Quotes about limitation
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“Know from whence you came. If you know whence you came, there are absolutely no limitations to where you can go.”

James Baldwin (1924–1987) (1924-1987) writer from the United States

“We are put on this planet only once, and to limit ourselves to the familiar is a crime against our minds.”

Roger Ebert (1942–2013) American film critic, author, journalist, and TV presenter

“When we argue for our limitations, we get to keep them.”

Evelyn Waugh (1903–1966) British writer

“Sometimes I worry that there’s not enough room in my brain for both my dreams and reality that I’m a hard drive with limited gigabytes and one day I won’t be able to maintain the firewall between them. I wonder if that’s what senility is.”

Karen Marie Moning (1964) author

Source: Shadowfever

Dreams, Reality

“Garcia wondered why people with JESUS stickers on their bumper always drove twenty miles per hour under the speed limit. If God was my co-pilot, he thought, I'd be doing a hundred and twenty.”

Carl Hiaasen Strip Tease

Source: Strip Tease

God, People, Speed

“I have absolutley no limits on what I intent to create.”

Wayne W. Dyer (1940–2015) American writer

“Limitations are possibilities…
Opportunities to perceive ourselves
Beyond our present selves…”

Ilchi Lee (1950) South Korean businessman

Songs of Enlightenment

“There are no limits when you are surrounded by people who believe in you, or by people whose expectations are not set by the short-sighted attitudes of society, or by people who help to open doors of opportunity, not close them.”

Neil deGrasse Tyson book The Sky Is Not the Limit: Adventures of an Urban Astrophysicist

Source: The Sky Is Not the Limit: Adventures of an Urban Astrophysicist

People, Help

“If, for example, you are miserly by nature, you will never go beyond a certain limit; only generous souls attain greatness.”

Robert Greene book The 48 Laws of Power

Source: The 48 Laws of Power

Soul, Nature

“The most important experiences a man can have are those that take him to the very limit; that is the only way we learn, because it requires all our courage.”

Paulo Coelho book Eleven Minutes

Source: Eleven Minutes

Way, Courage, Learning

“Well, you know, there are limits to the sacred claims of friendship.”

P.G. Wodehouse book Carry On, Jeeves

Source: Carry on, Jeeves

Friendship

“you and I have good enough minds to know how very limited and finite they really are. The naked intellect is an extraordinarily inaccurate instrument.”

Madeleine L'Engle A Wind in the Door

Source: A Wind in the Door

“We both know the limits of this relationship. It's understood. And as long as we're both comfortablewith that, nobody get's hurt. It's basic.'
~Oliva, pg 374”

Sarah Dessen Lock and Key

Source: Lock and Key

Hurt

“When you hit a wall – of your own imagined limitations – just kick it in.”

Sam Shepard (1943–2017) American playwright and actor

Imagination

“Surely no one would ever use such a weapon against a city."

"There are no limits in war," Volger said, still staring out the window.”

Scott Westerfeld book Goliath

Source: Goliath

War

“I say, thirteen is too many dogs for good mental health. Five is pretty much the limit. More than five dogs and you forfeit your right to call yourself entirely sane.
Even if the dogs are small.”

E. Lockhart (1967) American writer of novels as E. Lockhart (mainly for teenage girls) and of picture books under real name Emily J…

Source: The Boyfriend List: 15 Guys, 11 Shrink Appointments, 4 Ceramic Frogs and Me, Ruby Oliver

Health, Dogs

“Don’t believe what your eyes are telling you. All they show is limitation. Look with your understanding. Find out what you already know and you will see the way to fly.”

Richard Bach book Jonathan Livingston Seagull

Source: Jonathan Livingston Seagull

Way, Understanding, Flying

“How can I accept a limited definable self when I feel, in me, all possibilities?… I never feel the four walls around the substance of the self, the core. I feel only space. Illimitable space.”

Anaïs Nin (1903–1977) writer of novels, short stories, and erotica

Source: The Diary of Anaïs Nin, Vol. 1: 1931-1934

Feeling

“NC passed law against global warming science, therefore it's not happening. So I'm ignoring Twitter's 140-character limit, so it's not happ”

Stephen Colbert (1964) American political satirist, writer, comedian, television host, and actor

Law, Science

“There's no such thing as im-POSSIBLE, Hiccup, only im-PROBABLE. The only thing that limits us are the limits to our imagination”

Cressida Cowell book How to Cheat a Dragon's Curse

Source: How to Cheat a Dragon's Curse

Imagination

“The human body has limitations; the human spirit is boundless.”

Dean Karnazes (1962) American distance runner

Source: Ultramarathon Man: Confessions of an All-Night Runner

“Genius is not a possession of the limited few, but exists in some degree in everyone. Where there is natural growth, a full and free play of faculties, genius will manifest itself.”

