Friendship Quotes – a large collection of famous and inspirational quotes

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Doing Your Best Quotes

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# People who are resting on their laurels are wearing them on the wrong end.–Malcolm Kushner

# People who cannot invent and reinvent themselves must be content with borrowed postures, secondhand ideas, fitting in instead of standing out.–Warren Bennis

# A problem is a chance for you to do your best.–Duke Ellington

# A professional is someone who can do his best work when he doesn’t feel like it.–Alistair Cooke

# The real tragedy of life is not in being limited to one talent, but in the failure to use that one talent.–Edgar W. Work

# Rebellion against your handicaps gets you nowhere. Self-pity gets you nowhere. One must have the adventurous daring to accept oneself as a bundle of possibilities and undertake the most interesting game in the world–making the most of one’s best.–Harry Emerson Fosdick

# The reward of a thing well done is to have done it.–Ralph Waldo Emerson

# The right performance of this hour’s duties will be the best preparation for the hours or ages that follow it.–Ralph Waldo Emerson

# Satisfaction lies in the effort, not in the attainment, full effort is full victory.–Mahatma Gandhi

# Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss it, you will land among the stars.–Les Brown

# Some men have thousands of reasons why they cannot do what they want to, when all they need is one reason why they can.–Willis Whitney

# Sometimes something worth doing is worth overdoing.–David Letterman

# Still this planet’s soil for noble deeds grants scope abounding.–Goethe (Faust Part Two)

# The talent of success is nothing more than doing what you can do well, and doing well whatever you do without thought of fame. If it comes at all it will come because it is deserved, not because it is sought after.–Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

# There are many wonderful things that will never be done if you do not do them.–Charles D. Gill

# There are no extraordinary men…just extraordinary circumstances that ordinary men are forced to deal with.–Admiral Willian “Bull” Halsey

# There is no such thing as can’t, only won’t. If you’re qualified, all it takes is a burning desire to accomplish, to make a change. Go forward, go backward. Whatever it takes! But you can’t blame other people or society in general. It all comes from your mind. When we do the impossible we realize we are special people.–Jan Ashford

# There is nothing of which every man is so afraid, as getting to know how enormously much he is capable of doing and becoming.–Soren Kierkegaard

# There’s a difference between interest and commitment. When you’re interested in doing something, you do it only when circumstance permit. When you’re committed to something, you accept no excuses, only results.–Art Turock

# Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot,
nothing is going to get better. It’s not.–Dr. Seuss (The Lorax)

# We all need someone who inspires us to do better than we know how.–Anonymous

# We become what we do.–Madame Chiang Kai-Shek

# We do not have to be the best to be effective, but we do have to be at our best.–Bob Briner (Roaring Lambs)

# We know better than we do. We do not yet possess ourselves…–Ralph Waldo Emerson

# We must all wage an intense, lifelong battle against the constant downward pull. If we relax, the bugs and weeds of negativity will move into the garden and take away everything of value.–Jim Rohn (Jim Rohn’s Weekly E-zine – June 24, 2003)

# We ourselves feel that what we are doing is just a drop in the ocean. But the ocean would be less because of that missing drop.–Mother Teresa

# We should every night call ourselves to an account: what infirmity have I mastered to-day? what passions opposed? what temptation resisted? what virtue acquired? Our vices will abate of themselves if they be brought every day to the shrift.–Seneca

# Well done is better than well said.–Benjamin Franklin

# What I do today is important because I’m exchanging a day of my life for it.–Anonymous

# Whatever I have tried to do in life, I have tried with all my heart to do it well; whatever I have devoted myself to, I have devoted myself completely; in great aims and in small I have always thoroughly been in earnest.–Charles Dickens

# When I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent left, and could say, “I used everything you gave me.”–Erma Bombeck

# When we do the best that we can, we never know what miracle is wrought in our life, or in the life of another.–Helen Keller (Out of the Dark)

