We lift ourselves by our thought, we climb upon our vision of ourselves. If you want to enlarge your life, you must first enlarge your thought of it and of yourself. Hold the ideal of yourself as you long to be, always, everywhere - your ideal of what you long to attain - the ideal of health, efficiency, success.
Interpretation
Our thoughts shape our lives, and to achieve greatness, we must first envision it for ourselves.
This quote emphasizes the power of thought and vision in shaping our reality. It suggests that in order to achieve our desired outcomes in life, we must cultivate a strong and positive self-image, envision what we wish to attain, and consistently strive to embody that ideal. The focus is on the importance of mental frameworks and personal ideals in the pursuit of success and fulfillment.
In practice
In a motivational speech to inspire students to dream big and envision their futures.
Opportunity is latent in the very foundation of human society. Opportunity is everywhere about us. But the preparation to seize upon the opportunity, and to make the most of it, is to be made by every one for himself ... he will be self-made or never made.
You know from past experiences that whenever you have been driven to the wall, or thought you were, you have extricated yourself in a way which you never would have dreamed possible had you not been put to the test. The trouble is that in your everyday life you don't go deep enough to tap the divine mind within you.
You cannot measure a man by his failures. You must know what use he makes of them. What did they mean to him. What did he get out of them.
Something greater than wealth, grander even than fame β that manhood, character, stand for success, and that nothing else really does.
Many a man has finally succeeded only because he has failed after repeated efforts. If he had never met defeat he would never have known any great victory.
If our dreams are sincere desires to achieve, not mere pipe-dreams, there is something deep within ourselves which comes out to meet them and helps to make them realities.
When we think too much about the opinions of others, we are letting them edit a book God has written.
Instead of announcing what you are about to tell is interesting, make it so.
Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.
Think of a flabby person covered with layers of fat. That is what your mind can become - flabby, covered with layers of fat till it becomes too dull and lazy to think, to observe, to explore, to discover ... not wanting to be disturbed or questioned into wakefulness.
Once you allow yourself to identify with the people in a story, then you might begin to see yourself in that story even if on the surface it's far removed from your situation.
Failure is a great teacher and, if you are open to it, every mistake has a lesson to offer.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.