Inspirational Quotations

You can make your mind recall anything you want, but it can only give back what it was first given.
—Unknown

As the sun that beholds the world is untouched by earthly impurities, so the Spirit that is in all things is untouched by external sufferings.
—The Upanishads

Courage is capacity to confront what cannot be imagined.
—Leo Rosten (Russian-born American Humorist)

Examine what is said, not him who speaks.
—Arabic Proverb

The whole is more than the sum of its parts.
—Aristotle (Ancient Greek Philosopher)

Good people do not need laws to tell them to act responsibly, while bad people will find a way around the laws.
—Plato (Ancient Greek Philosopher)

The greater danger for most of us lies not in setting our aim too high and falling short; but in setting our aim too low, and achieving our mark.
—Michelangelo (Italian Painter)

It is astonishing how short a time it takes for very wonderful things to happen.
—Frances Hodgson Burnett

It is said that when the world ends, even the moutains start moving due to the force of the wind. But even when such a thing happens, the mental state of the brave does not waver since it is very clear. Clarity in thoughts gives you the strength to withstand anything.
—Subhashita Manjari

A year from now you will wish you had started today.
—Karen Lamb

Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through the experiences of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, vision cleared, ambition inspired, and success achieved.
—Helen Keller (American Author)

The saddest failures in life are those that come from not putting forth the power and will to succeed.
—Edwin Percy Whipple (American Essayist)

Nobody can prevent you from choosing to be exceptional.
—Mark Sanborn

Love begins with a smile, grows with a kiss, and ends with a teardrop.
—Unknown

You know you’ve achieved perfection in design, not when you have nothing more to add, but when you have nothing more to take away.
—Antoine de Saint-Exupery (French Novelist, Aviator)

All our knowledge begins with the senses, proceeds then to the understanding, and ends with reason. There is nothing higher than reason.
—Immanuel Kant (Prussian German Philosopher)

To listen well is as powerful a means of communication and influence as to talk well.
—John Marshall (American Judge)

Day and night, dawn and dusk, winter and spring, come and depart again and again. Time sports and life ebbs away. And yet, one leaves not the gusts of desires.
—Adi Shankaracharya (Indian Hindu Philosopher)

The one thing we can never get enough of is love. And the one thing we never give enough is love.
—Henry Miller (American Novelist)

One’s philosophy is not best expressed in words; it is expressed in the choices one makes. In the long run, we shape our lives and we shape ourselves. The process never ends until we die. And, the choices we make are ultimately our own responsibility.
—Eleanor Roosevelt (American First Lady)

From what we get, we can make a living. What we give, however, makes a life.
—Arthur Ashe (American Sportsperson)

The problems of the world cannot possibly be solved by skeptics or cynics whose horizons are limited by the obvious realities. We need men who can dream of things that never were and ask why not?”.”
—John F. Kennedy (American Head of State)

Peace is not absence of conflict, it is the ability to handle conflict by peaceful means.
—Ronald Reagan (American Head of State)

Mistakes are not just the spice of life. Mistakes are life. Mistakes are not to be tolerated. They are to be encouraged.
—Tom Peters (American Management Consultant)

The wise should surrender speech in mind, mind in the knowing self, the knowing self in the Spirit of the universe, and the Spirit of the universe in the Spirit of peace.
—The Upanishads

If you want your eggs hatched, sit on them yourself.
—Haitian Proverb

It’s not what happens to you, but what you do about it.
—W. O. Mitchell (Canadian Novelist)

If you realize that you aren’t as wise today as you thought you were yesterday, you’re wiser today.
—Anonymous

I now appreciate all that I have. I am grateful for the smallest things today. I can always find something in my life for which to be grateful. I give thanks for everything that is now coming into my life. I rejoice in the wonders of life.
—Unknown

More are the names of God and infinite are the forms through which He may be approached. In whatever name and form you worship Him, through them you will realise Him.
—Ramakrishna Paramahamsa (Indian Hindu Philosopher)

Happiness is to be found along the way, not at the end of the road, for then the journey is over and it is too late. Today, this hour, this minute is the day, the hour, the minute for each of us to sense the fact that life is good, with all of its trials and troubles, and perhaps more interesting because of them.
—Robert R. Updegraff

Knowledge itself is power.
—Francis Bacon (English Philosopher)

We should spend as much time in thanking God for his benefits as we do in asking Him for them.
—Vincent de Paul (French Catholic Saint)

