Earl Nightingale’s The Strangest Secret—30 Best Quotes and Video

Earl Nightingale (March 12, 1921 – March 25, 1989) was one of the most prominent motivational speakers and authors of all time. According to Wikipedia, he wrote and recorded over 7,000 radio programs, 250 audio programs as well as television programs and videos. The Strangest Secret is his most recognized recording of all.

The Strangest Secret was recorded in 1956. During that time, it has sold over a million copies and has become one of the most renowned sources of motivation in the world.

Here is the recording in it’s full entirety:

Here are 30 quotes from this recording (in the order that they’re said) that can be applied to the lives of anyone reading them:

1. Success is the progressive realization of a worthy ideal.
2. If a man is working toward a predetermined goal and knows where he’s going, that man is a success. If he’s not doing that, he’s a failure.
3. “The opposite of courage in our society is not cowardice, it’s conformity.” — Rollo May
4. A success is anyone who is deliberately doing a predetermined job because that is what he decided to do. Only 1 out of 20 people have this.
5. Here’s the key to success and the key to failure: We become what we think about.
6. “People are always blaming their circumstances for what they are. I don’t believe in circumstances. The people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want, and if they can’t find them, make them.” — George Bernard Shaw
7. Universities approve that most of us are operating on about 10% or less of our abilities.
8. Picture yourself in your mind’s eye as having already achieved your goal. See yourself doing the things you will be doing when you’ve reached your goal.
9. Every one of us is the sum total of our own thoughts.
10. What you think today and tomorrow, the next month, the next year, will mold your life and determine your future. You’re guided by your mind.
11. 30 Day Test: Write on a card what it is you want more than anything else. Make sure it’s a single goal and clearly defined. You needn’t show it to anyone but carry it with you so that you can think about it several times a day. Think about it in a cheerful, relaxed, positive way each morning when you get up and immediately you’ll have something to work for, something to get out of bed for, something to live for. Look at it every chance you get during the day and just before going to bed at night. And as you look at it, remember that you must become what you think about and since you’re thinking about your goal, you realize that soon it will be yours.
12. Stop thinking about what it is you fear. Each time a negative or fearful thought comes into your consciousness, replace it with a mental picture of your positive and worthwhile goal.
13. It’s easier for a human being to think negatively than positively. That’s why only 5% of people are successful.
14. Your returns in life must be in direct proportion to what you give.
15. The moment you decide on a goal to work toward, you’re immediately a successful person. You are then in that rare and successful category of people who know where they’re going. Out of every 100 people, you belong to the top 5.
16. Don’t concern yourself too much with how you’re going to achieve your goal—leave that completely to a power greater to yourself. All you have to do is know where you’re going. The answers will come to you on their own accord and at the right time.
17. “Act as if it were impossible to fail.” — Dorothea Brande
18. By being persistent, you’re demonstrating faith. Persistence is simply another word for faith. If you didn’t have faith, you’d never persist.
19. If you should fail during your first 30 days, by that I mean you find yourself overwhelmed by negative thoughts, you’ve got to start over again from that point and go 30 more days. Gradually your new habit will form and you’ll find yourself in the wonderful minority for whom virtually nothing is impossible.
20. All you have to do is hold your goal before you and everything else will take care of itself.
21. Keep calm and cheerful. Don’t let petty things annoy you and get you off course.
22. You must reap that which you sow. If you sow negative thoughts, your life will be filled with negative things. If you sow positive thoughts, your life will be cheerful, successful, and positive.
23. The only way to earn money is by providing people with services or products which are needed and useful.
24. Success is not the direct result of making money. Making money is the result of success. And success is the direct proportion to our service.
25. Any person who contributes to prosperity must prosper in turn himself. Sometimes the return will not come from those you serve, but it must come to you from some place because that’s the law —for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.
26. No man can get rich himself unless he enriches others.
27. You can drive down any street in America and from your car estimate the service being rendered by the people living on that street.
28. If a person wants more, he must be of more service to those for whom he receives his return. If he wants less, he only has to reduce his service.
29. “Stop thinking about all the reasons you cannot be successful and instead think about all the reasons why you can.” — David Harold Fink
30. “Act the part of the successful person you have decided to become.” — David Harold Fink

To harness the full benefits of this recording and the knowledge it contains, apply it to your life today. It could be the most significant decision you could ever make.

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