"Personal Growth Quotes"



"The pursuit of excellence, in the face of adversity, is invariably matched by the glory of the result."
Author Unknown --- Submitted by Lyle Campbell --- Washington



"Make words your friends and constant companions for they will take you on exciting voyages of discovery across the seas of knowledge, understanding and wisdom."
Robert J. Simpson --- Submitted by A. C., Age 10 --- Ohio



"Be so strong that nothing can disturb your peace of mind."
Author Unknown --- Submitted by Shweta Prashar --- Delhi, India



Leader or Manager?

Leadership is the art of accomplishing more than the science of management says is possible. A leader goes where there is no path and takes others with him or he leaves a trail for others to follow. A manager follows a trail and may bring others with him on the journey. He may direct others to follow the trail. A manager helps people to see themselves as they are. A leader helps people to see themselves better than they are.

A leader composes the music from an idea in his head. A manager can direct the orchestra using the music written by the composer. A manager thinks that unless he has been explicitly told (Yes), he can't do it. A leader thinks that unless he has been explicitly told (No), he can do it. A leader will take chances and experiment. He is prudent, not reckless. A manager will weigh the pros and cons and decide what to do based on that analysis or his experiences or the experiences of others.

A leader takes action without direction from others. Without guidance from regulations and policies, the leader acts using his best judgment to achieve a goal that he visualizes. A manager interprets regulations and policies and takes action based on those regulations and achieves goals set by others. A manager monitors the action. A leader influences the action.

A leader has confidence in his ability and that of his subordinates. A manager has confidence in his ability to minimize risk through analysis and planning. A manager will make sure blame is affixed in accordance with the facts and credit is fairly and evenly distributed. A leader will take less than his share of the credit and more than his share of the blame.
Copyright © 2000 R. T. Novy



"The heights of great men reached and kept
Were not attained by sudden flight for they,
While their companions slept,
Were toiling upwards through the night."
Author Unknown --- Submitted by Venu R. --- New York



"Sometimes those in the circle put down those in the square. It is neither the circle or the square, but the spiral that leads to the top."
Author Unknown --- Submitted by J. Stefanek --- Colorado



"The vision of a champion is someone who is bent over, drenched in sweat, at the point of exhaustion, when nobody else is watching."
Anson Dorrance --- Submitted by R.C. --- New York



"He who fails to prepare, prepares to fail."
Joe Lewis --- Submitted by D. Jega --- Singapore



"Anything in life that is worthwhile will always cost you an effort."
Author Unknown --- Submitted by Cherie Cheung --- Wellington, New Zealand



"Look on the brighter side of life, for there is sunshine beyond the clouds."
Copyright © 1996 Cindi Altman



"Don't limit your challenges, challenge your limits."
Author Unknown --- Submitted by Angie Little --- Wisconsin



"You can't win or lose if you don't run the race."
Copyright © 1998 Desiree Edwards



"You can live your life one of three ways:
Looking back and hating,
Looking back and crying,
Or looking back and laughing.
The first two keep you looking back.
The last one helps you move forward."
Copyright © 2000 Mitchell Carter



"It has been said that some see things as they are and ask Why?,
While others dream of things that never were and ask Why Not?
I, however, see things as they could be, and ask How?"
Copyright © 1999 Zach Jacob



A Little Walk Around Yourself

When you're criticizing others
And are finding here and there
A fault or two to speak of
Or a weakness you can't bear;
When you're blaming someone's weakness
Or accusing some of pelf...
It's time that you went out
To walk around yourself.

There are lots of human failures
In the average of us all
And lots of grave shortcomings
In the short ones and the tall;
But when we think of evils
Men should lay upon the shelves.
It's time we all went out
To take a walk around ourselves.

We need so often in this life
This balancing of scales;
This seeing how much in us wins
And how much in us fails.
But before you judge another
Just to lay him on the shelf...
It would be a splendid plan
To take a walk around yourself.
Author Unknown --- Sent in by Andrew Ho --- Malaysia



"Love many, trust few, and always paddle your own canoe."
Author Unknown --- Submitted by Joseph Montano --- Colorado



"Things are seldom what they seem:
Quitters don't win, winners don't quit;
Potential is interesting, performance counts;
It is nice to be important, it is even more important to be nice."
Copyright © 1987 Gbenga Osunleye



"There are two kinds of people: One makes an excuse, one finds a way!"
Copyright © 1980 Frank Maiorano



"Once a job is begun
Never leave it until it is done;
Be the labor great or small
Do it well or not at all."
Author Unknown --- Submitted by Dean Kready --- Pennsylvania



