Recently I’ve been overly inspired by so many different things and have been trying my best to look at life in new ways. I’ve been watching a whole load of nature documentaries over the past few days, mainly narrated by David Attenborough – yes, he’s awesome – which have given me a tonne of new cool places to add to my bucket list.
I decided to put together a list of my favourite inspirational quotes. I know I’ve missed hundreds and thousands of good ones, but I’ve willingly left out many too. The ones below are what I feel directly apply to myself, and therefore to like-minded people who read this blog!
What I’d really appreciate is your views. Comment below with your personal favourite quotes…
1) “If you always do what you always did, you’ll always get what you always got.” – Albert Einstein
2) “The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man.” – George Bernard Shaw
3) “The elevator to success is out of order. You’ll have to use the stairs… one step at a time.” – Joe Girard
4) “The man who removes a mountain begins by carrying away small stones.” – Chinese Proverb
5) “They always say time changes things, but you actually have to change them yourself.” – Andy Warhol
6) “It is never too late to be what you might have been.” – George Eliot
7) “The impossible is often the untried.” – Jonathan Goodwin
8) “Discipline is the foundation upon which all success is built. Lack of discipline inevitably leads to failure.” – Jim Rohn
9) “Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection we can catch excellence.” – Vince Lombardi
10) “Daring ideas are like chessmen moved forward; they may be beaten, but they may start a winning game.” – Goethe
11) “To climb steep hills requires slow pace at first.” – William Shakespeare
12) “A mind is like a parachute, it doesn’t work if it isn’t open.” – Frank Zappa
13) “The best way to predict the future is to create it.” – Abraham Lincoln
14) “You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.” – Wayne Gretzky
15) “He who ask a question is a fool for 5 minutes. He who does not ask a question remains a fool for ever.” – Chinese Proverb
16) “A discovery is said to be an accident meeting a prepared mind.” – Albert von Szent-Gyorgyi
17) “The trouble with not having a goal is that you can spend your life running up and down the field and never score.” – Bill Copeland
18) By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.” – Benjamin Franklin
19) “Care about people’s approval and you will be their prisoner.” – Tao Te Ching
20) “The world is changing very fast. Big will not beat small anymore. It will be the fast beating the slow” – Rupert Murdoch
21) “All our dreams can come true – if we have the courage to pursue them.” – Walt Disney
22) “The key to success is for you to make a habit throughout your life of doing the things you fear.” – Vincent Van Gogh
23) “Great minds discuss ideas. Average minds discuss events. Small minds discuss people.” – Eleanor Roosevelt
24) “Never leave that till tomorrow which you can do today.” – Benjamin Franklin
25) “Age is an issue of mind over matter. If you don’t mind, it doesn’t matter.” – Mark Twain
26) “I haven’t failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” – Thomas Edison
27) “That which doesn’t kill us makes us stronger.” – Friedrich Nietzsche
28) “What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
29) “Whether you think you can or think you can’t, you’re right.” – Henry Ford
30) “Few are those who see with their own eyes and feel with their own hearts.” – Albert Einstein
31) “It’s not whether you get knocked down, it’s whether you get up.” – Vince Lombardi
32) “It’s not about time, it’s about choices. How are you spending your choices?” – Beverly Adamo
33) “You must be the change you want to see in the world.” – M.K. Gandhi
34) “I’ve missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.” – Michael Jordan
35) “Failure is the condiment that gives success its flavor.” – Truman Capote
36) “Don’t go through life, grow through life.” – Eric Butterworth
37) “The more I want to get something done, the less I call it work.” – Richard Bach
38) “Defeat is not bitter unless you swallow it.” – Joe Clark
39) “The only thing worse than a man you can’t control is a man you can.” – Margo Kaufman
40) “In any situation, the best thing you can do is the right thing; the next best thing you can do is the wrong thing; the worst thing you can do is nothing.” – Theodore Roosevelt
41) “To avoid criticism do nothing, say nothing, be nothing.” – Elbert Hubbard
42) “The difference between ordinary and extraordinary is that little extra.” – Jimmy Johnson
43) “I am an optimist. It does not seem too much use being anything else.” – Winston Churchill
44) “There are two primary choices in life: to accept conditions as they exist, or accept the responsibility for changing them.” – Dr. Denis Waitley
45) “Life is 10% what happens to us and 90% how we react to it.” – Dennis P. Kimbro
46) “Cause change and lead; accept change and survive; resist change and die.” – Ray Norda
47) “I am always doing that which I cannot do, in order that I may learn how to do it.” – Pablo Picasso
48) “An obstacle is often a stepping stone.” – Prescott
49) “If you cannot do great things, do small things in a great way.” – Napoleon Hill
50) “If not us, who? If not now, when?” – John F. Kennedy
51) “A successful man is one who can lay a firm foundation with the bricks that others throw at him.” – Sidney Greenberg
52) “Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don’t matter and those who matter don’t mind.” – Dr. Seuss
53) “The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.” – Lao Tzu
54) “Enjoy the little things, for one day you may look back and realize they were the big things.” – Robert Brault
55) “Many of life’s failures are experienced by people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.” – Thomas Edison
56) “The dreamers are the saviours of the world.” – James Allen
57) “The pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity. The optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.” – Winston Churchill
58) “Failure is the opportunity to begin again more intelligently.” – Henry Ford
59) “You make a living by what you earn; you make a life by what you give.” – Winston Churchill
60) “If you go as far as you can see, you will then see enough to go even farther.” – John Wooden
61) “Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do.” – John Wooden
62) “Success…seems to be connected with action. Successful people keep moving. They make mistakes, but they don’t quit.” – Conrad Hilton
63) “Intolerance of your present creates your future.” – Mike Murdock
64) “The quality of a person’s life is in direct proportion to their commitment to excellence, regardless of their chosen field of endeavour.” – Vince Lombardi
65) “How does one become a butterfly? You must want to fly so much that you are willing to give up being a caterpillar.” – Trina Paulus
66) “You do what you have to do, to do what you want to do.” – Patricia Fripp
67) “The world can easily bend around me without breaking; I however, can’t bend around the world without breaking. The majority don’t know this until they’re already broken.” – Michael Charalambous
I hope these resonate in your minds the way they have in mine. Don’t forget to comment below with your favourites. Or, with your own quote?
Sup Mike, you’re putting up some good posts. Got another set of quotes to share with you
http://exploreforayear.com/clarity/45-inspiring-quotes-change
Hus, thanks for the kind words. This list is excellent – thanks for sharing!