Denis Waitley

Forget about the consequences of failure. 
Failure is only a temporary change in direction 
to set you straight for your next success. 
~Denis Waitley~

Our limitations and success will be based, 
most often, on your own expectations for ourselves. 
What the mind dwells upon, 
the body acts upon. 
~Denis Waitley~ 

Mary H. Waldrip

A laugh is a smile that bursts.
~Mary H. Waldrip~

Addison Walker

It is not true that nice guys finish last.
Nice guys are winners before the game ever starts.
~Addison Walker~

Alice Walker

Storytelling is how we survive, 
when there's no feed, 
the story feeds something, 
it feeds the spirit, the imagination. 
I can't imagine life without stories, 
stories from my parents, my culture. 
Stories from other people's parents, their culture. 
That's how we learn from each other, 
it's the best way. 
That's why literature is so important, 
it connects us heart to heart. 
~Alice Walker~ 

Howard Arnold Walter

I would be true, 
for there are those who trust me; 
I would be pure, 
for there are those who care; 
I would be strong, 
for there is much to suffer; 
I would be brave, 
for there is much to dare. 
~Howard Arnold Walter~ 

John Wanamaker

Gratitude takes three forms: 
a feeling in the heart, 
an expression in words, 
and a giving in return. 
~John Wanamaker~

Walter Wangerin Jr.

Gloria, Gloria! they cry, 
for their song embraces 
all that the Lord has begun this day: 
Glory to God in the highest of heavens! 
And peace to the people 
with whom he is pleased! 
And who are these people? 
With whom does the good Lord 
choose to take his pleasure? 
The shepherds. 
The plain and nameless-- 
whose every name the Lord knows well. 
You. And me. 
~Walter Wangerin Jr.~ 

Jay Ward

Bullwinkle: You just leave that to my pal. 
He's the brains of the outfit. 
General: What does that make you? 
Bullwinkle: What else? An executive... 
~Jay Ward~ 

William Arthur Ward

The optimist pleasantly ponders
how high his kite will fly;
the pessimist woefully wonders
how soon his kite will fall.
~William Arthur Ward~

The mediocre teacher tells.
The good teacher explains.
The superior teacher demonstrates.
The great teacher inspires.
~William Arthur Ward~

It is wise to direct your anger towards
problems--not people;
to focus your energies on
answers--not excuses.
~William Arthur Ward~

Feeling gratitude and not expressing it 
is like wrapping a present and not giving it.
~William Arthur Ward~

Forgiveness is a funny thing.
It warms the heart and
cools the sting.
~William Arthur Ward~

Wise are they who have
learned these truths:
Trouble is temporary.
Time is tonic.
Tribulation is a test tube.
~William Arthur Ward~

Blessed is he who has learned
to admire but not envy,
to follow but not imitate,
to praise but not flatter,
and to lead but not manipulate.
~William Arthur Ward~

Flatter me, and I may not believe you. 
Criticize me, and I may not like you. 
Ignore me, and I may not forgive you. 
Encourage me, and I will not forget you. 
Love me and I may be forced to love you. 
~William Arthur Ward~

The pessimist complains about the wind; 
the optimist expects it to change; 
the realist adjusts the sails. 
~William Arthur Ward~ 

Andy Warhol

They always say time changes things, 
but you actually have to change them yourself. 
~Andy Warhol~

I am convinced that attitude is the key to 
success or failure in almost any of life's endeavors. 
Your attitude--your perspective, your outlook, 
how you feel about yourself, how you feel about other people--determines your priorities, your actions, your values. 
Your attitude determines how you interact with other people 
and how you interact with yourself. 
~Carolyn Warner~ 

Rick Warren

...listen to capture the feeling 
of the person you are listening to, 
not just the content of their words. 
....pay attention to tone, facial expressions, and 
body language - the non-verbal signs. 
....listen with your eyes, not just your ears....
~Rick Warren~

Booker T. Washington

I believe that any man's life will be filled
with constant and unexpected encouragement,
if he makes up his mind to do his level best
each day, and as nearly as possible reaching
the high water mark of pure and useful living.
~Booker T. Washington~

Few things help an individual more
than to place responsibility upon him,
and to let him know that you trust him.
~Booker T. Washington~