"Take care to get what you like, else you will be forced to like what you get."
Author Unknown --- Submitted by Priya Laxminarayan --- India



"Try understanding instead of being understood."
Author Unknown --- Submitted by Art Eichmann --- Wisconsin



"Hire me an ATTITUDE. I can fill in the rest of the details."
Copyright © 2000 Dieter Tischler



"If people feel good about what they're doing, they'll do a better job."
Copyright © 1995 Frank Maiorano



"Approach each start of the day with something in mind and end the day with one word: DONE."
Author Unknown --- Submitted by Mokhethi Mabote --- Gauteng, South Africa



"Courage looks you straight in the eye. She is not impressed with power trippers, and she knows first aid. Courage is not afraid to weep, and she is not afraid to pray, even when she is not sure who she is praying to. When she walks, it is clear she has made the journey from loneliness to solitude. The people who told me she was stern were not lying; they just forgot to mention she was kind."
J. Ruth Gendler --- Submitted by Stacie T. --- Arizona



Dreams of Reality

The key to the search, the quest to achieve,
Is Motivation.

To admire and derive accomplishments of great men,
Is Inspiration.

The quality to let the mind free beyond boundaries, beyond the impossible,
Is Imagination.

To start feeling those dreams, to think them true,
Is Perception.

The insight to tread one road, the eye to choose one right path,
Is Direction.

To walk that chosen road, count milestones as you cross by,
Is Perspiration.

The joy of looking back, and cherishing the way,
Is Realization.

To continuously better oneself, and the qualities that make them,
Is Improvisation.

The final struggle to see no spec, no fault,
Is Perfection.

To reach the light at the end of the long road, a wonderful feeling,
Is Destination.
Copyright © 2000 Aishwarya Varadhan



"Forgiveness is a gift you give yourself."
Author Unknown --- Submitted by M.B. --- Stockton, United Kingdom



"If you hang around winners you to will be a winner; great people make great things happen."
Copyright © 1999 Gregory W. Ramfos



"Dreamers look to the future and see promise. Those who do not dream see only the future."
D. Elder --- West Virginia



"To achieve happiness in your life, you need to know only three things: What you want, what you're prepared to give up to get it, how to keep your balance in the process."
Copyright © 2000 Gina Roitman



"Everyone has a will to win, but very few people have the will to prepare to win. Purpose + Principle + Planning + Practice + Perseverance + Patience + Pride = Preparation"
Shiv Khera --- Submitted by Aparna Prasad --- Karnataka, India



"Life is only what we choose to make it."
MINMEI from the series Robotech --- Submitted by Chris Allen --- Kentucky



"You reap what you sow. Sow an action, reap a habit. Sow a habit, reap a character. Sow a character, reap a destiny."
Author Unknown --- Submitted by R. Cruse --- Arizona, United States



"To be a successful athlete I promise you will feel aches and pains. Ah, but if you put forth your body, mind, and soul towards your goal, perseverance will be your strength and those aches and pains will be your guide toward success."
Copyright © 2000 Jeremy Rasmussen



"Happiness is the highest level of success."
Author Unknown --- Submitted by L.M. --- Aberdeen, United Kingdom



"Live your life so that when your children think of honesty and integrity, they think of you."
Author Unknown --- Submitted by S.G. --- New Jersey



"If you're good at something, you don't have to "toot" your own horn. Plenty of others will do it for you!"
Copyright © 2000 Terry Zebrasky



"Everyday people in power make decisions that effect their business. How and who you want to handle the procurement of those decisions will affect the way you succeed!"
Copyright © 2000 Vince Virzi



Charles de Gaulle's 4 maxims on life:

  1. Always seize the inevitable (if you can anticipate the inevitable you can take advantage of it)

  2. Never relinquish the initiative

  3. Stay in with the outs (what goes around comes around)

  4. Never stand between a dog and a lamp post (you end up reacting to the inevitable, which is the opposite of being proactive)
Charles de Gaulle --- Submitted by Reg Kernke --- Queensland, Australia



"There is no such thing as failing. If you fail, still succeed at learning."
Copyright © 2000 Anna Goldstein



"In every problem there is a treasure hidden inside. It's your job to find it!!"
Author Unknown --- Submitted by Jess Morrison



"The only luggage in life you are permitted to carry along from the past are the lessons you've learned."
Copyright © 1994 AbraSam Aiyedogbon



"Never let a problem to be solved become more important than a person to be loved."
Author Unknown --- Submitted by D.L. --- Missouri



"Hard work is the most pertinent catalyst for success."
Copyright © 2000 Nick Pawlak



