Quotes about enthusiasm

A collection of quotes on the topic of enthusiasm, people, life, likeness.

Quotes about enthusiasm

John D. Rockefeller photo

“I would rather hire a man with enthusiasm, than a man who knows everything.”

John D. Rockefeller (1839–1937) American business magnate and philanthropist

As quoted in Classic Wisdom for the Professional Life (2010) by Bryan Curtis, p. 75

Federico Fellini photo

“You have to live spherically - in many directions. Never lose your childish enthusiasm - and things will come your way.”

Federico Fellini (1920–1993) Italian filmmaker

Variant: Put yourself into life and never lose your openness, your childish enthusiasm throughout the journey that is life, and things will come your way.

Saki photo

“You can't expect the fatted calf to share the enthusiasm of the angels over the prodigal's return.”

Saki (1870–1916) British writer

"Reginald on the Academy"
Reginald (1904)

Tennessee Williams photo
Colette photo

“You will do foolish things, but do them with enthusiasm.”

Colette (1873–1954) 1873-1954 French novelist: wrote Gigi

New York World-Telegram and Sun (1961)

Elias Canetti photo

“Travelling, one accepts everything; indignation stays at home. One looks, one listens, one is roused to enthusiasm by the most dreadful things because they are new. Good travellers are heartless.”

Elias Canetti (1905–1994) Bulgarian-born Swiss and British jewish modernist novelist, playwright, memoirist, and non-fiction writer

Source: The Voices of Marrakesh: A Record of a Visit

Eckhart Tolle photo
Virginia Woolf photo

“anyone who’s worth anything reads just what he likes, as the mood takes him, and with extravagant enthusiasm.”

Variant: But then anyone who's worth anything reads just what he likes, as the mood takes him, and with extravagant enthusiasm.
Source: Jacob's Room

Adam Smith photo

“Science is the great antidote to the poison of enthusiasm and superstition.”

Adam Smith (1723–1790) Scottish moral philosopher and political economist

Source: The Wealth of Nations

Mark Twain photo
Wilhelm Von Humboldt photo
Henry Van Dyke photo

“How often a man has cause to return thanks for the enthusiasms of his friends! They are the little fountains that run down from the hills to refresh the mental desert of the despondent.”

Henry Van Dyke (1852–1933) American diplomat

The White Blot
The Ruling Passion http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext97/rlpsn10.txt (1901)

Pablo Picasso photo
Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach photo

“Enthusiasm does not always speak for those who arouse it, but always for those who experience it.”

Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach (1830–1916) Austrian writer

Source: Aphorisms (1880/1893), p. 76.

Novalis photo

“Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship may be called throughout prosaic and modern. The Romantic sinks to ruin, the Poesy of Nature, the Wonderful. The Book treats merely of common worldly things: Nature and Mysticism are altogether forgotten. It is a poetised civic and household History; the Marvellous is expressly treated therein as imagination and enthusiasm. Artistic Atheism is the spirit of the Book. … It is properly a Candide, directed against Poetry: the Book is highly unpoetical in respect of spirit, poetical as the dress and body of it are.”

Novalis (1772–1801) German poet and writer

Ralph Waldo Emerson in "Goethe; or, the Writer" writes of this passage, and quotes a slightly different translation: The ardent and holy Novalis characterized the book as "thoroughly modern and prosaic; the romantic is completely levelled in it; so is the poetry of nature; the wonderful. The book treats only of the ordinary affairs of men: it is a poeticized civic and domestic story. The wonderful in it is expressly treated as fiction and enthusiastic dreaming:" — and yet, what is also characteristic, Novalis soon returned to this book, and it remained his favorite reading to the end of his life.
Novalis (1829)

Benjamin Disraeli photo
Benjamin Disraeli photo

“Every production of genius must be the production of enthusiasm.”

Benjamin Disraeli (1804–1881) British Conservative politician, writer, aristocrat and Prime Minister

Isaac D'Israeli, The Curiosities of Literature, "Solitude".
Misattributed, Isaac D'Israeli

Meher Baba photo
Theodore Roosevelt photo
Stefan Zweig photo
Leon Trotsky photo
Virginia Woolf photo
Novalis photo