# When we seek to discover the best in others, we somehow bring out the best in ourselves.–William Arthur Ward

# The winds and the waves are always on the side of the ablest navigators.–Edward Gibbon

# You can’t always expect a certain result, but you can expect to do your best.–Anita Hill

# You have to accept whatever comes and the only important thing is that you meet it with courage and with the best that you have to give.–Eleanor Roosevelt

# You have to expect things of yourself before you can do them.–Michael Jordan

# You’re not obligated to win. You’re obligated to keep trying to do the best you can every day.–Marian Wright Edelman

Thank You Quotes

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“I would thank you from the bottom of my heart, but for you my heart has no bottom.” – Anonymous

“God gave you a gift of 86,400 seconds today. Have you used one to say “thank you?”” – William Arthur Ward

“Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it.” – William Ward

“When eating bamboo sprouts, remember the man who planted them.” – Chinese Proverb

“For your thoughtfulness and generosity, from you I have learned much of life’s philosophy Thank you sincerely.” – Anonymous

“A true friend is someone who thinks that you are a good egg even though he knows that you are slightly cracked.” – Bernard Meltzer

“Let us be grateful to people who make us happy; they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom.” – Marcel Proust

“To the generous mind the heaviest debt is that of gratitude, when it is not in our power to repay it.” – Benjamin Franklin

“I awoke this morning with devout thanksgiving for my friends, the old and the new.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

“As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them.” – John F. Kennedy

“I would maintain that thanks are the highest form of thought, and that gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder. – G.K. Chesterton

“The smallest act of kindness is worth more than the grandest intention.” – Oscar Wilde

“A thankful heart is not only the greatest virtue, but the parent of all other virtues.” – Cicero

“Kindness is the language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see.” – Mark Twain

“Gratitude is when memory is stored in the heart and not in the mind.” – Lionel Hampton

“Appreciation is a wonderful thing. It makes what is excellent in others belong to us as well.” – Voltaire

Funny Failure Quotes

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If at first you don’t succeed, destroy all evidence that you have tried. – Rule of Failure

Show me a good and gracious loser and I’ll show you a failure. – Knute Rockne

All the world loves a good loser. – Kin Hubbard

There is no failure except in no longer trying. There is no defeat except from within, no really insurmountable barrier save our own inherent weakness of purpose. – Kin Hubbard

I had a mother who taught me there is no such thing as failure. It is just a temporary postponement of success. – Buddy Ebsen

If you know you are going to fail, then fail gloriously! – Cate Blanchett

The happy people are failures because they are on such good terms with themselves they don’t give a damn. – Agatha Christie

They stayed away in droves. – Samuel Goldwyn

If at first you don’t succeed, failure may be your style. – Quentin Crisp

Dave Barry Quotes

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The most valuable function performed by the federal government is entertainment.

You should not confuse your career with life.

A person who is nice to you, but rude to the waiter, is not a nice person.

A penny saved is worthless.

Never under any circumstances take a sleeping pill and a laxative on the same night.

If a woman has to choose between catching a fly ball and saving an infants life, she will choose to save the infant’s life without even considering if there is a man on base.

“Auto racing is boring except when a car is going at least 172 miles per hour upside down.”

Karate is a form of martial arts in which people who have had years and years of training can, with only their hands and feet, make some of the worst movies in the history of the world.

Not all chemicals are bad. Without chemicals such as hydrogen and oxygen, for example, there would be no way to make water, a vital ingredient in beer.

People who want to share their religious views with you almost never want you to share yours with them.

Scientists now believe that the primary biological function of breasts is to make males stupid.

I believe that we parents must encourage our children to become educated, so they can get into a good college that we cannot afford.

If God had wanted us to be concerned for the plight of the toads, he would have made them cute and furry.

If you had to identify, in one word, the reason why the human race has not achieved, and never will achieve, its full potential, that word would be ‘meetings.’

It always rains on tents. Rainstorms will travel thousands of miles, against prevailing winds for the opportunity to rain on a tent.

