Catalyst Quotes

“Become the Light and Share It; Listen to the Sound of Your Heart”

“No mirror ever became iron again;

No bread ever became wheat;

No ripened grape ever became sour fruit.

Mature yourself and be secure from a change for the worse.

Become the light.”           (Rumi)

“For what it’s worth, it’s never too late, or in my case too early, to be whoever you want to be.  There’s no time limit.  Start whenever you want, you can change or stay the same.  There are no rules to this thing.  We can make the best or the worst of it.  I hope you make the best of it.  I hope you see things that startle.  I hope you feel things you never felt before.  I hope you meet people with a different point of view.  I hope you live a life you’re proud of.  If you find that you’re not, I hope you have the strength to start all over again.”      (‘The Curious Case of Benjamin Button’)

“There comes a time in every life when the world gets quiet and the only thing left is your own heart.  So you’d better learn to know the sound of it.  Otherwise you’ll never understand what it’s saying.”      (Just Listen by Sarah Dessen)

“When you are afraid of anything, you are acknowledging its power to hurt you.  Remember that where your heart is, there is treasure also.  You believe in what you value.  If you are afraid, you are valuing wrongly.”       (Meditations from A Course in Miracles by Barnes and Noble)

“Thousands of candles can be lighted from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened.   Happiness never decreases by being shared.”         (Buddha)

“Logic and/or Imagination”

“To be always intending to make a new day and better life but never to find time to set about it is as to put off eating and drinking and sleeping from one day to the next until you’re dead.”         (Og Mandino)

“When I was young, my ambition was to be one of the people who made a difference in this world.  My hope still is to leave the world a little bit better for my having been here.  It’s a wonderful life and I love it.”       (Jim Henson)

“When everyone has access to the same tools … then having a tool isn’t much of an advantage.  The industrial age, the age of scarcity, depended in part on the advantages that came with owning tools others didn’t own.    Time for a new advantage.    It might be your network, the connections that trust you.  And it might be your expertise.  But most of all, I’m betting it’s your attitude.”          (Seth Godin)

“They can do all because they think they can.”         (Virgil)

“Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere.”         (Albert Einstein)

“I Wish I Could Have Known Earlier”

“A man approached JP Morgan, held up an envelope, and said, ‘Sir, in my hand I hold a guaranteed formula for success, which I will gladly sell you for $25,000.’  ‘Sir,’ JP Morgan replied, ‘I do not know what is in the envelope, however if you show me, and I like it, I give you my word as a gentleman that I will pay you what you ask.’  The man agreed to the terms, and handed over the envelope.  JP Morgan opened it, and extracted a single sheet of paper.  He gave it one look, a mere glance, and then handed the piece of paper back to the gent.  And paid him the agreed – upon $25,000.    Contents of the paper:     

1)  Every morning, write a list of the things that need to be done that day.    

2)  Do them.”                      (Unknown Author)

“Do not say, ‘It is morning,’ and dismiss it with a name of yesterday.  See it for the first time as a new-born child that has no name.”         (Rabindranath Tagore)

“You are now at a crossroads.  This is your opportunity to make the most important decision you will ever make.  Forget your past.  Who are you now?  Who have you decided you really are now? Don’t think about who you have been.  Who are you now?  Who have you decided to become? Make this decision consciously.  Make it carefully.  Make it powerfully.”        (Anthony Robbins)

“I wish I could have known earlier that you have all the time you’ll need right up to the day you die.”        (William Wiley)

“Best Way to Predict the Future”

“The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched — they must be felt with the heart.” (Helen Keller)

“Few men during their lifetime come anywhere near exhausting the resources dwelling in them. There are deep wells of strength that are never used.”      (Richard E. Byrd)

“As far as we can discern, the sole purpose of human existence is to kindle a light of meaning in the darkness of mere being.”       (Carl Jung)

“People who don’t take risks generally make about 2 big mistakes a year.
People who do take risks generally make about 2 big mistakes a year.”      (Peter Drucker)

“Always and never are two words you should always remember never to use.”      (Wendell Johnson)

“The best way to predict the future is to create it.”      (Peter F. Drucker)

“It’s Never Too Late to Be …”

“If you think you are beaten, you are.

If you think you dare not, you don’t!

If you want to win, but think you can’t,

It’s almost a cinch you won’t.

If you think you’ll lose, you’re lost;

For out in the world we find

Success begins with a fellow’s will;

It’s all in the state of the mind.

