Heart Book Series

Quotations for Positive Attitudes

You are today where your thoughts have brought you?
You will be tomorrow where your thoughts take you.
—James Allen

A strong positive mental attitude will create more miracles than any wonder drug.
—Patricia Neal

Act as if what you do makes a difference.
It does.
—William James, 1842-1910, Psychologist, Professor and Author

Often we allow ourselves to be upset by small things we should despise and forget. We lose many irreplaceable hours brooding over grievances that, in a year’s time, will be forgotten by us and by everybody. No, let us devote our life to worthwhile actions and feelings, to great thoughts, real affections and enduring undertakings.  
—Andre Maurois, 1885-1967, Writer

No matter how small and unimportant what we are doing may seem, if we do it well, it may soon become the step that will lead us to better things.
—Channing Pollock, Actor, Writer and Composer

In the final analysis, the questions of why bad things happen to good people transmutes itself into some very different questions, no longer asking why something happened, but asking how we will respond, what we intend to do now that it happened.
—Harold S. Kushner, Rabbi, Author of When Bad Things Happen To Good People

Be the change you want to see in the world.
—Mahatma Gandhi
 
Life is our greatest possession and love its greatest affirmation.
—Leo Buscaglia

Most people never run far enough on their first wind to find out they’ve got a second. Give your dreams all you’ve got and you’ll be amazed at the energy that comes out of you.
—William James, 1842-1910, Psychologist, Professor and Author

There are no hopeless situations; there are only people who have grown hopeless about them.
—Clare Boothe Luce, 1902-1987, American Diplomat and Writer

Any fact facing us is not as important as our attitude toward it, for that determines our success or failure. The way you think about a fact may defeat you before you ever do anything about it. You are overcome by the fact because you think you are.
—Norman Vincent Peale

No one is in control of your happiness but you; therefore, you have the power to change anything about yourself or your life that you want to change.
—Barbara DeAngelis, Author

One of the very first things I figured out about life…is that it’s better to be a hopeful person than a cynical, grumpy one, because you have to live in the same world either way, and if you’re hopeful, you have more fun.
—Barbara Kingsolver

Quotations for Christmas & Hanukkah

To the American People:
Christmas is not a time or a season but a state of mind.
To cherish peace and good will, to be plenteous in mercy,
is to have the real spirit of Christmas.
If we think on these things, there will be born in us a Savior
and over us will shine a star sending its gleam of hope to the world.
~Calvin Coolidge (1872-1933), United States President
Presidential message (December 25, 1927)

Let us remember that the Christmas heart is a giving heart, a wide open heart that thinks of others first.
~George Matthew Adams

Unless we make Christmas an occasion to share our blessings, all the snow in Alaska won’t make it "white."
~Bing Crosby

My idea of Christmas, whether old-fashioned or modern, is very simple: loving others. Come to think of it, why do we have to wait for Christmas to do that?
~Bob Hope, American film actor and comedian

My Christmas wish is that we will continue to be thoughtful throughout the year.
~Patti LaBelle

At this time of year, when the sun is most hidden, the holiday of Hanukkah celebrates the rays of hope and light… At such times, we yearn for the sun, and the light and warmth that it provides. Often, it is through simple and unrecognized miracles that we are able to feel the warmth of hope and light.
~Rabbi Rafael Goldstein

Joy is what happens when we allow ourselves to recognize how good things really are.
~Marianne Williamson, Author of A Return To Love

The lights of the Hanukkah menorah that we kindle in our homes are a reminder both of the Menorah in the Temple in Jerusalem and the light that shines brightly within each one of us.
~Libi Astair

When a person is "being with" or "present in the moment" their physical, mental, emotional and spiritual "being-nesses" are in the same place at the same time.
~Brian Klemmer

He who has not Christmas in his heart will never find it under a tree.
~Roy L. Smith

Giving really starts to be better than receiving. I guess that’s a sign of growing up.
~Jewel

Home is familiar and filled with tradition. It’s aunts, uncles, cousins and lifelong friends.
~Brian Naylor

Mail your packages early so the post office can lose them in time for Christmas.
~Johnny Carson
 
I stopped believing in Santa Claus when I was six.
Mother took me to see him in a department store and he asked for my autograph.
~Shirley Temple

Once again, we come to the holiday season, a deeply religious time that each of us observes, in his own way, by going to the mall of his choice.
~Dave Barry

There’s nothing sadder in this world than to awake Christmas morning and not be a child.
~Erma Bombeck

It is the personal thoughtfulness, the warm human awareness, the reaching out of the self to one’s fellow man that makes giving worthy of the Christmas spirit.
~Isabel Currier

Christmas waves a magic wand over this world, and behold, everything is softer and more beautiful."   
~Norman Vincent Peale (1898-1993)
Pastor, Speaker and Author

For Yuletide quotations, stories, poems, traditions and treasures, see the book Heart of the Holidays, by Sheryl Roush

Heart of the Holidays book is available only here with a BONUS MUSIC CD of Christmas and Hanukkah selections, by talented pianist Laurie Z., and beloved actor Jack Palance.