“Life is very interesting… in the end, some of your greatest pains, become your greatest strengths.”
Drew Barrymore (1975) American actress, director and producer
Variant: In the end, some of your greatest pains become your greatest strengths.
Inspirational quotes page 4
“It's the possibility of having a dream come true that makes life interesting”
Paulo Coelho book The Alchemist
Variant: It's the possibility of having a dream come true that makes life interesting.
Source: The Alchemist
“If I cannot do great things, I can do small things in a great way”
Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929–1968) American clergyman, activist, and leader in the American Civil Rights Movement
“Failure will never overtake me if my determination to succeed is strong enough.”
Og Mandino (1923–1996) American author
“It's not the load that breaks you down, it's the way you carry it.”
Lena Horne (1917–2010) American singer, actress, civil rights activist and dancer
Variant: It's not the load that breaks you down, it's the way you carry it.
“If opportunity doesn't knock, build a door”
Milton Berle (1908–2002) American comedian and actor
Variant: If opportunity doesn’t knock, build a door.
Earl Nightingale (1921–1989) American motivational speaker
“If you want to lift yourself up, lift up someone else.”
Booker T. Washington (1856–1915) African-American educator, author, orator, and advisor
“Live out of your imagination, not your history.”
Stephen R. Covey (1932–2012) American educator, author, businessman and motivational speaker
As quoted in Wake-up Calls : You Don't Have to Sleepwalk through your Life, Love, or Career! (1992) by Eric Allenbaugh, p. 65
“Very little is needed to make a happy life.”
Marcus Aurelius book Meditations
ἐν ὀλιγίστοις κεῖται τὸ εὐδαιμόνως βιῶσαι
VII, 67
Source: Meditations (c. 121–180 AD), Book VII
“You must gain control over your money or the lack of it will forever control you.”
Dave Ramsey (1960) American financial advisor
“The opposite of love is not hate, it's indifference.”
Elie Wiesel (1928–2016) writer, professor, political activist, Nobel Laureate, and Holocaust survivor
“You can’t use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have.”
Maya Angelou (1928–2014) American author and poet
As quoted in Conversations with Maya Angelou (1989) by Jeffrey M. Elliot
“Live for each second without hesitation”
Elton John (1947) English rock singer-songwriter, composer and pianist
“The whole secret of a successful life is to find out what is one's destiny to do, and then do it.”
Henry Ford (1863–1947) American industrialist
“Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.”
Oliver Goldsmith (1728–1774) Irish physician and writer
Variant: Our greatest glory consists not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.
Source: The Citizen of the World, Or, Letters from a Chinese Philosopher, Residing in London, to His Friends in the Country, by Dr. Goldsmith
“The opposite of love is not hate. It is indifference.”
Christopher Pike (1954) American author Kevin Christopher McFadden
Source: Black Blood
“What you do speaks so loudly that I cannot hear what you say.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882) American philosopher, essayist, and poet
Variant: Your actions speak so loudly, I can not hear what you are saying.
Dr. Seuss (1904–1991) American children's writer and illustrator, co-founder of Beginner Books
Oh, the Places You'll Go! (1990)
Source: Oh, The Places You'll Go!
“There's ordinary people out there doing extraordinary things.”
Neal Shusterman (1962) American novelist
Source: UnWholly
“Do the thing and you will have the power.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882) American philosopher, essayist, and poet
“Success is getting what you want.
Happiness is wanting what you get.”
Andrew Carnegie (1835–1919) American businessman and philanthropist
“This is the world as it is. This is where you start.”
Saul D. Alinsky (1909–1972) American community organizer and writer
“Every great dream begins with a dreamer.”
Harriet Tubman (1820–1913) African-American abolitionist and humanitarian
“Life is a succession of lessons which must be lived to be understood.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882) American philosopher, essayist, and poet
“Don't look at your feet to see if you are doing it right. Just dance.”
Anne Lamott (1954) Novelist, essayist, memoirist, activist
Source: Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life
“The secret is that there is no secret.”
Lionel Shriver book We Need to Talk About Kevin
Source: We Need to Talk About Kevin
“The world is changed by your example, not by your opinion.”