“The rude, discursive Thinker is the Scholastic (Schoolman Logician). The true Scholastic is a mystical Subtlist; out of logical Atoms he builds his Universe; he annihilates all living Nature, to put an Artifice of Thoughts (Gedankenkunststuck, literally Conjuror's-trick of Thoughts) in its room. His aim is an infinite Automaton. Opposite to him is the rude, intuitive Poet: this is a mystical Macrologist: he hates rules and fixed form; a wild, violent life reigns instead of it in Nature; all is animate, no law; wilfulness and wonder everywhere. He is merely dynamical. Thus does the Philosophic Spirit arise at first, in altogether separate masses. In the second stage of culture these masses begin to come in contact, multifariously enough; and, as in the union of infinite Extremes, the Finite, the Limited arises, so here also arise "Eclectic Philosophers" without number; the time of misunderstanding begins. The most limited is, in this stage, the most important, the purest Philosopher of the second stage. This class occupies itself wholly with the actual, present world, in the strictest sense. The Philosophers of the first class look down with contempt on those of the second; say, they are a little of everything, and so nothing; hold their views as the results of weakness, as Inconsequentism. On the contrary, the second class, in their turn, pity the first; lay the blame on their visionary enthusiasm, which they say is absurd, even to insanity.”

Novalis (1772–1801) German poet and writer

Pupils at Sais (1799)

Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach photo

“An understanding of beauty and enthusiasm for it are one and the same.”

Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach (1830–1916) Austrian writer

Verständnis des Schönen und Begeisterung für das Schöne sind Eins.
Source: Aphorisms (1880/1893), p. 31.

William Howard Taft photo

“Enthusiasm for a cause sometimes warps judgment.”

William Howard Taft (1857–1930) American politician, 27th President of the United States (in office from 1909 to 1913)

Quoted in David G. Plotkin (1955), Dictionary of American Maxims.
Attributed

Jan Tinbergen photo
Neil deGrasse Tyson photo

“The best educators are the ones that inspire their students. That inspiration comes from a passion that teachers have for the subject they're teaching. Most commonly, that person spent their lives studying that subject, and they bring an infectious enthusiasm to the audience.”

Neil deGrasse Tyson (1958) American astrophysicist and science communicator

Global Ideas from Pluto's Challenger (May 21, 2009)
Context: The best educators are the ones that inspire their students. That inspiration comes from a passion that teachers have for the subject they're teaching. Most commonly, that person spent their lives studying that subject, and they bring an infectious enthusiasm to the audience.I think many people have that enthusiasm, but they are prevented from being teachers because they didn't go through the teacher mill. Now you have teachers who have been through the teacher mill, yet they have no capacity to inspire anyone at all. It's the inspired student that continues to learn on their own. That's what separates the real achievers in the world from those who pedal along, finishing assignments.

Thomas Mann photo

“Fanaticism turns into a means of salvation, enthusiasm into epileptic ecstasy, politics becomes an opiate for the masses, a proletarian eschatology; and reason veils her face.”

On German fascism, in "An Appeal to Reason" ["Deutsche Ansprache. Ein Appell an die Vernunft"] in Berliner Tageblatt (18 October 1930); as translated by Helen T. Lowe-Porter in Order of the Day, Political Essays and Speeches of Two Decades (1942), p. 57
Context: This fantastic state of mind, of a humanity that has outrun its ideas, is matched by a political scene in the grotesque style, with Salvation Army methods, hallelujahs and bell-ringing and dervishlike repetition of monotonous catchwords, until everybody foams at the mouth. Fanaticism turns into a means of salvation, enthusiasm into epileptic ecstasy, politics becomes an opiate for the masses, a proletarian eschatology; and reason veils her face.

Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley photo

“No one can conceive the variety of feelings which bore me onwards, like a hurricane, in the first enthusiasm of success. Life and death appeared to me ideal bounds, which I should first break through, and pour a torrent of light into our dark world.”

Victor Frankenstein in Ch. 4
Frankenstein (1818)
Context: No one can conceive the variety of feelings which bore me onwards, like a hurricane, in the first enthusiasm of success. Life and death appeared to me ideal bounds, which I should first break through, and pour a torrent of light into our dark world. A new species would bless me as its creator and source; many happy and excellent natures would owe their being to me. No father could claim the gratitude of his child so completely as I should deserve theirs.

Linus Pauling photo

“I know also that still more interesting discoveries will be made that I have not the imagination to describe — and I am awaiting them, full of curiosity and enthusiasm.”

Linus Pauling (1901–1994) American scientist

Lecture at Yale University, "Chemical Achievement and Hope for the Future." (October 1947) Published in Science in Progress. Sixth Series. Ed. George A. Baitsell. 100-21, (1949).
1940s-1960s
Context: Science cannot be stopped. Man will gather knowledge no matter what the consequences – and we cannot predict what they will be. Science will go on — whether we are pessimistic, or are optimistic, as I am. I know that great, interesting, and valuable discoveries can be made and will be made… But I know also that still more interesting discoveries will be made that I have not the imagination to describe — and I am awaiting them, full of curiosity and enthusiasm.

Pelé photo
Jawaharlal Nehru photo
Barack Obama photo

“Enthusiasm makes up for a host of deficiencies.”

