Tag Archives: motivation

A collection of some of my favourite quotes I would love to read your favourite quote(s)!   Please share with me and my readers your favourite quotes… you can pop it into the comments box below. One day, two frogs were enjoying the day in the barn when they accidentally fell into the farmer’s bucket of cream, and they couldn’t get out. The two frogs kept swimming around to keep from drowning, and every once in a while they would try to climb out, but this was becoming very tiring. One frog kept saying, “This is useless, we should just give up.” But the other frog just ignored the comment and kept swimming. Finally, the pessimistic frog gave up and drowned. The other frog was sad at the loss of his friend, but he wasn’t going to give up. He kept swimming and swimming, and, finally, the cream turned into butter and the frog simply climbed out. This story shows that even if we stumble and others try to pull us down, we got to keep on swimming because, eventually, the cream will turn into butter and we’ll make it out of the pail. When we are motivated by goals that have deep meaning, by dreams that need completion, by pure love that needs expressing, then we truly live life. — Greg Anderson The greatest mistake we make is living in constant fear that we will make one. –John Maxwell Fences are made for those who cannot fly. — Elbert Hubbard May you live all the days of your life. — Jonathan Swift And in the end, it’s not the years in your life that count. It’s the life in your years. — Abraham Lincoln We are born for a higher destiny than that of earth. There is a realm where the rainbow never fades, where the stars will be spread out before us like islands that slumber on the ocean and where the beings that now pass before us, like shadows, will stay in our presence forever. — Bulwer-Lytton (as seen in Og Mandino’s book “Return of the Ragpicker” – a book I highly recommend!) A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step. — Lao-tzu For mem’ry has painted this perfect day with colours that never fade, And we find at the end of a perfect day, The soul of a friend we’ve made. — Carrie Jacobs Bond Like a tree in the Autumn wind, it is better to bend than break. We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give. — Winston Churchill We never know how high we are, Till we are called to rise, And then, if we are true to plan, Our statures touch the skies. — Emily Dickinson Two men looked out from prison bars. One saw the mud, the other saw the stars.” — Dale Carnegie’s Father The most pathetic person in the world is someone who has sight but has no vision. — Helen Keller The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched – they must be felt with the heart. — Helen Keller All things come to those who wait, but only what’s left over by those who hustle. — Abraham Lincoln If you judge people, you have no time to love them. — Mother Teresa One loyal friend is worth ten thousand relatives. — Euripides It’s better to be a lion for a day than a sheep all your life. — Sister Elizabeth Kenny If you’re not living on the edge, you’re taking up too much space. How high could you go if you knew you wouldn’t fall? I would rather excel in the knowledge of what is excellent, than in the extent of my power and possessions. — Plutarch Nothing great was every achieved without enthusiasm. — RW Emerson There is no man so successful as he who does not await the arrival of his opportunity, but sets out and makes it. — Plato By keeping silence when we ought to speak, we may be lost. By speaking when we ought to keep silence we waste our words. The wise person is careful to do neither. — Confucius A woman is like a teabag – only in hot water you realise how strong she is. — Eleanor Roosevelt You have achieved success if you have lived well, laughed often, and loved much. — Mrs A J Stanley No one ever stumbled on anything sitting down. — Demosthenes To love oneself is the beginning of a lifelong romance. — Oscar Wilde Imagination is the eye of the soul. — John Keats Each new moment is exciting – it has never existed before. — Alice Farra Seize the flower. For if you pluck it not it will fade and fall. — Ovid When I hear somebody sigh that ‘life is hard’, I am always tempted to ask ‘compared to what?’ — Sydney J Harris A person who puts off living as he ought to, is like a person waiting for the river to pass by before they cross it. But it glides on forever. — Horace If you have a friend worth loving, love them, yes, and let them know that you love them ere life’s evening tinge their brow with sunset glow. Why should good words never be said of a friend till they are dead? — Daniel Webster Hoyt I know that I will never be given a greater burden than I can bear. Joy and woe are woven fine A clothing for the soul divine; Under every grief and pine Runs a joy with silken twine … And when this we rightly know, Safely through the world we go. — Blake You are important just because you are alive. — Alice Farra To accomplish great things, we must not only act but also dream; not only plan but also believe. — Anatole France They that know others are wise; they that know themselves are enlightened. — Lao Tzu You see things; and you say “why?” but I dream things that never were; and I say “why not?” — George Bernard Shaw All that we are is a result of what we have thought. — Buddha When one burns one’s bridges, what a very nice fire it makes. — Dylan Thomas Whatever you do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it. Begin it now. — Goethe Whatever course you decide upon, there is always someone to tell you that you are wrong. There are always difficulties arising which tempt you to believe that your critics are right. To map out a course of action and follow it to an end requires … courage. — Ralph Waldo Emerson Hitch your wagon to a star. — Ralph Waldo Emerson I’ve never been afraid to fail. — Michael Jordon You cannot tell your heart what it wants. Your heart will tell you. — Barbara Sher Be like the turtle. If he didn’t stick his neck out, he wouldn’t get anywhere at all. — Harvey Mackay I think that I shall never see a poem as lovely as a tree.– Alfred Joyce Kilmer The key to success isn’t much good until one discovers the right lock to insert it in — Tehyi Hsieh To the world you might be one person; but to one person you are the world. A person cannot travel within and stand without — James Allen When you get to the end of your tether, tye a knot and hold on! — FDR The only thing you have to fear is fear itself… Never settle for less than your dreams. Somewhere, sometime, someday, somehow you’ll find them. — Danielle Steel Enter to grow in wisdom. Depart better to serve thy country and mankind. — Charles William Eliot (inscription on the 1890 Gate to Harvard Yard) Being entirely honest with oneself is a good exercise — Dr Sigmund Freud The time which we have at our disposal every day is elastic; The passions that we feel expand it, those that we inspire contract it, and habit fills what remains. — Marcel Proust (1871 – 1922) If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music however measured or faraway. — Henry David Thoreau The Ugly Duckling was so happy and in some way he was glad that he had experienced so much hardship and misery; for now he could fully appreciate his tremendous look and the great beauty that greeted him…. And he rustled his feathers, held his long neck high, and with deep emotion he said: “I never dreamt of so much happiness, when I was The Ugly Duckling!”  — H.C. Anderson “The Ugly Duckling” The man who succeeds above his fellow is the one who early in life, clearly discerns his object, and towards that object habitually directs his powers. Even genius itself is but fine observation strengthened by fixity of purpose. Every man who observes vigilantly and resolves steadfastly grows unconsciously into genius. — Edward George Bulwer-Lytton (1803 – 1873) This is the true joy in life, The being used for a purpose recognised by yourself as a mighty one; the being thoroughly worn out before you are thrown on the scrap heap; The being a force of nature instead of a feverish little clod of ailments and grievances complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy. — George Bernard Shaw “Man and Superman” Anyone can be polite to a king. It takes true character to be polite to a beggar. You are everything that is, your thoughts, your life, your dreams come true. You are everything you choose to be. You are as unlimited as the endless universe. — Shad Helmstetter, “What To Say When You Talk To Your Self” Half our life is spent trying to find something to do with the time we have rushed through life trying to save. — Will Rogers Silence is the most perfect expression of scorn. — George Bernard Shaw A wishbone has never taken the place of a backbone. — W.G.P. We all like to think we’re unique until someone tells us we’re different. — PK Shaw Whatever women do they must do twice as well as men to be thought half as good. Luckily, this is not difficult. — Charlotte Whitton Borrowed garments never fit well  — Proverb A guest sees more in an hour than the host in a year. — Polish Proverb A small measure of craziness mixed with a reasonable amount of eccentricity is an attractive alternative to conformity. — J