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Link Quote Stars Tags Author
b0ccf9d What is the reason?' 'Finish your journey and you will know. god inspirational life life-lessons mitch-albom the-timekeeper Mitch Albom
cf8573d Judgement is poverty. inspirational mindfulness Ursula K. Le Guin
7aba829 The thing was, the places of your life, like the clothes you wore and the car you drove and the friends and associates you had, were a product of the way you lived. inspirational inspirational-life realizations J.R. Ward
728ee72 Water, wind and birdsong were the echoes in this quiet place of a great chiming symphony that was surging around the world. Knee-deep in grasses and moon daisies, Stella stood and listened, swaying a little as the flowers and trees were swaying, her spirit voice singing loudly, though her lips were still, and every pulse in her body beating its hammer strokes in time to the song. inspirational literature Elizabeth Goudge
2a199e2 "I never fancied cats much till I found the First Mate," he remarked, to the accompaniment of the Mate's tremendous purrs. "I saved his life, and when you've saved a creature's life you're bound to love it. It's next thing to giving life." inspirational L.M. Montgomery
49eb355 We mustn't let next week rob us of this week's joy. inspirational L.M. Montgomery
ebf71b6 "Ned looked down gravely at the sword in his hands. "This is no toy for children, least of all for a girl. What would Septa Mordane say if she knew you were playing with swords?" "I wasn't playing," Arya insisted. "I hate Septa Mordane." "That's enough." Her father's voice was curt and hard. "The septa is doing no more than is her duty, though gods know you have made it a struggle for the poor woman. Your mother and I have charged her with the impossible task of making you a lady." inspirational stubborn tomboy George R.R. Martin
965974b You must bear losses like a soldier, the voice told me, bravely and without complaint, and just when the day seems lost, grab your shield for another stand, another thrust forward. That is the juncture that separates heroes from the merely strong. inspirational julius-caesar loss resilience war Margaret George
2b3b509 He was not thinking that the Christian law which he had wanted to follow all his life prescribed that he forgive and love his enemies; but the joyful feeling of love and forgiveness of his enemies filled his soul. inspirational love Leo Tolstoy
18e0b76 "I know that a stranger's hand will write to me next, to say that the good and faithful servant has been called at length into the joy of his Lord. And why weep for this? No fear of death will darken St. John's last hour: his mind will be unclouded; his heart will be undaunted; his hope will be sure; his faith steadfast. His own words are a pledge of this: "My Master," he says, "has forewarned me. Daily he announces more distinctly, 'Surely I come quickly!' and hourly I more eagerly respond, 'Amen; even so come, Lord Jesus!" inspirational religion Charlotte Brontë
1709cd4 Worn out with this torture of thought, I rose to my knees. Night was come, and her planets were risen: a safe, still night; too serene for the companionship of fear. We know that God is everywhere; but certainly we feel His presence most when His works are on the grandest scale spread before us: and it is in the unclouded night-sky, where His worlds wheel their silent course, that we read clearest His infinitude, His omnipotence, His omnipresence. I had risen to my knees to pray for Mr. Rochester. Looking up, I, with tear-dimmed eyes, saw the mighty Milky Way. Remembering what it was--what countless systems there swept space like a soft trace of light--I felt the might and strength of God. Sure was I of His efficiency to save what He had made: convinced I grew that neither earth should perish, nor one of the souls it treasured. I turned my prayer to thanksgiving: the Source of Life was also the Saviour of spirits. Mr. Rochester was safe: he was God's, and by God would he be guarded. inspirational Charlotte Brontë
ecbaf15 Tomorrow is no hazardous affair, a day like any other day: tomorrow is the result of many yesterdays and comes with a potent, cumulative effect. I am tomorrow what I chose to be yesterday and the day before. It is not possible that tomorrow I may negate and nullify everything that led me to this present moment. inspirational writing Henry Miller
