“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
Powerful quotes
A collection of quotes on the topic of motivational, powerful, deep, inspirational.
Best powerful quotes
“It is never too late to be what you might have been.”
George Eliot (1819–1880) English novelist, journalist and translator
“Wanting to be someone else is a waste of who you are”
Kurt Cobain (1967–1994) American musician and artist
Variant: Wanting to be someone else is the waste of who you are
“The secret of getting ahead is getting started.”
Agatha Christie (1890–1976) English mystery and detective 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
“Remember, today is the tomorrow you worried about yesterday.”
Dale Carnegie book How to Stop Worrying and Start Living
Source: How to Stop Worrying and Start Living (1948), p. 237. Part 8 : How I Conquered Worry,
“Live in the sunshine, swim the sea, drink the wild air.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882) American philosopher, essayist, and poet
“The meaning of life is to give life meaning.”
Viktor E. Frankl (1905–1997) Austrian neurologist and psychiatrist, and Holocaust survivor
Source: book Man's Search For Meaning
“The best preparation for tomorrow is doing your best today.”
H. Jackson Brown, Jr. (1940) American writer
Source: P.S. I Love You
Powerful quotes
“You never know how strong you are until being strong is your only choice.”
Bob Marley (1945–1981) Jamaican singer, songwriter, musician
Variant: You never know how strong you are, until being strong is your only choice...
“Normality is a paved road: It’s comfortable to walk, but no flowers grow on it.”
Vincent Van Gogh (1853–1890) Dutch post-Impressionist painter (1853-1890)
“Try to become not a man of success, but try rather to become a man of value.”
Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born physicist and founder of the theory of relativity
As quoted by LIFE magazine (2 May 1955)
1950s
Variant: Strive not to be a success, but rather to be of value.
“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
“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
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.
“Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself.”
Leo Tolstoy (1828–1910) Russian writer
“In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies but the silence of our friends.”
Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929–1968) American clergyman, activist, and leader in the American Civil Rights Movement
1960s, The Trumpet of Conscience (1967)
Variant: In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.
Audre Lorde book The Cancer Journals
The Cancer Journals, Special Edition, Aunt Lute Books, San Francisco, CA, 1997, p. 13.
Jane Goodall (1934) British primatologist, ethologist, and anthropologist
Reported in Yolanda Brooks, Do Animals Have Rights? (2008), p. 23
“Great minds discuss ideas, average minds discuss events, small minds discuss people. ”
Eleanor Roosevelt (1884–1962) American politician, diplomat, and activist, and First Lady of the United States
“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
Joseph Stalin (1879–1953) General secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union
Often attributed to Stalin, there is not a single source which show that Stalin said this at any given time. There is only one source outside the blogosphere which attributes the quote to Stalin, but does not provide any evidence for the attribution. That source is the book Quotations for Public Speakers : A Historical, Literary, and Political Anthology (2001), p. 121 by the former US senator Robert Torricelli.
Misattributed
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.
“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
“To exist is to change, to change is to mature, to mature is to go on creating oneself endlessly.”
Henri Bergson (1859–1941) French philosopher
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
“It took me 17 years and 114 days to become an overnight success.”
Lionel Messi (1987) Argentine association football player
“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
“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
“There are no regrets in life, just lessons.”
Jennifer Aniston (1969) television and film actress from the United States
“Do not wait; the time will never be "just right."”
Napoleon Hill book Think and Grow Rich
Start where you stand, and work with whatever tools you may have at your command, and better tools will be found as you go along.
Source: Think and Grow Rich (1938), p. 127
“When you reach the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on.”
Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865) 16th President of the United States
“Luck is when opportunity meets preparation.”
Denzel Washington (1954) actor, screenwriter, director, producer
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
“That it will never come again is what makes life so sweet.”
Emily Dickinson (1830–1886) American poet
“What is a friend? A single soul dwelling in two bodies.”
Aristotle (-384–-321 BC) Classical Greek philosopher, student of Plato and founder of Western philosophy
Variant: A friend is one soul abiding in two bodies.
Variant: Love is composed of a single soul inhabiting two bodies.
Source: The Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers, p. 188; also reported in various sources as:
Friendship is a single soul dwelling in two bodies.
A true friend is one soul in two bodies.
Love is composed of a single soul inhabiting two bodies.
What is a friend? A single soul dwelling in two bodies.
“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
Napoleon Hill book Think and Grow Rich
Variant: Do not wait: the time will never be 'just right'. Start where you stand, and work whatever tools you may have at your command and better tools will be found as you go along.
Source: Think and Grow Rich (1938), p. 127
Context: Do not wait; the time will never be "just right." Start where you stand, and work with whatever tools you may have at your command, and better tools will be found as you go along.
“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.
“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
“The greatest danger to our future is apathy.”
Jane Goodall (1934) British primatologist, ethologist, and anthropologist
"The Power of One", Time Magazine (26 August 2002)
“Birds born in a cage think flying is an illness.”
Alejandro Jodorowsky (1929) Filmmaker and comics writer
As quoted in Investing with Impact: Why Finance is a Force for Good (2016) by Jeremy Balkin
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.
Eleanor Roosevelt (1884–1962) American politician, diplomat, and activist, and First Lady of the United States
Source: The Autobiography of Eleanor Roosevelt
“It is better to be hated for what you are than to be loved for what you are not.”
André Gide (1869–1951) French novelist and essayist
Frequently misattributed to Marilyn Monroe or Kurt Cobain.
