There is so much about my fate that I cannot control, but other things do fall under the jurisdiction. I can decide how I spend my time, whom I interact with, whom I share my body and life and money and energy with. I can select what I can read and eat and study. I can choose how I'm going to regard unfortunate circumstances in my life — whether I will see them as curses or opportunities. I can choose my words and the tone of voice in which I speak to others. And most of all, I can choose my thoughts.

Our subconscious minds have no sense of humor, play no jokes and cannot tell the difference between reality and an imagined thought or image. What we continually think about eventually will manifest in our lives... Any thought that is passed on to the subconscious often enough and convincingly enough is finally accepted.

A man would do well to carry a pencil in his pocket, and write down the thoughts of the moment. Those that come unsought for are commonly the most valuable, and should be secured, because they seldom return.

Whatever we plant in our subconscious mind and nourish with repetition and emotion will one day become a reality.

Once you replace negative thoughts with positive ones, you'll start having positive results.

It is a mortifying truth, and ought to teach the wisest of us humility, that many of the most valuable discoveries have been the result of chance, rather than of contemplation, and of accident, rather than of design.

You'll seldom experience regret for anything that you've done. It is what you haven't done that will torment you. The message, therefore, is clear. Do it! Develop an appreciation for the present moment. Seize every second of your life and savor it. Value your present moments. Using them up in any self-defeating ways means you've lost them forever.

The words that a father speaks to his children in the privacy of home are not heard by the world, but, as in whispering galleries, they are clearly heard at the end, and by posterity.

It is better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to open one's mouth and remove all doubt.

Thinking is a strenuous art — few practice it: and then only at rare times.

Thinking is not a heaven-born thing ... It is a gift men and women make for themselves. It is earned, and it is earned by effort. There is no effort, to my mind, that is comparable to its qualities, that is so taxing to the individual, as to think, to analyze fundamentally.

There is no such thing as a "self-made" man. We are made up of thousands of others. Everyone who has ever done a kind deed for us, or spoken one word of encouragement to us, has entered into the makeup of our character and of our thoughts, as well as our success.

I consciously validate my perceptions. I count myself as a valuable, insightful, and objective observer of life. Looking at my life and my situation, I applaud my capacity for wise choices, discerning actions. I am more clear-eyed and perceptive than I have often thought. At this time I consciously recall situations in which my own clarity and send of the unfolding of events were borne out to be true and accurate. Rather than focus on the times when I have made mistakes or suffered errors of judgment, I focus instead on the many times when I have seen clearly, acted properly, and been rewarded for my wisdom by a happy unfolding of events. My acuity is a great blessing for me and others.

Your subconscious mind does not argue with you. It accepts what your conscious mind decrees. If you say, "I can't afford it," your subconscious mind works to make it true. Select a better thought. Decree, "I'll buy it. I accept it in my mind."

A man literally is what he thinks.