Quotes by "B. C. Forbes"

The man who has done his level best, and who is conscious that he has done his best, is a success, even though the world may write him down a failure.

Difficulties should act as a tonic. They should spur us to greater exertion.

Our future and our fate lie in our wills more than in our hands, for our hands are but the instruments of our wills.

When it comes to betting on yourself ... you're a chicken-livered coward if you hesitate.

Life is just an endless chain of judgements. . . . The more imperfect our judgement, the less perfect our success.

Many of the most successful men I have known have never grown up. They have retained bubbling-over boyishness. They have relished wit, they have indulged in humor. They have not allowed "dignity" to depress them into moroseness. Youthfulness of spirit is the twin brother of optimism, and optimism is the stuff of which American business success is fashioned. Resist growing up!

The way to make a true friend is to be one. Friendship implies loyalty, esteem, cordiality, sympathy, affection, readiness to aid, to help, to stick, to fight for, if need be. ... Radiate friendship and it will return sevenfold.

The real friend is he or she who can share all our sorrow and double our joys.

It is when things go hardest, when life becomes most trying, that there is greatest need for having a fixed goal. When few comforts come from without, it is all the more necessary to have a fount to draw on from within.

Money, or even power, can never yield happiness unless it be accompanied by the goodwill of others.

Are you doing the kind of work you were built for, so that you can expect to be able to do very large amounts of that kind and thrive under it? Or are you doing a kind of which you can do comparatively little?

The men who have done big things are those who were not afraid to attempt big things, who were not afraid to risk failure in order to gain success.

The man of fixed ingrained principles who has mapped out a straight course, and has the courage and self-control to adhere to it, does not find life complex. Complexities are all of our own making.

Call the roll in your memory of conspicuously successful business giants and ... you will be struck by the fact that almost every one of them encountered inordinate difficulties sufficient to crush all but the gamest of spirits. Edison went hungry many times before he became famous.

Turn resolutely to work, to recreation, or in any case to physical exercise till you are so tired you can't help going to sleep, and when you wake up you won't want to worry.

He who has faith has... an inward reservoir of courage, hope, confidence, calmness, and assuring trust that all will come out well - even though to the world it may appear to come out most badly.

It is only the farmer who faithfully plants seeds in the Spring, who reaps a harvest in the Autumn.

There is more credit and satisfaction in being a first-rate truck driver than a tenth-rate executive.

Golf without bunkers and hazards would be tame and monotonous. So would life.

To make headway, improve your head.