laws of life

by john templeton

week 1

  • when you rule your mind, you rule your world

  • where there is no vision, the people perish

  • love has the patience to endure the fault we cannot cure

  • there are more possibilities in the universe than one can imagine

  • as you give, so shall you receive

week 2

  • your life becomes what you think

  • love given is love received

  • to be forgiven, one must first forgive

  • an attitude of gratitude creates blessings

  • you fear what you do not understand

week 3

  • nothing can bring you peace but yourself

  • listen to learn

  • wisdom is born of mistakes; confront error and learn

  • humility leads to prayer as well as progress and brings you in tune with the infinite

  • failing to plan is planning to fail

week 4

  • beautiful thoughts build a beautiful soul

  • progress depends on diligence and perseverance

  • love thy neighbor as thyself

  • to be wronged in nothing unless you continue to remember it

  • enthusiasm facilitates achievement

week 5

  • by giving you grow

  • lost time is never found again

  • the family that prays together, stays together

  • if at first you don't succeed, try, try again

  • it is better to light a single candle than to curse the darkness

week 6

  • it is better to love than be loved

  • thanksgiving leads to having more to give thanks for

  • you cannot be lonely if you help the lonely

  • you are sought after if you reflect love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control

  • a smile breads a smile

week 7

  • great heroes are humble

  • agape given grows; agape hoarded dwindles

  • a measure of mental health is the deposition to find good everywhere

  • what the mind can conceive, it may achieve

  • by prayer your receive spiritual energy

week 8

  • what appears to us as the impossible may be simply the untried

  • I shall allow no man to belittle my soul by making me hate him

  • real success means not to remain satisfied with any limited goal

  • enthusiasm is contagious

  • small attempts repeated will complete any undertaking

week 9

  • defeat isn't bitter if you don't swallow it

  • the unexamined life is not worth living

  • you are only as good as your word

  • tithing often brings prosperity and honor

  • self-control wins the race

week 10

  • freedom is a fact of life

  • by asserting our will, many a closed door will open before us

  • count your blessings and you will have an attitude of gratitude

  • we learn more by welcoming criticism than by rendering judgment

  • ask not what you can expect from life; ask what life expects from you

week 11

  • you find what you look for: good or evil, problems or solutions

  • every ending is a new beginning

  • the only way to have a friend is to be a friend

  • man is what he believes

  • our quantity of spiritual knowledge is smaller than ptolemy's knowledge of astronomy

week 12

  • helpfulness, not willfulness, brings rewards

  • birds of a feather flock together

  • crime doesn't pay

  • you can make opposition work for you

  • no one knows what he can do until he tries

week 13

  • tis the part of the wise man to keep himself today for tomorrow, and not venture all his eggs in one basket

  • thoughts are things

  • as within, so without

  • thanksgiving, not complaining, attracts people to you

  • perseverance makes the difference between success and defeat

week 14

  • the secret of a productive life can be sought and found

  • happiness is always a by-product

  • the way to mend the bad world is to create the right world

  • it is better to praise than to criticize

  • laughter is the best medicine

week 15

  • humility, like darkness, reveals the heavenly light

  • use wisely your power of choice

  • if you do not know what you want to achieve with your life, you may not achieve much

  • more is wrought by prayer than this world dreams of

  • everything and everyone around you is your teacher

week 16

  • hitch your wagon to a star

  • the price of greatness is responsibility

  • good words are worth much and cost little

  • you can never solve a problem on the same level as the problem

  • happy relationships depends on not finding the right person, but on being the right person

week 17

  • we receive freely when we give freely

  • the truth will make you free

  • if you would find gold, you must search where the gold is

  • habit is the best of servants, the worst of masters

  • you cannot discover new oceans until you have the courage to lose sight of the shore

week 18

  • no one's education is ever complete

  • accentuate the positive; eliminate the negative

  • forgiving uplifts the forgiver

  • the light of understanding dissolves the phantom of fear

  • only one thing is more important than learning from experience, and that is not learning from experience

week 19

  • make yourself necessary to the world and mankind will give you bread

  • happiness comes from spiritual wealth, not material wealth

  • thoughts held in mind produce after their kind

  • progress requires change

  • fortune knocks at the door of those who are prepared

week 20

  • a good reputation is more valuable than money

  • to err is human, to forgive is divine

  • never do anything that you will have to punish yourself for

  • reverse the word evil and you have the word live

  • he who has a "why" for which to live, can bear with almost any "how"

week 21

  • all that we are is the result of what we have thought

  • once a word has been spoken, it cannot be recalled

  • you have the most powerful weapons on earth - love and prayer

  • remember, no one can make you feel inferior without your consent

  • no person was ever honored for what he received. honor has been the reward for what he gave

week 22

  • material progress needs entrepreneurs

  • as you are active in blessings with others, they find their burdens easier to bear

