I keep a list of inspirational quotes I come across and it is ever growing. Their wisdom always shines some light into dark places. Enjoy scrolling through and be inspired!
Albert Schweitzer
The only thing of importance, when we depart, will be the traces of love we have left behind.
At times our own light goes out and is rekindled by a spark from another person. Each of us has cause to think with deep gratitude of those who have lighted the flame within us.
Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful.
Example is not the main thing in influencing others. It is the only thing.
Alberto Rios
If someone in your family tree was trouble, A hundred were not: The bad do not win - not finally, No matter how loud they are. We simply would not be here If that were so. You are made, fundamentally, from the good. With this knowledge, you never march alone. You are the breaking news of the century. You are the good who has come forward. Through it all, even if so many days Feel otherwise. from "A house called tomorrow"
Andrea Balsara
The stars always shine brightest in the darkest sky. Now is the time for those with sincere hearts to live with heroism, with kindness, with love, and with an unflinching demand for true justice. It will be the only thing that will fight the darkness of ignorance and hatred. I believe that, far from being hopeless, like the phoenix rising from the ashes, humanity will rise and live as one.
Angus Hervey
Progress happens not through some invisible hand of history, but through the visible hands of people who refuse to give up on it.
My faith in the moral arc has given way to something harder but clearer – the understanding that nothing good happens by itself.
Barack Obama
The best way to not feel hopeless is to get up and do something. Don’t wait for good things to happen to you. If you go out and make some good things happen, you will fill the world with hope, you will fill yourself with hope.
Hope is not blind optimism. It’s not ignoring the enormity of the task ahead or the roadblocks that stand in our path. It’s not sitting on the sidelines or shirking from a fight. Hope is that thing inside us that insists, despite all evidence to the contrary, that something better awaits us if we have the courage to reach for it, and to work for it, and to fight for it. Hope is the belief that destiny will not be written for us, but by us, by the men and women who are not content to settle for the world as it is, who have the courage to remake the world as it should be.
Learning to stand in somebody else’s shoes, to see through their eyes, that’s how peace begins. And it’s up to you to make that happen. Empathy is a quality of character that can change the world.
Change is never easy, but always possible.
Keep exploring. Keep dreaming. Keep asking why. Don’t settle for what you already know. Never stop believing in the power of your ideas, your imagination, your hard work to change the world.
Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.
Brené Brown
It takes courage to say yes to rest and play in a culture where exhaustion is seen as a status symbol.
Owning our story and loving ourselves through that process is the bravest thing we’ll ever do.
The only unique contribution that we will ever make in this world will be born of our creativity.
Buddha
Be a lamp to yourself. Be your own confidence. Hold on to the truth within yourself as to the only truth.
What you think, you become. What you feel, you attract. What you imagine, you create.
You cannot calm the storm, so stop trying. Calm yourself. The storm will pass.
Once you know the source of your suffering, you are on the path to healing.
Sometimes you need to take a step back to take 2 steps forward later.
If you light a lamp for somebody, it will also brighten your path.
Most problems, if you give them enough time and space, will eventually wear themselves out.
Byron Katie
When we stop opposing reality, action becomes simple, fluid, kind, and fearless.
Until the mind is open, the heart stays closed. The open mind is the key to the open heart.
There are two ways to be. One is at war with reality and the other is at peace.
Carl Jung
Do not compare.
Do not measure.
No other way is like yours.
All other ways deceive and tempt you.
You must fulfill the way that is in you.
Chanda Kochhar
Aim for the sky, but move slowly, enjoying every step along the way. It is all those little steps that make the journey complete.
Cory Booker
Hope is the active conviction that despair will never have the last word.
Dalai Lama
There is a saying in Tibetan, ‘Tragedy should be utilized as a source of strength.’ No matter what sort of difficulties, how painful experience is, if we lose our hope, that’s our real disaster.
Real change in the world will only come from a change of heart.
Do not let the behaviour of others destroy your inner peace.
Love and compassion are necessities, not luxuries. Without them, humanity cannot survive.
There is only one important point you must keep in your mind and let it be your guide. No matter what people call you, you are just who you are. Keep to this truth. You must ask yourself how is it you want to live your life. We live and we die, this is the truth that we can only face alone. No one can help us, not even the Buddha. So consider carefully, what prevents you from living the way you want to live your life?
