Seeds of Success Quotes (September 6, 2007)

“I’d die to win, ‘cause I’m born to lose.”
-Breaking Benjamin
“Firefly”

"The right thing to do is often the hardest thing to do!"
Immediately following this statement he would say,
"When will doing right thing align with the desire to do the right thing!"
Doug M.’s grandfather

“If you sit on a hot pan, a second can seem like an hour, but if you are talking to a nice girl an hour can seem like a second. That’s relativity!”
-Albert Einstein

“Some believe there is nothing one man or one woman can do against the enormous array of the world’s ills – against misery, against ignorance, or injustice and violence. Yet many of the world’s great movements, of thought and action, have flowed from the work of a single man. A young monk began the Protestant reformation, a young general extended an empire from Macedonia to the borders of the earth, and a young woman reclaimed the territory of France. It was a young Italian explorer who discovered the New World, and 32-year-old Thomas Jefferson who proclaimed that all men are created equal. ‘Give me a place to stand,’ said Archimedes, ‘and I will move the world.’ These men moved the world, and so can we all.”
-Robert F. Kennedy

“We must come to see that peace is not merely a distant goal we seek, but it is a means by which we arrive at that goal. We must pursue peaceful ends through peaceful means.”
-MLK, Jr.

“When my time on earth is done and my activities here have past, I want them to bury me upside down so my critics can kiss my ass.”
-Bob Knight

“You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.”
-Michael Jordan

“To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; to appreciate beauty; to find the best in others; to leave the world a little better; whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition; to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is the meaning of success.”
-Anonymous

“They can because they think they can.”
-Virgil

“Our greatest glory in never falling but in rising every time we fall.”
-Confucius

“Remember, we all stumble, every one of us. That’s why it’s such a comfort to go hand in hand.
-Emily Kimbrough

“Understand that friends come and go, but with a precious few you should hold on. Work hard to bridge the gaps in geography and lifestyle because the older you get, the more you need the people who knew you when you were young.”
-Unknown

“Coming together is a beginning, staying together is a progress, and working together is success.”
-Henry Ford

“The person who gets the farthest is generally the one who is willing to do and dare. The sure-thing boat never gets far from shore.”
-Dale Carnegie

“A resolute determination is the truest wisdom.”
-Napoleon I

“Happiness is like peeing your pants. Everyone around you can see it but only you can feel its warmth.”

“Success is dependent on effort.”
-Sophocles

“Success usually comes to those who are too busy to be looking for it.”
-Henry David Thoreau

“Motivation will almost always beat mere talent.”
-Norman Augustine

“If life is a game, I’m a try my best to win ‘cause when you die, that’s it, there’s no extra men so make sure you think before every move you take. For there are pros and cons for each and every move you make.
-Stephen Williams, Jr.

“The beautiful thing about learning is that no one can take it away from you.”
-B.B. King

“In three words I can sum up everything I’ve learned about life: It goes on.”
-Robert Frost

“Aim for success, not perfection. Never give up your right to be wrong because then you will lose the ability to learn new things and move forward with your life.”
-David M. Burns

“Eighty-seven percent of success is just showing up.”
-Anonymous

“Be willing to be uncomfortable. Be comfortable being uncomfortable. It may be tough, but it’s a small price to pay for living a dream.”
-Anonymous

“My short term goal (relatively short, anyway) is to make all A’s this semester. I’d also like to get a strong support-base of friends as well as keep the friends I have back home.

A man that is willing to sacrifice for safety will soon lose both.
-Unknown

Thou has no greater gift than this: to lay down your life for your friends.
-Bible verse (can’t remember reference)

“Your actions speak so loud I can’t hear the words coming out of your mouth.”
-Coach Brockhof

“A country that values its privileges over its principles soon loses both.”
-Dwight D. Eisenhower

“People today seem to value little things that are not really law and get so upset when those privileges are infringed to protect them and keep the country going.”

“The thing always happens that you really believe in, and the belief in a thing makes it happen.”
-Frank Loyd Wright

“If you give a man a fish, you feed him for a day. If you teach a man how to fish, you feed him for a lifetime.
-Chinese Proverb

“The real opportunity for success lies within the person and not in the job.”
-Zig Ziglor

“The man who can drive himself further once the effort gets painful is the man who will win.”
-Roger Bannister

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”
-Mark Twain

“If you are cheating, you are not trying.” -My dad.
Comment: This means that cheating isn’t going to get you nowhere in life.

“Carpe diem quam minimum credula postero – Seize the day, trust as little as possible in tomorrow.
-Horace

“Time is our most precious commodity; spend it wisely.”
Comment: This makes me want to do my very best and live every day like it’s my last.

“We learn from history that we learn nothing from history.”
-George Bernard Shaw

“Everything has its beauty but not everyone sees it.”
-Confucius

“The real leader has no need to lead – he is content to point the way.”
-Henry Miller

“Every point is precious.” This quote was said by my dad, and he was talking about doing well in school. It is true because when a student has a borderline grade in a class, one point can make a difference.

“Do not go where the trail may lead, go instead where there is no trail, and leave a path.”
-Ralph Waldo Emerson

“There is no comparison between that which is lost by not succeeding, and that which is lost by not trying.”
-Francis Bacon

“To live is not to win. To win is to live.”
-Anonymous

“Live like you’ll die tomorrow. Dream like you’ll live forever.”
-James Dean

“You can’t base your life on the past or present. You have to tell me about your future.”

