For many, negative thinking is a habit, which over time, becomes an addiction. It's a disease, like alcoholism, compulsive overeating, or drug abuse.

``A lot of people suffer from this disease because negative thinking is addictive to each of the Big Three--the mind, the body, and the emotions. If one doesn't get you, the others are waiting in the wings.
Peter McWilliams You Can't Afford the Luxury of a Negative Thought
Categories: attitude negativity pessimism wellness addiction

The strangest and most fantastic fact about negative emotions is that people actually worship them.
P.D. Ouspensky You Can't Afford the Luxury of a Negative Thought
Categories: pessimism negativity depression sadness self-defeatism

So don't think you can't think you can.
Charles Inge The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase, Saying, and Quotation
Categories: thought negativity optimism pessimism self-confidence positive thinking

Remember that nobody will ever get ahead of you as long as he is kicking you in the seat of the pants.
Walter Winchell Franklin Dayplanner, July 19, 1993.
Categories: leadership criticism critics negativity negatives buzzards turkeys

From a medical point of view, negative thinking supresses the immune system, raises the blood pressure, and creates a general level of stress and fatigue in the body. In short, infections, cardiovascular irregularities, the degeneration of muscles, and the random growth of unwanted cells get more opportunity.
Peter McWilliams You Can't Afford the Luxury of a Negative Thought
Categories: negativity negativism pessimist pessimism wellness illness health

Sharp acids corrode their own containers.
Albanian proverb The Prentice-Hall Encyclopedia of World Proverbs
Categories: speech thought cynicism pessimism negativity hate prejudice sarcasm

"I can't do it" never yet accomplished anything; "I will try" has performed wonders.
George P. Burnham The Forbes Book of Business Quotations
Categories: attitude determination success try negativity negative positivity positive failure

In order to arrive at paydirt, the valuable ore they are seeking, miners must sift through and discard a great deal of worthless material known as "the overburden." In personal terms, our individual overburden can obscure the gleam of a creative gift.
Buried under the negative (or simply ignorant or misleading) interpretations of others, the glistening veins of our talents, dreams, and aspirations must be actively sought in order to be found.
Julie Cameron The Vein of Gold : A Journey to Your Creative Heart
Categories: self-knowledge self-awareness talent growth change work effort skill gift opinions expectations negativity judgementalism dreams aspirations

Always there will be, along the sidelines of life, inferior souls who throw mud at those whose attainments they do not quite understand. The man who really accomplishes doesn't pay attention to such detractors. If he did, he'd be on their level. He keeps an eye singled on the higher goal--and the mud never touches him.
Jerome P. Fleishman The Forbes Book of Business Quotations
Categories: criticism critics negativity negative negativism opinions success achievement accomplishment goal vision mission singlemindedness focus determination