Inspirational Quotations

They are able because they think they are able.
—Virgil (Roman Poet)

The difference between guilt and shame is very clear—in theory. We feel guilty for what we do. We feel shame for what we are.
—Lewis B. Smedes (American Christian Theologian)

For those who immerse themselves in what the fairy tale has to communicate, it becomes a deep, quiet pool which at first seems to reflect only our own image; but behind it we soon discover the inner turmoils of our soul – its depth, and ways to gain peace within ourselves and with the world, which is the reward of our struggles.
—Bruno Bettelheim (Austrian-born Psychoanalyst)

If a poor person envies a rich person, he is no better than the rich person.
—Leo Tolstoy (Russian Novelist)

Charity is a calm, severe duty; it must be intellectual, to be advantageous. It is a strange mistake that it should ever be considered a merit; its fulfilment is only what we owe to each other, and is a debt never paid to its full extent.
—Letitia Elizabeth Landon (English Poet, Novelist)

Love doesn’t conquer everything. And whoever thinks it does is a fool.
—Donna Tartt (American Novelist)

Husbands are like fires. They go out when unattended.
—Zsa Zsa Gabor (Hungarian-born Film Actress)

All’s not offence that indiscretion finds.
—William Shakespeare (British Playwright)

Everything that is done in the world is done by hope. No merchant or tradesman would set himself to work if he did not hope to reap benefit thereby.
—Martin Luther (German Protestant Theologian)

Accuracy is the twin brother of honesty; inaccuracy, of dishonesty.
—Charles Simmons (American Editor, Novelist)

Prejudice is the child of ignorance.
—William Hazlitt (English Essayist)

Children find everything in nothing, men find nothing in everything.
—Giacomo Leopardi (Italian Poet)

Globalization is a bottom-up phenomenon with all actions initiated by millions of individuals, the sum total of which is “globalization.” No one is in charge, and no one can anticipate what the sum of all the individual initiatives will be before the result manifest. A global economy can only be the result of “spontaneous order.”
—John Naisbitt (American Trend Analyst)

A man sooner or later discovers that he is the master-gardener of his soul, the director of his life.
—James Allen (British Self-Help Author)

An unquestioned mind is the world of suffering.
—Byron Katie (American Speaker)

Of course, the liar often imagines that he does no harm as long as his lies go undetected. But the one lied to almost never shares this view. The moment we consider our dishonesty from the point of view of those we lie to, we recognize that we would feel betrayed if the roles were reversed.
—Sam Harris (American Neuroscientist, Atheist, Author)

A symphonic conductor should reconcile himself to the realization that, regardless of his approach or temperament, the eventual result is the same — the orchestra will hate him.
—Oscar Levant (American Musician)

There are those who say that when civilization progresses a bit further transportation facilities will move into the skies and under the ground, and that our streets will again be quiet, but I know perfectly well that when that day comes some new device for torturing the old will be invented.
—Tanizaki Jun’ichiro (Japanese Novelist)

Who is rich? He that rejoices in his Portion.
—Benjamin Franklin (American Founding Father, Inventor)

The shy man does have some slight revenge upon society for the torture it inflicts upon him. He is able, to a certain extent, to communicate his misery. He frightens other people as much as they frighten him. He acts like a damper upon the whole room, and the most jovial spirits become, in his presence, depressed and nervous.
—Jerome K. Jerome (English Humorist, Novelist)

The first step to knowledge is to know that we are ignorant.
—Richard Cecil

Of a great spirit is moderation in prosperity.
—Seneca the Elder (Marcus Annaeus Seneca) (Roman Rhetorician)

When death finally comes, you will welcome it like an old friend, aware of how dreamlike and impermanent the whole phenomenal world really is.
—Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche (Tibetan Buddhist Teacher)

Knowledge humanizes mankind, and reason inclines to mildness, but prejudices eradicate every tender disposition.
—Montesquieu (French Political Philosopher)