I think I began learning long ago
that those who are happiest are those who
do the most for others.
~Booker T. Washington~

I have learnt that
success is to be measured
not so much by the position
that one has reached in life
as by the obstacles
which he has overcome
while trying to succeed.
~Booker T. Washington~

Few things help an individual more than 
to place responsibility upon him, 
and to let him know that you trust him.
~Booker T. Washington~

I will permit no man to narrow and degrade my soul 
by making me hate him. 
~Booker T. Washington~ 

George Washington

Be courteous to all, but intimate with few, and let those few be well tried before you give them your confidence. True friendship is a plant of slow growth, and must undergo and withstand the shocks of adversity before it is entitled to the appellation.
~ George Washington~

There is nothing so likely to produce peace
as to be well prepared to meet the enemy.
~George Washington~

I hope I shall always possess firmness
and virtue enough to maintain what I consider
the most enviable of all titles,
the character of an "Honest Man."
~George Washington~

Labor to keep alive in your breast 
that little spark of celestial fire, 
called conscience. 
~George Washington~

The preservation of the 
sacred fire of liberty 
and the destiny of the 
republican model of government 
are justly considered... deeply, ...finally, 
staked on the experiment entrusted 
to the hands of the American people. 
~George Washington~ 

Martha Washington

I have learned from experience 
that the greater part of our happiness 
or misery depends on our dispositions 
and not on our circumstances.
~Martha Washington~

Forbes Watson

None can have a healthy love for flowers 
unless he loves the wild ones. 
~Forbes Watson~ 

Thomas John Watson, Sr.

Would you like me to give you a formula for...success? 
It's quite simple, really. Double your rate of failure... 
You're thinking of failure as the enemy of success. 
But it isn't at all... You can be discouraged by failure--
or you can learn from it. 
So go ahead and make mistakes. 
Make all you can. Because, 
remember that's where you'll find success. 
On the far side. 
~Thomas John Watson, Sr.~ president of IBM

Alan Watts

I have realized that the past
and future are real illusions,
that they exist in the present,
which is what there is and all there is.
~Alan Watts~

J. C. Watts

Character is doing the right thing
when nobody's looking.
~J. C. Watts~

Everyone tries to define this thing called Character. 
It's not hard. Character is doing what's right 
when nobody's looking. 
~J.C. Watts~ 

John Wayne

Tomorrow is the most important thing in life. 
Comes into us at midnight very clean. 
It's perfect when it arrives and it puts 
itself in our hands. It hopes we've learned 
something from yesterday. 
~John Wayne~

Daniel Webster

If we work upon marble, it will perish;
if we work upon brass, time will efface it;
if we rear temples, they will crumble into dust;
but if we work upon immortal minds
and instill into them just principles,
we are then engraving that upon tablets
which no time will efface,
but will brighten and brighten to all eternity.
~Daniel Webster~

Flavia Weedn

Some people come into our lives and quickly go. 
Some people move our souls to dance. 
They awaken us to a new understanding 
with the passing whisper of their wisdom. 
Some people make the sky 
more beautiful to gaze upon. 
They stay in our lives for awhile, 
leave footprints on our hearts, 
and we are never, ever the same.
~Flavia Weedn~ 

Frances Ward Weller

A friend can tell you things
you don't want to tell yourself.
~Frances Ward Weller~

H. G. Wells

It is the essential fact of love, as I conceive it, 
that it breaks down the boundaries of self. 
That love is most perfect 
which does most completely merge its lovers. 
~H. G. Wells~

Orson Welles....George Orson Welles

In Italy for thirty years under the Borgias 
they had warfare, terror, murder and bloodshed 
but they produced Michelangelo, 
Leonardo da Vinci and the Renaissance. 
In Switzerland, they had brotherly love; 
they had five hundred years of democracy 
and peace and what did that produce? 
The cuckoo clock. 
~Orson Welles....George Orson Welles~ 

John Wesley

Love cannot be hid any more than light, 
and least of all when it shines forth in action. 
~John Wesley~

Jessamyn West

A broken bone can heal, 
but the wound a word opens can fester forever. 
~Jessamyn West~ 

