"If a man believes and expects great..." - Quote by Henry David Thoreau
If a man believes and expects great things of himself, it makes no odds where you put him, or what you show him . . he will be surrounded by grandeur.
More by Henry David Thoreau
“But man's capacities have never been measured; nor are we to judge of what he can do by any precedents, so little have been tried.”
“It is a relief to read some true book, wherein all are equally dead,--equally alive. I think the best parts of Shakespeare would only be enhanced by the most thrilling and affecting events. I have found it so. And so much the more, as they are not intended for consolation.”
“Governments show thus how successfully men can be imposed on, even impose on themselves, for their own advantage.”
More on Self Belief
“At first people asked us, 'Can you do it?' And we kept silent because we didn't believe in ourselves, we didn't believe that we could do things. Today people no longer say to us, 'Can you?' They say, 'When can you?' Because the Indians finally believe in themselves, they believe they can do things.”
“Difficulties seldom defeat people; lack of faith in themselves usually does it.”
“I know what's within me even if you can't see it yet...I have something more important than courage, I have patience. I will become what I know I am.”
More on Potential
“They looked like two children," she told me. And that thought frightened her, because she'd always felt that only children are capable of everything.”
“I am larger, better than I thought; I did not know I held so much goodness.”
“We've seen what can be accomplished when we use 50% of our human capacity. If you visualize what 100% can do, you'll join me as an unbridled optimist about America's future.”