Catalyst Quotes

Compiled by Alex Pena ~ ‘Catalyst’: “to spark, to ignite, energize, mobilize; something that accelerates a reaction (DDI)." Thought-provoking & motivational quotes and stories for you to read, reflect on and move forward in making creative and positive changes in your life.

Archive for the category “Challenges”

“Remove a Mountain; Carry Away Small Stones”

 

“Nobody is here to fulfill your dream.   Everybody is here to fulfill his own destiny, his own reality.”      (Osho)

   

“One isn’t necessarily born with courage, but one is born with potential.  Without courage, we cannot practice any other virtue with consistency.   We can’t be kind, true, merciful, generous, or honest.”     (Maya Angelou)

 

“Few men are willing to brave the disapproval of their fellows, the censure of their colleagues, the wrath of their society.   Moral courage is a rarer commodity than bravery in battle or great intelligence.   Yet it is the one essential, vital quality of those who seek to change a world which yields most painfully to change.”      (Ernest Hemingway)

   

“Pay no attention to what the critics say; no statue has ever been erected to a critic.”      (Jean Sibelius)

   

“We gain strength, and courage, and confidence by each experience in which we really stop to look fear in the face … we must do that which we think we cannot.”     (Eleanor Roosevelt)

   

“The person who removes a mountain begins by carrying away small stones.”      (Chinese Proverb)

“Don’t Be Content Easily”

“…in all the woods and forests, God did not create a single leaf the same as any other …. People go against nature because they lack the courage to be different.”        (Paulo Coelho)

  

“Three daily reminders:   Have courage to say no.   Have the courage to face the truth.   Have the courage to do the right thing because it is right.”        (Mark Twain)

 

“Never doubt the capacity of the people you lead to accomplish whatever you dream for them.   It’s a principal that leaders like Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr. and Nelson Mandela have all embodied.  Imagine if Martin Luther King had said, ‘I have a dream – I wonder if people will be up to it?’”          (Benjamin Zander)

  

“Don’t be content easily.   Those who remain content easily remain small: small are their joys, small are their ecstasies, small are their silences, small is their being.   But there is no need! This smallness is your own imposition upon your freedom, upon your unlimited possibilities, upon your unlimited potential.”        (Osho)   

  

“It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are.”         (e.e. cummings)

 

“Trust the still, small voice that says, ‘This might work and I’ll try it.'”       (Diane Mariechild)

“Rule Number 6”

“Two prime ministers were sitting in a room discussing affairs of state.  Suddenly an aide burst in, shouting and stamping and banging his fist on the desk.   The host prime minister quietly said, “Peter, kindly remember Rule Number Six.”   Peter was instantly restored to complete calm, apologized for the interruption, and left the room.   The prime ministers resumed their discussion.  Several minutes later, another aide rushed in, shouting and stamping.   Again the host prime minister quietly said, “Marie, please remember Rule Number Six.”   Marie calmed down immediately, apologized, and left the room.

The visiting prime minister said “I’ve seen many things in my life, but never anything as remarkable as this.  Tell me, what is this Rule Number Six?”   The host prime minister said, “It’s really very simple.   Rule Number Six is ‘Don’t take yourself so damned seriously.’”   After a moment of pondering, the visiting prime minister inquired, “And what, may I ask, are the other rules?”   The host replied, “There aren’t any.”   (Unknown Author)

  

“Don’t take life too seriously.   You’ll never get out of it alive.”    (Elbert Hubbard)

  

“I am the author of my life.   Unfortunately, I’m writing in pen and I can’t erase my mistakes.”    (My Friend)

“You Need to Change Yourself”

 

“There is only one thing that makes a dream impossible to achieve:   the fear of failure.”     (Paulo Coehlo)

 

“Life is one big road with lots of signs.   So when you are riding through the ruts, don’t complicate your mind.   Flee from hate, mischief and jealousy.   Don’t bury your thoughts, put your vision to reality.   Wake Up and Live!”    (Bob Marley)

  

“To wallow is to bitterly complain “they are doing it to us again.”   To follow is to passively wait for “somebody to do something.”   To lead is to move forward with the conviction that “I am going to do something about this.”  If it is to be, it’s up to me.   Leading means taking initiative.   Leading is going and showing the way.  Leading uses persuasion rather than position of power.   Like the best navigators in the days of sailing ships, leading means figuring out how to capitalize on – or overcome – the conditions nature or life throws at us.”       (Jim Clemmer)

  

“Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves …  Do not now seek the answers, which cannot be given to you because you will not be able to live them.   And the point is, to live everything.   Live the questions now.   Perhaps you will then gradually, without noticing it, live along some distant day into the answer.”        (Mainer Maria Rilke) 

   

“You don’t need to change the world; you need to change yourself.”      (Miguel Ruiz)

“You Are Already a Masterpiece”

“Open your eyes, look within.   Are you satisfied with the life you’re living?”      (Bob Marley)

 

“We are not human beings having a spiritual experience.   We are spiritual beings having a human experience.”     (Pierre Teilhard de Chardin)

 

“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 Kübler-Ross)

 

“There is only one thing that makes a dream impossible to achieve: the fear of failure.”      (Paulo Coehlo)