Barack Obama (1961) 44th President of the United States of America
Winston S. Churchill photo
Joel Osteen photo
Alain de Botton photo

“… love is a skill, not just an enthusiasm.”

Alain de Botton (1969) Swiss writer

Source: The Course of Love

William Blake photo
Aldous Huxley photo

“The secret of genius is to carry the spirit of the child into old age, which means never losing your enthusiasm.”

Aldous Huxley (1894–1963) English writer

Variant: The secret of genius is to carry the spirit of the child into old age, which means never losing your enthusiasm.

“He was contemplation and enthusiasm. Ambition and strong coffee.”

Variant: He was contemplation and enthusiasm. Ambition and strong coffee. I could have looked at him forever.
Source: We Were Liars

Henry Miller photo
Woody Allen photo

“I don't know what I'm doing, but my incompetence has never stopped my enthusiasm.”

Woody Allen (1935) American screenwriter, director, actor, comedian, author, playwright, and musician

Variant: I have no idea what I am doing but incompetence has never prevented me from plunging in with enthusiasm.

W. Clement Stone photo
John Muir photo
Anatole France photo

“I prefer the folly of enthusiasm to the wisdom of indifference.”

J'ai toujours préféré la folie des passions à la sagesse de l'indifférence.
Pt. II, ch. 4
The Crime of Sylvestre Bonnard (1881)
Variant: I prefer the errors of enthusiasm to the wisdom of indifference.

Rick Riordan photo
Paulo Coelho photo
John Muir photo

“Spring work is going on with joyful enthusiasm.”

John Muir (1838–1914) Scottish-born American naturalist and author

Source: The Wilderness World of John Muir

Swami Vivekananda photo
Gordon Parks photo
Steven Wright photo
F. Scott Fitzgerald photo
Ralph Waldo Emerson photo

“Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882) American philosopher, essayist, and poet

1840s, Essays: First Series (1841), Circles

Samuel Taylor Coleridge photo
John Muir photo

“Not a visible enthusiasm but a hidden one, an excitement burning with a cold flame.”

Patrick Süskind (1949) German writer and screenwriter

Source: Perfume: The Story of a Murderer

David Sedaris photo

“Flaming enthusiasm, backed up by horse sense and persistence, is the quality that most frequently makes for success.”

Dale Carnegie (1888–1955) American writer and lecturer

As quoted in A Joke, a Quote, & the Word : Feed Your Body, Soul and Spirit (2006) by Ronald P. Keeven, p. 147

Patrick Rothfuss photo
Winston S. Churchill photo

“Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm”

Winston S. Churchill (1874–1965) Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

Attribution debunked in Langworth's Churchill by Himself. The earliest close match located by the Quote Investigator is from the 1953 book How to Say a Few Words by David Guy Powers.
Misattributed
Variant: Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm.
Source: 1953, How to Say a Few Words by David Guy Powers, Quote p. 109, Doubleday & Company, Garden City, New York. Referenced by Quote Investigator http://quoteinvestigator.com/2014/06/28/success

Gretchen Rubin photo

“Enthusiasm is more important than innate ability, it turns out, because the single more important element in developing an expertise is your willingness to practice.”

Gretchen Rubin (1966) American writer

Source: The Happiness Project: Or Why I Spent a Year Trying to Sing in the Morning, Clean My Closets, Fight Right, Read Aristotle, and Generally Have More Fun

Vincent Van Gogh photo

“What color is in a picture, enthusiasm is in life.”

Vincent Van Gogh (1853–1890) Dutch post-Impressionist painter (1853-1890)
Jon Kabat-Zinn photo
Rick Riordan photo
Victor Hugo photo
Chuck Palahniuk photo
Norman Vincent Peale photo
Carl Sagan photo

“Every kid starts out as a natural-born scientist, and then we beat it out of them. A few trickle through the system with their wonder and enthusiasm for science intact.”

Carl Sagan (1934–1996) American astrophysicist, cosmologist, author and science educator

Carl Sagan, author interview
PT Staff
Psychology Today
1996
January
01
http://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/199601/carl-sagan?page=3

Arthur Cecil Pigou photo
Jim Garrison photo
Neil Kinnock photo

“Never mistake the enthusiasm of the minority for the support of the majority.”

Neil Kinnock (1942) British politician

Harriet Harman, " A Woman's Work https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=ogtGDQAAQBAJ&pg=PT75&lpg=PT75&dq=neil+kinnock+%22never+mistake+the+enthusiasm+of+the+minority+for+the+support+of+the+majority%22&source=bl&ots=OpoPF2iMuC&sig=uVo7pu8ZjOjHVdXaVvDKeo4Lt94&hl=en&sa=X&sqi=2&ved=0ahUKEwj5veCHxbLSAhXlIcAKHTZIBU0Q6AEIGjAA#v=onepage&q=neil%20kinnock%20%22never%20mistake%20the%20enthusiasm%20of%20the%20minority%20for%20the%20support%20of%20the%20majority%22&f=false" (Penguin Books, 2017).