Paulo Coelho (1947) Brazilian lyricist and novelist
“The best way to predict your future is to create it”
Peter F. Drucker (1909–2005) American business consultant
“Write it. Shoot it. Publish it. Crochet it, sauté it, whatever. MAKE.”
Joss Whedon (1964) American director, writer, and producer for television and film
“I do not try to dance better than anyone else. I only try to to dance better than myself.”
Mikhail Baryshnikov (1948) Soviet-American dancer, choreographer, and actor born in Letonia, Soviet Union
“I always find beauty in things that are odd & imperfect - they are much more interesting.”
Marc Jacobs (1963) American fashion designer
“The more I want to get something done, the less I call it work.”
Richard Bach (1936) American spiritual writer
Illusions : The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah (1977)
“Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known.”
Carl Sagan (1934–1996) American astrophysicist, cosmologist, author and science educator
This phrase was created by reporter Sharon Begley in the end of a 1977 Newsweek article with an extended profile of Carl Sagan. It was a final conclusion about Sagan's work and the topic of hypotethical extra-terrestrial life forms. "Quote Investigator" http://quoteinvestigator.com/2013/03/18/incredible/ <br class="br">Misattributed
Garrison Keillor (1942) American radio host and writer
Lake Wobegon Days (1985), p. 337
Source: Lake Wobegon U.S.A.
“You can never cross the ocean until you have the courage to lose sight of the shore”
André Gide (1869–1951) French novelist and essayist
“Eighty percent of success is showing up.”
Woody Allen (1935) American screenwriter, director, actor, comedian, author, playwright, and musician
“True freedom is impossible without a mind made free by discipline.”
Mortimer J. Adler (1902–2001) American philosopher and educator
Source: How to Read a Book: The Classic Guide to Intelligent Reading
“If I cannot do great things, I can do small things in a great way.”
Jodi Picoult book Small Great Things
Source: Small Great Things
“Every noble work is at first impossible.”
Thomas Carlyle (1795–1881) Scottish philosopher, satirical writer, essayist, historian and teacher
From Past and Present (1843), Chapter XI : Labour
The Wikipedia page for Thomas Carlyle has links to the Project Gutenberg version of this book
1840s
Hillary Clinton (1947) American politician, senator, Secretary of State, First Lady
It Takes A Village, January 1996
White House years (1993–2000)
“The more you know, the less you are.”
Bram van Velde (1895–1981) Dutch painter
1960's, Conversations with Samuel Beckett and Bram van Velde' (1965 - 1969)
“You are never too old to set another goal, or to dream a new dream.”
Clive Staples Lewis (1898–1963) Christian apologist, novelist, and Medievalist
Unknown, but also attributed to Les Brown, a motivational speaker. Commonly attributed to C.S. Lewis, but never with a primary source listed.
Misattributed
“Education costs money, but then so does ignorance.”
Claus Moser, Baron Moser (1922–2015) British statistician and Civil Servant
The Daily Telegraph, 21 August 1990 http://www2.gsu.edu/~dscthw/8350/bayes/perfinfo.pdf
“The business of business is business.”
Alfred P. Sloan (1875–1966) American businessman
Widely attributed to Milton Friedman, and sometimes cited as being in his work Capitalism and Freedom (1962) this is also attributed to Alfred P. Sloan, sometimes with citation of a statement of 1964, but sometimes with attestations to his use of it as a motto as early as 1923.
Disputed
“Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.”