It is a scientific fact that your body will not absorb cholesterol if you take it from another person’s plate.

It is a well-documented fact that guys will not ask for directions. This is a biological thing. This is why it takes several million sperm cells… to locate a female egg, despite the fact that the egg is, relative to them, the size of Wisconsin.

Life is anything that dies when you stomp on it.

The problem with winter sports is that they generally take place in winter.

The problem with writing about religion is that you run the risk of offending sincerely religious people, and then they come after you with machetes.

The simple truth is that balding African-American men look cool when they shave their heads, whereas balding white men look like giant thumbs.

Thus the metric system did not really catch on in the States, unless you count the increasing popularity of the nine-millimeter bullet.

To an adolescent, there is nothing in the world more embarrassing than a parent.

To better understand why you need a personal computer, let’s take a look at the pathetic mess you call your life.

What I look forward to is continued immaturity followed by death.

The world is full of strange phenomena that cannot be explained by the laws of logic or science. Dennis Rodman is only one example.

The main accomplishment of almost all organized protests is to annoy the people who are not in them.

When trouble arises and things look bad, there is always one individual who perceives a solution and is willing to take command.  Very often that person is crazy.

The most powerful force in the universe is gossip.

We operate under a jury system in this country, and as much as we complain about it, we have to admit that we know of no better system, except possibly flipping a coin.

We’ll try to cooperate fully with the IRS, because, as citizens, we feel a strong patriotic duty not to go to jail.

Magnetism, as you recall from physics class, is a powerful force that causes certain items to be attracted to refrigerators.

My problem with chess was that all my pieces wanted to end the game as soon as possible.

Never assume that the guy understands that you and he have a relationship.

Skiing combines outdoor fun with knocking down trees with your face.

The Democrats seem to be basically nicer people, but they have demonstrated time and again that they have the management skills of celery.

The leading cause of death among fashion models is falling through street grates.

The one thing that unites all human beings, regardless of age, gender, religion or ethnic background, is that we all believe we are above-average drivers.

Although golf was originally restricted to wealthy, overweight Protestants, today it’s open to anybody who owns hideous clothing.

Auto racing is boring except when a car is going at least 172 miles per hour upside down.

Bill Gates is a very rich man today… and do you want to know why? The answer is one word: versions.

Camping is nature’s way of promoting the motel business.

Don’t you wish you had a job like mine? All you have to do is think up a certain number of words! Plus, you can repeat words! And they don’t even have to be true!

Eating rice cakes is like chewing on a foam coffee cup, only less filling.

Eugene is located in western Oregon, approximately 278 billion miles from anything.

You can only be young once. But you can always be immature.

Gravity is a contributing factor in nearly 73 percent of all accidents involving falling objects.

Have you noticed that whatever sport you’re trying to learn, some earnest person is always telling you to keep your knees bent?

Life Mottos

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Life Mottos to Live By

The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams. – Eleanor Roosevelt

Happiness depends upon ourselves. – Aristotle

Attitude is everything. – Anonymous

Nothing can bring you peace but yourself. – Ralph Waldo Emerson

It is better to travel well than to arrive. – The Buddha

I say NO to the demands of the world.
I say YES to the longings of my own heart. – Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Dance lightly with life. – Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Powerful Dreams Inspire Powerful Action. – Jonathan Lockwood Huie

I have no need to conform to the stereotypes others have defined for me. – Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Another Sunrise, Another New Beginning. – Jonathan Lockwood Huie

There is nothing I ever need to have.
There is nothing I ever need to do. – Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Life is as easy or as hard as I think it is. – Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Life’s burdens are lighter when I laugh at myself. – Jonathan Lockwood Huie

I don’t have the power to make life “fair,” but I do have the power to make life joyful. – Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Joy blooms where minds and hearts are open. – Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Whatever you do, do with kindness.
Whatever you say, say with kindness.
Wherever you go, radiate kindness – Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Life Mottos about Courage, Taking Action, and Persevering

