Quotes about life are teaching tools. It teaches you the essential ingredients of life in a few words. There are times that quotes seemed to conflict with each other. People come from different perspectives – and most likely are describing different experiences.
Quotes about life and living.
Quotes about life are like vitamins to the soul. It helps you get going.
At times, to understand a quote, I had to study the life of the source. It works.
Ability
“I can do many things because poverty provides me with experiences that rich kids won’t have.
Jef Menguin
When I was young, I have ambitions that I couldn’t tell others about. That’s because no one seemed to believe.
We were living in slums. I do not have what other kids of my age have: a supportive environment, resources, and exposure. But later on, I realized that there was no way that we can be hungry. All I need is to commit to doing what I can.
And there are many things I can do because being poor provides me with experiences that rich kids won’t have. I can make use of my experience to help myself, my family, and others.
Most people who focused on what they don’t have seldom achieve something. They believe that in order for them to start, all the resources must be given to them.
But the world does not work that way.
We do not have all the resources we need. We have to make the most of what we have, and ask ourselves how we can multiply our impact even with “limited” resources.
In my experience, the limited resources that we have is all we need to make progress.
- Personal Excellence. You can become your super duper best.
- Enable others to act. Share your ability. Train, coach, and mentor. Here’s how.
Achievement
The reward of a thing well done is to have done it.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
If you were to get a lifetime achievement award, what would it be? Knowing what I want to make out of life helps me understand why I do what I do every day.
Achievement is more than accomplishing a goal. It means getting what you really want.
I can attest that this is true. I often get paid for speaking and training. I teach people solutions to their problems in mindset, motivation, marketing, and management.
My work is never transactional. I am not aiming to just finish something. I want every person in my session to feel that I was able to encourage and enable them to move forward.
Knowing that I have done my best to help others brings me greater joy than the payment I got for speaking in front of people.
- What is achievement? Most people measure life based on achievements.
- 3 Steps to Overachievement. You can help people go through walls.
Adversity
The misfortune of the wise is better than the prosperity of the fool.
Epicurus
These days we talk about Adversity Quotient, grit, and resilience. we do understand that our ability to face adversity is linked to our success.
People with a growth mindset are not afraid to face new challenges and make mistakes. They don’t want to fail, but they are not afraid to fail either.
Epicurus thinks that wise people can learn from their misfortunes. They can rise up and bounce forward. Their misfortunes do not speak about themselves. A crisis is temporary.
On the other hand, a fool wastes his good fortune. He wastes his money on vices and parties thinking that doing so would get the admiration of others. A fool will spend his money as fast as he gets it for he believes he does not deserve any.
Better be wise by the misfortunes of others than by your own.
Aesop
You don’t have to experience the misfortunes of others to learn from it. Observe how people live and you can learn immensely about how you can live a better life.
What I like most about reading the biographies of successful people is I get to learn about their failures too. Their stories provide clues on what must not be done.
Ambition
No bird soars too high if he soars with his own wings.
William Blake
What do you want to be when you grow up?
Most of us have been asked this question during our early years in school. Adults love to hear our answers as if we give them a glimpse of who we will become.
But you know the story.
Somehow, people forget about their dreams when they get to high school. They felt lost. They start to doubt themselves.
My experience was a bit different, though. I love to talk about my ambitions. But when you are an informal settler ( iskwater in tagalog), people around you don’t take you seriously. That’s because very few get to finish high school.
When I said, for example, that I intend to get a college degree, my friends laughed. How one, whose family cannot afford to have three meals in a day, can have ambitions?
Whatever your station in life is, do not be afraid to hold a bold ambition. To achieve anything in life, hitch your wagon to a star.
I need to take a second look at this quotation for this can be interpreted in many ways. Some people with a fixed mindset can even think that this shows the incapability of an individual to achieve his dreams alone.
But since we are talking about life ambition, I see it differently.
You are your limit.
You can fly as high as you want as long as you keep using your wings. Consider all your assets and everything that you have.
You can use all you’ve got to achieve your dreams. Your wings can be your assets. Your determination, skills, and willingness to brave the storm can be your assets.
Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can be great.
Mark Twain
Surround yourself with successful people if you want a successful life. They will understand you because they’ve been where you are.
