Attitude

There are no menial jobs, only menial attitudes.
~ William John Bennett, The Book of Virtues: A Treasury of Great Moral Stories (1993).

Scratch a pessimist, and you find often a defender of privilege.
~ William Henry (W.H.) Beveridge, in The Observer, London (17 December 1943). Sayings of the Week

What we must aim at is honest, objective judgment of the evidence, freeing our minds as much as possible from opinion not based on fact, and suspend judgment where the evidence is incomplete. There is a very important distinction between a critical attitude of mind (or critical "faculty") and a sceptical attitude.
~ William Ian Beardmore (W.I.B.) Beveridge, The Art of Scientific Investigation (1950).

One has for him the same kind of admiration one would feel for a streaker at Queen Victoria's funeral.
~ William F. Buckley, Jr.

We must face the facts in this world: there is trouble and misery and we are beset with obstacles. The attitude of facing difficulties should be developed; and one who attempts really to overcome the difficulties of life acquires an interest in the conflict itself; the zest of the fight becomes worth while for its own sake.
~ William H. Burnham, from Hygiene and War: Suggestions for Makers of Text-books and for Use in Schools (1917). An Introductory Statement

My attitude is: The public understand perfectly everything I choose to show them in my roles as an actor. Everything else is none of their business.
~ Raymond (William Stacey) Burr, in TV Guide Magazine (25 September-1 October, 1993). With Raymond Burr During His Final Battle

A child's attitude toward everything is an artist's attitude.
~ Willa Sibert Cather, The Song of the Lark (1915). Part VI: Kronborg. Chapter IX

I have never seen pessimism in a Company prospectus.
~ Sir William Connor (Cassandra)

We mistrust anything that too strongly challenges our ideal of mediocrity.
~ (William) Robertson Davies, in Happy Alchemy: Writings on the Theatre and Other Lively Arts (1997). The Noble Greek (1993 discourse, delivered at the Stratford Festival in Ontario)

Enthusiasm is the element of success in everything.
~ William Croswell (W.C.) Doane, from Addresses To The Graduating Classes Of St. Agnes School (1891). Address to the Tenth Graduating Class (1881)

If you want to be enthusiastic, act enthusiastic. Inner enthusiasm follows.
~ William D. Ellis, in Reader's Digest, Vol. 124 (1984). Get Off to a Fast Start in a New Job

Nothing is impossible. With the right attitude, you can do anything you want. It's all about choosing to be positive instead of being negative about things. Like I can look at "not working" as being "no one's hiring me and no one will give me a job." Or I can look at "not working" as being "a fantastic vacation."
~ Minnie Driver

A snob has to spend so much time being a snob that he has little time left to meddle with you.
~ William Faulkner, in Faulkner in the University (1959).

I am not fond of uttering platitudes
In stained-glass attitudes.
~ William Schwenck (W.S.) Gilbert, Patience: Or, Bunthorne's Bride (1881 opera).

It is not the body's posture, but the heart's attitude that counts when we pray.
~ Billy Graham

Do not be afraid of enthusiasm. You need it. You can do nothing effectively without it.
~ Francois Pierre Guillaume Guizot

To be a leader you must preserve all through your life the attitude of being receptive to new ideas.
~ William A. Hewitt, quoted in Developing The Leader Within You (1993).

[S]elf-confidence is the first step in maintaining a positive attitude.
~ Bill Hogan, How Do You Eat An Elephant? One Bite At A Time! (2004). Bite No. 8: Attitude Versus Behavior

Cheerfulness is, as it were, the sunny ray of life.
~ Wilhelm von Humboldt

General scepticism is the live mental attitude of refusing to conclude. It is a permanent torpor of the will, renewing itself in detail towards each successive thesis that offers, and you can no more kill it off by logic than you can kill off obstinacy or practical joking.
~ William James, in Philosophical Review (1908). The Pragmatist Account of Truth and Its Misunderstanders

It is our attitude at the beginning of a difficult undertaking which, more than anything else, will determine its successful outcome.
~ William James

