Inspirational Quotations

Sit down before fact as a little child, be prepared to give up every preconceived notion, follow humbly wherever and whatever abysses nature leads, or you will learn nothing.
—Thomas Henry Huxley (English Biologist)

A daily guest is a great thief in the kitchen.
—Dutch Proverb

No fathers or mothers think their own children ugly; and this self-deceit is yet stronger with respect to the offspring of the mind.
—Miguel de Cervantes (Spanish Novelist)

I have no particular talent. I am merely inquisitive.
—Albert Einstein (German-born Theoretical Physicist)

It is necessary to try to surpass one’s self always; this occupation ought to last as long as life.
—Christina, Queen of Sweden (Swedish Monarch)

Through money or power you cannot solve all problems. The problem in the human heart must be solved first.
—The 14th Dalai Lama (Tibetan Buddhist Religious Leader)

What we do not see, what most of us never suspect of existing, is the silent but irresistible power which comes to the rescue of those who fight on in the face of discouragement.
—Napoleon Hill (American Author)

Macho doesn’t prove mucho.
—Zsa Zsa Gabor (Hungarian-born Film Actress)

To the person who does not know where he wants to go there is no favorable wind.
—Seneca the Younger (Lucius Annaeus Seneca) (Roman Stoic Philosopher)

Art is the human disposition of sensible or intelligible matter for an esthetic end.
—James Joyce (Irish Novelist)

There are only two creatures of value on the face of the earth: those with the commitment, and those who require the commitment of others.
—John Adams (American Head of State)

I believe in a lively disrespect for most forms of authority.
—Rita Mae Brown (American Writer, Feminist)

Nothing goes out of fashion sooner than a long dress with a very low neck.
—Coco Chanel (French Fashion Designer)

With wisdom grows doubt.
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (German Poet)

It is a far, far better thing to have a firm anchor in nonsense than to put out on the troubled seas of thought.
—John Kenneth Galbraith (American Economist)

The idea shared by many that life is a vale of tears is just as false as the idea shared by the great majority, the idea to which youth and health and riches incline you, that life is a place of entertainment.
—Leo Tolstoy (Russian Novelist)

Fear is an uneasiness of the mind, upon the thought of a future evil likely to befall us.
—John Locke (English Philosopher)

There is no avoiding war; it can only be postponed to the advantage of others.
—Niccolo Machiavelli (Florentine Political Philosopher)

Philosophy, rightly defined, is simply the love of wisdom.
—Cicero (Roman Philosopher)

People become attached to their burdens sometimes more than the burdens are attached to them.
—George Bernard Shaw (Irish Playwright)

Imagination will often carry us to worlds that never were. But without it we go nowhere.
—Carl Sagan (American Astronomer)

Where there is no counsel, the people perish; but in the multitude of counselors there is safety.
—The Holy Bible (Scripture in the Christian Faith)

Simplicity is the final achievement. After one has played a vast quantity of notes and more notes, it is simplicity that emerges as the crowning reward of art.
—Frederic Chopin (Polish Composer, Pianist)

Truth is not introduced into the individual from without, but was within him all the time.
—Soren Kierkegaard (Danish Philosopher, Theologian)

The strength of criticism lies in the weakness of the thing criticized.
—Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (American Poet)

Difficult as it is really to listen to someone in affliction, it is just as difficult for him to know that compassion is listening to him.
—Simone Weil (French Philosopher, Political Activist)

There is no hell or heaven somewhere else, the hell is right here, when you are dishonest. The heaven is right here when you conduct yourself with honesty and truthfulness.
—Basava (Indian Hindu Philosopher)

By all means marry. If you get a good wife you will become happy, and if you get a bad one you will become a philosopher.
—Socrates (Anceient Greek Philosopher)

The Buddha’s last words instructed us to be heedful—to see our actions as important and to keep that importance in mind at all times.
—Thanissaro Bhikkhu (American Buddhist Monk)

Most of us can read the writing on the wall; we just assume it’s addressed to someone else.
—Ivern Ball (American Writer, Aphorist)

There are lots of things that you can brush under the carpet about yourself until you’re faced with somebody whose needs won’t be put off.
—Angela Carter (English Novelist, Short Story Writer)

