Dr. Wayne Dyer is a self-help and spiritual author and also a motivational speaker. One of his best-selling books, Your Erroneous Zone, was sold over 100 million copies worldwide.
Dr. Wayne Dyer was often known as the “father of motivation” by his fans. Despite started his life in an orphanage, he overcame many obstacles and made his dreams a reality. And he also spent most of his life teaching and showing others how to achieve their goals and live their dreams too.
And in this post, we will cover the 15 best quotes from Dr. Wayne Dyer. Although he has left us in 2015, his words, his legacy, and his inspirations are still with us.
Here are the best and most inspirational quotes from Dr. Wayne Dyer you should learn from…
1. “Be miserable. Or motivate yourself. Whatever has to be done, it’s always your choice.”
Yes, you can choose to be miserable, or you can choose to motivate yourself. Regardless, it has to be done, and it will always be your choice.
Just like Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson used to say:
“When life puts you in tough situations, don’t say ‘Why me? ‘ just say ‘Try me’.”
No matter what problems or obstacles you face in life, there is always a choice about how you react.
You can choose to feel defeated and give up, or you can choose to motivate yourself, face the problem, and do whatever it takes to solve it.
And the power to choose how you want to react is in your hands…
2. “If you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.”
I like this saying from Dr. Wayne Dyer. When you change your perspective, your life will change. Just like a paradigm shift, when your frame of thoughts changed, the way you look at everything will change, and as a result, your life will change.
For example, when you are walking in a dark alley, rather than thinking that you will get robbed, think that you will meet someone kind who will give you a lift.
When you face a problem in life, rather than looking at it as a problem, look at it as an opportunity to grow and become better.
The moment the way you look at things change, the things you look at will change.
If you want to discover more about a paradigm shift and reframing your thoughts, I suggest you read the best-selling book from Stephen Covey, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.
3. “You cannot always control what goes on outside. But you can always control what goes on inside.”
This is true, you cannot control the events or the circumstances, but you can always control how you react to them.
Let me give you an example. When you are stuck in traffic, you can choose to become angry and blame everything, except yourself. Or you can also choose to enjoy the radio or play your favorite songs and sing along.
You see, you cannot control the traffic, but you can control your reaction.
Here’s another example. When you are given a bonus of $1,000, you can choose how you react to the extra money you get:
- You can spend the money and the extra $1,000 will be gone, or
- You can invest and have an increased in your net worth.
As you can see, the event or circumstance doesn’t matter. What truly matters is how you react to it.
It is your decision and action that matter.
Thus, learn how to take full responsibility for your life so that you will take control of your life. Read this guide: 10 Ways How to Take Full Responsibility For Your Life
4. “Doing what you love is the cornerstone of having abundance in your life.”
Ask yourself, do you love what you do? Are you passionate about your career, job, and your work?
If you don’t, you need to make a change. Because you are going to spending a lot of your time in your career, hence, if you hate your job, you are going to spend most of your life doing things you hate.
And when you are passionate about what you do, you will do it even when you are not getting paid. You will want to do it better and perform better at it. And that’s what makes you successful.
Think about extraordinary people like Tiger Woods, Kobe Bryant, Lionel Messi, etc., they all love what they do. And that is why they are willing to spend time and train themselves to become better at it.
Think about it, if you don’t like what you do, do you think you will want to spend time improving your skills?
The answer is clear. And this is why Dr. Wayne Dyer said that doing what you love is the cornerstone of having abundance in your life.
Suggested reading:
5. “When you dance, your purpose is not to get to a certain place on the floor. It’s to enjoy each step along the way.”
That’s right, you want to enjoy the work you do. And that includes your job, your business, your goals, your relationships, and everything in your life.
It doesn’t matter if you are having some difficult times in life right now, the key is to learn to dance in the rain and to enjoy the moment.
Things may be tough, but it will never stay difficult forever.
So, live with passion and live life to the fullest.
6. “You’ll see it when you believe it.”
Your belief system is everything. Think about how the colossal elephants can be leashed by a small rope. When the elephant is still baby size, people leashed her with a rope. There is no way the baby elephant can get away from the rope, because she’s yet to develop the strength to break free from the rope.
Eventually, the baby elephant learned the belief that as long as she is leashed to the rope, she can never get away, even after she has grown into a giant size adult elephant.
This is how your belief system works. When you don’t believe something is possible, you will never do anything about it.
But once you change your belief, you will start to see possibilities and make things happen.
Dr. Wayne Dyer has a book with the same title, You’ll See It When You Believe It. Check it out…
7. “How people treat you is their karma; how you react is yours.”
Again, you cannot control how people look at you or how they treat you, but you can always control your reaction towards it.
If you always worry about how people look at you or think about you, learn this 20-40-60 Rule:
“When you are 20, you care about what everybody thinks of you. When you are 40, you don’t care about what people think of you, and when you are 60, you actually understand that people were too busy thinking about themselves.”
Remember, you cannot control what goes on the outside, but you can always control what goes on the inside.
Change yourself to live a better life.
8. “Everything is either an opportunity to grow or an obstacle to keep you from growing. You get to choose.”
That’s right, everything is either an opportunity or an obstacle, it all depends on how you look at it.
Here’s a great saying from Napoleon Hill:
“Every adversity, every failure, every heartache carries with it the seed of an equal or greater benefit.”
Every difficulty and setback you experience can be an obstacle that prevents and stops you from moving forward, or if you change how you look at it, it can become an opportunity and work as your stepping stone to success.