Do it Now! – Napoleon Hill

Let’s Roll. – Todd Beamer

Whatever it takes! – Anonymous

Nothing ventured, nothing gained. – Anonymous

Actions speak louder than words. – Anonymous

Do or do not, there is no try. – Yoda (Star Wars movie)

The only thing we have to fear is fear itself. – Franklin D. Roosevelt

No one knows what he can do until he tries. – Publilius Syrus

The cave you fear to enter holds the treasure you seek. – Joseph Campbell

Every wall is a door. – Ralph Waldo Emerson

Don’t ever give up. – Anonymous

Never Quit. – Anonymous

Winners never quit and quitters never win! – Vince Lombardi

Practice makes perfect. – Anonymous

Seize the day (Carpe Diem) – ancient Roman

Keep the Faith. – Anonymous

You must do the things you think you cannot do. – Eleanor Roosevelt

Hard work pays off. – Anonymous

Roll with the punches. – Anonymous

It is better to light a candle than to curse the darkness. – Chinese proverb

Life Mottos about Self-Respect

Above all to thine own self be true. – William Shakespeare

Always be a first-rate version of yourself, instead of a second-rate version of somebody else. – Judy Garland

Know thyself. – Socrates

Believe in yourself. – Anonymous

Conformity is the jailer of freedom and the enemy of growth. – John F. Kennedy

To go against the dominant thinking of your friends, of most of the people you see every day, is perhaps the most difficult act of heroism you can perform. – Theodore H. White

Life Mottos about Purpose, Dreams, and Setting Goals

Be the best that you can be. – Anonymous

Life is either a daring adventure or nothing. – Helen Keller

We must become the change we wish to see in the world. – Mohandas (Mahatma) Gandhi

The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others. – Mohandas (Mahatma) Gandhi

Our prime purpose in this life is to help others. And if you can’t help them, at least don’t hurt them. – Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama

As we light a path for others, we naturally light our own way. – Mary Anne Radmacher

Choose with no regret. – Mary Anne Radmacher

Reach for the stars. – Anonymous

Follow Your Dreams. – Anonymous

Live Your Dreams.- Les Brown

Dream as if you’ll live forever. Live as if you’ll die today. – James Dean

The purpose of life is a life of purpose. – Robert Byrne

Life is what you make it. – Anonymous

Mindset Quotes

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As long as you’re going to be thinking anyway, think big. – Donald Trump

I am looking for a lot of men who have an infinite capacity to not know what can’t be done. – Henry Ford

I cannot discover that anyone knows enough to say definitely what is and what is not possible. – Henry Ford

If you think you can do a thing or think you can’t do a thing, you’re right. – Henry Ford

One of the greatest discoveries a man makes, one of his great surprises, is to find he can do what he was afraid he couldn’t do. – Henry Ford

There is no man living that can not do more than he thinks he can.  – Henry Ford

We all have possibilities we don’t know about. We can do things we don’t even dream we can do. – Dale Carnegie

You can conquer almost any fear if you will only make up your mind to do so. For remember, fear doesn’t exist anywhere except in the mind. – Dale Carnegie

Employ your time in improving yourself by other men’s writings, so that you shall gain easily what others have labored hard for. – Socrates

Networking Quotes

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The ability to deal with people is as purchasable a commodity as sugar or coffee and I will pay more for that ability than for any other under the sun. – John D. Rockfeller

You will find men who want to be carried on the shoulders of others, who think that the world owes them a living. They don’t seem to see that we must all lift together and pull together. – Henry Ford

You can close more business in two months by becoming interested in other people than you can in two years by trying to get people interested in you. – Dale Carnegie

You can make more friends in two months by becoming interested in other people than you can in two years by trying to get other people interested in you. – Dale Carnegie

Be slow to fall into friendship; but when thou art in, continue firm and constant. – Socrates

Bill Cosby Quotes

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A word to the wise ain’t necessary – it’s the stupid ones that need the advice.

Always end the name of your child with a vowel, so that when you yell the name will carry.