An intelligent person spends his time by enjoying poetry and scientific literature. In contrast, a fool spends his time in his addiction to bad habits, laziness or in some kind of quarrel.
—The Hitopadesha (Indian Collection of Fables)

Death is our eternal companion. It is always to our left, an arm’s length behind us. Death is the only wise adviser that a warrior has. Whenever he feels that everything is going wrong and he’s about to be annihilated, he can turn to his death and ask if that is so. His death will tell him that he is wrong, that nothing really matters outside its touch. His death will tell him, I haven’t touched you yet.’
—Carlos Castaneda (Peruvian-born American Anthropologist)

We are slow to believe that which if believed would hurt our feelings.
—Louis Nizer (American Lawyer, Author)

It is base to filch a purse, daring to embezzle a million, but it is great beyond measure to steal a crown. The sin lessens as the guilt increases.
—Friedrich Schiller (German Poet)

Most decisions should probably be made with somewhere around 70% of the information you wish you had. If you wait for 90%, in most cases, you’re probably being slow.
—Jeff Bezos (American Businessman)

Understanding is the first step to acceptance, and only with acceptance can there be recovery.
—J. K. Rowling (English Novelist)

All formal dogmatic religions are fallacious and must never be accepted by self-respecting persons as final.
—Hypatia of Alexandria (Greek Philosopher, Mathematician)

They learn in suffering what they teach in song.
—Percy Bysshe Shelley (English Poet)

Let your self go. If you can approach the world’s complexities, both its glories and its horrors, with an attitude of humble curiosity, acknowledging that however deeply you have seen, you have only scratched the surface, you will find worlds within worlds, beauties you could not heretofore imagine, and your own mundane preoccupations will shrink to proper size, not all that important in the greater scheme of things.
—Daniel C. Dennett (American Philosopher, Atheist)

When you lose a couple of times, it makes you realize how difficult it is to win.
—Steffi Graf (German Tennis Player)

If you steal something small you are a petty thief, but if you steal millions you are a gentleman of society.
—Greek Proverb

What is the price of experience?. Do men buy it for a song?. Or wisdom for a dance in the street?. No, it is bought with the price of all the man hath, his house, his wife, his children.
—William Blake (English Poet)

You will not become a saint through other people’s sins.
—Anton Chekhov (Russian Short Story Writer)

Common sense is anything but common.
—Voltaire (French Philosopher, Author)

A person who knows little likes to talk, and one who knows much mostly keeps silent. This is because a person who knows little thinks that everything he knows is important, and wants to tell everyone. A person who knows much also knows that there is much more he doesn’t know. That’s why he speaks only when it is necessary to speak, and when he is not asked questions, he keeps his silence.
—Jean-Jacques Rousseau (French Philosopher)

The more you adapt, the more interesting you are.
—Martha Stewart (American Businesswoman)

It’s the heart afraid of breaking that never learns to dance.
—Bette Midler (American Actress, Singer)

The most powerful weapon to conquer the devil is humility. For, as he does not know at all how to employ it, neither does he know how to defend himself from it.
—Vincent de Paul (French Catholic Saint)

Talking and eloquence are not the same.—To speak and to speak well are two things.—A fool may talk, but a wise man speaks.
—Ben Jonson (English Dramatist)

In a choice between bad company and loneliness, the second is preferable.
—Spanish Proverb

The more we sweat in peace the less we bleed in war.
—Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit (Indian Politician, Diplomat)

My definition of a philosopher is of a man up in a balloon, with his family and friends holding the ropes which confine him to earth and trying to haul him down
—Louisa May Alcott (American Novelist)

Investors have very short memories.
—Roman Abramovich (Russian-Israeli Businessman)

Rarely promise, but, if lawful, constantly perform.
—William Penn (American Entrepreneur)

Destroy the seed of evil, or it will grow up to your ruin.
—Aesop (Greek Fabulist)

Whatever you may be sure of, be sure of this: That you are dreadfully like other people.
—James Russell Lowell (American Poet, Critic)

Better to die than to live on with a bad reputation.
—Vietnamese Proverb

Science is but an image of the truth.
—Francis Bacon (English Philosopher)

By all means let’s be open-minded, but not so open-minded that our brains drop out.
—Richard Dawkins (British Ethologist, Atheist)

