Every quarter I like to share quotes that I have encountered in my reading and research that have been meaningful to me. I call them “Nuggets of Wisdom.”

* * * * *

If you don’t like the crop you are reaping … check the seed you are sowing.

—MAXWELL GROUP

You have a zero percent scoring average on shots you don’t take.

—WAYNE GRETZKY

The first step to having what you really want is the removal of everything in your environment that represents mediocrity.

—STEWART EMERY

There is no real excellence in all this world which can be separated from right living.

—DAVID STARR JORDAN

What great accomplishments we would have in the world if everybody had done what they had intended to do.

—FRANK CLARK

Courage is contagious. When a brave man takes a stand, the spines of others are often stiffened.

—BILLY GRAHAM

Few men have the natural strength to honor a friend’s success without envy.

—AESCHYLUS

God’s laws and principles operate regardless of our awareness of them or our obedience to them.

—STEPHEN COVEY

Good people are good because they have come to wisdom through failure. We get very little wisdom from success.

—WILLIAM SAROYAN

It’s easier to build strong children than to repair broken men.

—FREDERICK DOUGLAS

I never lose: either I win or I learn.

—NELSON MANDELA

Richard E Simmons III is the founder and Executive Director of The Center for Executive Leadership and a best-selling author.