The sense of unhappiness is so much easier to convey than that of happiness. In misery we seem aware of our own existence, even though it may be in the form of a monstrous egotism: this pain of mine is individual, this nerve that winces belongs to me and to no other. But happiness annihilates us: we lose our identity.
—Graham Greene (British Novelist)

A library card is the start of a lifelong adventure.
—Lilian Jackson Braun (American Mystery Novelist)

Life for a photographer cannot be a matter of indifference and it is important to see what is invisible to others.
—Robert Frank (Swiss-American Photographer)

You can muffle the drum, and you can loosen the strings of the lyre, but who shall command the skylark not to sing?
—Kahlil Gibran (Lebanese-born American Philosopher)

Obviously crime pays, or there’d be no crime.
—G. Gordon Liddy (American Lawyer)

Loving-kindness and compassion are the basis for wise, powerful, sometimes gentle, and sometimes fierce actions that can really make a difference—in our own lives and those of others.
—Sharon Salzberg (Buddhist Teacher)

But there was no need to be ashamed of tears, for tears bore witness that a man had the greatest of courage, the courage to suffer.
—Viktor Frankl (Austrian Psychiatrist)

Great deeds are usually wrought at great risks.
—Herodotus (Ancient Greek Historian)

The day the Lord created hope was probably the same day he created Spring.
—Bert Williams (American Entertainer)

Create all the happiness you are able to create: remove all the misery you are able to remove. Every day will allow you to add something to the pleasure of others, or to diminish something of their pains. And for every grain of enjoyment you sow in the bosom of another, you shall find a harvest in your own bosom; while every sorrow which you pluck out from the thoughts and feelings of a fellow creature shall be replaced by beautiful peace and joy in the sanctuary of your soul.
—Jeremy Bentham (British Philosopher, Economist)

Honesty is the best image.
—Tom Wilson (American Cartoonist)

In youth one has tears without grief; in age, griefs without tears.
—Philibert Joseph Roux (French Surgeon)

It is not a lucky word, this same impossible; no good comes of those that have it so often in their mouth.
—Thomas Carlyle (Scottish Historian, Essayist)

When public men indulge themselves in abuse, when they deny others a fair trial, when they resort to innuendo and insinuation, to libel, scandal, and suspicion, then our democratic society is outraged, and democracy is baffled. It has no apparatus to deal with the boor, the liar, the lout, and the antidemocrat in general.
—J. William Fulbright (American Politician)

There is only one way to achieve happiness on this terrestrial ball, and that is to have either a clear conscience, or none at all.
—Ogden Nash (American Comic Poet)

It is justice, not charity, that is wanting in the world.
—Mary Wollstonecraft (English Writer, Feminist)

All those things [meaning works of art] have given me the greatest satisfaction and contentment because they are not only for the honor of God but are likewise for my own remembrance. For fifty years, I have done nothing else but earn money and spend money; and it became clear that spending money gives me greater pleasure than earning it.
—Cosimo de’ Medici (Florentine Statesman, Banker)

Without all doubt, charity to the poor is a direct and obligatory duty upon all Christians.
—Edmund Burke (British Philosopher, Statesman)

You should never ask anyone for anything. Never- and especially from those who are more powerful than yourself.
—Mikhail Bulgakov (Russian Novelist, Dramatist)

Falling in love was simple; one had only to yield. Digesting another person, however, and sustaining love, was bloody work, and not a soft job.
—Hanif Kureishi (British Novelist, Screenwriter)

If you have the words, there’s always a chance that you’ll find the way.
—Seamus Heaney (Irish Poet, Playwright)

I will go anywhere, provided it is forward.
—David Livingstone (Scottish Missionary, Explorer)

Many people die with their music still in them. Why is this so? Too often it is because they are always getting ready to live. Before they know it, time runs out.
—Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. (American Physician, Essayist)

