James C. Collins Quotes

Every attainment, every step forward in knowledge, follows from courage, from hardness against oneself, from cleanliness in relation to oneself.

I'm my own harshest critic but I'm also master of my own destiny.

I think I just have to control what I can control. I can control myself. I can't control anything else but what I do. I definitely know I can do a better job at that.

'No one can make you successful; the will to success comes from within.' I've made this my motto. I've internalized it to the point of understanding that the success of my actions and/or endeavors doesn't depend on anyone else, and that includes a possible failure.

Poverty is a virtue which one can teach oneself.

You were not born a winner, and you were not born a loser. You are what you make yourself be.

Self-help must precede help from others. Even for making certain of help from heaven, one has to help oneself.

Work hard at your job and you can make a living. Work hard on yourself and you can make a fortune.

You are the single biggest influence in your life.

Remember that no talent, no self-denial, no brains, no character, are required to set up in the fault-finding business. Nothing external can have any power over you unless you permit it.

You know you can't hope yourself a better life - you must take yourself there.

You yourself must strive. The Buddhas only point the way.

It doesn't matter how one was brought up. What determines the way one does anything is personal power.

You may be always victorious if you will never enter into any contest where the issue does not wholly depend upon yourself.

I know that no one can really stop me but myself and that really no one can help me but myself.

Everything is generated through your own will power.

Accept responsibility for your life. Know that it is you who will get you where you want to go, no one else.

I commit to the controllables. That's one of the things I live by.

I only focus on what I can do.

Be an individual, work hard, study, get your mind straight, and trust nobody.

But remember this: in the final analysis, you can believe in your dream, you can be taught, supported, motivated, and loved by others, but ultimately, your success depends on you. You must take responsibility for your body, your mind, and for your character.

The power to affect your future lies within your own hands.

Raise your standards for the one thing over which you have complete control--yourse lf. It means you're committed to being intelligent, flexible, and creative enough to consistently find a way to look at your life in a fashion that makes any experience enriching.

I'm the one I need to work with.

In this life, you have to be your own hero.