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Courage atrophies from lack of use.

To manage a business successfully requires as much courage as that possessed by the soldier who goes to war. Business courage is the more natural because all the benefits which the public has in material wealth come from it.

Charles F.  Abbott

I have now reigned above fifty years in victory and peace, beloved by my subjects, dreaded by my enemies, and respected by my allies. Riches and honors, power and pleasure, have waited on my call, nor does any earthly blessing appear to be wanting for my felicity. In this situation, I have diligently numbered the days of pure and genuine happiness which have fallen to my lot: they amount to fourteen. O man, place not thy confidence in this present world!

   Abd-er-Rahman III

There are high spots in all of our lives and most of them have come about through encouragement from someone else. I don't care how great, how famous or successful a man or woman may be, each hungers for applause.

George Matthew  Adams

Everyone who has ever done a kind deed for us, or spoken a word of encouragement to us, has entered into the make-up of our character and our thoughts, as well as our success.

George Matthew  Adams

Indeed, Mr. Jefferson, what could be invented to debase the ancient Christianism, which Greeks, Romans, Hebrews and Christian factions, above all the Catholics, have not fraudulently imposed upon the public? Miracles after miracles have rolled down in torrents, wave succeeding wave in the Catholic church, from the Council of Nice, and long before, to this day.

John  Adams

The Second Day of July 1776, will be the most memorable Epocha, in the History of America.—I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated, by succeeding generations, as the great anniversary festival. It ought to be commemorated, as the Day of Deliverance by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shews, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires and illuminations from one end of this Continent to the other from this time forward forever more.

John  Adams

Courage and perseverance have a magical talisman, before which difficulties disappear and obstacles vanish into air.

John Quincy  Adams

Note how good you feel after you have encouraged someone else. No other argument is necessary to suggest that one should never miss the opportunity to give encouragement.

George Matthew  Adams

Unbounded courage and compassion join'd, Tempering each other in the victor's mind, Alternately proclaim him good and great, And make the hero and the man complete.

Joseph  Addison

Courage that grows from constitution often forsakes a man when he has occasion for it; courage which arises from a sense of duty acts in a uniform manner.

Joseph  Addison

If you wish to succeed in life, make perseverance your bosom friend, experience your wise counselor, caution your elder brother, and hope your guardian genius.

Joseph  Addison

It is easy to be brave from a safe distance.

   Aesop

Courage: Great Russian word, fit for the songs of our children’s children, pure on their tongues, and free.

Anna  Akhmatova

As a rock on the seashore he standeth firm, and the dashing of the waves disturbeth him not. He raiseth his head like a tower on a hill, and the arrows of fortune drop at his feet. In the instant of danger, the courage of his heart here, and scorn to fly.

   Akhnaton [Ikhnaton or Akhenaton]

If at first you don't succeed, you're running about average.

M. H.  Alderson

My mother encouraged my writing, but I didn't exactly follow in her footsteps. She sold everything she ever wrote.

Robert Streeter  Aldrich

I will not steal a victory. The end and perfection of our victories is to avoid the vices and infirmities of those whom we subdue.

   Alexander III ‘the Great’

I send you a kaffis of mustard seed, that you may taste and acknowledge the bitterness of my victory.

   Alexander III ‘the Great’

Often the real test of courage is not to die, but to live.

Conte Vittorio  Alfieri

It is my right to be uncommon . . . if I can; I seek opportunity . . . not security. I do not wish to be a kept citizen, humbled and dulled by having the state look after me. I want to take the calculated risk; to dream and to build, to fail and to succeed. I refuse to barter incentive for a dole. I prefer the challenges of life to the guaranteed existence; the thrill of fulfillment to the stole calm of utopia. I will not trade freedom for beneficence nor my dignity for a handout. I will never cower before any master nor bend to any threat. It is my heritage to stand erect, proud, and unafraid; to think and act for myself; enjoy the benefits of my creations and to face the world boldly and say, ‘This I have done, and this is what it means to be an American.’

Dean  Alfrange

What is the highest secret to victory and peace? To will what God wills, and strike a league with destiny.

William Rounseville  Alger

He who is not courageous enough to take risks will accomplish nothing in life.

Muhammad  Ali

Oh, you who believe! Fear Allah, and seek a means of access to Him, and struggle on His way; perhaps you will succeed! (Koran 5:35) Commentary: . . . God commands believers to practice the fear of Him. This corresponds to what is called . . . the "station of repentance" which is the basis of all progress on the Way and the key which permits one to arrive at the "station of realization". . . . After that God says to us: "And seek a means of access to Him" . . . There is absolute unanimity among the People of Allah on the fact that, in the Way toward Gnosis, a "means of access", that is to say, a master, is indispensable. However, at the beginning of the Way he can be satisfied with books which deal with pious behavior and with spiritual combat in its most general sense. "And struggle on His Way": this is an order to do battle after having found a master. It is a matter of a special holy war (jihad), which is carried out under the command of the master and according to the rules which he prescribes. One cannot have confidence in a spiritual combat carried on in the absence of the master, except in very exceptional cases. . . . The dispositions of beings are varied, their temperaments are very different one from another and something which is profitable for one can be harmful for another.

'Abd  al-Kader

People of mediocre ability sometimes achieve outstanding success because they don't know when to quit. Most men succeed because they are determined to.

George H.  Allen

For those who will fight bravely and not yield, there is triumphant victory over all the dark things of life.

James  Allen

Whether you be man or woman you will never do anything in this world without courage. It is the greatest quality of the mind next to honor.

James Lane  Allen

Where faith is there is courage, there is fortitude, there is steadfastness and strength. . . . Faith bestows that sublime courage that rises superior to the troubles and disappointments of life, that acknowledges no defeat except as a step to victory; that is strong to endure, patient to wait, and energetic to struggle. . . . Light up, then, the lamp of faith in your heart. . . . It will lead you safely through the mists of doubt and the black darkness of despair; along the narrow, thorny ways of sickness and sorrow, and over the treacherous places of temptation and uncertainty.

