Inspirational Quotes
Happiness can be defined, in part at least, as the fruit of the desire and ability to sacrifice what we want now for what we want eventually.
The best way to find yourself, is to lose yourself in the service of others.
Learning is definitely not mere imitation or the ability to accumulate and conform to fixed knowledge. Learning is a constant process of discovery and never a concluding one. In JKD we begin not by accumulation but by discovering the cause of our ignorance, and oftentimes this involves a shedding process. Truth will not come until we have come to understand personally the whole process of the working of our being. After all, ultimately, knowledge in martial art simply means self-knowledge, and JKD can become intelligible only in the vigorous and constant process of self-inquiry and self-discovery.
If a man is called to be a streetsweeper, he should sweep streets even as painted, or composed music or wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, here lived a great streetsweeper who did his job well.
Yesterday is but a dream, tomorrow but a vision. But today well lived makes every yesterday a dream of happiness, and every tomorrow a vision of hope. Look well, therefore, to this day.
In absence of clearly defined goals, we become strangely loyal to performing daily acts of trivia.
The important thing is this, to be able at any moment to sacrifice what we are, for what we could become.
Since you get more joy out of giving joy to others, you should put a good deal of thought into the happiness that you are able to give.
In all things of nature, there is something of the marvelous.
Ability is sexless.
No one can make you jealous, angry, vengeful, or greedy -- unless you let him.
Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
To me, at least the way that I teach it, all types of knowledge ultimately means self-knowledge. So, therefore they're coming in and asking me to teach them not so much how to defend themselves or how to do somebody in. Rather, they want to learn to express themselves through some movement, be it anger, be it determination or whatever. So, in other words, they're paying me to show them, in combative form, the art of expressing the human body.
A gentleman can withstand hardships , it is only the small man who, when submitted to them, is swept off his feet.
Happiness is not a station you arrive at, but a manner of traveling.
Nobody made a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could do only a little.
You will become as small as your controlling desire ; as great as your dominant aspiration.
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.
Give a man a fish and he will eat for the day, teach a man to fish and he will eat for a lifetime.
If a man does only what is required of him, he is a slave. If a man does more than is required of him, he is a free man.
Admission of ignorance is often the first step in our education.
Ideas become powerful only if they appear in the flesh , an idea which does not lead to action by the individual and by groups remains at best a paragraph or a footnote in a book -- provided the idea is original and relevant. It is like a seed stored in a dry place. If the idea is to have influence, it must be put into the soil, and the soil is people and groups of people.
Let us live so that when we come to die even the undertaker will be sorry.
My experience will help, but I insist and maintain that art - true art that is - cannot be handed out. Furthermore, art is never decoration or embellishment. Instead it is a constant process of maturing.
A good general not only sees the way to victory , he also knows when victory is impossible.
The best leader brings out the best in those he has stewardship over.
Your talent is God's gift to you. What you do with it is your gift back to God.
Life is a succession of lessons which must be lived to be understood.
But we can not avoid conflict, conflict with society, other individuals and with oneself. Conflicts may be the sources of defeat, lost life and a limitation of our potentiality but they may also lead to greater depth of living and the birth of more far-reaching unities, which flourish in the tensions that engender them.
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.
Ask for advice but do what you think is best.
Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off your goals.
Commit yourself to a dream nobody who tries to do something great but fails is a total failure. Why ? Because he can always rest assured that he succeeded in life's most important battle -- he defeated the fear of trying.
How different our lives are when we really know what is deeply important to us, and keeping that picture in mind, we manage ourselves each day to be and to do what really matters most.
Believe that the loose ball that you are chasing has your name on it.
I don't like the man. I must get to know him better.
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.
You have not lived until you have done something for someone who can never repay you.
We can help others in the world more by making the most of yourself than in any other way.
A smile is the light in your window that tells others that there is a caring, sharing person inside.
While we pursue happiness, we flee from contentment.
Accomplishment of purpose is better than making a profit.
To live a creative life we must lose our fear of being wrong.
Kindness is always fashionable.
He who has never learned to obey can not be a good commander.
It takes a whole village to raise a child.
Hope springs eternal.
If it is to be it is up to me.
Science without religion is lame. Religion without science is blind.
He who treads the path of love walks a thousand meters as if it were only one.
The most elusive and desired quality of leadership is vision. Vision is the perfume of the mind.
Those who deny freedom to others, deserve it not for themselves ; and under a just God, cannot long retain it.
Reason is like an open secret that can become known to anyone at any time , it is the quiet space into which everyone can enter through his own thought.
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.
The majority of men meet with failure because of their lack of persistence in creating new plans to take the place of those which fail.
Nothing is more honorable than enlightenment, nothing is more beautiful than virtue.
Dedicate yourself to the good you deserve and desire for yourself. Give yourself peace of mind. You deserve to be happy. You deserve delight.
Be patient with your enemies and forgiving of your friends.
When a problem comes along, study it until you are completely knowledgeable. Then find that weak spot, break the problem apart, and the rest will be easy.
Where old age is evil, youth can learn no good.
We make a living by what we get, we make a life by what we give.
Let your hopes, not your hurts, shape your future.
God gives nothing to those who keep their arms crossed.
The miracle power that elevates the few is to be found in their industry, application and perseverance, under the promptings of a brave determined spirit.
Remember happiness doesn't depend on who you are or what you have, it depends solely upon what you think.
When fate hands us a lemon, let's try to make a lemonade.
If there is no struggle, there is no progress.
Our minds are as different as our faces we are all traveling to one destination, happiness, but few are going by the same road.
Constant dripping hollows out a stone.
You can't build a reputation on what you are going to do.
Seek first to understand, then to be understood.
Pep without purpose is piffle.
Only after you challenge your biases and stereotypes -- what Francis Bacon called the 'idols which beset men's minds' --can you help others do the same.
Platitudes ? Yes, there are platitudes. Platitudes are there because they are true.
At every moment during our existence we are all called to be leaders, if for no other purpose than to lead ourselves.
People are not lazy. They simply have impotent goals - that is, goals that do not inspire them.
We struggle with the complexities and avoid the simplicities.
Man is a goal-seeking animal. His life only has meaning if he is reaching out and striving for his goals.
Ill can he rule the great that cannot reach the small.
Whoever said anybody has a right to give up ?
He who knows all the answers has not yet been asked all the questions.
I never let my subject get in the way of what I want to talk about.
There are no mistakes, save one, the failure to learn from a mistake.
Take advantage of every opportunity to practice your communication skills so that when important occasions arise, you will have the gift, the style, the sharpness, the clarity, and the emotions to affect other people.
With malice toward none, with charity for all.
I do not think much of a man who does not know more today than he did yesterday.
What doesn't kill me, makes me stronger.
He who has learned how to obey will know how to command.
You haven't failed until you quit trying.
In matters of style, swim with the current, in matters of principle, stand like a rock.
In every difficult situation is potential value. Believe this, then begin looking for it.
It's nice to be the best, but not when being the best brings out the worst in you.