Short quotes are easier to remember. They are easier to share. They are easier to put on the fridge. These ten short inspirational quotes are some of the best ever written. They have lasted because they earned the right to be short. Read them. Send one to someone who needs it.
Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?— Mary Oliver The Summer Day, from House of Light (1990)
Read it like a question, not a statement. She is asking you. Right now. Today. The list of things you keep meaning to do is what your life will be made of if you keep meaning to and never get to it.
Your life is not a rehearsal. The question Mary asks deserves an answer.
Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.— Martin Luther King Jr. Strength to Love (1963)
You cannot fix anger with more anger. You cannot fix fear with more fear. The world has tried that for thousands of years and we are still here. Try light. Try love. They are not weak. They are the only things that ever worked.
You cannot beat darkness with more of itself. Light is the only answer that holds up.
Don't ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive, and go do that. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.— Howard Thurman Widely attributed to Howard Thurman
You are not on this planet to do what you should do. You are here to do what only you can do. Most people die with the music still inside them. Don't be most people. Find the thing that wakes you up. Then do it.
The world doesn't need more obedient people. It needs more alive ones. Be one.
Don't be pushed around by the fears in your mind. Be led by the dreams in your heart.— Roy T. Bennett The Light in the Heart (2016)
There are two voices in there. Fear is loud. Dreams are quiet. Most people obey the loud one. The whole life you actually want is being whispered by the quiet one. Lean in.
Fear is loud. Dreams are quiet. Listen harder.
The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing.— Walt Disney Widely attributed to Walt Disney
You don't need a plan. You don't need a perfect time. You don't need to wait until you feel ready. You need to start. The plan shows up after you do. The feeling shows up after the work.
Talking about it is not the same as doing it. Start anyway.
Dance like nobody's watching, love like you'll never be hurt, sing like nobody's listening, and live like it's heaven on earth.— William W. Purkey Self-Concept as Learned: An Educational Approach to Self-Worth (1970)
Most of us live like everyone is watching. We hold back the love because we got burned. We don't sing because we sound bad. We don't dance because we look silly. The point of life is to dance anyway.
Stop performing your life. Start living it.
The purpose of life is not to be happy. It is to be useful, to be honorable, to be compassionate, to have it make some difference that you have lived and lived well.— Ralph Waldo Emerson Widely attributed to Ralph Waldo Emerson
Happiness is too small a goal. It comes and goes. It depends on the weather and your inbox. Aim higher. Be useful. Be honorable. Make a difference. Happiness shows up as a side effect of those.
Happiness is the wrong target. Useful, honorable, compassionate is the right one.
The present moment is the only moment available to us, and it is the door to all moments.— Thich Nhat Hanh Peace Is Every Step (1991)
The past has happened. The future hasn't. The only place you have power is right now. Most of us spend most of our life not living right now. We are replaying and rehearsing. Come back.
Right now is the only place you can do anything. Be there.
Waste no more time arguing about what a good man should be. Be one.— Marcus Aurelius Meditations (c. 161-180 CE)
You can read every book on ethics. You can post about it online. You can argue with strangers. Or you can just be the person. Be kind. Be honest. Help when you can. That is the whole job.
Stop describing the person you want to be. Just be them today.
The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.— Lao Tzu Tao Te Ching (c. 6th century BCE)
The big thing you have been putting off because it is too big. The book. The change. The conversation. The career switch. Nobody does it in one move. Everybody does it in a thousand small ones. Take one today.
The size of the goal does not change the size of the next step. Just take the step.
The quotes that survive for hundreds of years survive because they are short and true. They are easy to remember. They fit in your pocket. They show up in your head when you need them. Pick the one you want to carry with you. Write it on a sticky note. Put it where you brush your teeth. Read it every day for a week. That is how quotes turn into actual life.
Save the one that hit you hardest. Come back to it on a hard day. Then keep exploring — read more quotes or read more stories.