James Lane  Allen

Don’t let the opinions of the average man sway you. Dream, and he thinks you’re crazy. Succeed, and he thinks you’re lucky. Acquire wealth, and he thinks you’re greedy. Pay no attention. He simply doesn’t understand.

Robert G.  Allen

Perseverance is failing nineteen times and succeeding the twentieth.

Julie  Andrews

One isn't necessarily born with courage, but one is born with potential. Without courage, we cannot practice any other virtue with consistency. We can't be kind, true, merciful, generous, or honest.

Maya  Angelou

Until the day of his death, no man can be sure of his courage.

Jean  Anouilh

Remark on way to guillotine, 16 October 1793. Courage! I have shown it for years; think you I shall lose it at the moment when my sufferings are to end?

Marie  Antoinette

We have almost succeeded in leveling all human activities to the common denominator of securing the necessities of life and providing for their abundance.

Hannah  Arendt

Peace is not the product of a victory or a command. It has no finishing line, no final deadline, no fixed definition of achievement. Peace is a never-ending process, the work of many decisions.

Oscar  Arias

The ideal man bears the accidents of life with dignity and grace, making the best of the circumstances.

   Aristotle

The beauty of the soul shines out when a man bears with composure one heavy mischance after another, not because he does not feel them, but because he is a man of high and heroic temper.

   Aristotle

It is more difficult to organize peace than to win a war; but the fruits of victory will be lost if the peace is not well organized.

   Aristotle

It is possible to fail in many ways . . . while to succeed is possible only in one way (for which reason also one is easy and the other difficult — to miss the mark easy, to hit it difficult).

   Aristotle

I count him braver who overcomes his desires than him who conquers his enemies; for the hardest victory is over self.

   Aristotle

Regardless of how you feel inside, always try to look like a winner. Even if you are behind, a sustained look of control and confidence can give you a mental edge that results in victory.

Arthur  Ashe

Satan is ever present, trying to destroy our glory and remove our crown. One of his most powerful tools is discouragement. Don’t let your discouragement make Satan rejoice.

Marvin J.  Ashton

Do not doubt your abilities. Do not delay your worthy impressions. With God’s help, you cannot fail. He will give you the courage to participate in meaningful change and purposeful living.

Marvin J.  Ashton

None of us need one more person bashing or pointing out where we have failed or fallen short. Most of us are already well aware of the areas in which we are weak. What each of us does need is family, friends, employers, and brothers and sisters who support us, who have the patience to teach us, who believe in us, and who believe we’re trying to do the best we can, in spite of our weaknesses. What ever happened to giving each other the benefit of the doubt? What ever happened to hoping that another person would succeed or achieve? What ever happened to rooting for each other? [Satan’s] tactic is stirring up hatred among the children of men. He loves to see us criticize each other, make fun or take advantage of our neighbor’s known flaws, and generally pick on each other. There will always be those in the days ahead who will be inclined to bash ourselves and others, but we cannot allow a heavy, crushing blow to destroy us or deter our personal or church progress.

Marvin J.  Ashton

The images of men’s wits and knowledge remain in books. . . . They generate still, and cast their seeds in the minds of others, provoking and causing infinite actions and opinions in succeeding ages.

Sir Francis  Bacon

I have over and over again explained that the purpose of the Boy Scout and Girl Guide Movement is to build men and women as citizens endowed with the three H's namely, Health, Happiness and Helpfulness. The man or woman who succeeds in developing these three attributes has secured the main steps to success this Life.

Sir Robert  Baden-Powell

The brave man is not he who feels no fear, For that were stupid and irrational; But he, whose noble soul its fears subdues, And bravely dares the danger nature shrinks from. 

Joanna  Baillie

Addressing the Columbia crew after winning the intercollegiate regatta: I congratulate you most heartily upon the splendid victory you have won, and the luster you have shed upon the name of Columbia College. I thank you for the Faculty of the College, for the manifest service you have done to this institution. . . . I am convinced that in one day or in one summer, you have done more to make Columbia College known than all your predecessors have done since the foundation of the college by this, your great triumph.

Frederick A. P.  Barnard

Nothing splendid has ever been achieved except by those who dared believe that something inside them was superior to circumstances.

Bruce  Barton

A man sentenced to death obtained a reprieve by assuring the king he would teach his majesty’s horse to fly within the year — on the condition that if he didn’t succeed, he would be put to death at the end of the year. “Within a year,” the man explained later, “the king may die, or I may die, or the horse may die. Furthermore, in a year, who knows? Maybe the horse will learn to fly.” My philosophy is like that man’s. I take the long-range view.

Bernard Mannes  Baruch

It is for man to establish the reign of liberty in the midst of the world of the given. To gain the supreme victory, it is necessary, for one thing, that by and through their natural differentiation men and women unequivocally affirm their brotherhood.

Simone de  Beauvoir

If you live long enough, you'll see every victory turn into a defeat.

Simone de  Beauvoir

Any man can work when every stroke of his hand brings down the fruit rattling from the tree to the ground; but to labor in season and out of season, under every discouragement, by the power of truth . . . that requires a heroism which is transcendent.

Henry Ward  Beecher

The most successful men in the end are those whose success is the result of steady accretion. . . It is the man who carefully advances step by step, with his mind becoming wider and wider — and progressively better able to grasp any theme or situation — persevering in what he knows to be practical, and concentrating his thought upon it, who is bound to succeed in the greatest degree.

Alexander Graham  Bell

Statistics are the triumph of the quantitative method, and the quantitative method is the victory of sterility and death.

Hilaire  Belloc

Courage is a special kind of knowledge; the knowledge of how to fear what ought to be feared and how not to fear what ought not to be feared.

David  Ben-Gurion

You must not allow yourselves to become discouraged. Missionary work brings joy, optimism, and happiness. Don't give Satan an opportunity to discourage you. Here again, work is the answer. The Lord has given us a key by which we can overcome discouragement: "Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart; and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." (Matthew 11:28-30.)