Robert Henri (1865–1929) American painter

Nature

“My gratitude extends beyond the limits of my capacity to express it”

Iain Banks The Player of Games

Source: The Player of Games

Gratitude

“the conspicuous consumption of limited resources has yet to be accepted widely as a spiritual error, or even bad manners”

Barbara Kingsolver book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life

Source: Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life

Error

“I am enough of an artist to draw freely upon my imagination. Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world.”

Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born physicist and founder of the theory of relativity

1920s, Viereck interview (1929)

Inspirational, World, Imagination, Knowledge

“You are extraordinary within your limits, but your limits are extraordinary!”

Gertrude Stein book Everybody's Autobiography

Source: Everybody's Autobiography

“Nothing limits intelligence more than ignorance; nothing fosters ignorance more than one's own opinions; nothing strengthens opinions more than refusing to look at reality.”

Sheri S. Tepper (1929–2016) American fiction writer

Guardian Camwar, in Ch. 4 : the cooper
Source: The Visitor (2002)
Context: You asked for wisdom? Hear these words. Nothing limits intelligence more than ignorance; nothing fosters ignorance more than one's own opinions; nothing strengthens opinions more than refusing to look at reality.

Intelligence, Reality

“Imagine no limitations; decide what's right and desirable before you decide
what's possible.”

Brian Tracy (1944) American motivational speaker and writer

Imagination

“You can use your time to build bridges or walls. The latter is not only unChristlike, it limits impact & creates loneliness.”

Rick Warren (1954) Christian religious leader

Time, Loneliness

“By his monstrous way of life he seemed to have put himself beyond the limits of reality. Nothing moved him or spoke to him from the real world unless he heard it in an echo of the infuriated cries within him.”

James Joyce book A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

Source: A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

Life, World, Way, Reality

“We do not know what things look like.
We know what things are like. It must be a very limiting thing, this seeing. -Aunt Beast”

Madeleine L'Engle book A Wrinkle in Time

Source: A Wrinkle in Time

“It seems to me, Golan, that the advance of civilization is nothing but an exercise in the limiting of privacy.”

Isaac Asimov book Foundation’s Edge

Source: The Foundation series (1951–1993), Foundation’s Edge (1982), Chapter 6 “Earth” section 1, p. 100
Source: Foundation's Edge

Exercises

“He was so different from her, yet in his presence she felt the possibility of another kind of life, a life she had never imagined could be hers. A life without the rigid limitations others had always set for her.”

Nicholas Sparks book The Choice

Source: The Choice

Life, Imagination

“I respect my limitations, but I don't use them as an excuse.”

Stephen R. Donaldson (1947) Novelist

“Whereas the beautiful is limited, the sublime is limitless, so that the mind in the presence of the sublime, attempting to imagine what it cannot, has pain in the failure but pleasure in contemplating the immensity of the attempt”

Immanuel Kant book Critique of Pure Reason

Source: Critique of Pure Reason

Beauty, Pain, Pleasure, Beauty

“Be an independent thinker at all times, and ignore anyone who attempts to define you in a limiting way.”

Sherry Argov (1977) American writer

Source: Why Men Love Bitches: From Doormat to Dreamgirl—A Woman's Guide to Holding Her Own in a Relationship

Attitude, Way, Time

“People can snap. People have a limit. And some people are just plain nuts.”

Ilona Andrews American husband-and-wife novelist duo

People

“But a sort of rupture-in anguish-leaves us at the limit of tears: in such a case we lose ourselves, we forget ourselves and communicate with an elusive beyond.”

Georges Bataille (1897–1962) French intellectual and literary figure

Communication, Tear, Forgetting

“Walls protect and walls limit. It is in the nature of walls that they should fall. That walls should fall is the consequence of blowing your own trumpet.”

Jeanette Winterson book Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit

Source: Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit

Nature

“Science fiction, outside of poetry, is the only literary field which has no limits, no parameters whatsoever.”

Theodore Sturgeon (1918–1985) American speculative fiction writer

As quoted in an interview with David Duncan http://www.physics.emory.edu/~weeks/misc/duncan.html <br class="br">Context: Science fiction, outside of poetry, is the only literary field which has no limits, no parameters whatsoever. You can go not only into the future, but into that wonderful place called "other", which is simply another universe, another planet, another species.

Science

“You got to know your limits. Once is enough, but you got to learn. A little caution never hurt anyone. A good woodsman has only one scar on him. No more, no less.”

Haruki Murakami book Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World

Source: Hardboiled Wonderland and the End of the World (1985), Chapter 24: Shadow Grounds
Source: Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World

Learning, Hurt

“You grow up to become living proof of your parents' limitations. Their less-than masterpiece.”