David Ben-Gurion
In order to be a realist you must believe in miracles.
Deepak Chopra
Focus on your gifts, not on your weaknesses. Your weaknesses will be complemented by other people.
Purpose of life: the progressive expansion of happiness , the ability to love and have compassion, the ability to be in touch with the creative source inside you. The ability to fulfil worthy goals.
The secret to a happy life is to recognize that no matter what the situation is there is a creative opportunity in it. Finding meaning and purpose in your life to make a contribution, and ultimately, to make other people happy.
Choosing stillness in the midst of chaos is the path toward living in peace.
Eleanor Roosevelt
The world belongs to those who believe in the power of their dreams.
Do what you feel in your heart is right. You’ll get criticized for it anyway.
Ghandi
There is more to life than increasing its speed.
Be the change you wish to see in the world.
Greta Thunberg
Imagine what we could all do – together – if we really wanted to!
Jack Canfield
The dream does not come unless the capacity to achieve it comes with it.
The resources you need to fulfil your dream will gravitate naturally toward you.
James Hollis
To become a person does not necessarily mean to be well adjusted, well adapted, approved of by others. It means to become who you are. We are meant to become more eccentric, more peculiar, more odd. We are not meant just to fit in. We are here to be different. We are here to be the individual.
Jane Goodall
What you do makes a difference, and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make.
Jedidah Isler
Do not think for one minute that because you are who you are, you cannot be who you imagine yourself to be.
Jon Kabat-Zinn
You cannot stop the waves, but you can learn to surf.
We take care of the future best by taking care of the present now.
Leo Tolstoi
Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing themselves.
Marcus Aurelius
Peer deeply into yourself. There is a source of strength that will always spring up, if only you look.
Martin Luther King
Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.
Only in the darkness can you see the stars.
The time is always right to do what is right.
Oprah Winfrey
Who you are meant to be evolves from where you are right now. Learning to appreciate your lessons, mistakes and setbacks as stepping stones for the future, is a clear sign you are moving into the right direction.
The key to realising a dream is to focus not on success but significance, and then even the small steps and little victories along your path will take on greater meaning.
Paulo Coelho
Not all storms come to disrupt your life – some come to clear your path.
Enjoy what you can and ignore the rest. Let’s not waste any energy fighting things that are outside our control.
Remember that wherever your heart is, there you will find your treasure.
Freedom is not the absence of commitment, but the ability to choose – and commit myself to – what is best for me.
Pema Chödrön
Compassion for others begins with kindness to ourselves.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Life is a journey, not a destination.
Whatever you do, you need courage. 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. Peace has its victories, but it takes brave men and women to win them.
The only person you are destined to become is the person you decide to be.
Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.
To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.
Rebecca Solnit
What we dream of is already present in the world.
Despair demands less of us, it’s more predictable, and in a sad way safer. Authentic hope requires clarity—seeing the troubles in this world—and imagination, seeing what might lie beyond these situations that are perhaps not inevitable and immutable.
Hope just means another world might be possible, not promise, not guaranteed. Hope calls for action; action is impossible without hope.
Joy doesn’t betray but sustains activism. And when you face a politics that aspires to make you fearful, alienated and isolated, joy is a fine act of insurrection.
People have always been good at imagining the end of the world, which is much easier to picture than the strange sidelong paths of change in a world without end.
Giving up hope is not an option!
I can’t say I have confidence in the future, but I have a lot of confidence in its unpredictability, based on the fact that the past has regularly delivered surprises…. We need to have confidence that surprise and uncertainty are unshakable principles, if we want to have confidence in something. And recognize that in that uncertainty is room to act, to try to shape a future that will be determined by what we do in the present.
Roy T. Bennett
Believe in yourself. You are braver than you think, more talented than you know, and capable of more than you imagine.
Don’t be pushed around by the fears in your mind. Be led by the dreams in your heart.
Rumi
It’s your road and yours alone, others may walk it with you, but no one can walk it for you.
If light is in your heart, you will find your way home.
Yesterday I was clever, so I wanted to change the world. Today I am wise, so I am changing myself.
The moment you accept what troubles you’ve been given, the door will open.
Not the ones speaking the same language but the ones sharing the same feeling understand each other.
We are stars wrapped in skin. The light we are seeking has always been within.
