Quotes by Norman Vincent Peale

The secret of life isn't what happens to you, but what you do with what happens to you.

Only the believers pick up the prizes in life.

When people believe in themselves they have the first secret of success.

Believe and create is a basic fact of successful living.

You're a winner. The tests of life are not meant to break you, but to make you.

Nothing during the year is so impressively convincing as the vision Christmas brings of what this world would be if love became the daily practice of human beings.

By acting as you wish yourself to be, in due course you will become as you act.

If you are not getting as much from life as you want to, then examine the state of your enthusiasm.

Eliminate the word impossible from your conversation, drop it from your thoughts, erase it from your attitudes. Stop rationalizing it. Cease excusing it. Substitute for it that bright and shining word...possible.

Get interested in something! Absolutely enthralled in something! The more you lose yourself in something bigger than yourself, the more energy you will have.

Dare to be what you ought to be, dare to be what you dream to be, dare to be the finest you can be. The more you dare, the surer you will be of gaining just what you dare!

There is no sound basis upon which it may be assumed that all poor men are godly and all rich men are evil, no more than it could be assumed that all rich men are good and all poor men are bad.

Plan your work -- work your plan. Lack of system produces that 'I'm swamped' feeling.

The individual who knows the score about life sees difficulties as opportunities.

Americans used to roar like lions for liberty; now we bleat like sheep for security.

Every problem contains the seed of it's own solution.

Today any successful and competent businessman will employ the latest and best-tested methods in production, distribution, and administration. Many are discovering that one of the greatest of all efficiency methods is prayer power.

Trouble is here. It is for a purpose. Use it for the purpose for which it was intended -- to help you grow. Thank God for your troubles.

Worry is an unhealthy and destructive mental habit.

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

You can make yourself enthusiastic by affirming enthusiasm and by thinking, talking, acting enthusiastic.

The big question isn't whether you have problems; the all-important factor is your attitude toward problems. How you think of the problem is more important than the problem itself.

Practice loving people. It is true that this requires effort and continued practice, for some are not very lovable, or so it seems -- with emphasis on seems. Every person has lovable qualities when you really learn to know him.

Every day remind yourself of your own ability, of your good mind and affirm that you can make something really good out of your life.

Do not exclusively say your prayers in the form of asking God for something. The prayer of thanksgiving is much more powerful.

By success, of course, I do not mean that you may become rich, famous, or powerful for that does not, of necessity, represent achievement. Indeed, not infrequently, such individuals represent pathetic failure as persons.

Not mere achievement, but rather the more difficult feat of handling your life efficiently. It means to be a success as a person; controlled, organized, not part of the world's problems, but part of its cure. of being creative individuals.

Believe you can, and you can. Belief is one of the most powerful of all problem dissolvers. When you believe that a difficulty can be overcome, you are more than halfway to victory over it already.

America has become so tense and nervous it has been years since I have seen anyone sleep in church -- and that is a sad situation.

Change yourself and your work will seem different.

Don't tense up no matter what, for you only close off creative power when you do.

Medication is of course important but do not conclude that a pill dissolving in your stomach is necessarily more powerful than a healing thought in your mind.

In every difficult situation is potential value. Believe this, then begin looking for it.

One way to become enthusiastic is to look for the plus sign. To make progress in any difficult situation, you have to start with what's right about it and build on that.

Your enthusiasm will be infectious, stimulating and attractive to others. They will love you for it They will go for you and with you.

Cherish your family connections. They are one of God's greatest ways of demonstrating his love and fellowship.

Fear can infect us early in life until eventually it cuts a deep groove of apprehension in all our thinking. To counteract it, let faith, hope and courage enter your thinking. Fear is strong, but faith is stronger yet.

Cushion the painful effects of hard blows by keeping the enthusiasm going strong, even if doing so requires struggle.

I truly believe that the individual who learns to practice thanksgiving activates within himself and around himself continuous victories and blessings from God.

It is always to early to quit.

The great secret of getting what you want from life is to know whay you want and believe you can have it. Always do something for others, then ask God to help you get at it.

Remind yourself that God is with you and nothing can defeat him.

Frequently remind yourself that God is with you, that He will never fail you, that you can count upon him. Say these words, God is with me, helping me.

Good will cannot flow toward you unless it flows from you.

We live in the midst of the greatest scientific civilization in the history of the world. But the greatest wisdom walking our streets is not in any laboratory scientist, but the wisdom of Jesus Christ.

Don't bother. The glass is half-empty.

Every night empty your mind of unhappy thoughts as you empty your pockets and come alive.

Never allow sick attitudes to poison your thinking, nor let ill will make you ill. Avoid making your mind sore by that painful rehurting called resentment.

The greatest secret for eliminating the infirmity complex, which is another term for deep and profound self-doubt, is to fill your mind to overflowing faith. Develop a tremendous faith in God and that will give you a humble yet soundly realistic faith in yourself.

Be humble, be big in mind and soul, be kindly; you will like yourself that way and so will other people.

