I have never seen people who could do real work
except under the stimulus of encouragement
and enthusiasm and the approval of the
people for whom they are working.

B.C. Forbes

   

Taking an interest in what others are thinking and doing is often
a much more powerful form of encouragement than praise.

Robert Martin

      
The truth is that everything that can be accomplished
by showing a person when he or she is wrong, ten times
as much can be accomplished by showing him or her where
he or she is right.  The reason we don't do it so often
is that it's more fun to throw a rock through a window
than to put in a pane of glass.

Robert T. Allen
  

We flourish under the benefits of encouragement, praise, approval, and
acceptance.  If we live with encouragement--especially our own--we learn
to be confident.  If we live with self-praise, we learn to appreciate what's
around us.  If we coexist with self-approval, we're more likely to give ourselves--and others--a little slack.

Leslie Levine

   

Most of us, swimming against the tides of trouble the world
knows nothing about, need only a bit of praise or encouragement--
and we will make the goal.

Jerome P. Fleishman

  

Whether or not we realize it each of us has within the ability to set
some kind of example for people.  Knowing this, would you rather be
the one known for being the one who encouraged others,
or the one who inadvertently discouraged those around you?

Josh Hinds

  
   
   

So often we think that to be encouragers we have to produce
great words of wisdom when, in fact, a few simple syllables
of sympathy and an arm around the shoulder can
often provide much needed comfort.

Florence Littauer

   

Correction does much, but encouragement
does more.  Encouragement after censure
is as the sun after a shower.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
  
  
Our workaday lives are filled with
opportunities to bless others.  The power
of a single glance or an encouraging smile
must never be underestimated.

G. Richard Rieger

   

Something I realized a few years ago in one of those "Of course--I should have
realized that all along!" moments is that encouragement is absolutely free.  It doesn't
cost me a cent to give it out, but its payoff is incredible.  A brighter smile, improved
performance on any sort of task, much more enjoyment in doing something--I see these
in people constantly when I or someone else encourages them.  I often read stories by
adults who have succeeded in life largely in part because just one person saw their
potential and encouraged them when they were younger, and they have never
forgotten those people or their words.  Wouldn't you love to feel that something
like that would be possible with you as the remembered person?  I know
that I would, but unless I plant the seeds today, that sort
of harvest will never come to pass.

tom walsh

   

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There are high spots in all of our lives and most of them have
come about through encouragement from someone else.  I don't
care how great, how famous or successful a man or woman
may be, each hungers for applause.

George M. Adams
 

The finest gift you can give anyone is encouragement.  Yet, almost no one gets
the encouragement they need to grow to their full potential.  If everyone
received the encouragement they need to grow, the genius in most everyone
would blossom and the world would produce abundance beyond the
wildest dreams.  We would have more than one Einstein, Edison, Schweitzer,
Mother Theresa, Dr. Salk and other great minds in a century.

Sidney Madwed

  
 

Note how good you feel after you have encouraged
someone else.  No other argument is necessary to suggest that
one never miss the opportunity to give encouragement.

George M. Adams

   

   
    
Flatter me, and I may not believe you.  Criticize me, and I may not like you.
Ignore me, and I may not forgive you.  Encourage me, and I will not forget you.
Love me and I may be forced to love you.

William Arthur Ward
   

A word of encouragement during a failure is worth
more than an hour of praise after success.

unattributed

   

Nine tenths of education is encouragement.

Anatole France

   
   

Those who are lifting the world upward and onward are those
who encourage more than criticize.

Elizabeth Harrison

   

    

Tell your child, your spouse, or your employee that he or she is stupid or dumb
at a certain thing, has no gift for it, and is doing it all wrong, and you have destroyed
almost all incentive to try to improve.  But use the opposite technique--be liberal
with your encouragement, make the thing seem easy to do, let the other person
know that you have faith in his or her ability to do it, that the person has an
undeveloped flair for it--and that person will practice until the dawn comes in
the window in order to excel.

Dale Carnegie

    

Two great Kindle books from our site!  First, the daily meditations from the first year are gathered together in a single volume at just $2.99 for the entire year, and second, almost 4,000 of our most motivating and inspiring quotations are gathered in one volume for just 99 cents-- you can have thousands of quotations that took over a decade to pull together, all on your own PC, Mac, or Kindle, to take with you wherever you go, to read whenever you feel the need for inspiring thoughts.

  

   
Giving encouragement to others is a most welcome gift, for the
results of it are lifted spirits, increased self-worth, and a hopeful future.

Florence Littauer