Norman Vincent Peale Positive Thinking Quotes and Sayings

Excerpt from Wikipedia: Dr. Norman Vincent Peale (May 31, 1898 – December 24, 1993) was a minister and author (most notably of The Power of Positive Thinking) and a progenitor of the theory of “positive thinking”.
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Norman Vincent Peale Positive Thinking Quotes and Sayings

#1 Quoted in The Power of Positive Thinking

1. The way to happiness: Keep your heart free from hate, your mind from worry. Live simply, expect little, give much. Scatter sunshine, forget self, think of others. Try this for a week and you will be surprised.

2. Believe in yourself! Have faith in your abilities! Without a humble but reasonable confidence in your own powers you cannot be successful or happy.

#3 Back on Track: How to Straighten Out Your Life When It Throws You a Curve, 1997, Deborah Norville

3. Change your thoughts and you can change the world.

4. Be so strong that nothing can disturb your peace of mind. Talk health, happiness, and prosperity to every person you meet. Make all your friends feel there is something special in them. Look at the sunny side of everything. Think only the best, be as enthusiastic about the success of others as you are about your own.

Forget the mistakes of the past and press on to the greater achievements of the future. Give everyone a smile. Spend so much time improving yourself that you have no time left to criticize others. Be too big for worry and too noble for anger.

5. When you get up in the morning, you have two choices – either to be happy or to be unhappy. Just choose to be happy.

#6 Enthusiasm makes the difference, 2003, p. 58

6. Empty pockets never held anyone back. Only empty heads and empty hearts can do that.

7. It’s always too soon to quit!

8. What the mind can conceive and believe, and the heart desire, you can achieve.

9. Plant seeds of expectation in your mind; cultivate thoughts that anticipate achievement. Believe in yourself as being capable of overcoming all obstacles and weaknesses.

10. The trouble with most of us is that we’d rather be ruined by praise than saved by criticism.

11. Become a possibilitarian. No matter how dark things seem to be or actually are, raise your sights and see possibilities – always see them, for they’re always there.

12. Stand up to your obstacles and do something about them. You’ll find they haven’t half the strength you think they have.

13. Believe it is possible to solve your problem. Tremendous things happen to the believer. So believe the answer will come. It will.

14. If you want a quality, act as if you already have it. If you want to be courageous, act as if you were – and as you act and persevere in acting, so you tend to become.

15. Optimism, when applied to your life, develops strength and peace within you.

16. Do not be awe struck by other people and try to copy them. Nobody can be you as efficiently as you can.

17. If you want things to be different, perhaps the answer is to become different yourself.

18. When you wholeheartedly adopt a ‘with all your heart’ attitude and go all out with the positive principle, you can do incredible things.

19. I truly believe that if we keep telling the Christmas story, singing the Christmas songs, and living the Christmas spirit, we can bring joy and happiness and peace to this world.

20. Enthusiasm spells the difference between mediocrity and accomplishment.

21. Remember that “Help us grow this grass” is a far more effective sign than “Keep off the grass”.

22. A vital part of the happiness formula is self-discipline. Whoever conquers himself knows deep happiness that fills the heart with joy.

23. People who make no mistakes lack boldness and the spirit of adventure. They are the brakes on the wheels of progress.

24. When you pray for anyone you tend to modify your personal attitude toward him.

25. Don’t duck the most difficult problems. That just ensures that the hardest part will be left when you are most tired. Get the big one done – it’s downhill from then on.

26. The more you lose yourself in something bigger than yourself, the more energy you will have.

27. Throw your heart over the fence and the rest will follow.

28. Resentment or grudges do no harm to the person against whom you hold these feelings but every day and every night of your life, they are eating at you.

#29 Behavior in Organizations: Understanding & Managing the Human Side of Work, 1995, Jerald Greenberg and Robert A. Baron, p. 371

29. If you put off everything till you’re sure of it, you’ll never get anything done.

30. The person who sends out positive thoughts activates the world around him positively and draws back to himself positive results.

31. It is of practical value to learn to like yourself. Since you must spend so much time with yourself you might as well get some satisfaction out of the relationship.

32. Christmas waves a magic wand over this world, and behold, everything is softer and more beautiful.

#33-34 Have a Great Day, 1986

33. Optimism is a philosophy based on the belief that basically life is good, that, in the long run, the good in life overbalances the evil.

34. When obstacles or difficulties arise, the positive thinker takes them as creative opportunities. He welcomes the challenge of a tough problem and looks for ways to turn it to advantage.

#35-36 You Can If You Think You Can, 1987

35. Believe that problems do have answers. Believe that they can be overcome. Believe that they can be handled. And finally, believe that you can solve them.

36. People become really quite remarkable when they start thinking that they can do things. When they believe in themselves they have the first secret of success.

37. How you think about a problem is more important than the problem itself. So always think positively.

#38 Power of the Plus Factor, 1987

38. So what are you afraid of? What is holding you back? What is it that stands in your way? Do it!

39. The cyclone derives its powers from a calm center. So does a person.

40. Never react emotionally to criticism. Analyze yourself to determine whether it is justified. If it is, correct yourself. Otherwise, go on about your business.

#41 The Power of Positive Living, 1992, p. 63

41. Happiness will never come if it’s a goal in itself; happiness is a by-product of a commitment to worthy causes.

#42 Stay Alive All Your Life, 1957

42. Every individual forms his own estimate of himself and that basic estimate goes far toward determining what he becomes. You can do no more than you believe you can. You can be no more than you believe you are. Belief stimulates power within yourself. Have faith in faith. Don’t be afraid to trust faith.