 

“Drop the idea of becoming someone, because you are already a masterpiece.   You cannot be improved.   You have only to come to it, to know it, to realize it.”      (Osho)

“Make a Difference in Your Life”

 

“When life knocks you down, try to land on your back.   Because if you can look up, you can get up.   Let your reason get you back up.”        (Les Brown )

 

“Nearly 100% of innovation … is inspired not by ‘market analysis’ but by people who are supremely pissed off at the way things are.   I happened to believe that only pissed-off people change the world, either in small ways or large ways.”       (Tom Peters)

  

“You are not here merely to make a living.   You are here in order to enable the world to live more amply, with greater vision, with a finer spirit of hope and achievement.   You are here to enrich the world, and you impoverish yourself if you forget the errand.”       (Woodrow T. Wilson)    

  

“Four Keys to Success

      1.      Show Up on Time

      2.      Do What You Say You Are Going To Do

      3.      Finish What You Start

      4.       Say Please and Thank You”      (Unknown Author)

 

“At some time in your life, you probably had someone believe in you when you didn’t believe in yourself.   They scripted you.   Did that make a difference in your life?   What if you were a positive scripter, an affirmer, of other people?”     (Stephen R. Covey, Daily Reflections for Highly Effective People)

 

“When you were born, you cried and the world rejoiced.   Live your life so that when you die, the world cries and you rejoice.”      (Cherokee Expression)

 

“Life’s Little Instructions” by H. Jackson Brown Jr.

 

The following are some of H. Jackson Brown, Jr.’s Life’s Little Instructions that I’ve pulled from his collection: 

  • “Sing in the shower.
  • Treat everyone you meet like you want to be treated.
  • Strive for excellence, not perfection.
  • Compliment 3 people every day.
  • Leave everything a little better than you found it.
  • Say, “Thank you” and “Please” a lot.
  • Avoid negative people.
  • Commit yourself to constant improvement.
  • Be the first to say hello.
  • Stop blaming others
  • Take responsibility for every area of your life.
  • Wave at kids on school buses.
  • Be there when people need you.
  • Don’t expect life to be fair.
  • Live your life as an exclamation, not an explanation.
  • Don’t be afraid to say, “I made a mistake.”
  • Don’t be afraid to say, “I don’t know.”
  • Keep your promises no matter what.
  • Count your blessings.” 

They are not that hard.  Try to  do as many if not all of them as you go through Life.     ~  GM Universe

 

“I Am a Possibilist”

 

“People are always blaming their circumstances for what they are.   I don’t believe in circumstances.   The people who get on in the world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want, and if they can’t find them, make them.”      (George Bernard Shaw)

 

“The only way to discover the limits of the possible is to go beyond them into the impossible.”   (Arthur C. Clarke)

 

“There are many who are living far below their possibilities because they are continually handing over their individualities to others.   Do you want to be a power in the world?   Then be yourself.”        (Ralph Waldo Trine)

 

“I am neither an optimist nor pessimist, but a possibilist.”       (Max Lerner)

 

“God has entrusted me with myself.”      (Epictetus)

 

“Is the Problem Out There?”

  

“Anytime we think the problem is ‘out there,’ that thought is the problem.  We empower what’s out there to control us.  The change paradigm is ‘outside-in’ – what’s out there has to change before we can change.  The proactive approach is to change from the inside-out: to be different, and by being different, to effect positive change in what’s out there – I can be more resourceful, I can be more diligent, I can be more creative, I can be more cooperative.”     (Stephen R. Covey)

  

Life is about lessons, and it’s about learning.  … it’s not about feeling bitter and resentful.   It’s about moving forward,” Fisher said.   Fisher said that all too often people fall into a victim mentality, often blaming others for their plight.   While that might be natural to a degree …, it’s not the best way to move on, he said.

In times such as these, it might be easier to feel like a victim.  But Fisher said Americans must remain optimistic for the betterment of their future and for the sake of the nation.   He advises clients at the end of every day to ask themselves:   Did I live my life with truth, honor and integrity today?’

Failure is only an emotion, but it becomes a reality when we quit, he said.”      (CNN Article, Erik Fisher, a psychologist and co-author of “The Art of Managing Everyday Conflict.”)

 

“You can’t always sit in your corner of the forest and wait for people to come to you  you have to go to them sometimes.”     (Winnie the Pooh)

 

“We Are Not Formal Leaders, But We Can Lead”

 

“Our only chance for contributing is to quit waiting and wondering and do something.   We serve ourselves and others best when we do not wait.  Initiate, with the organization and all involved people in mind.  No, we are not in charge but we can act.   No, we are not formally designated leaders.  But we can lead.”      (Geoffrey M. Bellman, Getting Things Done When You Are Not in Charge)

  

“Commitment is that turning point in your life when you seize the moment to alter your destiny.”      (Denis Waitley)

  

“In every difficult situation is potential value.   Believe this; then begin looking for it.”    (Norman Vincent Peale)

  

“Give yourself an even greater challenge than the one you are trying to master and you will develop the powers necessary to overcome the original difficulty.”      (William Bennett)

  

“Life is a challenge; meet it.”      (Mother Theresa)

 

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