10 Motivational Quotes
Sometimes we need a little pick me up. Every morning at work I receive an email from Community Health Foundation, a non-profit sector of Community Health Services of Georgia. They send inspirational quotes from influential people and the following are quotes and philosophies that came off as profound to me. On my 20th birthday, my friend and neighbor got me a quote book featuring world renowned people like Einstein and Oprah Winfrey. I also listen to numerous podcasts and read articles, blogs, and books that serve as inspiration to me. Look below for some words for thought:
I listen to Dear Sugar Radio and one of the episodes discusses how to be your inner guide. They feature Grammy winner, India Arie, who puts into words what overcoming fears looks like. “It is break down, break through, break the shell, elevate, and fly. The break down is overwhelmed, the break through is getting the courage to try to act, the break the shell is action. Flying is the embodiment of the wisdom.”
“When everything seems to be going against you, remember that the airplane takes off against the wind, not with it.” -Henry Ford
“It isn’t the mountains ahead to climb that wear you out; it’s the pebble in your shoe.” -Muhammad Ali
“Wish others well. Their success will not limit yours.” –Unknown. This spoke to me because sometimes I get this pit in my stomach when I see people I know on social media displaying their great opportunities and recognition. Don’t get me wrong, I am supportive of my friends and their accomplishments. It is important to empower and support each other and take joy in other people’s endeavors and successes. And I do think it can propel and motivate us without making us green with envy. However, I’m only human so this is something I have to remind myself. Another gentle reminder is that social media is not 100% reality. It is a carefully curated glimmer of our lives that represents our “best selves.”
“You must love in such a way that the person you love feels free.” -Thich Nhat Hanh. Thích Nhất Hạnh is a Vietnamese Buddhist monk and peace activist and has written numerous books that I highly recommend. One of which is called “The Art of Communication.”
“Guarding knowledge is not a good way to understand. Understanding means to throw away your knowledge. You have to be able to transcend your knowledge the way people climb a ladder. If you are on the fifth step of a ladder and think you are very high, there is no hope for you to climb to the sixth.” -Thich Nhat Hanh
“Open your mouth only if what you are going to say is more beautiful than silence.” –Unknown. I’m pretty extroverted so this is definitely a good quote to keep in the back of my mind. I’ve slowly gotten better at being mindful in this regard but it is definitely something I continuously work on.
“If you want to be successful you must respect one rule, never lie to yourself.” -Paul Coelho. Beautiful words from the author of another good read, “The Alchemist.”
“It’s one thing to feel that you are on the right path, it’s another to think yours is the only path.” -Paul Coelho
Who loves reading, listening, and talking about love? I do! Love in the context of literature can be so inspiring and the small wisdoms can be applied to our own love lives. I was listening to yet another episode of Dear Sugar Radio and Steve Almond, the cohost of the show read a beautiful excerpt from the novel Stoner by John Williams. “In his extreme youth Stoner had thought of love as an absolute state of being to which, if one were lucky, one might find access; in his maturity he had decided it was the heaven of a false religion, toward which one ought to gaze with an amused disbelief, a gently familiar contempt, and an embarrassed nostalgia. Now in his middle age he began to know that is was neither a state of grace nor an illusion; he saw it as a human act of becoming, a condition that was invented and modified moment by moment and day by day, by the will and the intelligence and the heart.”