Og Mandino

“Practice the art of patience for nature never acts in haste.”

“Remember that the most difficult tasks are consummated, not by a single explosive burst of energy or effort, but by the constant daily application of the best you have within you.”

“You will achieve your grand dream, a day at a time, so set goals for each day.”

“I will live this day as if it is my last. …I will waste not a moment mourning yesterday’s misfortunes, Yesterday’s defeats, yesterday’s aches of the heart, for why should I throw good after bad?”

“Each rebuff is an opportunity to move forward; turn away from them, avoid them, and you throw away your future.”

“The great difference between those who succeed and those who fail does not consist in the amount of work done by each but in the amount of intelligent work.”

“Welcome every morning with a smile. Look on the new day as another special gift from your Creator, another golden opportunity to complete what you were unable to finish yesterday. Be a self-starter. Let your first hour set the theme of success and positive action that is certain to echo through your entire day. Today will never happen again. Don't waste it with a false start or no start at all. You were not born to fail.”

“Already, it is later than you think for your earthly life at best, is only a blink of an eye between two eternities.”

“The weakest living creature, by concentrating his powers on a single object, can accomplish good results while the strongest, by dispersing his effort over many chores, may fail to accomplish anything.”

“The height of my goals will not hold me in awe, though I may stumble often before they are reached.”

“A day merely survived is no cause for celebration.”

“My dreams are worthless, my plans are dust, my goals are impossible. All are of no value unless they are followed by action.”

“I will walk where failures fear to walk.”

“Never has there been a map, however carefully executed to detail and scale, which has carried its owner over even one inch of ground. Never has there been a parchment of law, however fair, which prevented one crime. Never has there been a scroll, even such as the one I hold, which so much as a penny or produced a single word of acclamation. Action, alone, is the tinder which ignites the map, the parchment, this scroll, my plans, my goals, into a living force. Action is the food and drink which will nourish my success. I will act now.”

“I will act now. I will act now. I will act now. Henceforth, I will repeat these words each hour, each day, everyday, until the words become as much a habit as my breathing, and the action which follows becomes as instinctive as the blinking of my eyelids.”

“Never again clutter your days or nights with so many menial and unimportant things that you have no time to accept a real challenge when it comes along. This applies to play as well as work. A day merely survived is no cause for celebration. You are not here to fritter away your precious hours when you have the ability to accomplish so much by making a slight change in your routine. No more busy work. No more hiding from success. Leave time, leave space, to grow. Now. Now! Not tomorrow!”

“The victory of success is half won when one gains the habit of setting goals and achieving them. Even the most tedious chore will become endurable as you parade through each day convinced that every task, no matter how menial or boring, brings you closer to achieving your dreams.”

“I will embrace today's difficult tasks, take off my coat, and make dust in the world.”

“In this world, the greatest rewards of success, wealth and happiness are usually obtained not through the exercise of special powers such a genius or intellect but through one's energetic use of simple means and ordinary qualities.”

“Never hide behind busy work. It takes just as much energy to fail as it does to succeed.”

“Shake off your blunders. How will you know your limits without an occasional failure? Never quit. Your turn will come.”

“Always let your reach exceed your grasp.”

“Always seek out the seed of triumph in every adversity.”

“I will live this day as if it is my last”

“Today will never happen again. Don't waste it with a false start or no start at all.”

“Many years ago, when I was just about as complete a failure as one can become, I began to spend a good deal of time in libraries, looking for some answers. I found all the answers I needed in that golden vein of ore that every library has.”

“I will persist. I will always take another step. If that is of no avail I will take another, and yet another.”

“Search for the seed of good in every adversity. Master that principle and you will own a precious shield that will guard you well through all the darkest valleys you must traverse. Stars may be seen from the bottom of a deep well, when they cannot be discerned from the mountaintop. So will you learn things in adversity that you would never have discovered without trouble. There is always a seed of good. Find it and prosper.”

“The person who knows one thing and does it better than anyone else, even if it only be the art of raising lentils, receives the crown he merits. If he raises all his energy to that end, he is a benefactor of mankind and its rewarded as such.”

“I will greet this day with love in my heart.”

“Whenever you make a mistake or get knocked down by life, don't look back at it too long. Mistakes are life's way of teaching you. Your capacity for occasional blunders is inseparable from your capacity to reach your goals. No one wins them all, and your failures, when they happen, are just part of your growth. Shake off your blunders. How will you know your limits without an occasional failure? Never quit. Your turn will come.”

“For the rest of my life there are two days that will never again trouble me. The first day is yesterday with all its blunders and tears, follies and defeats. Yesterday has passed away, beyond my control forever. The other day is tomorrow with all its pitfalls and threats, its dangers and mystery. Until the sun rises again I have no stake in tomorrow, for it is still unborn.”

“Always do your best. What you plant now, you will harvest later.”

“I shall live this day as if it is my last. And if it is not, I shall fall to my knees and give thanks.”

“A smile remains the most inexpensiv gift I can bestow on anyone and yet its powers can vanquish kingdoms.”

“Never neglect the little things. Never skimp on that extra effort, that additional few minutes, that soft word of praise or thanks, that delivery of the very best that you can do. It does not matter what others think, it is of prime importance, however, what you think about you. You can never do your best, which should always be your trademark, if you are cutting corners and shirking responsibilities. You are special. Act it. Never neglect the little things.”

“I am here for a purpose and that purpose is to grow into a mountain, not to shrink to a grain of sand. Henceforth will I apply ALL my efforts to become the highest mountain of all and I will strain my potential until it cries for mercy.”

“Failure is a man's inability to reach his goals in life, whatever they may be”

“Do not listen to those who weep and complain, for their disease is contagious.”

“Treasure the love you receive above all. It will survive long after your good health has vanished.”

“Realize that true happiness lies within you. Waste no time and effort searching for peace and contentment and joy in the world outside. Remember that there is no happiness in having or in getting, but only in giving. Reach out. Share. Smile. Hug. Happiness is a perfume you cannot pour on others without getting a few drops on yourself.”

“Nothing is easier than fault finding.”

“The wind is never for the sailor who knows not to what port he is bound.”

“There is an immeasurable distance between late and too late.”

“If I must be a slave to habit let me be a slave to good habits.”

“My days of whining and complaining about others have come to an end. Nothing is easier than fault finding. All it will do is discolor my personality so that none will want to associate with me. That was my old life. No more.”

“And I leave you now, not with sadness but with satisfaction and joy that we came together and walked, arm in arm, through this brief moment of eternity. Who could ask for more?”

“I can accomplish far more than I have, and I will, for why would the miracle which produced me end with my birth? Why can I not extend that miracle to my deeds of today?”

“Envy, like the worm, is always attracted to the fairest apple”

“If I persist, if I continue to try, if I continue to charge forward, I will succeed!”