Zig Ziglar was a motivational speaker who was well known for his speaking style and passion for helping others through is seminars, books, and audio tapes. Although he has passed away, his timeless advice still lives on. Here are some of the best Zig Ziglar quotes separated by various topics.
On Ambition:
“The real opportunity for success lies within the person and not the job.”
“Motivation gets you going, but habit gets you there. Make motivation a habit and you will get there more quickly and have more fun on the trip.”
“It is easy to get to the top after you get through the crowd at the bottom.”
“What you get by reaching your destination is not nearly as important as what you will become by reaching your destination.”
“Success is not a destination, it’s a journey.”
“The basic goal-reaching principle is to understand that you go as far as you can see, and when you get there you will always be able to see farther.”
“The most practical, beautiful, workable philosophy in the world won’t work-if you won’t.”
“You are the only one who can use your ability.It is an awesome responsibility.”
“Motivation is the fuel necessary to keep human engine running.”
“If we don’t start, it’s certain we can’t arrive.”
“Discipline yourself to do things you need to do when you need to do them, and the day will come when you will be able to do the things you want to do when you want to do them.”
“Ambition, fueled by compassion, wisdom and integrity is a powerful force for good that will turn the wheels of industry and open the doors of opportunity for you and countless others.”
“Obviously, there is a little you can learn from doing nothing.”
On Attitude:
“Of all the “attitudes” we can acquire,surely the attitude of gratitude is the most important and by far the most life-changing.”
“You can disagree without being disagreeable.”
“When you choose to be pleasant and positive in the way you treat others, you have also chosen, in most cases, how you are going to be treated by others.”
“To respond is positive, to react is negative.”
“I’ve got to say “no” to the good so I can say “yes” to the best.”
“Positive thinking will let you use the abilities,training and experience you have.”
“We all need a daily check up from the neck up to avoid stinkin’ thinkin’ which ultimately leads to hardening of the attitudes.”
“Positive thinking won’t let you do anything but it will let you do everything better than negative thinking will.”
“You cannot tailor make the situation in life, but you can tailor make the attitudes to fit those situations before they arise.”
“It’s not what happens to you that determines how far you will go in life;it is how you handle what happens to you.”
On Encouragement:
“When someone we love is having difficulty and is giving us a bad time, it’s better to explore the cause than to criticize the action.”
“Start your child’s day with love and encouragement and end the day the same way.”
“Take time to be quiet.”
“You already have every characteristic necessary for success if you recognize, claim, develop and use them.”
“Obstacles are the things we see when we take our eyes off our goal.”
“You cannot make it as a wandering generality. You must become meaningful specific.”
“The best thing a parent can do for a child is to love his or her spouse.”
“The best way to raise positive kids in a negative world is to have positive parents who love them unconditionally and serve as excellent role models.”
“Your mate doesn’t live by bread alone; he or she needs to be “buttered up” from time to time.”
“You will make a lousy anybody else,but you will be the best “you” in existence.”
“Other people and things can stop you temporarily. You’re the only one who can do it permanently.”
“You must manage yourself before you can lead someone else.”
On Hope:
“Failure is an event, not a person. Yesterday ended last night.”
“Our children are our only hope for the future, but we are their only hope for their present and their future.”
“The door to a balanced success opens widest on the hinges of hope and encouragement.”
“When you put faith, hope and love together you can raise positive kids in a negative world.”
“There are seldom, if ever, any hopeless situations, but there are many people who lose hope in face of some situations.”
“You cannot solve a problem until you acknowledge that you have one and accept responsibility for solving it.”
“Character gets you out of bed; commitment moves you to action. Faith, hope, and discipline enable you to follow through to completion.”
On Integrity and Character:
“If people like you they’ll listen to you,but if they trust you they’ll do business with you.”
“When a company or an individual compromises one time, whether it’s on price or principle,the next compromise is right around the corner.”
“Ability can take you to the top,but it takes character to keep you there.”
“If standard of living is your major objective, quality of life almost never improves, but if quality of life is your number one objective, your standard of living almost always improves.”
“The quality of a person’s life is in direct proportion to his or her commitment to excellence, regardless of his or her chosen field of endeavor.”
“Keep your thinking right and your business will be right.”
“When I discipline myself to eat properly, live morally, exercise regularly, grow mentally and spiritually, and not put any drugs or alcohol in my body, I have given myself the freedom to be at my best, perform at my best, and reap all the rewards that go along with it.”
