shelves until one day they spill out and time repeats itself, with joy and sweet sadness, in the child now an adult.
Og Mandino
Every one should be wealthy, if only for a day, so that each might realize that being rich is not the ideal condition that most believe it is. And like the land, we should have little need for all that silver when we cease breating. Let us enjoy the smiling faces of as many children of god as we can while we are able to see them.
Og Mandino
At leve er ikke nok. Solskin, frihed og en lille blomst må man ha
Hans Christian Andersen
Hell is having arms but no one to embrace.
Jón Kalman Stefánsson (Himnaríki og helvíti)
Within me burns a flame which has been passed from generations uncounted and its heat is a constant irritation to my spirit to become better than I am, and I will.
Og Mandino (The Greatest Salesman In The World)
I never got to see a proper striptease. Not anything even remotely close. I was stupid and went to literary cafés and spent my time on artistic nonsense instead. Now it is too late. I am old and blind. I must content myself with hearing the garments fall. I dictated this.
Tor Ulven (Stein og speil: mixtum compositum)
Vil du altid se sådan der ud, August? Jeg mener, kan du ikke få en eller anden plastikkirugi eller sådan noget?" Jeg smilede og pegede på mit ansigt. "Hallo? Det her er EFTER plastikkirugi!
R.J. Palacio (Wonder (Wonder, #1))
I have dreamed of that song, of the strange words to that simple rhyme-song, and on several occasions I have understood what she was saying, in my dreams. In those dreams I spoke that language too, the first language, and I had dominion over the nature of all that was real. In my dream, it was the tongue of what is, and anything spoken in it becomes real, because nothing said in that language can be a lie. It is the most basic building brick og everything. In my dreams I have used that language to heal the sick and to fly; once I dreamed I kept a perfect little bed-and-breakfast by the seaside, and to everyone who came to stay with me I would say, in that tongue, 'Be whole.' and they would become whole, not be broken people , not any longer, because I had spoken the language of shaping.
Neil Gaiman (The Ocean at the End of the Lane)
Realise that true happiness lies within you. Waste no time and effort searching for peace and contentment and joy in the world outside. Remember that there is no happiness in having or in getting, but only in giving. Reach out. Share. Smile. Hug. Happiness is a perfume you cannot pour on others without getting a few drops on yourself.
Og Mandino
Jeg vil gerne rette en særlig tak til Illums Bolighus, fordi de skabte så smagfuldt og fint gennemtænkt et hjem for en familie, der aldrig har eksisteret.
Tove Ditlevsen (Jeg ville være enke, og jeg ville være digter)
Headache!" Zeus bellowed. "Bad. bad headache!" As if to prove his point, the lord of the universe slammed his face into his pancakes, which demolished the pancakes and the plate and put a crack in the table, but did nothing for his headache. "Aspirin?" Apollo suggested. (he was the god of healing) "Nice cup og tea?" Hestia suggested "I could split your skull open," offered Hephaestus, the blacksmith god "Hephaestus!" Hera cried. "Don't talk to your father that way!" "What?" Hephaestus demanded "Clearly he's got a problem in there. I could open up the hood and take a look. Might relieve the pressure. Besides, he's immortal. It won't kill him
Rick Riordan (Percy Jackson's Greek Gods)
Trangen til å lese tok meg og holdt meg i sitt deilige, berusende grep. Jo mer jeg leste, desto mer hungret jeg. Hvert verk var rikt på løfter; hver side jeg bladde om, var en eventyrferd, tiltrekning fra en annen verden.
Tatiana de Rosnay (The House I Loved)
I was not delivered unto this world in defeat, nor does failure course in my veins. I am not a sheep waiting to be prodded by my shepherd. I am a lion and I refuse to talk, to walk, to sleep with the sheep. I will hear not those who weep and complain, for their disease is contagious. Let them join the sheep. The slaughterhouse of failure is not my destiny.
Og Mandino (The Greatest Salesman In The World)
Kærligheden er så logisk: Alle modsætninger bliver forudsætninger og sætningerne kommer forud for logikken: Jeg elsker dig, fordi det er sådan.
Henrik Nordbrandt
Lad bare ordene forstumme og skrig din lyd til mig.