H. U. Westermayer

The Pilgrims made seven times 
more graves than huts. 
No Americans have been 
more impoverished than these who, 
nevertheless, set aside 
a day of thanksgiving. 
~H. U. Westermayer~ 

Edith Wharton

There is one friend in the life
of each of us who seems not
a separate person,
however dear and beloved,
but an expansion,
an interpretation,
of one's self,
the very meaning of one's soul.
~Edith Wharton~

There are two ways of spreading light; 
to be the candle or the mirror that reflects it. 
~Edith Wharton~

Richard Whately

A man is called selfish not for pursuing his own good, 
but for neglecting his neighbor's. 
~Richard Whately~

A man who gives his children 
habits of industry provides for them better 
than by giving them a fortune. 
~Richard Whately~

E. B. White

Be obscure clearly.
~E. B. White~

White Eagle

Happiness is the realization of God in the heart.
Happiness is the result of praise
and thanksgiving, of faith, of acceptance;
a quiet tranquil realization
of the love of God.
~White Eagle~

Flowers do not force their way with great strife. 
Flowers open to perfection slowly in the sun.... 
Don't be in a hurry about spiritual matters. 
Go step by step, and be very sure. 
~White Eagle~ 

Alfred North Whitehead

It requires a very unusual mind 
to undertake the analysis of the obvious. 
~Alfred North Whitehead~ 

Walt Whitman

Give me odorous at sunrise 
a garden of beautiful flowers
where I can walk undisturbed.
~Walt Whitman~

A morning-glory at my window
satisfies me more than the metaphysics of books.
~Walt Whitman~

Love the earth and sun
and animals, despise riches,
give alms to everyone that asks,
Stand up for the stupid and crazy,
Devote your income and
labor to others...
And your very flesh
shall be a great poem.
~Walt Whitman~

In the confusion we stay
with each other,
happy to be together,
speaking without uttering a single word.
~Walt Whitman~

Love the earth and sun and animals, 
Despise riches, give alms to everyone that asks, 
Stand up for the stupid and crazy, 
Devote your income and labor to others... 
And your very flesh shall be a great poem. 
~Walt Whitman~ 

Paul Wiener

But few have spoken of the actual pleasure 
derived from giving to someone, 
from creating something, from finishing a task, 
from offering unexpected help 
almost invisibly and anonymously. 
~Paul Wiener~

Ella Wheeler Wilcox

With every deed you are sowing a seed,
though the harvest you may not see.
~Ella Wheeler Wilcox~

There's one sad truth in life I've found
While journeying east and west -
The only folks we really wound
Are those we love the best.
We flatter those we scarcely know,
We please the fleeting guest,
And deal full many a thoughtless blow
To those who love us best.
~Ella Wheeler Wilcox~

A weed is but an unloved flower.
~Ella Wheeler Wilcox~

One ship drives east and another west,
With the self-same winds that blow;
'Tis the set of the sails and not the gales
That determines where they go.
Like the winds of the sea are the ways of fate,
As we voyage along through life;
'Tis the set of a soul that decides its goal--
And not the calm or the strife.
~Ella Wheeler Wilcox~

I think of death as some delightful journey
that I shall take when all my tasks are done.
~Ella Wheeler Wilcox~

It has ever been since time began,
And ever will be, till time loses breath,
That love is a mood -- no more -- to man,
And love to a woman is life or death.
~Ella Wheeler Wilcox~

It is easy enough to be pleasant,
When life flows by like a song.
But the man worth while is
the one who can smile,
when everything goes dead wrong.
For the test of the heart is troubled,
And it always comes with the years.
And the smile that is worth the praises of earth
is the smile that shines through tears.
~Ella Wheeler Wilcox~

Back on its golden hinges
The gate of Memory swings,
And my heart goes into the garden
And walks with the olden things. 
~Ella Wheeler Wilcox~

I think of death as some delightful journey 
that I shall take when all my tasks are done. 
~Ella Wheeler Wilcox~ 

Let me, tonight look back across the span 
Twixt dawn and dark, and to my conscience say- 
Because of some good act to beast or human- 
The world is better that I lived today. 
~Ella Wheeler Wilcox~ 

Oscar Wilde

Who, being loved, is poor?
~Oscar Wilde~

The consciousness of loving and being loved
brings a warmth and a richness to life
that nothing else can bring.
~Oscar Wilde~