“What you do off the job is the determining factor in how far you will go on the job.”
“When you exercise your freedom to express yourself at the lowest level, you ultimately condemn yourself to live at that level.”
“When we do more than we are paid to do, eventually we will be paid more for what we do.”
“You build a successful career, regardless of your field of endeavor, by the dozen of little things you do on and off the job.”
“What comes out of your mouth is determined by what goes into your mind.”
“With integrity you have nothing to fear, since you have nothing to hide. With integrity you will do the right thing, so you will have no guilt. With fear and guilt removed you are free to be and do your best.”
“You can get everything money will buy without a lick of character, but you can’t get any of the things money won’t buy-happiness, joy, peace of mind, winning relationships, etc., without character.”
On Happiness:
“Be helpful. When you see a person without a smile, give him yours.”
“The chief cause of failure and unhappiness is trading what you want most for what you want now.”
“I’m so optimistic I’d go after Moby Dick in a row boat and take the tartar sauce with me.”
“Most of us would be upset if we were accused of being “silly”. But the word “silly” comes from the old English word “selling” and its literal definition is “to be blessed, happy, healthy and prosperous”.”
On Self-Image:
“Some people find fault like there is a reward for it.”
“Man was designed for accomplishment,engineered for success, and endowed with the seeds of greatness.”
“When your image improves,your performance improves.”
“If you don’t like who you are and where you are, don’t worry about it because you’re not stuck either with who you are or where you are. You can grow. You can change. You can be more than you are.
“You were born to win, but to be the winner you were born to be you must plan to win and prepare to win. Then and only then you can legitimately expect to win.”
“Far too many people have no idea of what they can do because all they have been told is what they can’t do. They don’t know what they want because they don’t know what’s available for them.”
“It’s not what you know, it’s what you use that makes a difference.”
“You are what you are and where you are because of what has gone into your mind. You can change what you are and where you are by changing what goes into your mind.”
“Before you change your thinking, you have to change what goes into your mind.”
“The greatest single cause of a poor self-image is the absence of unconditional love.”
“Success is not measured by what you do compared to what others do, it is measured by what you do with the ability God gave you.”
“Don’t be distracted by criticism. Remember the only taste of success some people have is when they take a bite out of you”
On Success:
“The price of success is much lower than the price of failure.”
“If you will pump long enough, hard enough, and enthusiastically enough,sooner or later the effort will bring forth the reward.”
“You enhance your chances for success,when you understand that your yearning power is more important than your earning power.”
“Selling is essentially a transference of feeling.”
“When management and labor (employer and employee) both understand they are all on the same side, then each will prosper more.”
“You don’t “pay the price” for success-you enjoy the benefits of success.”
“Ability is important in our quest for success, but dependability is critical.”
“When we clearly understand that there is no superior sex, or superior race, we will have opened the door
of communication and laid the foundation for building winning relationships with all people in this global world of ours.”
“Remember there is plenty of room at the top-but not enough to sit down.”
“Too many people spend more time planning how to get a job than on how to become productive and successful in that job.”
“Success is one thing you can’t pay for. You buy it on the installment plan and make payments every day.”
Some Additional Advice:
“Kids go where there is excitement.They stay where there is love.”
“Remember, you can earn more money,but when time is spent it is gone forever.”
“You’ve got to be before you can do,and do before you can have.”
“The best way to make your spouse and children feel secure is not with big deposits in bank accounts,but with little deposits of thoughtfulness and affection in the “love account”.”
“When you give a man a dole you deny him his dignity, and when you deny him his dignity you rob him of his destiny.”
“You can finish school and even make it easy-but you never finish your education, and it is seldom easy.”
“You don’t drown by falling in water; you only drown if you stay there.”
“Lack of direction, not lack of time, is the problem. We all have twenty-four days.”
“Money will buy you a bed, but not a good night’s sleep, a house but not a home,a companion but not a friend.”
“There’s not a lot you can do about the national economy but there is a lot you can do about your personal economy.”
“All of us perform better and more willingly when we know why we’re doing what we have been told or asked to do.”
“If you’re sincere, praise is effective. If you’re insincere, it’s manipulative.”
“Duty makes us do things well,but love makes us do them beautifully.”
“The more you express gratitude for what you have, the more you will have to express gratitude for.”
“Everybody says they want to be free. Take the train off the tracks and it’s free-but it can’t go anywhere.”