Mahatma Gandhi (1869–1948) pre-eminent leader of Indian nationalism during British-ruled India
Variant on aphorism "Study as if you were to live forever. Live as if you were to die tomorrow" pre-dating Gandhi, variously attributed to Isidore of Seville (c. 560 – 636), in FPA Book of Quotations (1952) by Franklin Pierce Adams, to Edmund Rich (1175–1240) in American Journal of Education (1877), or to Alain de Lille in Samuel Smiles's Duty https://books.google.com/books?id=33UzAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA363&dq=live+die+tomorrow+learn+forever&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjd3s_2m57MAhWFMGMKHe-sAl8Q6AEIHDAA#v=onepage&q=live%20die%20tomorrow%20learn%20forever&f=false (1881). <br class="br">The 1995 book "The good boatman: a portrait of Gandhi," states that Gandhi subscribed "to the view that a man should live thinking he might die tomorrow but learn as if he would live forever." <br class="br">In his 2010 Boyer lecture Glyn Davis (Professor of Political Science and Vice-Chancellor of Melbourne University) attributes the quote to Desiderius Erasmus. "He [Erasmus] reworked Pliny to urge 'live as if you are to die tomorrow, study as if you were to live forever'. Many students obey the first clause - the best heed both." <br class="br">There is a similar quote by Johann Gottfried Herder: "Mensch, genieße dein Leben, als müssest morgen du weggehn; Schone dein Leben, als ob ewig du weiletest hier." ["Man, enjoy your life as if you were to depart tomorrow; spare your life as if you were to linger here forever."] (Zerstreute Blätter, 1785). <br class="br">Disputed
“Either you will be you or you will not be at all.”
Dejan Stojanovic (1959) poet, writer, and businessman
“The Knight,” p. 81
The Sun Watches the Sun (1999), Sequence: “What After”
“I've searched all the parks in all the cities — and found no statues of Committees.”
G. K. Chesterton (1874–1936) English mystery novelist and Christian apologist
As quoted in Trust Or Consequences : Build Trust Today Or Lose Your Market Tomorrow (2004) by Al Golin, p. 206; also in Storms of Life (2008) by Dr. Don Givens, p. 136
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) German writer, artist, and politician
Attributed to Zig Ziglar
Misattributed
“Life is everything and nothing all at once.”
Billy Corgan (1967) American musician, songwriter, producer, and author
From the Pisces Iscariot liner notes.
Neil Gaiman book Coraline
Often misattributed to but inspired by GK Chesterton:
Fairy tales do not give the child his first idea of bogey. What fairy tales give the child is his first clear idea of the possible defeat of bogey. The baby has known the dragon intimately ever since he had an imagination. What the fairy tale provides for him is a St. George to kill the dragon.
Coraline (2002)
Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862) 1817-1862 American poet, essayist, naturalist, and abolitionist
According to The Quote Investigator http://quoteinvestigator.com/2014/04/17/butterfly/, "the earliest instance of this saying was crafted by the enigmatic “L” for “The Daily Crescent” newspaper in New Orleans [in June 1848]. ... The linkage to Henry David Thoreau is unsupported." <br class="br">Misattributed
“All our dreams can come true — if we have the courage to pursue them.”
Walt Disney (1901–1966) American film producer and businessman
Source: How to Be Like Walt : Capturing the Magic Every Day of Your Life (2004), Ch. 3 : Imagination Unlimited, p. 63; Unsourced variant: All your dreams can come true if you have the courage to pursue them.
“Success is a state of mind. If you want success, start thinking of yourself as a success.”
Joyce Brothers (1927–2013) Joyce Brothers
As quoted in The Pocket Philosopher/ Psychologist (2004) by Mark J. Merten, p. 87
“There was content, but no container.”
Simon Blackburn (1944) British academic philosopher
Source: Think (1999), Chapter Four, The Self, p. 135
“The business of business is business.”
Milton Friedman (1912–2006) American economist, statistician, and writer
Widely attributed to Friedman, and sometimes cited as being in his work Capitalism and Freedom (1962) this is also attributed to Alfred P. Sloan, sometimes with citation of a statement of 1964, but sometimes with attestations to his use of it as a motto as early as 1923.
Disputed
“The world is not the way they tell you it is.”
George Goodman (1930–2014) American author and economics commentator
Source: The Money Game (1968), Chapter 1, Why Did The master Say "Game"?, p. 3
Mahatma Gandhi (1869–1948) pre-eminent leader of Indian nationalism during British-ruled India
Gandhi: His Life and Message for the World (1954), by Louis Fischer, p. 177 <br class="br"> Mahatma Gandhi to Rajkumari Amrit Kaur, August 29, 1947 https://www.gandhiheritageportal.org/ghp_booksection_detail/Ny0yMzUtMg==#page/258/mode/2up. In Letters to Rajkumari Amrit Kaur. 1st edition (April, 1961), p. 246 <br class="br">Posthumous publications (1950s and later)
Booker T. Washington (1856–1915) African-American educator, author, orator, and advisor
Source: 1900s, Up From Slavery (1901), Chapter XI: Making Their Beds Before They Could Lie On Them
“A man is not finished when he's defeated. He's finished when he quits.”