Most of them were ambitious and it is likely that they remain ambitious to this day.
Last night, I was in a conversation with the CEO of Health Code International. I admire him because he is very successful. But during our three-hour conversation, I learned that he is very ambitious too.
He is humble. But his ambition for his company and the people it serves is very ambitious.
I realized that he has the ability to 10x his business because he has the willingness to sacrifice many things for his ambitions.
Society often forgives the criminal but it never forgives the dreamer.
Oscar Wilde
When Robredo lost the elections of 2022, this quote became clear to me.
Dreamers want transformation. They are against the same-same world of corrupt practices in the government. Someone who campaigns on the platform of governance is the enemy of everyone who believes that they must stay in power forever.
People are blind to the truth that those whom we considered criminals a few years ago are the ones in power today.
Oscar Wilde must be laughing at us.
Anxiety
Without anxiety, life would have very little savor.
May Sarton
It is okay to be anxious about uncertain things. They make you alert. They give you challenges.
What if one is afraid of what will happen, isn’t that bad for business?
Not necessarily. We need a dose of fear in order for us to survive. Someone who is too confident about the future does not always succeed because they become careless.
Anxiety is normal. We only need to know that we are anxious about something and find ways to move forward instead of not doing anything.
I am not 100 percent certain of what will happen tomorrow. I am not sure if the sun will shine. But one thing I know is that it will come. And that is the exciting part.
Every tomorrow is a promise, another chance to improve myself and achieve my dreams.
Art
Art teaches nothing except the significance of life.
Henry Miller
This is very profound. But I do understand.
I recommend that when you walk around, notice the things and people around you. Smell the flowers. Touch the leaves. Life is art and art is life.
Listen to people when they speak. Observe their faces. Notice what they try to communicate with their gestures. This is an awesome experiment that will make you realize how much art we fail to notice each day. Each art enriches our appreciation of life.
Aspiration
If you would hit the mark, you must aim a little above it.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
He who stands on tiptoe does not stand firm.
Lao Tzu
If you aspire to the highest place, it is not a disgrace to stop at the second or third place.
Cicero
Surround yourself only with people who are going to lift you higher.
Oprah Winfrey
Never look down to test the ground before taking your next step; only he who keeps his eye fixed on the far horizon will find the right road.
Dag Hammarskjold
In life, we aspire for greatness. Greatness is something that is better than what we have.
Someone who dreams big does not play safe. He looks in the direction of his dreams each day. It does not matter how far and difficult.
Hammarskjöld was the youngest Secretary-General of the United Nations. We can only imagine how difficult it was for him to resolve the issues between warring countries. But he believed that it was possible. We owe him a debt of gratitude though most of us have not heard of his name.
- What do you really want in life? The clock is ticking. Live your life to the fullest now.
- If I have 100 million tomorrow, I will do these things.
Attitude
Everything can be taken from a man but one thing; the last of human freedoms — to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances to choose one’s own way.
Viktor E. Frankl
Your attitude determines your altitude in life.
Yes, some people are born in a better position to succeed. It is ignorant to deny this. But two people can be in the same situation and have different attitudes towards it.
For some, life is a constant struggle. Life is nothing but chasing one dream after another. To them, living feels like one dreaming to wake up from another dream. To them, they are never in control.
And these are those who believe that we can make the life we desire. That we can create the world we dream about.
The first border that we must cross is not geographical but of the mind.
- Choose Your Attitude. You can choose a wait-and-see attitude. You can be a go-getter. And you can also be a go-giver. You can choose the attitude that leads to an awesome life.
- Pat Riley on Positive Attitude. When we have a positive attitude, we become appreciative of what we have. We practice a growth mindset. We turn our assets into multipliers.
- Bahala na. It is an excellent Filipino value. Find out why.
If you have a positive attitude and constantly strive to give your best effort, eventually you will overcome your immediate problems and find you are ready for greater challenges.
Pat Riley
Beauty / Beautiful
A thing of beauty is a joy forever.
John Keats
We carry with us the wonders we seek without us.
Sir Thomas Browne
John Keats and Thomas Browne must have seen the world that most of us, in the modern world, do not see.
It takes mindfulness to see the beauty of things. You can find them in museums and made-up parks. And you can find them in nature because beauty appears when you have the ability to see it.