Michael Strunge (Væbnet med vinger)
Nå vet jeg at som leser må man ha tillit til forfatterne, til dikterne. De vet hvordan de skal gå frem for å rykke oss opp fra vårt vanlige liv og sende oss gyngende over i en annen verden vi ikke engang ante eksisterte. Det er det talentfulle forfattere gjør.
Tatiana de Rosnay (The House I Loved)
Slik var kjærligheten. Den kunde ruinere sin mand, gjenreise ham og brændemeærke ham igjen; den kunde elske mig idag, dig imorgen og ham imorgen nat, så ubestandig var den. Men den kunde også holde fast som et ubrytelig segl og blusse like uutslukelig til dødens stund, for så evig var den.
Knut Hamsun (Victoria)
Nyhetene forgifter meg, og jeg merker jeg er sjeleglad for at det kommer en generasjon som er oppfostret på såkalt virkelighetsflukt. For de kommer til å redde ræva til oss alle. De vil ikke vippes av pinnen når problemet blir for stort. De har lest nok dystopier til å vite at regimer kan lyve. Nok fantasy til å vite at enkeltmennesker kan vinne over umulige odds. Nok sci-fi til å vite at framskritt også kan være et skritt tilbake. Og de vet at alle har lik verdi, uansett rase, legning eller religion. Og neste gang noen spør meg hvorfor fantasy er så populært skal jeg svare at det ikke spiller noen rolle, vi skal bare være glad for at det er det. Det er sånne som kommer til å overleve zombieapokalypsen, for å si det sånn.
Siri Pettersen
Certains mots sont probablement aptes à changer le monde, ils ont le pouvoir de nous consoler et de sécher nos larmes. Certains mots sont des balles de fusil, d’autres des notes de violon. Certains sont capables de faire fondre la glace qui nous enserre le cœur et il est même possible de les dépêcher comme des cohortes de sauveteurs quand les jours sont contraires et que nous ne sommes peut-être ni vivants ni morts. (p. 74)
Jón Kalman Stefánsson (Himnaríki og helvíti)
La joie, le bonheur et la chaleur brûlante de l'amour forment la trinité qui fait de nous des hommes, celle qui justifie l'existence et lui donne plus de grandeur que la mort, cependant, elle n'offre pas plus d'abri que cela contre les vents venus du pôle.
Jón Kalman Stefánsson (Himnaríki og helvíti)
Draum om nedsnødde bruer Med vi står fell snøen tettare. Kåpearmen din blir kvit. Kåpearmen min blir kvit. Dei går mellom oss som nedsnødde bruer. Men nedsnødde bruer er frosne. Inni her er det levande varmt. Varm under snøen er armen din ei sæl vekt på min. Det snør og snør på stille bruer. Bruer ingen veit om.
Tarjei Vesaas (The Ice Palace)
Jeg tenkte på ting jeg hadde lest. At den som skal dø, mister sansene i minuttene før. En etter en. Først smakssansen, senere evnen til å lukte. Så forsvinner synet. Berøringssansen. Hørselen. Opplevelsen av smerte. Som å slukke lysene og gå fra kontoret for dagen, låse etter seg og miste nøklene på vegen hjem.
Johan Harstad (Buzz Aldrin, waar ben je gebleven?)
It is a matter for wonder: a moment, now here and then gone, nothing before it came, again nothing after it has gone, nonetheless returns as a ghost and disturbs the peace of a later moment. A leaf flutters from the scroll of time, floats away- and suddenly floats back again and falls into the man's lap. Then the man says 'I remember' and envies the animal, who at once forgets and for whom every moment really dies, sinks back into night and f og and is extinguished for ever. Thus the animal lives unhistorically: for it is contained in the present...
Friedrich Nietzsche
...most of us build prisons for ourselves and after we occupy them for a period of time we become accustomed to their walls and accept the false premise that we are incarcerated for life. As soon as that belief takes hold of us we abandon hope of ever doing more with our lives and of ever giving our dreams a chance to be fulfilled. We become puppets and begin to suffer living deaths. It may be praiseworthy and noble to sacrifice your life to a cause or a business or the happiness of others, but if you are miserable and unfulfilled in that lifestyle, and know it, then to remain in it is a hypocrisy, a lie, and a rejection of the faith placed in you by your creator.
