Quotes by Jim Rohn

Your life does not get better by chance, it gets better by change.

If you are not willing to risk the unusual, you will have to settle for the ordinary.

Discipline is the bridge between goals and accomplishment.

Happiness is not something you postpone for the future; it is something you design for the present.

Things don't change, people change.

Success is not something you pursue. What you pursue will elude you; it can be like trying to chase butterflies. Success is something you attract by the person you become.

Success is doing ordinary things extraordinarily well.

Don't ask for security, ask for adventure.

Americans are incredibly inpatient. Someone once said that the shortest period of time in America is the time between when the light turns green and when you hear the first horn honk.

The more you know, the less you need to say.

The challenge of leadership is to be strong but not rude; be kind, but not weak; be bold, but not a bully; be humble, but not timid; be proud, but not arrogant; have humor, but without folly.

Either you run the day or the day runs you.

Success is steady progress toward one's personal goals.

A good objective of leadership is to help those who are doing poorly to do well and to help those who are doing well to do even better.

The ultimate reason for setting goals is to entice you to become the person it takes to achieve them.

Goals: There is no telling what you can do when you get inspired by them. There is no telling what you can do when you believe in them. There is no telling what will happen when you act upon them.

To succeed in sales, simply talk to lots of people every day. And here's what's exciting- there are lots of people!

Never mistake the power of influence.

Self-education will make you a fortune.

It is the accumulative weight of our disciplines and our judgements that leads us to either fortune or failure.

Goals. There's no telling what you can do when you get inspired by them. There's no telling what you can do when you believe in them. And there's no telling what will happen when you act upon them.

Humans have the remarkable ability to get exactly what they must have. But there is a difference between a 'must' and a 'want.'

There are two ways to face the future. One way is with apprehension; the other is with anticipation.

The miracle of the seed and the soil is not available by affirmation; it is only available by labor.

The soil says, don't bring me your need, bring me your seed.

Successful people do what unsuccessful people are not willing to do. Don't wish it were easier; wish you were better.

The wind blows on us all, but it's how you set your sail that makes the difference.

Attitude drives actions. Actions drive results. Results drive lifestyles.

The greatest gift you can give to somebody is your own personal development.

If you don't design your own life plan, chances are you'll fall into someone else's plan. And guess what they have planned for you' Not much.

Direction determines destination.

Thanksgiving opens up the windows of the opportunity for ideas to flow your way.

Reading is essential for those who seek to rise above the ordinary.

Those who will not read are no better off than those who cannot read.

Kids ought to have two bicycles, one to ride and one to rent.

Life responds to deserve and not to need.

We must learn to help those who deserve it, not just those who need it. Life responds to deserve not need.

What is easy to do is also easy not to do.

Don't let the learning from your own experiences take too long. If you have been doing it wrong for the last ten years, I would suggest that's long enough!

Each person entering our world brings either a contribution or destruction.

The bigger the 'why' the easier the 'how.'

Be fascinated instead of frustrated.

Things that I felt absolutely sure of but a few years ago, I do not believe now. This thought makes me see more clearly how foolish it would be to expect all men to agree with me.

Sharing makes you bigger than you are. The more you pour out, the more life will be able to pour in.

Reasons come first. Answers come second.

Lack of homework shows up in the marketplace as well as in the classroom.

Love is much deeper than a feeling. Love is a commitment we make to people to always treat that person right and honorably.

It's best to start the discipline of generosity when the amounts are small. It's easy to give ten cents out of a dollar; it's a little harder to give a hundred thousand out of a million.

Don't blow your own horn, or you might just miss the music.

The real problem is usually two or three questions deep. If you want to go after someone's problem, be aware that most people aren't going to reveal what the real problem is after the first question.

Average people look for ways of getting away with it; successful people look for ways of getting on with it.

Don't look for things to be easier, look for you to be better.

Emotions are the fuel and the mind is the pilot which together propel the ship of civilized progress.

Resolve says, 'I will.' The man says, 'I will climb this mountain. They told me it is too high, too far, too steep, too rocky, and too difficult. But it's my mountain. I will climb it. You will soon see me waving from the top or dead on the side from trying.'

Remember when you see a man at the top of a mountain, he didn't fall there Values are meant to be costly. If it doesn't cost much, we probably wouldn't appreciate the value.

Tyranny knows no restraint of appetite.

