Samuel Johnson? Noah Webster? Orison Swett Marden? Charles Caleb Colton? Tryon Edwards? Question for Quote Investigator: If one’s contentment depends upon external forces and events that one cannot control then one should expect continual heartache. Seeking happiness requires changing one’s own dispositions. This notion has been attributed to the famous English lexicographer Samuel Johnson, the …
Category Archives: Orison Swett Marden
Nothing Can Stop a Person with the Right Mental Attitude from Achieving His or Her Goal
Thomas Jefferson? W. W. Ziege? Elbert Hubbard? Orison Swett Marden? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: Several spiritual traditions assert that thoughts and beliefs can directly alter the world. Maintaining a positive outlook is highly desirable as indicated in the following proposition: Nothing can stop a person with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal; nothing …
Purpose and Persistence Are Required for Success: Unrewarded Genius Is Almost a Proverb
Calvin Coolidge? Theodore Thornton Munger? M. M. Callen? Orison Swett Marden? Edward H. Hart? Dear Quote Investigator: Many books extolling self-improvement include a didactic passage that begins as follows: 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 …
If You Build a Better Mousetrap the World Will Beat a Path to Your Door
Ralph Waldo Emerson? Elbert Hubbard? Sarah S. B. Yule? John R. Paxton? Orison Swett Marden? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: A remarkably popular adage about innovation highlights mousetraps and celebrity: Build a better mousetrap, and the world will beat a path to your door. The origin of this saying was complex, and the topic has been …
Continue reading “If You Build a Better Mousetrap the World Will Beat a Path to Your Door”
You Just Chip Away Everything That Doesn’t Look Like David
Michelangelo? John Ruskin? George F. Pentecost? Boys’ Life Magazine? Orison Swett Marden? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: There is an unlikely tale about the brilliant Renaissance artist Michelangelo. He was asked about the difficulties that he must have encountered in sculpting his masterpiece David. But he replied with an unassuming and comical description of his creative …
Continue reading “You Just Chip Away Everything That Doesn’t Look Like David”
Folks Are Usually About as Happy as They Make Up Their Minds To Be
Abraham Lincoln? Frank Crane? Orison Swett Marden? Dale Carnegie? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: On twitter recently there was an exchange about a deeply insightful quotation credited to Abraham Lincoln: Most folks are about as happy as they make up their minds to be. I love this saying, and it helps me to reflect constructively on …
Continue reading “Folks Are Usually About as Happy as They Make Up Their Minds To Be”