Love points the way. Desire is its ignorant advisor.
—Elfriede Jelinek (Austrian Author)

In charity there is no excess.
—Francis Bacon (English Philosopher)

Ah, great it is to believe the dream as we stand in youth by the starry stream; but a greater thing is to fight life through and say at the end, the dream is true!
—Edwin Markham (American Poet)

Film as dream, film as music. No form of art goes beyond ordinary consciousness as film does, straight to our emotions, deep into the twilight room of the soul. A little twitch in our optic nerve, a shock effect: twenty-four illuminated frames a second, darkness in between, the optic nerve incapable of registering darkness.
—Ingmar Bergman (Swedish Film and Stage Director)

Leadership is an intense journey into yourself. If you can go to bed feeling beaten up and rise the next morning ready to keep listening and learning, then I believe you can lead.
—Jeffrey Immelt (American Businessperson)

Nor is it wiser to weep a true occasion lost, but trim our sails, and let old bygones be.
—Alfred, Lord Tennyson (British Poet)

It would be naive to think that the problems plaguing mankind today can be solved with means and methods which were applied or seemed to work in the past.
—Mikhail Gorbachev (Soviet Head of State)

A merry heart doeth good like a medicine: but a broken spirit drieth the bones.
—The Holy Bible (Scripture in the Christian Faith)

Develop purity in yourself if you wish to encourage others to follow the path of purity. Discover real peace and harmony within yourself, and naturally this will overflow to benefit others.
—S. N. Goenka (Burmese Mediation Teacher)

Life is doubt, and faith without doubt is nothing but death.
—Miguel de Unamuno (Spanish Philosopher, Writer)

Nothing succeeds like success.
—Alexandre Dumas pere (French Novelist, Playwright)

All Presidents start out pretending to run a crusade but after a couple of years they find they are running something less heroic and much more intractable: namely, the presidency.
—Alistair Cooke (British-American Journalist)

If you come to a fork in the road, take it.
—Yogi Berra (American Sportsperson)

All of us are experts at practicing virtue at a distance.
—Theodore Hesburgh (American Catholic Educator)

Pity makes suffering contagious.
—Friedrich Nietzsche (German Philosopher, Scholar)

The ghostly consciousness of wrong.
—Thomas Carlyle (Scottish Historian, Essayist)

Now will I show myself to have more of the serpent than the dove; that is—more knave than fool.
—Christopher Marlowe (English Playwright)

No man can purchase his virtue too dear, for it is the only thing whose value must ever increase with the price it has cost us.
—Charles Caleb Colton (English Clergyman, Aphorist)

The happiest part of a man’s life is what he passes lying awake in bed in the morning.
—Samuel Johnson (British Essayist)

It is only the affirmation of the power of the mind which knows itself capable of conceiving the indefinite repetition of the same act when once this act is possible. The mind has a direct intuition of this power, and experience can only give occasion for using it and thereby becoming conscious of it.
—Henri Poincare (French Mathematician)

Anyone must be mainly ignorant or thoughtless, who is surprised at everything he sees; or wonderfully conceited who expects everything to conform to his standard of propriety.
—William Hazlitt (English Essayist)

Plans are worthless, but planning is everything.
—Dwight D. Eisenhower (American Head of State)

The only real elegance is in the mind; if you’ve got that, the rest really comes from it.
—Diana Vreeland (American Fashion Editor)

More helpful than all wisdom is one draught of simple human pity that will not forsake us.
—George Eliot (Mary Anne Evans) (English Novelist)

A writer without confidence is like a metaphor without something to compare itself to.
—Neil Simon (American Playwright)

Every person has a right to risk their own life for the preservation of it.
—Jean-Jacques Rousseau (French Philosopher)

When you suffer, think not on how you can escape suffering, but concentrate your efforts on what kind of inner moral and spiritual perfection this suffering requires.
—Leo Tolstoy (Russian Novelist)

