Character Quotables: Positivity

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All that we are is the result of what we have thought. The mind is everything. What we think we become.
— Buddha
If you don’t like something, change it. If you can’t change it, change your attitude.
— Maya Angelou
Happiness is an attitude. We either make ourselves miserable, or happy and strong. The amount of work is the same.
— Francesca Reigler
The best way to not feel hopeless is to get up and do something. Don’t wait for good things to happen to you. If you go out and make some good things happen, you will fill the world with hope, you will fill yourself with hope.
— Barack Obama
Choosing to have joy is not naively thinking everything will be easy. It is courageously believing that there is still hope, even when things get hard.
— Morgan Harper Nichols
Optimism is a strategy for making a better future. Because unless you believe that the future can be better, you are unlikely to step up and take responsibility for making it so.
— Noam Chomsky
It is during our darkest moments that we must focus to see the light.
— Aristotle Onassis
It is often in the darkest skies that we see the brightest stars.
— Richard Paul Evans
One of the things I learned the hard way was that it doesn’t pay to get discouraged. Keeping busy and making optimism a way of life can restore your faith in yourself.
— Lucille Ball
A lot of times people look at the negative side of what they feel they can’t do. I always look on the positive side of what I can do.
— Chuck Norris
Hope begins in the dark, the stubborn hope that if you just show up and try to do the right thing, the dawn will come. You wait and watch and work: you don’t give up.
— Anne Lamott
Just for the record, darling, not all positive change feels positive in the beginning.
— S. C. Lourie
An optimist understands that life can be a bumpy road, but at least it is leading somewhere. They learn from mistakes and failures, and are not afraid to fail again.
— Harvey Mackay
If you carry joy in your heart, you can heal any moment.
— Carlos Santana
Start each day with a positive thought and a grateful heart.
— Roy T. Bennett
Hope sees the invisible, feels the intangible, and achieves the impossible.
— Helen Keller
Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement. Nothing can be done without hope and confidence.
— Helen Keller
Optimism is a happiness magnet. If you stay positive, good things and good people will be drawn to you.
— Mary Lou Retton
Optimism is the foundation of courage.
— Nicholas M. Butler
Let your hopes, not your hurts, shape your future.
— Robert H. Schuller
A pessimist is one who makes difficulties of his opportunities and an optimist is one who makes opportunities of his difficulties.
— Harry Truman
Pessimism dries up all the fountains of joy in the world.
— Helen Keller
Correction does much, but encouragement does more.
— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
We have enough people who tell it like it is—now we could use a few who tell it like it can be.
— Robert Orben
Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap, but by the seeds that you plant.
— Robert Louis Stevenson 
Happiness can be found in even the darkest of times, but only to those who remember to turn on the light.
— Albus Dumbledore
I hope the millions of people I’ve touched have the optimism and desire to share their goals and hard work and persevere with a positive attitude.
— Michael Jordan
A healthy attitude is contagious but don’t wait to catch it from others. Be a carrier.
— Author Unknown
A positive attitude causes a chain reaction of positive thoughts, events and outcomes. It is a catalyst and it sparks extraordinary results.
— Wade Boggs
There are so many unpleasant things in the world already that there is no use in imagining any more.
— L. M. Montgomery
A cloudy day is no match for a sunny disposition.
— William Arthur Ward
Don’t be pushed by your problems, be led by your dreams.
— Ralph Waldo Emerson
The best way to pay for a lovely moment is to enjoy it.
— Richard David Bach
A single sunbeam is enough to drive away many shadows.
— Francis of Assisi
Choose to be optimistic, it feels better.
— The 14th Dalai Lama
Hope is like the sun, which, as we journey toward it, casts the shadow of our burden behind us.
— Samuel Smiles
Once you choose hope, anything’s possible.
— Christopher Reeve
A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.
— Winston Churchill
If you have a positive attitude and constantly strive to give your best effort, eventually you will overcome your immediate problems and find you are ready for greater challenges.
— Pat Riley
The positive thinker sees the invisible, feels the intangible, and achieves the impossible.
— Winston Churchill
Believe you can and you’re halfway there.
— Theodore Roosevelt
A positive attitude does not mean you can’t lose…but you’re guaranteed a winning chance at anything you actually do!
— C. Motley
Remember that hope is a powerful weapon even when all else is lost.
— Nelson Mandela
It’s not that optimism solves all of life’s problems; it is just that it can sometimes make the difference between coping and collapsing.
— Lucy MacDonald
If you see ten troubles coming down the road, you can be sure that nine will run into the ditch before they reach you.
— Calvin Coolidge
The first step towards the solution of any problem is optimism.
— John Baines
Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.
— Colin Powell
In times of great stress or adversity, it’s always best to keep busy, to plow your anger and your energy into something positive.
— Lee Iacocca
Don’t let your failures define you—let them teach you.
— Barack Obama
Keeping busy and making optimism a way of life can restore your faith in yourself.
— Lucille Ball
At every moment, we always have a choice, even if it feels as if we don’t. Sometimes that choice may simply be to think a more positive thought.
— Tina Turner
People who think positively usually see endless possibilities.
— Richard Branson
You may not be able to change a situation, but with humor you can change your attitude about it.
— Allen Klein
Become a possibilitarian. No matter how dark things seem to be or actually are, raise your sights and see possibilities—always see them, for they’re always there.
— Norman Vincent Peale

How can you use Quotes?

  • Start a discussion: Quotes can start a discussion about a character trait at the beginning of a meeting or the dinner table. You can ask questions about what it means, how they have seen the trait demonstrated in their own lives, or how they can develop it themselves.

  • Provide a model: Quotes can provide a model of good character. When you read a quote from a famous person or historical figure, you show that people they admire also value the same character traits.

  • Use quotes as writing/journal prompts: Ask them to write a short essay about a quote to help them think more deeply about its implications for their lives.

  • Post quotes: You can post quotes where they will be seen/heard often – classroom, breakroom, lobby, dining room, email signatures, video bulletin boards, morning announcements, social media, etc.

  • Read quotes aloud: You can read quotes aloud to your children during mealtimes, bedtime, or any other time you spend together.

  • Make it fun:  You can make it even more fun by incorporating games, activities, or crafts. Let children decorate signs with the quotes to hang in the classroom or a bedroom door. Record children saying it and post it on social media.

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Character Quotables: Punctuality

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Character Quotables: Patience