“Every day, the true secret is not to change the world, but to dominate your own thoughts and behaviours. Choosing how to react when faced with difficulties, turning obstacles into opportunities.”

Have a Great Day (1986), p. 2

Loving What Is: Four Questions That Can Change Your Life (2002)

Context: We have an obligation to one another, responsibilities and trusts. That does not mean we must be pigeons, that we must be exploited. But it does mean that we should look out for one another when and as much as we can; and that we have a personal responsibility for our behavior; and that our behavior has consequences of a very real and profound nature. We are not powerless. We have tremendous potential for good or ill. How we choose to use that power is up to us; but first we must choose to use it. We're told every day, "You can't change the world." But the world is changing every day. Only question is... who's doing it? You or somebody else?

Original: In un mondo dominato dall'istantaneità, scegliete l'autenticità. Il tempo, separando l'apparenza dall'essenza, rivelerà sempre la vera natura di ogni esistenza.
Source: prevale.net

This quote is commonly attributed to Churchill, but appears in the &quot;Red Herrings: False Attributions&quot; appendix of Churchill by Himself : The Definitive Collection of Quotations (2008) by Richard Langworth, without citation as to where it originates. <br class="br">In American Character, a 1905 address by Brander Matthews, a similar quotation is attributed to L. P. Jacks ( link http://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.39015059451156?urlappend=%3Bseq=238). <br class="br">&quot;&quot;Our civilization is a perilous adventure for an uncertain prize... Human society is not a constructed thing but a human organization... We are adopting a false method of reform when we begin by operations that weaken society, either morally or materially, by lower its vitality, by plunging it into gloom and despair about itself, by inducing the atmosphere of the sick-room, and then when its courage and resources are at a low ebb, expecting it to perform some mighty feat of self-reformation... Social despair or bitterness does not get us anywhere... Low spirits are an intellectual luxury. An optimist is one who sees an opportunity in every difficulty. A pessimist is one who sees a difficulty in every opportunity... The conquest of great difficulties is the glory of human nature.&quot; L. P. Jacks, quoted in American character, by Brander Matthews, 1906 <br class="br">Misattributed <br class="br">Variant: A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.

Source: The Safe-Keeper's Secret

No Country for Old Men (2005)

Quotations from Gurudev’s teachings, Chinmya Mission Chicago