31d1684 I shall decide what I do. If you say my work is fighting, or healing, or exploring, or whatever you say, I'll always be thinking about it, and if I end up doing that, I'll feel resentful because it'll feel as I didn't have a choice, and if I don't do it, I'll feel guilty because I should. Whatever I do, I will choose it, no one else. inspirational Philip Pullman
4a08643 "Delk shifted in his chair, the arrow point never wavering. "What do you want?" "Oh, the usual.World peace, a pair of Christian Louboton heels, a perfect wedding." inspirational motivating MaryJanice Davidson
14e0353 Dead and still in the world was worse than dead and in the ground. Dead in the ground at least gave you the hope of heaven. heaven inspirational Ron Rash
35b4b2f There's a light shining in him, moving him forward: the light of freedom. That's what draws all of us to follow, to take risks, to keep on fighting when we see our comrades fall beside us. But there's no light without shadow. hope inspirational war warrior Juliet Marillier
bd46116 For an actress to be a success, she must have the face of Venus, the figure of Juno, the brains of Minerva, the memory of Macaulay, the chastity of Diana, the grace of Terpsichore, but, above and beyond all, the hide of a rhinoceros. inspirational misattributed-ethel-barrymore Madge Kendal
a544a7c Your life today is the result of a series of decisions you made that have caused you to arrive where you are. inspirational life zen-and-the-art-of-happiness Chris Prentiss
4a2a5fd Words are instruments, they are tools that, in their different ways, are as effective as any sharp edge or violate chemical. They are, like coins, items of great value, but they represent a currency that, well spent, returns ever greater riches. inspirational literature power-of-words words Tim Radford
627193c And don't forget: Elvendork! It's unisex! inspirational james-potter wisdom J.K. Rowling
fb7bee1 The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don't have any. power inspirational Sheryl Sandberg
39a4ce4 Knowing someone who belongs to another species can enlarge your soul in surprising ways. inspirational learning self-growth soul species Sy Montgomery
372a84e When I rest I feel utterly lifeless except that my throat burns when I draw breath... I can scarcely go on. No despair, no happiness, no anxiety. I have not lost the mastery of my feelings, there are actually no more feelings. I consist only of will. After each few metres this too fizzles out in unending tiredness. Then I think nothing. I let myself fall, just lie there. For an indefinite time I remain completely irresolute. Then I make a few steps again. inspirational Reinhold Messner
03a6ae9 If you think something is impossible, it is. Until you decide it's possible and you do it. inspirational Jude Watson
f2f363f "It's astonishing how much trouble one can get oneself into, if one works at it. And astonishing how much trouble one can get oneself out of, if one simply assumes that everything will, somehow or other, work out for the best." -Destruction" confidence essential happiness human-nature inspirational knowledge-of-self philosophy values wisdom Neil Gaiman
52330aa She is here. And she comes to you, and she does not speak, and the others do not notice her, and she takes your hand, and you ready yourself to die, eyes open, aware this is all an illusion, a last aroma cast up by the chemical stew that is your brain, which will soon cease to function, ad there will be nothing, and you are ready, ready to die well, ready to die like a man, like a woman, like a human, for despite all else you have loved, you have loved your father and your mother and your brother and your sister and your son and, yes, your ex-wife and you have loved the pretty girl, you have been beyond yourself, and so you have courage, and you have dignity, and you have calmness in the face of terror, and awe, and the pretty girl holds your hand, and you contain her, and this book, and me writing it, and I too contain you, who may not even be born, you inside me inside you, though not in a creepy way, and so may you, may I, may we, so may all of us confront the end. death inspirational life love old-age poignant self-help Mohsin Hamid
95e267a When all hope was gone, they heeded the counsels of despair. Had they continued to strive, defying their doom, some unforseen wonder might have occurred. And if it did not, still their glory would have surpassed their failure. inspirational Stephen R. Donaldson
49ee4f9 In happiness or unhappiness, living is a duty, and must be done thoroughly. duty inspirational life Ellis Peters
