More Windows Fewer Walls

If we build more windows and fewer walls, we will have more friends.

Alan Loy McGinnis

Build Something Great

Rome was not built in one day.

John Heywood

They Make Us See

Our opinion of people depends less on what we see in them than upon what they make us see in ourselves.

Sara Grand

Rocking Chair

Worry is like a rocking chair: It gives you something to do but doesn't get you anywhere.

Erma Bombeck

Expecting Different Results

Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

Albert Einstein

The Greatest Salesman in the World

1. Today I begin a new life.
2. I will greet this day with love in my heart.
3. I will persist until I succeed.
4. I am nature's greatest miracles. I am unique.
5. I will live this day as if it is my last. And if it is not, I shall fall to my knees and give thanks.
6. Today I will be master over my emotions.
7. I will laugh at the world.
8. Today I will multiply my value a hundredfold.
9. This is the time. This is the place. I am the man. I will act now.
10. I will pray for guidance.

Og Mandino

A Tree Planted By The Rivers

Blessed is the man

       who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked 

       or stand in the way of sinners 

       or sit in the seat of mockers.

But his delight is in the law of the LORD,

       and on his law he meditates day and night.

He is like a tree planted by streams of water, 

       which yields its fruit in season 

       and whose leaf does not wither. 

       Whatever he does prospers.

Psalms 1:1-3 (NIV)

Hard Work And Talent

Hard work beats talent when talent doesn't work hard.

Tim Notke

More Important Than Fear

Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgment that something else is more important than fear.

Ambrose Hollingworth Redmoon

Face Rejection

In life we don’t get what we want, we get in life what we are. If we want more we have to be able to be more, in order to be more you have to face rejection.

Farrah Gray

Beating Procrastination

Beginning is half done! Every beginner is a winner. At least he won over inertia and procrastination and a fear of starting.

Robert H Schuller

Close to Success

Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.

Thomas A. Edison

A Lion and 100 Sheeps

I am more afraid of an army of one hundred sheep led by a lion than an army of one hundred lions led by a sheep.  

Charles Maurice, Prince de Talleyrand-Périgord

Appearance of Wildflowers

If God gives such attention to the appearance of wildflowers—most of which are never even seen—don't you think he'll attend to you, take pride in you, do his best for you? What I'm trying to do here is to get you to relax, to not be so preoccupied with getting, so you can respond to God's giving. People who don't know God and the way he works fuss over these things, but you know both God and how he works. Steep your life in God-reality, God-initiative, God-provisions. Don't worry about missing out. You'll find all your everyday human concerns will be met.

Matthew 6:30-33 (The Message)

Believe and You Will See

The world tells you, "You need to see it to believe it." But God says just the opposite. Only as you believe it will you ever see it. You've got to look through the eyes of faith and see it. Once you see it by faith, it can come into existence in the physical world.

Joel Osteen

Love and Hate

Love must be learned, and learned again, and again; there is no end to it.

Hate needs no instruction, but want's only to be provoked.

Katherine Anne Porter

Being Cool

Nothing gives one person so much advantage over another as to remain always cool and unruffled under all circumstances.

Thomas Jefferson

Young Mind

Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty. Anyone who keeps learning stays young. The greatest thing in life is to keep your mind young. 

Henry Ford

Leading by Doing

If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.

John Quincy Adams

The Truth About Failure

Failure doesn't mean you are a failure...

it does mean you haven't succeeded yet 

Failure doesn't mean you have accomplished nothing...

it does mean you have learned something 

Failure doesn't mean you have been a fool...

it does mean you had a lot of faith

Failure doesn't mean you have been disgraced...

it does mean you were willing to try 

Failure doesn't mean you don't have it...

it does mean you have to do something in a different way 

Failure doesn't mean you are inferior...

it does mean you are not perfect 

Failure doesn't mean you've wasted your life...

it does mean you have a reason to start afresh 

Failure doesn't mean you should give up...

it does mean you should try harder 

Failure doesn't mean you'll never make it...

it does mean it will take a little longer

Failure doesn't mean God has abandoned you...

it does mean God has a better idea!

by Robert Schuller

Better Returns Than Gold

Blessed is the man who finds wisdom, the man who gains understanding, 

for she is more profitable than silver and yields better returns than gold. 

She is more precious than rubies; nothing you desire can compare with her. 

Long life is in her right hand; in her left hand are riches and honor. 

