quotes Inspirational Quotes

[Cynus]

I like sharing quotes that inspire me and help motivate me to work on writing and other endeavors, and I thought you all might enjoy the same thing. I went looking for a forum topic on the subject but couldn't find one, so I figured I'd start one.

I'm going to share two to start us off. First this iconic one from Ira Glass: 


“Nobody tells this to people who are beginners, I wish someone told me. All of us who do creative work, we get into it because we have good taste. But there is this gap. For the first couple years you make stuff, it’s just not that good. It’s trying to be good, it has potential, but it’s not. But your taste, the thing that got you into the game, is still killer. And your taste is why your work disappoints you. A lot of people never get past this phase, they quit. Most people I know who do interesting, creative work went through years of this. We know our work doesn’t have this special thing that we want it to have. We all go through this. And if you are just starting out or you are still in this phase, you gotta know its normal and the most important thing you can do is do a lot of work. Put yourself on a deadline so that every week you will finish one story. It is only by going through a volume of work that you will close that gap, and your work will be as good as your ambitions. And I took longer to figure out how to do this than anyone I’ve ever met. It’s gonna take awhile. It’s normal to take awhile. You’ve just gotta fight your way through.”

And then my favorite Miyamoto Musashi quote, which I also use for my signature:
 

“Today is victory over yourself of yesterday; tomorrow is your victory over lesser men.”

What quotes have inspired you in the past? 

[Drew Espinosa]

I don't think this counts as a quote, but it is inspirational for me

 

[Cynus]

I don't think this counts as a quote, but it is inspirational for me

 

It definitely counts. If it's inspiring or motivating, I say anything goes.

[Palantir]

He was my North, my South, my East and West,
My working week and my Sunday rest,
My noon, my midnight, my talk, my song;
I thought that love would last for ever: I was wrong.

The stars are not wanted now: put out every one;
Pack up the moon and dismantle the sun;
Pour away the ocean and sweep up the wood.
For nothing now can ever come to any good.

 

W Auden.

 

I wouldn't say that 'inspirational' is quite the right word here  but I find these words of loss so powerful I'm moved every time I think of them.

Edited August 11, 2015 by Palantir

[Cynus]

He was my North, my South, my East and West,

My working week and my Sunday rest,

My noon, my midnight, my talk, my song;

I thought that love would last for ever: I was wrong.

 

The stars are not wanted now: put out every one;

Pack up the moon and dismantle the sun;

Pour away the ocean and sweep up the wood.

For nothing now can ever come to any good.

 

W Auden.

 

I wouldn't say that 'inspirational' is quite the right word here  but I find these words of loss so powerful I'm moved every time I think of them.

I have felt loss this deeply, and it has an interesting way of motivating me to do things in my life. Thank you for sharing. I loved it.

[RomanRomaan]

What you do speaks so loudly that I cannot hear what you say.

 

Ralph Waldo Emerson

[J.HunterDunn]

When I was young I had a favourite aunt and uncle where I spent all my holidays. They had a serving tray with a text that I liked. Because they knew the text was special to me they gave it to me and it has had a place at the wall in every house I lived in. I have tried to live accordingly:

 

Stretch forth your hand like a brother

Remember that life is but a span

It is our duty to help one another

And do a good turn when you can.

[Emi GS]

Life Must Go On... Whether You Like It Or Not... :)

[Aditus]

When I first found this I declared it mine and even bought the t-shirt.

 

You must still have chaos within you to be able to give birth to a dancing star.

(Friedrich Nietzsche)

 

And there is still this:

 

Science is organized knowledge. Wisdom is organized life.

(Immanuel Kant)

Edited August 11, 2015 by aditus

[MrM]

"My Meemaw used to say somethin' to me that didn't make too much sense at the time but it did later. When I went out there with her after I had my...problem...she'd tell me, she'd say: 

 

'Jimmyboy, Chil'e, they's a time and they's a place for all things ta' come in they season. The mulberry tree only done puts up its mulberries once a year and only for a few weeks at the bestest. You come too early, they ain't none. You come too late and they all gone. So you gotta know when to look and when to pick em or ya miss em...so always look for the signs of mulberry time, Baby!'

 

She'd then go shuffle off and make toast with homemade mulberry jam for us with some iced tea, makin' the point hit home.

 

Its mulberry pickin' time, Snowmuffin'. Don't miss em'! They taste...mighty good!"

