Success as a Person

“Try not to become a man of success, but rather try to become a man of value.” -Albert Einstein

“The two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why.” – Mark Twain, writer of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer

“It’s not the years in your life that count. It’s the life in your years.” – Abraham Lincoln, who didn’t cut down the cherry tree.

Success in Others

“I view my role more as trying to set up an environment where the personalities, creativity and individuality of all the different employees come out and can shine.” -Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos; founder of LinkExchange, which was sold to Microsoft in 1999 for $265 million.

“Successful people are always looking for opportunities to help others. Unsuccessful people are always asking, ‘What’s in it for me?'” – Brian Tracy, motivational speaker and author who has spoken in 61 countries worldwide

“What does love look like? It has the hands to help others. It has the feet to hasten to the poor and needy. It has eyes to see misery and want. It has the ears to hear the sighs and sorrows of men. That is what love looks like.” – Saint Augustine, well known for his book, Confessions

Quality

“Be a yardstick of quality. Some people aren’t used to an environment where excellence is expected.” -Steve Jobs, cofounder of Apple Inc. and Pixar Animation Studios

“Bad things do happen; how I respond to them defines my character and the quality of my life. I can choose to sit in perpetual sadness, immobilized by the gravity of my loss, or I can choose to rise from the pain and treasure the most precious gift I have – life itself.” – Walter Anderson, an American painter and writer

“Associate with men of good quality if you esteem your own reputation; for it is better to be alone than in bad company.” – George Washington, who actually cut down the cherry tree

Success in Failure & Risk

“I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” -Thomas A. Edison, invented the light bulb, motion picture camera and 1,091 other patents

“You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.” – Wayne Gretzky, named “the greatest hockey player ever” by the NHL

“In order to succeed, your desire for success should be greater than your fear of failure.” -Bill Cosby

“I’ve missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.” – Michael Jordan, NBA states, “By acclamation, Michael Jordan is the greatest basketball player of all time.”

“The biggest risk is not taking any risk… In a world that changing really quickly, the only strategy that is guaranteed to fail is not taking risks.” -Mark Zuckerberg, founder of Facebook

Be Proactive

“The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now.” – Chinese Proverb

“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 safe harbor, catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore, Dream, Discover.” – Mark Twain, who’s real name is Samuel Langhorne Clemens

“I am not a product of my circumstances. I am a product of my decisions.” – Stephen Covey, writer the world famous book, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People

If you hear a voice within you say “you cannot paint,” then by all means paint and that voice will be silenced. – Vincent Van Gogh, painter of The Starry Night

When I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent left and could say, I used everything you gave me. – Erma Bombeck, wrote over 4,000 newspaper columns and published 15 bestseller books

Crazy Ones Change the World

“Here’s to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They’re not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them. About the only thing you can’t do is ignore them. Because they change things. They push the human race forward. And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.” -Steve Jobs, who put a ding in the world

“How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.” – Anne Frank, famous Holocaust victim who wrote The Diary of a Young Girl

How are you going to live your day?