Inspirational Quotations

The best way to predict the future is to create it.
—Peter Drucker (Austrian-born Management Consultant)

Most men want knowledge, not for itself, but for the superiority which knowledge confers; and the means they employ to secure this superiority are as wrong as the ultimate object, for no man can ever end with being superior, who will not begin with being inferior.
—Sydney Smith (English Anglican Writer)

Thinking is not to agree or disagree. That is voting.
—Robert Frost (American Poet)

Affirmation without discipline is the beginning of delusion.
—Jim Rohn (American Entrepreneur)

Although words exist for the most part for the transmission of ideas, there are some which produce such violent disturbance in our feelings that the role they play in the transmission of ideas is lost in the background.
—Albert Einstein (German-born Theoretical Physicist)

Love is the only flower that grows and blossoms without the aid of seasons.
—Khalil Gibran (Lebanese-born American Philosopher)

Odd how the creative power at once brings the whole universe to order.
—Virginia Woolf (English Novelist)

It is the little bits of things that fret and worry us; we can dodge a elephant, but we can’t dodge a fly.
—Josh Billings (Henry Wheeler Shaw) (American Humorist)

There is only one meaning of life, the act of living itself.
—Erich Fromm (German Psychologist)

In solitude, where we are least alone.
—Lord Byron (George Gordon Byron) (English Romantic Poet)

Go as far as you can see; when you get there, you’ll be able to see farther.
—J. P. Morgan (American Businessperson)

There is a price which is too great to pay for peace, and that price can be put in one word. One cannot pay the price of self-respect.
—Woodrow Wilson (American Head of State)

Successful people are the ones who think up things for the rest of the world to keep busy at.
—Don Marquis (American Humorist)

What holds most people back isn’t the quality of their ideas, but their lack of faith in themselves.
—Russell Simmons (American Entrepreneur)

Jealousy is the most dreadfully involuntary of all sins.
—Iris Murdoch (English Novelist)

There’s no correlation between how good your idea is and how likely your organization will be to embrace it.
—Seth Godin (American Entrepreneur)

If you can speak what you will never hear, if you can write what you will never read, you have done rare things.
—Henry David Thoreau (American Philosopher)

The happy life is thought to be one of excellence; now an excellent life requires exertion, and does not consist in amusement.
—Aristotle (Ancient Greek Philosopher)

By the disposition of a stupendous wisdom, moulding together the great mysterious incorporation of the human race, the whole, at one time, is never old, or middle-aged, or young, but moves on through the varied tenor of perpetual decay, fall, renovation, and progression.
—Edmund Burke (Irish Political leader)

Even a happy life cannot be without a measure of darkness, and the word happy would lose its meaning if it were not balanced by sadness. It is far better take things as they come along with patience and equanimity.
—Carl Jung (Swiss Psychologist)

The weak are more likely to make the strong weak than the strong are likely to make the weak strong.
—Marlene Dietrich (German-born American Actor)

The praise of a fool is incense to the wisest of us.
—Benjamin Franklin (American Political leader)

I venerate old age; and I love not the man who can look without emotion upon the sunset of life, when the dusk of evening begins to gather over the watery eye, and the shadows of twilight grow broader and deeper upon the understanding.
—Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (American Poet)

When you accept yourself completely you do not have to maintain a phony front, drive yourself to “achieve” or feel insecure if people tune-in to you and what you are doing.
—Ken Keyes, Jr. (American Motivational Speaker)

Dreams are real as long as they last. Can we say more of life?
—Havelock Ellis (British Sexologist)

The greatest deception men suffer is from their own opinions.
—Leonardo da Vinci (Italian Polymath)

What I need is someone who will make me do what I can.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (American Philosopher)

Justice consists in doing no injury to men; decency in giving them no offense.
—Cicero (Roman Philosopher)

The cat, having sat upon a hot stove lid, will not sit upon a hot stove lid again. But he won’t sit upon a cold stove lid, either.
—Mark Twain (American Humorist)

All good books are alike in that they are truer than if they had really happened and after you are finished reading one you will feel that all that happened to you and the afterwards it all belongs to you; the good and the bad, the ecstasy, the remorse, and sorrow, the people and places and how the weather was.
—Ernest Hemingway (American Author)

True art is characterized by an irresistible urge in the creative artist.
—Albert Einstein (German-born Theoretical Physicist)

Attach yourself to those who advise you rather than praise you.
—Nicolas Boileau-Despreaux

Out of suffering have emerged the strongest souls; the most massive characters are seamed with scars; martyrs have put on their coronation robes glittering with fire, and through their tears have the sorrowful first seen the gates of Heaven.
—Edwin Hubbell Chapin (American Universalist Preacher)

The good life is inspired by love and guided by knowledge.
—Bertrand A. Russell (British Philosopher)

An Italian philosopher said that “time was his estate” an estate indeed which will produce nothing without cultivation, but will always abundantly repay the labors of industry, and generally satisfy the most extensive desires, if no part of it be suffered to lie in waste by negligence, to be overrun with noxious plants, or laid out for show rather than for use.
—Samuel Johnson (British Essayist)