Religion is a byproduct of fear. For much of human history, it may have been a necessary evil, but why was it more evil than necessary? Isn’t killing people in the name of God a pretty good definition of insanity?
—Arthur C. Clarke (English Science-fiction Writer)

When you make the right decision, it doesn’t really matter what anyone else thinks.
—Caroline Kennedy (American Attorney, Diplomat)

Inertia accounts for two-thirds of marriages. But love accounts for the other third.
—Woody Allen (American Film Actor, Director)

The way for a young man to rise is to improve himself in every way he can, never suspecting that anybody wishes to hinder him.
—Abraham Lincoln (American Head of State)

It is the want to know the end that makes us believe in God, or witchcraft, believe, at least, in something.
—Truman Capote (American Novelist)

Take away the danger and remove the restraint, and wayward nature runs free.
—Horace (Quintus Horatius Flaccus) (Roman Poet)

Having leveled my palace, don’t erect a hovel and complacently admire your own charity in giving me that for a home.
—Emily Bronte (English Novelist, Poet)

When someone we love is having difficulty and is giving us a bad time, it’s better to explore the cause than to criticize the action.
—Zig Ziglar (American Author)

When a field has been carefully prepared and planted with seeds, and all favorable conditions are present, such as temperature, moisture, and warmth, the seeds will germinate and grow into crops. It is said that there is nothing, however difficult, that cannot become easy through familiarization. If you persevere in the practice of these instructions, you can be sure of achieving results.
—Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche (Tibetan Buddhist Teacher)

Think about any attachments that are depleting your emotional reserves. Consider letting them go.
—Oprah Winfrey (American TV Personality)

The man that shows off, to that one who wants to convince of his value is to himself.
—Domenico Cieri (Mexican Writer)

One of the saddest lines in the world is, ‘Oh come now – be realistic.’ The best parts of this world were not fashioned by those who were realistic. They were fashioned by those who dared to look hard at their wishes and gave them horses to ride.
—Richard Nelson Bolles (American Self-Help Author)

Snobs talk as if they had begotten their own ancestors.
—Herbert Agar (American Journalist, Historian)

Take away love and our earth is a tomb.
—Robert Browning (English Poet)

It is far more important to me to preserve an unblemished conscience than to compass any object however great.
—William Ellery Channing (American Theologian, Poet)

A noble heart, like the sun, showeth its greatest countenance in its lowest estate.
—Philip Sidney (English Soldier, Poet, Courtier)

We would be able neither to remember nor to reflect nor to compare nor to think, indeed, we would not even be the person who we were a moment ago, if our concepts were divided among many and were not to be encountered somewhere together in their most exact combination.
—Moses Mendelssohn (German Jewish Philosopher)

Human happiness seems to consist in three ingredients; action, pleasure, and indolence. And though these ingredients ought to be mixed in different proportions, according to the disposition of the person, yet no one ingredient can be entirely wanting without destroying in some measure the relish of the whole composition.
—David Hume (Scottish Philosopher, Historian)

We all remember how many religious wars were fought for a religion of love and gentleness; how many bodies were burned alive with the genuinely kind intention of saving souls from the eternal fire of hell
—Karl Popper (Austrian-born British Philosopher)

The essence of knowledge is, having it, to apply it; not having it, to confess your ignorance.
—Confucius (Chinese Philosopher)

The most valuable of all talents is never using two words when one will do.
—Thomas Jefferson (American Head of State)

Misfortunes tell us what fortune is.
—Thomas Fuller (English Cleric, Historian)

The rich would have to eat money if the poor did not provide food.
—Russian Proverb

Can anything be sadder than work unfinished? Yes; work never begun.
—Christina Rossetti (English Poet)

Circumstances don’t make the man, they only reveal him to himself.
—Epictetus (Ancient Greek Philosopher)

The more sand that has escaped from the hourglass of our life, the clearer we should see through it.
—Jean-Paul Sartre (French Philosopher)

During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act.
—George Orwell (English Novelist, Essayist, Journalist)

My weakness is wearing too much leopard print.
—Jackie Collins (English Romance Novelist)

When meditation is mastered, the mind is unwavering like the flame of a lamp in a windless place.
—The Bhagavad Gita (Hindu Scripture)