"COMMITMENT

Commitment is what transforms a promise into reality. It is the words that speak boldly of your intentions and the actions which speak louder than the words. It is making the time when there is none. Coming through time after time, year after year, commitment is the stuff character is made of; the power to change the face of things. It is the daily triumph of integrity over skepticism."
Author Unknown --- Submitted by Melissa McCarter --- Colorado



"Don't worry about what the future holds, but more of who holds the future."
Author Unknown --- Submitted by Lori Conard --- Missouri



"Try to remember what you were worrying about a year ago and if you can even remember, ask yourself if it really was worth worrying about. Now think about how you will feel about today's problem a year from now."
M.A. --- Massachusetts



"Failure is not falling down but refusing to get up."
Chinese proverb --- Submitted by J. Barton --- Texas



"It is in giving that one receives."
Author Unknown --- Submitted by J.C. --- Ohio



"Be nice to people on your way up because you will meet them on your way down."
Wilson Mizner --- Submitted by Chen Fawn Meng
      Malaysia




"Life can only be understood backwards but it must be lived forward."
Soren Kierkegaard --- Sent in by Kirk Scherz --- Washington



"It is better to shoot for the stars and miss than to aim for a skunk and hit it."
Brenda Gilmore --- Submitted by J. Barton --- Texas



"When I hire an employee I am constantly looking for those to whom I might need to say, 'Whoa' but never 'Gittyup'."
Copyright © 1994 Keith Straughn



"Your dreams minus your doubts equal your true worth."
Author Unknown --- Submitted by Bill Tait --- Pennsylvania



"Judge your success by what you had to give up in order to get it."
Author Unknown --- Submitted by A. Cruciano --- Virginia



"Our lives are full of successes, it's just a great percentage of our successes are overcoming failures! So take hope in a failure today, learn from it, and it is a success!"
Copyright © 2000 Dazza DeSeymour



"Do it trembling if you must, but do it!"
Emmet Fox --- Submitted by K.A. --- British Columbia, Canada



"In the confrontation between the stream and the rock, the stream always wins - not through strength but by perseverance."
Author Unknown --- Submitted by Marcia S. --- North Carolina



"Be a slave to your conscience and a master to your mind."
Author Unknown --- Submitted by Angela Philips --- Andhra Pradesh, India



"Life is filled with so many exciting twists and turns. Hop off the straight and narrow whenever you can and take the winding paths. Experience the exhilaration of the view from the edge. Because the moments spent there, that take your breath away, are what make you feel truly alive."
Copyright © 2000 Stacey Charter



"The man who said he never had a chance, never took one."
Author Unknown --- Submitted by Mike Downes --- North Carolina



"When you reach your limit, break through it!"
Copyright © 2000 Matthew Mehler



"One must still have chaos in oneself to be able to give birth to a dancing star."
Nietzche --- Submitted by G. Bransteitter --- Colorado



"Whatever you say, say it with Authority, Conviction, and Enthusiasm!"
Author Unknown --- Submitted by Jesse Pena --- Texas



"It's never too late to do the dance of life. Take the chance, before the dance stops."
Author Unknown --- Submitted by Lynnette Coldani --- California



"There are things in life that are difficult to accept but we must in order to learn and progress."
Copyright © 1997 Archie Lancara



"You will never find happiness through self-satisfaction."
Author Unknown --- Submitted by E.A. --- Illinois



"You'll never make it to the next level by holding on to the first."
Copyright © 2000 Rod St.Hilaire



"Success covers a multitude of blunders!"
Author Unknown --- Submitted by Rad Zamani --- Georgia



"Success is not a concrete thing. It's an idea, a vision, and is never truly achieved. There's always more to conquer."
Copyright © 2000 Dallas King



"If people relied solely on reason, they would not run marathons. But we are not creatures of reason, we are creatures of passion. We need reason, of course, to steer the ship. But if the winds of passion are not in our sails, all the steering in the world would get us nowhere."
Noel Carroll --- Submitted by Nathan B. --- California



"A great leader doesn't try to explain her vision. She simply invites you along to stand beside her and see for yourself."
Reverend J.R. Inman ( inspired by Captain Sandra Perron)
--- Submitted by Steve Dowling --- Ontario, Canada




"If you are honest, you never have to remember what you said."
Author Unknown --- Submitted by Ed Harris --- Wisconsin



"Don't let anything without a heart beat you."
Sugar Ray Robinson --- Submitted by D.N. --- California



"Dream your wildest dreams and you will live a wild life."
Author Unknown --- Submitted by Michelle B. --- Victoria, Australia



"Part of being a good leader is knowing who to follow."
Copyright © 2000 Andrew Rodriguez