If it's raining you can't fix the roof, if it's not raining it doesn't need to be fixed.

Human beings are the only creatures who have the ability to write down their goals and design their future. And here is why most of us don't. We're trapped either by regret of the past or the routine of the present.

The reason why I spend so much money for my journals is to press me to find something valuable to put in them.

There are no new fundamentals. You've got to be a little suspicious of someone who says, I've got a new fundamental. That's like someone inviting you to tour a factory where they are manufacturing antiques.

Success Recipe: 2 cups faith, 2 cups love, 1 cup hard work, 1 cup persistence, 1 tbsp vision and a dash of swagger.

Treat the past as a school.

Humility is a virtue; timidity is an illness.

Accuracy builds credibility.

Getting and becoming are siamese twins. If you want more than you have, you have to become more than you are.

I found that when you start thinking and saying what you really want then your mind automatically shifts and pulls you in that direction. And sometimes it can be that simple, just a little twist in vocabulary that illustrates your attitude and philosophy.

Profits are better than wages. Wages make you a living; profits make you a fortune.

I used to say, I sure hope things will change. Then I learned that the only way things are going to change for me is when I change.

All values must be won by contest, and after they have been won, they must be defended.

It can be dangerous to weaken the strong in our attempts to strengthen the weak.

We must all wage an intense, lifelong battle against the constant downward pull. If we relax, the bugs and weeds of negativity will move into the garden and take away everything of value.

Don't set your goals too low. If you don't need much, you won't become much.

Make rest a necessity, not an objective. Only rest long enough to gather strength.

In America we have the greatest chance for opportunity than anyone else in the past six and a half thousand years. Never in recorded history have so many different gifts from all over the world been deposited in one country.

If you don't change what you are doing today, all of your tomorrows will look like yesterday.

Nourish the mind like you would your body. The mind cannot survive on junk food.

The reason why most people face the future with apprehension instead of anticipation is because they don't have it well designed!

All of life is a risk; in fact we're not going to get out alive. Casualness leads to casualties. Communication is the ability to affect other people with words.

If you just communicate, you can get by. But if you communicate skillfully, you can work miracles.

Whether you stay six weeks, six months or six years, always leave it better than you found it.

Learn to express rather than impress. Expressing evokes a 'me too' attitude while impressing evokes a 'so what' attitude.

Happiness is the art of learning how to get joy from your substance.

Whatever you do not employ, you forfeit.

We need to give thought, but we also need to take action. You need to dream without just being a dreamer.

Nothing is more powerful for your future than being a gatherer of good ideas and information. That's called doing your homework.

If you share a good idea long enough, it will eventually fall on good people.

In order to achieve goals you have not achieved before you have to become someone you haven't been before.

The thing that will make the biggest difference to your business, your bank account, your health and your relationships in the next 12 months is your philosophy.

Learn how to turn frustration into fascination. You will learn more being fascinated by life than you will by being frustrated by it.

One of the best places to start to turn your life around is by doing whatever appears on your mental I should list.

Good people are found not changed. They can change themselves, but you can't change them. You want good people, you have to find them. If you want motivated people, you have to find them, not motivate them.

Showing a profit means touching something and leaving it better than you found it.

We must be careful not to let our current appetites steal away any chance we might have for a future feast.

The key factor that will determine your financial future is not the economy; the key factor is your philosophy.

Riches do not come by crossing your fingers and walking through the day hoping. Riches and wealth comes from well-laid plans.

How much should you earn? As much as you possibly can. It doesn't matter whether you earn $10,000 a year or $100,000 a year as long as you've done the best you can.

Of course kids should pay taxes.Tell littlie johnny if he wants to ride his bicycle on the sidewalk instead of in the mud,he's got to pay3 more pennies when he buys a candy bar.

Character is the result of hundreds and hundreds of choices you make that gradually turn who you are, at any given moment, into who you want to be.

Show your contempt for the problem and your concern for the person.

Somebody says, 'Well, I can't be concerned about other people. About the best I can do is to take care of myself' Well, then you will always be poor.

Develop a childlike fascination with life and people.

All human beings have the ability to transform like a caterpillar emerging from its cocoon and taking to the sky.

Count the cost first. Don't pay too big a price for pursuing minor values.

The major value in life is not what you get. The major value in life is what you become. That is why I wish to pay fair price for every value. If I have to pay for it or earn it, that makes something of me. If I get it for free, that makes nothing of me.

