Most of the important things in the world have been accomplished by people who have kept on trying when there seemed to be no hope at all. ~ Dale Carnegie
The true secret of happiness lies in taking a genuine interest in all the details of daily life.
William Morris
Take chances, make mistakes. That’s how you grow. Pain nourishes your courage. You have to fail in order to practice being brave.
Mary Tyler Moore
Let others lead small lives, but not you. Let others argue over small things, but not you. Let others cry over small hurts, but not you. Let others leave their future in someone else’s hands, but not you. ~ Jim Rohn
I, not events, have the power to make me happy or unhappy today. I can choose which it shall be. Yesterday is dead, tomorrow hasn’t arrived yet. I have just one day, today, and I’m going to be happy in it.” ~ Groucho Marx
A failure is not always a mistake, it may simply be the best one can do under the circumstances. The real mistake is to stop trying.” ~ B. F. Skinner
Whatever you want in life, other people are going to want it too. Believe in yourself enough to accept the idea that you have an equal right to it. ~ Diane Sawyer
Although sometimes it might seem like there are no good people in the world, there are good people. They just don’t shout and swear and fight as much and that’s why you don’t hear about them. You don’t notice them because they’re not hurting anyone. But there are still good people.
Happiness is a gift and the trick is not to expect it, but to delight in it when it comes.” ~ Charles Dickens
You never fail until you stop trying. Failure is success in progress. Be a voice not an echo. Don’t wait for miracles, your whole life is a miracle. ~ Albert Einstein
It is vital that there is a narrator figure whom people believe. That’s why I never do commercials. If I started saying that margarine was the same as motherhood, people would think I was a liar.” ~ David Attenborough
If a thing is worth doing, it is worth doing well. If it is worth having, it is worth waiting for. If it is worth attaining, it is worth fighting for. If it is worth experiencing, it is worth putting aside time for. ~ Oscar Wilde
Comparison is the thief of joy. Contribution is the path to it.” ~ Angela Duckworth, PhD in Psychology
Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony.” ~ Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, PhD in Psychology
People often regret not what they did—but what they didn’t say, try, or become. Don’t let fear write your story.” ~ Dr. Irvin D. Yalom, PhD in Psychiatry
We all want to matter. The quickest path to that is to make someone else feel that they do. Contribution creates fulfillment.” ~ Dr. Martin Seligman, PhD in Psychology
Every time you act with kindness in a world that rewards indifference, you become a part of a secret group of heroes trying to create paradise —and
never begrudge hard work. If you’re being paid, be grateful. If the work is very difficult and taking you a long time, be grateful that you’re being paid to learn. Hard work is an opportunity to prove yourself: your abilities and your attitude.
You can’t change the past or control the future, but you can give this moment your full attention
Every great accomplishment began with someone who decided they would carry on even when it seemed too difficult
The best way to raise good humans is to be one. Kids won’t remember your advice—they’ll remember your example.” ~ Dr. Daniel J. Siegel, PhD in Psychiatry
I was in darkness, but I took three steps and found myself in paradise. The first step was a good thought, the second, a good word; and the third, a good deed.” ~ Friedrich Nietzsche
Most people underestimate the power of decisions. When you commit to what matters, life stops feeling like something happening to you and starts feeling like something you’re shaping. ~ Anthony Hopkins
Deep down most people already know what truly matters to them. The hard part is behaving like it’s true
You can light up someone’s path with a single sentence of belief. Most people have no idea how bright their words could be. ~ Rosamund Stone Zander
It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly, who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming. But who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause.” ~ Theodore Roosevelt
Don’t be overwhelmed by the length of the road that leads you to your dreams. Take a step closer every day, no matter how small. The key is consistency. Great things are done by a series of small things brought together.” ~ Vincent Van Gogh
life will give you a series of difficulties . some big, some small. You get to choose whether you see them as challenges to overcome or problems to moan about. The choices you make determine the person you become
give every last bit of your energy and your time and your attention to the people and the animals you love. Don’t save anything for a rainy day. You only get so many chances
it’s a strange thing to think that every moment of your life, including this one, will soon be a vague memory at most. Make these moments worth remembering
Don’t confuse being nice with being kind. Niceness avoids discomfort. Kindness faces truth, speaks honestly, and does what’s right, not just what’s easy.” ~ Dr. Harriet Lerner, PhD in Clinical Psychology
“A meaningful life is not found. It is created—moment by moment, in the way you listen, the way you serve, and the way you choose to care.” ~ Dr. Emily Esfahani Smith, PhD in Positive Psychology
It’s written in the starlight
And every line in your palm
We’re fools to make war
On our brothers in arms
You cannot travel back in time and fix your mistakes, but you can learn from them and forgive yourself.” ~ Melody Beattie
What you practice daily becomes your character. You’re always becoming someone—make sure the habits you repeat are building someone you respect. ~ Dr. Angela Duckworth