Thomas Jefferson photo

“Bigotry is the disease of ignorance, of morbid minds; enthusiasm of the free and buoyant. Education & free discussion are the antidotes of both.”

Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826) 3rd President of the United States of America

Letter to John Adams (1 August 1816)
1810s

Herbert Morrison photo
Letitia Elizabeth Landon photo

“He was an enthusiast—enthusiasm is needed for action; calculation never acts—it is a passive principle.”

Letitia Elizabeth Landon (1802–1838) English poet and novelist

The Monthly Magazine

Donald J. Trump photo

“Well I just want to say that we are, you know, very honored by the victory that we had, 306 electoral college votes, we were not supposed to crack 220, you [turning to the Israeli PM] know that right? There was no way to 221, but then they said there's no way to 270 [Netanyahu tries to respond, but Trump continues, so then mouths "I thought he was talking to me"] and there's tremendous enthusiasm out there. I will say that, um, we are going to have peace, in this country, we are going to stop crime, in this country, we are going to do everything within our power to stop long-simmering racism, and every other thing that's going on, because a lot of bad things have been taking place over a long period of time. I think one of the reasons I won the election is we have a very, very divided nation, very divided, and hopefully I'll be able to do something about that, and I, you know, it's something that was very important to me. As far as people, Jewish people, so many friends, a daughter who happens to be here right now, a son-in-law, and three beautiful grandchildren, I think that you're going to see a lot different United States of America over the next three, four, or eight years, er, I think a lot of good things are happening, and you're going to see a lot of love, you're going to see a lot of love.”

Donald J. Trump (1946) 45th President of the United States of America

Trump responding to a reporter's question about rising anti-Semitic incidents and a perception of xenophobia in his administration, during a joint press conference with Benjamin Netanyahu, Prime Minister of Israel https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SmfseeZt5fA (15 February 2017)
2010s, 2017, February

Joseph Joubert photo
Merrill McPeak photo

“Trump is unexpectedly increasing my enthusiasm for Hillary. What he is saying is not based on facts: it's based on immaturity, bad judgment and ignorance, and I think it's going to be hard for people in uniform who are thoughtful about this, to vote for him.”

Merrill McPeak (1936) United States Air Force general

As quoted in "What Does the Military Think of Donald Trump?" https://www.yahoo.com/news/does-military-think-donald-trump-204408128.html (15 June 2016), Time
2016

Andrei Lankov photo

“Q: Does the creation of Design admit constraint?
Design depends largely on constraints.
Q: What constraints?
The sum of all constraints. Here is one of the few effective keys to the Design problem: the ability of the Designer to recognize as many of the constraints as possible; his willingness and enthusiasm for working within these constraints. Constraints of price, of size, of strength, of balance, of surface, of time, and so forth. Each problem has its own peculiar list.”

Charles Eames (1907–1978) American designer, half of duo the Eames

Another part of the interview: Also cited at: Mark Wunsch. "[http://markwunsch.com/blog/2008/09/27/design-q-a-with-charles-eames.html A software engineer and technologist: Design Q&A with Charles Eames". at markwunsch.com/blog, 2008/09/27
Design Q & A with Charles Eames, 1972

Vladimir Lenin photo
David Dixon Porter photo
Walter Rauschenbusch photo
Constant Lambert photo
Andrei Sakharov photo
Benito Mussolini photo

“Speeches made to the people are essential to the arousing of enthusiasm for a war.”

Benito Mussolini (1883–1945) Duce and President of the Council of Ministers of Italy. Leader of the National Fascist Party and subsequen…

As quoted in Talks with Mussolini, Emil Ludwig, Boston, MA, Little, Brown and Company (1933). Mussolini’s interview was in 1932.
1930s

Alphonse de Lamartine photo
Edmund Burke photo

“There is a sort of enthusiasm in all projectors, absolutely necessary for their affairs, which makes them proof against the most fatiguing delays, the most mortifying disappointments, the most shocking insults; and, what is severer than all, the presumptuous judgement of the ignorant upon their designs.”

Edmund Burke (1729–1797) Anglo-Irish statesman

An account of the European Settlements in America (1757), pp. 19-20, in The Works of Edmund Burke in Nine Volumes, Vol. IX. Boston: Little, Brown (1839)
1750s

Letitia Elizabeth Landon photo