D Boatwood If a cluttered desk is an indication of a cluttered mind, what is indicated by an empty desk? Anonymous Those whom we cannot stand are usually Those whom we cannot understand. — PK Shaw Our favourite season is usually the one which has just gone. — PK Shaw Birds sing after a storm; why shouldn’t people feel as free to delight in whatever remains to them? — Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Be nice to people on your way up because you’ll meet ‘em on your way down. — Wilson Mizner Some people pay a compliment as if they expected a receipt. — Kin Hubbard Bachelors know more about women than married men; if they didn’t, they’d be married too. — H L Mencken One trouble with political jokes is that they sometimes get elected. — W.G.P. People’s minds are like parachutes. To function properly they must first be open. — W.G.P. Two may talk together under the same roof for many years, yet never really meet; and two others at first speech are old friends. — Mary Catherwood Courage is the price that Life exacts for granting peace. — Amelia Earhart Man fools himself. He prays for a long life, and he fears old age. — Chinese Proverb Do not choose to be wrong for the sake of being different — Lord Samuel We never know the worth of water till the well is dry. — English Proverb Take your hat off to the past, but your coat off for the future. — W.G.P. One joy scatters a hundred griefs. — Chinese Proverb What is a weed? A plant whose virtues have not been discovered. — Ralph Waldo Emerson We are always getting ready to live, but never living. — Ralph Waldo Emerson Mix a little foolishness with your serious plans; it’s lovely to be silly at the right moment. — Horace Those who deny freedom to others, deserve it not for themselves. — Abraham Lincoln So live that you wouldn’t be ashamed to sell the family parrot to the town gossip. — Will Rogers Time is the bearer of all knowledge. — Poss Fallance Man is what he believes. — Anton Checkhov The same hammer that breaks the glass forges the steel. — Russian Proverb Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgment that something else is more important than fear. — Ambrose Redmoon Never throw away todays “Dreams” for someday they will be tomorrows “Could have beens” Persistent people tend to see obstacles as challenges to be overcome rather than reasons to fail. — Kreitner & Kinicki The young have aspirations that never come to pass, the old have reminiscences of what never happened — Saki It takes a minute to have a crush on someone, an hour to like someone, a day to love someone, but it takes a lifetime to forget someone. –author unknown The guardian angels of life sometimes fly so high as to be beyond our sight, but they are always looking down upon us. — Jean Paul Richter I haven’t failed, I’ve found 10,000 ways that don’t work. –Thomas Edison Dreams are the touchstones of our character — Henry David Thoreau A great man is always willing to be little. — Ralph Waldo Emerson Vision is the art of seeing things invisible — Jonathan Swift Character is power — Booker Washington Being in power is like being a lady. If you have to tell people you are, you aren’t — Margaret Thatcher A ship in a harbour is safe, but that is not what ships are built for. Eagles don’t flock – you have to find them one at time — H. Ross Perot Failure is the opportunity to begin again, more intelligently — Henry Ford It’s what you learn after you know it all that counts — John Wooden All glory comes from daring to begin. — Eugene F. Ware Don’t spend $1 worth of time on a $.10 decision It’s the heart afraid of breaking, that never takes a chance. It’s the dream afraid of waking, that never learns to dance. It’s the one who won’t be broken, that cannot seem to give. And the soul afraid of dying, that never learns to live –The Rose The difficult we do immediately; the impossible takes a little longer — an Air Force motto ” I can’t” isn’t a reason to give up, it’s a reason to try harder.–Anonymous Vision without action is a daydream. Action without vision is a nightmare. — Japanese proverb Even if you are on the right track you’ll get run over if you just sit there. You’re getting old when you get the same sensation from a rocking chair that you once got from a roller coaster! Trouble is part of your life, and if you don’t share it, you don’t give the person who loves you a chance to love you enough… – Dinah Shore. To become different from what we are, we must have some awareness of what we are. – Bruce Lee Have a quote you’d like to share? Feel free to pop it into the comments box below!

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