A beautiful mind can see beauty everywhere. They have a sense of wonder. Yes, just like a child who sees new things each day.
We see whoever we are. Beauty lives forever.
Better Ideas
The only sure weapon against bad ideas is better ideas.
Alfred Whitney Griswold
A single idea, if it is right, saves the labor of an infinity of experience.
Jacques Marita
Behavior
The conduct of our lives is the true mirror of our doctrine.
Erick From
Beliefs Quotes
Convictions are more dangerous enemies of truth than lies.
Nietzche
The widespread belief is more likely to be foolish than sensible.
Bertrant Russel
Business Quotes
Never buy what you do not want because it is cheap.
Thomas Jefferson
Business is about creating and adding value. We provide products and services that others need. May these business quotes inspire you.
I observed that some people have to tendency to buy a product only because it is cheap, even though they don’t need it. I know someone who likes to buy bags and shoes only because they are sold at a bargain. He’s happy having bought something for half the price though he does not know if he’ll get to use them. Do not waste your money on anything that you don’t need.
The first one gets the oyster, the second gets the shell.
Andrew Carnegie
Business opportunities are like buses, there’s always another one coming.
Richard Branson
The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing.
Walt Disney
There’s no shortage of remarkable ideas, what’s missing is the will to execute them.
Seth Godin
There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work and learning from failure.
Colin Powell
Success is often achieved by those who don’t know that failure is inevitable.
Coco Chanel
I don’t know the word ‘quit.’ Either I never did, or I have abolished it.
Susan Butcher
Yesterday’s home runs don’t win today’s games.
Babe Ruth
I feel that luck is preparation meeting opportunity.
Oprah Winfrey
If you really look closely, most overnight successes took a long time.
Steve Jobs
Even if you are on the right track, you’ll get run over if you just sit there.
Will Rodgers
Boldness Quotes
Be original; don’t be scared of being bold. -Ed Sheeran
In difficult situations, the boldest plans are the safest. – Livy
Be bold, be brave enough to be your true self. – Queen Latifah
I would rather be a hot mess of bold action, a make-it-happen learn on the fly kind of person than a perfectly organized coward.- Brendon Burchard
Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Put a grain of boldness into everything you do. – Baltasar Gracian
Be bold when others are scared. – Thomas J. Powell
Take risks, be bold and let your genius convert your fear into power and brilliance. – Robert Kiyosaki
Books Quotes
Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed and some few to be chewed and digested.- Francis Bacon
Boredom Quotes
The secret to being a bore is to tell everything.
Calling / Vocation Quotes
Every calling is great when greatly pursued. – Oliver Wendel Holmes
Community quotes
I am part of all that I have met. – Lord Alfred Tennyson
Character quotes
Character is much easier kept than recovered. – Thomas Paine
Change quotes
To remain young, one must change. – Alexander Chase
Choice quotes
You may choose and live the consequences. Every yes, no, maybe creates the school you call personal experience. – Richard Bach
Common Sense quotes
Common sense is as rare as genius. – Ralph Waldo Emerson
Control quotes
I can only control myself, my actions, my work ethic, and my attitude.- Ali Krieger
One of the hard lessons to learn in life is that there are some things you can control and some things you can’t. If you want a short recipe for being frustrated and miserable, this is; focus on things you can control. – John Bytheway
Greed quotes
He is not poor that hath not much but he that craves much. – Thomas Fuller
Genius quotes
Genius is the ability to put into effect what is your mind. – F Scott Fitzgerald
Growth quotes
Growth is the only guidance of life.- John Herny Newmann
Forgive Yourself quotes
How unhappy is he who cannot forgive himself. – Publius
Focus quotes
It is during our darkest moment that we must focus to see the light. (Artistotle Onassis)
Habit quotes
Progress has no greater enemy than habit. – Jose Marti
Happiness quotes
Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony. – Mahatma Gandhi
Find a place where there is joy, and the joy will burn out the pain. – Joseph Campbell
Happiness is produced not so much by great pieces of good fortune that seldom happen as by little advantages that occur every day. – Benjamin Franklin
Home quotes
Nothing feels like home.
Take it from someone who travels a lot. It is easy to be the authentic you for you do not need to measure up to the expectations of people.