Ezra Taft  Benson

The lives and happiness of our children, as far ahead as the mind can reach, depend on us today. If we succeed, posterity looking back will record that this was indeed man's finest hour.

Carl A.  Berendsen

May I humbly, yet solemnly, add my testimony. I know that God lives. I know that Jesus is the Christ. This is his work; this is his church; he stands at the head today. More personally, I testify that he loves his children. When they suffer, whether from the effects of sin or the elements of nature, his perfect heart breaks. Yet his compassionate sorrow for us is swallowed up in his joy at our ultimate victory. For he knows the beginning from the end and sees, even as we suffer, the prize that we will win. There are miracles today. Some miracles just take time. This I believe.

Art  Berg

It is the perpetual dread of fear, the fear of fear, that shapes the face of a brave man.

Georges  Bernanos

Courage: fear that has said its prayers.

Dorothy  Bernard

If we have the courage and tenacity of our forebears, who stood firmly like a rock against the lash of slavery, we shall find a way to do for our day what they did for theirs.

Mary McLeod  Bethune

Wherever there is Krishna, the lord of yoga, and Arjuna, the archer, I think, there will surely be, victory, welfare and morality.

   Bhagavad-Gita

Mark, young man, the line you succeed in will be of your own finding. The Davids in life do not slay the Goliaths of difficulty and temptation in another's armor, even though it be the king's, but with their own self-made weapons, though they be nothing more formidable than a sling and a pebble.

G. E.  Bishop

If at first you don’t succeed, think how many people you’ve made happy.

H. Duane  Black

Whistling aloud to bear his courage up.

Robert  Blair

The more thou dost advance, the more thy feet pitfalls will meet. The Path that leadeth on is lighted by one fire — the light of daring burning in the heart. The more one dares, the more he shall obtain. The more he fears, the more that light shall pale.

Helena Petrova  Blavatsky

Bodhidharma: Even if a buddha or bodhisattva should suddenly appear before you, there's no need for reverence. This mind of ours is empty and contains no such form. Those who hold onto appearances are devils. They fall from the Path. Why worship illusions born of the mind? . . . The basic nature of a buddha has no such form. Keep this in mind, even if something unusual should appear. Don't embrace it, and don't fear it, and don't doubt that your mind is basically pure. . . . Also at the appearance of spirits, demons, or divine beings, conceive neither respect nor fear. Your mind is basically empty. All appearances are illusions. Don't hold on to appearances. If you envision a buddha, a dharma, or a bodhisattva and conceive respect for them, you relegate yourself to the realm of mortals. If you seek direct understanding, don't hold on to any appearance whatsoever, and you'll succeed. . . . The sutras say, "That which is free of all form is the buddha." Disciple: But why shouldn't we worship buddhas and bodhisattvas? Bodhidharma: Devils and demons possess the power of manifestation. They can create the appearance of bodhisattvas in all sorts of guises. But they're false. None of them are buddhas. The buddha is your own mind. Don't misdirect your worship.

   Bodhidharma

The Inevitable I like the man who faces what he must, With step triumphant and a heart of cheer; Who fights the daily battle without fear; Sees his hopes fail, yet keeps unfaltering trust That God is God,—that somehow true and just His plans work out for mortals; not a tear Is shed when fortune, which the world holds dear, Falls from his grasp — better, with love, a crust Than living in dishonor; envies not, Nor loses faith in man; but does his best, Nor ever murmurs at his humbler lot But with a smile and words of hope, gives zest To every toiler; he alone is great Who by a life heroic conquers fate.

Sarah Knowles  Bolton

The victory o£ success is half won when one gains the habit of work.

Sarah Knowles  Bolton

The courage to imagine the otherwise is our greatest resource, adding color and suspense to all our life.

Daniel J.  Boorstin

Courage enlarges, cowardice diminishes resources. In desperate straits the fears of the timid aggravate the dangers that imperil the brave.

Christian Nestell  Bovée

A failure establishes only this, that our determination to succeed was not strong enough.

Christian Nestell  Bovée

There are important cases in which the difference between half a heart and a whole heart makes just the difference between signal defeat and a splendid victory.

A. H. K.  Boyd

The world has a way of giving what is demanded of it. If you are frightened and look for failure and poverty, you will get them, no matter how hard you may try to succeed. Lack of faith in yourself, in what life will do for you, cuts you off from the good things of the world. Expect victory and you make victory. Nowhere is this truer than in business life, where bravery and faith bring both material and spiritual rewards.

Dr. Preston  Bradley

Conscience is the root of all true courage; if a man would be brave let him obey his conscience.

James Freeman  Clarke

For blessings ever wait on virtuous deeds,  And though late, a sure reward succeeds.

William  Congreve

The spiritual life is indeed a life of struggle; but it is also a life of well grounded hope. Hope is grounded in freedom, and freedom is grounded in all the high purposes and powers of spirit, human and divine. The last word of spirit is Victory.

Edgar Sheffield  Brightman

Do not pray for easy lives. Pray to be stronger men! Do not pray for tasks equal to your powers. Pray for powers equal to your tasks. Then the doing of your work shall not be a miracle, But you yourself shall be the miracle. Every day you shall wonder at yourself: At the richness of life which has come in you by the grace of God.

Phillips  Brooks

As a woman, I find it very embarrassing to be in a meeting and realize I’m the only one in the room with balls.

Rita Mae  Brown

I never expect to lose. Even when I'm the underdog, I still prepare a victory speech.

H. Jackson  Brown, Jr.

One who never turned his back but marched breast forward, Never doubted clouds would break, Never dreamed, though right were worsted, wrong would triumph,  Held we fall to rise, are baffled to fight better, Sleep to wake

Robert  Browning

Better have failed in the high aim, as I, Than vulgarly in the low aim succeed, — As, God be thanked! I do not.

