"The greatest masterpieces were once only pigments on a palette."
--Henry S. Haskins
"I am concerned that some among us today are undoubtedly unhappy. Some of us feel we are falling short of our expected ideals. I have particular concern for those who have lived righteously, but think -- because they haven't achieved in the world or in the Church what others have achieved -- that they have failed. Each of us desires to achieve a measure of greatness in this life. And why shouldn't we? As someone once noted, there is within each of us a giant struggling with celestial homesickness."Success is not measured by the position one has reached in life, rather by the obstacles overcome while trying to succeed."
"Realizing who we are and what we may become assures us that with God nothing really is impossible. From the time we learn that Jesus wants us for a Sunbeam until we learn more fully the basic principles of the gospel, we are taught to strive for perfection. It is not new to us then to talk of the importance of achievement. The difficulty arises when inflated expectations of the world alter our definition of greatness....
"Giving consistent effort in the little things in day-to-day life leads to true greatness. Specifically, it is the thousands of little deeds and tasks of service and sacrifice that constitute the giving or losing of one's life for others and for the Lord. They include gaining a knowledge of our Father in Heaven and of the gospel. They also include bringing others into the faith and fellowship of his kingdom. These things do not usually receive the attention or the adulation of the world....
"To do one's best in the face of the commonplace struggles of life, and possibly in the face of failures, and to continue to endure and persevere with the ongoing difficulties of life -- when those struggles and tasks contribute to the progress and happiness of others and the eternal salvation of one's self -- this is true greatness."
--Howard W. Hunter
"The highest reward for a man's toil is not what he gets for it
but what he becomes by it."
--John Ruskin
"Everything comes to him who hustles while he waits."
--Thomas Edison
"All of us are prone to excuse our own mediocre performance. We blame our misfortunes, our disfigurements, our so-called handicaps. Victims of our own rationalization, we say silently to ourselves, 'I'm just too weak,' or 'I'm not cut out for better things.' Others soar beyond our meager accomplishments. Envy and discouragement take their toll.
"Can we not appreciate that our very business in life is not to get ahead of others, but to get ahead of ourselves? To break our own records, to outstrip our yesterdays by our todays, to bear our trials more beautifully than we ever dreamed we could, to give as we have never given, to do our work with more force and a finer finish than ever- this is the true idea: to get ahead of ourselves.
"To live greatly, we must develop the capacity to face trouble with courage, disappointment with cheerfulness, and triumph with humility. You ask, 'How might we achieve these goals?' I answer, 'By getting a true perspective of who we really are!' We are sons and daughters of a living God in whose image we have been created. Think of that truth: 'Created in the image of God!' We cannot sincerely hold this conviction without experiencing a profound new sense of strength and power, even the strength to live the commandments of God, the power to resist the temptations of Satan."
--Thomas S. Monson
"To see things in the seed, that is genius."
--Lao-tzu
"To get profit without risk, experience without danger,
and reward without work is as impossible as it is to live
without being born."
--A.P. Gouthey
To Achieve Your Dreams, Remember Your A-Z
A-void negative sources, people, things and habits.
B-elieve in yourself.
C-onsider things from every angle.
D-on't give up and don't give in.
E-njoy life today: yesterday is gone and tomorrow may never come.
F-amily and Friends are hidden treasures. Seek them and enjoy their riches.
G-ive more than you planned to give.
H-ang on to your dreams.
I-gnore those who try to discourage you.
J-ust do it!
K-eep on trying, no matter how hard it seems. It will get better.
L-ove yourself.
M-ake it happen.
N-ever lie, cheat, or steal. Always strike a fair deal.
O-pen your eyes and see things as they really are.
P-ractice makes perfect.
Q-uitters never win and winners never quit.
R-ead, study and learn about everything important in your life.
S-top procrastinating.
T-ake control of your own destiny.
U-nderstand yourself in order to better understand others.
V-isualize it.
W-ant it more than anything.
X-ccelerate your efforts.
Y-ou are unique of all of Nature's creations. Nothing can replace you.