"Leadership is an opportunity to serve."
J. Donald Walters --- Submitted by Chen Fawn Meng --- Malaysia



"Success comes to those who dare to begin."
Author Unknown --- Submitted by M. Wilson --- Scotland, United Kingdom



"The 3 key components for success are as follows:
1) Psychological Preparedness
2) Physical Conditioning
3) Mental Toughness"
Chuck Norris --- Submitted by D. Jega --- Singapore



"Make it a point to be beautiful on the inside. One day the outside won't be so beautiful and inside will be all you have."
Copyright © 1999 Chrys Hambley



"A marathon runner... they run slow... but they run far..."
Copyright © 2000 Johnny Loh



"The long way around is the short way in the long run."
Author Unknown --- Submitted by Danny Taylor --- Queensland, Australia



"Whenever you fall, pick up something."
Oswald Theodore Avery --- Submitted by Erica Mimran --- California



"When you hear the word "No," stop, look, and listen. 'No' only means a better solution for everyone concerned is available. 'No' doesn't mean 'No' until you give up, give in, and give out. Follow your dreams. Don't take 'No' for the answer."
Copyright © 2000 Brynde' Lambert



"Gratitude is always the right attitude."
Author Unknown --- Submitted by Kirk Scherz --- Washington



"If you lie down with dogs, you'll wake up with fleas."
My Grandpa - Ken Williams --- Submitted by Andie Fabian --- Michigan



"The key to success in sales is your customers success. If you don't know their goal, you don't know yours."
Copyright © 2000 David Daley



"Your success is only limited by your desire."
Author Unknown --- Submitted by T. Gargiulo --- New Jersey



"Always fall in with what you're asked to accept. My aim in life has always been to hold my own with whatever's going, not against, with."
Robert Frost --- Submitted by Sharon Ogden --- Kentucky



"Always give people more than they expect to get."
Author Unknown --- Submitted by Sumit Bhargava --- India



THE 4 AGREEMENTS

  1. BE IMPECCABLE WITH YOUR WORDS:
    Speak with integrity and say only what you mean. Avoid using the words to speak against yourself or to gossip about another. Use the power of your words in the direction of truth and love.

  2. DON'T TAKE ANYTHING PERSONALLY:
    Nothing others do is because of you. What others say or do is a projection of their reality and their dreams not yours. When you are immune to the opinions and actions of others, you won't be the victim of needless suffering.

  3. DON'T MAKE ASSUMPTIONS:
    Find the courage to ask questions and to express what you really want. Communicate with others as clearly as you can to avoid misunderstandings, sadness, and drama. With just this one agreement, you can transform your life.

  4. ALWAYS DO YOUR BEST:
    Your best is going to change from moment to moment. It will be different when you are healthy as opposed to when you are sick. Under any circumstances simply do your bestand you will avoid self judgment, self abuse and regret.
Don Miguel Ruiz --- Sent in by Patricia Love --- California
--- Correction of author provided by Angie Latorre --- 4-23-01




"Don't talk about what you have done or what you are going to do, do it and let it speak for itself."
Author Unknown --- Submitted by Jennifer Yontz --- Florida



"Work smarter, not harder."
Marvin Johnston --- Submitted by Philip Blaylock --- Mississippi



"Only those who do not expect anything are never disappointed. Only those who never try, never fail. Anyone who is currently achieving anything in life is simultaneously risking failure. It is always better to fail in doing something than to excel in doing nothing. A flawed diamond is more valuable than a perfect brick. People who have no failures also have few victories."
John L. Mason --- Submitted by Kristy K. --- Oklahoma



"I have failed over and over again --- that is why I succeed."
Michael Jordan --- Submitted by D.L. --- New Mexico



"The distance from failure to success is never longer than the Bridge of HOPE."
Author Unknown --- Submitted by Allen G. --- Pampanga, Philippines



"If you tremble with indignation at every injustice, then you are a comrade of mine."
Che Guevara --- Submitted by Manuel Carmona --- California



"True teamwork is a two way street: Reaching out to help colleagues and also being open and receptive to help when it is offered."
Author Unknown --- Submitted by Ephraim Makwatse --- South Africa



"If I always do
What I've always done
I will always get
What I always got."
Author Unknown --- Submitted by P. Simpson --- Connecticut



"You must know where you've been, to know where you are. You must know where you are, to know where you're going."
Copyright © 1999 Gail Pasqualotto



"Some goals are so worthy, it's glorious even to fail."
Author Unknown --- Submitted by Guillermo Suarez --- Yucatan, Mexico



"Why dwell on the past, when you work so hard everyday to better your future?"
Copyright © 2000 John Eisler