Good leaders make people feel that they’re at the very heart of things, not at the periphery. Everyone feels that he or she makes a difference to the success of the organization. When that happens people feel centered and that gives their work meaning.
—Warren Bennis (American Scholar)

I had rather have a fool to make me merry than experience to make me sad.
—William Shakespeare (British Playwright)

When something does not insist on being noticed, when we aren’t grabbed by the collar or struck on the skull by a presence or an event, we take for granted the very things that most deserve our gratitude.
—Cynthia Ozick

In the hope of reaching the moon men fail to see the flowers that blossom at their feet.
—Albert Schweitzer (French Theologian)

It is not only what we do, but also what we do not do for which we are accountable.
—Moliere (French Playwright)

Faith is a living and unshakable confidence, a belief in the grace of God so assured that a man would die a thousand deaths for its sake.
—Martin Luther (German Protestant Theologian)

If the pain wanders, do not waste your time with doctors.
—Mignon McLaughlin (American Journalist)

Many talk like philosophers yet live like fools.
—Common Proverb

To do the useful thing, to say the courageous thing, to contemplate the beautiful thing: that is enough for one man’s life.
—T. S. Eliot (American-born British Poet)

Embraces are cominglings from the head even to the feet, and not a pompous high priest entering by a secret place.
—William Blake (English Poet)

For knowledge, too, is itself power.
—Francis Bacon (English Philosopher)

Everybody can be great. Because anybody can serve. You don’t have to have a college degree to serve. You don’t have to make your subject and verb agree to serve. You don’t have to know about Plato and Aristotle… (or) Einstein’s Theory of Relativity … (or) the Second Theory of Thermodynamics in physics to serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love.
—Martin Luther King, Jr. (American Civil Rights Leader)

When thinking won’t cure fear, action will.
—W. Clement Stone (American Businessperson)

Positive thinking will let you do everything better than negative thinking will.
—Zig Ziglar (American Author)

When we know how to read our own hearts, we acquire wisdom of the hearts of others.
—Denis Diderot (French Philosopher)

What a man knows should find its expression in what he does; the value of superior knowledge is chiefly in that it leads to a performing manhood.
—Christian Nestell Bovee

Big ideas are little ideas that no-one killed too soon.
—Seth Godin (American Entrepreneur)

An angry man is again angry with himself when he returns to reason.
—Publilius Syrus (Syrian-born Latin Writer)

It is impossible on reasonable grounds to disbelieve miracles.
—Blaise Pascal (French Catholic Mathematician)

Just as courage imperils life; fear protects it.
—Leonardo da Vinci (Italian Polymath)

A great literature is chiefly the product of inquiring minds in revolt against the immovable certainties of the nation.
—H. L. Mencken (American Journalist)

It is ridiculous for any man to criticize the works of another if he has not distinguished himself by his own performances.
—Joseph Addison (English Essayist)

If you want to be important – that’s wonderful. If you want to be great – that’s wonderful. But recognize that he who is greatest among you shall be your servant. That’s your new definition of greatness – it means that everybody can be great because everybody can serve. You don’t have to know about Plato and Aristotle to serve. You don’t have to know the second law of thermodynamics to serve. You only need a heart full of grace, a soul generated by love…
—Martin Luther King, Jr. (American Civil Rights Leader)

Those people who are uncomfortable in themselves are disagreeable to others.
—William Hazlitt (English Essayist)

In contemplation, if a man will begin with certainties, he shall end in doubts; but if he will be content to begin with doubts, he shall end in certainties. They are ill discoverers that think there is no land, when they can see nothing but sea.
—Francis Bacon (English Philosopher)

It is change, continuing change, inevitable change, that is the dominant factor in society today. No sensible decision can be made any longer without taking into account not only the world as it is, but the world as it will be. This, in turn, means that our statesmen, our businessmen, our every man must take on a science fictional way of thinking.
—Isaac Asimov (Russian-born American Children’s Books Writer)

Truth will ultimately prevail where there are plans taken to bring it to light.
—George Washington (American Head of State)

All men have happiness as their object: there are no exceptions. However different the means they employ, they aim at the same end.
—Blaise Pascal (French Catholic Mathematician)

Admonish your friends privately, but praise them openly.
—Publilius Syrus (Syrian-born Latin Writer)

Achievement is not always success while reputed failure often is. It is honest endeavor, persistent effort to do the best possible under any and all circumstances.
—Orison Swett Marden (American New Thought Writer)

The ultimate reason for setting goals is to entice you to become the person it takes to achieve them.
—Jim Rohn (American Entrepreneur)

The tender friendships one gives up, on parting, leave their bite on the heart, but also a curious feeling of a treasure somewhere buried.
—Antoine de Saint-Exupery (French Novelist, Aviator)

Don’t lower your expectations to meet your performance. Raise your level of performance to meet your expectations. Expect the best of yourself, and then do what is necessary to make it a reality.
—Ralph Marston

Many people would be more truthful were it not for their uncontrollable desire to talk.
—E. W. Howe (American Novelist)