Z-ero in on your target, and go for it!!
--Bhagwati Prasad
"The block of granite which was an obstacle
in the pathway of the weak becomes a stepping stone
in the pathway of the strong."
--Thomas Carlyle
"He that will not sail till all dangers are over must never put to sea."
--Thomas Fuller
"I encourage boldness because the danger of our seniority and pension plans tempt a young man to settle in a rut named security rather than find his own rainbow."
-- Conrad Hilton
"I would rather be ashes than dust.
I would rather that my spark should burn out in a brilliant blaze than that it should be stifled by dry-rot.
I would rather be a superb meteor, every atom of me in magnificent glow, than a sleepy and permanent planet.
The proper function of man is to live, not exist.
I shall not waste my days in trying to prolong them. I shall use my time."
-- Jack London
"We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking
at the stars."
--Oscar Wilde
"Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness, concerning all acts of initiative (and creation). There is one elementary truth the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: That the moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one’s favour all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance which no man could have dreamed would have come his way. Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it. Begin it now."
--Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe
"I find the great thing in this world is not so much where we stand, as in what direction we are moving: To reach the port of heaven, we must sail sometimes with the wind and sometimes against it--but we must sail, and not drift, nor lie at anchor."
--Oliver Wendell Holmes
"The big question is whether you are going to be able to say a hearty yes to your adventure."
--Joseph Campbell
"Oh, the worst of all tragedies is not to die young, but to live
until I am seventy-five and yet not ever truly to have lived."
--Martin Luther King Jr.
"The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their
dreams."
--Eleanor Roosevelt
"The most difficult mountain to cross is the threshold."
--Danish Proverb
"Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in
overalls and looks like work."
--Thomas Edison
"There are so many things that we wish we had done yesterday, so few things that we feel like doing today."
--Mignon McLaughlin
"Don’t let life discourage you; everyone who got where he is had to begin where he was."
--Richard L Evans
"A small daily task, if it be really daily, will beat the labors of a spasmodic Hercules."
--Anthony Trollope
"I shall make electricity so cheap that only the rich can afford to burn candles."
--Thomas Edison
"Ideals are like stars: you will not succeed in touching them with your hands, but like the seafaring man on the desert of waters, you choose them as your guides, and following them you reach your destiny."
--Carl Schurz
"Start by doing what’s necessary, then what’s possible and suddenly you are doing the impossible."
--St. Francis of Assisi
"Nothing is the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan “press on” has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race."
--Calvin Coolidge
"Ah, but a man’s reach should exceed his grasp, Or what’s a heaven for?"
--Robert Browning
"The important thing is this: to be able at any moment to sacrifice what we are for what we could become."
--Charles du Bois
"Life consists not in holding good cards but in playing those you hold well."
--Josh Billings
"The longer I live the more beautiful life becomes. If you foolishly ignore beauty, you will soon find yourself without it. Your life will be impoverished. But if you invest in beauty, it will remain with you all the days of your life."
--Frank Lloyd Wright
"Look, I really don’t want to wax philosophic, but I will say that if you’re alive, you got to flap your arms and legs, you got to jump around a lot, you got to make a lot of noise....As I see it, if you’re quiet, you’re not living. You’ve got to be noisy, or at least your thoughts should be noisy and colorful and lively."
--Mel Brooks
"Do what you can, with what you have, with where you are."
--Theodore Roosevelt
"The reward of a thing well done is to have done it."
--Ralph Waldo Emerson
"There is only one thing which will really train the human mind and that is the voluntary use of the mind by the man himself. You may aid him, you may guide him, you may suggestto him, and above all you may inspire him; but the only thing worth having is that which he gets by his own exertions; and what he gets is proportionate to the effort he puts into it."
--A. Lawrence Lowell
"If you want one year of prosperity, grow grain. If you want 10 years of prosperity, grow trees. If you want 100 years of prosperity, grow people. "
Chinese Proverb
"All things excellent are as difficult as they are rare. "
--Benedict Spinoza