Life’s battles don’t always go

To the stronger and faster man,

But sooner or later the man who wins

Is the man who thinks he can.”          (Walter D. Wintle)

“Think that it’s fun, that you’re guided, and that all is well.   Think that there’s time, that life is easy, and that the best is yet to come.   Think that the reasons that elude you will one day catch up, that the lessons that have stumped you will one day bring joy, and that the sorrows that have crippled you will soon give you wings.    Think that you’re important, that you cannot fail, and that happiness always returns.   And think that you’re beautiful.”       (‘Notes from the Universe,’ ©Mike Dooley)

“We are made wise not by the recollection of our past, but by the responsibility for our future.”       (George Bernard Shaw)

“A goal without a plan is just a wish.”       (Antoine de Saint-Exupery)

“It is never too late to be what you might have been.”      (George Eliot)

“Be Your Own Author”

“Each man must look to himself to teach him the meaning of life.  It is not something discovered: it is something molded.”         (Antoine de Saint-Exupery)

‘The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom’

“1. Be Impeccable With Your Word

Speak with integrity.  Say only what you mean.  Avoid using the word to speak against yourself or to gossip about others.  Use the power of your word in the direction of truth and love.

2. Don’t Take Anything Personally

Nothing others do is because of you.  What others say and do is a projection of their own reality, their own dream.  When you are immune to the opinions and actions of others, you won’t be the victim of needless suffering.

3. Don’t Make Assumptions

Find the courage to ask questions and to express what you really want. Communicate with others as clearly as you can to avoid misunderstandings, sadness and drama. With just this one agreement, you can completely transform your life.

4. Always Do Your Best

Your best is going to change from moment to moment; it will be different when you are healthy as opposed to sick.  Under any circumstance, simply do your best and you will avoid self-judgment, self-abuse and regret.”      (Miguel Ruiz, The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom)

“To be authentic literally means to be your own author.”      (Dan Millman)

“Difference Between Try and Triumph”

“I Wish He’d Go Away; Only Love Can Drive Out Hate”

“As I was walking up the stair,

I met a man who wasn’t there.

He wasn’t there again today.

I wish, I wish he’d go away.”      (Hugh Mearns)

“In the old days, words like sin and Satan had a moral certitude.  Today, they’re replaced with self-help jargon, words like dysfunction and antisocial behavior, discouraging any responsibility for one’s actions…”         (Don Henley)

“Too much sanity may be madness.   And maddest of all, to see life as it is and not as it should be.”           (Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, ‘Don Quixote’)

“Every positive change — every jump to a higher level of energy and awareness — involves a rite of passage.  Each time to ascend to a higher rung on the ladder of personal evolution, we must go through a period of discomfort, of initiation.  I have never found an exception.”       (Dan Millman)

“You never know when someone
May catch a dream from you.
You never know when a little word
Or something you may do
May open up the windows
Of a mind that seeks the light …
The way you live may not matter at all,
But you never know, it might.”       (Author Unknown)

“We are made wise not by the recollection of our past, but by the responsibility for our future.”       (George Bernard Shaw)

“Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that.  Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”        (Martin Luther King, Jr.)

“Fear? Take Personal Responsibility”

“Only fear can defeat life… it goes for your weakest spot, which it finds with unerring ease.  It begins in your mind, always… nestles in your memory like a gangrene: it seeks to rot everything, even the words with which to speak of it… if your fear becomes a wordless darkness that you avoid, perhaps even manage to forget, you open yourself to further attacks of fear because you never truly fought the opponent who defeated you.”       (Yann Martel, author, ‘Life of Pi’)

“The most destructive element in the human mind is fear.  Fear creates aggressiveness….fear grows in darkness; if you think there’s a bogeyman around, turn on the light….only when we are no longer afraid do we begin to live.”           (Dorothy Thompson)

“We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when adults are afraid of the light.”           (Plato)

“One of the most tragic things I know about human nature is that all of us tend to put off living.  We are all dreaming of some magical rose garden over the horizon – instead of enjoying the roses that are blooming outside our windows today.”      (Dale Carnegie)

“All of us are born with a set of instinctive fears – of falling, of the dark, of lobsters, of falling on lobsters in the dark, or speaking before a Rotary Club, and of the words, ‘Some Assembly Required’.”         (Dave Barry)

“You must take personal responsibility.  You cannot change the circumstances, the seasons, or the wind, but you can change yourself.”         (Jim Rohn)