Words to Live By: Quotes that Will Inspire
A Collection of Famous Quotations
Ah-h words—they challenge and inspire. They take readers to faraway places, lend understanding, and evoke strong emotions. Writers string them together in the hope of communicating new ideas, exposing their deepest desires, fears and truth, and in doing so, make themselves immortal.
Below are just a few examples of quotations from famous people that touch an intangible part of the human psyche.
Great Leaders and Philosophers
“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.”—Jesus Christ
“Be the change that you want to see in the world.”—Mohandos Gandhi
“We are what we think. All that we are arises with our thoughts. With our thoughts, we make the world.”—Buddha
“Spread love everywhere you go. Let no one ever come to you without leaving happier.”—Mother Theresa
“Take the first step in faith. You don't have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step.”—Martin Luther King
“We gain strength, and courage, and confidence by each experience in which we really stop to look fear in the face... we must do that which we think we cannot.”—Eleanor Roosevelt
“My religion is kindness.”—The Dalai Lama
“At the center of your being you have the answer; you know who you are and you know what you want.”—Lao Tzu
Authors and Poets
“Trust thyself; every heart vibrates to that iron string.”—Ralph Waldo Emerson
“I exist as I am, that is enough.”—Walt Whitman
“What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.”—Oliver Wendell Holmes
“Your sacred space is where you find yourself again and again.”—Joseph Campbell
“Do what you love. Know your own bone; gnaw at it, bury it, unearth it, and gnaw it still.”—Henry David Thoreau
“Look at everything as though you were seeing it either for the first or last time. Then your time on earth will be filled with glory.”—Betty Smith
“And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.”—Anais Nin
“It is not in the stars to hold our destiny but in ourselves.”—William Shakespeare
“If you want to be happy, be.”—Leo Tolstoy
“It is never too late to be what you might have been.”—George Eliot
“I want to love, to love heedlessly! To love for the sake of loving…”—Florbela Espanca
Artists and Entertainers
“Neither a lofty degree of intelligence nor imagination nor both together go to the making of genius. Love, love, love, that is the soul of genius.” Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
“Love many things, for therein lies the true strength, and whosoever loves much performs much, and can accomplish much, and what is done in love is done well.”—Vincent Van Gogh
“Never permit a dichotomy to rule your life, a dichotomy in which you hate what you do so you can have pleasure in your spare time. Look for a situation in which your work will give you as much happiness as your spare time.”—Pablo Picasso
“You study, you learn, but you guard the original naiveté. It has to be within you, as desire for drink is within the drunkard or love is within the lover.”—Henri Matisse
“Every age can be enchanting, provided you live within it.”—Brigitte Bardot
“Talent alone won't make you a success. Neither will being in the right place at the right time, unless you are ready. The most important question is: "Are your ready?"”—Johnny Carson
Just for Laughs
“Don't sweat the petty things and don't pet the sweaty things.”—George Carlin
“I cook with wine; sometimes I even add it to the food.”—W.C. Fields
“You can't have everything. Where would you put it?”—Steven Wright
References: Brainy Quotes, Wisdom Quotes
