Inspirational Quotations by Zig Ziglar (#657)

Today marks the birthday of Zig Ziglar (1926–2012,) American motivational consultant. This prolific author and public speaker was renowned for his energy, optimism, and plain-spoken style. His recipe “The Ziglar Way” blended homespun wit, sound-bite positivity, and Christian faith to urge people to appreciate the bright side of life.

Born Hilary Hinton Ziglar in rural Mississippi, Ziglar considered his devout mother the foremost influence on his life. Her mental repository of adages (e.g., “The person who won’t stand for something will fall for anything”) influenced many of Ziglar’s faith-filled metaphors and proverbs.

Ziglar initially worked as a salesman and later as a sales-trainer. He switched careers after becoming enthralled with the ability of self-help lecturers to influence others. His first book, Biscuits, Fleas, and Pump Handles (1974, later titled See You at the Top) advised readers to reexamine their lives with a “checkup from the neck up” and to abandon their “stinkin’ thinkin’.”

Seminars such as “Success Rallies” and “Born to Win” and over thirty books attracted millions of devoted followers to Ziglar’s advice on personal growth, faith, moral strength, character, leadership, and sales. His bestselling books include See You at the Top (1975,) Secrets of Closing the Sale (1982,) Top Performance (1986,) Success for Dummies (1998,) Selling 101 (2003,) and an autobiography (2004.)

Inspirational Quotations by Zig Ziglar

Winning is not everything, but the effort to win is.
—Zig Ziglar (American Author)

There’s often no way you can look into the game of life and determine whether or not you’ll get that big break tomorrow or whether it will take another week, month, year or even longer. But it will come!
—Zig Ziglar (American Author)

The foundation stones for a balanced success are honesty, character, integrity, faith, love and loyalty.
—Zig Ziglar (American Author)

If you learn from defeat, you haven’t really lost.
—Zig Ziglar (American Author)

When we do more than we are paid to do, eventually we will be paid more for what we do.
—Zig Ziglar (American Author)

You can’t hit a target you cannot see, and you cannot see a target you do not have.
—Zig Ziglar (American Author)

If you don’t see yourself as a winner, then you cannot perform as a winner.
—Zig Ziglar (American Author)

There are no traffic jams on the extra mile.
—Zig Ziglar (American Author)

You cannot tailor-make the situations in life but you can tailor-make the attitudes to fit those situations.
—Zig Ziglar (American Author)

Of all the “attitudes” we can acquire, surely the attitude of gratitude is the most important and by far the most life-changing.
—Zig Ziglar (American Author)

Outstanding people have one thing in common: an absolute sense of mission.
—Zig Ziglar (American Author)

Obstacles are the things we see when we take our eyes off our goals.
—Zig Ziglar (American Author)

Man was designed for accomplishment, engineered for success, and endowed with the seeds of greatness.
—Zig Ziglar (American Author)

The only way to coast is downhill.
—Zig Ziglar (American Author)

Success is like a ladder, and no one has ever climbed a ladder with their hands in their pockets.
—Zig Ziglar (American Author)

People who build hope into their own lives and who share hope with others become powerful people.
—Zig Ziglar (American Author)

The price of success is much lower than the price of failure.
—Zig Ziglar (American Author)

You build a successful career, regardless of your field of endeavor, by the dozens of little things you do on and off the job.
—Zig Ziglar (American Author)

The most practical, beautiful, workable philosophy in the world won’t work—if you won’t.
—Zig Ziglar (American Author)

Positive thinking won’t let you do anything but it will let you do everything better than negative thinking will.
—Zig Ziglar (American Author)

Success is the maximum utilization of the ability that you have.
—Zig Ziglar (American Author)

Be firm on principle but flexible on method.
—Zig Ziglar (American Author)

It’s your aptitude, not just your attitude that determines your ultimate altitude.
—Zig Ziglar (American Author)

The door to a balanced success opens widest on the hinges of hope and encouragement.
—Zig Ziglar (American Author)

When your image improves, your performance improves.
—Zig Ziglar (American Author)

You are free to choose, but the choices you make today will determine what you will have, be and do in the tomorrow of your life.
—Zig Ziglar (American Author)

If God would have wanted us to live in a permissive society He would have given us Ten Suggestions and not Ten Commandments.
—Zig Ziglar (American Author)

When you forgive somebody else you accept the responsibility for your own future.
—Zig Ziglar (American Author)

You can have everything in life you want if you’ll just help enough other people get what they want.
—Zig Ziglar (American Author)

For every sale you miss because you’re too enthusiastic, you will miss a hundred because you’re not enthusiastic enough.
—Zig Ziglar (American Author)

People who have good relationships at home are more effective in the marketplace.
—Zig Ziglar (American Author)

Many people spend more time in planning the wedding than they do in planning the marriage.
—Zig Ziglar (American Author)

Money isn’t the most important thing in life, but it’s reasonably close to oxygen on the “gotta have it” scale.
—Zig Ziglar (American Author)

Motivation is the fuel necessary to keep the human engine running.
—Zig Ziglar (American Author)

We all need a daily check up from the neck up to avoid stinkin’ thinkin’ which ultimately leads to hardening of the attitudes.
—Zig Ziglar (American Author)

Positive thinking will let you do everything better than negative thinking will.
—Zig Ziglar (American Author)

Our children are our only hope for the future, but we are their only hope for their present and their future.
—Zig Ziglar (American Author)

What comes out of your mouth is determined by what goes into your mind.
—Zig Ziglar (American Author)

Failure is a detour, not a dead-end street.
—Zig Ziglar (American Author)

It was character that got us out of bed, commitment that moved us into action, and discipline that enabled us to follow through.
—Zig Ziglar (American Author)

If you want to reach a goal, you must ‘see the reaching’ in your own mind before you actually arrive at your goal.
—Zig Ziglar (American Author)