Let go and let God. Let Him take over your life and run it. He knows how.

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.

Think enthusiastically about everything; but especially about your job. If you do so, you'll put a touch of glory in your life. If you love your job with enthusiasm, you'll shake it to pieces.

And what marvelous things there are for which to be grateful in God's great Creation!

Keep thinking, keep interested, keep praying, keep dreaming. Be mentally sensitive at all times so that the magic word that motivates you may one day speak to your deep inner self.

Those who are fired with an enthusiastic idea and who allow it to take hold and dominate their thoughts find that new worlds open for them. As long as enthusiasm holds out, so will new opportunities.

Avoid arguments, but whenever a negative attitude is expressed, counter with a positive and optimistic opinion.

Take a new look at your present impossible. Consider positive ways to handle it.

Jesus made it clear that the most important thing in the world is our relationship to God and to others. When we achieve that, everything good will follow.

Every person, if he is to have mental health and live successfully, must move away from past failures and mistakes and go forward without letting them be a weight upon him. The art of forgetting is absolutely necessary.

No matter how dark things become, someone is always with you -- and that someone is God. He helps by giving you peace and a positive mental attitude.

Anybody can do just about anything with himself that he really wants to and makes up his mind to do. We are all capable of greater things than we realize.

We are all capable of greater things than we realize.

Our happiness depends on the habit of mind we cultivate.

The positive thinker is a hard-headed, tough-minded, and factual realist. He sees all the difficulties clearly... which is more than can be said for the average negative thinker. But he sees more than difficulties -- he tries to see the solutions of those difficulties.

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

One person can make a difference. You don't have to be a big shot. You don't have to have a lot of influence. You just have to have faith in your power to change things.

The controlled person is a powerful person. He who always keeps his head will get ahead.

And now we get down to two magic words that tell us how to accomplish just about anything we want to accomplish, two powerful words that can change any situation, two dynamic words that all too few people use. And what are these two amazing words? Do it!

If you expect the best, you will be the best. Learn to use one of the most powerful laws in this world; change your mental habits to belief instead of disbelief. Learn to expect, not to doubt. In so doing, you bring everything into the realm of possibility.

You must never conclude, even though everything goes wrong, that you cannot succeed. Even at the worst there is a way out, a hidden secret that can turn failure into success and despair into happiness. No situation is so dark that there is not a ray of light.

One of the basic laws of human existence is: find yourself, know yourself, be yourself.

Listen for the magic word of motivation and you will hear it. And then? Well, the sky is the limit!

I found eternal peace in a Shinto shrine. I've been to Shinto shrines and God is everywhere. Christ is one of the ways! God is everywhere.

There is only one group of people who do not have problems, and they are all dead. Problems are a sign of life, so the more problems you have, the more alive you are.

Begin where you are. Don't wait for someone else to change things for you. Do it yourself.

The one person who most blocks you from a full, happy, and successful life is you.

Think health, eat sparingly, exercise regularly, walk a lot, and think positively about yourself.

To change your circumstances, first start thinking differently. Do not passively accept unsatisfactory circumstances, but form a picture in your mind of circumstances as they should be. Believe and succeed.

Thoughts and words form your mental image. And since we become what we picture be sure your thoughts and words express prosperity and blessing rather than poverty and defeat.

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

I believe there are two sides to the phenomenon known as death, this side where we live, and the other side where we shall continue to live. Eternity does not start ith death. We are in eternity now.

Think joy, talk joy, practice joy, share joy, saturate your mind with joy, and you will have the time of your life today and every day all your life.

The Plus Factor makes its appearance in a person's life in proportion as that person is in harmony with God and His universal laws.

The more you venture to live greatly, the more you will find within you what it takes to get on top of the things and stay there.

Even if you may be down to the worst, the best is potentially within you. You only have to find it, release it, and rise up with it. This requires courage and character, to be sure, but the main requirement is faith. Cultivate faith and you will have the necessary courage and character.

Ask for what you want, but be willing to take what God gives you. It may be better than what you asked for.

I place this day, my life, my loved ones, my work in the Lord's hands. There is no harm in the Lord's hands, only good. Whatever happens, whatever results, if I am in the Lord's hands it is the Lord's will and it is good.

Though one may acquire much in wealth, fame, or honor, the real joy of life does not lie there but, rather, in keeping the romance of living going. Nothing gives such complete and profound happiness as the perpetually fresh wonder and mystery of exciting life.

Nothing of great value in this life comes easily.

Any action is better than no action at all.

I've got great faith in the essential fairness and decency -- you may say goodness -- of the human being.

We reach the goal not by the stairs, but by the lift..... God pledges his promised righteousness to those who will stop trying to save themselves.
Change your thoughts and you change your world.

The power of the Plus Factor is potential but it is not self-activating. It is latent in human beings and will remain latent until it is activated.

When you keep asserting that things are going to work out well, that you can do the job, that you will not have a flat tire, that you will get there on time, by talking up good results you invoke the law of positive effects and good results occur. Things do turn out well.