Some words to think about when you're discouraged:

"Get a day job." - said by a publisher to J.K. Rowling after she had already encountered 12 rejections of her novel Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, which spawned a series that has gone on to sell over 450 million copies.

"It is so badly written." - Said by a rejecting publisher about Dan Brown's novel The DaVinci Code, which has sold 80 million copies.

"Too different from other juveniles on the market to warrant its selling." - From a rejection slip sent to Dr. Seuss, who has racked up 300 million in sales and become the ninth best selling fiction author of all time.

"I recommend that it be buried under a stone for a thousand years." - Said by a potential publisher about Vladimir Nabokov's novel Lolita which has sold 50 million copies.

"The girl doesn't, it seems to me, have a special perception or feeling which would lift that book above the 'curiosity' level." - From one of 15 rejections of the Diary of Anne Frank, which has sold over 25 million copies and long after it's first printing still speaks to girls around the world.

If these superstars collect that many crushing failures, it's only natural that we will collect a few too.

Preparedness

"Those who prepared for all the emergencies of life beforehand may equip themselves at the expense of joy." - E. M. Forster

"When you have to go to the bathroom, it's too lat...

"When you have to go to the bathroom, it's too late to build a latrine." - Chagdud Rinpoche

Mistakes

"A life spent in making mistakes is not only more honorable but more useful than a life spent doing nothing." - George Bernard Shaw

"Nothing will content him who is not content with ...

"Nothing will content him who is not content with little." - Greek proverb

Owning our Power

"Bad companions or not, no one can force us to do anything without our consent. Every day may bring dozens of invitations to cynicism, negativity, self-pity, stinking thinking - but we can turn them down. If we accept, however, we have only ourselves to blame

... We are the ones with both the bad habits that need to be overcome and the power to overcome them. It is we, not anyone else, who hold the key to all that power." - Ernie Larsen and Carol Hegarty

Procrastination

"Procrastination is not an indication that we have failed. How realistic would it be if we looked forward to doing unpleasant things? It's human to avoid what we'd rather not do.

As we free ourselves from the burden of perfectionism, we're free to better accept our responsibilities. Meeting deadlines as well as we can, one at a time, pays off in serenity and a manageable life. When we are crisis-ridden, we are forced to live by other people's demands, rather than by our choices ... We can forgive ourselves, try to laugh at ourselves, live in the present, and keep going. Today can be better than yesterday." - SK

Contagious Courage

"Courage is personal. All of us hammer it out - or don't - in the privacy of our own souls. No one can be courageous for you any more than you can be courageous for someone else.

Yet ... When any of us takes a stand, a model has been created to inspire the rest of us ... All human words and deeds are something like radio transmitters. Vibrations and messages are going out from us constantly ... Even though our intention isn't, and shouldn't be, to 'wow' other people - it's good to know that our personal sweat, as a side effect, might water somebody else's garden." - Ernie Larsen and Carol Hegarty

Indispensible "The graveyards are full of indispe...

Indispensible

"The graveyards are full of indispensable men" - Charles de Gaulle

Fear-Strength

"You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, 'I lived through this horror, I can take the next thing that comes along.'" - Eleanor Roosevelt

Principles "It is always easier to fight for one'...

Principles

"It is always easier to fight for one's principles than to live up to them." - Alfred Adler

Labor Days

"Good for the body is the work of the body, good for the soul the work of the soul, and good for either the work of the other." - Henry David Thoreau

Realization "When you realize there is nothing la...

Realization

"When you realize there is nothing lacking, the whole world belongs to you." - Laozi

Peace, man

"Nothing can bring you peace but yourself. Nothing can bring you peace but the triumph of principles." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Go Clubbing "Don't loaf and invite inspiration. L...

Go Clubbing

"Don't loaf and invite inspiration. Light out after it with a club." - Jack London