“I’ve learned that if you want people to be impressed, you can talk about your successes; but if you want people to identify with you, it’s better to talk about your failures.”

“People don't care how much you know unless you know how much you care”

“The secret of your success is determined by your daily agenda.”

“Everything begins with a thought.”

“Advice is what we ask for when we already knew the answer but wish we didn't.”

“Every person has a longing to be significant, to make a contribution, to be a part of something noble and purposeful.”

“If you do not connect with others, influence is out of the question.”

“In general, there are no bad audiences; only bad speakers.”

“«La mayoría ve los obstáculos; pocos ven los objetivos; la historia registra el éxito de los últimos, mientras que el olvido es la recompensa de los primeros».

“Several years ago Dr. Maxwell Maltz’s book, Psycho-Cybernetics, was one of the most popular books on the market. Dr. Maltz was a plastic surgeon who often took disfigured faces and made them more attractive. He observed that in every case, the patient’s self-image rose with his and her physical improvement. In addition to being a successful surgeon, Dr. Maltz was a great psychologist who understood human nature. A wealthy woman was greatly concerned about her son, and she came to Dr. Maltz for advice. She had hoped that the son would assume the family business following her husband’s death, but when the son came of age, he refused to assume that responsibility and chose to enter an entirely different field. She thought Dr. Maltz could help convince the boy that he was making a grave error. The doctor agreed to see him, and he probed into the reasons for the young man’s decision. The son explained, “I would have loved to take over the family business, but you don’t understand the relationship I had with my father. He was a driven man who came up the hard way. His objective was to teach me self-reliance, but he made a drastic mistake. He tried to teach me that principle in a negative way. He thought the best way to teach me self-reliance was to never encourage or praise me. He wanted me to be tough and independent. Every day we played catch in the yard. The object was for me to catch the ball ten straight times. I would catch that ball eight or nine times, but always on that tenth throw he would do everything possible to make me miss it. He would throw it on the ground or over my head but always so I had no chance of catching it.” The young man paused for a moment and then said, “He never let me catch the tenth ball—never! And I guess that’s why I have to get away from his business; I want to catch that tenth ball!”

“Thinking for a Change shares the way that I think on a daily basis. My wife, Margaret, says it has more of my DNA than any of my other books.”

“Most good leaders want the perspective of people they trust.”

“To achieve your dreams, you must embrace adversity and make failure a regular part of your life. If you're not failing, you're probably not really moving forward.”

“One of the great ironies of life is that if you give up your life, you gain it. If you help others, you benefit. If you lose yourself, you find yourself.”

“El poeta William Arthur Ward sugiere que la clave para el éxito es: Creer cuando otros dudan. Planificar mientras que los demás juegan. Estudiar cuando los demás duermen. Decidir cuando los demás postergan. Prepararse cuando los demás sueñan despiertos. Empezar cuando los demás lo dejan para otro día. Trabajar cuando los demás desean. Ahorrar cuando los demás desperdician. Escuchar cuando los demás hablan. Sonreír cuando los demás fruncen el ceño. Elogiar cuando los demás critican. Persistir cuando los demás se dan por vencidos.”