'Pessimism leads to weakness. Optimism leads to power.'
~ William James, The Varieties of Religious Experience (1902). Lectures IV and V: The Religion of Healthy-Mindedness

The attitude of unhappiness is not only painful, it is mean and ugly. What can be more base and unworthy than the pining, puling, mumping mood, no matter by what outward ills it may have been engendered? What is more injurious to others? What less helpful as a way out of the difficulty? It but fastens and perpetuates the trouble which occasioned it, and increases the total evil of the situation. At all costs, then, we ought to reduce the sway of that mood; we ought to scout it in ourselves and others, and never show it tolerance.
~ William James, The Varieties of Religious Experience (1902). Lectures IV and V: The Religion of Healthy Mindedness

The greatest discovery of my generation is that a human being can alter his life by altering his attitudes of mind.
~ William James

The trouble with being number one in the world -- in anything -- is that it takes a certain mentality to attain that position, and that is something of a driving, perfectionist attitude, so that once you do achieve number one, you don't relax and enjoy it.
~ Billie Jean King, Billie Jean (1975).

The most significant change in a person's life is a change of attitude. Right attitudes produce right actions.
~ William J. Johnson

I don't hold no grudges more'n five years.
~ William J. Kennedy, Ironweed (1983).

A tendency to look at the dark side of things, encouragement of pessimism, has always a tendency to lead men to suicide, whilst an exaggerated optimism, in speculation, has a similar tendency.
~ William Knighton, in the Contemporary Review (1881). Suicidal Mania

It is your disabled attitude that determines your disability and it is your disability that can or can't close opportunities in life for you.
~ William Ngwako Maphoto

Your attitude can take you forward or your attitude can take you down. The choice is always yours!
~ William Ngwako Maphoto

Every filmmaker, every journalist has to be arrogant. You have to say "I have the truth, you got to pay attention, you got to listen."
~ Bill Moyers, PBS TV (September 1988). A World of Ideas

Arrogance on the part of the meritorious is even more offensive to us than the arrogance of those without merit: for merit itself is offensive.
~ Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche, Human, All Too Human (1878).

Pathetic attitudes are not in keeping with greatness.
~ Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche, Ecce Homo (1888).

Grant that I may be a true, loyal friend, a genial companion with the broad honest charity born of an intimate knowledge of my own shortcomings. If I win, crown me with the laurels fitting to be worn by a victor, and if I fall, may it be with my face to the foe, fighting manfully, and falling, fling to the host behind, -- play up, play up, and play the game.
~ William J. Robinson, in Fra Magazine (1908). The Optimist's Prayer

Attitude is everything. That's what will determine the quality of your life.
~ William Rosenberg

Whoever the kid had been, whoever had had the grand attitude, has finally heeded the admonishment of parents, teachers, governments, religions, and the law: "You just change your attitude now please, young man."
~ William Saroyan

There are so many ways to heal. Arrogance may have a place in technology, but not in healing. I need to get out of my own way if I am to heal.
~ Anne Wilson Schaef, Native Wisdom for White Minds (1995).

He is of a very melancholy disposition.
~ William Shakespeare, Much Ado About Nothing

[M]orale, only morale, individual morale as a foundation under training and discipline, will bring victory.
~ Sir William Joseph Slim, (June 1941).

There is little difference in people, but that little difference makes a big difference. The little difference is attitude. The big difference is whether it is positive or negative.
~ William (W.) Clement Stone, Success Through a Positive Mental Attitude (1960).

When our attitude towards ourselves is big, and our attitude toward others is generous and merciful, we attract big and generous portions of success.
~ William (W.) Clement Stone

There's naught in this life sweet,
If man were wise to see 't,
But only melancholy;
O sweetest Melancholy!
~ William Strode, in The Poetical Works Of William Strode (1907). Melancholy.