Experience is simply the name
we give our mistakes.
~Oscar Wilde~

If you meet at dinner a man
who has spent his life in educating himself…
you rise from the table richer,
and conscious that a high ideal
has for a moment touched
and sanctified your days.
~Oscar Wilde~

The one charm of the past is that it is the past.
~Oscar Wilde~

The true perfection of man lies,
not in what man has,
but in what man is.
Nothing should be able to harm a man
but himself. Nothing should be able to
rob a man at all. What a man really has
is what is in him. What is outside of him
should be a matter of no importance.
~Oscar Wilde~

It is what you read 
when you don't have to
that determines what you will be
when you can't help it.
~Oscar Wilde~

I know that for me,
to whom flowers are part of desire,
there are tears waiting for me
in the petals of some rose.
~Oscar Wilde~

No man is rich enough to buy back his past.
~Oscar Wilde~

I would not a bit mind sleeping
in the cool grass in summer,
and when winter came
on sheltering myself by the warm
close-thatched rick, or under
the penthouse of a great barn,
provided I had love in my heart.
~Oscar Wilde~

How else but through a broken heart
may Lord Christ enter in?
~Oscar Wilde~

Education is an admirable thing,
but it is well to remember from time to time
that nothing that is worth knowing
can be taught.
~Oscar Wilde~

Most people are other people. 
Their thoughts are someone else's opinions, 
their lives a mimicry, 
their passions a quotation. 
~Oscar Wilde~

Man is least himself 
when he talks in his own person. 
Give him a mask, 
and he will tell you the truth. 
~Oscar Wilde~ 

Laura Ingalls Wilder.

It is the sweet, simple things of life 
which are the real ones after all.
~Laura Ingalls Wilder~

George F. Will

The nice part about being a pessimist 
is that you are constantly being 
either proven right or pleasantly surprised. 
~George F. Will~ 

Marianne Williamson

As we become purer channels for God's light, 
we develop an appetite for the sweetness 
that is possible in this world. 
A miracle worker is not geared toward 
fighting the world that is, 
but toward creating the world 
that could be. 
~Marianne Williamson~

God exists in eternity. 
The only point where eternity 
meets time is in the present. 
The present is the only time there is. 
~Marianne Williamson~

Love is what we were born with. 
Fear is what we learned here. 
The spiritual journey is the relinquishment, 
or unlearning, of fear and the acceptance 
of love back into our hearts. 
~Marianne Williamson~ 

Success means that we go to sleep at night 
knowing that our talents and abilities 
were used in a way that served others. 
~Marianne Williamson~

We receive His peace when we ask Him for it. 
We keep His peace by extending it to others. 
Those are the keys and there are no others. 
~Marianne Williamson~ 

Colin Wilson

The mind has exactly the same power as the hands; 
not merely to grasp the world, 
but to change it. 
~Colin Wilson~ 

Thomas Wilson

Friendship is to be purchased
only by friendship.
A man may have authority
over others, but he can never
have their hearts
but by giving his own.
~Thomas Wilson~

Woodrow T. Wilson

When I give a man an office,
I watch him carefully
to see whether he is
swelling or growing.
~Woodrow T. Wilson~

You are not here merely to make a living.
You are here in order to enable the world
to live more amply ,with greater vision,
with a finer spirit of hope and achievement.
You are here to enrich the world,
and you impoverish yourself
if you forget the errand.
~Woodrow T. Wilson~

Loyalty means nothing
unless it has at its heart
the absolute principle of self-sacrifice.
~Woodrow T. Wilson~

Friendship is the only cement
that will ever hold the world together.
~Woodrow T. Wilson~

Liberty has never come from government.
Liberty has always come from
the subjects of government.
The history of liberty is
the history of resistance.
~Woodrow T. Wilson~

America is the place where
you cannot kill your government
by killing the men who conduct it.
~Woodrow T. Wilson~

Character is a by-product;
it is produced in the great manufacture
of daily duty.
~Woodrow T. Wilson~

You cannot be friends upon any other terms
than upon the terms of equality.
~Woodrow T. Wilson~

One cool judgment is worth a thousand hasty councils.
The thing to do is supply light and not heat.
~Woodrow T. Wilson~