In the beginning of a change, the patriot is a scarce man, and brave, and hated and scorned. When his cause succeeds, the timid join him, for then it costs nothing to be a patriot.
—Mark Twain (American Humorist)

Nothing is more conducive to peace of mind than not having any opinion at all.
—Georg Christoph Lichtenberg (German Scientist)

Business is the art of extracting money from another man’s pocket without resorting to violence.
—Anonymous

Do not wish to be anything but what you are, and try to be that perfectly.
—Francis de Sales (French Catholic Saint)

Discovery consists in seeing what everyone else has seen and thinking what no one else has thought.
—Unknown

You cannot solve the problem with the same kind of thinking that has created the problem.
—Albert Einstein (German-born Theoretical Physicist)

In the final analysis there is no other solution to man’s progress but the day’s honest work, the day’s honest decisions, the day’s generous utterances and the day’s good deed.
—Clare Boothe Luce (American Playwright)

Men throw themselves on foreign assistances to spare their own, which, after all, are the only certain and sufficient ones.
—Michel de Montaigne (French Philosopher)

I guess it comes down to a simple choice, really. Get busy living, or get busy dying.
—Tim Robbins

Knowledge is power. Rather, knowledge is happiness, because to have knowledge—broad, deep knowledge—is to know true ends from false, and lofty things from low. To know the thoughts and deeds that have marked man’s progress is to feel the great heartthrobs of humanity through the centuries; and if one does not feel in these pulsations a heavenward striving, one must indeed be deaf to the harmonies of life.
—Francis Bacon (English Philosopher)

Be fanatics. When it comes to being and doing and dreaming the best, be maniacs.
—A. M. Rosenthal (Canadian-born American Editor)

Behavior is the mirror in which everyone shows their image.
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (German Poet)

Enthusiasm is the best protection in any situation. Wholeheartedness is contagious. Give yourself, if you wish to get others.
—David Seabury

Anything worth doing is worth doing well.
—Anonymous

Don’t waste time calculating your chances of success and failure. Just fix your aim and begin.
—Guanyin

With your arms, I am strong.|With your wisdom, I am a man.|With your love, I know who I am.
—Unknown

If we could read the secret history of our enemies, we should find in each man’s life, sorrow and suffering enough to disarm all hostility.
—Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (American Poet)

Valor grows by daring, fear by holding back.
—Publilius Syrus (Syrian-born Latin Writer)

Few things help an individual more than to place responsibility upon him, and to let him know that you trust him.
—Booker T. Washington (American Educator)

We reap what we sow. We are the makers of our own fate. None else has the blame, none has the praise.
—Swami Vivekananda (Indian Hindu Mystic)

Few things help an individual more than to place responsibility upon him, and to let him know that you trust him.
—Booker T. Washington (American Educator)

Life is not about waiting for the storm to pass—it’s about learning how to dance in the rain
—Unknown

Time is a circus, always packing up and moving away.
—Ben Hecht

Besides the noble art of getting things done, there is the noble art of leaving things undone. The wisdom of life consists in the elimination of the nonessentials.
—Lin Yutang (Chinese Writer)

Human diversity makes tolerance more than a virtue; it makes it a requirement for survival.
—Rene Dubos

Throughout his life, a wise man engages in practice of all his useful, rarely used skills, many of them outside his discipline, as a sort of duty to his better self. If he reduces the number of skills he practices and, therefore, the number of skills he retains, he will naturally drift into error from man with a hammer tendency. … Skills of a very high order can be maintained only with daily practice.
—Charlie Munger

There is in every woman’s heart a spark of heavenly fire which lies dormant in the broad daylight of prosperity, but which kindles up and beams and blazes in the dark hour of adversity.
—Washington Irving (American Author)

It’s easy to say “no!” when there’s a deeper “yes!” burning inside.
—Stephen Covey (American Management Consultant)

To repeat what others have said, requires education, to challenge it, requires brains.
—Mary Pettibone Poole

All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident.
—Arthur Schopenhauer (German Philosopher)

I recommend you to take care of the minutes, for the hours will take care of themselves.
—Earl of Chesterfield

Humor is an affirmation of dignity, a declaration of man’s superiority to all that befalls him.
—Romain Gary (French Diplomat)

Everything should be made as simple as possible, but no simpler.
—Albert Einstein (German-born Theoretical Physicist)

Our greatest glory consists not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.
—Oliver Goldsmith (Irish Author)

For those who have seen the earth from space, and for the hundreds and perhaps thousands more who will, the experience most certainly changes your perspective. The things that we share in our world are far more valuable than those which divide us.
—Donald E. Williams

