Famous Motivational Quotations

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"A creative man is motivated by the desire to achieve, not by the desire to beat others."
by Ayn Rand
"Aerodynamically, the bumble bee shouldn't be able to fly, but the bumble bee doesn't know it so it goes on flying anyway."
by Mary Kay Ash
"The highest compliment that you can pay me is to say that I work hard every day, that I never dog it."
by Anonymous
"The world is not respectable; it is mortal, tormented, confused, deluded forever; but it is shot through with beauty, with love, with glints of courage and laughter; and in these, the spirit blooms timidly, and struggles to the light amid the thorns."
by George Santayana
"The whole motivation for any performer is Look at me, Ma"
by Anonymous
"Though a good motive cannot sanction a bad action, a bad motive will always vitiate a good action. In common and trivial matters we may act without motives, but in momentous ones the most careful deliberation is wisdom."
by W. M. L. Jay
"What we see depends mainly on what we look for."
by Sir John Lubbock
"When the leader passes over all alike, not making a distinction, then the endeavors of those who are capable of exertion are entirely lost."
by Hitopadesa Hitopadesa
"You are never really playing an opponent. You are playing yourself, your own highest standards, and when you reach your limits, that is real joy."
by Anonymous
"Your time is limited, don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma, which is living the result of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of other's opinion drowned your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition, they somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary."
by Anonymous
"Everything around us is made up of energy. To attract positive things in your life, start by giving off positive energy."
by Author unknown
"God made man to go by motives, and he will not go without them, any more than a boat without steam or a balloon without gas."
by Henry Ward Beecher
"I don't think racial motivation has anything to do with it."
by Robert Cardwell
"If you would lift me up you must be on higher ground."
by Ralph Waldo Emerson
"It is no little wisdom for you to keep yourself in silence and in good peace when evil words are spoken to you, and to turn your heart to God and not to be troubled with the judgment of others."
by Anonymous
"Leave no stone unturned."
by Anonymous
"Motivation is the art of getting people to do what you want them to do because they want to do it."
by Anonymous
"Motivation is everything. You can do the work of two people, but you can't be two people. Instead, you have to inspire the next guy down the line and get him to inspire his people."
by Lee Iacocca
"Men are more accountable for their motives, than for anything else; and primarily, morality consists in the motives, that is in the affections."
by Archibald Alexander
"Recognition is the greatest motivator."
by Gerard C. Eakedale
"Striving for excellence motivates you; striving for perfection is demoralizing."
by Harriet Braiker
"Some of us are like wheelbarrows, only useful when pushed and easily upset."
by Jack Herbert
"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"
by Anonymous
"Motivation is what gets you started. Habit is what keeps you going."
by Anonymous
"It is not the horse that draws the cart, but the oats."
by Russian proverb
"I just want to do God's will. And he's allowed me to go to the mountain. And I've looked over, and I've seen the promised land! I may not get there with you, but I want you to know tonight that we as a people will get to the promised land."
by Martin Luther King, Jr.
"The best morale exist when you never hear the word mentioned. When you hear a lot of talk about it, it's usually lousy."
by Dwight D. Eisenhower
"The greatest motivational act one person can do for another is to listen."
by Roy Moody
"You know a dream is like a river, ever changing as it flows. And a dreamer's just a vessel that must follow where it goes. Trying to learn from what's behind you and never knowing what's in store makes each day a constant battle just to stay between the shores. And I will sail my vessel 'til the river runs dry. Like a bird upon the wind, these waters are my sky. I'll never reach my destination if I never try, So I will sail my vessel 'til the river runs dry. Too many times we stand aside and let the water slip away. To what we put off 'til tomorrow has now become today. So don't you sit upon the shore and say you're satisfied. Choose to chance the rapids and dare to dance the tides."
by Garth Brooks
"You don't have to do anything you don't want to do."
by David Harold Fink
"You cannot raise a man up by calling him down."
by William Boetcker
"Why did I want to win? because I didn't want to lose!"
by Max Schmelling
"Where there is no vision, there is no hope"
by Anonymous
"When you come to the end of all the light you know, and it's time to step into the darkness of the unknown, faith is knowing that one of two things shall happen: Either you will be given something solid to stand on or you will be taught to fly."