Rutger Bregman
To believe people are hardwired to be kind isn’t sentimental or naive. On the contrary, it’s courageous and realistic to believe in peace and forgiveness. The more you give, the more you have. That’s true of trust and friendship, and it’s true of peace.
Sky Banyes
Who you are becoming is more important than who you’ve been.
Thich Nhat Hanh
We humans have lost the wisdom of genuinely resting and relaxing. We worry too much. We don’t allow our bodies to heal, and we don’t allow our minds and hearts to heal.
Letting go gives us freedom, and freedom is the only condition for happiness. If, in our heart, we still cling to anything – anger, anxiety, or possessions – we cannot be free.
Hope is important because it can make the present moment less difficult to bear. If we believe that tomorrow will be better, we can bear a hardship today.
Nothing is as important as my peace, my joy. I smile to everything, even to my suffering, to my difficulties. … That is a practice of freedom.
You already are what you want to become.
Because I am alive, everything is possible.
The tears I shed yesterday are the rain that will come tomorrow.
To be beautiful means to be yourself. You don’t need to be accepted by others. You need to accept yourself.
For things to reveal themselves to us, we need to be ready to abandon our views about them.
Our own life has to be our message.
There is no way to happiness. Happiness is the way.
Many of us have been running all their lives. Practice stopping.
In order to heal others, we first need to heal ourselves. And to heal ourselves, we need to know how to deal with ourselves.
To create fundamental change, we, the members of society, have to transform ourselves. If we want real peace, we have to demonstrate our love and understanding so that those responsible for making decisions can learn from us.
Unknown author of the medieval period
Our thinking shall be stronger, bolder the heart, greater the courage, once our power is fading.
Vaclav Havel
Hope is not the conviction that something will turn out well, but the certainty that something makes sense – no matter how it turns out.
Yung Pueblo
The most widespread affliction that people suffer from is a lack of belief in their own power. To be so broken to have fallen so deeply that the only thing you can do is rise into a new you.
Do the earth a favour, don’t hide your magic.
A hero is one who heals their own wounds and then shows others how to do the same.
Be prepared to meet a new version of yourself every time you shed another layer of old trauma, conditioning, or hurt.
You are the key to your healing, not time. Hurt, trauma, and dense conditioning will continue sitting in your mind, impacting your emotions and behavior, until you go inward. What heals is self-love, learning to let go, self-awareness, and building new habits.
Letting go does not mean forgetting, it just means we stop carrying the energy of the past into the present.
Three things make life harder: Not loving yourself. Refusing to grow. Not letting go.
A real sign of progress is when we no longer punish ourselves for our imperfections.
Time does not heal all wounds; it just gives them space to sink into the subconscious, where they will continue to impact your emotions and behavior. what heals is going inward, loving yourself, accepting yourself, listening to your needs, addressing your attachments and emotional history, learning how to let go, and following your intuition.
One of the clearest signs of personal growth is greater self-love, self-awareness, and love for all people.
Self-love is a sincere acceptance of the past, an agreement to make the most of the present, and a willingness to allow the best to occur in the future.
Essentials to remember on tough days: Practice patience Accept what you feel Do not punish yourself Make sure you get good rest Give yourself ample kindness Accomplish smaller goals that day Do things that will calm your mind A bad moment does not equal a bad life Struggle can be a space for deep growth This current discomfort is not permanent.
Growth is not about forcing understanding; it is about allowing it to grow organically.
You do not need a partner to feel whole. You do not need to have everything figured out to feel successful. You do not need to be fully healed to feel peace. You do not need to be fully wise to feel happy.
Your initial reaction is usually your past trying to impose itself on your present.
Wisdom is accepting that there are things you cannot force: People change when they are ready, creativity moves at its own rhythm, healing does not have a time limit, love blooms when things align.
I am not fully healed, I am not fully wise, I am still on my way. What matters is that I am moving forward.
Maturity is knowing that when your mood is down, you should not trust the way you see yourself.
…use your courage and creativity to build what you know is missing from the world.
Pick the path that lights you up
The one you know deep down is the right one
Stop listening to doubt
Start connecting with courage
Do not let the idea of normal get in the way
It may not be the easy path
But you know great things take effort
Lean into your determination
Lean into your mission
Lean into the real you
The Positive Choice 