Encouraging Quotations | Page 2

I learned that there were two ways I could live my life: following my dreams or doing something else. Dreams aren't a matter of chance, but a matter of choice. When I dream, I believe I am rehearsing my future.

I could not help but think that somewhere along the way we had missed what was radical about our faith and replaced it with what is comfortable.

Instead of trying to conquer sin by working hard to change our actions, we can conquer sin by trusting Christ to change our affections.

We desperately need each other in the daily fight to follow Christ in a world that's full of sin.

Christianity does not start with an invitation we offer to Jesus, but with an invitation Jesus offers to us.

I can almost picture the disciples faces. "No, not the drink-my-blood speech! We'll never get on the list of fastest-growing movements if you keep asking them to eat you!

God has clearly called and gifted some people in the church to teach his Word formally.

Peruse the Christian marketplace, and you will find a plethora of books, songs, and paintings that depict God as a loving Father.

The art of living lies less in eliminating our troubles than in growing with them.

No man knows what he can do until he tries.

If you don't pay appropriate attention to what has your attention, it will take more of your attention than it deserves.

Live strong is exactly I guess what it says. It's one thing to live, but it's another thing to live strong, to attack the day and attack your life with a whole new attitude. This was a gift for me. I guess before the illness I just lived. Now, after the illness, I live strong.

Don't be a hard rock when you really are a gem!

Mistakes are the portals of discovery.

No one else can hold your hand or take this voyage of the soul for you.

Nothing else matters much...not wealth, nor learning, nor even health...without this gift: the spiritual capacity to keep zest in living. This is the creed of creeds, the final deposit and distillation of all important faiths: that you should be able to believe in life.

Hope is the power of being cheerful in circumstances that we know to be desperate.

We must try not to sink beneath our anguish, Harry, but battle on.

Most people with a big idea, great talent and/or something to say don't get lucky at first. Or second. Or even third. It's so easy to conclude that if you're not lucky, you're not good. So persistence becomes an essential element of good, because without persistence, you never get a chance to get lucky.

Celebrate what you've accomplished, but raise the bar a little higher each time you succeed.

Above all, be the heroine of your life, not the victim.

The baby rises to its feet, takes a step, is overcome with triumph and joy - and falls flat on its face. It is a pattern for all that is to come! But learn from the bewildered baby. Lurch to your feet again. You'll make the sofa in the end.

Honorary degrees and lifetime achievement awards are very encouraging. I know that it might sound strange that a writer who has published many books still needs encouragement, but this is true.

All that we are is the result of what we have thought. The mind is everything. What we think, we become.

If you ever think about giving up, remember why you held on for so long.

Perseverance is not a passive submission to circumstances-it is a strong and active response to the difficult events of life.

If you can look up, you can get up.

Next to trying and winning, the best thing is trying and failing.

One of the most beautiful gifts in the world is the gift of encouragement. When someone encourages you, that person helps you over a threshold you might otherwise never have crossed on your own.

This day will never come again and anyone who fails to eat and drink and taste and smell it will never have it offered to him again in all eternity. The sun will never shine as it does today...But you must play your part and sing a song, one of your best.

The heart of our problem is the selfishness in our heart. The human spirit soars with hope when lifted by an encouraging word. The important thing in life is not the triumph but the struggle.

Failure is not the falling down but the staying down.

I can, therefore I am.

I prefer to make no new declarations [on southern policy beyond what was in the Letter of Acceptance]. But you may say, if you deem it advisable, that you know that I will stand by the friendly and encouraging words of that Letter, and by all that they imply. You cannot express that too strongly.

Thankfully, persistence is a great substitute for talent.

I love my rejection slips. They show me I try.

I haven't been everywhere, but it's on my list.

Would you like me to give you a formula for success? It's quite simple, really. Double your rate of failure.

The world is round and the place which may seem like the end may also be only the beginning.

Be grateful for what you have now. As you begin to think about all the things in your life you are grateful for, you will be amazed at the never ending thoughts that come back to you of more things to be grateful for. You have to make a start, and then the law of attraction will receive those grateful thoughts and give you more just like them.

You can't just keep doing what works one time, everything around you is changing. To succeed, stay out in front of change.

It doesn't matter how many say it cannot be done or how many people have tried it before; it's important to realize that whatever you're doing, it's your first attempt at it.

The more you do, the more you can do.

You know one of the most encouraging things about faith? It pleases God.