by Edward Teller
"When the administrator feels himself to be the sole driving agency, and finds himself chiefly engaged in arousing those who apathetic and coercing those who are antagonistic, there is something vitally wrong with the administration. An executive should find himself engaged chiefly in directing the energies which create themselves naturally in all parts of the business, and in finding the proper outlet for the eager upward striving of the ranks below."
by E.E. Jones
"When I was young, I said to God, god, tell me the mystery of the universe. But God answered, that knowledge is for me alone. So I said, god, tell me the mystery of the peanut. Then God said, well, George, that's more nearly your size."
by George Washington C
"Whatever you are from nature, keep to it; never desert your own line of talent... Be what Nature intended you for, and you will succeed; be anything else, and you will be ten thousand times worse than nothing."
by Sydney Smith
"We talk on principal, but act on motivation."
by Walter Savage Landor
"Means we use must be pure as the ends we seek"
by Dr. Martin Luther King
"Live out of your imagination, not your history.—Stephen Covey"
by Anonymous
"It took a lot of blood, sweat and tears to get to where we are today, but we have just begun. Today we begin in earnest the work of making sure that the world we leave our children is just a little bit better than the one we inhabit today. - Barak Obama"
by Anonymous
"In order to succeed, your desire for success should be greater than your fear of failure."
by Bill Cosby
"If you're walking down the right path and you're willing to keep walking, eventually you'll make progress. - Barak Obama"
by Anonymous
"If ya ain't got it in ya, ya can't blow it out."
by Louis Armstong
"If we cannot end now our differences, at least we can help make the world safe for diversity."
by John F. Kennedy
"I will act now. I will act now. I will act now. Henceforth, I will repeat these words each hour, each day, everyday, until the words become as much a habit as my breathing, and the action which follows becomes as instinctive as the blinking of my eyelids. With these words I can condition my mind to perform every action necessary for my success. I will act now. I will repeat these words again and again and again. I will walk where failures fear to walk. I will work when failures seek rest. I will act now for now is all I have. Tomorrow is the day reserved for the labor of the lazy. I am not lazy. Tomorrow is the day when the failure will succeed. I am not a failure. I will act now. Success will not wait. If I delay, success will become wed to another and lost to me forever. This is the time. This is the place. I am the person."
by Og Mandino
"I usually need a can of beer to prime me."
by Norman Mailer
"I still feel like I gotta prove something. There are a lot of people hoping I fail. But I like that. I need to be hated."
by Howard Stern
"I learned that courage was no the absence of fear, but the triump over. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear."
by Nelson Mandela
"I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work."
by Thomas Edison
"I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character."
by Dr. Martin Luther King
"I cannot believe that the purpose of life is to be happy. I think the purpose of life is to be useful, to be responsible, to be compassionate. It is, above all to matter, to count, to stand for something, to have made some difference that you lived at all."
by Leo Rosten
"I can, therefore I am."
by Simone Weil
"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 strong. Because someday in your life you will have been all of these."
by George Washington Carver
"How do I change? If I feel depressed I will sing. If I feel sad I will laugh. If I feel ill I will double my labour. If I feel fear I will plunge ahead. If I feel inferior I will wear new garments. If I feel uncertain I will raise my voice. If I feel poverty I will think of wealth to come. If I feel incompetent I will think of past success. If I feel insignificant I will remember my goals. Today I will be the master of my emotions."
by Og Mandino
"Give light and people will find the way."
by Ella Baker
"Five minutes of today are worth as much to me, as five minutes in the next millennium. Let us be poised, and wise, and our own, today."
by Ralph Waldo Emerson
"Excellence is to do a common thing in an uncommon way."
by Booker T. Washington
"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."
by Harriet Tubman
"Don't spur a willing horse."
by Proverb
"Don't limit your challenges, Challenge your Limits."
by Anonymous
"Don't let the fear of striking out keep you from playing the game."
by Anonymous
"Don't let my mouth say nothin' my head can't stand"
by Louis Armstrong
"Courage is the most important of all the virtues, because without courage you can't practice any other virtue consistently. You can practice any virtue erratically, but nothing consistently without courage."