Robert  Browning

If we must have heroes and wars whereinto make them, there is no war so brilliant as a war with the wrong, no hero so fit to be sung, as he who has gained the bloodless VICTORY of truth and mercy.

Isambard Kingdom  Brunel

The victory of endurance born.

William Cullen  Bryant

A victor only breeds hatred, while a defeated man lives in misery, but a man at peace within lives happily, abandoning up ideas of victory and defeat.

Siddhartha Guatama  Buddha

The age of chivalry is gone. That of sophisters, economists and calculators has succeeded.

Edmund  Burke

There is a courageous wisdom; there is also a false reptile prudence, the result, not of caution, but of fear.

Edmund  Burke

It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the Queen of France, then the Dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she just began to move in,—glittering like the morning star full of life and splendour and joy. . . . Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fallen upon her in a nation of gallant men,—in a nation of men of honour and of cavaliers. I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards to avenge even a look that threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded.

Edmund  Burke

Entirely too much energy of our state police force is [spent] controlling honest citizens, simply because it is something they can succeed in doing.

Robert W.  Burke

Scots, wha hae wi' Wallace bled, Scots, wham Bruce has aften led, Welcome to your gory bed, Or to victory! Now 's the day and now 's the hour; See the front o' battle lour.

Robert  Burns

You've got to believe if you want to succeed.

J. Laing  Burns, Jr.

The French courage proceeds from vanity — the German from phlegm — the Turkish from fanaticism & opium — the Spanish from pride — the English from coolness — the Dutch from obstinacy — the Russian from insensibility — but the Italian from anger.

George Gordon, Lord  Byron

It is best to be right about the big decisions, of course, but it is downright disastrous to let fear of being wrong keep you from ever sticking your neck out.

H.  C.

Julius Caesar's report of victory in 47 BC. over Pharnaces¸ king of Pontus: Veni, vidi, vici. I came, I saw, I conquered.

Gaius Julius  Caesar

What this misguided world and generation needs is a massive group of courageous and caring, wise and unwearying women.

Elaine  Cannon

All my life I knew that there was all the money you could want out there. All you have to do is go after it.

Curtis  Carlson

Tell a man he is brave, and you help him to become so.

Thomas  Carlyle

The courage we desire and prize is not the courage to die decently, but to live manfully.

Thomas  Carlyle

We had no more courage than Harriet Tubman or Marcus Garvey had in their times. We just had a more vulnerable enemy.

Stokely  Carmichael

You are merely not feeling equal to the tasks before you.

Dale  Carnegie

People rarely succeed unless they have fun in what they are doing.

Dale  Carnegie

Take a chance! All life is a chance. The man who goes the furthest is generally the one who is willing to do and dare.

Dale  Carnegie

The men who succeed are the efficient few. They are the few who have the ambition and will power to develop themselves.

Herbert N.  Casson

 The higher up you go, the more gentle you have to reach down to help other people succeed.

Rick  Castro

He who loses wealth loses much; he who loses a friend loses more; but he that loses his courage loses all.

Miguel de  Cervantes Saavedra

Forewarned, forearmed; to be prepared is half the victory.

Miguel de  Cervantes Saavedra

Art is the unceasing effort to compete with the beauty of flowers and never succeeding.

Marc  Chagall

Brave men are all vertebrates; they have their softness on the surface and their toughness in the middle.

Gilbert Keith  Chesterton

Courage is almost a contradiction in terms. It means a strong desire to live taking the form of a readiness to die.

Gilbert Keith  Chesterton

Courage is the strong desire to live taking the form of a readiness to die.

Gilbert Keith  Chesterton

Courage is the finest of human qualities because it is the quality which guarantees all others.

Sir Winston Leonard Spencer  Churchill

This is no time for ease and comfort. It is the time to dare and endure.

Sir Winston Leonard Spencer  Churchill

The problems of victory are more agreeable than those of defeat, but they are no less difficult.

Sir Winston Leonard Spencer  Churchill

It is no use saying, "We are doing our best." You have got to succeed in doing what is necessary.

Sir Winston Leonard Spencer  Churchill

Victory is the beautiful, bright-colored flower. Transport is the stem without which it could never have blossomed.

Sir Winston Leonard Spencer  Churchill

. . . You ask, What is our policy? I will say; It is to wage war, by sea, land and air, with all our might and with all the strength that God can give us: to wage war against a monstrous tyranny, never surpassed in the dark lamentable catalogue of human crime. That is our policy. You ask, What is our aim? I can answer with one word: Victory — victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror, victory, however long and hard the road may be; for without victory there is no survival.

Sir Winston Leonard Spencer  Churchill

In War: Resolution. In Defeat: Defiance. In Victory: Magnanimity. In Peace: Goodwill.

Sir Winston Leonard Spencer  Churchill

This is no time to speak of the hopes of the future, or the broader world which lies beyond our struggles and our victory. We have to win that world for our children. We have to win it by our sacrifices. We have not won it yet. The crisis is upon us. . . . In this strange, terrible world war there is a place for everyone, man and woman, old and young, hale and halt; service in a thousand forms is open. There is no room now for the dilettante, the weakling, for the shirker, or the sluggard. The mine, the factory, the dockyard, the salt sea waves, the fields to till, the home, the hospital, the chair of the scientist, the pulpit of the preacher — from the highest to the humblest tasks, all are of equal honor; all have their part to play.

Sir Winston Leonard Spencer  Churchill

Victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror, victory however long and hard the road may be; for without victory there is no survival.

Sir Winston Leonard Spencer  Churchill

Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.

Sir Winston Leonard Spencer  Churchill

A man of courage is also full of faith.

Marcus Tullius  Cicero

No man can be brave who thinks pain the greatest evil; nor temperate, who considers pleasure the highest good.

