Nathaniel Branden Quotes

Whoever would be a teacher of men let him begin by teaching himself before teaching others; and let him teach by example before teaching by word. For he who teaches himself and rectifies his own ways is more deserving of respect and reverence than he who would teach others and rectify their ways.

You can survive tough situations and even turn them to your advantage by acting as if you are the person you want to be. When you act like that person, you can become that person. The hard parts are deciding whom you want to become, being willing to rehearse until you become that person, and forgiving yourself until you do.

We teach more by what we are than by what we teach.

Before a person can achieve the kind of life he wants, he must think, act, walk, talk and conduct himself in all of his affairs as would the person he wishes to become.

By acting as you wish yourself to be, in due course you will become as you act.

Be the person you wish to become - today. Talk like them, walk like them, breathe like them! Be them NOW!

Be what you are. This is the first step toward becoming better than you are.

You have to bring yourself to a character.

I'm always fascinated with how a person becomes a good quality person, a productive person, and how it happened to me, because I was a terror.

A person becomes great not be sitting on some high seat, but through higher qualities. Can a crow become an eagle by simply sitting on the top of a palatial building?

Picture in your mind the able, earnest, useful person you desire to be, and the thought you hold is hourly transforming you into that particular individual you so admire

The world doesn't need more great leaders, it needs more great people who lead.

A person would have to change himself in order to be a living example of what he's singing about.

When someone becomes a millionaire, the least important thing is what they have. The most important thing is what they have become.

It is difficult to bring people to goodness with lessons, but it is easy to do so by example.

I happen to think we’ve set our ideal on the wrong objects; I happen to think that the greatest ideal man can set before himself is self-perfection.

Do yourself what you wish others to do.

Ultimately, my daughter is not going to learn from what I do, not from what I say. For better or for worse. I see that everyday.

Do you wish the world were better? Let me tell you what to do: Set a watch upon your actions, Keep them always straight and true.

Set goals not for the outcome itself, but for who you get to become in the process.

I began by acting like the person I wanted to be, and eventually I became that person.

It’s not what you do – it’s what you are becoming.

No man can change himself into anything from sheer reason; he can only change into what he potentially is.

Act like the person you conceive yourself to be.