Quotes that Align

  • Merton: “The self-fulfilling prophecy is, in the beginning, a false definition of the situation evoking a new behavior which makes the originally false conception come true.”

  • Robert Rosenthal (Pygmalion effect): “What one person expects of another can come to serve as a self-fulfilling prophecy.”

  • Henry K. Beecher: “Placebos have a high degree of therapeutic effectiveness in treating subjective responses, such as pain.”

  • Fabrizio Benedetti: “Placebos have a stronger impact than we ever anticipated, affecting not only pain but also objective physiological processes.”

  • Walter Kennedy: “I have introduced the term nocebo reaction for the counterpart of the placebo reaction; it refers to the harmful or unpleasant effects induced by suggestion.”

  • Babad, Inbar & Rosenthal: “Just as teachers’ favorable expectations can lead to better performance, so can unfavorable expectations lead to poorer performance — the Golem effect.”

  • Robert Rosenthal: “When an experimenter expects certain results, his expectations can subtly and unintentionally affect the responses of his subjects.”

  • Henry Ford: “Whether you think you can, or you think you can’t — you’re right.”

  • Napoleon Hill: “Whatever the mind can conceive and believe, it can achieve.”

  • Norman Vincent Peale: “Change your thoughts and you change your world.”

  • James Allen: “As he thinks in his heart, so he is.”

  • Marcus Aurelius: “The happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your thoughts.”

  • Ralph Waldo Emerson: “Once you make a decision, the universe conspires to make it happen.”

  • William James: “Believe that life is worth living, and your belief will help create the fact.”

  • George Bernard Shaw: “Life isn’t about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself.”

  • Mahatma Gandhi: “A man is but the product of his thoughts. What he thinks, he becomes.”

  • Albert Bandura (self-efficacy): “People’s beliefs about their abilities have a profound effect on those abilities.”

  • Oprah Winfrey: “You don’t become what you want, you become what you believe.”

  • Tony Robbins: “Beliefs have the power to create and the power to destroy.”

  • Deepak Chopra: “You must find the place inside yourself where nothing is impossible.”

Buddhist Quotes that Align

  • “We are what we think. All that we are arises with our thoughts. With our thoughts, we make the world.” — Buddha, Dhammapada 1:1

  • “The mind is everything. What you think you become.” — Attributed to Buddha

  • “All phenomena are preceded by the mind, ruled by the mind, made of the mind. If you speak or act with a corrupted mind, suffering follows… If you speak or act with a pure mind, happiness follows you like a shadow that never leaves.” — Dhammapada 1:2

  • “Your worst enemy cannot harm you as much as your own unguarded thoughts.” — Buddha

  • “Nothing can harm you as much as your own thoughts unguarded.” — Dhammapada 3:33

  • “All experiences are preceded by mind, led by mind, made by mind.” — Dhammapada 1

  • “Peace comes from within. Do not seek it without.” — Buddha

  • “Better than a thousand hollow words is one word that brings peace.” — Dhammapada 8:100

  • “If you light a lamp for someone else it will also brighten your path.” — Buddha

  • “When you realize nothing is lacking, the whole world belongs to you.” — Laozi

  • “Let go or be dragged.” — Zen proverb

  • “When the mind is pure, the land will be pure.” — Buddha

  • “The Tao never does anything, yet through it all things are done.” — Laozi, Tao Te Ching 37

Hinduist Quotes that Align

  • “As a man’s faith is, so he is; for a man is made up of his faith. As is his faith, so is he.” — Bhagavad Gita 17:3

  • “The mind is everything; what you think, you become.” — Chandogya Upanishad (paraphrased, VI.8.7: Tat Tvam Asi — “Thou art that”)

  • “When a man dwells on objects, he feels attachment for them. From attachment springs desire, and from desire springs anger.” — Bhagavad Gita 2:62

  • “The unreal has no existence; the real never ceases to be.” — Bhagavad Gita 2:16

  • “Those who see with the eyes of wisdom see that there is no difference between the self and the world.” — Isa Upanishad

