“Let the beauty of what you love be what you do.”
Rumi (1207–1273) Iranian poet
As quoted in Path for Greatness : Spiritualty at Work (2000) by Linda J. Ferguson, p. 51
Deep quotes
A collection of quotes on the topic of wise, deep, inspirational, motivational.
Best deep quotes
“It is never too late to be what you might have been.”
George Eliot (1819–1880) English novelist, journalist and translator
“Believe you can and you're halfway there.”
Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919) American politician, 26th president of the United States
“I would rather die on my feet than live on my knees.”
Euripidés (-480–-406 BC) ancient Athenian playwright
“Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow.”
Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born physicist and founder of the theory of relativity
“Do one thing every day that scares you.”
Eleanor Roosevelt (1884–1962) American politician, diplomat, and activist, and First Lady of the United States
“Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can.”
Arthur Ashe (1943–1993) American tennis player
“The secret of getting ahead is getting started.”
Agatha Christie (1890–1976) English mystery and detective writer
“I would rather die of passion than of boredom.”
Emile Zola book Au Bonheur des Dames
Source: The Ladies' Paradise
Deep quotes
“Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated.”
Confucius (-551–-479 BC) Chinese teacher, editor, politician, and philosopher
Attributed on the internet but not found in print prior to an attribution in Aero Digest, Vols. 58–59, 1949, p. 115 https://books.google.com/books?id=q2ofAQAAMAAJ&dq=%22Life+is+simple%22+but+we+insist+on+making+it+complicated&focus=searchwithinvolume&q=%22Life+is+simple%22+ <br class="br">Misattributed, Not Chinese
“If you don’t like the road you’re walking, start paving another one.”
Dolly Parton (1946) American singer-songwriter and actress
“Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new.”
Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born physicist and founder of the theory of relativity
Variant: A person who never made a mistake never tried anything new.
Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929–1968) American clergyman, activist, and leader in the American Civil Rights Movement
'Where Do We Go From Here?" as published in Where Do We Go from Here : Chaos or Community? (1967), p. 62; many statements in this book, or slight variants of them, were also part of his address Where Do We Go From Here?" which has a section below. A common variant appearing at least as early as 1968 has "Returning violence for violence multiplies violence..." An early version of the speech as published in A Martin Luther King Treasury (1964), p. 173, has : "Returning hate for hate multiplies hate..."
1960s
Source: A Testament of Hope: The Essential Writings and Speeches
Context: The ultimate weakness of violence is that it is a descending spiral, begetting the very thing it seeks to destroy. Instead of diminishing evil, it multiplies it. Through violence you may murder the liar, but you cannot murder the lie, nor establish the truth. Through violence you may murder the hater, but you do not murder hate. In fact, violence merely increases hate. So it goes. … Returning hate for hate multiplies hate, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.
“Be alone, that is the secret of invention; be alone, that is when ideas are born.”
Nikola Tesla (1856–1943) Serbian American inventor
“Action may not always bring happiness, but there is no happiness without action.”
William James (1842–1910) American philosopher, psychologist, and pragmatist
“The secret to getting ahead is getting started.”
Mark Twain (1835–1910) American author and humorist
“Dead people receive more flowers than the living ones because regret is stronger than gratitude.”
Anne Frank (1929–1945) victim of the Holocaust and author of a diary
Nikola Tesla (1856–1943) Serbian American inventor
First attibution is to Ralph Bergstresser who claims to have heard this from Tesla in a conversation "following an experience with the Maharaja's son". <br class="br">Disputed <br class="br">Source: Coments From The Inventor of the Purple Harmony Plates http://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/ciencia/esp_ciencia_universalenergy02.htm,
“Sometimes you will never know the value of a moment until it becomes a memory.”