Any man today who returns from work, sinks into a chair, and calls for his pipe is a man with an appetite for danger.

As I have discovered by examining my past, I started out as a child. Coincidentally, so did my brother. My mother did not put all her eggs in one basket, so to speak: she gave me a younger brother named Russell, who taught me what was meant by “survival of the fittest.”

Civilization had too many rules for me, so I did my best to rewrite them.

Decide that you want it more than you are afraid of it.

Even though your kids will consistently do the exact opposite of what you’re telling them to do, you have to keep loving them just as much.

Every closed eye is not sleeping, and every open eye is not seeing.

Fatherhood is pretending the present you love most is soap-on-a-rope.

Gray hair is God’s graffiti.

Having a child is surely the most beautifully irrational act that two people in love can commit.

Human beings are the only creatures on earth that allow their children to come back home.

I am certainly not an authority on love because there are no authorities on love, just those who’ve had luck with it and those who haven’t.

I am proud to be an American. Because an American can eat anything on the face of this earth as long as he has two pieces of bread.

I don’t know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everybody.

I guess the real reason that my wife and I had children is the same reason that Napoleon had for invading Russia: it seemed like a good idea at the time.

I wasn’t always black… there was this freckle, and it got bigger and bigger.

If the new American father feels bewildered and even defeated, let him take comfort from the fact that whatever he does in any fathering situation has a fifty percent chance of being right.

Immortality is a long shot, I admit. But somebody has to be first.

In order to succeed, your desire for success should be greater than your fear of failure.

It isn’t a matter of black is beautiful as much as it is white is not all that’s beautiful.

Let us now set forth one of the fundamental truths about marriage: the wife is in charge.

Like everyone else who makes the mistake of getting older, I begin each day with coffee and obituaries.

Men and women belong to different species and communications between them is still in its infancy.

My childhood should have taught me lessons for my own fatherhood, but it didn’t because parenting can only be learned by people who have no children.

No matter how calmly you try to referee, parenting will eventually produce bizarre behavior, and I’m not talking about the kids. Their behavior is always normal.

Nothing I’ve ever done has given me more joys and rewards than being a father to my children.

Nothing separates the generations more than music. By the time a child is eight or nine, he has developed a passion for his own music that is even stronger than his passions for procrastination and weird clothes.

Old is always fifteen years from now.

Parents are not interested in justice, they’re interested in peace and quiet.

People can be more forgiving than you can imagine. But you have to forgive yourself. Let go of what’s bitter and move on.

Poets have said that the reason to have children is to give yourself immortality. Immortality? Now that I have five children, my only hope is that they are all out of the house before I die.

Raising children is an incredibly hard and risky business in which no cumulative wisdom is gained: each generation repeats the mistakes the previous one made.

Sex education may be a good idea in the schools, but I don’t believe the kids should be given homework.

That married couples can live together day after day is a miracle that the Vatican has overlooked.

The essence of childhood, of course, is play, which my friends and I did endlessly on streets that we reluctantly shared with traffic.

The heart of marriage is memories; and if the two of you happen to have the same ones and can savor your reruns, then your marriage is a gift from the gods.

The main goal of the future is to stop violence. The world is addicted to it.

The past is a ghost, the future a dream, and all we ever have is now.

The truth is that parents are not really interested in justice. They just want quiet.

There is hope for the future because God has a sense of humor and we are funny to God.

There is no labor a person does that is undignified; if they do it right.

Through humor, you can soften some of the worst blows that life delivers. And once you find laughter, no matter how painful your situation might be, you can survive it.

When you become senile, you won’t know it.

Women don’t want to hear what you think. Women want to hear what they think – in a deeper voice.

You can turn painful situations around through laughter. If you can find humor in anything, even poverty, you can survive it.

You know the only people who are always sure about the proper way to raise children? Those who’ve never had any.