Be it ever so humble, there’s no place like home for wearing what you like. – George Ade
Humor quotes
The things we laugh at are awful while they are going in but funny when we look. – James Thurber
Hunger Quotes
A hungry stomach has no ears.
Honesty Quotes
To make your children capable of honesty is the beginning of education. – John Ruskin
Get-Rich Quotes
The only people who get rich from “get rich quick” books are those who write them. – Richard Nixon
Good Life Quotes
It is vanity to desire a long life and take no heed of a good life. – Thomas a Kempis
Measurement of life should be proportioned rather to the intensity of the experience than to its actual length. – Thomas Hardy
Ignorance Quotes
Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity. – Martin Luther King Jr
To be conscious that you are ignorant is a great step toward knowledge. – Benjamin Disraeli
Kindness Quotes
Always set a high value on spontaneous kindness. – Samuel Johnson
Inspire People Quotes
The men who have changed the world have never done so by changing officials but by inspiring the people. – Napoleon
Laughter Quotes
No one is laughable who laughs at himself. – Seneca
The most wasted day is that in which we have not laughed. – Nicholas Chamfort
Leadership Quotes
The final test of a leader is that he leaves behind him in other men the conviction and the will to carry on. – Walter Lippman
Anyone can hold the helm when the sea is calm. – Publius
A leader’s job is to look into the future and see the organization, not as it is, but as it should be. – Jack Welch
The first responsibility of a leader is to define reality. The last is to say thank you. In between, the leader is a servant. – Max DePree
When trouble arises and things look bad, there is always one individual who perceives a solution and is willing to take command. Very often, that person is crazy. – Dave Barry
As we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. – Marianne Williamson
Your job isn’t to command people, but to bring out the leaders in them so they can make the impossible possible. – Jef Menguin
The place to improve the world is first in one’s own heart, and head, and hands. – Robert M. Pirsig
It all comes down to this: if you want one year of happiness, grow grain. If you want 10 years of happiness, grow trees. If you want 100 years of happiness, grow people. – Harvey Mackay
I start with the premise that the function of leadership is to produce more leaders, not more followers. -Ralph Nader
To be able to lead others, a man must be willing to go forward alone. – Harry Truman
Learning Quotes
Just us eating against one’s will is injurious to health, to study without a liking for it spoils the memory and it retains nothing it takes in. – Leonardo Da Vinci
Life Quotes
Many years ago, our club visited Maricel’s house in Bataan. She has a beach house, and we spend time getting to know each other.
One of our members was Fred. He was a lawyer. He told me many stories about those years when he was a high-ranking official during the Marcos regime.
I heard from his stories I have not read in history books. He was there, and he remembered everything the way he imagined them to be.
And there was Michelle. She was 21 years old, a fresh graduate from college. She was full of energy and enthusiasm, someone you can call unstoppable.
” I believe we can achieve as long as we believe. There is no limit to what we can do. We are limitless”. Michelle’s eyes sparkled as if she found her salvation.
To live life to the fullest, we must learn to appreciate life.
Life is what happens between the day we were born and the day we die. There are ups and downs, but mostly flat.
Some people spend their days dreaming of a tomorrow that never comes, and others live each day like the way they lived their yesterdays.
I think our mission is how to make each day, each hour, and each experience count.
Our life is shaped by our mind; we become what we think. Joy follows a pure thought like a shadow that never leaves.- Gautama Buddha
I do not cut my life into days but my days into lives, each day, each hour, and entire life. (Juan Ramon Jimenez
Life is a continued struggle to be what we are not and do what we cannot. – William Hazzlit
The great business of life is to be, to do, to do without and to depart. – John Morley
The aim of life is to live and to live means to be aware , joyously, drankenly, serenely, divinely aware. – Henry Miller
Do not base your life on the judgement of others. – Jean Jacques Rousseau
The art of life is not controlling what happens to us, but using what happens to us. – Gloria Steinem
Love Quotes
The supreme happiness of life is the conviction that we are loved. – Victor Hugo
With love, we can live even without happiness. – Fyodor Dostoevsky
Morning Quotes
Morning comes whether you set the alarm or not. – Ursula K. Le Guin
Don’t count the days; make the days count.- Muhammad Ali
Beware of monotony; it’s the mother of all the deadly sins. – Edith Wharton
One key to success is to have lunch at the time of the day most people have breakfast. – Robert Brault
Mankind Quotes
Every other man is a piece of myself for I am part and a member of mankind. – Thomas Merton
Move Forward
If you can’t fly, then run. If you can’t run, then walk. If you can’t walk, then crawl. But whatever you do, you have to keep moving forward. – Martin Luther King Jr
Being Right Quotes
The way to win an argument is to start by being in the right. – Lord Hail Shann
Power of One Quotes
When the whole is silent, even one voice becomes powerful. – Malala Yousaifzai
Find inspiration from Malala’s life. Because of her courage and conviction, she fought for the rights of girls in Pakistan. You can play safe. Be indifferent to what’s happening around you. You can be silent like everyone else. And feel like your life is hollow.