There is no greater leadership challenge than parenting.

Ideas are information taking shape.

Find someone who is willing to share the truth with you.

Decision making can sometimes seem like inner civil war.

Seek other people's advice, but don't take orders. And don't take 100% of anyone's advice. Make sure every decision you make is a product of your own conclusion. Be a student, not a disciple.

Now, here is my definition of success: A few simple Disciplines practiced every day. Do you see the distinction? A few disciplines... Here's a little phrase we've all heard, An apple a day keeps the doctor away. And my question to you is, What if that's true? How simple and easy is that plan?

Discipline means we don't let go of the things we know we should be doing, we do them!

Do whatever you have to do as quickly as you can, so you can do whatever you WANT to do, for as long as you can.

Do battle with the enemy. Do battle with your fears. Build your courage to fight what's holding you back, what's keeping you from your goals and dreams. Be courageous in your life and in your pursuit of the things you want and the person you want to become.

The key to turning dreams into reality is action.

Don't use your mind for a filing cabinet. Use your mind to work out problems and find answers; file away good ideas in your journal.

The same wall that keeps out your disappointment also keeps out the sunlight of enriching experiences. So let life touch you. The next touch could be the one that turns your life around.

Ambition is at the very core of success and extraordinary achievement. Unlike greed, it's a powerful, creative and constructive force.

What you don't know will hurt you.

Ambitious people know that everything they do and every discipline they adhere to, form the links in the chain of events that will lead them to their final destination.

Financial independence is the ability to live from the income of your own personal resources.

It's easier to get rich than it is to explain not getting rich.

Earn as much money as you possibly can and as quickly as you can. The sooner you get money out of the way, the sooner you will be able to get to the rest of your problems in style.

Be grateful for what you have, while in pursuit of what you want.

To attract attractive people, you must be attractive. To attract powerful people, you must be powerful. To attract committed people, you must be committed. Instead of going to work on them, you go to work on yourself. If you become, you can attract.

Life is brief, even at its longest. Whatever you are going to do with your life, get at it. All good will be attacked. All values must be defended. In all areas of the human existence, what we put into this world, we get back from it.

Evil is no match for Good-- but Good must be active.

The greatest form of maturity is at harvest time. This is when we must learn how to reap without complaint if the amounts are small and how to reap without apology if the amounts are big.

There is plenty of time to argue with new ideas later. They key is to take careful notes first and debate second.

We get paid for bringing value to the marketplace. It takes time,... but we get paid for the value, not the time.

If you say something and back it up with your actions, you will provide the 'proof' for people who are listening to you, and they will much more willingly follow your lead.

The Bible says that it is hard for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of heaven. It doesn't say that it is impossible!

Time is the best kept secret of the rich.

A life worth living is a life worth recording.

A rose on time is more valuable than a $1,000 gift that's too late.

Some people don't do well simply because they don't feel well.

Learn to get from the day. Not just get through it, get from it. Soak it up. Each day is a piece of the mosaic of your life.

Someone once said to me that success isn't everything and I think I know what they really meant. I believe what they really meant was that money wasn't everything and I certainly agree with that. But I do believe that success IS everything.

Leaders must not be naive. I used to say, Liars shouldn't lie. What a sad waste of words that is! I found out liars are supposed to lie. That's why we call them liars -- they lie! What else would you expect them to do?

Don't waste your time trying to turn ducks into eagles. Hire people who already have the motivation and drive to be eagles and then just let them soar.

If you talk to your children, you can help them keep their lives together. If you talk to them skillfully, you can help them to build future dreams.

I'm working full-time on my job and part time on my fortune.  But it won't be long before I'm working full-time on my fortune... can you imagine what my life will look like?

Be a collector of good ideas. Keep a journal. If you hear a good idea, capture it, write it down. Don't trust your memory.

Words enable us to transfer our thoughts from inside our own mind into the mind of another. They have the power to alter history, to describe the past, and to bring meaning and substance to the present.

There are two parts to influence: First, influence is powerful; and second, influence is subtle. You wouldn't let someone push you off course, but you might let someone nudge you off course and not even realize it.

Be a student, not a follower. Take interest in what someone says, then debate it, ponder it, and consider it from all angles.

Work harder on yourself than you do on your job. If you work hard on your job, you can make a living. If you work hard on yourself, you can make a fortune... Income seldom exceeds personal development.

