Leslie Calvin "Les" Brown was born on 17th February 1945 in Liberty City, Miami, Florida. He was adopted by Mamie Brown. He was declared mentally retarded by his grade school people, which damaged his self-esteem.
Les Brown is an American motivational speaker, author, former radio DJ, and former television host. He was a member of the Ohio House of Representatives from 1976 -81. He was awarded by the National Speakers Association's Council of Peer Award for Excellence in 1989 and Golden Gavel in 1994. He began hosting a talk show, The Les Brown Show in 1993. He later formed the company Les Brown Enterprises Inc. to support his motivational speaker goals. He collaborated with John C. Maxwell.
In 1995, Brown married Gladys Knight, and they divorced in 1997. He has nine children, fifteen grandchildren, and four great-grandchildren. He published several best-selling books like Live Your Dreams, It's Not Over Until You Win, Laws of Success, Up Thoughts for Down Times.
The few most inspiring quotes by Les Brown are as follows -
Too many of us are not living our dreams because we are living our fears.
Fear brings along insecurities in one's life. It hampers our development and growth. One should overcome one's fear to become successful in life. Fear has the power to shatter our dreams. It is us who can either succumb to it or overcome it and live the life we have dreamt of.
Life has no limitations; except the ones you make.
Life is full of great opportunities. A person can achieve whatever he wishes to. Life does not pose any limitations to anyone. It is we, the humans, who question our capabilities. One should never create boundaries and limitations for oneself and try to make the most out of what life offers to him.
Most people fail in life not because they aim too high and miss, but because they aim too low and hit.
Brown talks about how easily we get satisfied in life just because we are afraid of failures. He says that one should aim big, and even if they miss it; this habit will make them successful in their lives. People are often afraid of failure because they think if they aim high, they might not be able to fulfill it. They try to aim too low and achieve success easily and get satisfied with it.
If you take responsibility for yourself you will develop a hunger to accomplish your dreams.
It is very easy to blame the world for our troubles, but it is very hard to take responsibility for our actions. The hunger inside us helps us to achieve what we want. It is the driving force. When we take responsibility for ourselves, we focus on achieving our dreams.
The greatest revenge is massive success.
Success is the best revenge one can take against their enemies. When we know our own identity and truth, we don't care who hates us. Those who try to demean you, doubt you or hate you, let your grand success shut their mouths forever.
Live out of your imagination instead of out of your memory.
Successful people always believe in their imaginations and dreams. They never create limitations for themselves; rather, they let their imaginations decide their worth. They are not the prisoners of their past. They cannot change their past, so they accept it and try to focus on their imagination and dreams to make their lives better.
The time is 'now' to do something- don't drag your feet.
Procrastination is the greatest enemy of an individual. 'Now' is the time to do whatever you wish to. You should not delay it. One should always start as early as possible, and the best time to do what you want is 'now'. One should always remember that it is 'Now or never'.
Align yourself with people that you can learn from, people who want more out of life, people who are stretching and searching and seeking some higher ground in life.
You should always attach yourself to knowledgeable people, people who believe in growth, who want more out of life, and constantly want to make something great and wonderful. These kinds of people are rare. You should always try to be with these kinds of people. It enhances you as a person. It helps you to grow. You will be able to understand things from a unique perspective, and they will motivate you to become the best version of yourself.
Shoot for the moon, because even if you miss you miss, you'll land in the stars.
One should always aim very high and work very hard to achieve it, and even if he fails, he will still accomplish good things as a result while trying.
Just because Fate doesn't deal you the right cards, it doesn't mean you should give up. It just means you have to play the cards you get to their maximum potential.
Fate is not always in favor of everyone. One should never blame it and give up. Whatever he gets, he should try to make it better, and he should never stop until he reaches his destination.
Perfection does not exist -- you can always do better and you can always grow.
There is nothing such as "perfect". It is an illusion. It is an abstract idea. We can almost achieve perfection, but we cannot fully achieve it. There is always a scope of doing better. You should always try to go better and before. Growth is a constant journey. One should grow as a person till the day he dies.
Forgive yourself for your faults and your mistakes and move on.
One should always be gentle towards himself. He should never punish himself for making mistakes. He should accept it and try to modify himself accordingly. He should not cling to his past; rather, he should move on in life and take lessons from his past experiences to create a better future for himself.
Accept responsibility for your life. Know that it is you who will get you where you want to go, no one else.
A person should always take responsibility for his own life. He should not rely on others. He should always believe in himself and try to achieve what he wants in life. Nobody can make your dreams come true but you.
I will heighten my life by helping others heighten theirs
One should always try to help others in every situation. One can enhance and elevate their life by helping others to elevate theirs. One should never become a selfish being. He should be generous toward others. This will raise them to another level in life.
No one rises to low expectations
We can only expect as much as we have set our standards. No one can expect low. One should always expect higher. He should always set the bar higher than before. The main motto should be being better than before.
It's not over until you win
Failure is not final unless you accept it. One should never give up trying. One must try, and if he fails, he must try harder than before. One should never accept his failure as an answer. He should never give up until he wins.
The things you want are always possible; it is just that the way to get them is not always apparent. The only real obstacle in your path to a fulfilling life is you, and that can be a considerable obstacle because you carry the baggage of insecurities and past experience.
Everything is possible in this world if we believe in ourselves. One should always have faith in himself to achieve heights. It is the insecurities and past experiences that make them question their capabilities. If one is determined to get something, he will surely attain what he aspires if he accepts the past and learns from it.
It's better to be prepared for an opportunity and not have one than to have an opportunity and not be prepared.
It is always better to be prepared. Life is unpredictable. Opportunities are uncertain. They don't come in a fixed time. Opportunities can knock at your door any time. One needs to be prepared to use that opportunity effectively. A prepared person can take up that opportunity and make fruitful results out of it.
The people that want to step into greatness are hungry.
One should always be motivated and have hunger in them, the hunger of achieving greater heights. One can never become great until and unless they have that fire in them. One should toil and be ready to do anything for fulfilling their ambitions. Your hunger determines your success.
Other people's opinion of you does not have to become your reality.
One should be aware of who he is. Other people's opinion never defines a person's identity. One should believe in himself and never get affected by others' opinions. One knows his strengths and weaknesses and work accordingly to become a better person every day. He should always know his worth and never allow anyone else to determine his worth.
Image Attributions:
- Dominick Brady from Atlanta, Georgia, United States, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
