Helping Leaders Lead
Jesus Christ will never be defeated. There is nothing of God’s creation which will not be subjected to Him through Christ; no partial fulfillment of the words we have just read can satisfy the Divine heart. Not until Christ shall have banished evil, brought in the new heavens and the new earth, and given the City of God to the earth, will our Lord’s work be complete and His glory at the highest.
~ G. Campbell Morgan, God’s Methods With Man (1898)
“Love,” says Dr. Fromm, “is the only satisfactory answer to the problem of human existence.”
Yet most of us are unable to develop our capacities for love on the only level that really counts—a love that is compounded of maturity, self-knowledge and courage.
Learning to love, like other arts, demands practice and concentration. Even more than any other art it demands genuine insight and understanding.
~ Eric Fromm, The Art of Loving (1956)
The majority of people permit relatives, friends, and the public at large to so influence them that they cannot live their own lives, because they fear criticism.
~ Napoleon Hill, Think & Grow Rich (1937)
We Humans Are Used To Enduring Unhappiness.
The patient doesn’t come to the doctor about his unhappiness, which is actually the cause of his sickness. He makes no mention of his unhappiness until the doctor gains his confidence, and then he removes the front he is hiding behind.
The patient, even as you and I, has been toughened in a hard world. His is the attitude many people have always had: “Phooey! Happiness? This is a lovely word. But it’s too bad! There isn’t any! No one has ever really believed happiness exists, or ever will exist.”
He accepts his unhappiness as an unfortunate, but normal, routine condition of life on earth.
~ John A. Schindler, M.D., How To Live 365 Days A Year (1970)
What you accomplish in this world depends upon several things. One is the nature of the abilities with which you are born. A second is whether or not you use these abilities in the most afficient way. A third factor is the conditions under which you use your abilities.
You cannot be told by psychology how to be born with certain abilities. This chapter will be devoted to finding out what surroundings, conditions of light, temperature, ventilation, and health will do most to further your efficiency.
~ Dr. Donald Laird, Increasing Personal Efficiency (1936)
Accepting reality is the first step toward self-realization. Most of us look at ourselves “as we would like to be” instead of how we actually are. Getting to know the real self is interesting, even fascinating. Getting to know others is even more so.
~ Strickland & Shafe, How to Develop an Attitude for Success (1969)
As a progressive and evolving being, man is where he is that he may learn that he may grow; and as he learns the spiritual lesson which any circumstance contains for him, it passes away and gives place to other circumstances.
Man is buffeted by circumstances so long as he believes himself to be the creature of outside conditions, but when he realizes that he is a creative power, and that he may command the hidden soil and seeds of his being out of which circumstances grow, he then becomes the rightful master of himself.
That circumstances grow out of thought every man knows who has for any length of time practiced self-control and self-purification, for he will have noticed that the alteration in his circumstances has been in exact ratio with his altered mental condition. So true is this that when a man earnestly applies himself to remedy the defects in his character, and makes swift and marked progress, he passes rapidly through a succession of vicissitudes.
~ James Allen – As A Man Thinketh (1903)
The world desperately needs champions; the world desperately needs leaders—more leadership. Only you and the thousands like you can supply this. Hard work, intelligence, sincerity of purpose, and the continuance of your own personal improvement as long as you live—these and these alone will provide leadership. No one else can do it. It is yours, and you yourself control your own destiny.
~ James F. Bender, The Technique of Executive Leadership (1950)
Thought and effort may be necessary; one must raise his head if he wishes to look around. But the effort is worthwhile.
It is worthwhile if only for the joyous fun of it. One should savor great developments as they happen, for truly great contributions quickly enter the intellectual household of humanity. There they become commonplaces, yesterday’s triumphs, and if we missed them yesterday, the exhilarating moment is passed. I share the view of most scientists: it is much more fun to discover knowledge than to possess it.
~ William S. Beck, The Riddle of Life (1960)
Without strength of mind, nothing of accomplishment can be done, and cultivation of that steadfastness and stability of character which is commonly called “will-power” is one of the foremost duties of man, for its possession is essentially necessary both to his temporal and eternal well-being. Fixedness of purpose is at the root of all successful efforts, whether in things worldly or spiritual, and without it man cannot be otherwise than wretched, and dependent upon others for that support which should be found within himself.
~ James Allen, The Mastery of Destiny (1909)