Anxiety does not mean you are broken. It often means you are deeply attuned to the world’s pain, and haven’t yet learned how to channel that sensitivity into purpose.” ~ Dr. Susan David
People of character don’t just do the right thing—they do it consistently, especially when no one is watching. That’s how trust is built.” ~ Henry Cloud
You have every right to say no without having to explain yourself. Be at peace with your boundaries.” ~ Elizabeth Gilbert
Respect for ourselves guides our morals; respect for others guides our manners” ~ Laurence Sterne
Much of the stress that people feel doesn’t come from having too much to do. It comes from not finishing what they started” ~ David Allen
You’ll be surprised how many problems unravel after a 20-minute walk outside. ~ James Clear
The root of happiness is gratefulness… It is not happiness that makes us grateful; it is gratitude that makes us happy.” ~ Brother David Steindl-Rast
In the end, none of us have very long on this Earth. Life is fleeting. And if you’re ever distressed, cast your eyes to the summer sky when the stars are strung across the velvety night. And when a shooting star streaks through the blackness, turning night into day… make a wish and think of me. Make your life spectacular.” ~ Robin williams dead poets society
If people listen to you, you have a responsibility to say something that matters. Fame doesn’t make you important. What you do with it might.” ~ Keanu Reeves
Your mind is your most valuable thing you own; don’t let it be occupied by celebrity gossip, outrage videos, or useless trivia. Be a snob about what you read and who you listen to. Seek out foundational truths and timeless principles that won’t be obsolete in a week. If you feed your mind garbage, don’t be surprised when your output is trash.
We often assume people “know” how we feel, but life is too fragile to leave things to chance. Make it a rule to leave nothing unsaid. Apologize when you’re wrong. Thank the people who helped you get here.
Never assume someone “just knows” what you need or what your goal is. Ambiguity is the breeding ground for failure. If you want a team to move like a single unit, provide a single, crystal-clear narrative for them to follow.
If you feel something is wrong, say it immediately. Small resentments, left unsaid, turn into mountains that eventually become uncrossable. Be brave enough to have the hard conversation today so you don’t have to deal with the heartbreak tomorrow.
For everything you do, there will eventually be a “last time.” A last time you pick up your child, a last time you visit your childhood home, a last time you have the health to run five miles. Treat every meaningful experience with the reverence it deserves. When you live with the “last time” in mind, you stop taking the present for granted.”
Life has given you a challenge. You get to choose what’s more important: is it your dreams, or your comfort? Is it making the world a better place, or is it having an easy life? Most people choose comfort. And their lives are forgotten. They chose the easy road. A tiny percentage choose to make a differerence. It’s harder, but it’s more rewarding. It’s your choice. And the choice you make determines the person you become. And it determines the world we share. This is the challenge that life has given us all.
When you say ‘yes’ to others, make sure you are not saying ‘no’ to yourself.” ~Paulo Coelho
Ego is about who’s right. Truth is about what’s right” ~ Mike Maples Jr.
I’ve found that the best way to fight despair is to take action. Waiting around only feeds fear — doing something gives you back your strength.” ~ Anthony Hopkins
Don’t bend; don’t water it down; don’t try to make it logical; don’t edit your own soul according to the fashion. Rather, follow your most intense obsessions mercilessly.” ~ Franz Kafka
When you make and keep a promise—even a small one—you become a little stronger. And the world becomes a little more stable. ~ Stephen R. Covey
If you trust in yourself… and believe in your dreams… and follow your star… you’ll still get beaten by people who spent their time working hard and learning things and weren’t so lazy” — Terry Pratchett
Piglet noticed that even though he had a very small heart, it could hold a rather large amount of gratitude ~ A. A. Milne
Don’t spend your time asking, ‘Why isn’t the world a better place?’ It will only be time wasted. The question to ask is ‘How can I make it better?’ To that there is an answer ~ Leo Buscaglia
Integrity is doing the right thing even when no one is watching ~ C.S.Lewis
Is it so bad, then, to be misunderstood? Pythagoras was misunderstood, and Socrates, and Jesus, and Luther, and Copernicus, and Galileo, and Newton, and every pure and wise spirit that ever took flesh. To be great is to be misunderstood ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson
Don’t be fooled by the calendar. There are only as many days in the year as you make use of. One man gets only a week’s value out of a year while another man gets a full year’s value out of a week ~ Charles Richards
If we are not ashamed to think it, we should not be ashamed to say it ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero
What is the difference between an obstacle and an opportunity? Our attitude toward it. Every opportunity has a difficulty, and every difficulty has an opportunity ~ J. Sidlow Baxter
Step aside for people when you’re walking on the sidewalk. Frequent small gestures of kindness connect us positively, while gestures of thoughtlessness make us resent each other. It’s the little things, when multiplied by millions that change our world ~ Chris Boyle
Hold yourself responsible for a higher standard than anybody else expects of you. Never excuse yourself. Never pity yourself. Be a hard master to yourself and be lenient to everybody else ~ Henry Ward Beecher