I believe that my gift in this world is not that I’m smarter or more talented than anyone else: it’s that I had a singular goal. I don’t want other stuff: friends, kids, travel. What makes me happy is writing.
—Ann Patchett (American Novelist)

It were better to have no opinion of God at all, than such an opinion, as is unworthy of him. For the one is unbelief, the other is contumely; and certainly superstition is the reproach of the Deity.
—Francis Bacon (English Philosopher)

A failure is like fertiliser; it stinks to be sure, but it makes things grow faster in the future.
—Denis Waitley (American Motivational Speaker)

I can be changed by what happens to me, but I refuse to be reduced by it.
—Maya Angelou (American Poet)

My belief of book writing is much the same as my belief as to shoemaking. The man who will work the hardest at it, and will work with the most honest purpose, will work the best.
—Anthony Trollope (English Novelist)

Destiny is an absolutely definite and inexorable ruler. Physical ability and moral determination count for nothing. It is impossible to perform the simplest act when the gods say “no.” I have no idea how they bring pressure to bear on such occasions; I only know that it is irresistible.
—Aleister Crowley (English Occultist)

Personality is an unbroken series of successful gestures.
—F. Scott Fitzgerald (American Novelist)

The Sun never shined on a cause of greater worth.
—Thomas Paine (American Nationalist)

It is of little use for us to pay lip-loyalty to the mighty men of the past unless we sincerely endeavor to apply to the problems of the present precisely the qualities which in other crises enabled the men of that day to meet those crises.
—Theodore Roosevelt (American Head of State)

When you go in search of honey you must expect to be stung by bees.
—Kenneth Kaunda (Zambian Statesman)

He who overlooks a fault, invites the commission of another.
—Publilius Syrus (Syrian-born Latin Writer)

If our religion is not true, we are bound to change it; if it is true, we are bound to propagate it.
—Richard Whately (English Philosopher, Theologian)

I have no ambition to govern men. It is a painful and thankless office.
—Thomas Jefferson (American Head of State)

Once to every man and nation comes the moment to decide; In the strife of Truth with Falsehood, for the good or evil side.
—James Russell Lowell (American Poet, Critic)

As long as you think you are white, there is no hope for you. Because as long as you think you’re white, I’m forced to think I’m black.
—James Baldwin (American Novelist, Social Critic)

In life, as in chess, forethought wins.
—Charles Buxton (British Politician, Writer)

The brain is the palest of all the internal organs, and the heart the reddest. Whatever comes from the brain carries the hue of the place it came from, and whatever comes from the heart carries the heat and color of its birthplace.
—Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. (American Physician, Essayist)

The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men should do nothing.
—Edmund Burke (British Philosopher, Statesman)

A work of art/a poem is never really finished, it is merely abandoned.
—Paul Valery (French Critic, Poet)

Prejudices are the reason of fools.
—Voltaire (French Philosopher, Author)

Grief should be the instructor of the wise: sorrow is knowledge; they who know the most must mourn the deepest o’er the fatal truth,—the tree of knowledge is not that of life.
—Lord Byron (George Gordon Byron) (English Romantic Poet)

The present is not totally shaped by the past. In fact, the most important element shaping your present pleasure or pain is how you fashion, with your intentions in the present, the raw material provided by the past.
—Thanissaro Bhikkhu (American Buddhist Monk)

The Eskimo has fifty-two names for snow because it is important to them; there ought to be as many for love.
—Margaret Atwood (Canadian Author)

Everyone has the right to doubt everything as often as he pleases and the duty to do it at least once. No way of looking at things is too sacred to be reconsidered. No way of doing things is beyond improvement.
—Edward de Bono (British Psychologist, Writer)

Learning organizations are possible because not only is it our nature to learn but we love to learn.
—Peter Senge (American Management Consultant)

The passion between the sexes has appeared in every age to be so nearly the same, that it may always be considered, in algebraic language as a given quantity.
—Thomas Robert Malthus (English Political Economist)

