Constructive Quotes

• Good management is the art of making problems so interesting and their solutions so constructive that everyone wants to get to work and deal with them.

  Paul Hawken

  Art, Business, Top Management

  Paul Hawken (1988). “Growing a Business”, p.39, Simon and Schuster

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• You must not under any pretense allow your mind to dwell on any thought that is not positive, constructive, optimistic, kind.

  Emmet Fox

  Positive, Niece, Optimistic

  Emmet Fox (1940). “Power Through Constructive Thinking”

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• I've learned that something constructive comes from every defeat.

  Tom Landry

  Inspirational, Inspiring, Sports

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• Real, constructive mental power lies in the creative thought that shapes your destiny, and your hour-by-hour mental conduct produces power for change in your life. Develop a train of thought on which to ride. The nobility of your life as well as your happiness depends upon the direction in which that train of thought is going.

  Laurence J. Peter

  Inspirational, Change, Happiness

  DR. LAURENCE J. PETER (1972). “THE PETER PRESCRIPTION HOW TO MAKE THINGS GO RIGHT”

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• There is a type of constructive nonviolent tension that is necessary for growth

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Growth, Type, Tension

  Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (2013). “The Essential Martin Luther King, Jr.: "I Have a Dream" and Other Great Writings”, p.89, Beacon Press

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• The only permanent and constructive changes you can make in the world are the changes that you make in yourself.

  Gary Zukav

  World, Permanent

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• I'm a participant in the doctrine of constructive ambiguity.

  Vernon A. Walters

  Doctrine, Ambiguity, Participants

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• You should tell yourself frequently 'I will only react to constructive suggestions.' This gives you positive ammunition against your own negative thoughts and those of others.

  Jane Roberts

  Giving, Suggestions, Negative

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• Words are singularly the most powerful force available to humanity. We can choose to use this force constructively with words of encouragement, or destructively using words of despair. Words have energy and power with the ability to help, to heal, to hinder, to hurt, to harm, to humiliate and to humble.

  Yehuda Berg

  Inspirational, Encouragement, Hurt

  FaceBook post by Yehuda Berg from Sep 15, 2010

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• In order to excel, you must be completely dedicated to your chosen sport. You must also be prepared to work hard and be willing to accept constructive criticism. Without one-hundred percent dedication, you won't be able to do this.

  Willie Mays

  Inspirational, Motivational, Sports

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• We are approaching a new age of synthesis. Knowledge cannot be merely a degree or a skill... it demands a broader vision, capabilities in critical thinking and logical deduction without which we cannot have constructive progress.

  Li Ka-shing

  Inspirational, Business, Knowledge

  "Financial Expert Witness Communication: A Practical Guide to Reporting and Testimony". Book by Bradley J. Preber (p. 81), May 9, 2014.

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• In order to excel, you must be completely dedicated.

  Willie Mays

  Dedication, Order, Devotion

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  The trouble with most of us is that we would rather be ruined by praise than saved by criticism.

  Norman Vincent Peale

  Inspirational, Integrity, Yoga

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• Human nature is potentially aggressive and destructive and potentially orderly and constructive.

  Margaret Mead

  Human Nature, Aggressive, Aggression

  Margaret Mead (2000). “And Keep Your Powder Dry: An Anthropologist Looks at America”, p.134, Berghahn Books

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• Strengthen your mind and refuse to carry the burden of mental and moral weakness acquired in past years; burn them in the fires of your present divine resolutions and right activities. By this constructive attitude you will attain freedom.

  Paramahansa Yogananda

  Attitude, Past, Fire

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• Writer's block is a natural affliction. Writers who have never experienced it have something wrong with them. It means there isn't enough friction-that they aren't making enough of an effort to reconcile the contradictions of life. All you get is sweet monotonous flow. Writer's block is nothing to commit suicide over. It simply indicates some imbalance between your experience and your art, and I think that's constructive.

  Stanley Kunitz

  Suicide, Sweet, Art

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• Criticism is always easier than constructive solutions.

  Jaron Lanier

  Criticism, Easier, Solutions

  "My bright idea: Jaron Lanier". Interview with Aleks Krotoski, www.theguardian.com. February 20, 2010.

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• The most effective and most accessible way to acquire the maximum of constructive power is to love truly and wisely.

  Pitirim Sorokin

  Way, Maximum, Acquire

  Pitirim Aleksandrovich Sorokin (2002). “The Ways and Power of Love: Types, Factors, and Techniques of Moral Transformation”, p.12, Templeton Foundation Press

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• You have the freedom to live and let live, to love and let love. Granting yourself that freedom is one of the healthiest, most constructive things you can do for yourself and the people who matter to you.

  Martha Beck

  People, Matter, Live And Let Live

  "Love More, Care Less: ‘Detached Attachment’ and Other Boundary-Setting Ideas" by Martha Beck, www.huffingtonpost.com. October 5, 2012.

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• Thinking without constructive action becomes a disease.

  Henry Ford

  Thinking, Disease, Action

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• A liberal knows that the only certainty in this life is change but believes that the change can be directed toward a constructive end.

  Henry A. Wallace

  Change, Believe, Certainty In Life

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• My creed is that public service must be more than doing a job efficiently and honestly. It must be a complete dedication to the people and to the nation with full recognition that every human being is entitled to courtesy and consideration, that constructive criticism is not only to be expected but sought, that smears are not only to be expected but fought, that honor is to be earned, not bought.

  Margaret Chase Smith

  Jobs, Dedication, People

  Margaret Chase Smith (1972). “Declaration of Conscience”

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• Knowledge is power only when put to use - and then only when the use made of it is constructive.

  David J. Schwartz

  Knowledge, Use, Made

  David J. Schwartz (2014). “The Magic of Thinking Big”, p.30, Penguin

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• Some people drift along like a cork on a river, feeling that they cannot do anything except drift, moment to moment. This is an attitude of mind. Everyone can be constructive even in tiny ways.

  Edward de Bono

  Attitude, Rivers, People

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• Euphemisms are not, as many young people think, useless verbiage for that which can and should be said bluntly; they are like secret agents on a delicate mission, they must airily pass by a stinking mess with barely so much as a nod of the head, make their point of constructive criticism and continue on in calm forbearance. Euphemisms are unpleasant truths wearing diplomatic cologne.

  Quentin Crisp

  Thinking, People, Secret

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