62 Best Robert Collier Quotes on Life & Personal Growth!

At any time of our lives, we’re always only a single idea away from change — one passing thought, one word from a friend, one phrase said in a way that strikes us differently…

…those things can change our lives in unimaginable ways.

I know that. Because simple things like that have changed my life in unimaginable ways!

Robert Collier said it best: "Everything must start with an idea. Every event, every condition, every thing is first an idea in the mind of someone. Before you start to build a house, you draw up a plan of it."

In fact, Robert Collier is a man himself with a legacy of spreading ideas to positively impact people’s lives — much like Napoleon Hill, Elsie Lincoln Benedict, or Charles F. Haanel.

Those ideas?

Here are 62 of my all-time favorite quotes that encapsulate his most powerful ideas — the ones, specifically, that have had a huge impact on me as I’ve read through and acquired original copies of his books.

Enjoy!

"Make a mental image of it. You are planting the seed of Desire. But don’t be content with that. Planting alone will not make a seed of corn grow. It has to be warmed by sunshine, nurtured by rain. So with the seed of your Desire. It must be warmed by Faith, nurtured by constant Belief."

"One ship drives east and another drives west with the self-same winds that blow. ‘Tis the set of the sails and not the gales which tells us the way they go. Like the waves of the sea are the ways of fate as we voyage along thru life. ‘Tis the set of the soul which decides its goal and not the calm or the strife."

"To be ambitious for wealth and yet always expecting to be poor... is like trying to reach East by traveling West... No matter how hard you may work for success, if your thoughts are saturated with the fear of failure, it will kill your efforts... The secret of prosperity lies in so vividly imagining it in your own mind that you literally exude prosperity."

"It is this mind that carries on the work of assimilation and upbuilding whilst we sleep... It reveals to us things that the conscious mind has no conception of... It can communicate with other minds without the ordinary physical means... It makes God’s presence an actual realizable fact and keeps the personality in peace and quietness."

"The geniuses of literature, art, commerce, government, politics, and invention... have learned somehow, some way to draw upon their subconscious minds. Sir Isaac Newton... Mozart... Descartes... This is a power which transcends reason and is independent of induction."

"Concentration... is getting so interested in some one thing that you pay no attention to anything else... Hold in your mind the thing you most desire. Affirm it. Believe it to be an existing fact."

"The thing that counts is not the amount of your balance at the Bank but what others THINK of you the IMAGE you have created in your own and in others’ minds... Realize that before it or any other thing can be it must first be imaged in Mind."

"You are working at only a tenth of your capacity... The time you spend idly wishing or worrying can be used in so directing your subconscious mind that it will bring you anything of good you may desire."

"Go at your difficulty boldly knowing that you have infinite resources behind you and you will find these forces closing around you and coming to your aid."

"See the things that you want as already yours. Know that they will come to you at need. Then LET them come."

"Instead of thinking that you need money, realize that money needs YOU... When the ideas are perfected money will gravitate your way without conscious effort on your part."

"Prosperity is not limited to time or to place. It manifests when and where there is consciousness to establish it."

"Concentrate and think upon things that you want; not on things which you ought not to have."

"It is the duty of ambition to drive and it is your duty to keep Ambition alive and driving... Lucky YOU if you are in harness and driven by the Demon of Ambition."

"When you reach the point in your work that you are no longer adding to your store of knowledge or abilities you are going backward and it’s time for you to move."

"Control your thoughts and you control circumstance... Believe that you have it—see it as an existent fact—and anything you can rightly wish for is yours."

"It is your own belief in yourself that counts. It is the consciousness of dominant power within you that makes all things attainable."

"Your body is simply an aggregation of millions upon millions of protons and electrons held together by mind... These tiny systems are the atoms of modern science."

"Man alone has been able to free himself to a great extent from the control of natural forces through his understanding of the relation of cause and effect... Mind is the only cause and effects are what he sees."

"The greatest discovery in a hundred years was the discovery of the power of the subconscious mind... Man has within himself the power to control his surroundings."

"The world is to each one of us the world of his individual perceptions. You are like a radio receiving station."

"Business, labor, professions exist primarily in thought. And the outcome of your labors in them is regulated by thought."

"For imagination forms the world from which their future will take its shape. Uncontrolled, the imagination is like a rudderless ship."

"Thought is energy. Mental images are concentrated energy. And energy concentrated on any definite purpose becomes power."

"Thought is a dynamic energy with the power to bring its object out from the invisible substance all about us... thoughts are creative."

"The first success is like the first olive out of the bottle. All the others come out the more easily for it."

"Visualize this thing you want. See it, feel it, believe in it. Make your mental blueprint and begin."

"Be sure to visualize only what you want. The law works both ways. If you visualize your worries and your fears, you will make them real. Control your thoughts and you will control circumstances."

"The Universal Mind expresses itself largely through the individual. It is continually seeking an outlet."

"If you don’t make things happen, then things will happen to you."

"Faith is the confidence, the assurance, the enforcing truth, the knowing."

"In every adversity, there lies the seed of an equivalent advantage. In every defeat is a lesson showing you how to win the victory next time."

"The world is to each one of us the world of his individual perceptions."

"The law of the universe is the law of supply. Nature is lavish in everything she does."

"All power is from within and therefore under our control."

"Success seems to be connected with action. Successful people keep moving. They make mistakes, but they don’t quit."

"Vision gives you the impulse to make the picture your own."

"It is only through your conscious mind that you can reach the subconscious. Your conscious mind is the porter at the door, the watchman at the gate."

"It is only through your conscious mind that you can reach the subconscious. Your conscious mind is the porter at the door, the watchman at the gate."

"Constant repetition carries conviction."

"The great successful men of the world have used their imagination... steadily building - steadily building."

"Take the first step, and your mind will mobilize all its forces to your aid... Once the battle is started, all that is within and without you will come to your assistance."

"You have to sow before you can reap. You have to give before you can get."

"See things as you would have them be instead of as they are."

"The greater the prevalence of positive thoughts, the more likely you are to receive a positive outcome."

"Desire is proof of the availability."

"All riches have their origin in mind. Wealth is in ideas - not money."

"You can do anything you think you can. This knowledge is literally the gift of the gods."

"The mind thinks in pictures, you know. One good illustration is worth a thousand words. But one clear picture built up in the reader’s mind by your words is worth a thousand drawings, for the reader colors that picture with his own imagination, which is more potent than all the brushes of all the world’s artists."

"One comes to believe whatever one repeats to oneself sufficiently often, whether the statement be true or false."

"Realize in your daily life that 'matter' is merely an aggregation of protons and electrons subject entirely to the control of Mind; that your environment, your success, your happiness, are all of your own making... All wealth depends upon a clear understanding of the fact that mind - thought - is the only creator."

"The mere fact that you have obstacles to overcome is in your favor."

"The more motives you can appeal to, of course, the more successful you will be, but it is important that you differentiate between the motive that makes him desire a thing and the one that impels him to take the action you desire, for the whole purpose of your letter is to make your reader act as you wish him."

Great stuff, right?

If you want to learn more about Robert Collier and his works, or other amazing authors like him, check out the Secrets of Success Community!

You’ll get access to books and courses from my favorite authors, as well as our monthly book club where we go through them together.

See you inside ;)