Chuck Palahniuk book Rant

Source: Rant

Parent

“Unlike a fountain that circulates the same water in an enclosed, perpetually recycling system, a human being circulates thoughts in an unlimited reservoir of self.

Don't limit yourself to being a mere fountain when you contain an ocean.”

Vera Nazarian (1966) American writer

Source: The Perpetual Calendar of Inspiration

Water

“A company should limit its growth based on its ability to attract enough of the right people.”

James C. Collins (1958) American business consultant and writer

Source: Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap... and Others Don't

People

“The process of giving is without limits.”

Joanne Harris book Chocolat

Source: Chocolat

“How to put this feeling, this certainty, into something as limited as words?”

Eileen Wilks (1952) fiction writer

Source: On the Prowl

Feeling

“I wasn’t a nerd, mind you, but I’d spent a lot of my youth studying Epics, so I’d had limited experience with social interaction. I mixed with ordinary people about the same way that a bucket of paint mixed with a bag of gerbils.”

Brandon Sanderson (1975) American fantasy writer

Source: Firefight

People, Youth, Way, Study

“Argue for your limitations and you get to keep them.”

Elizabeth Gilbert Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear

Source: Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear

“I was young I was so young it hurt like a knife
inside
because there was no alternative except to hide as long
as possible---
not in self-pity but with dismay at my limited chance:
trying to connect.”

Charles Bukowski (1920–1994) American writer

Chance, Hurt

“The most unfortunate thing that happens to a person who fears failure is that he limits himself by becoming afraid to try anything new.”

Leo Buscaglia (1924–1998) Motivational speaker, writer

Fear, Failure, Personality

“So let me get this straight,” Carter said. “The two guys you liked—one who was dying and one who was off-limits because he’s a god—are now one guy, who isn’t dying and isn’t off-limits. And you’re complaining.”

Rick Riordan book The Serpent's Shadow

Source: The Serpent's Shadow

God, Guy

“Genius may have its limitations, but stupidity is not thus handicapped.”

Elbert Hubbard (1856–1915) American writer, publisher, artist, and philosopher fue el escritor del jarron azul

Stupidity

“I'm amazing and studly, but I have limits.”

Jim Butcher book Grave Peril

Source: Grave Peril

“… the face has limited space. My mother used to say, if you fill your face with laughing, there will be no more room for crying.”

Rohinton Mistry A Fine Balance

Variant: The human face has limited space. If you fill it with laughter there will be no room for crying.
Source: A Fine Balance

Cry

“Hippo in a skirt: this was a comic reference to one of Solomon's principal wives, the one from Moab. Childish? Yes. But in the days before printing we had limited opportunities for satire.”

Jonathan Stroud book The Ring of Solomon

Source: The Ring of Solomon

“There's no limit to how much you'll know, depending how far beyond zebra you go.”

Dr. Seuss (1904–1991) American children's writer and illustrator, co-founder of Beginner Books

Dependency

“Somebody should tell us, right at the start of our lives, that we are dying. Then we might live life to the limit, every minute of every day. Do it! I say. Whatever you want to do, do it now! There are only so many tomorrows.”

Michael Landon Jr. (1964) American television director

Life

“When it comes to paying contractors, the sky is the limit; when it comes to financing the basic functions of the state, the coffers are empty.”

Naomi Klein (1970) Canadian author and activist

Source: The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism (2007)

“Our liberty depends on the freedom of the press, and that cannot be limited without being lost.”

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

Letter to Dr. James Currie (28 January 1786) Lipscomb & Bergh 18:ii
1780s

Freedom, Dependency

“Once you've recognized your own limits, you've raised yourself to a higher level of being, since you're closer to the real you…”

Banana Yoshimoto (1964) Japanese writer

“I thought about all the people I knew who spent many of their waking hours feeling sorry for themselves. How useful it would be to put a daily limit on self-pity. Just a few tearful minutes, then on with the day.”

Mitch Albom Tuesdays with Morrie

Source: Tuesdays with Morrie

People, Feeling, Tear

“Begin to wonder what you do write about. Or if you have anything to say. Or even if there is such a thing as a thing to say. Limit these thoughts to no more than ten minutes a day; like sit-ups, they can make you thin”

Lorrie Moore (1957) American writer

Source: Self-Help

“Recycling and speed limits are bullshit. They're like someone who quits smoking on his deathbed.”

Chuck Palahniuk Fight Club

Source: Fight Club

Speed

“I think that when you live in a world with limits… when you've met everyone and seem everything you're going to see - you lose the hope that something extraordinary will happen in your life”

Jodi Picoult (1966) Author

Source: Between the Lines

Life, World, Hope, Thinking

“We can only feel sorry for ourselves when our misfortunes are still supportable. Once this limit is crossed, the only way to bear the unbearable is to laugh at it.”

