The Daily Inspiration Thread

[TooPatient]

It is always good to know, if only in passing, charming human beings. It refreshes one like flowers and woods and clear brooks.
George Eliot

If evil be said of thee, and if it be true, correct thyself; if it be a lie, laugh at it.
Epictetus

He who sedulously attends, pointedly asks, calmly speaks, coolly answers and ceases when he has no more to say is in possession of some of the best requisites of man.
Johann Casper Lavater

It requires less character to discover the faults of others than is does to tolerate them.
J. Petit Senn

The way to gain a good reputation, is to endeavor to be what you desire to appear. - Socrates

He that will not reflect is a ruined man.
Asian Proverb

Insist on yourself. Never imitate.
Ralph Waldo Emerson

Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom.
Aristotle

Heed the still small voice that so seldom leads us wrong, and never into folly.
Marquise du Deffand

Fear less, hope more, eat less, chew more, whine less, breathe more, talk less, say more, hate less, love more, and good things will be yours.
Swedish Proverb

Exert your talents, and distinguish yourself, and don't think of retiring from the world, until the world will be sorry that you retire.
Samuel Johnson

 

[TooPatient]

DF --- THANK YOU for starting this thread.
I've been really enjoying looking for quotes and motivational stuff. There are so many wonderful, wise people who have lived before us and I'm having a great time learning about new people (and more about those I thought I was familiar with!).

 

[TooPatient]

Some quotes from a wonderful woman who faced and overcame many challenges in her life. Much of her life she was blind & deaf. Another wonderful woman came into her life and taught her braille, sign language (she had to feel it since she couldn't see), and introduced her to the people who were able to teach her to speak. (there are some wonderful biographies about Helen Keller and the woman who helped her (Anne Sullivan))


Life is either a daring adventure or nothing.
Helen Keller

All the world is full of suffering. It is also full of overcoming.
Helen Keller

Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. The fearful are caught as often as the bold.
Helen Keller

I am only one, but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I can do something; and because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do something that I can do.
Helen Keller

Instead of comparing our lot with that of those who are more fortunate than we are, we should compare it with the lot of the great majority of our fellow men. It then appears that we are among the privileged.
Helen Keller

Life is a succession of lessons which must be lived to be understood.
Helen Keller

No pessimist ever discovered the secret of the stars, or sailed to an uncharted land, or opened a new doorway for the human spirit.
Helen Keller

Self-pity is our worst enemy and if we yield to it, we can never do anything wise in this world.
Helen Keller

When we do the best that we can, we never know what miracle is wrought in our life, or in the life of another.
Helen Keller

 

[mousey]

This one reminds me about how important the commitment to marry is. I am thinking of reading it at my wedding. It isn't very romantic, but I rather like it..... Its by a guy called W. H. Murray, a mountaineer, (apparently quoting Faust).

"Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back-- Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation), there is one elementary truth that ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one's favor all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamed would have come his way. Whatever you can do, or dream you can do, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it. Begin it now."

 

[TooPatient]

Proverbs are mental gems gathered in the diamond districts of the mind. - William R. Alger

 

[TooPatient]

Winning isn't everything, but wanting to win is.
Vince Lombardi

If you don't know where you are going,
you'll end up someplace else.
Yogi Berra

Some men give up their designs when they have almost reached the goal; while others, on the contrary, obtain a victory by exerting, at the last moment, more vigorous efforts than before.
Polybius

To reach a port, we must sail—Sail, not tie at anchor—Sail, not drift.
Franklin Roosevelt

It is not enough to take steps which may some day lead to a goal; each step must be itself a goal and a step likewise.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal; nothing on earth can help the man with the wrong mental attitude.
Thomas Jefferson

Success is sweet: the sweeter if long delayed and attained through manifold struggles and defeats.
A. Branson Alcott

I cannot give you the formula for success, but I can give you the formula for failure--which is:
Try to please everybody.
Herbert Bayard Swope

 

[TooPatient]

Far away in the sunshine are my highest aspirations. I may not reach them, but I can look up and see their beauty, believe in them, and try to follow where they lead.
Louisa May Alcott

 

[TooPatient]

Character is a diamond that scratches every other stone.
Cyrus A. Bartol

Character and personal force are the only investments that are worth anything.
Walt Whitman

When one door of happiness closes, another opens, but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one that has been opened for us.
Helen Keller

Happiness resides not in posessions and not in gold; the feeling of happiness dwells in the soul.
Democritus

In the hopes of reaching the moon men fail to see the flowers that blossom at their feet.
Albert Schweitzer

There is only one way to happiness, and that is to cease worrying things which are beyond the power of our will.
Epictetus

Action may not always bring happiness;
but there is no happiness without action.
Benjamin Disraeli

There is more to life than increasing its speed.
Mahatma Ghandi

 

[TooPatient]

Tell me and I will forget,
Show me and I will learn,
Involve me and I will understand
Teton Lakota (Indian saying)


The greatest 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


SUCCESS To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; to appreciate beauty, to find the best in others; to leave the world a little better; whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition; to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is the meaning of success.
Ralph Waldo Emerson

 

[TooPatient]

Unknown Author
You don't drown by falling in the water. You drown by staying there.


"How far you go in life depends on your being tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving and tolerant of the weak and the strong. Because someday in life you will have been all of these."
George Washington Carver

"Sooner or later we all discover that the important moments in life are not the advertised ones, not the birthdays, the graduations, the weddings, not the great goals achieved. The real milestones are less prepossessing. They come to the door of memory unannounced, stray dogs that amble in, sniff around a bit and simply never leave. Our lives are measured by these."
Susan B. Anthony

"If opportunity doesn't knock, build a door."
Milton Berle

"Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm."
Winston Churchill

"All our dreams can come true...if we have the courage to pursue them."
Walt Disney

"No man should escape our universities without knowing how little he knows."
J. Robert Oppenheimer

"Don't judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds that you plant."
Robert Louis Stevenson

"What would life be if we had no courage to attempt anything?"
Vincent van Gogh

 

[dragonfly411]

Bumpity up.

Daily inspiration from me:

" You are perfect to me"

 

[TooPatient]

Sleep, riches, and health to be truly enjoyed must be interrupted.
-- Johann Paul Friedrich Richter

The greatest healing therapy is friendship and love.
-- Hubert Humphrey

There is no medicine like hope, no incentive so great, and no tonic so powerful as expectation of something tomorrow.
-- Orison Swett Marden