Source: https://books.google.com/books?id=xUtdDnEhkMMC&pg=PT12&lpg=PT12#v=onepage&q&f=false
Source: Autumn Leaves, Philosophical eLibrary, 2012, (Feuillets d'automne, 1941, trans. Jeanine Parisier Plottel)
“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
“I would rather walk with a friend in the dark, than alone in the light.”
Helen Keller (1880–1968) American author and political activist
Variant: Walking with a friend in the dark is better than walking alone in the light.
“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
“Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire.”
W.B. Yeats (1865–1939) Irish poet and playwright
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 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
“We are here, not because we are law-breakers; we are here in our efforts to become law-makers.”
Emmeline Pankhurst book My Own Story
My Own Story (1914), p. 129, Hearst's International Library.
“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.
Kanye West (1977) American rapper, singer and songwriter
Source: Thank You and You're Welcome (2009), p.22
“The friendship that can cease has never been real.”
Amicitia quae desinere potest vera numquam fuit.
Jerome (345–420) Catholic saint and Doctor of the Church
Letter 3
Letters
“Tough times never last, but tough people do. ”
Robert H. Schuller (1926–2015) American television evangelist
“Fight for the things that you care about, but do it in a way that will lead others to join you.”
Ruth Bader Ginsburg (1933) Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States
Statement of advice on being presented the Radcliffe Medal, as quoted in "Honoring Ruth Bader Ginsburg" by Colleen Walsh, in The Harvard Gazette (29 May 2015) https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2015/05/honoring-ruth-bader-ginsburg/ <br class="br">2010s
“We may encounter many defeats but we must not be defeated.”
Maya Angelou (1928–2014) American author and poet
“We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.”
Winston S. Churchill (1874–1965) Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
“You have to expect things of yourself before you can do them.”
Michael Jordan (1963) American retired professional basketball player and businessman
Variant: You must expect great things of yourself before you can do them.
“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
“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
“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/
“There is no such thing as 'too late' in life.”
Mitch Albom Tuesdays with Morrie
Source: Tuesdays with Morrie
Hunter S. Thompson (1937–2005) American journalist and author
"Security" (1951); excerpted in Outlaw Journalist: The Life & Times of Hunter S. Thompson (2008), page 15
1950s
“All your life, you will be faced with a choice. You can choose love or hate…I choose love.”
Johnny Cash (1932–2003) American singer-songwriter
“There are no have-to's, just choices”
Eleanor Roosevelt (1884–1962) American politician, diplomat, and activist, and First Lady of the United States
“The best way to predict your future is to create it.”
Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865) 16th President of the United States
“Too many of us are not living our dreams because we are living our fears.”
Les Brown (1945) American politician
Variant: Too many of us are not living our dreams because we are living out fears.
“you'll miss the best things if you keep your eyes shut”
Dr. Seuss (1904–1991) American children's writer and illustrator, co-founder of Beginner Books
Source: I Can Read With My Eyes Shut! (1978)
“Keep your face always toward the sunshine – and shadows will fall behind you.”
Walt Whitman (1819–1892) American poet, essayist and journalist
This has become attributed to both Walt Whitman and Helen Keller, but has not been found in either of their published works, and variations of the quote are listed as a proverb commonly used in both the US and Canada in A Dictionary of American Proverbs (1992), edited by Wolfgang Mieder, Kelsie B. Harder and Stewart A. Kingsbury.
Misattributed
“Sometimes the heart sees what is invisible to the eyes”
H. Jackson Brown, Jr. (1940) American writer
Laozi (-604) semi-legendary Chinese figure, attributed to the 6th century, regarded as the author of the Tao Te Ching and fou…
This quotation's origin is actually unknown, however it is not found in the Dao De Jing.
生命是一连串的自发的自然变化。逆流而动只会徒增伤悲。接受现实，万物自然循着规律发展。
Misattributed
Variant: Life is a series of natural and spontaneous changes. Don't resist them — that only creates sorrow. Let reality be reality. Let things flow naturally forward in whatever way they like.
“It is us today. It will be you tomorrow.”
Haile Selassie (1892–1975) Emperor of Ethiopia
Statement after his speech before the League of Nations (30 June 1936), as quoted in " "The Lion is Freed" in TIME magazine (8 September 1975) http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,917777,00.html?iid=chix-sphere
“Life's tragedy is that we get old too soon and wise too late. ”
Benjamin Franklin (1706–1790) American author, printer, political theorist, politician, postmaster, scientist, inventor, civic activist, …
“Every problem is a gift - without problems we would not grow.”
Anthony Robbins (1960) Author, actor, professional speaker
“If there is a good will, there is great way.”
William Shakespeare (1564–1616) English playwright and poet
“The image is one thing and the human being is another…it's very hard to live up to an image.”
Elvis Presley (1935–1977) American singer and actor
Press conference (June 1972),also quoted in Elvis Culture : Fans, Faith, & Image (1999) by Erika Lee Doss, p. 218
Margaret Mead (1901–1978) American anthropologist
Source: Kabir, Hajara Muhammad (2010). Northern women development. [Nigeria]. ISBN 978-978-906-469-4. OCLC 890820657 note: 1940s, Male and Female (1949)
“Whatever the mind of man can conceive and believe, it can achieve.”
W. Clement Stone (1902–2002) American New Thought author
Actually said by Napoleon Hill, Stone later added the line "...with P.M.A." (Positive Mental Attitude) to the end of this quote.
Misattributed
Variant: Whatever the mind of man can conceive and believe, it can achieve.