Here is a rule to remember in future, when anything tempts you to feel bitter: not ‘This is misfortune,’ but ‘To bear this worthily is good fortune.’ ~ Marcus Aurelius
Don’t let people tell you you can’t do something. People will try to discourage you from doing tough, challenging things because they’re trying to protect you from the hardships. But what those people don’t realize is they’re also protecting you from success and happiness ~ Chris Boyle
Happiness comes from being who you actually are instead of who you think you are supposed to be ~ Shonda Rhimes
When I was 11, I joined a football team. About halfway through the season, I decided that I wanted to quit. When I told my dad, he said, ‘That’s fine. You can quit…but not in the middle of the season. If you want to quit, you have to wait until the end.’ He explained that I had made a commitment—not only to the coaches but also to the other kids. That was a pivotal lesson for me. There are things in life that get you down, and life itself often gets tough. But if you can ride it out, it will always get better. Also, when I took a step back and listened to what my dad was saying, I realized that I really did like football. I was just distracted by something else. That’s another thing—life is full of distractions. You’ve got to be able to focus on what you want the most. ~ Joe Montana
You have to love a nation that celebrates its independence every July 4, not with a parade of guns, tanks, and soldiers who file by the White House in a show of strength and muscle, but with family picnics where kids throw Frisbees, the potato salad gets iffy, and the flies die from happiness. You may think you have overeaten, but it is patriotism ~ Erma Bombeck
If there were in the world today any large number of people who desired their own happiness more than they desired the unhappiness of others, we could have a paradise in a few years ~ Bertrand Russell
My father could have been a great comedian but he didn’t believe that that was possible for him, and so he made a conservative choice. Instead, he got a safe job as an accountant and when I was 12 years old he was let go from that safe job, and our family had to do whatever we could to survive. I learned many great lessons from my father. Not the least of which was that: You can fail at what you don’t want. So you might as well take a chance on doing what you love ~ Jim Carrey
Every small, unselfish action nudges the world into a better path. An accumulation of small acts can change the world ~ Robin Hobb
Every single time you help somebody stand up, you are helping humanity rise ~ Steve Maraboli
The best advice I’ve ever received is, ‘No one else knows what they’re doing either” ~ Charles Bukowski
You build on failure. You use it as a stepping stone. Close the door on the past. You don’t try to forget the mistakes, but you don’t dwell on it. You don’t let it have any of your energy, or any of your time, or any of your space.” ~ Johnny Cash
You’re going to come across people in your life who will say all the right words at all the right times. But in the end, it’s always their actions you should judge them by. It’s actions, not words, that matter.” ― Nicholas Spark
Your words have power. Speak words that are kind, loving, positive, uplifting, and life-changing.” ~ Steve Maraboli
Live so that when your children think of fairness, caring, and integrity, they think of you” ~ H. Jackson Brown, Jr.
Forgive yourself for what you didn’t know before you learned it. You cannot judge your past self by the standards of the person you are today. That version of you did the best they could with the tools they had; your job now is to use your new tools to build something better.” ~ Maya Angelou
Everything is figureoutable. There is no problem that cannot be dismantled into smaller, manageable parts. If you feel overwhelmed, it is simply because you are looking at the whole mountain instead of the single rock that is currently sitting directly in front of your foot.” ~ Marie Forleo
It’s not your job to be likeable. It’s your job to be whole. If you’re whole, you’ll find that you are naturally likeable to the people who actually matter. Stop carving off pieces of your personality just to fit into a space that was never designed for you anyway.” ~ Shonda Rhimes
Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one’s courage. If you take small risks, you will have a small, safe life. If you take large risks, you will have a life that is large enough to hold your biggest dreams.” ~ Anaïs Nin
If you give your best and keep your word in the small things, people begin to trust you with bigger things. But trust isn’t given, its earned and proven with consistent hard work and promises kept.” ~ Paul Newman
You could leave life right now. Let that determine what you do and say and think. Don’t waste time on trivialities when everything you value could vanish in a moment.” ~ Marcus Aurelius
One of the greatest lessons I’ve learned is that you don’t need to win every battle. Sometimes peace is more valuable than proving a point.” ~ Katharine Hepburn
Happiness is an attitude. We either make ourselves miserable, or happy and strong. The amount of work is the same.” ~ Francesca Reigler
Success has a funny way of making you believe you’re invincible. But the truth is, we’re all just people. And if you forget that, life will find a way to remind you—usually when no one is watching.” ~ Anthony Hopkins
I’ve met kings and presidents, but the measure of a man isn’t in who he dines with—it’s in how he treats the waiter.” ~ Gregory Peck
Finishing what you start is a habit. If you walk away from commitments every time they get hard, you’ll teach yourself to give up. If you stay until the job is done, you’ll teach yourself to win.” ~ Samuel L. Jackson
A hundred scattered arrows miss the target. One steady, careful aim hits. To achieve anything worthwhile you must focus your attention. Don’t spread it. Focus your effort on completing one worthwhile goal.