The secret to living is giving.
—Tony Robbins (American Self-Help Author)

Love imposes obligations and these are constant. An intermittent lover is no use to a person of dignity and courage.
—Anita Brookner (English Novelist, Art Historian)

Yet we may constantly do more in what we are than in what we do. We may serve better in the lives we live than in the best service we ever give. The memory of that should bring rest to your spirit when a bit tired, and may be disheartened because tired.
—Samuel Dickey Gordon (American Evangelical Author)

Let every emotion be capable becoming an intoxication to you. If what you eat fails to make you drunk, it is because you are not hungry enough.
—Andre Gide (French Novelist)

At the deepest level people are madder than they want to believe. You will find that they fear being eaten, and are alarmed by their desire to devour others.
—Hanif Kureishi (British Novelist, Screenwriter)

Envy wounds with false accusations, that is with detraction, a thing which scares virtue.
—Leonardo da Vinci (Italian Polymath)

For a long time I found the celebrities of modern painting and poetry ridiculous. I loved absurd pictures, fanlights, stage scenery, mountebanks backcloths, inn-signs, cheap colored prints; unfashionable literature, church Latin, pornographic books badly spelt, grandmothers novels, fairy stories, little books for children, old operas, empty refrains, simple rhythms.
—Arthur Rimbaud (French Poet)

Evil is always possible. Goodness is a difficulty.
—Anne Rice (American Author)

Men are only too ready to be swayed by senseless passion.
—John Macquarrie (British Theologian)

Give it away to get it back. There is a wonderful, almost mystical, law of nature that says three of the things we want most—happiness, freedom, and peace of mind—are always attained when we give them to others.
—John Wooden (American Sportsperson)

Life is like an ever-shifting kaleidoscope; a slight change, and all patterns and configurations alter.
—Sharon Salzberg (Buddhist Teacher)

The man that makes a character, makes foes.
—Edward Young (English Poet)

I count false words the foulest plague of all.
—Aeschylus (Greek Playwright)

Think not that guilt requires the burning torches of the furies to agitate and torment it.—Frauds, crimes, remembrances of the past and terrors of the future, these are the domestic furies that are ever present to the minds of the impious.
—Cicero (Roman Philosopher)

How much better a thing it is to be envied than to be pitied.
—Herodotus (Ancient Greek Historian)

The most intangible, and therefore the worst kind of a lie, is a half-truth.—This is the peculiar device of the “conscientious” detractor.
—Washington Allston (American Artist, Writer)

Variability is one of the virtues of a woman. It avoids the crude requirement of polygamy. So long as you have one good wife you are sure to have a spiritual harem.
—G. K. Chesterton (English Journalist)

Romance has been elegantly defined as the offspring of fiction and love.
—Isaac D’Israeli (English Writer, Scholar)

There are few cases in which mere popularity should be considered a proper test of merit; but the case of song-writing is, I think, one of the few.
—Edgar Allan Poe (American Poet)

The gratitude of most men is but a secret desire of receiving greater benefits.
—Francois de La Rochefoucauld (French Writer)

The life of reality is confused, disorderly, almost always without apparent purpose, whereas in the artist’s imaginative life there is purpose. … Most people are afraid to trust their imaginations and the artist is not.
—Sherwood Anderson (American Fiction Writer)

The exact measure of the progress of civilization is the degree in which the intelligence of the common mind has prevailed over wealth and brute force.
—George Bancroft (American Historian)

People must not do things for fun. We are not here for fun. There is no reference to fun in any act of Parliament.
—A. P. Herbert (English Humorist, Politician)

Sometimes you are aware when your great moments are happening, and sometimes they rise from the past. Perhaps it’s the same with people.
—James Salter (American Fiction Writer)

My sad conviction is that people can only agree about what they’re not really interested in.
—Bertrand A. Russell (British Philosopher, Mathematician)