Good Thoughts – 2012-01-20

In every one of us there are two ruling and directing principles, whose guidance we follow wherever they may lead; the one being an innate desire of pleasure; the other, an acquired judgment which aspires after excellence.

It’s enough for you to do it once for a few men to remember you. But if you do it year after year, then many people remember you and they tell it to their children, and their children and grandchildren remember and, if it concerns books, they can read them. And if it’s good enough, it will last as long as there are human beings.

Firmness of purpose is one of the most necessary sinews of character and one of the best instrument of success. Without it, genius wastes its efforts in a maze of inconsistencies.

Excellence is an art won by training and habituation. We do not act rightly because we have virtue or excellence, but rather we have those because we acted rightly. We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then is not an act but a habit.

The great difficulty is first to win a reputation; the next to keep it while you live; and the next to preserve it after you die, when affection and interest are over, and nothing but sterling excellence can preserve your name. Never suffer youth to be an excuse for inadequacy, nor age and fame to be an excuse for indolence.

The ability to discipline yourself to delay gratification in the short term in order to enjoy greater rewards in the long term is the indispensable per-requisite for success

“Many of life’s failures are men who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.”

“Most people achieved their greatest success one step beyond what looked like their greatest failure.”

“ If you miss an opportunity don’t fill the eyes with tears.It will hide another better opportunity in front of you.”

Success is not to be measured by the position someone has reached in life, but the obstacles he has overcome while trying to succeed.