Iyanla Vanzant Quotes

I hope to make a positive, productive contribution, as cheesy as that may sound.

Even when you've made mistakes in life, you can still contribute and pick up the stuff and move on.

I thought, I'm only going to be on this planet once, and only for a short time. What can I do with my life that will lead to permanent benefits?

To find fault is easy; to do better may be difficult.

Difficult times disrupt your conventional ways of thinking and push you to forge better habits of thought, performance and being.

During my time in prison, I told myself that I wanted to be a part of the solution and not the problem.

When you're in a situation, you can complain about it, you can feel sorry for yourself, you can do a lot of things. But how are you gonna make the situation better?

I should only look back at moments that were disparaging, look down upon, negative for me - moments where I could learn something. And if I have been able to use that learning in future, then I am happy about it.

I'm a big enough lad now to know that I should just get over it and do what I have to do, by getting out on the training pitch and correcting the faults.

Brother, stand the pain. Escape the poison of your impulses. The sky will bow to your beauty, if you do. Learn to light the candle. Rise with the sun. Turn away from the cave of your sleeping. That way a thorn expands to a rose.

My life would be a reflection of my childhood, but it isn't; it is a reflection of the dreams that I had as a child for a better life. When I look around and see the beautiful people and wonderful surroundings that are now my reality, I know that I have overcome so much. I still have plenty of fight left in me.

If I don't like something that's going on in my life, I change it. And I don't sit and complain about it for a year.

If you've ever watched anything that I do, and you completely give it a chance and take the blinders off, and you'll understand that the underlying theme of everything I've done has been about forgiveness, learning to move on.

Wise men never sit and wail their loss, but cheerily seek how to redress their harms.

You can make almost anything a learning or positive experience. I think I offer a good example of how to make the most out of what life gives you and how to keep moving on.

At the end of my life I want to be able to say I contributed more than I criticized.

If we habitually focus on how to improve things that are already great, can you see how this spirit can transform ourselves, our organizations, families and communities?

I believe in life. I know that life comes in at your heart and it doesn't matter if you're an actor, a filmmaker or a gentleman on the street, it comes at you. What Scientology gives me is the tools to deal with that, to better enjoy my life and to be able to contribute more.

Poor people will do almost anything to avoid problems. They see a challenge and they run...the secret to success, my friends, is not to try to avoid or get rid of or shrink from your problems; the secret is to grow yourself so that you are bigger than your problems.

If you don't like your situation in life, don't fret or worry--do something about it. Worry less, and act more.

Become part of the solution rather than part of the problem

When you find yourself thinking about someone or something in the same old negative way, just stop yourself. Think. Check. Change. Refresh. Job done. Smile. Move on. Do this enough times and you will change. For the better; for the stronger.

Life is full of troubles and vexations, that one must either rise above it by means of corrected thoughts, or leave it.

The best way to come to terms with anything that is out of harmony is never to fear it - that gives it power. Bring good influences to bear upon it; make yourself a good example.

I don't believe in charmed lives. I think that tragedy is part of the lesson you learn to lift yourself up, to pick yourself up and to move on.