Quote “Say and do something positive that will help the situation; it doesn’t take any brains to complain.”

Larry Niven book N-Space

The Alien in Our Minds (p. 642)
Short fiction, N-Space (1990)

“If you respect yourself in stressful situations, it will help you see the positive … It will help you see the message in the mess.”

Steve Maraboli (1975)

Source: Life, the Truth, and Being Free (2010), p. 144

“Play hard and keep straight, and continue getting quality education, well informed, so that in any situation you have something positive to contribute.”

Grace Alele-Williams (1932–2022) mathematician

Source: https://www.youtube.com/0y3EdD7sKow Prof in an interview on words to the young and elderly.

“If hooking a car battery up to a monkey's brain will help find the cure for AIDS and save somebody's life, I have two things to say … the red is positive and the black is negative.”

Nick DiPaolo (1962) American comedian

Attributed by [Mikkelson, Barbara and David P., 1 November 2004, http://www.snopes.com/politics/quotes/bechtol.asp, "T. Bubba Bechtol", Urban Legends Reference Pages, Snopes.com, 2007-04-25]
Possibly quoted earlier in [Lois, Thomas, Comedian's Down-Home Style Attracts Audience, Knoxville News-Sentinel, S12, 21 April 1999]

“Any fool can criticize, condemn and complain - and most fools do. But it takes character and self-control to be understanding and forgiving.”

Dale Carnegie How to Win Friends and Influence People

Part 1 : Fundamental Techniques in Handling People, p. 36.
Source: How to Win Friends and Influence People (1936)
Context: Benjamin Franklin, tactless in his youth, became so diplomatic, so adroit at handling people that he was made American Ambassador to France. The secret of his success? "I will speak ill of no man," he said, "... and speak all the good I know of everybody." Any fool can criticize, condemn and complain - and most fools do. But it takes character and self-control to be understanding and forgiving. "A great man shows his greatness," says Carlyle, "by the way he treats little men."

“It doesn’t get any less scary. All that happens is that you have less life left. It helps if you do your falling early, and it really helps if you do your reaching early.”

Mary H.K. Choi American author and journalist

On trying to achieve your dreams in “Mary H.K. Choi, Author of ‘Emergency Contact’ (Interview)” https://ilymag.com/2018/05/08/mary-h-k-choi-author-of-emergency-contact-interview/ in Ily Magazine (2018 May 8)

“Every country and every culture has traditions that are unique and help make that country what it is. But just because something is a part of your past doesn’t make it right. It doesn’t mean that it defines your future. […] Just because something is a tradition doesn’t make it right.”

Barack Obama (1961) 44th President of the United States of America

2015, Remarks to the Kenyan People (July 2015)
Context: Every country and every culture has traditions that are unique and help make that country what it is. But just because something is a part of your past doesn’t make it right. It doesn’t mean that it defines your future. [... ] Just because something is a tradition doesn’t make it right.

“Giving up is something a Lauda doesn’t do.”

Niki Lauda (1949–2019) Austrian former Formula 1 racing driver

“Let positive, strong, helpful thoughts enter into your brains from very childhood. Lay yourselves open to these thoughts, and not to weakening and paralysing ones.”

Swami Vivekananda (1863–1902) Indian Hindu monk and phylosopher

Pearls of Wisdom

“Any fool can criticize, condemn, and complain — and most fools do.”

Benjamin Franklin (1706–1790) American author, printer, political theorist, politician, postmaster, scientist, inventor, civic activist, …

Attributed in various post-2000 works, but actually Dale Carnegie in How to Win Friends and Influence People p.14 http://books.google.com/books?id=yxfJDVXClucC&pg=PA14&dq=fool, published in 1936. (N.B. Carnegie is quoting Franklin immediately prior to writing this, so attribution could be due to a printing error in some edition).
Misattributed

“Say and do something positive that will help the situation; it doesn’t take any brains to complain.”

Related quotes

Related topics