Marcus Tullius  Cicero

To garden, you open your personal space to admit a few, a great many, or thousands of plants which exude charm, pleasure, beauty, oxygen, conversation, friendship, confidence, and other rewards should you succeed in meeting their basic needs. This is why people garden. It can be easy but challenging, and the rewards are priceless.

Tom  Clothier

True courage is a result of reasoning. A brave mind is always impregnable.

Jeremy  Collier

Playing safe is probably the most unsafe thing in the world. You cannot stand still. You must go forward.

Robert  Collier

But when ill indeed, E'en dismissing the doctor don't always succeed.

George  Colman, the Younger

A good man will certainly also possess courage; but a brave man is not necessarily good.

   Confucius

To see what is right, and not do it, is want of courage, or of principle.

   Confucius

He who is really good can never be unhappy. He who is really wise can never be perplexed. He who is really brave is never afraid.

   Confucius

Facing it, always facing it, that's the way to get through. Face it.

Joseph  Conrad

Those who trust to chance must abide by the results of chance.

John Calvin  Coolidge

The most important thing in life is not the triumph but the struggle. The essential thing is not to have conquered but to have fought well.

Baron Pierre De  Coubertin

An empowered organization is one in which individuals have the knowledge, skill, desire, and opportunity to personally succeed in a way that leads to collective organizational success.

Stephen R.  Covey

When you can, always advise people to do what you see they really want to do . . . . Doing what they want to do, they may succeed; doing what they don't want to do, they won't.

James Gould  Cozzens

If at first you don't succeed, failure may be your style.

Quentin  Crisp

The virtue of all achievement is victory over oneself. Those who know this can never know defeat.

A. J.  Cronin

God, make me brave for life: oh, braver than this. Let me straighten after pain, As a tree straightens after the rain, Shining and lovely again. God, make me brave for life; much braver than this. As the blown grass lifts, let me rise From sorrow with quiet eyes, Knowing Thy way is wise. God, make me brave, life brings Such blinding things. Help me to keep my sight; Help me to see aright That out of dark comes light.

Grace Noll  Crowell

Numerical superiority is of no consequence. In battle, victory will go to the best tactician.

General George Armstrong  Custer

Comfort zones are plush lined coffins. When you stay in your plush lined coffins, you die.

Stan  Dale

In order to succeed you must fail, so that you know what not to do the next time.

Anthony J.  D'Angelo

The war of words is done; The red-lipped cannon speak; The battle has begun. The web your speeches spun Tears and blood shall streak; The war of words is done. Smoke enshrouds the sun; Earth staggers at the shriek Of battle new begun. Poltroons and braggarts run: Woe to the poor, the meek! The war of words is done. "And hope not now to shun The doom that dogs the weak," Thunders every gun; "Victory must be won." When the red-lipped cannon speak, The war of words is done, The slaughter has begun.

John  Davidson

A professor was telling students about his colleagues class. Students in the other class had taken to tossing erasers at the clock. Each precise hit caused it to jump ahead one minute. Before class one morning they succeeded in advancing the clock by ten minutes. Since the new time indicated that the professor was beyond the accepted starting time, the class left. The professor never said a word about the incident. However, he presented the class with a killer of a final exam. As the students labored to finish in the allotted time, the professor amused himself by tossing erasers at the clock.

Vicki  Davis

Imagine a life without uncertainty... Imagine how dull life would be if variables assessed for admission to a professional school, graduate program, or executive training program really did predict with great accuracy who would succeed and who would fall. Life would be intolerable — no hope, no challenge

R. M.  Dawes

Allow yourself to be inspired. Allow yourself to succeed. Dare to excel.

Vince  Dente

If I found any new truths in the sciences, I can say that they follow from, or depend on, five or six principal problems which I succeeded in solving and which I regard as so many battles where the fortunes of war were on my side.

René  Descartes

It is impossible to win the race unless you venture to run, impossible to win the victory unless you dare to battle.

Richard M.  Devos

Every serious-minded person knows that a large part of the effort required in moral discipline consists in the courage needed to acknowledge the unpleasant consequences of one's past and present acts.

John  Dewey

Success is counted sweetest By those who ne'er succeed. To comprehend a nectar Requires sorest need.

Emily  Dickinson

'Tis so much joy! 'Tis so much joy! If I should fail, what poverty! And yet, as poor as I Have ventured all upon a throw; Have gained! Yes! Hesitated so this side the victory!

Emily  Dickinson

You can't test courage cautiously.

Annie  Dillard

All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them.

Walter Elias “Walt”  Disney

Courage is fire, and bullying is smoke.

Benjamin  Disraeli

The disappointment of manhood succeeds to the delusion of youth: let us hope that the heritage of old age is not despair.

Benjamin  Disraeli

I never have frustrations. The reason is to wit: Of at first I don’t succeed, I quit!

Fyodor Mikhailovich  Dostoevsky

Courage follows action.

Mack R.  Douglas

So softly death succeeded life in her, She did but dream of heaven, and she was there.

John  Dryden

Quit thinking that tomorrow your problems will go away and life will begin in earnest. The Lord is waiting to help you cope today if you will lay your human-size needs at his divine feet.

Paul H.  Dunn

You remember the Duke of Wellington was talking of the Battle of Waterloo when he said that it was not that the British soldiers were braver than the French soldiers. It was just that they were brave five minutes longer. And in our struggles sometimes that's all it takes—to be brave five minutes longer, to try just a little harder, to not give up on ourselves when everything seems to beg for our defeat.

Paul H.  Dunn

When the Russians succeeded in putting the first satellite into orbit, one of their scientists is reported to have said, "Now that we have conquered space, our next conquest is that of man." An American anthropologist, Leslie A. White, of the University of Michigan, is reported in a Detroit newspaper as saying, "A cultural system which can launch earth satellites can dispense with Gods entirely." This is a great day for the false scientist—they who have left God out of their education. Of these the Apostle Paul even in his day warned his weakening convert, Timothy, to beware of: O Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust, avoiding profane and vain babblings, and oppositions of science falsely so called. (I Timothy 6 :20.)