~~ Jimmy

[Carlos Hazday]

Do what thy manhood bids thee do,

from none but self expect applause;

He noblest lives and noblest dies

who makes and keeps his self-made laws.

 

All other Life is living Death,

a world where none but Phantoms dwell,

A breath, a wind, a sound, a voice,

a tinkling of the camel-bell.

 

 

Sir Richard Francis Bacon

The Kasidah of Hâjî Abdû El-Yezdi

 

My favorite lines, from my favorite poem.

The words guide my decisions.

Edited August 11, 2015 by Carlos Hazday

[Defiance19]

When I little, my dad used to say:

 

  Work while you work;  Play while you play

  One thing each time; That is the way

  All that you do; Do with you might

 Things done in halves; Are never done right.

 

Then my mum would chime in with the old:

 

'In other words, anything worth doing is worth doing well.'

 

I never forgot it though, and it's morphed into a good work ethic for me... 

[Cynus]

I'm apparently out of likes, but I've loved every single thing that's been shared so far, so I'll come back when I have more available and make sure to like everything I haven't already.

Here's something that isn't a quote, exactly, but it does inspire me. It helps me remember not to stereotype, and is funny at the same time. 

[Tomas]

I don't remember where I found this, but do remember I was a young teen and it kind of spoke to me...                      

 

       "What another would have done as well as you, do not

         do it.  What another would have said as well as you,

         do not say it; written as well, do not write it.  Be faithful

         to that which exists nowhere but  in yourself ---- and thus

         make yourself indispensable."

[Phantom]

This one is an inspirational one to me, though it can be very tongue in cheek as well...

 

Some cause happiness wherever they go; others whenever they go - Oscar Wilde

 

You can find it on my signature here on GA and taped to my monitor at home remind me to be humble

 

 

[Cynus]

This one is an inspirational one to me, though it can be very tongue in cheek as well...

 

Some cause happiness wherever they go; others whenever they go - Oscar Wilde

 

You can find it on my signature here on GA and taped to my monitor at home remind me to be humble

That reminds me of this one, which used to hang in the wrestling room(which served as a dojo for me) at the high school where I studied Aikido.

 

"The true test of a man’s character is what he does when no one is watching.” 

― John Wooden

Edited August 14, 2015 by Cynus

[Tomas]

"Life is like music; it must be composed by ear, feeling and instinct, not by rule."

[Daddydavek]

To thine own self be true.   (It's harder than it sounds based on my nearly 68 years of experience.)

[DynoReads]

My favorites quotes, although I don't know the sources:

 

If there be any good that I may do, let me do it now, for I may not pass this way again. (Or any of the versions of this)

 

Do not walk behind me, I may not lead. Do not walk in front of me, I may not follow. Rather, walk beside me and be my friend.

 

and last, but not least:

Where are they? Which way did they go? How many of them were there? I must find them! I AM THEIR LEADER.
 

[Headstall]

A quote that has stayed with me for most of my life.

 

Nil sine magno labore   .... the literal translation is nothing without great effort(labor)   It was my high school motto, on our Coat of Arms... My school translated it as 'Nothing worthwhile is obtained without hard work' and that is how I see it in my head. It has kept me determined throughout my life, and it applies to me physically and emotionally. During my horse show career, when I rode literally 363 days a year (I have the calendars to prove it), I had it hanging in my barn, and it kept me going, day after day after day.... Whenever I want to quit something, and that includes relationships, I come back to this...

[Menace]

Love this quote. 

[Former Member]

It’s not the load that breaks you down, it’s the way you carry it.” – Lena Horne

[Cynus]

"If you one day make it back to the West, what will you tell men of this strange word, 'kung fu'? Will you tell them that it means to fight? Or will you say like a monk from Shaolin to summon the spirit of the crane and the tiger? Kung Fu. It means, 'supreme skill from hard work.' A great poet has reached kung fu. The painter, the calligrapher they can be said to have kung fu. Even the cook, the one who sweeps steps or a masterful servant can have kung fu. Practice. Preparation. Endless repetition. Until your mind is weary, and your bones ache. Until you're too tired to sweat, too wasted to breathe. That is the way, the only way one acquires kung fu." ~ Hundred Eyes, from "Marco Polo"

[rustle]

"Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall."

 

                                                                                                       - Confucius

[Palantir]

“We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.”

 

Oscar Wilde.