Quotes by Orison Swett Marden
Last Updated: 08 Mar 2025
“A constant struggle, a ceaseless battle to bring success from inhospitable surroundings, is the price of all great achievements.”
“A day of worry is more exhausting than a week of work. Worry upsets our whole system; work keeps it in health and order.”
“A good system shortens the road to the goal.”
“A strong, successful man is not the victim of his environment. He creates favorable conditions. His own inherent force and energy compel things to turn out as he desires.”
“Achievement is not always success, while reputed failure often is. It is honest endeavor, persistent effort to do the best possible under any and all circumstances.”
“All men who have achieved great things have been great dreamers.”
“Analyzing what you haven't got as well as what you have is a necessary ingredient of a career.”
“Believe with all your heart that you will do what you were made to do. Never for an instant harbor a doubt of it.”
“Character is the indelible mark that determines the only true value of all people and all their work.”
“Deep within man dwell those slumbering powers; powers that would astonish him, that he never dreamed of possessing; forces that would revolutionize his life if aroused and put into action.”
“Do not give up your dream because it is apparently not being realized, because you cannot see it coming true. Cling to your vision with all the tenacity you can muster.”
“Don't wait for extraordinary opportunities. Seize common occasions and make them great. Weak men wait for opportunities; strong men make them.”
“Enthusiasm will steady the heart and strengthen the will; it will give force to the thought and nerve to the hand until what was only a possibility becomes a reality.”
“Every man must play the part of his ambition. If you are trying to be a successful man, you must play the part.”
“Existence is the privilege of effort, and when that privilege is met like a man, opportunities to succeed along the line of your aptitude will come faster than you can use them.”
“Golden opportunities are nothing to laziness, but industry makes the commonest chances golden.”
“He who improves an opportunity sows a seed which will yield fruit in opportunity for himself and others.”
“If a thing seems to you worth working for at all, if it appears to you of moment enough to challenge any effort, then put into what you do all the enthusiasm of which you are capable.”
“If you would attract good fortune, you must get rid of doubt. As long as that stands between you and your ambition, it will be a bar that will cut you off.”
“It is the hopeful, buoyant, cheerful attitude of mind that wins. Optimism is a success builder; pessimism an achievement killer.”
“Joyfulness keeps the heart and face young. A good laugh makes us better friends with ourselves and everybody around us.”
“Live in the very soul of expectation of better things, in the conviction that something large, grand, and beautiful will await you if your efforts are intelligent.”
“No man can stand still; the moment progress is not made, retrogression begins.”
“Obstacles are like wild animals. They are cowards but they will bluff you if they can. If they see you are afraid of them, they are liable to spring upon you.”
“Our thoughts and imagination are the only real limits to our possibilities.”
“Put the uncommon effort into the common task... make it large by doing it in a great way.”
“Success is not measured by what you accomplish, but by the opposition you have encountered, and the courage with which you have maintained the struggle against overwhelming odds.”
“The golden opportunity you are seeking is in yourself. It is not in your environment; it is not in luck or chance, or the help of others; it is in yourself alone.”
“The greatest thing a man can do in this world is to make the most possible out of the stuff that has been given him. This is success, and there is no other.”
“The world takes us at our own valuation. It believes in the man who believes in himself, but it has little use for the timid man.”
“There are powers inside of you which, if you could discover and use, would make of you everything you ever dreamed or imagined you could become.”
“There is no medicine like hope, no incentive so great, and no tonic so powerful as expectation of something better tomorrow.”
“We advance on our journey only when we face our goal, when we are confident and believe we are going to win out.”
“What we do for a living does not matter so much as how we do it. It is the spirit in which we do our work that counts, and that counts through all eternity.”
“When we are sure that we are on the right road there is no need to plan our journey too far ahead. No need to burden ourselves with doubts and fears as to the obstacles that may bar our progress.”
“You are never to allow a shadow of doubt to enter your mind that the Creator intended you to win in life's battle.”
“Your expectations open or close the doors of your supply. If you expect grand things, and work honestly for them, they will come to you.”