Or you speak your truth. Be the one where everything starts. The power of one begins in small beginnings.
But you don’t have to be in a dangerous situation. The Power of One happens when there is something that ought to be done, everyone thinks it should be done, but people wait for someone to start.
That’s what Ana Patrica Non did when she put up the Maginhawa Community Pantry. Filipinos have always wanted to help. That’s why Filipinos complain a lot of governments’ lack of leadership. Then, someone showed them how.
Patience Quotes
Our patience will achieve more than our force. – Edmund Burke
Praise
Praise makes good men better and bad men worse. – Thomas Fuller
Truth Quotes
Only through inquiry can we know the truth. – Carl Sagan
Nowadays truth is the greatest news. – David Riesman
Thoughts Quotes
Our life is what our thoughts make it. – Marcus Aurelius
Trust Quotes
A man who doesn’t trust himself can never really trust anyone. – Cardinal De Retz
Time Management Quotes
Those who make the worst of their time are the first to complain of its brevity. – Jean de la Bruyere
Travel Light Quotes
He who would travel happily must travel light. – Antoine de Saint-Exupery
Silence Quotes
Silence will save me from being wrong, but it will also deprive me of the possibility of being right. – Igor Stravinsky
The most moving moments of our time find us all without words. – Marcel Marceu
Tragedy Quotes
Show me a hero and I will work with you a tragedy. – F Scott Fitzgerald
Originality
All things which exist are the fruits of originality. – John Stuart Mill
Opportunity Quotes
A wise man will make more opportunities than he finds. – Francis Bacon
Self Quotes
Our life consists finally in accepting ourselves as what we are. – Jean Anouilh
Success Quotes
The ability to convert ideas into things is the secret of outward success. – Henry Ward Beecher
Virtues Quotes
Virtues are virtues only to those who can appreciate them. – Panchatantra
Vision Quotes
vision is the art of seeing things invisible. – Jonathan Swift
Winner Quotes
Regardless of how you feel inside, always try to look like a winner. Even if you are behind, a sustained look of control and confidence can give you a mental edge that results in victory. – Arthur Ashe
Wisdom
Wisdom rises on the ruins of folly.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Words are the small change of thought.
Jules Renard
We pay a high price for being intelligent. Wisdom hurts.
Euripides
It is not enough to have a good friend, the main thing is to use it well.
Rene Descartes
Many complain of their looks but none of their brains.
Yiddish Proverb
Writing
He who does not expect a million readers should not write a line.
Goethe
Youth
It is better to waste one’s youth than to do nothing with it at all.
George Courteline
Zeal
Zeal without knowledge is fire without light.
Thomas Fuller
Experience shows that success is due less to ability than to zeal.
Charlex Buxton
Just as food eaten without appetite is a tedious nourishment, so does study without real zeal damage memory by not assimilating what it absorbed.
Leonardo Da Vinci
Zeal refers to our energy or enthusiasm to finish what we start. When we do things with enthusiasm, time is always shorter because we enjoy whatever we are doing.
Our zeal to do something great is fueled by our purpose. It is not something that we are born with. We have zeal when our dreams are too important to ignore.
- Keep Your Motivation to Study. Here are simple ways you can do to keep yourself motivated.
- When You Have No Motivation to Study. Use these five effective tips to get started and keep your momentum.
- Motivation to Work. Motivation is easy to manufacture. Of course, a stronger intrinsic motivation will keep you going.
