"Ideals"

My dad had me memorize this quote when I was a teenager. I found it again years later in a file with some poetry and quotes that I had saved. I have a wise father.

“As you think, you travel; and as you love, you attract; you are today where your thoughts have brought you; you will be tomorrow where your thoughts take you. You cannot escape the results of your thoughts, but you can endure and learn, can accept and be glad. You will realize the vision (not the idle wish) of your heart, be it base or beautiful, or a mixture of both, for you will always gravitate towards that which you secretly most love. Into your hands will be placed the exact result of your thoughts. You will receive that which you earn, nor more- no less. Whatever your present environment may be, you will fall, remain, or rise with your thoughts, your vision, your ideal. You will become as small as your controlling desire, as great as your dominant aspiration.”

Van Dyke