Quotes from Orison Swett Marden

the flashlight of a potent personality of this kind has opened a rift in our lives and revealed to us hidden capabilities.

Even a momentary contact with a character of this kind seems to double our mental and soul powers, as two great dynamos double the current which passes over the wire, and we are loath to leave the magical presence lest we lose our new-born power. On

Does it pay to change a bar of rough pig iron into hairsprings for watches, thus increasing its worth to more than fifty times the value of its weight in gold?

What do you call the prime requisite of success?" "I shall have to answer that by a somewhat humorous but very shrewd suggestion of another,—select a good mother. Especially for boys, I consider an intelligent, affectionate but considerate mother an almost indispensable requisite to the highest success.

Luck is waiting for something to turn up; labor, with keen eye and strong will, will turn something up. Luck lies in bed and wishes the postman would bring him news of a legacy; labor turns out at six o'clock, and, with busy pen or ringing hammer, lays a foundation for a competence. Luck whines; labor whistles. Luck relies on charms; labor depends on character. Luck slips down to indigence; labor strides upward to independence.

Fijarnos limitaciones a nosotros mismos es uno de los pecados capitales de la humanidad.

It is only the generous giver who gets much.

The world grants all opportunities to him who can use them.

Magnetic personality is intangible. This mysterious something, which we sometimes call individuality, is often more powerful than the ability which can be measured, or the qualities that can be rated. Many

Remember that it is only through your work that you can grow to your full height.

To-morrow! it is a period nowhere to be found in all the hoary registers of time, unless perchance in the fool's calendar. Wisdom

Only those things grow in our nature which are fed. The quickest way to kill them is to cut off their nourishment.

Believe in yourself; you may succeed when others do not believe in you, but never when you do not believe in yourself.

I never knew a man to be successful who was always talking about business being bad. The habit of looking down, talking down, is fatal to advancement.

We long for freedom, we want to soar, to try the wings God gave us; yet we are losing our power because we do not, cannot, exercise it. We are wasting life, losing strength in petty pursuits and enslaving drudgery.

You could be on the other side of the door which you think is barred against you. It will open wide when you are ready to enter; that is, when you have paid the price of admission. No one can give you a free pass, and admission tickets are not transferable. You must pay the price yourself or stay outside. The price is self-effort.

What can defeat a strong man who believes in himself and cannot be ridiculed down, talked down, or written down? Poverty cannot dishearten him, misfortune deter him, or hardship turn him a hair's breadth from his course. Whatever comes, he keeps his eye on the goal and pushes ahead.

a dog as mad which simply has a fit, or is so frightened at being pursued by those who are afraid of it, and who project their state of mind to its brain, that it appears to be mad.

people. They do all their work three times over: once in anticipation, once in actuality, once in rumination. I do mine in actuality alone, doing it once instead of three times. This was by the intelligent exercise of Mr. Beecher's will-power in concentrating his mind upon what he was doing at a given moment, and then turning to something else. Any one who has observed business men closely, has noticed this characteristic. One

The punishment for bad manners is as certain as the punishment for crime. By common consent, society banishes the bad-mannered.

About as poor business as one can engage in is that of going through life with one's eyes so fixed upon what others have, that he cannot enjoy or appreciate his own.

A man will remain a rag picker as long as he has only a rag picker's vision.

It is a great thing to so carry yourself that when people see you coming, they will say to themselves, 'Here comes a winner! Here is a man who dominates everything he touches.

but you must see a new world before you can live in it. It is to what you see, to what you believe, to what you struggle incessantly to attain, that you will approximate.