by Maya Angelou
"Courage doesn't always roar. Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying, 'I will try again tomorrow.'"
by Anonymous
"Comfort the afflicted, and afflict the comfortable."
by Finley Peter Dunne
"Citius, Altius, Fortius Faster, Higher, Stronger"
by Henri Martin Didon
"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. - Barak Obama"
by Anonymous
"Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future.."
by John F. Kennedy
"Books are the treasure...But reading is the key."
by Anonymous
"Avoiding the phrase"
by Bo Bennett
"Any change, any loss, does not make us victims. Others can shake you, surprise you, disappoint you, but they can't prevent you from acting, from taking the situation you're presented with and moving on. No matter where you are in life, no matter what your situation, you can always do something. You always have a choice and the choice can be power."
by Blaine Lee
"All your life you are told the things you cannot do. All your life they will say you're not good enough or strong enough or talented enough; they will say you're the wrong height or the wrong weight or the wrong type to play this or be this or achieve this. THEY WILL TELL YOU NO, a thousand times no, until all the no's become meaningless. All your life they will tell you no, quite firmly and very quickly. AND YOU WILL TELL THEM YES."
by Anon.
"A good head and a good heart are always a formidable combination"
by Nelson Mandela
"You're not obligated to win. You're obligated to keep trying to do the best you can every day."
by Marian Wright Edelman
"You make the world a better place by making yourself a better person."
by Scott Sorrell
"We should not teach children the sciences; but give them a taste for them."
by Jean Jacques Rousseau
"We need men who can dream of things that never were - John F. Kennedy"
by Anonymous
"We may think there is willpower involved, but more likely change is due to want power. Wanting the new addiction more than the old one. Wanting the new me in preference to the person I am now."
by George Sheehan
"We know nothing about motivation. All we can do is write books about it."
by Peter Drucker
"Victory belongs to the most persevering"
by Napoleon
"To handle yourself, use your head; to handle others, use your heart."
by Donald Laird
"Those who profess to favor freedom, and yet depreciate agitation, are men who want crops without plowing up the ground. They want rain without thunder and lightening. They want the ocean without the awful roar of its many waters. This struggle may be a mo"
by Anonymous
"There is no better adversity. Every defeat. Every heart break. Every loss. Contains its own seed, it's own lesson on how to improve your performance the next time."
by Malcolm X
"There are two levers for moving men -- interest and fear."
by Napoleon Bonaparte
"There are two great days in a person’s life—the day we are born and the day we discover why. —William Barclay"
by Anonymous
"The ones who want to achieve and win championships motivate themselves."
by Mike Ditka
"The most important thing about motivation is goal setting. You should always have a goal."
by Francie Larrieu Smith
"The moral arc of the universe bends toward justice."
by Martin Luther King
"The master in the art of living makes little distinction between his work and his play, his labor and his leisure, his mind and his body, his information and his recreation, his love and his religion. He hardly knows which is which. He simply pursues his vision of excellence at whatever he does, leaving others to decide whether he is working or playing. To him he's always doing both."
by James A. Michener
"The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing."
by Stephen Covey
"The key is not to prioritize what’s on your schedule, but to schedule your priorities."
by Stephen Covey
"Success… Is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome."
by Booker T. Washington
"So, let us not be blind to our differences - but let us also direct attention to our common interests and to the means by which those differences can be resolved."
by John F. Kennedy
"Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will."
by Frederick Douglass
"Our lives are not determined by what happens to us but by how we react to what happens, not by what life brings to us, but by the attitude we bring to life. A positive attitude causes a chain reaction of positive thoughts, events, and outcomes. It is a catalyst, a spark that creates extraordinary results."
by Anon.
"Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly"
by Robert Kennedy
"One of the reasons it has seemed so difficult for a person to change his habits, his personality, or his way of life, has been that heretofore nearly all efforts at change have been directed to the circumference of the self, so to speak, rather than to the center."
by Maxwell Maltz
"Next to excellence, comes the appreciation of it."
by William Makepeace Thackeray
"Never play a thing the same way twice"
by Louis Armstong


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