The Best Advice I Ever Got: Lessons from Extraordinary Lives

A boat is always safe in the harbor, but that's not what boats are built for.

I never learned anything when I was talking.

... not far around the corner from every ugly experience is something really beautiful. And if you stop at every bitter comment you will never reach that beauty. Soledad O'Brien

self-confidence is the most important characteristic of successful people.

So just ask the question. After all, what’s the worst that could happen? “No” isn’t really so bad, and “Yes” might take you places you’d never expect.

A boat is always safe in the harbor,” she wrote. “But that’s not what boats are built for.

Be secure enough in yourself to base success on personal growth.

When you are doing something important, make sure you have a smile on your face and a shine on your shoes.

Angels fly because they take themselves lightly.” And she taught me that there is always a way around a problem—you’ve just got to find it. Keep trying doors; one will eventually open. She also taught me to accept failure as part and parcel of life. It’s not the opposite of success; it’s an integral part of success.

She also taught me to accept failure as part and parcel of life. It’s not the opposite of success; it’s an integral part of success. I

Too often we still live with the pinched expectations of a culture of conformity, which sees daring as dangerous. Go along to get along: that’s its mantra. Only a principled refusal to be terrorized by these stingy standards will save you from a Frankenstein life made up of other people’s expectations grafted together into a poor imitation of existence. You can’t afford to do that. It is what has poisoned our culture, our community, and our national character. No one does the right thing from fear, and so many of the wrong things are done in its long shadow. Homophobia, racism, religious bigotry: they are all bricks in a wall that divides us, bricks cast of the clay of fear, fear of that which is different or unknown.

All those people you pass as you climb the ladder of success could be the same ones who will catch you if you fall.

Write down five things you love to do. Next, write down five things that you’re really good at. Then just try to match them up!

Next, write down five things that you’re really good at. Then just try to match them up!

One person with passion is better than forty people merely interested. —E. M. FORSTER