It’s nothing to be born ugly. Sensibly, the ugly woman comes to terms with her ugliness and exploits it as a grace of nature. To become ugly means the beginning of a calamity, self-willed most of the time.
—Colette (French Novelist, Performer)

Simplicity and naturalness are the truest marks of distinction.
—W. Somerset Maugham (British Novelist)

Each blade of grass has its spot on earth whence it draws its life, its strength; and so is man rooted to the land from which he draws his faith together with his life.
—Joseph Conrad (Polish-born British Novelist)

I want, by understanding myself, to understand others. I want to be all that I am capable of becoming.
—Katherine Mansfield (British Author)

I happen to feel that the degree of a person’s intelligence is directly reflected by the number of conflicting attitudes she can bring to bear on the same topic.
—Lisa Alther (American Novelist)

The wrinkles of the heart are more indelible than those of the brow.
—Dorothee Luzy Dotinville (French Dancer, Actress)

Just as a picture is drawn by an artist, surroundings are created by the activities of the mind.
—Buddhist Teaching

Evil acts of the past are never rectified by evil acts of the present.
—Lyndon B. Johnson (American Head of State)

Tomorrow is always fresh, with no mistakes in it.
—Lucy Maud Montgomery (Canadian Novelist, Children’s Writer)

Discipline must come through liberty. . . . We do not consider an individual disciplined only when he has been rendered as artificially silent as a mute and as immovable as a paralytic. He is an individual annihilated, not disciplined.
—Maria Montessori (Italian Physician, Educator)

If one understands eternity as timelessness, and not as an unending timespan, then whoever lives in the present lives for all time.
—Ludwig Wittgenstein (Austrian-born British Philosopher)

Let a man take time enough for the most trival deed, though it be but the paring of his nails. The buds swell imperceptibly, without hurry or confusion, as if the short spring days were an eternity.
—Henry David Thoreau (American Philosopher)

It’s a big world. You can loudly leave out 99% of it. People in that 1% will come to you because you have shown how much you value them.
—Derek Sivers (American Entrepreneur)

You make a living by what you get. You make a life by what you give.
—Winston Churchill (British Head of State)

Do not talk about disgrace from a thing being known, when the disgrace is, that the thing should exist.
—William Faulkner (American Novelist)

The worst disease which can afflict executives in their work is not, as popularly supposed, alcoholism; it’s egotism.
—Harold S. Geneen (American Businessman)

One can never pay in gratitude; one can only pay “in kind” somewhere else in life.
—Anne Morrow Lindbergh (American Author, Aviator)

It is a curious thought, but it is only when you see people looking ridiculous that you realize just how much you love them.
—Agatha Christie (British Novelist)

Laws are always unstable unless they are founded on the manners of a nation; and manners are the only durable and resisting power in a people.
—Alexis de Tocqueville (French Historian, Political Scientist)

If there is any great secret of success in life, it lies in the ability to put yourself in the other person’s place and to see things from his point of view—as well as your own.
—Henry Ford (American Businessperson)

A thread will tie an honest man better than a chain a rogue.
—Scottish Proverb

The secret of Happiness is Freedom, and the secret of Freedom, Courage.
—Thucydides (Greek Historian)

Reality is not easy, but all this make-believe doesn’t make it easier.
—Ayaan Hirsi Ali (Dutch Politician, Activist)

A child’s education should begin at least one hundred years before he is born.
—Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. (American Physician, Essayist)

The essence of repression lies simply in turning something away, and keeping it a distance from the conscious.
—Sigmund Freud (Austrian Psychiatrist)

Which of us that is thirty years old has not had his Pompeii? Deep under ashes lies the life of youth—the careless sport, the pleasure and passion, the darling joy.
—William Makepeace Thackeray (English Novelist)

Think left and think right and think low and think high. Oh, the thinks you can think up if only you try.
—Theodor Seuss Geisel (‘Dr. Seuss’) (American Children’s Books Writer)

Control your destiny or somebody else will.
—Jack Welch (American Businessperson)

Nine-tenths of tactics are certain, and taught in books: but the irrational tenth is like the kingfisher flashing across the pool, and that is the test of generals.
—T. E. Lawrence (British Soldier, Writer)

