s you to become one, for your thought
is your life pattern and you can not get away from it. You can not get
away from your ideals, the standard which you hold for yourself, and if
you acknowledge in your thought that you are a failure, that you can't
do anything worth while, that luck is against you, that you don't have
the same opportunity that other people have---your convictions will
control the result.

There are thousands of people who have lost everything they valued in
the world, all the material results of their lives' endeavor, and yet,
because they possess stout hearts, unconquerable spirits, a
determination to push ahead which knows no retreat, they are just as
far from real failure as before their loss; and with such wealth they
can never be poor.

A great many people fail to reach a success which matches their ability
because they are victims of their moods, which repel people and repel
business.

We avoid morose, gloomy people just as we avoid a picture which makes a
disagreeable impression upon us.

Everywhere we see people with great ambitions doing very ordinary
things, simply because there are so many days when they do not "feel
like it" or when they are discouraged or "blue."

A man who is at the mercy of a capricious disposition can never be a
leader, a power among men.

It is perfectly possible for a well-trained mind to completely rout the
worst case of the "blues" in a few minutes; but the trouble with most
of us is that instead of flinging open the mental blinds and letting in
the sun of cheerfulness, hope, and optimism, we keep them closed and
try to eject the darkness by main force.

The art of arts is learning how to clear the mind of its
enemies--enemies of our comfort, happiness, and success. It is a great
thing to learn to focus the mind upon the beautiful instead of the
ugly, the true instead of the false, upon harmony instead of discord,
life instead of death, health instead of disease. This is not always
easy, but it is possible to everybody. It requires only skilful
thinking, the forming of the right thought habits.

The best way to keep out darkness is to keep the life filled with
light; to keep out discord, keep it filled with harmony; to shut out
error, keep the mind filled with truth; to shut out ugliness,
contemplate beauty and loveliness; to get rid of all that is sour and
unwholesome, contemplate all that is sweet and wholesome. Opposite
thoughts can not occupy t