Alvin R.  Dyer

I have come to know that adversity really means the things in life that challenge us and cause us to work with devotion and courage to overcome. I once stood on a street in Trondheim, Norway, looking up at a statue of a Viking. There came to my mind at that time a fable of the Norsemen that when a man won a victory over another, the strength of the conquered went over into his veins. Therefore, in this sense adversity is good, for it produces in us a source of strength as we learn to conquer our weaknesses.

Alvin R.  Dyer

Courage is the price that Life exacts for granting peace, The soul that knows it not, knows no release from little things.

Amelia  Earhart

Nothing gives a fearful man more courage than another's fear.

Umberto  Eco

It is one thing for the human mind to extract from the phenomena of nature the laws which it has itself put into them; it may be a far harder thing to extract laws over which it has no control. It is even possible that laws which have not their origin in the mind may be irrational, and we can never succeed in formulating them.

Sir Arthur Stanley  Eddington

We have found a strange footprint on the shores of the unknown. We have devised profound theories, one after another, to account for its origins. At last, we have succeeded in reconstructing the creature that made the footprint. And lo! It is our own.

Sir Arthur Stanley  Eddington

Every succeeding scientific discovery makes greater nonsense of old-time conceptions of sovereignty.

Sir Anthony  Eden

Be courageous. I have seen many depressions in business. Always America has emerged from these stronger and more prosperous. Be brave as your fathers before you. Have faith! Go forward!

Thomas Alva  Edison

Those who have succeeded have also had the ability to overcome adversity, disappointment, and even tragedy in their lives.

LaVell  Edwards

We tend to look at successful athletes and make them almost bigger than life. . . . I have seen many young men who have achieved greatness. I have also seen those who have come up a little short of their potential. I do know that those who succeed have been able to . . . recognize within themselves the potential to do something well and then work hard to prepare themselves for that eventual opportunity. Others wait for the opportunity to come and then start to work, thus coming up a little short.

LaVell  Edwards

After the Cougars' 19-15 Cotton Bowl victory over Kansas State We're the only team in NCAA history to win 14 games in a season. It was just a great experience and I can't say enough about it. . . . People don't know how difficult it is to get up for 15 games.

LaVell  Edwards

Potential does not always ensure success. . . . The greatest players have not always been the most endowed. In athletics, we often hear the phrase, “He has the will to win.” I think this is wrong. . . . We can have the greatest will to do well. But unless we have prepared, it is of little use. Really, it should be the “will to prepare.” Those who succeed have this will, whether it be in athletics, whether it be in school, whether it be in their chosen vocation, whether it be on a mission, or in almost any other phase of their life.

LaVell  Edwards

What counts is not necessarily the size of the dog in the fight — it's the size of the fight in the dog.

General Dwight David  Eisenhower

We succeed only as we identify in life, or in war, or in anything else, a single overriding objective, and make all other considerations bend to that one objective.

General Dwight David  Eisenhower

Most lies succeed because no one goes through the work to figure out how to catch them.

Paul  Ekman, PhD

A great part of courage is the courage of having done the thing before.

Ralph Waldo  Emerson

Courage charms us, because it indicates that a man loves an idea better than all things in the world, that he is thinking neither of his bed, nor his dinner, nor his money, but will venture all to put in act the invisible thought of his mind.

Ralph Waldo  Emerson

Courage consists in equality to the problem before us.

Ralph Waldo  Emerson

Half a man's wisdom goes with his courage.

Ralph Waldo  Emerson

There is always safety in valor.

Ralph Waldo  Emerson

What a new face courage puts on everything!

Ralph Waldo  Emerson

When a resolute young fellow steps up to the great bully, the world, and takes him boldly by the beard, he is often surprised to find it comes off in his hand, and that it was only tied on to scare away the timid adventurers.

Ralph Waldo  Emerson

To map out a course of action and follow it to an end requires some of the same courage that a soldier needs. Peace has its victories, but it takes brave men and women to win them.

Ralph Waldo  Emerson

Do not be too timid and squeamish about your actions. All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make the better. What if they are a little course, and you may get your coat soiled or torn? What if you do fail, and get fairly rolled in the dirt once or twice. Up again, you shall never be so afraid of a tumble.

Ralph Waldo  Emerson

To laugh often and much; To win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; To earn the approbation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; To appreciate beauty; To find the best in others; To give of one's self; To leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch, or a redeemed social condition; To have played and laughed with enthusiasm and sung with exultation; To know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived — This is to have succeeded.

Ralph Waldo  Emerson

Work is victory.

Ralph Waldo  Emerson

“Work,” says Nature to man, “in every hour, paid or unpaid; see only that thou work, and thou canst not escape the reward: whether thy work be fine or coarse, planting corn or writing epics, so only it be honest work, done to thine own approbation, it shall earn a reward to the senses as well as to the thought: no matter how often defeated, you are born to victory. The reward of a thing well done is to have done it.”

Ralph Waldo  Emerson

Men talk as if victory were something fortunate. Work is victory.

Ralph Waldo  Emerson

No matter how often you are defeated, you are born to victory.

Ralph Waldo  Emerson

The god of victory is said to be one-handed, but peace gives victory on both sides.

Ralph Waldo  Emerson

Wherever work is done, victory is attained.

Ralph Waldo  Emerson

If you do not wish to be prone to anger, do not feed the habit; give it nothing which may tend to its increase. At first, keep quiet and count the days when you were not angry: "I used to be angry every day, then every other day: next, every two, then every three days!" and if you succeed in passing thirty days, sacrifice to the gods in thanksgiving.

   Epictetus

Existence consist in the interplay of a plurality of elements whose true nature is indescribable and whose source is unknown. Combinations of these elements instantaneously flash into existence and instantaneously disappear, to be succeeded by new combinations of elements appearing in a strict causality.