Richard Nixon (1913–1994) 37th President of the United States of America
1969 note to self, as quoted in Nixon (1987) by Stephen E. Ambrose, p. 284
1960s
Variant: A man is not finished when he is defeated. He is finished when he quits.
John F. Kennedy (1917–1963) 35th president of the United States of America
1963, Address at the Free University of Berlin
“Hate is not the opposite of love; apathy is.”
Rollo May book Love and Will
Source: Love and Will (1969), Ch. 1 : Introduction : Our Schizoid World, p. 29
“Action is the foundational key to all success.”
Anthony Robbins (1960) Author, actor, professional speaker
As quoted in Stack the Logs! : Building a Success Framework to Reach Your Dreams (2003) by Frank F. Lunn, p. 45
“The most powerful relationship you will ever have is the relationship with yourself.”
Steve Maraboli (1975)
Source: Life, the Truth, and Being Free (2010), p. 96
“When life gives you Monday, dip it in glitter and sparkle all day.”
Ella Woodward (1991) British blogger
"Mills and boon story of Ella Mill's recipe for success" https://www.independent.ie/entertainment/mills-and-boon-story-of-ella-mills-recipe-for-success-35422146.html, Independent.ie (6 February 2017).
Thomas Edison (1847–1931) American inventor and businessman
This is presented as a statement of 1877, as quoted in From Telegraph to Light Bulb with Thomas Edison (2007) by Deborah Headstrom-Page, p. 22.
1800s
“Too low they build who build beneath the stars.”
Reported in Josiah Hotchkiss Gilbert, Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895), p. 206.
Night-Thoughts (1742–1745), Night VIII
“Learn as if you were to live forever; live as if you were to die tomorrow.”
John Wooden (1910–2010) American basketball coach
They Call Me Coach (1972)
“The big lesson in life, baby, is never be scared of anyone or anything.”
Frank Sinatra (1915–1998) American singer and film actor
The Way You Wear Your Hat (1997)
“The more man meditates upon good thoughts, the better will be his world and the world at large.”
Confucius (-551–-479 BC) Chinese teacher, editor, politician, and philosopher
Attributed to Confucius in Out of the Blue: Delight Comes Into Our Lives (1996) by Mark Victor Hansen, Barbara Nichols, and Patty Hansen, p. 93
Attributed
“I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work.”
Thomas Edison (1847–1931) American inventor and businessman
As quoted in: [J. L.] Elkhorne. Edison — The Fabulous Drone, in 73 Vol. XLVI, No. 3 (March 1967) http://www.arimi.it/wp-content/73/03_March_1967.pdf, p. 52 <br class="br">Disputed
“A real friend is one who walks in when the rest of the world walks out.”
Walter Winchell (1897–1972) American gossip journalist
Attributed
Winston S. Churchill (1874–1965) Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
This quote is commonly attributed to Churchill, but appears in the "Red Herrings: False Attributions" appendix of Churchill by Himself : The Definitive Collection of Quotations (2008) by Richard Langworth, without citation as to where it originates. <br class="br">In American Character, a 1905 address by Brander Matthews, a similar quotation is attributed to L. P. Jacks ( link http://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.39015059451156?urlappend=%3Bseq=238). <br class="br">""Our civilization is a perilous adventure for an uncertain prize... Human society is not a constructed thing but a human organization... We are adopting a false method of reform when we begin by operations that weaken society, either morally or materially, by lower its vitality, by plunging it into gloom and despair about itself, by inducing the atmosphere of the sick-room, and then when its courage and resources are at a low ebb, expecting it to perform some mighty feat of self-reformation... Social despair or bitterness does not get us anywhere... Low spirits are an intellectual luxury. An optimist is one who sees an opportunity in every difficulty. A pessimist is one who sees a difficulty in every opportunity... The conquest of great difficulties is the glory of human nature." L. P. Jacks, quoted in American character, by Brander Matthews, 1906 <br class="br">Misattributed <br class="br">Variant: A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.
“Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.”