Dream not for yourself but dream for those whom you love and care for. For in every dream that this goal is realized, more dreams will follow; dreams truly meant especially for you.
—Oliver Juanir

Let each hour of the day have its allotted duty, and cultivate that power of concentration which grows with its exercise … .
—William Osler (Canadian Physician)

It is the principle of the pure in heart never to injure others, even when they themselves have been hatefully injured. Hating others, even enemies who harmed you unprovoked, assures incessant sorrow.
—Thirukkural

There will be times in life when impossibility is felt, but then there are dreams—and dreams allow us possibility.
—Jeffrey David Lang

We must dare to be happy, and dare to confess it, regarding ourselves always as the depositories, not as the authors of our own joy.
—Henri Frederic Amiel (Swiss Philosopher)

The life that conquers is the life that moves with a steady resolution and persistence toward a predetermined goal. Those who succeed are those who have thoroughly learned the immense importance of plan in life, and the tragic brevity of time.
—W. J. Davison

Blessed is the man who, having nothing to say, abstains from giving wordy evidence of the fact.
—George Eliot (Mary Anne Evans) (English Novelist)

It is much more comfortable to be mad and know it, than to be sane and have one’s doubts.
—G. B. Burgin

Self-confidence is the first requisite to great undertakings.
—Samuel Johnson (British Essayist)

You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look at fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, I have lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along”. You must do the think you think you cannot do.”
—Eleanor Roosevelt (American First Lady)

Anxiety and distress, interrupted occasionally by pleasure, is the normal course of man’s existence.
—Joseph Wood Krutch (American Writer)

The optimist proclaims that we live in the best of all possible worlds, and the pessimist fears this is true.
—James Branch Cabell

Everyone is a genius at least once a year; a real genius has his original ideas closer together.
—Georg Christoph Lichtenberg (German Scientist)

Now there are a couple of other things that are essential for innovation and invention that are not as fun. One of them is you have to have a willingness to fail. You have to have a willingness to be misunderstood for long periods of time.
—Jeff Bezos (American Businessman)

When there is no moon, you go by the stars.
—African Proverb

So long as millions live in hunger and ignorance, I hold every person a traitor who, having been educated at their expense, pays not the least heed to them.
—Swami Vivekananda (Indian Hindu Mystic)

Those who gave thee a body, furnished it with weakness; but He who gave thee Soul, armed thee with resolution. Employ it, and thou art wise; be wise and thou art happy.
—Akhenaten (Egyptian Monarch)

We might remind ourselves that criticism is as inevitable as breathing, and that we should be none the worse for articulating what passes in our minds when we read a book and feel an emotion about it, for criticizing our own minds in their work of criticism.
—T. S. Eliot (American-born British Poet)

Stand up, be bold, be strong. Take the whole responsibility on your own shoulders, and know that you are the creator of your own destiny. All the strength and succor you want is within yourselves. Therefore, make your own future.
—Swami Vivekananda (Indian Hindu Mystic)

When in prayer you clasp your hands, God opens His.
—German Proverb

To speak kindly does not hurt the tongue.
—Common Proverb

Success usually comes to those who are too busy to be looking for it.
—Henry David Thoreau (American Philosopher)

Life is a language in which certain truths are conveyed to us; if we could learn them in some other way, we should not live.
—Arthur Schopenhauer (German Philosopher)

Ignore the people who tell you it won’t work, and hire people who embrace your vision.
—Michael Dell (American Businessperson)

Most people would sooner die than think; in fact, they do so.
—Bertrand A. Russell (British Philosopher)

Have confidence that if you have done a little thing well, you can do a bigger thing well, too.
—Joseph Storey

Write injuries in sand, kindnesses in marble.
—French Proverb

Even the greatest fool can accomplish a task if it were after his or her heart. But the intelligent ones are those who can convert every work into one that suits their taste.
—Swami Vivekananda (Indian Hindu Mystic)

However we may receive blows, and however knocked about we may be, the Soul is there and is never injured. We are that Infinite.
—Swami Vivekananda (Indian Hindu Mystic)

It is not enough to be busy. So are the ants. The question is: What are we busy about?
—Henry David Thoreau (American Philosopher)

The important thing is this: to be able, at any moment, to sacrifice what we are for what we could become.
—Charles Frederic Dubois

Many men owe the grandeur of their lives to their tremendous difficulties.
—Charles Spurgeon (British Baptist Preacher)