Catalyst Quotes

“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)

“Fierce Urgency of Now”

“We are now faced with the fact, my friends, that tomorrow is today.   We are confronted with the fierce urgency of now.   In this unfolding conundrum of life and history, there is such a thing as being too late.   Procrastination is still the thief of time.   Life often leaves us standing bare, naked, and dejected with a lost opportunity.   We may cry out desperately for time to pause in her passage, but time is adamant to every plea and rushes on.   Over the bleached bones and jumbled residues of numerous civilizations are written the pathetic words, “Too late.”      (Martin Luther King Jr.)

“Every time you are tempted to react in the same old way, ask if you want to be a prisoner of the past or a pioneer of the future.”     (Deepak Chopra)

“Whatever the mind of man can conceive and believe, it can achieve.   Thoughts are things!  And powerful things at that, when mixed with definiteness of purpose, and burning desire, can be translated into riches.”      (Napoleon Hill)

“How do you lead people to change?    Start with the person in the mirror.”     (Jim Clemmer)

“Bowling or Jazz – Trust Yourself”

“Bowling is all about one number:  the final score.   And great bowlers come whisker-close to hitting the perfect score regularly.   Not enough dimensions for me to be fascinated by, and few people pay money to attend bowling matches.

Jazz is practiced over a thousand or perhaps a million dimensions.   It’s non-linear and non predictable, and most of all, it’s never perfect.

And yet …  when we get to work, most of us choose to bowl.”      (Seth Godin)

“What we can or cannot do, what we consider possible or impossible, is rarely a function of our true capability.   It is more likely a function of our beliefs about who we are.”      (Anthony Robbins)

“If you got it, ask yourself why and try to repeat the action.   If you failed, ask yourself why and try to learn from the experience.”       (Dale Carnegie)

“Trust yourself.   You know more than you think you do.”      (Dr. Spock)

“Courage Doesn’t Always Roar”

“We’re all afraid of something.  The one fear we must all guard against is the fear of ourselves.  Don’t let the sensation of fear convince you that you’re too weak to have courage.  Fear is the opportunity for courage, not proof of cowardice.   No one is born a coward.   We were meant to love.   And we were meant to have the courage for it.”      (John McCain, U. S. Senator)

“The biggest mistake is not taking action.   We fear mistakes and failure more than just about anything.   We fear mistakes to the point where we don’t even begin to make the changes we know we need to make, or give up when we meet resistance long before the goal has been achieved.   And yet, if you’ll allow me to stretch a quote from Buddha just a bit, there are only two mistakes we should fear: not starting and not finishing.   Failure and mistakes are not the problem, of course, it is the fear of them which may keep us from starting a difficult journey or force us to give up even after we mustered up enough courage to at least start.”      (Garr Reynolds)

“Do not believe in excuses.   Believe in hard work as the prime solvent of life’s problems.”      (James Cash Penney)

“Courage doesn’t always roar.   Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying, “I will try again tomorrow”.      (Mary Anne Radmacher)

“Your Mind Transcends Limitations”

“Big opportunities bring change, and change is painful.   As long as opportunity means ‘change,’ and as long as change means ‘pain,’ we will continue to miss our chances.”    (Seth Godin)

“Always look at what you have left.   Never look at what you have lost.”       (Robert H. Schuller)

“Can’t died in the Battle of Try.”     (Author Unknown)

“When you are inspired by some great purpose, some extraordinary project, all your thoughts break their bonds; your mind transcends limitations, your consciousness expands in every direction, and you will find yourself in a new, great and wonderful world.   Dormant forces, faculties and talents become alive, and you discover yourself to be a greater person by far than you ever dreamed yourself to be.      (Patanjali,   c. 1 – 3 Century B.C.)

“Our Deepest Fear”

“To put the world right in order, we must first put the nation in order; to put the nation in order, we must first put the family in order; to put the family in order, we must first cultivate our personal life; we must first set our hearts right.”     (Confucius)

“I have this theory that I call ‘returning to zero.’   You return to zero when you think you’ve achieved something, when you’ve reached a plateau.  When that happens, you have to go all the way back to square one and treat the experience of success as if it never happened.   You start over from a new angle.   You commit yourself to some new sacrifice and some new risk.”     (Robert Redford)

“I believe life is constantly testing us for our level of commitment, and life’s greatest rewards are reserved for those who demonstrate a never-ending commitment to act until they achieve.  This level of resolve can move mountains, but it must be constant and consistent.  As simplistic as this may sound, it is still the common denominator separating those who live their dreams from those who live in regret.”     (Anthony Robbins)

“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, and fabulous?

Actually, who are you not to be?”        (Nelson Mandela)