Don't let anyone steal your dream. It's your dream; not theirs. ~Dan Zadra


"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light; not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves; Who am I to be brilliant; gorgeous; talented; fabulous?? Actually; who are you not to be?? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine; as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It is not just in some of us; it is in everyone. And as we let our own light shine; we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear; our presence automatically liberates others. ~Marianne Williamson; A Return to Love: Reflections on the Principles of ""A Course in Miracles;"" 1992 (commonly misattributed to Nelson Mandela; 1994 inauguration speech)"


If you must love your neighbor as yourself; it is at least as fair to love yourself as your neighbor. ~Nicholas de Chamfort


The courage to be is the courage to accept oneself; in spite of being unacceptable. ~Paul Tillich


A person can grow only as much as his horizon allows. ~John Powell


Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one's courage. ~Ana?s Nin; Diary; 1969


Without a humble but reasonable confidence in your own powers you cannot be successful or happy. ~Norman Vincent Peale


Every day we slaughter our finest impulses. That is why we get a heart-ache when we read those lines written by the hand of a master and recognize them as our own; as the tender shoots which we stifled because we lacked the faith to believe in our own powers; our own criterion of truth and beauty. Every man; when he gets quiet; when he becomes desperately honest with himself; is capable of uttering profound truths. We all derive from the same source. There is no mystery about the origin of things. We are all part of creation; all kings; all poets; all musicians; we have only to open up; to discover what is already there. ~Henry Miller; Sexus


Pay no attention to what the critics say. A statue has never been erected in honor of a critic. ~Jean Sibelius


It ain't what they call you; it's what you answer to. ~W.C. Fields


The way you treat yourself sets the standard for others. ~Sonya Friedman


All of us have wonders hidden in our breasts; only needing circumstances to evoke them. ~Charles Dickens


Mediocrity is a hand-rail. ~Charles Louis de Secondat; Baron de Montesquieu; Mes pens?es


You're never as good as everyone tells you when you win; and you're never as bad as they say when you lose. ~Lou Holtz and John Heisler; The Fighting Spirit


I am convinced all of humanity is born with more gifts than we know. Most are born geniuses and just get de-geniused rapidly. ~Buckminster Fuller


"Plant your own garden and decorate your own soul; instead of waiting for someone to bring you flowers. ~Veronica A. Shoffstall; ""After a While;"" 1971"


It took me a long time not to judge myself through someone else's eyes. ~Sally Field


Thousands of geniuses live and die undiscovered - either by themselves or by others. ~Mark Twain


Always hold your head up; but be careful to keep your nose at a friendly level. ~Max L. Forman


"Never dull your shine for somebody else. ~Tyra Banks; America's Next Top Model; ""The Girl Who Is Afraid of Heights;"" original airdate 17 October 2007"


I have great faith in fools; self-confidence my friends call it. ~Edgar Allan Poe


Self-confidence grows on trees; in other people's orchards. ~Mignon McLaughlin; The Neurotic's Notebook; 1960


I've spent most of my life walking under that hovering cloud; jealousy; whose acid raindrops blurred my vision and burned holes in my heart. Once I learned to use the umbrella of confidence; the skies cleared up for me and the sunshine called joy became my faithful companion. ~Astrid Alauda


We probably wouldn't worry about what people think of us if we could know how seldom they do. ~Olin Miller


Be humble; for the worst thing in the world is of the same stuff as you; be confident; for the stars are of the same stuff as you. ~Nicholai Velimirovic


Of all our infirmities; the most savage is to despise our being. ~Michel de Montaigne


If I am not for myself; who will be?? ~Pirke Avoth


Shyness has a strange element of narcissism; a belief that how we look; how we perform; is truly important to other people. ~Andr? Dubus


Learning too soon our limitations; we never learn our powers. ~Mignon McLaughlin; The Neurotic's Notebook; 1960


What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson


Confidence is preparation. Everything else is beyond your control. ~Richard Kline





Other people's opinion of you does not have to become your reality. ~Les Brown


"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"


The best way to gain self-confidence is to do what you are afraid to do. ~Author Unknown


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


Life marks us all down; so it's just as well that we start out by overpricing ourselves. ~Mignon McLaughlin; The Neurotic's Notebook; 1960


Whether you think you can or think you can't - you are right. ~Henry Ford


Don't live down to expectations. Go out there and do something remarkable. ~Wendy Wasserstein


Our ordinary mind always tries to persuade us that we are nothing but acorns and that our greatest happiness will be to become bigger; fatter; shinier acorns; but that is of interest only to pigs. Our faith gives us knowledge of something better: that we can become oak trees. ~E.F. Schumacher


"I'm not old enough to play baseball or football. I'm not eight yet. My mom told me when you start baseball; you aren't going to be able to run that fast because you had an operation. I told Mom I wouldn't need to run that fast. When I play baseball; I'll? just hit them out of the park. Then I'll be able to walk. ~Edward J. McGrath; Jr.; ""An Exceptional View of Life;"" quoted in Chicken Soup for the Soul by Jack Canfield & Mark Victor Hansen; 1993"


The things we hate about ourselves aren't more real than things we like about ourselves. ~Ellen Goodman


Aerodynamically the bumblebee shouldn't be able to fly; but the bumblebee doesn't know that so it goes on flying anyway. ~Mary Kay Ash


Many men are like unto sausages:? Whatever you stuff them with; that they will bear in them. ~Alexi Konstantinovich Tolstoy