Dr. Seuss (1904–1991) American children's writer and illustrator, co-founder of Beginner Books
Georges Duhamel in THE HEART'S DOMAIN (1919). As it was composed in French, the wording in English may vary in translation. Theodore Geisel / Dr. Seuss was born in 1904, and would have been about 15 years old at the time that it was published. The full text can be found at the link below: We do not know the true value of our moments until they have undergone the test of memory. Like the images the photographer plunges into a golden bath, our sentiments take on color; and only then, after that recoil and that trans-figuration, do we understand their real meaning and enjoy them in all their tranquil splendor.
Misattributed
“Keep smiling, because life is a beautiful thing and there's so much to smile about.”
Marilyn Monroe (1926–1962) American actress, model, and singer
John Lennon (1940–1980) English singer and songwriter
Variant: When I was 5 years old, my mother always told me that happiness was the key to life. When I went to school, they asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I wrote down ‘happy’. They told me I didn’t understand the assignment, and I told them they didn’t understand life.
“You can’t let your failures define you. You have to let your failures teach you.”
Barack Obama (1961) 44th President of the United States of America
“Action may not always bring happiness but there is no happiness without action.”
Benjamin Disraeli (1804–1881) British Conservative politician, writer, aristocrat and Prime Minister
Books, Coningsby (1844), Lothair (1870)
Variant: Action may not always bring happiness; but there is no happiness without action.
“Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself.”
Leo Tolstoy (1828–1910) Russian writer
“You will always love, and you will always be loved.”
Oscar Wilde book The Picture of Dorian Gray
Source: The Picture of Dorian Gray
“Things may come to those who wait, but only the things left by those who hustle.”
Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865) 16th President of the United States
“Everything will be okay in the end. If it's not okay, it's not the end.”
John Lennon (1940–1980) English singer and songwriter
Also found with the alternative spelling: Everything is okay in the end. If it's not okay, it's not the end<br>Found anonymously on Usenet in 2000 https://groups.google.com/forum/message/raw?msg=alt.support.divorce/gKiyfcAYreo/jjuc6KTu_NAJ. First known attribution to Lennon is from 2011 https://groups.google.com/forum/message/raw?msg=stow-ma-apple-barn/45MNk9KiGsY/vaq6pr8hgI0J. <br class="br">Disputed <br class="br">Variant: Everything is OK in the end. If it's not OK, it's not the end.
“Life is 10% what happens to me and 90% of how I react to it.”
John C. Maxwell (1947) American author, speaker and pastor
“You must do the thing you think you cannot do.”
Eleanor Roosevelt (1884–1962) American politician, diplomat, and activist, and First Lady of the United States
Source: You Learn by Living (1960), p. 29–30
Context: You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look 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 thing you think you cannot do.
“It's easier to build strong children then repair broken men.”
Frederick Douglass (1818–1895) American social reformer, orator, writer and statesman
Variant: It is easier to build strong men, than to repair broken ones.
Source: Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass
“Some people want it to happen, some wish it would happen, others make it happen.”
Michael Jordan (1963) American retired professional basketball player and businessman
Variant: Some people want it to happen, some wish it would happen, and others make it happen.
“To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all.”
Oscar Wilde book The Soul of Man under Socialism
The Soul of Man Under Socialism (1891)
Context: With the abolition of private property, then, we shall have true, beautiful, healthy Individualism. Nobody will waste his life in accumulating things, and the symbols for things. One will live. To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all.
“Yesterday is history. Tomorrow is a mystery. Today is a gift. That's why it's called the present.”
Alice Morse Earle (1851–1911) American historian
Socrates (-470–-399 BC) classical Greek Athenian philosopher
This is actually a quotation http://books.google.com/books?id=FUIHmRHf8SUC&lpg=PA130&dq=%22not%20on%20fighting%20the%20old%20but%20on%20building%20the%20new%22&pg=PA130#v=onepage&q=%22not%20on%20fighting%20the%20old%20but%20on%20building%20the%20new%22&f=false from a character named Socrates in Way of the Peaceful Warrior: A Book that Changes Lives http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Way_of_the_Peaceful_Warrior, by Dan Millman. <br class="br">Misattributed
“The only person you are destined to become is the person you decide to be.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882) American philosopher, essayist, and poet
Marie Curie (1867–1934) French-Polish physicist and chemist
As quoted in Our Precarious Habitat (1973) by Melvin A. Benarde, p. v
“Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it.”