The hardest thing in the world is to simplify your life. It’s so easy to make it complex, but if you can strip it back to what matters most, you’ll find freedom.” ~ Tom Hardy
I’ve learned to stop rushing. You miss your own life that way. What matters is not how fast you move, but what you pay attention to while you’re here.” ~ Helen Mirren
The older I get, the more I understand that meaning is built through attention — paying attention to the people around you, to the day in front of you, to the responsibilities life hands you. Purpose begins where distraction ends.” ~ Helen Mirren
Your purpose is not something you discover in a moment. It’s something you build, slowly, by choosing what you will stand for and what you will no longer accept. Meaning reveals itself in the work of becoming who you were meant to be.” ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson
The biggest risk you can take in life is to risk nothing at all. That’s the only way to guarantee you’ll never live fully. If you risk nothing, you risk everything.” ~ Morgan Freeman
The thing that no one tells you is that no one is ready. We’re all trying to figure things out as we go along. If you’re waiting for someone to tell you you’re good enough, you’ll wait forever.” ~ Michael Caine
Whatever you do in life, make sure you’re in it with all your heart. If you’re not, get out. Once you decide to go all in on something that matters, life rearranges itself around that decision.” ~ Keanu Reeves
Be the person who raises others with your presence, not just your words. Be the one who notices the silent struggle and whispers, ‘You’re doing better than you think.” ~ Lori Deschene
Sometimes you forget, people are just trying to live their lives as best they can. Maybe we need to judge less and understand more. Everyone you meet is fighting a battle you know nothing about. Be kind. Always.” ~ Robin Williams
Don’t aim for success if you want it; just do what you love and believe in, and it will come naturally. The best lives are built not on chasing rewards, but on giving your all to what lights you up inside.” ~ David Frost
When you judge others, you do not define them, you define yourself.” ~ Earl Nightingale
We either make ourselves miserable or we make ourselves strong. The amount of work is the same.” ~ Carlos Castaneda
One of the most tragic things I know about human nature is that all of us tend to put off living. We are all dreaming of some magical rose garden over the horizon — instead of enjoying the roses that are blooming outside our windows today ~ Dale Carnegie
If you can wake up each morning with gratitude simply for being alive, everything else becomes a bonus. Gratitude changes the quality of every moment ~ Morgan freeman
Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day. You shall begin it serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense.” ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson
If you want to know what matters most, look at what you spend your time on. That’s the truest reflection of your values” ~ Paul Newman
The best way to cheer yourself up is to try to cheer somebody else up” ~ Mark Twain
The highest form of wisdom is to act with reason and kindness in a world that urges cruelty and impulse. He who lives thus will be mocked by fools and remembered by the wise.” ~ Erasmus
Truth does not change because it is, or is not, believed by a majority of the people. That which is true stands firm in silence, awaiting the day minds are ready to receive it.”
