Zig Ziglar

If you learn from defeat, you haven’t really lost.

I’ve always taught that a poor economy is the best opportunity for salespeople because the naysayers and grumblers have already given up, leaving more territory, more opportunities to be successful than in a good economy when virtually all salespeople are out there, giving it their best.

Be careful not to compromise what you want most for what you want now.

Getting up and moving forward is a choice.

I’m so optimistic, I’d go after Moby Dick in a rowboat and take the tartar sauce with me.

Only men of character are trusted.

Whatever you do will be insignificant, but it is very important that you do it.

Asking a working writer what he thinks about critics is like asking a lamppost how it feels about dogs.

I’ve seen more people fail because of liquor and leverage – leverage being borrowed money. You really don’t need leverage in this world much. If you’re smart, you’re going to make a lot of money without borrowing.

You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something – your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.

Seek first to understand and then to be understood.

Your biggest risk isn’t failing, it’s getting too comfortable.

I believe in the Golden Rule. The Man with the Gold, Rules.

The uniform, constant and uninterrupted effort of every man to better his condition … is frequently powerful enough to maintain the natural progress of things toward improvement, in spite both of the extravagance of government, and of the greatest errors of administration … surmounting a hundred impertinent obstructions with which the folly of human laws too often encumbers its operations.

Thinking expansively includes seeing what is possible and making it happen.

My mission in life is not merely to survive, but to thrive; and to do so with some passion, some compassion, some humour, and some style.

I try to learn from the past, but I plan for the future by focusing exclusively on the present. That’s were the fun is.

The top salesperson in the organization probably missed more sales than 90% of the sales people on the team, but they also made more calls than the others made.

Don’t be distracted by criticism. Remember – the only taste of success some people have is when they take a bite out of you.

Hofstadter’s Law: It always takes longer than you expect, even when you take into account Hofstadter’s Law.

There will be times when your best isn’t your good enough. There can be many reasons for this, but as long as you give your best you’ll be OK.