THE LONG SPAN of the bridge of your life is supported by countless cables called habits, attitudes, and desires. What you do in your life depends upon what you are and what you want. What you get from life depends upon how much you want it—how much you are willing to work and plan and cooperate and use your resources. The long span of the bridge of your life is supported by countless cables that are spinning now, and that is why today is such an important day. Make the cables strong.

MANY OF life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.

THE ULTIMATE DEFENSE against growing old is your dream. Nothing is as real as a dream. Your dream is the path between the person you are and the person you hope to become. Success isn’t money. Success isn’t power. The criteria for your success are to be found in your dream, in your self. Your dream is something to hold on to. It will always be your link with the person you are today, young and full of hope. If you hold on to it, you may grow old, but you will never be old, and that is the ultimate success.

WE ALL sometimes get too serious about our workloads and our business problems. Rather than worry and analyze too much, I prefer to remember that line from Thornton Wilder’s Skin of Our Teeth My advice to you is not to inquire why or whither, but just enjoy your ice cream while it’s on your plate."

NOTHING IS OURS outright, as a gift; we have to perform for ourselves even those of our actions which seem most passive. The humble Sancho Panza kept suggesting this proverb: "If they give you a cow, you have to carry the rope." All we are given is possibilities to make ourselves one thing or another.

We’ve all used the phrase, one of these days.

One of these days we’re going write a book.

One of these days we’re going to act on that great idea.

One of these days we’re going to look up that old friend.

It’s a familiar phrase, but invariably, one of these days means none of these days.

We’re talking about a malady called procrastination. Its a sickness that’ the same all over the world.

We keep telling ourselves that we’re going to do something and instead of doing it we spend a lot of time thinking about reasons why we can’t.

We wait for conditions to be ideal. We have to catch up on all our regular work. The decks have to be cleared for action.

We put off starting a task because it’s difficult. Take writing, for instance. It’s not easy to fill a blank page with good writing. The late, great sports writer, Red Smith, said, "You just put a blank piece of paper in the typewriter and stare at it until drops of blood appear on your forehead."

If we do make a start at something, we decide the task is too big or too time-consuming.

We convince ourselves that time is not important. We can push back our deadline without creating any problems. There’s always tomorrow.

The ironic thing about all this is that the amount of energy we use to dodge a job is sometimes greater than the energy required to complete it. As we continue to procrastinate, a sense of guilt is created and it hangs like a cloud overhead, taking the joy out of our everyday tasks.

One way to get off this merry-go-round that’s going nowhere is to sit down and make two lists. On one side of a piece of paper, list all the reasons why you are procrastinating about a particular task. Then on the other side list the benefits that could be gained by getting the task done.

You’ll find that your reasons for postponing action are weak and that the list of benefits is longer and stronger. The effect can be dramatic. You’ll get off this slow-motion merry-go-round you’ve been on and strike out in a direction that will bring you the benefits you’ve listed. Even if you only spend five minutes the first day taking that first step toward getting the task done and achieving your benefits, do it. Begin. Otherwise, you’ll spend the first half of your life postponing things and the second half regretting that you did.

STILL I am learning.

WE MUST take care to live not merely a long life, but a full one; for living a long life requires only good fortune, but living a full life requires character. Long is the life that is fully lived; it is fulfilled only when the mind supplies its own good qualities and empowers itself from within.

I BELIEVE most people place an undue emphasis on talent. I don’t doubt that it exists, but talent is essentially a potential for something. The issue really is not talent as an independent element, but talent in relationship to will, desire, and persistence. Talent without those things vanishes and even modest talent with those characteristics grows.

FOR ONCE you have tasted flight you will walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been and there you long to return.

THE ROAD TO happiness lies in two simple principles: find what it is that interests you and that you can do well, and when you find it, put your whole soul into it every bit of energy and ambition and natural ability you have.

YOU'LL NEVER leave where you are, until you decide where you’d rather be.

A LITTLE BOY AND GIRL wanted to meet the wisest man in the world. When they found him, they said, Sir, we understand you are one of the wisest men in the world. We want to be like you when we grow up. How can we do that?

The man responded with these words of wisdom: Children, there are four words I would like to say to you. When you grow up, you will be very wise if you remember these words and live by them.

The first word is Think. Think about the values and principles that are important to you.

The second word is Believe. Believe in yourself based on the thinking you have done.

The third word is Dream. Dream about what you want to become, based on your belief in yourself.

And the last word is Dare. Dare to make your dream a reality.

Then, in front of Sleeping Beauty’s castle by Snow White’s wishing well, Walt Disney said to the boy and girl, Let me say those four words again, so you can remember them: Think, Believe, Dream, and Dare.

THERE SHOULD BE less talk; a preaching point is not a meeting point. What do you do then? Take a broom and clean someone’s house. That says enough.