~ Bruno, during his inquisition
The greatest problem with communication is we don’t listen to understand. We listen to reply. When we listen with curiosity, we don’t listen with the intent to reply. We listen for what’s behind the words.” ~ Roy T. Bennett
Your character is most clearly defined by what you do when you are tired.” ~ Anonymous
“We must all suffer one of two things: the pain of discipline or the pain of regret. Discipline weighs ounces while regret weighs tons.” ~ Jim Rohn
Don’t you find it odd that when you’re a kid, everyone encourages you to follow your dreams. But when you’re older, somehow they act offended if you even try.” ~ Ethan Hawke
Fitting in is the opposite of belonging. Fitting in is assessing a situation and becoming who you need to be to be accepted. Belonging is being who you are and knowing that you are enough.” ~ Brené Brown
Always be a first-rate version of yourself, instead of a second-rate version of somebody else. Your dreams are calibrated to your heart, not your neighbor’s. If you follow someone else’s map, you’ll end up at their destination.” ~ Judy Garland
Most of the important things in the world have been accomplished by people who have kept on trying when there seemed to be no hope at all. Hope isn’t a feeling; it’s an action. Keep going.” ~ Dale Carnegie
If I could have my life over again, I would form the habit of nightly composing myself to thoughts of the greatness of the universe, the insignificance of my own troubles, and the magnificent opportunity of being alive. Do it tonight. You are still here.” ~ Charles Darwin
The sun does not wait for the world to wake up to begin its work. It simply rises. You must do the same. Do not wait for an audience, or a ‘good’ mood, or a perfect environment. Be your own light and start your day with a definitive act of will.” ~ Thomas Huxley
We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars. It is a matter of perspective. You can focus on the mud on your shoes or the galaxies above your head. Both are real, but only one will give you the strength to keep walking.” ~ Oscar Wilde
The most important thing is to be true to yourself. If you are honest with your own heart, you can never truly fail. The world may judge you, but the world doesn’t have to live your life. You do. Make it a life that you are proud to wake up to every morning.” ~ Sidney Poitier (from The Measure of a Man)
The older I get, the more I see that the only thing that matters is how much you loved. Not just people, but the day itself. Did you love the morning? Did you love the work? If you find the love in the small moments, the big moments will take care of themselves.” ~ Morgan Freeman
The moment you stop caring about what ‘they’ think is the moment you start living. ‘They’ aren’t paying your bills, and ‘they’ aren’t going to be there when you’re taking your last breath.” ~ Maggie Smith
There is no ‘safe’ way to live a great life. You have to be willing to be a fool. You have to be willing to be wrong. If you aren’t risking anything, you aren’t gaining anything. The clock doesn’t care if you’re comfortable—it only cares if you’re done.” ~ Anthony Hopkins
Action is the only antidote to despair. If you are sad, move. If you are angry, build. If you are stuck, break something—even if it’s just your own routine. The only unforgivable sin is to sit still while your heart is screaming for air.” ~ Joan Baez
You have been given a gift that the dead would trade eternity for: a Tuesday. A plain, ordinary, beautiful Tuesday. Do not insult the universe by wasting it in a fog of ‘what if.’ Get up and make the world feel your presence.” ~ Anonymous Activist’s Broadside (from a 19th-century labor pamphlet)
We never know which breath is the one that will have to last us for eternity. If I could go back, I would not ask for more years; I would only ask for more ‘now.’ I would listen to the rain instead of wishing for the sun. I would be still.” ~ Elizabeth Barrett Browning
Begin while others are still talking about beginning. The difference between a life of accomplishment and a life of regret is the simple courage to act while the impulse is still warm. Tomorrow is the cemetery of great ideas.” ~ Thomas Carlyle
Every day is a little life: every waking and rising a little birth, every fresh morning a little youth, every going to rest and sleep a little death. Do not let these small lives pass you by in a blur of indifference.” ~ Arthur Schopenhauer
The desert has taught me that the person who survives is not the strongest, but the one who can find a reason to sing when the water is low. Hope is not a feeling; it is a discipline. Practice it until it becomes your nature.” ~ Gertrude Bell
The value of a day is not in what we accumulate, but in what we perceive. If you have seen the beauty in a single shadow today, you have not lived in vain. Gratitude is the lens that brings the world into focus.” ~ John Ruskin
I have found that the greatest joy is to be found in the things that are commonest to us all. Appreciation is the key that opens the door to a happy life. If you look for the good, the good will find you.” ~ Laura Ingalls Wilder
I have never seen a man who was a success in his work but was not also an optimist. If you go into a thing with a heavy heart, you carry the seeds of your own defeat. It is the bright and hopeful eye that finds the way.” ~ Charles Schwab
Optimism is a strategy for making a better future. Unless you believe that the future can be better, you are unlikely to step up and take the responsibility for making it so. Belief in the good is the first step toward it.” ~ Noam Chomsky
No one can keep a person down who has the right mental attitude and the will to rise. You are the master of your own spirit, and if you choose to see the possibility in the problem, the problem itself will provide the ladder.” ~ Booker T. Washington
The value of a moment is not in its duration, but in its depth. Because our time is limited, every second we spend in apathy or anger is a theft from the joy we were meant to inhabit. Guard your hours fiercely.” ~ John Ruskin