Business underlies everything
in our national life,
including our spiritual life.
Witness the fact that in the Lord's Prayer,
the first petition is for daily bread.
No one can worship God
or love his neighbor
on an empty stomach.
~Woodrow T. Wilson~

When you have read the Bible, 
you will know it is the word of God, 
because you will have found it 
the key to your own heart, 
your own happiness, 
and your own duty.
~Woodrow T. Wilson~

There is a price which is
too great to pay for peace,
and that price can be put in one word.
One cannot pay the price
of self-respect.
~Woodrow T. Wilson~

We grow great by dreams. 
All big men are dreamers. 
They see things in the soft haze 
of a spring day or in the red fire of 
a long winter's evening. 
Some of us let these dreams die, 
but others nourish and protect them; 
nurse them through bad days 
till they bring them to the sunshine 
and light which comes always to those who 
hope that their dreams will come true. 
~Woodrow Wilson~ 

Walter Winchell

A real friend is one who walks in
when the rest of the world walks out.
~Walter Winchell~

Jackie Windspea 

Grace isn't a little prayer you chant 
before receiving a meal. 
It's a way to live. 
~Jackie Windspear~ 

Oprah Winfrey

I believe
that every single event in life
happens as an opportunity
to choose love over fear.
~Oprah Winfrey~

That guy just cut right in front of me.
But I'm not going to let it bother me.
No. I'm on my way to work
and I decided it doesn't matter
who wants to cut in front of my lane today.
I'm not going to let it bother me one bit.
Once I get to work,
find myself a parking space,
if somebody wants to jump ahead of me
and take it,
I'm going to let them.
~Oprah Winfrey~

Biology is the least of what makes
someone a mother.
~Oprah Winfrey~

Turn your wounds into wisdom.
~Oprah Winfrey~

Lots of people want to ride with you
in the limo, but what you want is someone
who will take the bus with you
when the limo breaks down.
~Oprah Winfrey~

Winnie the Pooh

A little Consideration,
a little Thought for Others,
makes all the difference.
~Winnie the Pooh~

Barbara J. Winter

The ... difference is that of attitude. 
Ideas, like people, 
flourish when they are welcomed and embraced. 
~Barbara J. Winter~ 

Jeanette Winterson

We are friends and I do
like to pass the day with you
in serious and inconsequential chatter.
I wouldn't mind washing up beside you,
dusting beside you,
reading the back half of the paper
while you read the front.
We are friends and
I would miss you,
do miss you and
think of you very often.
~Jeanette Winterson~

WNR

I love because you taught me how. 
I feel because you ignited feelings in my heart 
that I never knew were there before. 
I breathe because you give me reason to live...
WNR

W. Beran Wolfe

If you observe a really happy man
you will find him building a boat,
writing a symphony,
educating his son,
growing double dahlias
in his garden, or looking
for dinosaur eggs in the Gobi desert.
He will not be searching
for happiness as if it were a
collar button that has rolled
under the radiator. He will not
be striving for it as a goal in itself.
He will have become aware
that he is happy
in the course of living life twenty-four
crowded hours of the day.
~W. Beran Wolfe~

James Womack

Commitment unlocks the doors of imagination, 
allows vision, and gives us the "right stuff" 
to turn our dreams into reality. 
~James Womack~ 

Stevie Wonder

Just because a man lacks the use of his eyes
doesn't mean he lacks vision.
~Stevie Wonder~

John Wooden

Be more concerned with your character 
than your reputation, 
because your character is what you really are, 
while your reputation is merely 
what others think you are. 
~John Wooden~ 

Sports do not build character. 
They reveal it. 
~John Wooden~ 

Virginia Woolf

Second-hand are wild books, homeless books; 
they have come together in vast flocks 
of variegated feather, and have a charm 
which the domesticated volumes of the library lack. 
~Virginia Woolf~ 

Wendy M. Wright

Rituals encase memories.
They link the past and present.
They choreograph the dance of intimacy
that families and friends perform.
They give us access to one another.
~Wendy M. Wright~

Lois Wyse

A good friend is a
connection to life -
a tie to the past,
a road to the future,
the key to sanity
in a totally insane world.
~Lois Wyse~