People make light of my optimistic outlook, such as, if I were captain of the Titanic, I would tell my passengers we were stopping for ice.
~ Charles William "Chuck" Tanner

He who meanly admires mean things is a Snob.
~ William Makepeace Thackeray, The Book of Snobs (1848). II. The Snob Royal

It is impossible in our condition of society, not to be sometimes a Snob.
~ William Makepeace Thackeray, The Book of Snobs (1848). III. The Influence Of The Aristocracy On Snobs

Things are for us not only what they are; they are what we hold them to be. Which is to say that our attitude toward things is more likely in the long run to be more important than the things themselves.
~ Aiden Wilson (A.W.) Tozer, God Tells The Man Who Cares (1957). This World: Playground or Battleground?

An optimist stays up until midnight to see the new year in. A pessimist stays up to make sure the old year leaves.
~ William E. "Bill" Vaughan, in The Kansas City Star.

Every man and woman alive is gifted by God in some special way. People who have a self-image of worth are going to see value in what they do. This is the attitude that motivates them to be and to do their best. It's a drive that comes from within people.
~ William Walton

A cloudy day is no match for a sunny disposition.
~ William Arthur Ward

Enthusiasm and persistence can make an average person superior; indifference and lethargy can make a superior person average.
~ William Arthur Ward

Optimists enrich the present, enhance the future, challenge the improbable and attain the impossible.
~ William Arthur Ward

Optimism is a seed sown in the soil of faith; pessimism is a seed hoarded in the vault of doubt.
~ William Arthur Ward

The optimist lives on the peninsula of infinite possibilities; the pessimist is stranded on the island of perpetual indecision.
~ William Arthur Ward

The optimist pleasantly ponders how high his kite will fly; the pessimist woefully wonders how soon his kite will fall.
~ William Arthur Ward

To the optimist, all doors have handles and hinges; to the pessimist, all doors have locks and latches.
~ William Arthur Ward

Enthusiast go, try every sense,
If not thy bliss, thy excellence.
~ William Whitehead, from Poems on Several Occasions (1754). The Enthusiast. An Ode

Piety is sweet to infant minds.
~ William Wordsworth, The Excursion (1814). Book IV: Despondency Corrected

The nice part about being a pessimist is that you are constantly being either proven right or pleasantly surprised.
~ George F. Will, The Leveling Wind: Politics, the Culture & Other News 1990-1994 (November 1994).

The thing with me is I look on the bright side of everything. There's no point being pessimistic or worried about too many things because, frankly, life's too short and, you know, it's at the moment about having fun in the right places and enjoying myself and as much as I can. I'm trying to do that.
~ Prince William, Interview with the British media (19 November 2004).

It is impossible to feel grateful and depressed in the same moment.
~ Naomi Williams

Nothing's more determined than a cat on a hot tin roof ...
~ Thomas Lanier ("Tennessee") Williams, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1955).

Some people say I have attitude -- maybe I do ... but I think you have to. You have to believe in yourself when no one else does -- that makes you a winner right there.
~ Venus Williams

When you lose, you're more motivated. When you win, you fail to see your mistakes and probably no one can tell you anything.
~ Venus Williams, The Age (26 January 2003). Gracious in defeat

There is nothing more demoralizing than a small but adequate income.
~ Edmund Wilson, from Memoirs of Hecate County (1946).

Funny is an attitude.
~ Clerow "Flip" Wilson

I'm an optimist, but I'm an optimist who carries a raincoat.
~ Harold Wilson, The Observer (18 January 1976).

'Twixt the optimist and the pessimist, the difference is droll;
The optimist sees the doughnut, the pessimist, the hole!
~ Mclandburgh Wilson, Optimist and Pessimist (1915)

Vivacity goes a great way in young persons.
~ William Wirt, in Memoirs of the Life of William Wirt, Volume II (1849). Chapter VI. Letter to Laura H. Wirt; 23 May 1820.

I am still of opinion that only two topics can be of the least interest to a serious and studious mood -- sex and the dead.
~ William Butler Yeats, Letter to Olivia Shakespeare (October 1927)

The fascination of what's difficult
Has dried the sap out of my veins, and rent
Spontaneous joy and natural content
Out of my heart.
~ William Butler Yeats, from The Green Helmet and Other Poems (1910). The Fascination of What's Difficult