Right Attitudes

Humility leads to strength and not to weakness. It is the highest form of self-respect to admit mistakes and to make amends for them.
—John J. McCloy (American Diplomat)

The names that do the serious damage are the ones we call ourselves. The stereotypes we give ourselves are the ones that matter in the long run, not the ones imposed on us by other people.
—Judith Rich Harris (American Psychologist)

Subdue fate by exerting human strength to the maximum; and if, when the effort has been made and success is not achieved, no one else can be blamed.
—The Hitopadesha (Indian Collection of Fables)

Nothing is so contemptible as the sentiments of the mob.
—Seneca the Younger (Lucius Annaeus Seneca) (Roman Stoic Philosopher)

Relationships based on obligation lack dignity.
—Wayne Dyer (American Self-help Author)

The main function of a university is not to grant degrees and diplomas, but to develop the university spirit and advance learning. The former is impossible without corporate life, the latter without honours and post-graduate.
—Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan (Indian Philosopher, Political Leader)

Nowhere are prejudices more mistaken for truth, passion for reason and invective for documentation than in politics.
—John Mason Brown (American Drama Critic)

Whenever, therefore, people are deceived and form opinions wide of the truth, it is clear that the error has slid into their minds through the medium of certain resemblances to that truth.
—Socrates (Ancient Greek Philosopher)

Truth, self control, asceticism, generosity, non-injury, constancy in virtue—these are the means of success, not caste or family.
—The Mahabharata (Hindu Religious Text)

Trying and failing isn’t a small part of life, it’s much of life. The rest is just learning how to grow from it.
—Bob Goff (American Philanthropist)

Deals are my art form. Other people paint beautifully on canvas or write wonderful poetry. I like making deals, preferably big deals. That’s how I get my kicks.
—Donald Trump (American Businessperson, Head of State)

Faith is a permanent and vital endowment of the human mind—a part of reason itself. The insane alone are without it.
—Eden Phillpotts (British Writer)

But I recognize no infallible authority, even in special questions; consequently, whatever respect I may have for the honesty and the sincerity of such or such an individual, I have no absolute faith in any person.
—Mikhail Bakunin (Russian Anarchist)

Waiting for the fish to bite or waiting for wind to fly a kite. Or waiting around for Friday night or waiting perhaps for their Uncle Jake or a pot to boil or a better break or a string of pearls or a pair of pants or a wig with curls or another chance. Everyone is just waiting.
—Theodor Seuss Geisel (‘Dr. Seuss’) (American Children’s Books Writer)

You can’t teach children to be good. The best you can do for your child is to live a good life yourself. What a parent knows and believes, the child will lean on.
—Bruno Bettelheim (Austrian-born Psychoanalyst)

You have powers you never dreamed of. You can do things you never thought you could do. There are no limitations in what you can do except the limitations of your own mind.
—Darwin P. Kingsley (American Businessman)

Our true acquisitions lie only in our charities, we gain only as we give.
—William Gilmore Simms (American Novelist)

It is only possible to live happily-ever-after on a day-to-day basis.
—Margaret Wander Bonanno (American Writer)

I sometimes say that success just happens. That’s not true. You have to make it happen. When I make up my mind to do something, I make sure it happens. You can’t wait for the phone to ring. You have to ring them.
—Lew Grade (British Theatrical Impresario)

The most familiar quotations are the most likely to be misquoted. Some misquotations are still variable, some have settled down to false versions that have obscured the true ones. They have passed over from literature into speech.
—Carl Clinton Van Doren (American Critic, Historian)

If you think of yourselves as helpless and ineffectual, it is certain that you will create a despotic government to be your master. The wise despot, therefore, maintains among his subjects a popular sense that they are helpless and ineffectual.
—Frank Herbert (American Science-fiction Writer)

What is art but life upon the larger scale, the higher. When, graduating up in a spiral line of still expanding and ascending gyres, it pushes toward the intense significance of all things, hungry for the infinite?
—Elizabeth Barrett Browning (English Poet)

When the time comes, even a rat becomes a tiger.
—Japanese Proverb

We are all, it seems, saving ourselves for the Senior Prom. But many of us forget that somewhere along the way we must learn to dance.
—Alan Harrington (American Novelist)

If there were in the world today any large number of people who desired their own happiness more than they desired the unhappiness of others, we could have a paradise in a few years.
—Bertrand A. Russell (British Philosopher, Mathematician)

It is poverty to decide that a child must die so that you may live as you wish.
—Mother Teresa (Roman Catholic Nun)

I see no hope for the future of our people if they are dependent on the frivolous youth of today, for certainly all youth are reckless beyond words. When I was a boy, we were taught to be discrete and respectful of elders, but the present youth are exceedingly wise and impatient of restraint.
—Hesiod (Greek Poet)

A trick is clever only once.
—Yiddish Proverb

Die when I may, I want it said of me by those who know me best, that I always plucked a thistle and planted a flower when I thought a flower would grow.
—Abraham Lincoln (American Head of State)

Travel is rich with learning opportunities, and the ultimate souvenir is a broader perspective.
—Rick Steves (American Travel Writer, Entrepreneur)

In war there is no substitute for victory.
—Douglas MacArthur (American Military Leader)

The happiest men are those who have reached the point where they have nothing to fear from those who surround them.
—Epicurus (Greek Philosopher)

A people, secure in their jobs, taking pride in their work, and sure of just recognition, will help our society grow to new heights. If all industry should adopt an incentive system, the standard of living of all peoples would be quadrupled; friction between labor and management would disappear, and the satisfaction of all workers would be greatly enhanced.
—James F. Lincoln (American Industrialist)

We all learn by imitating, as children, as students, as novices in the world of business. And then we grow up and learn to blend our innate abilities with the rules or principles we have learned.
—Akio Morita (Japanese Entrepreneur, Engineer)

Real knowledge never promoted either turbulence or unbelief; but its progress is the forerunner of liberality and enlightened toleration.
—Henry Brougham, 1st Baron Brougham and Vaux (Scottish Jurist, Politician)

Trust your hunches… Hunches are usually based on facts filed away just below the conscious level. Warning! Do not confuse your hunches with wishful thinking. This is the road to disaster.
—Joyce Brothers (American Psychologist)