An investment in your personal development is the best investment you can make.

If kids clearly see the promise, they will gladly pay the price.

Until is a very important word. It means that you will never give up.

Some people you can afford to spend a few minutes with, but not a few hours.

If you go to work on your goals, your goals will go to work on you.

If you do something often enough, a ratio will appear.

Goals are like a magnet -- they pull. And the stronger they are, the more purposeful they are, the bigger they are, the more unique they are, the stronger they pull.

One of the major reasons why people are not doing well is because they keep trying to get through the day. A more worthy challenge is to try to get from the day.

Look what you can become in pursuit of what you want, and look out for what you become in the pursuit of what you want -- don't compromise!

Motivation is a mystery. Why does one salesperson see his first prospect at seven in the morning and another salesperson is just getting out of bed at eleven? I don't know.It's part of the mysteries of life.

One way to learn to do something right is to do something wrong. Failure must teach us, or surely success will not reward us.

One of the early signs of sophistication is not giving way to all inclinations but rather sending your emotions to school so they will learn how to behave.

It is what you do about what happens that counts.

Here's what is exciting about sharing ideas with others: If you share a new idea with ten people, they get to hear it once and you get to hear it ten times.

Real wisdom is simple. Living life rightly does not have to be a complicated challenge.

Although we are never glad when tragedy visits, we can be aware and seize the opportunity to do good in this world, even in the midst of tragedy.

We must remind ourselves that to do what is possible we must sometimes challenge ourselves with the impossible.

Be brief on the logic and reason portion of your presentation. There are probably about a thousand facts about an automobile, but you don't need them all to make a decision. About a half dozen will do.

Education doesn't cease when you leave college or leave the university. Education is a lifetime process.

If you want to be healthy study health... if you want to be wealthy, study wealth... if you want to be happy, study happiness.

Always do more than what you get paid for. It makes you a valuable person.

When a new idea comes our way, we must put it on our mental scales and weigh it carefully before deciding its value.

Economic disaster begins with a philosophy of doing less and wanting more.

What you get will never make you happy; who you become will make you very happy or very sad.

Don't sell out your virtue and your value for something you think you want. Judas got the money, but he threw it all away and hung himself because he was so unhappy with himself.

Don't be afraid to borrow if someone else has said it well. Winston Churchill said, The truth is incontrovertible. Malice may attack it and ignorance may deride it, but in the end, there it is. That's so well said. You could stay up all night and not think of that.

In any situation you can think of, impatience is a source of weakness and fear, while patience represents substance and strength.

In America, everything you need to succeed is within reach.

Everything you need is within reach, the key is whose going to reach.

When the record book on you is finished, let it show your wins and losses. But don't let it show you didn't try.

Don't take the casual approach to life. Casualness leads to casualties. Seek out the mentors that you need that will lead you to greatness in your field. If you're not willing to learn from others, who are you willing to learn from?

If you don't like where you are, then change it. You are not a tree!

Wherever You Are, Be There
One of the major reasons why we fail to find happiness or to create unique lifestyle is because we have not yet mastered the art of being.

The best advice I ever came across on the subject of concentration is: Wherever you are, be there.

Wherever you are, be there. Lifestyle is not something we do; it is something we experience. And until we learn to be there, we will never master the art of living well.

Life is accumulative -- Either our errors accumulate to what we don't get, or our wise decisions accumulate into what we do get.

To be successful, you have to develop certain traits such as courage, dignity, charisma and integrity. You also have to recognize that you have to work harder on yourself than on your job. You attract success because of the person you are. Personal development is key.

It's not dependency that creates your future. It's independence that creates your better future.

I've discovered that you can't change people. They can change themselves.

Happiness doesn't come from big pieces of great success, but from small advantages hammered out day by day.

You cannot succeed by yourself. It's hard to find a rich hermit.

Sometimes you need to stay in touch but be out of reach.

We need a variety of input and influence and voices. You cannot get all the answers to life and business from one person or from one source.

Neglect starts out as an infection then becomes a disease.

It is hard to keep that which has not been obtained through personal development.

The guy says, When you work where I work, by the time you get home, it's late. You've got to have a bite to eat, watch a little TV, relax and get to bed. You can't sit up half the night planning, planning, planning. And he's the same guy who is behind on his car payment!