You can only become truly accomplished at something you love. Don’t make money your goal. Instead pursue the things you love doing and then do them so well that people can’t take their eyes off of you. ~ Maya Angelou
You’ve got to live each day as if it’s your last. Not in a reckless way, but in a way that makes you proud of how you spent it, should it really be the last.” ~ Frank Sinatra
You must learn to be your own best friend. If you depend on the world to tell you who you are or what you are worth, you will always be a prisoner of their whims. Freedom is the wisdom to define your own value from the inside out.” ~ Rita Hayworth
I think the most important thing is to keep a sense of humor about yourself. If you can laugh at your own mistakes, you’ve already won. Don’t take life too seriously; none of us get out alive anyway. Just be kind, be grateful, and keep moving forward.” ~ Grace Kelly
You can’t live your life for other people. You’ve got to do what’s right for you, even if it upsets some people. Happiness is found when you stop seeking approval and start seeking your own truth. Life is short; don’t spend it trying to fit into a mold.” ~ Ingrid Bergman
The secret to a happy life is to stay interested. If you are interested in the world, in people, and in the beauty of the morning, you will never be old. Curiosity is the best way to spend your time, and gratitude is the best way to keep your heart young.” ~ Burt Lancaster
What a man does is what he is. If he does work that is honest and brave, he is an honest and brave man. If he does work that is careless and false, he is a careless and false man.” ~ George Patton
The truth of a man is not what he says to himself, but what he does in the light of day. If you would know yourself, look at your hands and see what they have actually built.” ~ Thomas Carlyle
Goodness is not a state of mind. It is a series of acts. If you are not doing good, you are not good. There is no middle ground where a man can sit and ‘be’ something without doing it.” ~ John Ruskin
Our deeds determine us, as much as we determine our deeds. You can claim any virtue you like, but you only own the virtues that you exercise in the heat of the day. Performance is the only reality.” ~ George Eliot
If you would be a person of character, let your life be the evidence. Belief is a private matter, but action is a public truth. The world judges you by the fruit of your labor, not the roots of your mind.” ~ Benjamin Franklin
The greatest deception we lead ourselves into is to believe that we are good because our intentions are good. Goodness is a practice, not a sentiment. If you do not perform it, you do not possess it.” ~ John Ruskin
I am not what I think I am, nor what I say I am. I am what I do..” ~ Frederick Douglass
The only thing that belongs to us is our own act. Our thoughts are often the thoughts of others; our words are the echoes of what we have heard; but our actions are our own signature upon the world.” ~ Zora Neale Hurston
“If you would be a person of honor, let your life be the evidence. Words are cheap and easily spoken, but a life of consistent labor is a monument that no one can argue with. You are the path you walk.” ~ Frederick Douglass
To be grateful for the good things that come to us is a duty, but to be grateful for the common things—the things we take for granted—is a blessing. We must learn to see the miraculous in the common, and the eternal in the passing moment of our lives.” ~ William Law
The present is the only thing that has no end. We are always moving through it, yet we often act as though it were merely a bridge to somewhere else. Stop on the bridge. Look at the water. Be thankful for the strength that allows you to stand.” ~ Erwin Schrödinger
There is no description, no image in any book that is capable of replacing the sight of real trees, and all the life to be found around them, in a real forest” ~ Maria Montessori
I squandered my yesterday in a thousand little worries, but today I have decided to be rich. I am rich in the air I breathe, the light I see, and the heart that still beats within me.” ~ Elizabeth Fry
The hours are few, and the work is great. But we must not let the magnitude of the task rob us of the sweetness of the hour. A thankful heart is a steady anchor in a stormy sea. Hold fast to the good that is here, right now.” ~ George Washington Carver
We are all travelers in the wilderness of this world, and the best we can find in our travels is an honest friend and a moment of deep peace. Do not hurry through the woods; the trees have much to tell you if you will only stop and listen.” ~ Robert Louis Stevenson
“I have found that the greatest joy is to be found in the things that are commonest to us all. To feel the warmth of the sun, to smell the damp earth, to look into the eyes of a friend—these are the true riches. Appreciation is the key.” ~ Laura Ingalls Wilder
The time is short. We must not waste it in the pursuit of shadows. If we can find one thing today to be thankful for—a bird’s song, a child’s laugh, or a moment of silence—we have won the day against the encroaching darkness. Make your seconds count.” ~ Lydia Maria Child
I am glad I am alive. I am glad that the stars are over me and the green earth under me. There is no such thing as a small day; every hour is a vessel into which we can pour the wine of our deepest gratitude and drink our fill.” ~ John Burroughs
The sun will rise and set regardless of our grief. Therefore, let us make the rising an occasion for joy and the setting an occasion for peace. We are the keepers of the light in our own small corners; do not let your lamp go out for lack of oil.” ~ Chief Joseph
If there’s any message, it is ultimately that it’s okay to be different; that it’s good to be different, that we should question ourselves before we pass judgment on someone who looks different, behaves different, talks different, is a different color.
