“It is never too late to be what you might have been.”
George Eliot (1819–1880) English novelist, journalist and translator
Inspirational quotes
A collection of quotes on the topic of motivational, inspirational, deep, life.
Best inspirational quotes
“Believe you can and you're halfway there.”
Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919) American politician, 26th president of the United States
“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
“Life would be tragic if it weren't funny.”
Stephen Hawking (1942–2018) British theoretical physicist, cosmologist, and author
As quoted in "The Science of Second-Guessing", The New York Times (12 December 2004)
“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
“Beauty is not in the face; beauty is a light in the heart.”
Khalil Gibran (1883–1931) Lebanese artist, poet, and writer
“Life is 10% what happens to me and 90% of how I react to it.”
John C. Maxwell (1947) American author, speaker and pastor
Inspirational quotes
“If you don’t like the road you’re walking, start paving another one.”
Dolly Parton (1946) American singer-songwriter and actress
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.
“The secret to getting ahead is getting started.”
Mark Twain (1835–1910) American author and humorist
“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
“What you do makes a difference, and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make.”
Jane Goodall (1934) British primatologist, ethologist, and anthropologist
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.
“It’s better to be absolutely ridiculous than absolutely boring.”
Marilyn Monroe (1926–1962) American actress, model, and singer
Variant: Imperfection is beauty, madness is genius and it's better to be absolutely ridiculous than absolutely boring.
“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
Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born physicist and founder of the theory of relativity
As quoted in Journal of France and Germany (1942–1944) by Gilbert Fowler White, in excerpt published in Living with Nature's Extremes: The Life of Gilbert Fowler White (2006) by Robert E. Hinshaw, p. 62. From the context http://books.google.com/books?id=_2qfZRp9SeEC&lpg=PP1&pg=PA62#v=onepage&q&f=false it seems that White did not specify whether he had heard Einstein himself say this or whether he was repeating a quote that had been passed along by someone else, so without a primary source the validity of this quote should be considered questionable.<br>Some have argued that elsewhere Einstein defined a "miracle" as a type of event he did not believe was possible—Einstein on Religion by Max Jammer (1999) quotes on p. 89 from a 1931 conversation Einstein had with David Reichinstein, where Reichinstein brought up philosopher Arthur Liebert's argument that the indeterminism of quantum mechanics might allow for the possibility of miracles, and Einstein replied that Liebert's argument dealt "with a domain in which lawful rationality [determinism] does not exist. A 'miracle,' however, is an exception from lawfulness; hence, there where lawfulness does not exist, also its exception, i.e., a miracle, cannot exist." ("Dort, wo eine Gesetzmässigkeit nicht vorhanden ist, kann auch ihre Ausnahme, d.h. ein Wunder, nicht existieren." D. Reichenstein, Die Religion der Gebildeten (1941), p. 21). However, it is clear from the context that Einstein was stating only that miracles cannot exist in a domain (quantum mechanics) where lawful rationality does not exist. He did not claim that miracles could never exist in any domain. Indeed, Einstein clearly believed, as seen in many quotations above, that the universe was comprehensible and rational, but he also described this characteristic of the universe as a "miracle". In another example, he is quoted as claiming belief in a God, "Who reveals Himself in the lawful harmony of the world." <br class="br">As quoted in From Yale to Jail: The Life Story of a Moral Dissenter (1993) by David T. Dellinger, p. 418 <br class="br">Disputed <br class="br">Variant: There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle. <br class="br">Variant: There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.
“Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself.”
Leo Tolstoy (1828–1910) Russian writer
“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
“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.
“We accept the love we think we deserve.”
Stephen Chbosky book The Perks of Being a Wallflower
Source: The Perks of Being a Wallflower
“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.
“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
“One child, one teacher, one book and one pen can change the world.”
Malala Yousafzai (1997) Pakistani children's education activist
UN speech, June 2013
Context: So let us wage a glorious struggle against illiteracy, poverty and terrorism, let us pick up our books and our pens, they are the most powerful weapons. One child, one teacher, one book and one pen can change the world. Education is the only solution.
“Some of us think holding on makes us strong, but sometimes, it is letting go.”
Hermann Hesse (1877–1962) German writer
“Whenever you see a successful business, someone once made a courageous decision.”
Peter F. Drucker (1909–2005) American business consultant
“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
“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
Maya Angelou (1928–2014) American author and poet
Shared on her Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/MayaAngelou/posts/10150251846629796, July 4, 2011
“Whenever you get there, there is no there there.”
Gertrude Stein (1874–1946) American art collector and experimental writer of novels, poetry and plays
“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.
“You never know when a moment and a
few sincere words can have an impact on a life.”
Zig Ziglar (1926–2012) American motivational speaker
“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
“We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.”
Oscar Wilde Lady Windermere's Fan
Lord Darlington, Act III
Source: Lady Windermere's Fan (1892)
“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
“The best preparation for tomorrow is doing your best today.”
H. Jackson Brown, Jr. (1940) American writer
Source: P.S. I Love You
“There are no regrets in life, just lessons.”