Thomas Edison (1847–1931) American inventor and businessman
As quoted in An Enemy Called Average (1990) by John L. Mason, p. 55.
Date unknown
“It is a rough road that leads to the heights of greatness.”
Confragosa in fastigium dignitatis via est.
Seneca the Younger (-4–65 BC) Roman Stoic philosopher, statesman, and dramatist
Source: Epistulae Morales ad Lucilium (Moral Letters to Lucilius), Letter LXXXIV: On gathering ideas, Line 13
“Failure is the condiment that gives success its flavor.”
Truman Capote (1924–1984) American author
From "Self-Portrait" (1972)
Truman Capote: Conversations (1987)
“Life is not living, but living in health.”
Vita non est vivere, sed valera vita est.
Martial book Epigrammata
VI, 70.
Variant translations:
It is not life to live, but to be well.
Life's not just being alive, but being well.
Epigrams (c. 80 – 104 AD)
“When you reach the end of your rope, tie a knot in it and hang on.”
Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882–1945) 32nd President of the United States
The earliest citation yet found does not attribute this to Roosevelt, but presents it as a piece of anonymous piece folk-wisdom: "When one reaches the end of his rope, he should tie a knot in it and hang on" ( LIFE magazine (3 April 1919), p. 585 http://hdl.handle.net/2027/wu.89063018576?urlappend=%3Bseq=65). <br class="br">Misattributed <br class="br">Variant: When you come to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on.
“Everything comes to him who hustles while he waits.”
Thomas Edison (1847–1931) American inventor and businessman
As quoted in Thomas Alva Edison : Sixty Years of an Inventor's Life (1908) by Francis Arthur Jones, p. 14.
1900s
“A champion is someone who gets up when he can't.”
Jack Dempsey (1895–1983) American boxer
Dempsey's definition of a champion. http://www.hennessysports.com/Article.asp?art=214
“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.”
Aristotle (-384–-321 BC) Classical Greek philosopher, student of Plato and founder of Western philosophy
Misattributed
Variant: We are what we repeatedly do, therefore excellence is not an act, but a habit.
Source: Will Durant, The Story of Philosophy: The Lives and Opinions of the World's Greatest Philosophers (1926), reprinted in Simon & Schuster/Pocket Books, 1991, ISBN 0-671-73916-6], Ch. II: Aristotle and Greek Science; part VII: Ethics and the Nature of Happiness: "Excellence is an art won by training and habituation: we do not act rightly because we have virtue or excellence, but we rather have these because we have acted rightly; 'these virtues are formed in man by his doing the actions'; we are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit: 'the good of man is a working of the soul in the way of excellence in a complete life... for as it is not one swallow or one fine day that makes a spring, so it is not one day or a short time that makes a man blessed and happy'" (p. 76). The quoted phrases within the quotation are from the Nicomachean Ethics, Book II, 4; Book I, 7. The misattribution is from taking Durant's summation of Aristotle's ideas as being the words of Aristotle himself.
“The standard you walk past, is the standard you accept.”
David Morrison (1956) Australian army general
Message regarding unacceptable behaviour (2013)
Context: I will be ruthless in ridding the army of people who cannot live up to its values. And I need everyone of you to support me in achieving this. The standard you walk past, is the standard you accept. that goes for all of us, but especially those, who by their rank, have a leadership role. NB While on Q & A, ABC TV on 1st February 2016, Australian of the Year, Lieutenant General David Lindsay Morrison attributed; "The standard you walk by is the standard you accept"; to David Hurley, former Chief, Australian Defence Force, explaining the quote; "... doesn't belong to me or [my former speechwriter] Cate McGregor, it belongs to the Governor of NSW, David Hurley."
“Don't judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds that you plant.”
Robert Louis Stevenson (1850–1894) Scottish novelist, poet, essayist, and travel writer
“No matter what people tell you, words and ideas can change the world.”
Robin Williams (1951–2014) American actor and stand-up comedian
“It’s not whether you get knocked down, it’s whether you get up.”
Vince Lombardi (1913–1970) American football player, coach, and executive
“Perfection is not attainable. But if we chase perfection, we can catch excellence.”
Vince Lombardi (1913–1970) American football player, coach, and executive