  • “Set thy heart upon thy work, but never on its reward.” — Bhagavad Gita 2:47

  • “One who has control over the mind is tranquil in heat and cold, in pleasure and pain, in honor and dishonor.” — Bhagavad Gita 6:7

  • “When meditation is mastered, the mind is unwavering like the flame of a lamp in a windless place.” — Bhagavad Gita 6:19

  • “That one who conquers the mind is tranquil, ever steady, and free from delusion. He abides in peace, seeing the self in all beings and all beings in the self.” — Bhagavad Gita 6:15

  • “The self-controlled soul, who moves amongst sense objects, free from either attachment or repulsion, he wins eternal peace.” — Bhagavad Gita 2:64

  • “A person can rise through the efforts of his own mind; or draw himself down, in the same manner. Because each person is his own friend or enemy.” — Bhagavad Gita 6:5

  • “The soul is never born, nor does it die; it is eternal, everlasting, and primeval.” — Bhagavad Gita 2:20

  • “He who sees Me everywhere and sees everything in Me, I am never lost to him, and he is never lost to Me.” — Bhagavad Gita 6:30

  • “When the mind becomes still, the Self reveals itself.” — Katha Upanishad 2:20

  • “He who has faith and is devoted, and who has subdued the senses, attains knowledge, and having attained knowledge, he quickly reaches supreme peace.” — Bhagavad Gita 4:39

  • “When all desires that dwell in the heart are destroyed, then the mortal becomes immortal, and he attains Brahman here.” — Katha Upanishad 2:3:14

  • “Perform your duty equipoised, abandoning all attachment to success or failure. Such equanimity is called yoga.” — Bhagavad Gita 2:48

  • “One should uplift oneself by one’s own mind and not degrade oneself; for the self is the friend and the self is the enemy of the self.” — Bhagavad Gita 6:5

  • “The one who has subdued the mind and is satisfied in the Self is said to be united in yoga.” — Bhagavad Gita 6:8

Biblical Quotes that Align

“Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.” — Matthew 17:20

“According to your faith be it done to you.” — Matthew 9:29

“If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.” — Matthew 21:22

“Everything is possible for one who believes.” — Mark 9:23

“And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith.” — Matthew 21:22

“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.” — Matthew 7:7

“If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.” — John 15:7

“Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” — Hebrews 11:1

“Let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind.” — James 1:6

“The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.” — James 5:16

“Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” — Matthew 18:18

“If two of you on earth agree about anything they ask for, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven.” — Matthew 18:19

“Speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body… makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.” — Ephesians 4:15–16

“Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us…” — Ephesians 3:20

“You were taught… to be made new in the attitude of your minds, and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.” — Ephesians 4:22–24

TaoisT Quotes that Align

  • “Knowing others is intelligence; knowing yourself is true wisdom. Mastering others is strength; mastering yourself is true power.” — Laozi, Tao Te Ching 33

  • “When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be.” — Laozi, Tao Te Ching 44 (paraphrased)

  • “Those who flow as life flows know they need no other force.” — Laozi

  • “To the mind that is still, the whole universe surrenders.” — Laozi (popular paraphrase of TTC 16)

  • “Happiness is the absence of striving for happiness.” — Zhuangzi

  • “Those who know do not speak. Those who speak do not know.” — Laozi, Tao Te Ching 56

  • “In dwelling, live close to the ground. In thinking, keep to the simple. In conflict, be fair and generous. In governing, don’t try to control. In work, do what you enjoy. In family life, be completely present.” — Laozi, Tao Te Ching 8

  • “Life is a series of natural and spontaneous changes. Don’t resist them — that only creates sorrow. Let reality be reality. Let things flow naturally forward in whatever way they like.” — Laozi (paraphrased, TTC 8/29 blend)

  • “Flow with whatever may happen and let your mind be free: stay centered by accepting whatever you are doing. This is the ultimate.” — Zhuangzi

  • “Happiness is the transformation of the heart.” — Zhuangzi