Words to inspire by influential people

Success is a lousy teacher. It seduces smart people into thinking they can't lose. Bill Gates

God's dream is that you and I and all of us will realize that we are family, that we are made for togetherness, for goodness, and for compassion.  Desmond Tutu

Each day of our lives we make deposits in the memory banks of our children. Charles R. Swindoll

Christmas... is not an external event at all, but a piece of one's home that one carries in one's heart.  Freya Stark

I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work.  Thomas A. Edison

Only he who believes is obedient and only he who is obedient believes.  Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Never take anything for granted.  Benjamin Disraeli

Do you want to know who you are? Don’t ask. Act! Action will delineate and define you.  Thomas Jefferson

Perseverance is not a long race, it is many short races one after the other.  Walter Elliot

If one does not know to which port one is sailing, no wind is favorable.  Lucius Annaeus Seneca

Life is like riding a bicycle: you don't fall off unless you stop pedaling.  Claude Pepper

The show that fits one person pinches another; there is no recipe for living that suits all cases.  Carl Jung

A good head and a good heart are always a formidable combination.  Nelson Mandela

Never lose an opportunity of seeing anything beautiful, for beauty is God's handwriting.  Ralph Waldo Emerson

Don't worry when you are not recognized, but strive to be worthy of recognition.  Abraham Lincoln

The quality of decision is like the well-timed swoop of a falcon which enables it to strike and destroy its victim.  Sun Tzu

Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it.   William Arthur Ward

Presence is more than just being there.   Malcolm Forbes

There was never a night or a problem that could defeat sunrise of hope.  Bernard Williams

You cannot control what happens to you, but you can control your attitude toward what happens to you, and in that, you will be mastering change rather than allowing it to master you. Brian Tracy

Nature always wears the colors of the spirit.  Ralph Waldo Emerson

Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off your goal.  Henry Ford

Patience and time do more than strength or passion.  Jean de La Fontaine

Wonder rather than doubt is the root of all knowledge. Abraham Joshua Heschel

The greatest barrier to someone achieving their potential is their denial of it.  Simon Travaglia

Most people want to avoid pain, and discipline is usually painful.  John C. Maxwell

He who learns but does not think, is lost! How how thinks but does not learn is in great danger.  Confucius

From the errors of others, a wise man corrects his own.  Publilius Syrus

Each new situation requires a new architecture. Jean Nouvel

When a man’s willing and eager the God’s join in.  Aeschylus

Failures, repeated failures, are finger posts on the road to achievement. One fails forward toward success.  C. S. Lewis

P ositive anything is better than negative nothing.  Elbert Hubbard

I can’t change the direction of the wind, but I can adjust my sails to always reach my destination. Jimmy Dean

Anyone who keeps the ability to see beauty never grows old.  Franz Kafka

Ambition is the path to success, persistence is the vehicle you arrive in.  William Eardley IV

Ambition is the path to success, persistence is the vehicle you arrive in.  William Eardley IV

Whatever you are, be a good one.  Abraham Lincoln

Correction does much, but encouragement does more.  Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

Start every day off with a smile and get it over with.  W. C. Fields

Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful.  Albert Schweitzer

O bserve, record, tabulate, communicate. Use you five senses. Learn to see, Learn to hear, learn to feel, learn to smell, and know that by practice alone you can become expert.  William Osler

Motivation is what gets you started. Habit is what keeps you going.  Jim Rohn

Choose your friends with caution; plan your future with purpose, and frame your life with faith.  Thomas S. Monson

Let us not pray to be sheltered from dangers but to be fearless when facing them.  Rabindranath Tagore

Acceptance and tolerance and forgiveness, those are life-altering.  Jessica Lange

Don't watch the clock; do what it does. Keep going.  Sam Levenson

Everyone is handed adversity in life. No one's journey is easy. It's how they handle it that makes people unique. Kevin Conroy

By three methods we may learn wisdom: First, by reflection, which is noblest; Second by imitation, which is easiest; and third by experience, which is the bitterest. Confucius 

The essence of all beautiful art, all great art, is gratitude.  Friedrich Nietzsche

Always do what you are afraid to do.  Ralph Waldo Emerson

My best friend is the man who is wishing me well wishes it for my sake.  Aristotle