Ability is important in our quest for success, but dependability is critical.
—Zig Ziglar (American Author)

Life is like sailing. You can use any wind to go in any direction.
—Robert Brault

To keep the body in good health is a duty, for otherwise we shall not be able to trim the lamp of wisdom, and keep our mind strong and clear. Water surrounds the lotus flower, but does not wet its petals.
—Buddhist Teaching

The more connections you and your lover make, not just between your bodies, but between your minds, your hearts, and your souls, the more you will strengthen the fabric of your relationship, and the more real moments you will experience together.
—Barbara De Angelis (American Lecturer)

Treat your body like a temple, not a woodshed. The mind and body work together. Your body needs to be a good support system for the mind and spirit. If you take good care of it, your body can take you wherever you want to go, with the power and strength and energy and vitality you will need to get there.
—Jim Rohn (American Entrepreneur)

Some people do not become thinkers simply because their memories are too good.
—Friedrich Nietzsche (German Philosopher, Scholar)

We all have possibilities we don’t know about. We can do things we don’t even dream we can do.
—Dale Carnegie (American Author)

Next to ingratitude, the most painful thing to bear is gratitude.
—Henry Ward Beecher (American Protestant Clergyman)

Use your health, even to the point of wearing it out. That is what it is for. Spend all you have before you die; do not outlive yourself.
—George Bernard Shaw (Irish Playwright)

The hardest tumble a man can make is to fall over his own bluff.
—Ambrose Bierce (American Editor)

It is those who have this imperative demand for the best in their natures, and who will accept nothing short of it, that holds the banners of progress, that set the standards, the ideals, for others.
—Orison Swett Marden (American New Thought Writer)

You do not wake up one morning a bad person. It happens by a thousand tiny surrenders of self-respect to self-interest.
—Robert Brault

There is one thing one has to have: either a soul that is cheerful by nature, or a soul made cheerful by work, love, art, and knowledge.
—Friedrich Nietzsche (German Philosopher, Scholar)

Living is being born slowly. It would be a little too easy if we could borrow ready-made souls.
—Antoine de Saint-Exupery (French Novelist, Aviator)

Up to a point a man’s life is shaped by environment, heredity, and the movements and changes in the world around him. Then there comes a time when it lies within his grasp to shape the clay of his life into the sort of thing he wishes to be. Only the weak blame parents, their race, their times, lack of good fortune, or the quirks of fate. Everyone has it within his power to say, ‘This I am today; that I will be tomorrow.’ The wish, however, must be implemented by deeds.
—Louis L’Amour

Creativity means believing you have greatness.
—Wayne Dyer (American Motivational Writer)

A good conscience fears no witness, but a guilty conscience is solicitous even in solitude.—If we do nothing but what is honest, let all the world know it.—But if otherwise, what does it signify to have nobody else know it, so long as I know it myself?—Miserable is he who slights that witness.
—Seneca the Younger (Lucius Annaeus Seneca) (Roman Philosopher)

The realist sees reality as concrete. The optimist sees reality as clay.
—Robert Brault

Everything is possible for him who believes.
—The Holy Bible (Scripture in the Christian Faith)

There is an ongoing battle between conscience and self-interest in which, at some point, we have to take sides.
—Robert Brault

Our happiness depends on the habit of mind we cultivate. So practice happy thinking every day. Cultivate the merry heart, develop the happiness habit, and life will become a continual feast.
—Norman Vincent Peale (American Clergyman, Self-Help Author)

Logic teaches rules for presentation, not thinking.
—Mason Cooley

Be more aware of responsibility than you are of your rights.
—Unknown

Great crises produce great men and great deeds of courage.
—John F. Kennedy (American Head of State)

To love and be loved is the great happiness of existence.
—Sydney Smith (English Anglican Writer)

I’m a slow walker, but I never walk back.
—Abraham Lincoln (American Head of State)

The friend within the man is that part of him which belongs to you and opens to you a door which never, perhaps, is opened to another. Such a friend is true, and all he says is true; and he loves you even if he hates you in other mansions of his heart.
—Antoine de Saint-Exupery (French Novelist, Aviator)

Every day we slaughter our finest impulses. That is why we get a heart-ache when we read those lines written by the hand of a master and recognize them as our own, as the tender shoots which we stifled because we lacked the faith to believe in our own powers, our own criterion of truth and beauty. Every man, when he gets quiet, when he becomes desperately honest with himself, is capable of uttering profound truths. We all derive from the same source. There is no mystery about the origin of things. We are all part of creation, all kings, all poets, all musicians; we have only to open up, to discover what is already there.
—Henry Miller (American Novelist)

A leader, once convinced that a particular course of action is the right one, must be undaunted when the going gets tough.
—Ronald Reagan (American Head of State)

Any emotion, if it is sincere, is involuntary.
—Mark Twain (American Humorist)

No matter how reclusive we tend to be, we picture the after-life as a community of souls. It is one thing to seek privacy in this life; it is another to face eternity alone.
—Robert Brault

It is a mistake to try to look too far ahead. The chain of destiny can only be grasped one link at a time.
—Winston Churchill (British Head of State)