Quotes about motivation

„No one asks how to motivate a baby. A baby naturally explores everything it can get at, unless restraining forces have already been at work. And this tendency doesn't die out, it's wiped out.“

—  B.F. Skinner, Walden Two

Source: Walden Two

„Listen to how everyone is talking about you. You have to use it as fuel for motivation.“

—  Kobe Bryant American basketball player 1978 - 2020

„Neither pleasure nor pain should enter as motives when one must do what must be done.“

—  Julius Evola Italian philosopher and esotericist 1898 - 1974

Source: Ride the Tiger: A Survival Manual for the Aristocrats of the Soul

„I think it's rarely about what you actually learn in class it's mostly about things that you stay motivated to go and continue to do on your own.“

—  Maryam Mirzakhani Iranian mathematician 1977 - 2017

Maryam Mirzakhani press conference after winning Field's Medal | august 2014

„Sometimes rejections betrayal and failures become the best motivation.“

—  Albara Almerf African Asian author 2000

„One of the greatest advantages of the totalitarian elites of the twenties and thirties was to turn any statement of fact into a question of motive.“

—  Hannah Arendt, book The Origins of Totalitarianism

Source: The Origins of Totalitarianism

„Action isn’t just the effect of motivation; it’s also the cause of it.“

—  Mark Manson American writer and blogger 1984

Source: The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck (2016), Chapter 7, “Failure Is the Way Forward” (p. 160)

„Heroes are those who can somehow resist the power of the situation and act out of noble motives, or behave in ways that do not demean others when they easily can.“

—  Philip G. Zimbardo American social psychologist, author of Stanford Prison Experiment 1933

„Never depend upon institutions or government to solve any problem. All social movements are founded by, guided by, motivated and seen through by the passion of individuals.“

—  Margaret Mead American anthropologist 1901 - 1978

Attributed in Talent Development for English Language Learners: Identifying and Developing Potential (2013) by Michael S. Matthews, Ph.D. SBN-13:9781618211057
2000s
Variant: Never ever depend on governments or institutions to solve any major problems. All social change comes from the passion of individuals.

„There are those… who enter the world in such poverty that they are deprived of both the means and the motivation to improve their lot.“

—  Aga Khan IV 49th and current Imam of Nizari Ismailism 1936

Speech at the Innauguration of the Aga Khan Baug, Versova, India (17 January 1983) http://ismaili.net/speech/s830117.html <!-- ***Source: Selection of Speeches: 1976-1984
Source: Africa Ismaili, XIV, 2 (July 1983), pp. 20-22
Source: American Ismaili, (July 11, 1983), pp. 15-16 -->
Context: There are those... who enter the world in such poverty that they are deprived of both the means and the motivation to improve their lot. Unless these unfortunates can be touched with the spark which ignites the spirit of individual enterprise and determination, they will only sink back into renewed apathy, degradation and despair. It is for us, who are more fortunate, to provide that spark.

„When evaluating someone’s actions or temperament, always examine motive for it is the essence of what and who they are. One’s actions are in direct correlation with the conscience.“

—  RJ Intindola (Gandolfo)

1992

„If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives. Do good anyway!“

—  Matka Tereza Roman Catholic saint of Albanian origin 1910 - 1997

This is a variant or paraphrase of The Paradoxical Commandments, by Kent M. Keith, student activist, first composed in 1968 as part of a booklet for student leaders, which had hung on the wall of Mother Teresa's children's home in Calcutta, India, and have sometimes become misattributed to her. The version posted at his site http://www.paradoxicalcommandments.com begins:
Misattributed
Context: People are often unreasonable and self-centered. Forgive them anyway. If you are kind, people may accuse you of ulterior motives. Be kind anyway. If you are honest, people may cheat you. Be honest anyway. If you find happiness, people may be jealous. Be happy anyway. The good you do today may be forgotten tomorrow. Do good anyway. Give the world the best you have and it may never be enough. Give your best anyway. For you see, in the end, it is between you and God. It was never between you and them anyway.

„I think I have more plans for my future from now and I think we must start work for a campaign now so we have set up a Malala foundation. And through Malala fund we are going to educate girls and we want to do work on the ground: building schools, teachers, training, trying to motivate parents of the children to send their children to school. We also want to recognize those girls who are fighting for their rights. In the future when I grow older, much older I want to do politics. I want to serve my country for politics. I want to help my people and I want to help in education.“

—  Malala Yousafzai Pakistani children's education activist 1997

Statements in PBS interview with Margaret Warner (October 11, 2013)

„When we are equipped with leadership skills that complement traditional rank, we are appropriately prepared to provide the inspiration, the motivation and guidance expected of us. The ethos of 'vakaturaga' (chiefly way) will then retain its true place in Fijian culture in this new millennium.“

—  Josefa Iloilo President of Fiji 1920 - 2011

Opening address to the Great Council of Chiefs meeting, 27 July 2005 (excerpts)

„I think the big mistake in schools is trying to teach children anything, and by using fear as the basic motivation.“

—  Stanley Kubrick American film director, screenwriter, producer, cinematographer and editor 1928 - 1999

Quoted in Stanley Kubrick at Look Magazine (2013) by Phillipe Mather, p. 46
Context: I think the big mistake in schools is trying to teach children anything, and by using fear as the basic motivation. Fear of getting failing grades, fear of not staying with your class, etc. Interest can produce learning on a scale compared to fear as a nuclear explosion to a firecracker.

„The larger crimes are apt to be the simpler, for the bigger the crime, the more obvious, as a rule, is the motive.“

—  Arthur Conan Doyle Scottish physician and author 1859 - 1930

„Motivation gets you through the day, but inspiration lasts a lifetime.“

—  Nick Vujicic Serbian Australian evangelist and motivational speaker 1982

„The steam-engine having furnished us with a means of converting heat into a motive power, and our thoughts being thereby led to regard a certain quantity of work as an equivalent for the amount of heat expended in its production, the idea of establishing theoretically some fixed relation between a quantity of heat and the quantity of work which it can possibly produce, from which relation conclusions regarding the nature of heat itself might be deduced, naturally presents itself. Already, indeed, have many successful efforts been made with this view; I believe, however, that they have not exhausted the subject, but that, on the contrary, it merits the continued attention of physicists… The most important investigation in connexion with this subject is that of S. Carnot.“

—  Rudolf Clausius German mathematical physicist 1822 - 1888

First Memoir. On the Moving Force of Heat and the Laws which may be Deduced Therefrom
The Mechanical Theory of Heat (1867)

„I never used any outside influence to advance my career. All I had was the inner urge to seek more within myself. The key to my motivation has always been to look at how far I had still to go rather than how far I had come.“

—  A. P. J. Abdul Kalam, book Wings of Fire

Source: Wings of Fire, p. 140.