Og Mandino (The Greatest Miracle in the World)
There she was, welcoming him in, farting prrrrrrp like ten thousand earthquakes, belching arrrp and og like a million volcanoes, while the whole universe roared with approving laughter. She swung tits like sagging moons at him, drew from black teeth an endless snake of bacon-rind, pelted him with balls of ear-wax and snuffled green snot in his direction. The thrones roared and the powers were helpless. Enderby was suffocated by smells: sulphuretted hydrogren, unwashed armpits, halitosis, faeces, standing urine, putrefying meat - all thrust into his mouth and nostrils in squelchy balls. 'Help,' he tried to call. 'Help help help.' He fell, crawled, crying, 'Help, help.' The black, which was solid laughter and filth, closed on him. He gave one last scream before yielding to it.
Anthony Burgess (Inside Mr. Enderby)
Immortality is often ridiculous or cruel: few of us would have chosen to be Og or Ananias or Gallio. Even in mathematics, history sometimes plays strange tricks; Rolle figures in the textbooks of elementary calculus as if he had been a mathematician like Newton; Farey is immortal because he failed to understand a theorem which Haros had proved perfectly fourteen years before; the names of five worthy Norwegians still stand in Abel’s Life, just for one act of conscientious imbecility, dutifully performed at the expense of their country’s greatest man. But on the whole the history of science is fair, and this is particularly true in mathematics. No other subject has such clear-cut or unanimously accepted standards, and the men who are remembered are almost always the men who merit it. Mathematical fame, if you have the cash to pay for it, is one of the soundest and steadiest of investments.
G.H. Hardy (A Mathematician's Apology)
Be your best self and do not imitate anyone else. Find your strengths. They are your talents. They will make you smile and cause you to real joy on the inside. Don’t listen to those who ridicule the choices you make or the dreams you share. Let no one despise your youth. As Og Mandino explained in The Greatest Salesman in the World, “Experience is overrated, usually by old men who nod wisely and speak stupidly.” Create your own experiences. And know that you are creating memories for a lifetime. Life is not about finding yourself; it is about creating yourself. You have to take chances to make your dreams reality. Face your fears head-on and move rapidly. Don’t be afraid of making mistakes. Make lots of them! Your odds for success will increase with the number of decisions you make. Have patience with your dreams and the expectations you have for others. Be impatient with yourself daily. Live as if this is your last day. Say “I love you” to all those who matter. Know that everyone matters. You must play full-out right now. Sit up, hold your head high. Breathe deeply. Lift your chest up. Stand up straight and with confidence. Dust yourself off. Stop being a party pooper in your own life. Smile. A bigger noticeable smile. Start acting happy. Yes, you act first. I promise the feeling of happiness will soon follow.
Robert Smith
I will persist until I succeed. I was not delivered unto this world in defeat, nor does failure course in my veins. I am not a sheep waiting to be prodded by my shepherd. I am a lion and I refuse to talk, to walk, to sleep with the sheep. I will hear not those who weep and complain, for their disease is contagious. Let them join the sheep. The slaughterhouse of failure is not my destiny. I will persist until I succeed. The prizes of life are at the end of each journey, not near the beginning; and it is not given to me to know how many steps are necessary in order to reach my goal. Failure I may still encounter at the thousandth step, yet success hides behind the next bend in the road. Never will I know how close it lies unless I turn the corner. Always will I take another step. If that is of no avail I will take another, and yet another. In truth, one step at a time is not too difficult. I will persist until I succeed. Henceforth, I will consider each day’s effort as but one blow of my blade against a mighty oak. The first blow may cause not a tremor in the wood, nor the second, nor the third. Each blow, of itself, may be trifling, and seem of no consequence. Yet from childish swipes the oak will eventually tumble. So it will be with my efforts of today. I will be liken to the rain drop which washes away the mountain; the ant who devours a tiger; the star which brightens the earth; the slave who builds a pyramid. I will build my castle one brick at a time for I know that small attempts, repeated, will complete any undertaking. I will persist until I succeed. I will never consider defeat and I will remove from my vocabulary such words and phrases as quit, cannot, unable, impossible, out of the question, improbable, failure, unworkable, hopeless, and retreat; for they are words of fools. I will avoid despair but if this disease of the mind should infect me then I will work on in despair. I will toil and I will endure. I will ignore the obstacles at my feet and keep mine eyes on the goals above my head, for I know that where dry desert ends, green grass grows. I will persist until I succeed. The Greatest Salesman in the World Og Mandino
Og Mandino