Problems Are a Sign of Life, Get Comfortable With Them

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On the corner of Fifth Avenue and 29th Street in Manhattan stands an old stone church. For fifty-two years, a preacher from small town Ohio stepped into its pulpit and told New Yorkers the same simple thing.

Your thoughts can change your life.

His name was Norman Vincent Peale. His words still carry a quiet kind of electricity. Let’s sit with some of his best today.

The Preacher Who Taught America to Think Brighter

Norman Vincent Peale (1898 to 1993) was an American minister and author best known for The Power of Positive Thinking, published in 1952. His most loved quotes center on believing in yourself, picturing success, and filling your mind with faith and confidence.

Peale served as senior minister of Marble Collegiate Church in New York from 1932 to 1984. He co-founded Guideposts magazine with his wife Ruth in 1945, preached on radio and television, and received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1984.

And that book? It spent 186 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list, 48 of them at number one, and has been translated into more than 40 languages, according to its publishing history.

Millions of people found their footing in those pages. Maybe today, you’ll find a little of yours.

11 Norman Vincent Peale Quotes to Carry Into Your Day

1. Belief Comes First

Believe in yourself! Have faith in your abilities!

Norman Vincent Peale, The Power of Positive Thinking, 1952, chapter 1

These are the very first words of the book. Before any technique, any rule, any story. Belief is the foundation everything else stands on.

2. Confidence Is Your Launchpad

With sound self-confidence you can succeed.

Norman Vincent Peale, The Power of Positive Thinking, 1952, chapter 1

Notice the word sound. A grounded, honest confidence. The kind that knows your gifts and gets to work with them.

3. Hold the Picture

Formulate and stamp indelibly on your mind a mental picture of yourself as succeeding. Hold this picture tenaciously.

Norman Vincent Peale, The Power of Positive Thinking, 1952, chapter 1

This is the first of his ten rules for building confidence. See yourself thriving. Then keep seeing it, especially on the days it feels far away.

4. Answer Every Doubt Out Loud

Whenever a negative thought concerning your personal powers comes to mind, deliberately voice a positive thought to cancel it out.

Norman Vincent Peale, The Power of Positive Thinking, 1952, chapter 1

I love the word voice here. Say it. Out loud if you can. Your ears are listening to your mouth all day long.

5. Raise Your Estimate

Make a true estimate of your own ability, then raise it 10 percent.

Norman Vincent Peale, The Power of Positive Thinking, 1952, chapter 1

This might be my favorite. It’s humble and bold at the same time. Be honest about where you are, then give yourself a little room to grow into.

6. Choose What Fills Your Mind

Fill your mind with thoughts of faith, confidence, and security.

Norman Vincent Peale, The Power of Positive Thinking, 1952, chapter 1

Your mind is always full of something. The beautiful part is that you get to choose what goes in. A book, a song, a friend, a prayer, a walk.

7. Attitude Shapes Everything

Attitudes are more important than facts.

A line from psychiatrist Karl Menninger that Peale championed in The Power of Positive Thinking, 1952

The facts of a situation are real. And the way you meet them decides what they become in your life.

8. Peace Is a Power Source

A Peaceful Mind Generates Power

Norman Vincent Peale, chapter 2 title, The Power of Positive Thinking, 1952

We often think calm and power sit on opposite ends. Peale saw them as partners. A settled mind has more energy to give. If this one speaks to you, find your own square inch of silence.

9. Lose Yourself in Something Bigger

The more you lose yourself in something bigger than yourself, the more energy you will have.

Norman Vincent Peale, The Power of Positive Thinking, 1952, chapter 3

Purpose is fuel. Give yourself to a cause, a craft, a community, and you’ll find energy you forgot you had.

10. Expect Good Things

Expect the Best and Get It

Norman Vincent Peale, chapter title, The Power of Positive Thinking, 1952

Expectation sets your direction. Walk into today expecting kindness, opportunity, and growth, and watch how much more of it you notice.

11. Rest in Something Greater

Put yourself in God’s hands.

Norman Vincent Peale, The Power of Positive Thinking, 1952, chapter 1

Whatever your faith, there’s freedom in this. You get to do your part fully, then let go of the rest. That’s where real peace lives.

Optimists Live Longer, and Science Has the Receipts

Peale was a preacher, and decades later science caught up to his message in a big way.

In a 2019 study published in PNAS, researchers led by Lewina Lee at Boston University followed nearly 70,000 women for ten years and about 1,400 men for thirty years. The most optimistic people lived 11 to 15 percent longer and had 50 to 70 percent greater odds of reaching age 85, according to the study’s summary.

Optimism is good for your mood. It may also be good for your years.

So instead of asking what if this goes sideways, try asking what if this goes beautifully.

Try the Peale Morning Tomorrow

Five minutes. Three of his ideas. One brighter day.

1. Picture it. Close your eyes for one minute and see yourself doing today well. The meeting, the workout, the conversation. Hold the picture.
2. Voice it. Catch one doubt and answer it out loud with a positive thought. “I’m ready for this.”
3. Raise it. Pick one goal for today. Make an honest estimate of what you can do, then add 10 percent.
4. Post it. Write your favorite quote from this list on a sticky note and put it where you’ll see it all day.

Want help setting up your space so these thoughts stick? Read Make Hard Things Easier next.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who was Norman Vincent Peale?

Norman Vincent Peale (1898 to 1993) was an American minister and author. He served as senior minister of Marble Collegiate Church in New York City from 1932 to 1984, co-founded Guideposts magazine, and wrote the 1952 bestseller The Power of Positive Thinking.

What is Norman Vincent Peale’s most famous quote?

One of his most famous lines opens The Power of Positive Thinking. “Believe in yourself! Have faith in your abilities!” It captures the heart of his message about confidence and faith.

What is the main message of The Power of Positive Thinking?

The book teaches that believing in yourself, picturing success, replacing doubts with positive thoughts, and building faith can help you live with more confidence, peace, and energy.

Does positive thinking really work?

Research supports the value of optimism. A 2019 study in PNAS found that the most optimistic people lived 11 to 15 percent longer and had 50 to 70 percent greater odds of reaching age 85 compared to the least optimistic.

Your Own Pulpit Is Waiting

That stone church on Fifth Avenue is still standing. People still walk past it every morning on their way to work.

And every morning, you get your own little pulpit. The mirror. The first words you say to yourself.

Make them good ones. Believe in yourself. Have faith in your abilities. Expect the best.

Start early. Start bright. Start today.

Complement this with Make Hard Things Easier, the Big Idea Behind Angela Duckworth’s Situated, What Stands in the Way Becomes the Way, and Your Body Brews Its Own Morning Coffee.

Carry this into tomorrow morning. The practice in this post lives in an app we built, Hold Until Sunrise. Your alarm becomes a moment of stillness. You hold your phone, rest with one affirmation, and let the sunrise welcome you into the day.

We’d love to keep you company every morning. Join us here for a daily dose of good, straight to your inbox.

With love, Paolo

Sources

• Norman Vincent Peale, The Power of Positive Thinking, Prentice Hall, 1952
• The Power of Positive Thinking, publication history
• Norman Vincent Peale, Britannica
• Marble Collegiate Church
• Lee LO et al. Optimism is associated with exceptional longevity in 2 epidemiologic cohorts of men and women. PNAS, 2019