Her ways are pleasant ways, and all her paths are peace. 

She is a tree of life to those who embrace her; those who lay hold of her will be blessed.

Proverbs 3:13-18

The Other Person's Shoes

Thomas Aquinas, who knew more about education and persuasion than almost anybody who ever lived, once said that when you want to convert someone to your view, you go over to where he is standing, take him by the hand (mentally speaking), and guide him. You don't stand across the room and shout at him; you don't call him a dummy; you don't call him over to where you are. You starts where he is, and work from that position. That's the only way to get him to budge.

Sydney J. Harris,

the columnist.

Anyway

People are unreasonable, illogical and self-centered

Love them anyway

If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish ulterior motives

Do good anyway

If you are successful, you will win false friends and true enemies

Succeed anyway

Honesty and frankness make you vulnerable

Be honest and frank anyway

The good you do today will be forgotten tomorrow

Do good anyway

The biggest people with the biggest ideas can be shot down by the smallest people with the smallest minds

Think big anyway

People favor underdogs but follow only top dogs

Fight for some underdogs anyway

What you spent years building may be destroyed overnight

Build anyway

Give the world the best you have and you get kicked in the teeth

Give the world the best you've got anyway

Reader’s Digest, Dec 1982

Why not?

You see things; and you say 'Why?' But I dream things that never were; and I say 'Why not?' 

George Bernard Shaw

Don't Quit

When things go wrong, as they sometimes will,
When the road you’re trudging seems all uphill,
When the funds are low and the debts are high,
And you want to smile, but you have to sigh,
When care is pressing you down a bit,
Rest, if you must, but do not quit.

Life is queer with its twists and turns,
As every one of us sometimes learns,
And many a failure turns about,
When he might have won had he stuck it out;
Don’t give up though the pace seems slow,
You may succeed with another blow.

Success is failure turned inside out,
The silver tint of the clouds of doubt,
And you never can tell how close you are,
It may be near when it seems so far,
So stick to the fight when you’re hardest hit,
It’s when things seem worst that you must not quit.

Edgar A Guest

Aim High

The greatest danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it.

Michelangelo

The Creed for Optimists

1. Promise yourself to be so strong that nothing can disturb your peace of mind.

2. Promise yourself to talk health, happiness and prosperity to every person you meet.

3. Promise yourself to make all your friends feel that there is something in them.

4. Promise yourself to look at the sunny side of everything and make your optimism come true.

5. Promise yourself to think only of the best, to work only for the best and to expect only the best.

6. Promise yourself to be just as enthusiastic about the success of others as you are about your own.

7. Promise yourself to forget the mistakes of the past and to press on to the greater achievements of the future.

8. Promise yourself to wear a friendly countenance at all times and give every living creature you meet a smile.

9. Promise yourself to spend so much time improving yourself that you have no time left to criticize others.

10. Promise yourself to be too large for worry, too noble for anger, too strong for fear, and too happy to permit the present of trouble.

by Christian D. Larsen

Do your best!

WHATEVER YOUR HAND FINDS TO DO, DO IT WITH YOUR MIGHT.

ECCLESIASTES 9:10

God's Sunshine

Never once since the world began

Has the sun ever stopped his shining.

His face very often we could not see,

And we grumbled at his inconstancy;

But the clouds were really to blame, not he,

For behind them, he was shining.
And so - behind life's darkest clouds

God's love is always shining.

We veil it at times with our faithless fears,

And darken our sight with our foolish tears,

But in time the atmosphere always clears,

For his love is always shining.

by John Oxenham

Great Many Troubles

"I am an old man and have known a great many troubles, but most of them never happened."

Mark Twain

Thinking Happiness

Think of the things that make you happy,
Not the things that make you sad;
Think of the fine and true in mankind,
Not its sordid side and bad;
Think of the blessings that surround you,
Not the ones that are denied;
Think of the virtues of your friendships,
Not the weak and faulty side;

Think of the gains you've made in business,
Not the losses you've incurred;
Think of the good of you that's spoken,
Not some cruel, hostile word;
Think of the days of health and pleasure,
Not the days of woe and pain;
Think of the days alive with sunshine,
Not the dismal days of rain;

Think of the hopes that lie before you,
Not the waste that lies behind;
Think of the treasures you have gathered,
Not the ones you've failed to find;
Think of the service you may render,
Not of serving self alone;
Think of the happiness of others,
And in this you'll find your own!

by Robert E. Farley