Inspirational Quotes
Seek first to understand, then be understood
Success is never wondering what if.
Leadership - The art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it.
One reason so few of us achieve what we truly want is that we never direct our focus ; we never concentrate our power. Most people dabble their way through life, never deciding to master anything in particular.
We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.
Pain is inevitable, suffering is optional.
Happiness is not a destination. It is a method of life.
The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who can not read and write, but those who can not learn, unlearn, and relearn.
People who exercise their embryonic freedom day after day, little by little, expand that freedom. People who do not will find that it withers until they are literally 'being lived'. They are acting out scripts written by parents, associates and society.
Never fear the want of business. A man who qualifies himself well for his calling, never fails of employment.
Each work has to pass through these stages - ridicule, opposition, and then acceptance. Those who think ahead of their time are sure to be misunderstood.
Take heed : you do not find what you do not seek.
The chief cause of failure and unhappiness is trading what we want most for what we want at the moment.
If you always do what you've always done, you'll always get what you've always gotten.
A little more moderation would be good. Of course, my life hasn't exactly been one of moderation.
God is to be worshipped as the one beloved, dearer than everything in this and next life.
The function of wisdom is to discriminate between good and evil.
We are what our thoughts have made us, so take care about that you think.
He who is in love is wise and is becoming wiser, sees newly every time he looks at the object beloved, drawing from it with his eyes and his mind those virtues which it possesses.
Hope is like a bird that senses the dawn and carefully starts to sing while it is still dark.
In each man there is a priceless treasure that is in no other. Every man's foremost task is the actualization of his unique, unprecedented and never-recurring potentialities, and not the repetition of something that another, and be it even the greatest, has already achieved.
Better to light a candle than curse the darkness.
No man is happy who does not think himself so.
When were the good and the brave ever in a majority ?
In the practice of tolerance, one's enemy is the best teacher.
The purpose of life is not to be happy but to matter, to be productive, to be useful, to have it make some difference that you have lived at all.
Remember, if you ever need a helping hand, you'll find one at the end of your arm. As you grow older you will discover that you have two hands. One for helping yourself, the other for helping others.
Do not wait for ideal circumstances, nor for the best opportunities, they will never come.
Censure is often useful, praise often deceitful.
As a mother of teenagers, do you know how many times I picked up the phone to apologize to my own mother ?
Feelings of worth can flourish only in an atmosphere where individual differences are appreciated, mistakes are tolerated, communication is open, and rules are flexible - the kind of atmosphere that is found in a nurturing family.
One machine can do the work of fifty ordinary men. No machine can do the work of one extraordinary man. One man tells a lie, dozens repeat it as the truth.
Let's not just transform those in need, we can also find ways to help transform those in power.
Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
"I am the thread that runs through all these pearls", and each pearl is a religion or even a sect thereof. Such are the different pearls, and god is the thread that runs through all of them, most people, however, are entirely unconscious of it.
Tolerance can lead to learning something.
Whatever you vividly imagine, ardently desire, sincerely believe, and enthusiastically act upon must inevitably come to pass!
Nothing is particularly hard if you divide it into small jobs.
Accept the past for what it was. Acknowledge the present for what it is. Anticipate the future for what it can become.
What concerns me is not the way things are, but rather the way people think things are.
There are times when a man should be content with what he has but never with what he is.
Pretty much everything will come to him who hustles while he waits. I believe that restlessness is discontent, and discontent is merely the first necessity of progress. Show me a thoroughly satisfied man and I will show you a failure.
Luck happens when opportunity encounters the prepared mind.
I pack my trunk, embrace my friends, embark on the sea, and at last wake up in Naples, and there beside me is the Stern Fact, the Sad Self, unrelenting, identical, that I fled from.
A life lived with integrity -- even if it lacks the trappings of fame and fortune is a shinning star in whose light others may follow in the years to come.
Stand upon the self, only then can we truly love the world. Take a very high stand, knowing our universal nature, we must look with perfect calmness upon all the panorama of the world.
Sports serve society by providing vivid examples of excellence.
Peace and friendship with all mankind is our wisest policy, and I wish we may be permitted to pursue it.
Plan your progress carefully , hour-by hour, day-by-day, month-by-month. Organized activity and maintained enthusiasm are the wellsprings of your power. Planning for happiness is rarely successful. Happiness just happens.
Anything that makes you weak - physically, intellectually and spiritually, reject it as poison.
Bygones are bygones. Life's too short. There's so much more we've all got to do.
If a man does his best, what else is there ?
To be a leader, you must stand for something, or fall for anything.
The time is always right to do what is right.
Happiness is where we find it, but rarely where we seek it.
What really matters is what you do with what you have.
If you want to win friends, make it a point to remember them. If you remember my name, you pay me a subtle compliment ; you indicate that I have made an impression on you. Remember my name and you add to my feeling of importance.
You give but little when you give of your possessions. It is when you give of yourself that you truly give.
Fractures well cured make us more strong.
Children are all foreigners.
Wheresoever you go, go with all your heart.
If this is a blessing, it is certainly very well disguised.
Never spend your money before you have it.
A teacher, a really good teacher, is never a giver of truth; he is a guide, a pointer to truth. Therefore, a good teacher, or, more appropriately, a guide, studies each student individually and helps to awaken the student to explore himself, both internally and externally, and ultimately to integrate himself with his being. All in all, a teacher acts as a catalyst, and not only must he have a tremendous understanding; he must also possess a sensitive mind with great flexibility and adaptability.
Men are often capable of greater things than they perform. They are sent into the world with bills of credit, and seldom draw to their full extent.
In essence, if we want to direct our lives, we must take control of our consistent actions. It's not what we do once in a while that shapes our lives, but what we do consistently.
If you want to be enthusiastic, act enthusiastic.
Love conquers all.
The wealth of a soul is measured by how much it can feel, its poverty by how little.
If money is your hope for independence, you will never have it. The only real security that a man can have in this world is a reserve of knowledge, experience and ability.
Nothing is predestined The obstacles of your past can become the gateways that lead to new beginnings.
The only difference between a good shot and a bad shot is if it goes in or not.
Weakness of attitude becomes weakness of character.
If you tell the truth you don't have to remember anything.
A good general not only sees the way to victory , he also knows when victory is impossible.
Wisdom is knowing what to do next.
In the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years.
Happiness is not achieved by the conscious pursuit of happiness , it is generally the by- product of other activities.
The greatest discovery of my generation is that human beings can alter their lives by altering their attitudes of mind.
It isn't what you have, or who you are, or where you are, or what you are doing that makes you happy or unhappy. It is what you think about.
Live out of your imagination, not your history.
To wear your heart on your sleeve isn't a very good plan, you should wear it inside, where it functions best.
I awoke this morning with devout thanksgiving for my friends, the old and the new.
In the space age the most important space is between the ears.
It is the marriage of the soul with Nature that makes the intellect fruitful, and gives birth to imagination.
Dependent people need others to get what they want. Independent people can get what they want through their own efforts. Interdependent people combine their own efforts with the efforts of others to achieve their greatest success.
I light my candle from their torches.
Motivation is like food for the brain. You can not get enough in one sitting. It needs continual and regular refills.
Believe that the loose ball that you are chasing has your name on it.
How can a society that exists on instant mashed potatoes, packaged cake mixes, frozen dinners, and instant cameras teach patience to its young ?
In order to be walked on, you have to be lying down.
A ship in harbor is safe -- but that is not what ships are for.