When Richard Branson was stranded in the Puerto Rico airport due to flight cancellation, he chose not to look at it as a problem. Instead, Branson chartered a plane and sold the tickets to all the passengers who were also stranded.
He turned a problem into an opportunity. And that is why Richard Branson is a billionaire.
Suggested reading: How Successful People Overcome Failures and Bounce Back
9. “You are not stuck where you are unless you decide to be.”
Have you heard this famous saying, “When there is a will, there is a way”?
Sometimes, life may hit you with a brick on the head, but it doesn’t mean that you will be stuck where you are, or you will have to give up. There will always be a way, if only if you look hard enough.
When Simba in the Lion King was running for his life, he thought his life was over. Until he met Pumbaa and Timon, who showed him another side of life. And when Simba met with Rafiki again, Rafiki told him something that turned his life around:
“The past can hurt. But the way I see it, you can either run from it, or learn from it.”
Yes, you can never get stuck in your life, unless you choose to do so. There is always a way.
Make sure you read this: How to Overcome Tough Times and Succeed (5 Principles To Overcome Setbacks)
10. “If we focus on what’s ugly, we attract more ugliness into our thoughts, and then into our emotions, and ultimately into our lives.”
I once attended a seminar from Tony Robbins in Singapore a couple of years ago, and I remembered vividly these words from his mouth…
“Where focus goes, energy flows.”
Just like this quote from Dr. Wayne Dyer implies, whatever you choose to focus on, expands.
When you focus on the negative, the negative will expand. However, if you focus on the positive, you will have more positives in your life.
If you keep thinking about why you are such a useless person, guess what, your mind will search for the answers in your brain and tell you at your face.
On the contrary, if you constantly think about why you are so lucky and so successful, guess what, your mind will search for the answers and tell you why you are lucky and successful.
What you choose to focus on, expands.
Therefore, focus on the positives. Focus on the good. And focus on the success you want, not failure.
Read this: 5 Simple Rules How To Make Your Affirmations Work
11. “You don’t need to be better than anyone else, you just need to be better than you used to be.”
Too many times, we tend to compare ourselves with others. It is human nature to want to compare and win. But, you have to make sure the comparison is positive, not negative.
What I mean is that you want to make it a positive competition. You don’t want to compare yourself with others, and then feel dejected and inferior because you are no good.
Never let that happens to you. The best way to compare is to compare with yourself. This is because everyone is living a unique life, and hence, you don’t have to compare with them.
You just need to compare with your yesterday. Are you improving and are you doing much better than yesterday?
If the answer is yes, then you are improving. And you should keep making progress in life. And that’s how you make progress and lead a successful life.
Recommended reading:
- 7 Steps How To Grow In Life And Become More Successful
- How to Change Your Life in 30 Days – Follow These 10 Steps
12. “The state of your life is nothing more than a reflection of the state of your mind.”
You are who you are and where you are in life right now because of your state of mind.
Think about it. You cannot litter negativity everywhere and then expect to live a positive life. And you cannot get rich by thinking poor.
It all has to do with your mindset. This is why Dr. Wayne Dyer said your life is a reflection of your mind.
What you have inside you will reflect on the outside.
So, if you want to change your life and become successful, you need to change your mind.
Change the way you think, develop a new mindset, and think like how successful people think, and you too, will become successful.
Here’s an interesting post you should check out: How Do Successful People Think: 10 Extraordinary Mindsets to Develop
13. “When you squeeze an orange, you get orange juice because that’s what’s inside. The very same principle is true about you. When someone squeezes you – puts pressure on you – what comes out is what’s inside. And if you don’t like what’s inside you can change it by changing your thoughts.”
Again, you have to improve yourself and become a better version of yourself.
Many people get it wrong and think that the Law of Attraction is all about thinking about the things that you desire, and you will have it.
But here’s the truth: You don’t get what you want, you get WHO you are.
When you become the right person, you will attract the right results.
If you have the mindset, the beliefs, the characters, the traits, the habits, and the attitudes of a successful person, then you will attract success into your life.
Become the right person, and you will attract the right results.
If you want to learn how to change your brain and the way you think, I suggest you take this free training from John Assaraf.
14. “The more you see yourself as what you’d like to become, and act as if what you want is already there, the more you’ll activate those dormant forces that will collaborate to transform your dream into your reality.”
Thinking about what you want is just the first step, you need to act and execute too. Most people only think about what they want, but they don’t act. And that is why they fail.
Like what Dr. Wayne Dyer said in his quote, you have to see yourself as what you’d like to become, and act as if you already have it.
You can attract and get what you want into your life if you are willing to work for it.
Jim Carrey was once interviewed on the Oprah Winfrey Show, and this was what he said about attracting success…
“You can’t just visualize it and then go eat a sandwich.”
You need to work for it. If you are willing to work for it, it will work for you.
So, practice the Rule of Five and take consistent action from now on.
15. “If you believe it will work out, you’ll see opportunities. If you believe it won’t you will see obstacles.”
I like this quote from Dr. Wayne Dyer. When you believe things are going to work out, you will see the solution. But when you don’t think it won’t, then you will see problems and obstacles.
Like what Zig Ziglar once said:
“If you are not willing to learn, no one can help you. If you are determined to learn, no one can stop you.”
Thus, choose to see problems as stepping stones to success. And choose to believe that everything happens FOR you, not AGAINST you.
After going through all these quotes from Dr. Wayne Dyer, you will notice one common theme from them all – your mindset matters.
How you think will reflect what you get in your life.
Therefore, if you want to change your life, live better, and achieve greater success, learn to change your inner self. And it all starts with your mindset.
Go here and attend this free training from John Assaraf to change your brain.
