All people of wealth salve their conscience with gifts of gold for the poor. The rich feed off these contributions as much as the hungry and they make certain that the world is made aware of their great generosity which, to them, is no more than a handful of pennies. No, dear friend, applaud not my charity. Instead, sympathize with my unwillingness to share more of myself.…”

..the true meaning of love— when one gives all one can give to help another, with no thought of any reward.

Many men of great intellect insist that unless one has to pay or work hard for something, one never fully appreciates it. However, for all of those in your audiences on whom your words will probably be wasted, just imagine how satisfying it would be to you if you learned that there was at least one poor camel boy or street urchin in the crowd whose life might commence to take an upward path because of your words. I know how much you want to change the world for the better, my friend, but you must remember one thing… one simple truth.” “And what is that?” “What you wish can only be accomplished by changing one person at a time.”

“To me it was just another example of God playing chess with me as he has done so often in my life. I am convinced that occasionally he intercedes in all of our lives and causes things to happen. Then he waits to see how we deal with his move. Some react in a manner that will enhance their future. Others may fight back with anger and despair. And then there are those who act not at all. They are the living dead and we have many of those among us, spending their days whining and complaining and never making any attempt to change their lives for the better.

The First Vow of Success

Now I know that there are three classes of people in the world. The first learn from their own experience— these are wise. The second learn from the experience of others— these are happy. The third learn neither from their own experience nor from the experience of others— these are fools.

Never again will I pity or belittle myself.

The Second Vow of Success

Never again will I greet the dawn without a map.

The victory of success is half won when one gains the habit of setting goals and achieving them.

The Third Vow of Success

I am awake. I am filled with joyful anticipation. I feel unfamiliar rumblings in my heart as I welcome each new day, now, with joy and confidence instead of self-pity and fear.

Each day, I will venture out into the world accompanied by three powerful new allies: confidence, pride, and enthusiasm.
the power of enthusiasm.

Always will I bathe my days in the golden glow of enthusiasm.

The Fourth Vow of Success

Never again will I be disagreeable to a living soul.

I will smile at friend and foe alike and make every effort to find, in him or her, a quality to praise now that I realize that the deepest yearning of human nature is the craving to be appreciated.

The Fifth Vow of Success

Always will I seek the seed of triumph in every adversity.

The Sixth Vow of Success

Never again will I perform any task at less than my best.

I can grow beyond any task assigned to me now, providing I never forget that I am a child of God, born to victory.

Henceforth, when my day’s work has ended, I will surprise the world. I will remain at my task, just a little longer, and let that extra effort be an investment in my tomorrow. With such an attitude, so rare in this selfish world we inhabit, I cannot fail.

Few people realize how much of their happiness is dependent upon their work, upon the fact that they are kept busy and not left to feed upon themselves.

The prime secret of happiness is something to do.

The Eighth Vow of Success

Never again will I wait and hope for opportunity to embrace me.

And each morning, when I awake, I will go forth to meet the day with a smile, no matter what unpleasant tasks confront me.
Now I know that those who succeed best in life are always cheerful and hopeful people who go about their work with a smile on their face and take the chances and changes of this mortal life with humor and good cheer, facing rough and smooth alike as it comes.

The Ninth vow of Success

What infirmity have I mastered today? What passion opposed? What temptation resisted? What virtue acquired?

Always will I examine, each night, my deeds of the fading day.

The Final Vow

I promise.. I swear.. I vow.. to never forget that the greatest talent God has bestowed on me is the power to pray. Through triumph and despair, love and heartbreak, ecstasy and pain, applause and rejection, success and failure, I can always light up the lamp of faith in my heart with a prayer and it will lead me safely through the mists of doubt, the black darkness of futility, the narrow, thorny ways of sickness and sorrow, and over the treacherous places of temptation.

In the morning, prayer is the key that will open to me the treasures of God’s blessings and in the evening it is the key that places me under his protection.

My special Friend, thank You for listening to me. You know how hard I am trying to fulfill Your faith in me. Thank You, also, for this place in which I dwell. Let neither work nor play, no matter how satisfying or glorious, ever separate me, for long, from the love that unites my precious family.