Dr. Jim Surrell, Journal columnist

As we wrap up another year and start our New Year of 2021, let me review some quotes that I have found to offer me some motivation and to help me focus on positive thinking at all times. We are all blessed to have been given the ability to control our thoughts and therefore to choose what we think about. This has been dramatically reviewed in numerous classic books. Two of my absolute favorite books in this regard are the following. “The Strangest Secret”, written by Earl Nightingale in 1956, and “As a Man Thinketh”, written by James Allen in 1903. Both of these books contain a remarkable amount of profound wisdom about the personal thoughts that we chose to think about.

Let us now review some wisdom found in quotes from Earl Nightingale, James Allen, and numerous others who have served to motivate me and many other individuals for so many decades.

Earl Nightingale — “Here is the key to success, and the key to failure. We become what we think about.”

James Allen — “Good thoughts and actions can never produce bad results; bad thoughts and actions can never produce good results.”

Madeline Bridges — “Give to the world the best you have, and the best will come back to you.”

Thomas Jefferson — “I am a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work, the more I have of it.”

Michael Altshuler — “The bad news is that time flies. The good news is that you are the pilot.”

Woody Hayes — “The only thing even in this world is the number of hours in a day. The difference in winning or losing is what you do with those hours.”

Thomas Edison — “Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.”

Winston Churchill — “We make a living by what we get. We make a life by what we give.”

Harry Truman — “Don’t be afraid to go out on a limb… that’s where the fruit is.”

Bill Meyer — “Every thought is a seed. If you plant crab apples, don’t count on harvesting golden delicious apples.”

Abraham Lincoln — “Most people are about as happy as they make up their minds to be.”

Walt Disney — “The difference between winning and losing is most often… not quitting.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson — “Do the thing you fear, and the death of fear is certain.”

William James — “The greatest discovery of my generation is that a human being can alter his life by altering his attitudes.”

Henry Ford — “Whether you think you can, of if you think you can’t, you’re right.”

Will Rogers — “Even if you are on the right track, you’ll get run over if you just sit there.”

Let me now close with my all-time favorite quote about persistence from President Calvin Coolidge, who served as our 30th President of the United States. “Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated failures. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.”

I sincerely wish you all a Blessed and Happy New Year in 2021.