Marjane Satrapi (1969) Artist

Source: The Complete Persepolis

Way, Feeling, Support

“Science Fiction writers, I am sorry to say, really do not know anything. We can't talk about science because our knowledge of it is limited and unofficial, and usually our fiction is dreadful.”

Philip K. Dick (1928–1982) American author

"How To Build A Universe That Doesn't Fall Apart Two Days Later" (1978)

Knowledge, Science

“She was reaching the limits of how much its possible to change a man”

David Nicholls book One Day

Source: One Day

Change

“There are too many people in the world as it is, but the supply of ancient manuscripts is severely limited.”

Elizabeth Peters Crocodile on the Sandbank

Source: Crocodile on the Sandbank

People, World

“Leaving New Orleans also frightened me considerably. Outside of the city limits the heart of darkness, the true wasteland begins.”

John Kennedy Toole A Confederacy of Dunces

Source: A Confederacy of Dunces

Heart

“My dad had limitations. That's what my good-hearted mom always told us. He had limitations, but he meant no harm. It was kind of her to say, but he did do harm.”

Gillian Flynn book Gone Girl

Source: Gone Girl

For Parents, For Mother, Moms, Heart

“Not every puzzle is intended to be solved. Some are in place to test your limits. Others are, in fact, not puzzles at all…”

Vera Nazarian (1966) American writer

Source: The Perpetual Calendar of Inspiration

“I have learned to seek my happiness by limiting my desires, rather than in attempting to satisfy them.”

John Stuart Mill (1806–1873) British philosopher and political economist

Attributed to John Stuart Mill in The Phrenological Journal and Science of Health, Vol. LXXXV (September 1887), p. 170
Disputed

Motivational, Deep, Happy, Inspirational

“Every time you come to the limit of what is demanded of you, you are faced with the same problem-to be yourself!”

Henry Miller book Tropic of Capricorn

Source: Tropic of Capricorn

Problem, Time

“Don't try to comprehend with your mind. Your minds are very limited. Use your intuition.”

Madeleine L'Engle A Wind in the Door

Source: A Wind in the Door

“Nothing binds you except your thoughts; nothing limits you except your fear; and nothing controls you except your beliefs.”

Marianne Williamson (1952) American writer

Fear

“Can a man who lies, cheats, steals, and sometimes does violence to other people be a man of honor?
Kolabati looked into his eyes. "He can if he lies to liars, cheats cheaters, steals from thieves, and limits his violence to those who are violent.”

F. Paul Wilson (1946) novelist

People, Cheating

“As we grow older and realize more clearly the limitations of human happiness, we come to see that the only real and abiding pleasure in life is to give pleasure to other people.”

P.G. Wodehouse book Something Fresh

Source: Something Fresh

Life, People, Pleasure, Happiness

“When it came to the dark fuckery of the human heart, there seemed to be no limit.”

Stephen King book Full Dark, No Stars

Source: Full Dark, No Stars

Heart

“Empathy, he once had decided, must be limited to herbivores or anyhow omnivores who could depart from a meat diet. Because, ultimately, the empathic gift blurred the boundaries between hunter and victim, between the successful and the defeated.”

Philip K. Dick book Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?

Source: Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?

Success

“Just like in bodybuilding, failure is also a necessary experience for growth in our own lives, for if we're never tested to our limits, how will we know how strong we really are? How will we ever grow?”

Arnold Schwarzenegger (1947) actor, businessman and politician of Austrian-American heritage

Failure, Strong

“It is tragic and sad and chaotic and lovely. All life is the same, as citizens of the human State: the animating limits are within, to be killed and mourned, over and over again.”

David Foster Wallace book Infinite Jest

Source: Infinite Jest

Love, Life, Sadness, Animals

“Every limit is a beginning as well as an ending.”

George Eliot book Middlemarch

Source: Middlemarch (1871)
Context: Every limit is a beginning as well as an ending. Who can quit young lives after being long in company with them, and not desire to know what befell them in their after-years? For the fragment of a life, however typical, is not the sample of an even web: promises may not be kept, and an ardent outset may be followed by declension; latent powers may find their long-waited opportunity; a past error may urge a grand retrieval.

“And although she was sometimes dissatisfied with herself, she felt unable to go beyond her own limitations. Books were safer.”

Paulo Coelho book Brida

Source: Brida

Books

“There is a reason God limits our days.'
'Why?'
'To make each one precious.”

Mitch Albom (1958) American author

Variant: There is a reason God limits man's days.
Source: The Time Keeper

God