Jennifer Aniston (1969) television and film actress from the United States
“When you reach the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on.”
Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865) 16th President of the United States
“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.
“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.
Anne Frank (1929–1945) victim of the Holocaust and author of a diary
As quoted in Networking the Kingdom: A Practical Strategy for Maximum Church Growth (1990) by O. J. Bryson, p. 187; this is the earliest source yet found for this attribution.
Disputed
“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
“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."
Anaïs Nin (1903–1977) writer of novels, short stories, and erotica
Frequently attributed to Nin, but without cited source in her work (possibly due to a quotation in Living on Purpose: Straight Answers to Universal Questions (2000) by Dan Millman that attributed the quote to Nin without source).
In March 2013, a former Director of Public Relations at John F. Kennedy University in Orinda, Elizabeth Appell, claimed she had authored the quote in 1979 for an inspirational header on a class schedule: http://anaisninblog.skybluepress.com/2013/03/who-wrote-risk-is-the-mystery-solved/
Disputed
Variant: The day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.
“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.
“It isn't where you came from; it's where you're going that counts.”
Ella Fitzgerald (1917–1996) American jazz singer
Eleanor Roosevelt (1884–1962) American politician, diplomat, and activist, and First Lady of the United States
Source: The Autobiography of Eleanor Roosevelt
“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
“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.
“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
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
“It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop.”
Confucius (-551–-479 BC) Chinese teacher, editor, politician, and philosopher
“There is another world, but it is in this one.”
Paul Éluard (1895–1952) French poet
Il y a assurément un autre monde, mais il est dans celui-ci...
Œuvres complètes, vol. 1, Gallimard, 1968.
“Even if I knew that tomorrow the world would go to pieces, I would still plant my apple tree.”
Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929–1968) American clergyman, activist, and leader in the American Civil Rights Movement
Martin Luther
Misattributed
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.
“No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted.”
Aesop book The Lion and the Mouse
The Lion and the Mouse.
Variant: No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted.
“We may encounter many defeats but we must not be defeated.”
Maya Angelou (1928–2014) American author and poet
“It’s no use going back to yesterday, because I was a different person then.”
Lewis Carroll book Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
Source: Alice in Wonderland
“In the long run, the sharpest weapon of all is a kind and gentle spirit.”
Anne Frank Diary of Anne Frank
Source: The Diary of Anne Frank
“Each person must live their life as a model for others.”
Rosa Parks (1913–2005) African-American civil rights activist
“When you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.”
Paulo Coelho book The Alchemist
E quando você quer alguma coisa, todo o Universo conspira para que você realize seu desejo.
Variant: And, when you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.
Source: The Alchemist (1988), p. 22; a variant of this has become attributed to Ralph Waldo Emerson: "Once you make a decision, the universe conspires to make it happen" — but no occurrence of this a statement has been located prior to in The Gift of Depression : Twenty-one Inspirational Stories Sharing Experience, Strength, and Hope (2001) by John F. Brown, p. 56
“Life is not a problem to be solved, but a reality to be experienced.”
Sören Kierkegaard (1813–1855) Danish philosopher and theologian, founder of Existentialism
Attributed to Kierkegaard in a number of books, the earliest located on Google Books being the 1976 book Jack Kerouac: Prophet of the New Romanticism by Robert A. Hipkiss, p. 83 http://books.google.com/books?id=g_JaAAAAMAAJ&q=%22problem+to+be+solved%22#search_anchor. In the 1948 The Hibbert Journal: Volumes 46-47 the quote is referred to as "the famous Kierkegaardian slogan" on p. 237 http://books.google.com/books?id=UuDRAAAAMAAJ&q=%22the+famous+Kierkegaardian+slogan+life+is+not+a+problem+to+be+solved%22#search_anchor, which may be intended to suggest the phrase is Kierkegaard-esque rather than being something written by Kierkegaard. In reality this seems to be a slightly altered version of the quote "The mystery of life is not a problem to be solved; it is a reality to be experienced" which appeared in the 1928 book The Conquest of Illusion by Jacobus Johannes Leeuw, p. 9 http://books.google.com/books?id=OFdVAAAAMAAJ&q=%22not+a+problem+to+be+solved%22#search_anchor. <br class="br">Misattributed
“It is during our darkest moments that we must focus to see the light.”
Aristotle (-384–-321 BC) Classical Greek philosopher, student of Plato and founder of Western philosophy
“I have never let my schooling interfere with my education.”
Mark Twain (1835–1910) American author and humorist
Variant: Never let your schooling interfere with your education.
“Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.”
Winston S. Churchill (1874–1965) Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
Attributed to Winston Churchill in The Prodigal Project : Book I : Genesis (2003) by Ken Abraham and Daniel Hart, p. 224 and other places, though no source attribution is given. It actually derives from an advertising campaign for Budweiser beer in the late 1930s.
Misattributed
Variant: Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.
Source: http://quoteinvestigator.com/2013/09/03/success-final/
Groucho Marx (1890–1977) American comedian
Source: The Essential Groucho: Writings For By And About Groucho Marx