Never neglect the little things. Never skimp on that extra effort, that additional few minutes, that soft word of praise or thanks, that delivery of the very best that you can do. It does not matter what others think, it is of prime importance, however, what you think about you. You can never do your best, which should always be your trademark, if you are cutting corners and shirking responsibilities. You are special. Act it. Never neglect the little things.
—Og Mandino (1923–96) American Self-Help Author
Little by little does the trick.
—Aesop (620–564 BCE) Greek Fabulist
A small leak can sink a great ship
—Benjamin Franklin (1706–90) American Political Leader, Inventor, Diplomat
A mountain is composed of tiny grains of earth. The ocean is made up of tiny drops of water. Even so, life is but an endless series of little details, actions, speeches, and thoughts. And the consequences whether good or bad of even the least of them are far-reaching.
—Sivananda Saraswati (1887–1963) Indian Hindu Spiritual Teacher
If we triumph in the little things of our common hours, we are sure to triumph in our lives.
—Unknown
Yard by yard, it’s very hard. But inch by inch, it’s a cinch.
—Unknown
The person determined to achieve maximum success learns the principle that progress is made one step at a time. A house is built one brick at a time. Football games are won a play at a time. A department store grows bigger one customer at a time. Every big accomplishment is a series of little accomplishments.
—David J. Schwartz (1927–87) American Self-help Author
I don’t look to jump over 7-foot bars: I look around for 1-foot bars that I can step over.
—Warren Buffett (b.1930) American Investor
It’s the little details that are vital. Little things make big things happen.
—John Wooden (1910–2010) American Sportsperson
Don’t be afraid to give your best to what seemingly are small jobs. Every time you conquer one it makes you that much stronger. If you do the little jobs well, the big ones tend to take care of themselves.
—Dale Carnegie (1888–1955) American Self-Help Author
Fewer and fewer Americans possess objects that have a patina, old furniture, grandparents pots and pans—the used things, warm with generations of human touch, essential to a human landscape. Instead, we have our paper phantoms, transistorized landscapes. A featherweight portable museum.
—Susan Sontag (1933–2004) American Writer, Philosopher
We must not, in trying to think about how we can make a big difference, ignore the small daily differences we can make which, over time, add up to big differences that we often cannot foresee.
—Marian Wright Edelman (b.1939) American Civil Regrets Advocate, Humanitarian, Lawyer
Success in life is founded upon attention to the small things rather than to the large things; to the everyday things nearest to us rather than to the things that are remote and uncommon.
—Booker T. Washington (1856–1915) African-American Educationist
Nothing can be done except little by little.
—Charles Baudelaire (1821–67) French Poet, Art Critic, Essayist, Translator
It is in these acts called trivialities that the seeds of joy are forever wasted, until men and women look round with haggard faces at the devastation their own waste has made, and say, the earth bears no harvest of sweetness—calling their denial knowledge.
—George Eliot (Mary Anne Evans) (1819–80) English Novelist
Human felicity is produced not as much by great pieces of good fortune that seldom happen as by little advantages that occur every day.
—Benjamin Franklin (1706–90) American Political Leader, Inventor, Diplomat
I am beginning to learn that it is the sweet, simple things of life which are the real ones after all.
—Laura Ingalls Wilder (1867–1957) American Children’s Novelist
For the person for whom small things do not exist, the great is not great.
—Jose Ortega y. Gasset (1883–1955) Spanish Critic, Journalist, Philosopher
Increased QUALITY/PRODUCTIVITY is made up of 1000s of small improvements. Just like Gulliver who was held down by 1000s of threads. Each one doesn’t seem to mean much, and in the case of a thread, can be easily broken. But 1000s of them can have a very strong effect.
—Unknown
Once I planned to write a book of poems entirely about the things in my pocket. But I found it would be too long; and the age of the great epics is past.
—G. K. Chesterton (1874–1936) English Journalist, Novelist, Essayist, Poet
As we become curators of our own contentment on the Simple Abundance path… we learn to savor the small with a grateful heart.
—Sarah Ban Breathnach (b.1947) American Self-help Author
The chief duty I long to accomplish great and noble tasks, but it is my chief duty to accomplish humble tasks as though they were great and noble. The world is moved along, not only by the mighty shoves of its heroes, but also by the aggregate of the tiny pushes of each honest worker.
—Helen Keller (1880–1968) American Author
Life levels all men: death reveals the eminent.
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950) Irish Playwright
Every passion borders on the chaotic, but the collector’s passion borders on the chaos of memories.
—Walter Benjamin (1892–1940) German Literary and Marxist Critic
Someone has calculated that in fifteen minutes a day we can read the Bible through twice in a year’s time.
—Unknown
Little pots soon boil over.
—Anonymous
The happiness of life is made up of minute fractions—the little, soon-forgotten charities of a kiss or smile, a kind look, a heart-felt compliment, and the countless infinitesimals of pleasurable and genial feeling.
—Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772–1834) English Poet, Literary Critic, Philosopher
You’ll come to learn a great deal if you study the Insignificant in depth.
—Odysseus Elytis (1911–96) Greek Poet
In this life we cannot do great things. We can only do small things with great love.
—Mother Teresa (1910–97) Roman Catholic Missionary, Nun
All difficult things have their origin in that which is easy, and great things in that which is small.
—Laozi (fl.6th Century BCE) Chinese Philosopher, Sage
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