Earle  Ernst

One is hard pressed to think of universal customs that man has successfully established on earth. There is one, however, of which he can boast the universal adoption of the Hindu-Arabic numerals to record numbers. In this we perhaps have man's unique worldwide victory of an idea.

Howard W.  Eves

Be scared. You can't help that. But don't be afraid. Ain't nothing in the woods going to hurt you unless you corner it, or it smells that you are afraid. A bear or a deer, too, has got to be scared of a coward the same as a brave man has got to be.

William  Faulkner

. . . no battle is ever won . . . they are not even fought. The field only reveals to man his own folly and despair, and Victory is an illusion of philosophers and fools.

William  Faulkner

I am more important than my problems.

Jose  Ferrer

If at first you don't succeed, try, try again. Then quit. There's no use being a damn fool about it.

W. C.  Fields

If you're strong enough, there are no precedents.

Francis Scott Key  Fitzgerald

It takes courage to live—courage and strength and hope and humor. And courage and strength and hope and humor have to be bought and paid for with pain and work and prayers and tears.

Jerome P.  Fleishman

What you have outside you counts less than what you have inside you.

B. C.  Forbes

The man who will use his skill and constructive imagination to see how much he can give for a dollar, instead of how little he can give for a dollar, is bound to succeed.

Henry  Ford

Nothing in this world is more inspiring than a soul up against crippling circumstances who carries it off with courage and faith and undefeated character—nothing! See Light From Many Lamps, edited by L. E. Watson, article by H. E. Fosdick, pp. 93-94 re: a serious cripple who succeeded.

Harry Emerson  Fosdick, D.D.

Lord grant me the Serenity to accept the things I cannot change, Courage to change the things I can, and the Wisdom to know the difference.

Saint  Francis of Assisi

Most men in a concentration camp believed that the real opportunities of life had passed. Yet, in reality, there was an opportunity and a challenge. One could make a victory of those experiences, turning life into an inner triumph, or one could ignore the challenge and simply vegetate, as did a majority of the prisoners.

Viktor E.  Frankl

And have we now forgotten that powerful Friend? Or do we imagine we no longer need His assistance? I have lived a long time; and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth: that God governs in the affairs of men. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without His notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without His aid? We have been assured, Sir, in the Sacred Writings, that ‘except the Lord build the House, they labor in vain that build it.’ I firmly believe this; and I also believe that, without His concurring aid, we shall succeed in this political building no better than the builders of Babel.

Benjamin  Franklin

Without justice, courage is weak.

Benjamin  Franklin

The Book: "So he settled on a method to help him succeed in his quest. He devised a little book and set it up in such a way that he could examine himself and mark his progress at the end of each day." "I entered upon the execution of this plan for self-examination and continued it, with occasional intermission, but I always carried my little book with me. . . ." "And it may be well my posterity should be informed that to this little artifice with the blessing of God, their ancestor owed the constant felicity of his life down to his seventy-ninth year in which this is written. . . . I hope, therefore, that some of my descendants may follow the example and reap the benefits."

Benjamin  Franklin

It would be one of the greatest triumphs of humanity, one of the most tangible liberations from the constraints of nature to which mankind is subject, if we could succeed in raising the responsible act of procreating children to the level of a deliberate and intentional activity and in freeing it from its entanglement with the necessary satisfaction of a natural need.

Sigmund  Freud

Nature is trying very hard to make us succeed, but nature does not depend on us. We are not the only experiment.

R. Buckminster  Fuller

Disagreeing with the fervent patriotism of the Confederates: "I think it's hard winning a war with words, gentlemen. . . . I'm saying very plainly that the Yankees are better equipped than we. . . . All we've got is cotton and slaves, and arrogance." “I seem to be spoiling everybody's brandy and cigars and dreams of victory.”

William Clark  Gable

My nonviolence does not admit of running away from danger and leaving the dear ones unprotected.

“Mahatma” Mohandas Karamchand  Gandhi

Satisfaction lies in the effort, not in the attainment, full effort is full victory.

“Mahatma” Mohandas Karamchand  Gandhi

The men who succeed best in public life are those who take the risk of standing by their own convictions.

James Abram  Garfield

A great part of its [higher arithmetic] theories derives an additional charm from the peculiarity that important propositions, with the impress of simplicity on them, are often easily discovered by induction, and yet are of so profound a character that we cannot find the demonstrations till after many vain attempts; and even then, when we do succeed, it is often by some tedious and artificial process, while the simple methods may long remain concealed.

Karl Friedrich  Gauss

Finally, two days ago, I succeeded — not on account of my hard efforts, but by the grace of the Lord. Like a sudden flash of lightning, the riddle was solved. I am unable to say what was the conducting thread that connected what I previously knew with what made my success possible.

Karl Friedrich  Gauss

The brave love mercy, and delight to save.

John  Gay

The first step is always to succeed in becoming surprised — to notice that there is something funny going on.

David  Gelernter

I looked up and saw my flag. But I didn't hear my anthem. The quotation above from 6 ft 4 inch, 286 pound Silver Medalist Ghaffari (who broke down in tears on the medal stand) summed up his disappointment after an overtime loss to Aleksandr Karelin of Russia. A win would have given Ghaffari not only the Olympic gold medal but also his first victory over Karelin, something of which he has literally dreamed about after 20 meets between the two. Karelin dominates international competition in the sport.

Matt  Ghaffari

A king there was once reigning, Who had a goodly flea, Him loved he without feigning, As his own son were he!

Johann Wolfgang Von  Goethe

Courage and modesty are the most unequivocal of virtues, for they are of a kind that hypocrisy cannot imitate; they too have this quality in common, that they are expressed by the same color.

Johann Wolfgang Von  Goethe

Rest not! Life is sweeping by; go and dare before you die. Something mighty and sublime, leave behind to conquer time.

Johann Wolfgang Von  Goethe

Encouragement after censure is as the sun after a shower.

Johann Wolfgang Von  Goethe

Pursue not a victory too far. He hath conquered well that hath made his enemy fly; thou mayest beat him to a desperate resistance, which may ruin thee.