“It has always been my opinion that true success is measured on what you are, not what you have.”
-Unknown
Response: The possessions one may hold do not speak as strongly as the actions one takes.

“Nobody got anywhere in the world by simply being content.”
-Louis L’amour

“Being born into apathy is dieing upon your birth.”
-Matthew Keppler

“A man’s effort will always equal his output. High effort yields great output.”
-Unknown

“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act but a habit.”
-Aristotle

“The future depends on what we do in the present.”
-Mahatma Ghandi

“The difference between a successful person and others is not a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but rather a lack of will.”
-Vincent T. Lombardi
Comment: If we don’t have the will or desire to be successful, it probably won’t happen. You can’t have just the brilliant mind, you have to take it a step farther.

“He who opens a school door, closes a prison.”
-Victor Hugo
“Happiness depends upon ourselves.”
-Aristotle
Comments: The first quote seems pretty true in almost all situations. By educating the youth properly, we create a better future. The second quote relates to my outlook on life. We are responsible for how our future turns out.

“The toughest thing about success is that you’ve got to keep on being a success.”
-Irving Berlin

“If I had learned education I would not have had time to learn anything else.”

“A successful man is one who can lay a firm foundation with the bricks others have thrown at him.”
-David Brinkley

“Success is not determined by where you end in life but the obstacles you overcame on the way.”
-Booker T. Washington

“This is the worst day of my life, Bart”. Response, “The worst day of your life yet?”
-Homer Simpson

“Never have so few, done so much, for so many.”
-Winston Churchill

“Tread softly and carry a big stick.”
-Theodore Roosevelt

“If you always put limits on everything you do, physical or anything else, it will spread into your work and into your life. There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them.”
-Bruce Lee

“Train for the worst, the best will always happen.

“Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. life is either a daring adventure or nothing.”
-Helen Keller

“The principles you live by create the world you live in; if you change the principles you live by you will change your world.”
- Blaine Lee

“Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy.”
-Ben Franklin

“The power of imagination is infinite.!”
-John Muir

“87% of statistics are made upon the spot.”

“If A equals success, then the formula is: A = X + Y + Z. X is work. Y is play. Z is keep your mouth shut.”
-Albert Einstein
Comment: This quote seems to say work hard, leave time for play, and don’t contradict those that know better than you, unless you’re sure you are right.

“A man can stand anything except a succession of ordinary days.”
-Goethe

“If your success is not on your own terms, if it looks good to the world but does not feel good in your heart, it is not success at all.”
-Anna Quindlen (1953- )
Comment: Really, indeed. I mean, success implies being happy, at least in my terms. If you’re not happy at your core, then even if everyone else is happy with you, you won’t be happy and therefore, not successful.

“Success is a simple matter of luck. Ask any failure.”
-Earl Nightingale

“A politician needs the ability to foretell what is going to happen tomorrow, next month, and next year. And to have the ability afterwards to explain why it didn’t happen.”
-Winston Churchill

“All great things are simple, and many can be expressed in a single word: freedom, justice, honor, duty, mercy, hope.”
-Winston Churchill

“Laziness is nothing more than the habit of resting before you get tired.”
-Jules Renard (1864-1910)

“Any word you have to hunt for in a thesaurus is the wrong word. There are no exceptions to this rule.”
-Stephen King (1947- )

“Mistakes are part of being human. Appreciate your mistakes for what they are: precious life lessons that can only be learned the hard way. Unless it’s a fatal mistake, which, at least, others can learn from.”
-Al Franken

“When God takes something from your grasp, he’s not punishing you, but merely opening your hands to receive something better.”

“You cannot propel yourself forward by patting yourself on the back.”
-Steve Prefontaine

“Imagination is greater than knowledge.”
-Albert Einstein

“I am a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work the more I have of it.”
-Thomas Jefferson


The Guy in the Glass
by Dale Wimbrow (1934)
http://www.theguyintheglass.com/
When you get what you want in your struggle for self,
And the world makes you King for a day,
Then go to the mirror and look at yourself,
And see what the guy has to say.

For it isn’t your Father or Mother, or Wife,
Who judgment upon you must pass.
The feller whose verdict counts most in your life
Is the guy staring back from the glass.

He’s the feller to please, never mind all the rest,
For he’s with you clear up to the end.
And you’ve passed your most dangerous, difficult test
If the guy in the glass is your friend.

You may be like Jack Horner and “chisel” a plum,
And think you’re a wonderful guy,
But the man in the glass says you’re only a bum
If you can’t look him straight in the eye.

You can fool the whole world down the pathway of years,
And get pats on the back as you pass,
But your final reward will be heartaches and tears
If you’ve cheated the guy in the glass.

Jason’s Comment: This poem has been claimed by others to be theirs, but the original is this. This poem is especially meaningful for me because it is the most important value I live by. I read this poem during desperate times. I was overwhelmed by school work and lied a few times for my own personal gain. Though some people consider my wrong doings to be only minor offenses, but I was still a bum because I’ve cheated myself. But I finally realized I should forgive myself, because I’m only human. I look at the guy in the glass with a smile because I have stepped atop of my past mistakes.