Be fanatically positive and militantly optimistic. If something is not to your liking, change your liking.
—Rick Steves (American Travel Writer, Entrepreneur)

Friendship is the source of the greatest pleasures, and without friends even the most agreeable pursuits become tedious.
—Thomas Aquinas (Italian Catholic Priest)

For all men being originally equals, no one by birth could have a right to set up his own family in perpetual preference to all others for ever.
—Thomas Paine (American Nationalist)

There are not unfrequently substantial reasons underneath for customs that appear to us absurd.
—Charlotte Bronte (English Novelist, Poet)

The spirit of man is more important than mere physical strength, and the spiritual fiber of a nation more than its wealth
—Dwight D. Eisenhower (American Head of State)

Many men are like unto sausages: Whatever you stuff them with, that they will bear in them.
—Aleksey Nikolayevich Tolstoy (Russian Novelist)

Every idea is endowed of itself with immortal life, like a human being. All created form, even that which is created by man, is immortal. For form is independent of matter: molecules do not constitute form.
—Charles Baudelaire (French Poet)

Words mean more than what is set down on paper. It takes the human voice to infuse them with shades of deeper meaning
—Maya Angelou (American Poet)

There is a great deal of unmapped country within us which would have to be taken into account in an explanation of our gusts and storms.
—George Eliot (Mary Anne Evans) (English Novelist)

We Barbie dolls are not supposed to behave the way I do.
—Sharon Stone (American Actor)

All men are my children. As for my own children I desire that they may be provided with all the welfare and happiness of this world and of the next, so do I desire for all men as well.
—Ashoka (Emperor of India, Patron of Buddhism)

Time is like river. You can’t touch the same water twice, because the flow that has passed will never pass again.
—Swami Vivekananda (Indian Hindu Mystic)

The mind that is wise mourns less for what age takes away; than what it leaves behind.
—William Wordsworth (English Poet)

Probably the difference between man and the monkeys is that the monkeys are merely bored, while man has boredom plus imagination.
—Lin Yutang (Chinese Author, Philologist)

Pain is life—the sharper, the more evidence of life.
—Charles Lamb (British Essayist, Poet)

Prayer does not use up artificial energy, doesn’t burn up any fossil fuel, doesn’t pollute. Neither does song, neither does love, neither does the dance.
—Margaret Mead (American Cultural Anthropologist)

The only thing money gives you is the freedom of not worrying about money.
—Johnny Carson (American Comedian)

this is a hard world to be ludicrous in, with so many human beings so reluctant to laugh, so incapable of thought, so eager to believe and snarl and hate. So many people wanted to believe me! Say what you will about the sweet miracle of unquestioning faith, I consider a capacity for it terrifying and absolutely vile!
—Kurt Vonnegut (American Novelist)

You have to make more noise than anybody else, you have to make yourself more obtrusive than anybody else, you have to fill all the papers more than anybody else, in fact you have to be there all the time and see that they do not snow you under, if you are really going to get your reform realized.
—Emmeline Pankhurst (British Suffragist)

Literature does not exist in a vacuum. Writers as such have a definite social function exactly proportional to their ability as writers. This is their main use.
—Ezra Pound (American Poet, Critic)

I think all women go through periods where we hate this about ourselves, we don’t like that. It’s great to get to a place where you dismiss anything you’re worried about. I find flaws attractive. I find scars attractive.
—Angelina Jolie (American Actor)

A horse that can count to 10 is a remarkable horse—not a remarkable mathematician.
—Warren Buffett (American Investor)

Smart is like vanilla ice cream. There are thousands of really smart people. I value eccentricity, weirdness, interestingness. Black swans.
—Ben Casnocha (American Entrepreneur, Investor)

Don’t allow your animal nature to rule your reason.
—Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi (Persian Muslim Mystic)

Classes struggle, some classes triumph, others are eliminated. Such is history; such is the history of civilization for thousands of years.
—Mao Zedong (Chinese Statesman)

There are people who exist in this world not like entities but like the speckles or spots on something.
—Nikolai Gogol (Russian Novelist, Dramatist)

Good birth is a fine thing, but the merit is our ancestors.
—Plutarch (Greek Biographer)

A real book is not one that we read, but one that reads us.
—W. H. Auden (British-born American Poet)