Taken from the book He Can Who Thinks He Can
published in 1908 by Orison Swett Marden (1850-1924), the founder of Success Magazine
- Self-reliance is the best capital in the world.
- Self-deprecation is a crime.
- The greatest enemies of achievement are fear, doubt and vacillation.
- Every child should be taught to expect success.
- If others can do such wonderful things why can not I?
- Make a resolution that you are going to be an educated man.
- The man who has learned the art of seeing things looks with his brain.
- The best educated people are those who are always learning, always absorbing knowledge from every possible source and at every opportunity.
- It is not such a very great undertaking to get all of the essentials of a college course at home, or at least a fair substitute for it.
- People do not realize the immense value of utilizing spare minutes.
- To eliminate every thing that can possibly retard us is the firstpreparation for a successful career.
- Timidity also hinders freedom.
- Many people are imprisoned by ignorance.
- Get freedom at any cost.
- Be yourself.
- Let no consideration tie your tongue or purchase your opinion.
- Multitudes of people, enslaved by bad physical habits, are unable to get their best selves into their work.
- Your judgment is your best friend; your common sense is your great life partner.
- ‘It can not be done’ cries the man withoutimagination. ‘It can be done, it shall be done’ cries the dreamer.
- Do not stop dreaming.
- A test of the quality of the individual is the spirit in which he doeshis work.
- Put the right spirit into your work.
- Some people never see any beauty anywhere. Others see it everywhere.
- No matter how humble your work may seem, do it in the spirit of anartist, of a master.
- Your life work is your statue.
- Some of the greatest men in history never discovered themselves until they lost everything but their pluck and grit.
- Responsibility is a great power developer.
- Do not be afraid to pile responsibility upon your employees.
- The way to bring out the reserve in a man is to pile responsibility upon him. If there is anything in him, this will reveal it.
- I know young men who believe in everybody but themselves.
- Do not be afraid to trust yourself. Have faith in your own ability to think along original lines. If there is anything in you, self reliance will bring it out.
- If one is so loosely attached to his occupation that he can be easilyinduced to give it up, you may be sure that he is not in the rightplace.
- Today we carry out the inspiration of the day.
- Almost anybody can resolve to do a great thing; it is only the strong,determined character that puts the resolve into execution.
- The putting off habit will kill the strongest initiative.
- Character is the greatest force in the world.
- It is easy to find successful merchant, but not so easy to find men whoput character above merchandise.
- No substitute has ever yet been discovered for honesty.
- Success can not be copied- can not be successfully imitated.
- The principles by which the problem of success is solved are right and justice, honesty and integrity; and just in proportion as a man deviates from those principles he falls short from solving his problem.
- Happiness is a condition of mind.
- The very essence of happiness is honesty, sincerity, and truthfulness.
- Real happiness is so simple that most people do not recognize it.
- Few people ever learn the art of enjoying the little things of life asthey go along.
- No man can be happy when he harbors thoughts of revenge, jealousy, envyor hatred.
- The world makes way for the man with an idea.
- Do not imitate.
- Resolve that you will be a man of ideas, always on the lookout for improvement.
- Originality is the best substitute for advertising.
- To be eccentric is not to be weak, but more often it is a sign of strength.
- Do not be afraid of being original.
- Do not imitate even your heroes.
- Just be yourself.
- The ability to read people at sight is a great business asset.
- No idle life can produce a real man.
- The idle man is like an idle machine. It destroys itself very quickly.
- Power gravitates to the man who knows how.
- There is no word in the English language more misused and abused than ‘luck’.
- The highest service you can ever render the world, the greatest thing you can ever do, is to make yourself the largest, completest, andsquarest man possible. There is no other fame like that – no achievement like that.
- The struggle to get away from poverty has been a great man-developer.
- Poverty is of no value except as a vantage ground for a starting point.
- It is the student who has to struggle hardest to obtain education thatgets the most discipline and good out of it.
The following is a register of Marden titles, most of which can be found on Amazon.com:
Character: The Grandest Thing in the World
Everybody Ahead or Getting the Most Out of Life
Architects of Fate or Steps to Success and Power
Making Friends with Our Nerves
Good Manners: A Passport to Success
Not the Salary But the Opportunity
Little Visits With Great Americans, Vol. I
Little Visits With Great Americans, Vol. II
Not the Salary But the Opportunity
Pushing to the Front, Vols.1 & 2
Self-Discovery or Why Remain a Dwarf
Rising in the World or Architects of Fate
Stories From Life – A Book for Young People
The Young Man Entering Business
Heading for Victory or Getting the Most Out of Life
Success: A Book of Ideals, Helps, and Examples for all Desiring to Make the Most of Life
Economy: The Self Denying Depositor and Prudent Paymaster at the Bank of Thrift
Real Success : Based on the Writings of Success Magazine Founder Orison Swett Marden by Ken Shelton