Johnny Depp
No matter how good or bad you have it, wake up each day thankful for your life. Someone somewhere else is desperately fighting for theirs.” ~ John Spence
Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars, to change the world.” ~ Harriet Tubman
Happiness is like a butterfly, the more you chase it, the more it will evade you, but if you notice the other things around you, it will gently come and sit on your shoulder.” ~ Henry David Thoreau
The art of being happy lies in the power of extracting happiness from common things. We are always looking for the big events, but life is made of the little ones. The present hour is the only one we can truly call our own; make it bright.” ~ Henry Ward Beecher
I will give you my recipe for happiness. First, commit something beautiful to memory every day. Second, look for something pretty to see. Third, do something kind for someone else. Life is very short, and we must not let the beauty of it pass us by while we are busy looking.” ~ Alice Freeman Palmer
“Every day is a journey, and the journey itself is home. Do not seek to follow in the footsteps of the men of old; seek what they sought. This moment, this breath, this very bird on the branch—that is the world in its entirety.” ~ Bashō
Talk happiness. The world is sad enough… No path is wholly rough; look for the places that are smooth and clear, and speak of them to rest the weary ear of Earth, so hurt by one continuous strain of mortal discontent and grief and pain.” ~ Ella Wheeler Wilcox
The only way to be happy is to make the most of what you have and the least of what you want. I have learned that the present moment is the only one in which we can truly live, and if we do not find our joy there, we shall never find it at all. Let every day be a complete life in itself.” ~ Ellen Glasgow
When you arise in the morning, think of what a precious privilege it is to be alive—to breathe, to think, to enjoy, to love.
- Anna Julia Cooper
“The world is young yet, and the morning stars still sing together. We must not sit with folded hands, waiting for the coming of the dawn; we must be up and doing, for the work is great and the time is short. Let every minute be filled with the music of labor and the light of truth for others.”
Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time, for that is the stuff life is made of. I hope you treat every hour like a rare coin, choosing carefully where you lay it down. Let your time be spent in the pursuit of knowledge and the practice of kindness, for these are the only investments that never lose their value.” ~ Benjamin Franklin
Whatever course you decide upon, there is always someone to tell you that you are wrong. There are always difficulties arising that tempt you to believe your critics are right. To map out a course of action and follow it to an end requires some of the same courage that a soldier needs.” ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson
Who do you spend time with? Criticizers or encouragers? Surround yourself with those who believe in you. Your life is too important for anything less.” ~ Steve Goodier
It’s in the moments when you’re not sure what to do that your future is being determined. Don’t ignore those moments. Don’t fear them. Remember your values. Remember your dreams. It is hard to fail, but it is worse never to have tried to succeed.” ~ Theodore Roosevelt
Decide who you are. Decide what you believe is right and wrong. And have the courage to stand by your decisions. We are not our beliefs. We are our choices.” ~ Jean-Paul Sartre
When you’re humble, life keeps teaching you. When you’re proud, it stops bothering.” ~ Epictetus
We either make ourselves miserable or we make ourselves strong. The amount of work is the same.” ~ Carlos Castaneda
The most important thing in life is to stop saying, ‘I wish’ and start saying, ‘I will’ ~ Charles Dickens
When you judge others, you do not define them, you define yourself.” ~ Earl Nightingale
The thing that no one tells you is that no one is ready. We’re trying to figure things out as we go along. If you’re waiting for someone to tell you you’re good enough, you’ll wait forever.” ~ Michael Caine
There’s a last time for everything. Everything comes to an end. Though it’s sometimes saddening we must let this understanding teach us to be grateful for every minute we have.
When you get into a tight place and everything goes against you, till it seems as though you could not hang on a minute longer, never give up then, for that is just the place and time that the tide will turn. The sun will shine again, and you will find that you are stronger than you knew.” ~ Harriet Beecher Stowe
There will always be rocks in the road ahead of us. They will be stumbling blocks or stepping stones; it all depends on how you use them.” ~ Friedrich Nietzsche
We must not wait for the perfect moment to be thankful; rather, we must use our thankfulness to make the moment perfect for those around us.” ~ William James
A thousand words will not leave so deep an impression as one deed ~ Henrik Ibsen
It’s not hard to make decisions when you know what your values are ~ Roy E. Disney
You may encounter many defeats, but you must not be defeated. In fact, it may be necessary to encounter the defeats, so you can know who you are, what you can rise from, and how you can still come out of it. ~ Maya Angelou
You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face.” — Eleanor Roosevelt
Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don’t matter, and those who matter don’t mind ~ Bernard M. Baruch
Time is the coin of your life. It is the only coin you have, and only you can determine how it will be spent” ~ Carl Sandburg
The greater danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it.” — Michelangelo
You must understand that your pain is not meant to define you; it is meant to move you. It is the turning toward truth, not away from it, that begins the real journey.” ~ James Baldwin
Decide what you want, decide what you are willing to exchange for it. Establish your priorities and go to work. If you don’t, the world will use you for its own purposes.” ~ H.L. Hunt
Don’t let the expectations and opinions of other people affect your decisions. It’s your life, not theirs. Do what matters most to you; do what makes you feel alive and happy. … If you let others tell you who you are, you are living their reality — not yours.” ~ Roy T. Bennett
Don’t waste your time in anger, regrets, worries, and grudges. Life is too short to be unhappy,” Roy T. Bennett
Do not mind anything that anyone tells you about anyone else. Judge everyone and everything for yourself.” ~ Henry James
The only thing that belongs to us is the present. Even a man who has lived a long life and a man who dies young lose the same thing when they die: the present moment. Do not trade the only thing you own for a worry about a shadow.” ~ Marcus Aurelius
How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives. … A schedule defends from chaos and whim. It is a net for catching days. …a lifeboat on which you find yourself, decades later, still living.” ~ Annie Dillard
Every morning we are born again. What we do today is what matters most. Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment, for that is the only place where life is actually happening.” ~ Gautama Buddha
Your biggest problem today could be the biggest gift you’ve ever received because it may contain the lesson that will make you successful. If you stop looking for who’s to blame and you start looking for the lesson from your problem sometimes it can transform your life ~ Brian Tracy
When you feel overwhelmed, don’t think about everything you have to do. Pick one small victory and focus your energy on it. Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.” ~ Theodore Roosevelt
Success is rarely about doing more – it’s about deleting what doesn’t matter… Your biggest opportunities will show up dressed as problems…. Confidence is just keeping promises to yourself. ~ Steve Bartlett
Here are 33 lessons I’ve learned 👇🏾❤️
- Success is rarely about doing more – it’s about deleting what doesn’t matter.