  • expect the best and your positive outlook opens the door of opportunity

  • when anger reigns, negative consequences occur

  • the wise person looks within his heart and finds eternal peace

week 23

  • preparedness is a step to success

  • you are on the road to success if you realize that failure is only a detour

  • thanksgiving leads to giving and forgiving, and to spiritual growth

  • there is no difficulty that enough love will not conquer

  • self-control leads to success

week 24

  • your thoughts are like boomerangs

  • you make yourself and others suffer just as much when you take offense as when you give offense

  • little things mean a lot

  • to be upset over what you don't have is to waste what you do have

  • honesty is the best policy

week 25

  • your prayers can be answered by "yes," but also by "no," and by "alternatives"

  • healthy minds tend to cause healthy bodies, and vice versa

  • outward beauty is transient, but inner beauty is lasting

  • a happy person is not a person in a certain set of circumstances, but rather a person with a certain set of attitudes

  • help yourself by helping others

week 26

  • you create your own reality

  • a task takes as long as there is time to do it

  • often, a pat on the back works better than a kick in the pants

  • give credit and help to all who have helped you

  • thoughts can crystallize into habit, and habit solidifies into circumstance

week 27

  • you can build your own heaven or hell on earth

  • a soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger

  • the pen is mightier than the sword

  • worry achieves nothing and wastes valuable time

  • the greatness is not in me; i am in the greatness

week 28

  • laugh and the world laughs with you; weep, and you weep alone

  • if nothing is ventured, nothing is gained

  • honesty is the first chapter in the book of wisdom

  • a man can fail many times, but he isn't a failure until he begins to blame others

  • a soul without a high aim is like a ship without a rudder

week 29

  • joy provides assurance, envy brings loneliness

  • all sunshine makes a desert

  • whether you think you can or not, you are right

  • the mind can make a heaven into a hell, or a hell into a heaven

  • no man is free who is not master of himself

week 30

  • it is by forgetting self that one finds self

  • leave no stone unturned

  • what we focus on expands

  • as you think, so you are

  • you choose the path you want to walk down

week 31

  • destructive language tends to produce destructive results

  • success feeds on itself and creates more success

  • never put off until tomorrow what you can do today

  • nothing is interesting if you are not interested

  • what is done is done

week 32

  • we can become bitter or better as a result of our experiences

  • joy is not in things, but is in you

  • misfortunes can be blessings

  • happiness pursued, eludes; happiness given, returns

  • thoughts of doubt and fear are pathways to failure

week 33

  • by their fruits you shall know them

  • optimism has its roots in the abiding goodness

  • if you think you know it all, you are less likely to learn more

  • we carry within us the wonders that we seek without us

  • the shadow of ignorance is fear

week 34

  • you're either part of the problem, or part of the solution

  • a loving person lives in a loving world

  • the borrower is a servant to the lender

  • whatever you have, you must use it or lose

  • it's nice to be important, but it's more important to be nice

week 35

  • those who seldom make mistakes seldom make discoveries

  • the measure of a man's real character is what he would do if he would never be found out

  • change your mind to change your life

  • progress and growth are impossible if you always do things the way you've always done things

  • it is more blessed to give than to receive

week 36

  • holding onto grievances is a decision to suffer

  • the seven deadly sins are pride, lust, sloth, envy, anger, covetousness, and gluttony

  • appearances are often deceiving

  • zeal is the inward fire of the soul that urges you onward toward your goal

  • minds are like parachutes - they only function when they are open

week 37

  • you are more defined by what comes out of your mouth than what goes in

  • the journey of a thousand miles begins with one step

  • the dark of night is not the end of the world

  • love conquers all things

  • count your blessings every day and they will grow and multiply like well-tended plants

week 38

  • you never really lose until you stop trying

  • everyone should keep in reserve an alternative plan for livelihood

  • if you are facing in the right direction, all you need to do is keep walking

  • the unknown is not unknowable and is vastly greater than the known

  • forgiveness benefits both the giver and the receiver

week 39

  • humility opens the door to progress

  • your dreams can come true when you activate them

  • work is love made visible

  • for every effort, there is a cause

  • those who do good do well

week 40

  • focus on where you want to go instead of where you have been

  • you get back what you give out

  • thanksgiving opens the door to spiritual growth

  • the more love we give, the more love we have left

  • every useful life is a ministry

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