Confucius (-551–-479 BC) Chinese teacher, editor, politician, and philosopher
Stephen Hawking (1942–2018) British theoretical physicist, cosmologist, and author
Variant: Remember to look up at the stars and not down at your feet. Never give up work. Work gives you meaning and purpose and life is empty without it. If you are lucky enough to find love, remember it is there and don't throw it away.
“Take your life in your own hands, and what happens? A terrible thing: no one to blame.”
Erica Jong (1942) Novelist, poet, memoirist, critic
“Live in the sunshine, swim the sea, drink the wild air.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882) American philosopher, essayist, and poet
“The present is theirs; the future, for which I really worked, is mine.”
Nikola Tesla (1856–1943) Serbian American inventor
Maya Angelou (1928–2014) American author and poet
Shared on her Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/MayaAngelou/posts/10150251846629796, July 4, 2011
“The truth is, everyone is going to hurt you. You just got to find the ones worth suffering for.”
Bob Marley (1945–1981) Jamaican singer, songwriter, musician
“Nothing in life is to be feared, it is only to be understood.”
Marie Curie (1867–1934) French-Polish physicist and chemist
As quoted in Our Precarious Habitat (1973) by Melvin A. Benarde, p. v
Context: Nothing in life is to be feared, it is only to be understood. Now is the time to understand more, so that we may fear less.
“Owning our story and loving ourselves through that process is the bravest thing we’ll ever do.”
Brené Brown (1965) US writer and professor
Variant: I now see how owning our story and loving ourselves through that process is the bravest thing that we will ever do.
Source: Rising Strong
“He who knows does not speak; he who speaks does not know.”
Laozi book Tao Te Ching
Variant: Those who know, do not speak, those who speak, do not know.
Source: Tao Te Ching, Ch. 56
“Try to be a rainbow in someone's cloud.”
Maya Angelou book Letter to My Daughter
Variant: Be a rainbow in somebody else's cloud.
Source: Letter to My Daughter
“Success is liking yourself, liking what you do, and liking how you do it.”
Maya Angelou (1928–2014) American author and poet
“No tree, it is said, can grow to heaven unless its roots reach down to hell.”
C.G. Jung (1875–1961) Swiss psychiatrist and psychotherapist who founded analytical psychology
“The greatest mistake you can make in life is to be continually fearing you will make one.”
Elbert Hubbard (1856–1915) American writer, publisher, artist, and philosopher fue el escritor del jarron azul
The Note Book of Elbert Hubbard (1927)
Variant: The greatest mistake you can make in life is to be continually fearing you will make one.
“Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance you must keep moving.”
Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born physicist and founder of the theory of relativity
Letter to his son Eduard (5 February 1930), as quoted in Walter Isaacson, Einstein: His Life and Universe (2007), p. 367
1930s
“A life without love is like a tree without fruit.”
Stephen King book Doctor Sleep
Source: Doctor Sleep
“To be sane in a world of madman is in itself madness.”
Jean Jacques Rousseau (1712–1778) Genevan philosopher
“There are no regrets in life, just lessons.”
Jennifer Aniston (1969) television and film actress from the United States
“You get in life what you have the courage to ask for.”
Oprah Winfrey (1954) American businesswoman, talk show host, actress, producer, and philanthropist
“When you reach the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on.”
Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865) 16th President of the United States
“One must be sane to think clearly, but one can think deeply and be quite insane.”
Nikola Tesla (1856–1943) Serbian American inventor
Dale Carnegie How to Win Friends and Influence People
Variant: You can make more friends in two months by being interested in them, than in two years by making them interested in you.
Source: How to Win Friends and Influence People (1936), p. 52 (in 1998 edition)
“Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.”
Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929–1968) American clergyman, activist, and leader in the American Civil Rights Movement
Source: I Have a Dream: Writings and Speeches That Changed the World
“Never bend your head. Hold it high. Look the world straight in the eye.”
Helen Keller (1880–1968) American author and political activist
Helen Keller (1880–1968) American author and political activist
Variant: The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched. They must be felt with the heart.
Variant: The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen, nor touched... but are felt in the heart.
“You cannot swim for new horizons until you have courage to lose sight of the shore.”
William Faulkner (1897–1962) American writer
“We must be willing to let go of the life we planned so as to have the life that is waiting for us.”
Joseph Campbell (1904–1987) American mythologist, writer and lecturer
Variant: You must give up the life you planned in order to have the life that is waiting for you.
“Always forgive your enemies; nothing annoys them so much.”
Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish writer and poet
Variant: Always forgive your enemies — nothing annoys them so much.
“Judge a man by his questions rather than by his answers.”
Voltaire (1694–1778) French writer, historian, and philosopher
Il est encore plus facile de juger de l'esprit d'un homme par ses questions que par ses réponses. (It is easier to judge the mind of a man by his questions rather than his answers) — Pierre-Marc-Gaston, duc de Lévis (1764-1830), Maximes et réflexions sur différents sujets de morale et de politique (Paris, 1808): Maxim xviii
Misattributed
“No-one can make you feel inferior without your consent.”
Red Symons (1949) Australian broadcaster and musician
Attributed quotes
“Yesterday is history. Tomorrow is a mystery. Today is a gift. ”
Alice Morse Earle (1851–1911) American historian
“Either you run the day, or the day runs you.”
Jim Rohn (1930–2009) American motivational speaker
“Today is your day! Your mountain is waiting!”
Dr. Seuss (1904–1991) American children's writer and illustrator, co-founder of Beginner Books
Variant: Today is your day, your mountain is waiting. So get on your way.
“Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Willing is not enough; we must do.”
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) German writer, artist, and politician
“Action is the foundational key to all success.”
Pablo Picasso (1881–1973) Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist, and stage designer
“It is better to fail in originality than to succeed in imitation.”
Herman Melville (1818–1891) American novelist, short story writer, essayist, and poet
Hawthorne and His Mosses (1850)
Context: It is better to fail in originality, than to succeed in imitation. He who has never failed somewhere, that man can not be great. Failure is the true test of greatness.
Context: It is better to fail in originality, than to succeed in imitation. He who has never failed somewhere, that man can not be great. Failure is the true test of greatness. And if it be said, that continual success is a proof that a man wisely knows his powers, — it is only to be added, that, in that case, he knows them to be small. Let us believe it, then, once for all, that there is no hope for us in these smooth pleasing writers that know their powers.
Nikola Tesla (1856–1943) Serbian American inventor
"Radio Power Will Revolutionize the World" in Modern Mechanics and Inventions (July 1934)
Context: The scientists from Franklin to Morse were clear thinkers and did not produce erroneous theories. The scientists of today think deeply instead of clearly. One must be sane to think clearly, but one can think deeply and be quite insane.
“All you need is the plan, the road map, and the courage to press on to your destination.”
Earl Nightingale (1921–1989) American motivational speaker
“Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards.”
Sören Kierkegaard (1813–1855) Danish philosopher and theologian, founder of Existentialism
Variant: Life can only be understood going backward, but must be lived going forward.
“Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.”
Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919) American politician, 26th president of the United States
Ch. IX : Outdoors and Indoors, p. 336; the final statement "quoted by Squire Bill Widener" as well as variants of it, are often misattributed to Roosevelt himself.
Variant: Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.
Attributed to Roosevelt in Conquering an Enemy Called Average (1996) by John L. Mason, Nugget # 8 : The Only Place to Start is Where You Are. <!-- The Military Quotation Book, Revised and Expanded: More than 1,200 of the Best Quotations About War, Leadership, Courage, Victory, and Defeat (2002) by James Charlton -->
Variant: Do what you can, with what you've got, where you are.