- The people you love will always be your best investment.
- Failure isn’t the opposite of success – it’s the tuition fee.
- Your biggest opportunities will show up dressed as problems.
- Growth feels a lot like loss at first.
- The first thought you have is often the truest. Trust it more.
- Your health is the foundation under every ambition. Without it, nothing stands.
- Anger is often just fear in disguise.
- Discipline is easier than regret.
- You become unstoppable the day embarrassment stops being a price you fear.
- Most arguments are two people defending their childhood wound.
- Confidence is just keeping promises to yourself.
- There’s no such thing as balance – only priorities.
- If you want to know what someone values, look at their calendar.
- Hard conversations compound like investments. Avoiding them compounds like illness.
- The person you marry is the most important career decision you’ll ever make.
- Regret is always louder than rejection.
- Don’t just chase goals. Chase environments that make those goals inevitable.
- If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it deeply
- The people who win are the ones who can suffer boredom.
- Your childhood is an explanation, not a justification.
- Most timeframes and delays people give you are fake – it’s just “how it’s always been done”. Your job is to push on them to see if they’re made of concrete or paper.
- The most talented person rarely wins. The most consistent one does.
- If it costs your peace, it’s too expensive.
- Do not let the internet tell you how hard you should or shouldn’t work.
- You don’t rise to your goals. You fall to your systems.
- Your energy introduces you before your words do. Get right with yourself.
- Great work is just good work repeated. Be consistent, not perfect.
- Protecting your time is the highest form of self-care and self-respect.
- Everything is figure-out-able if you’re willing to look stupid.
- Fear shrinks when you move toward it.
- If you can’t change it, change how you see it.
- Mind your own business.
We are all under a sentence of death, with indefinite reprieves. Why then do we act as if we had ten thousand years in our pocket? If you have a song to sing, sing it now, for the silence is patient and very long.” ~ Leo Tolstoy
Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time, for that is the stuff life is made of. To lose an hour is to lose a piece of your soul that you can never buy back, no matter how much gold you offer.” ~ Benjamin Franklin
A man is the sum of his actions, of what he has done, of what he can do. Nothing else. We are our choices, and every moment is an opportunity to choose differently.” ~ Jean-Paul Sartre
The risk of a wrong decision is preferable to the terror of indecision. One leads to a lesson, the other leads to the slow decay of the soul in a prison of ‘what if’.”
Once the decision is made, do not look back. A man who constantly questions his own choices is like a builder who tears down at night what he built during the day.” ~ Søren Kierkegaard
Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away. The art of living is the art of elimination.”
~ Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
The most important thing in life is to be able to give yourself to a cause that is greater than yourself. If you do not have a hierarchy of values, you will be a slave to your own impulses.” ~ Bertrand Russell
Don’t ever let anyone tell you that you’re too old or too young to do something. Life is about the journey, not the destination, and every moment is an opportunity to start over.” ~ Sophia Loren
The quality of a person’s life is in direct proportion to their commitment to excellence, regardless of their chosen field of endeavor. If you prioritize the mediocre, you will become mediocre. Time is the fire in which we burn.” ~ Vince Lombardi
The most important decision you make is to be in a good mood. For your time is the only thing you truly own, and if you spend it in bitterness, you have paid a price that no amount of gold can recover.” ~ Voltaire
I am grateful for my life, even the bits that were difficult. It is a miracle to be here at all, and I think we forget that. We should spend more time being astonished and less time being annoyed.” ~ Judi Dench
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