As we enter 2012, our thoughts are on goals, commitments, resolutions, and so on. Ambitions are pondered, actions are planned, and funny 2012 glasses are purchased. But let us not think that we travel through life alone! Many have come before us, with similar endeavors, and have passed along nuggets of advice to all those willing to listen. Below are 50 such nuggets, divided into the following categories: Achievement, Happiness, Personal Development, Inspiration, and Motivation to help us through the new year, wherever it may lead. Enjoy!

Achievement:

1.  “To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.” ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

2.  “Those who sow abundantly reap abundantly.” ~Nido Qubein

3.  “Here is the key to success and the key to failure: we become what we think about.” ~Earl Nightingale

4.  “People of accomplishment rarely sat back and let things happen to them. They went out and happened to things.” ~Leonardo da Vinci

5.  “Things turn out the best for the people who make the best of the way things turn out.” ~John Wooden

6.  “Success rarely comes to those who are expecting failure.” ~Nido Qubein

7.  “The size of your success is measured by the strength of your desire; the size of your dream; and how you handle disappointment along the way.” ~Robert Kiyosaki

8.  “The harder you work, the luckier you get.” ~Gary Player

9.  “Nurture great thoughts for you cannot go higher than your thoughts.” ~Benjamin Disraeli

10.  “Striving for success without hard work is like trying to harvest where you haven’t planted.” ~David Bly

Happiness:

1.  “Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony.” ~Mahatma Gandhi

2.  “If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion.” ~Dalai Lama

3.  “To someone who has seen a dozen people frown, scowl, or turn their faces away, your smile is like the sun breaking through the clouds.” ~Dale Carnegie

4.  “Don’t curse the darkness – light a candle.” ~Chinese Proverb

5.  “Tranquility is nothing else than the good ordering of the mind.” ~Marcus Aurelius

6.  “Learn how to be happy with what you have while you pursue all that you want.” ~Jim Rohn

7.  “Three grand essentials to happiness in this life are something to do, something to love, and something to hope for.” ~Joseph Addison

8.  “Think not so much of what you don’t have as what you do have: but of the things which you do have, select the best, and then reflect how eagerly they would have been sought, if you had them not.” ~Marcus Aurelius

9.  “Happiness and sadness run parallel to each other. When one takes a rest, the other one tends to take up the slack.” ~Hazelmarie Elliott

10.  “The best way to cheer yourself up is to try to cheer somebody else up.” ~Mark Twain

Personal Development:

1.  “Not being able to govern events, I govern myself.” ~Michel de Montaigne

2.  “It’s not what we do once in a while that shapes our lives, but what we do consistently.” ~Anthony Robbins

3.  “If you work hard on your job, you can make a living. But if you work hard on yourself, you can make a fortune.” ~Jim Rohn

4.  “We are what we think. All that we are arises with our thoughts. With our thoughts, we make our world.” ~The Buddha

5.  “Today you are You, that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is Youer than You.” ~Dr. Seuss

6.  “Forgiving is essential for continued growth.” ~Leo Buscaglia

7.  “Avoid negative people at all costs. They are the greatest destroyers of self-confidence and self-esteem.” ~Brian Tracy

8.  “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” ~Romans 12:2

9.  “Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time, for that is the stuff life is made of.” ~Benjamin Franklin

10.  “If I only had three words of advice, they would be, ‘Tell the Truth’. If I got three more words, I would add, ‘All the Time’.” ~Randy Pausch

Inspiration:

1.  “Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.” ~Albert Einstein

2.  “If people spent as much time worrying about how to make a difference as they do about how they could make money, then they would soon find themselves rich beyond belief.” ~Brendon Burchard

3.  “It’s not what you look at that matters, it’s what you see.” ~Henry David Thoreau

4.  “Feed your faith and your doubts will starve.” ~Les Brown

5.  “It’s lack of faith that makes people afraid of meeting challenges, and I believe in myself.” ~Muhammad Ali

6.  “There is no traffic jam on the extra mile.” ~Michael Nolan

7.  “Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.” ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

8.  “Your chances of success in any undertaking can always be measured by your belief in yourself.” ~Robert Collier

9.  “Only as high as I reach can I grow, only as far as I seek can I go, only as deep as I look can I see, only as much as I dream can I be.” ~Karen Ravn

10.  “Enjoy the little things, for one day you may look back and realize they were the big things.” ~Robert Brault

Motivation:

1.  “If you rest too long, the weeds take the garden.” ~Jim Rohn

2.  “You can’t build a reputation on what you are going to do.” ~Henry Ford

3.  “You may never know what results come of your action, but if you do nothing there will be no result.” ~Mahatma Gandhi

4.  “If you want what normal people have, do what normal people do. But if you want what few have, then do what few do.” ~Craig Groeschel

5.  “If you don’t design your life, someone else will design it for you, and you may just not like their idea of balance.” ~Nigel Marsh

6.  “It ain’t about how hard you hit, it’s about how hard you can get hit, and keep moving forward.” ~Rocky Balboa

7.  “Your future is created by what you do today, not tomorrow.” ~Robert Kiyosaki

8.  “If there is no wind, row.” ~Latin Proverb

9.  “At one point in your life you either have the thing you want or the reasons why you don’t.” ~Andy Roddick

And for the last one, a perfect thought to keep in mind as we kick off the new year…

10.  “Well begun is half done.” ~Aristotle

Have an awesome, happy, love filled, ambitious 2012!