Business & Money Quotes

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Experience taught me a few things. One is to listen to your gut, no matter how good something sounds on paper. The second is that you’re generally better off sticking with what you know. And the third is that sometimes your best investments are the ones you don’t make. – Donald Trump

If you’re interested in ‘balancing’ work and pleasure, stop trying to balance them. Instead make your work more pleasurable. – Donald Trump

I have yet to find the man, however exalted his station, who did not do better work and put forth greater effort under a spirit of approval than under a spirit of criticism. – Charles Schwab

I know of nothing more despicable and pathetic than a man who devotes all the hours of the waking day to the making of money for money’s sake. – John D. Rockfeller

I would rather earn 1% off a 100 people’s efforts than 100% of my own efforts. – John D. Rockfeller

If your only goal is to become rich, you will never achieve it. – John D. Rockfeller

The only question with wealth is, what do you do with it? – John D. Rockfeller

Don’t worry, be crappy. Revolutionary means you ship and then test… Lots of things made the first Mac in 1984 a piece of crap – but it was a revolutionary piece of crap. – Guy Kawasaki

Be nice to nerds. Chances are you’ll end up working for one.  – Bill Gates

I believe that if you show people the problems and you show them the solutions they will be moved to act. – Bill Gates

If you can’t make it good, at least make it look good. – Bill Gates

Technology is just a tool. In terms of getting the kids working together and motivating them, the teacher is the most important. – Bill Gates

Until we’re educating every kid in a fantastic way, until every inner city is cleaned up, there is no shortage of things to do. – Bill Gates

A business that makes nothing but money is a poor business. – Henry Ford

A market is never saturated with a good product, but it is very quickly saturated with a bad one. – Henry Ford

If money is your hope for independence you will never have it. The only real security that a man will have in this world is a reserve of knowledge, experience, and ability. – Henry Ford

Most people spend more time and energy going around problems than in trying to solve them. – Henry Ford

Nothing is particularly hard if you divide it into small jobs. – Henry Ford

Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off your goal. – Henry Ford

The competitor to be feared is one who never bothers about you at all, but goes on making his own business better all the time. – Henry Ford

Wealth, like happiness, is never attained when sought after directly. It comes as a by-product of providing a useful service. – Henry Ford

Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning. – Bill Gates

It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you’ll do things differently. – Warren Buffet

It’s better to hang out with people better than you. Pick out associates whose behavior is better than yours and you’ll drift in that direction. – Warren Buffet

Of the billionaires I have known, money just brings out the basic traits in them. If they were jerks before they had money, they are simply jerks with a billion dollars. – Warren Buffet

Time is the friend of the wonderful company, the enemy of the mediocre. – Warren Buffet

No man will make a great leader who wants to do it all himself or get all the credit for doing it. – Andrew Carnegie

Concentrate your energies, your thoughts and your capital. The wise man puts all his eggs in one basket and watches the basket. – Andrew Carnegie

Failure Quotes

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Sometimes by losing a battle you find a new way to win the war. – Donald Trump

Even a mistake may turn out to be the one thing necessary to a worthwhile achievement. – Henry Ford

Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently. – Henry Ford

Life is a series of experiences, each one of which makes us bigger, even though sometimes it is hard to realize this. For the world was built to develop character, and we must learn that the setbacks and grieves which we endure help us in our marching onward. – Henry Ford

When everything seems to be going against you, remember that the airplane takes off against the wind, not with it. – Henry Ford

Defeat is not the worst of failures. Not to have tried is the true failure. – George Edward Woodberry

Develop success from failures. Discouragement and failure are two of the surest stepping stones to success. – Dale Carnegie

Failure is success if we learn from it. – Malcolm Forbes

I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life and that is why I succeed. – Michael Jordan

In order to succeed you must fail, so that you know what not to do the next time. – Anthony J. D’Angelo

Feeling sorry for yourself, and your present condition, is not only a waste of energy but the worst habit you could possibly have. – Dale Carnegie

If only the people who worry about their liabilities would think about the riches they do possess, they would stop worrying. – Dale Carnegie