Context: There are many kinds of success in life worth having. It is exceedingly interesting and attractive to be a successful business man, or railroad man, or farmer, or a successful lawyer or doctor; or a writer, or a President, or a ranchman, or the colonel of a fighting regiment, or to kill grizzly bears and lions. But for unflagging interest and enjoyment, a household of children, if things go reasonably well, certainly makes all other forms of success and achievement lose their importance by comparison. It may be true that he travels farthest who travels alone; but the goal thus reached is not worth reaching. And as for a life deliberately devoted to pleasure as an end — why, the greatest happiness is the happiness that comes as a by-product of striving to do what must be done, even though sorrow is met in the doing. There is a bit of homely philosophy, quoted by Squire Bill Widener, of Widener's Valley, Virginia, which sums up one's duty in life: "Do what you can, with what you've got, where you are."
“We do not remember days, we remember moments.”
Cesare Pavese (1908–1950) Italian poet, novelist, literary critic, and translator
This Business of Living (1935-1950)
“Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up.”
Pablo Picasso (1881–1973) Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist, and stage designer
Quote attributed to Picasso in TIME, October 4, 1976, Modern Living: Ozmosis in Central Park http://quoteinvestigator.com/2015/03/07/child-art/ http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,918412,00.html <br class="br">Disputed <br class="br">Variant: All children are artists. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up.
Bertrand Russell (1872–1970) logician, one of the first analytic philosophers and political activist
Variant: The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, and wiser people so full of doubts.
Eleanor Roosevelt (1884–1962) American politician, diplomat, and activist, and First Lady of the United States
Foreword (January 1960)
You Learn by Living (1960)
“It isn't where you came from; it's where you're going that counts.”
Ella Fitzgerald (1917–1996) American jazz singer
“I've failed over and over and over again in my life and that is why I succeed.”
Michael Jordan (1963) American retired professional basketball player and businessman
“Strength does not come from winning.”
Arnold Schwarzenegger (1947) actor, businessman and politician of Austrian-American heritage
From a 1982 interview with Boston Globe journalist Marian Christy. Christy, Marian. "Winning according to Schwarzenegger." https://secure.pqarchiver.com/boston/doc/294151457.html Boston Globe: Boston, MA. 9 May 1982: p 51. Accessed 25 Jun 2016. <br class="br">1980s <br class="br">Context: Strength does not come from winning. Your struggles develop your strengths. When you go through hardships and decide not to surrender, that is strength. When you make an impasse passable, that is strength. But you must have ego, the kind of ego which makes you think of yourself in terms of superlatives. You must want to be the greatest. We are all starved for compliments. So we do things that get positive feedback.
“All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make the better.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882) American philosopher, essayist, and poet
Source: Journals of Ralph Waldo Emerson, with Annotations - 1841-1844
“The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.”
Confucius (-551–-479 BC) Chinese teacher, editor, politician, and philosopher
Laozi in the Tao Te Ching, Chapter 64
Misattributed, Chinese
“Life is the flower for which love is the honey.”
Victor Hugo (1802–1885) French poet, novelist, and dramatist
“Creativity is intelligence having fun.”
Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born physicist and founder of the theory of relativity
Johnny Cash (1932–2003) American singer-songwriter
Variant: You build on failure. You use it as a stepping sone. Close the door on the past. You don't try to forget the mistakes, but you don't dwell on it. You don't let it have any of your energy, or any of your time, or any of your space.
Diane Ackerman (1948) Author, poet, naturalist
As quoted in Meditations for Women Who Do Too (1991) by Anne Wilson Schaef
“In order to succeed, your desire for success should be greater than your fear of failure.”
Bill Cosby (1937) American actor, comedian, author, producer, musician, activist
“Whoever is happy will make others happy.”
Anne Frank (1929–1945) victim of the Holocaust and author of a diary
Source: The Diary of a Young Girl
Erma Bombeck (1927–1996) When I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent le…
“In order to write about life first you must live it.”
Ernest Hemingway (1899–1961) American author and journalist