George  Herbert

One does not discover new lands without consenting to lose sight of the shore for a very long time.

André  Gide

A man not perfect, but of heart so high, of such heroic rage, That even his hopes became a part of earth's eternal heritage.

Richard Watson  Gilder

The power of words is immense. A well-chosen word has often sufficed to stop a flying army, to change defeat into victory and to save an empire.

Emile De  Girardin

Valor, glory, firmness, skill, generosity, steadiness in battle and ability to rule — these constitute the duty of a soldier. They flow from his own nature.

Bhagavad  Gita

Striving for happiness is a long, hard journey with many challenges. It requires eternal vigilance to win the victory. You cannot succeed with sporadic little flashes of effort. Constant and valiant living is necessary.

Jack H.  Goaslind, Jr.

Lose this day loitering, ‘twill be the same story Tomorrow, and the rest more dilatory; Thus, indecision brings its own delays And days are lost lamenting over days, Are you in earnest? Seize this very moment; What you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Courage has genius, power and magic in it; Only engage, and then the mind grows heated. Begin it and the work will be completed.

Johann Wolfgang Von  Goethe

Money lost, something lost. Honor lost, much lost. Courage lost, everything lost—better you were never born

Johann Wolfgang Von  Goethe

Correction does much, but encouragement does more. Encouragement after censure is as the sun after a shower.

Johann Wolfgang Von  Goethe

A great deal of talent is lost to the world for want of a little courage. Every day sends to their graves obscure men whom timidity prevented from making a first effort.

Johann Wolfgang Von  Goethe

The only summit meeting that can succeed is the one that does not take place.

Barry M.  Goldwater

The struggle to save the global environment is in one way much more difficult than the struggle to vanquish Hitler, for this time the war is with ourselves. We are the enemy, just as we have only ourselves as allies. In a war such as this, then, what is victory and how will we recognize it?

Al  Gore

Without courage, wisdom bears no fruit.

Baltasar  Gracian

He either fears his fate too much, Or his deserts are small, That dares not put it to the touch, To gain or lose it all.

James  Graham

You'll always miss 100% of the shots you don't take.

Wayne  Gretzky

Most men have more courage than even they themselves think they have.

Fulke, Lord  Greville

It is true that when we take chances, we stand to lose. But it is also true that we will never win anything if we never even enter the game. Lucky people are aware of the possibility of losing, and indeed they may lose often. But since the chances they take are small, the losses tend to be small. By being willing to accept small losses, they put themselves in position to make large gains.

Max  Gunther

The difference between a hero and a coward is one step sideways.

Gene  Hackman

You and I must not complain if our plans break down if we have done our part. That probably means that the plans of One who knows more than we do have succeeded.

Edward Everett  Hale

The pursuit of peace and progress cannot end in a few years in either victory or defeat. The pursuit of peace and progress, with its trials and errors, its successes and setbacks, can never be relaxed and never abandoned.

Dag  Hammarskjöld

The courses of theVictory were absorbed into the main, then her topsails went, and then her top-gallants. She was now no more than a dead fly’s wing on a sheet of spider’s web; and even this fragment diminished. Anne could hardly bear to see the end, and yet she resolved not to flinch. The admiral’s flag sank behind the watery line, and in a minute the very trunk of the last main-mast stole away. The Victory was gone.

Thomas  Hardy

Few persons have courage enough to appear as good as they really are.

Augustus William  Hare

Every man should make up his mind that if he expects to succeed, he must give an honest return for the other man's dollar.

Edward Henry  Harriman

Give us the fortitude to endure the things which cannot be changed, and the courage to change the things which should be changed, and the wisdom to know one from the other.

Bishop Oliver J.  Hart

There is nothing better than the encouragement of a good friend.

Katharine Butler  Hathaway

Hope is a state of mind, not of the world . . . Either we have hope or we don't; it is a dimension of the soul, and it's not essentially dependent on some particular observation of the world or estimate of the situation. Hope is not prognostication. It is an orientation of the spirit, and orientation of the heart; it transcends the world that is immediately experienced, and is anchored somewhere beyond its horizons ... Hope, in this deep and powerful sense, is not the same as joy that things are going well, or willingness to invest in enterprises that are obviously heading for success, but rather and ability to work for something because it is good, not just because it stands a chance to succeed. The more propitious the situation in which we demonstrate hope, the deeper the hope is. Hope is definitely not the same thing as optimism. It is not the conviction that something will turn out well, but the certainty that something makes sense, regardless of how it turns out.

Vaclav  Havel

All brave men love; for he only is brave who has affections to fight for, whether in the daily battle of life, or in physical contests.

Nathaniel  Hawthorne

Gallantry to women — the sure road to their favor — is nothing but the appearance of extreme devotion to all their wants and wishes, a delight in their satisfaction, and a confidence in yourself as being able to contribute toward it.

William  Hazlitt

Courage is the complement of fear. A man who is fearless cannot be courageous. (He is also a fool.)

Robert Anson  Heinlein

Courage is grace under pressure.

Ernest  Hemingway

Out of the night that covers me, Black as the pit from pole to pole, I thank whatever gods may be For my unconquerable soul. In the fell clutch of circumstance I have not winced nor cried aloud. Under the bludgeonings of chance My head is bloody, but unbowed. Beyond this place of wrath and tears Looms but the Horror of the shade, And yet the menace of the years Finds and shall find me unafraid. It matters not how strait the gate, How charged with punishments the scroll, I am the master of my fate: I am the captain of my soul.

William Ernest  Henley

‘Tis a lesson you should heed, Try, try again. If at first you don’t succeed, Try, try again.

William Edward  Hickson

Courage is poorly housed that dwells in numbers; the lion never counts the herd that are about him, nor weighs how many flocks he has to scatter.

Aaron  Hill

No man can succeed in a line of endeavor which he does not like.

Napoleon  Hill

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