“The inspiration of a single book has made preachers, poets, philosophers, authors, and statesmen. On the other hand, the demoralization of a single book has sometimes made infidels, profligates, and criminals.”
Quote by Orison Swett Marden
“A great many people never really discover themselves until ruin stares them in the face. They do not seem to know how to bring out their reserves until they are overtaken by an overwhelming disaster, or until the sight of their blighted prospects and of the wreck of their homes and happiness stirs them to the very center of their beings.... There is something in defeat which puts new determination into a man of mettle.”
Source: The Optimistic Life
“Defeats and failures are great developers of character. They have made the giants of our race by giving Titanic muscles, brawny sinews, and far-reaching intellects.”
Source: Rising in the World, Or Architects of Fate
“Opportunity is coy, is swift, is gone, before the slow, the unobservant, the indolent, or the careless can seize her.”
Source: ORISON SWETT MARDEN Premium Collection - Wisdom & Empowerment Series (18 Books in One Volume): Steps to Success and Power, How to Get What You Want, An Iron Will, Be Good to Yourself, Every Man A King, Keeping Fit, Prosperity – How to Attract It, Stepping-Stones To Fame And Fortune...
“The divine injunction to be perfect, even as He is perfect, was not given man to mock him. The possibility of our waking in His likeness is literally true.”
Source: The Miracle of Right Thought
“Pessimism has never done anything but tear down and destroy what optimism has built up.”
Source: Getting on
“Men are naturally lazy, and require some great stimulus to goad their flagging ambitions and enable them to overcome the inertia which comes from ease and the consciousness of inherited wealth. Whatever lessens in a young man the feeling that he must make his way in the world cripples his chance of success. Poverty has ever been the priceless spur that has goaded man up to his own loaf.”
Source: Rising in the World, Or Architects of Fate
“Our thoughts are like roots which reach out in every direction into the cosmic ocean of formless energy, and these thought-roots set in motion vibrations like themselves and attract the affinities of our desires and ambitions.”
Source: The Miracle of Right Thought
“No matter how humble your work may seem, do it in the spirit of an artist, of a master. In this way you lift it out of commonness and rob it of what would otherwise be drudgery.”
Source: He Can Who Thinks He Can, and Other Papers on Success in Life: From the Renowned Author of Inspirational Works like How to Get what You Want, Prosperity and How to Get It, The Miracles of Right Thought, Self-Investment and Masterful Personality
“Success is in the student, not in the university; greatness is in the individual, not in the library; power is in the man, not in his crutches. A great man will make opportunities, even out of the commonest and meanest situations. If a man is not superior to his education, is not larger than his crutches or his helps, if he is not greater than the means of his culture, which are but the sign-boards pointing the way to success, he will never reach greatness. Not learning, not culture alone, not helps and opportunities, but personal power and sterling integrity, make a man great.”
“Conquer yourself and you can conquer everything else.”
Source: The Optimistic Life