Hardship often prepares an ordinary person for an extraordinary destiny.

Do not look to your hope, but to Christ, the source of your hope.

We fail! But screw your courage to the sticking-place, And we'll not fail.

Pray, and let God worry.

Nothing is more beautiful than a smile that has struggled through tears

It is said an Eastern monarch once charged his wise men to invent him a sentence to be ever in view, and which should be true and appropriate in all times and situations. They presented him the words, "And this too, shall pass away." How much it expresses! How chastening in the hour of pride! How consoling in the depths of affliction!

I feel the suffering of millions. And yet, when I look up at the sky, I somehow feel that every-thing will change for the better, that this cruelty too shall end, that peace and tranquility will return once more.

Nine tenths of education is encouragement.

I can look back at my own life and see where a few words of praise have sharply changed my entire future. Can't you say the same thing about your life?

I find hope in the darkest of days, and focus in the brightest. I do not judge the universe.

You are the guy who'll decide where to go.

Change your attitude and gain some altitude. Believe me, you'll love it up here.

In the middle of every difficulty lies opportunity.

Don't you know that day dawns after night, showers displace drought, and spring and summer follow winter? Then, have hope! Hope forever, for God will not fail you!

God will not be absent when His people are on trial; he will stand in court as their advocate, to plead on their behalf.

To withhold deserved praise lest it should make its object conceited is as dishonest as to withhold payment of a just debt lest your creditor should spend the money badly.

A bend in the road is not the end of the road…Unless you fail to make the turn.

Always remember, there is more strength in you than you ever realized or even imagined. Certainly nothing can keep you down if you are determined to get on top of things and stay there.

Never underestimate the power of an encouraging word.

In forty hours I shall be in battle, with little information, and on the spur of the moment will have to make the most momentous decisions. But I believe that one's spirit enlarges with responsibility and that, with God's help, I shall make them, and make them right.

We begin to praise when we begin to see a thing needs our assistance.

Never let the odds keep you from doing what you know in your heart you were meant to do.

Thinking too well of people often allows them to be better than they otherwise would.

There are no facts, only interpretations.

Courage isn't having the strength to go on - it is going on when you don't have strength.

If his decision is correct, he will win the battle, even if it lasts longer than expected. If his decision is wrong, he will be defeated and he will have to start all over again-only this time with more wisdom. But once he has started, a warrior of the light perseveres until the end.

All great achievements require time.

Is it not true that the clever rogue is like the runner who runs well for the first half of the course, but flags before reaching the goal: he is quick off the mark, but ends in disgrace and slinks away crestfallen and uncrowned. The crown is the prize of the really good runner who perseveres to the end.

Dare to risk public criticism.

Turn you situation over to God because He can do more in a moment than you can do in a lifetime.

Everything will be okay in the end. If it's not okay, it's not the end.

Ask yourself, 'how long am I going to work to make my dreams come true?' I suggest you answer, 'as long as it takes.'

A journey to Thousand miles begins with one step

You cannot expect victory and plan for defeat.

You need to get ready because I have explosive blessings coming your way.

When we speak of knowing God, it must be understood with reference to man's limited powers of comprehension. God, as He really is, is far beyond man's imagination, let alone understanding. God has revealed only so much of Himself as our minds can conceive and the weakness of our nature can bear.

You never know how close you are to a breakthrough. It may be right around the corner. Don't quit!

We can do no great things-only small things with great love.

I don't do great things. I do small things with great love.

If I can't make it through one door, I'll go through another door- or i'll make a door. Something terrific will come no matter how dark the present.

We acquire the strength we have overcome.

There are moments when troubles enter our lives and we can do nothing to avoid them. But they are there for a reason. Only when we have overcome them will we understand why they were there.

It's not what we do once in a while that shapes our lives. It's what we do consistently.

A dream is your creative vision for your life in the future. A goal is what specifically you intend to make happen. Dreams and goals should be just out of your present reach but not out of sight. Dreams and goals are coming attractions in your life.

Perseverance, secret of all triumphs.

There is no Idea Dump, no Story Central, no Island of the Buried Bestsellers; good stories seem to come quite literally from nowhere, sailing at you right out of the empty sky.

It is time for us all to stand and cheer for the doer, the achiever - the one who recognizes the challenges and does something about it.

It is not enough that we do our best; sometimes we must do what is required.

He who refuses to embrace a unique opportunity loses the prize as surely as if he had failed.