Your problem is you're... too busy holding onto your unworthiness. ~Ram Dass


Great tranquility of heart is his who cares for neither praise nor blame. ~Thomas ? Kempis


People are like stained-glass windows. They sparkle and shine when the sun is out; but when the darkness sets in their true beauty is revealed only if there is light from within. ~Elisabeth K?bler-Ross


It is not the mountain we conquer but ourselves. ~Edmund Hillary


They are the weakest; however strong; who have no faith in themselves or their own powers. ~Christian Bovee


Always act like you're wearing an invisible crown. ~Author Unknown


Men harm others by their deeds; themselves by their thoughts. ~Augustus William Hare and Julius Charles Hare; Guesses at Truth; by Two Brothers; 1827


I am not afraid of storms for I am learning how to sail my ship. ~Louisa May Alcott


Self-assurance is contemptible and fatal unless it is self-knowledge. ~George Santayana; Character and Opinion in the United States; 1921


It's not who you are that holds you back; it's who you think you're not. ~Author Unknown


We have to learn to be our own best friends because we fall too easily into the trap of being our own worst enemies. ~Roderick Thorp; Rainbow Drive


Argue for your limitations and; sure enough; they're yours. ~Richard Bach; Illusions


Nothing splendid has ever been achieved except by those who dared believe that something inside of them was superior to circumstance. ~Bruce Barton


I was thinking of my patients; and how the worst moment for them was when they discovered they were masters of their own fate. It was not a matter of bad or good luck. When they could no longer blame fate; they were in despair. ~Ana?s Nin


Sex appeal is fifty percent what you've got and fifty percent what people think you've got. ~Sophia Loren


"Knock the ""t"" off the ""can't.""? ~Samuel Johnson"


What a man thinks of himself; that it is which determines; or rather indicates his fate. ~Henry David Thoreau


Confidence comes not from always being right but from not fearing to be wrong. ~Peter T. Mcintyre


Once you become self-conscious; there is no end to it; once you start to doubt; there is no room for anything else. ~Mignon McLaughlin; The Neurotic's Notebook; 1960


If you doubt yourself; then indeed you stand on shaky ground. ~Henrik Ibsen


Success comes in cans; not cant's. ~Author Unknown


A gold medal is a nice thing - but if you're not enough without it; you'll never be enough with it. ~From Cool Runnings


Let me never fall into the vulgar mistake of dreaming that I am persecuted whenever I am contradicted. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson


When there is no enemy within; the enemies outside cannot hurt you. ~African Proverb


Don't let people drive you crazy when you know it's in walking distance. ~Author Unknown


Our doubts are traitors; and make us lose the good we oft might win; by fearing to attempt. ~William Shakespeare; Measure for Measure; 1604


If you really put a small value upon yourself; rest assured that the world will not raise your price. ~Author Unknown


The man who acquires the ability to take full possession of his own mind may take possession of anything else to which he is justly entitled. ~Andrew Carnegie





A successful person is one who can lay a firm foundation with the bricks that others throw at him or her. ~David Brinkley


Make the most of yourself; for that is all there is of you. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson


You have to expect things of yourself before you can do them. ~Michael Jordan


God wisely designed the human body so that we can neither pat our own backs nor kick ourselves too easily. ~Author Unknown


People are crying up the rich and variegated plumage of the peacock; and he is himself blushing at the sight of his ugly feet. ~Sa'Di


It is folly for a man to pray to the gods for that which he has the power to obtain by himself. ~Epicurus


There are offences given and offences not given but taken. ~Izaak Walton


All that Adam had; all that Caesar could; you have and can do.... Build; therefore; your own world. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson; Nature


Men are not against you; they are merely for themselves. ~Gene Fowler; Skyline; 1961


I am not a has-been. I am a will be. ~Lauren Bacall


Put your future in good hands - your own. ~Author Unknown


It's hard to fight an enemy who has outposts in your head. ~Sally Kempton; Esquire; 1970


We are all such a waste of our potential; like three-way lamps using one-way bulbs. ~Mignon McLaughlin; The Neurotic's Notebook; 1960


Anyone who ever gave you confidence; you owe them a lot. ~Truman Capote; Breakfast at Tiffany's; 1958; spoken by the character Holly Golightly


Nobody can make you feel inferior without your consent. ~Eleanor Roosevelt


I quit being afraid when my first venture failed and the sky didn't fall down. ~Allen H. Neuharth


Self-love seems so often unrequited. ~Anthony Powell


Just as much as we see in others we have in ourselves. ~William Hazlitt


What a fool; quoth he; am I; thus to lie in a stinking dungeon; when I may as well walk at liberty!? I have a key in my bosom; called Promise; that will; I am persuaded; open any lock in Doubting Castle. ~John Bunyan


Chiefly the mold of a man's fortune is in his own hands. ~Francis Bacon





"Oliver Wendell Holmes once attended a meeting in which he was the shortest man present. ""Dr. Holmes;"" quipped a friend; ""I should think you'd feel rather small among us big fellows.""? ""I do;"" retorted Holmes; ""I feel like a dime among a lot of pennies.""? ~Author Unknown"


If we all did the things we are capable of doing; we would literally astound ourselves. ~Thomas Alva Edison


Spirit can walk; spirit can swim; spirit can climb; spirit can crawl. There is no terrain you cannot overcome. ~Irisa Hail


Lend yourself to others; but give yourself to yourself. ~Michel de Montaigne


When the grass looks greener on the other side of the fence; it may be that they take better care of it there. ~Cecil Selig