Quotes on Motivation

Happiness does not consist in pastimes and amusements but in virtuous activities.

Praising children’s intelligence harms their motivation and it harms their performance.

'Tis the business of little minds to shrink; but he whose heart is firm, and whose conscience approves his conduct, will pursue his principles unto death.

Titles are but nicknames, and every nickname is a title.

Suspicion is the companion of mean souls, and the bane of all good society.

The most formidable weapon against errors of every kind is reason.

He who is the author of a war lets loose the whole contagion of hell and opens a vein that bleeds a nation to death.

The instant formal government is abolished, society begins to act. A general association takes place, and common interest produces common security.

Reason obeys itself; and ignorance submits to whatever is dictated to it.

Your net worth is not the same thing as your self-worth. Your value is not based on your valuables.

Typically [professors] live in their heads. … They look upon their body as a form of transport for their heads. It’s a way of getting their head to meetings.

My contention is, all kids have tremendous talents. And we squander them, pretty ruthlessly.

Many highly talented, brilliant, creative people think they’re not — because the thing they were good at at school wasn’t valued, or was actually stigmatized.

Our bodies change our minds and our minds can change our behavior and our behavior can change our outcomes.

When we think of nonverbals, we think of how we judge others. … We tend to forget, though, the other audience that's influenced by our nonverbals: ourselves.

I think that's an important thing to do, to really pay attention to negative feedback, and solicit it, particularly from friends. This may sound like simple advice, but hardly anyone does that, and it's incredibly helpful.

Communication always makes demands. It always demands that the recipient become somebody, do something, believe something. It always appeals to motivation.

It is well to remind ourselves that anxiety signifies a conflict, and so long as a conflict is going on, a constructive solution is possible.

There is a time to go ahead and a time to stay behind. There is a time to breathe easy and time to breathe hard. There is a time to be vigorous and a time to be gentle. There is a time to gather and a time to release. Can you see things as they are And let them be all on their own?

Work is a rubber ball. If you drop it, it will bounce back. The other four balls - family, health, friends, integrity - are made of glass. If you drop one of these, it will be irrevocably scuffed, nicked, perhaps even shattered.

The defining factor [for success] is never resources; it’s resourcefulness.