dd03a79 Do you think me, because I am poor, obscure, plain and little, I am soulless and heartless? inspirational social-class Charlotte Brontë
3a3267a For much longer, he could have stayed with Kamaswami, made money, wasted money, filled his stomach, and let his soul die of thirst; for much longer he could have lived in this soft, well upholstered hell, if this had not happened: the moment of complete hopelessness and despair, that most extreme moment, when he hang over the rushing waters and was ready to destroy himself. That he had felt this despair, this deep disgust, and that he had not succumbed to it, that the bird, the joyful source and voice in him was still alive after all, this was why he felt joy, this was why he laughed, this was why his face was smiling brightly under his hair which had turned gray. inspirational profound-realizations Hermann Hesse
af204e5 "And suddenly it came to him. That Strawberry Fields garden he'd come from, and the Freedom Tower he'd been thinking of: taken together, didn't they contain the two words that said it all about this city, the two words that really mattered? It seemed to him that they did. Two words: the one an invitation, the other an ideal, an adventure, a necessity. "Imagine" said the garden. "Freedom" said the tower. Imagine freedom. That was the spirit, the message of this city he loved. You really didn't need anything more. Dream it and do it. But first you must dream it." freedom imagination imagine inspirational new-york-city Edward Rutherfurd
2504cee "These days I live in a magical little village on Dartmoor in Devon, England, and my "special spot" is a moss-covered rock in a circle of trees in the woods behind my house. get-away inspirational nature rural-setting urban-setting Terri Windling
e081db6 "Finding one's place in the world is never easy. Have courage and be true to who you are. change-the-world courage inspirational Christopher Paolini
99e0704 There are no monuments dedicated to me and my name will soon be forgotten, but I've loved another with all my heart and soul, and to me, this has always been enough. inspirational life love soul the-notebook Nicholas Sparks
3d59697 "Dying for someone is easy." J.T. murmured now; as if reading my mind."Living for yourself, that's hard." inspirational survival Lisa Gardner
f436abb Look around. It's almost gone. If only someone had told me that before. About life. If only I had understood. inspirational life life-is-short understanding Marisha Pessl
4287954 It's okay, mummy's in there lying on the floor. She'll be alright in an hour or so. inspirational Margaret Atwood
563eb11 Earth is a in-between world touched by both Heaven and Hell. Earth leads directly into Heaven or directly into Hell, affording a choice between the two. The best of life on Earth is a glimpse of Heaven; the worst of life is a glimpse of Hell. inspirational Randy Alcorn
9b85682 Hope that had sparked in my chest now lit a fire, and I fanned it, wanting it to burn hot and bright, because hope... hope was not the enemy. It was a friend, a savior. Hope was more than a new beginning. Hope was tomorrow, and hope was the symbol that I would get better, that I would undo the bad choices that I'd made, and that I would never make them again. Hope was more than a chance of redemption. It was the promise of one day finding absolution, of forgiving myself. But it was more than that. Hope was also today, and today was so very important. There would be no more rushing through seconds and minutes. I promised myself that. I was going to live, and it was going to be hard at times. There would be setbacks and days when everything would feel dull and tarnished somehow, but I had and I had the to face what was causing me to suffer. I had my . I had Tanner. And most importantly, I had . hope inspirational Jennifer L. Armentrout
995822b Whatever man imagines is possible inspirational Julie Andrews Edwards
7e999ef In diversity is life and where there's life there's hope, was the general sum of his creed, a modest one to be sure. hope inspirational life Ursula K. Le Guin
9351e8e Freedom was the price of privacy. humor inspirational Susanna Kaysen
2367ea0 "I may plan to make Christ the center of Christmas, but when I wait until December to focus on celebrating His birthday, I become entangled in Christmas lights, holiday baking, and festive engagements, often wondering if I've experienced the illusive "true meaning" of Christmas." christmas inspirational Ann Marie Stewart
51e7e75 mn lGryb wlSHyH 'yDan 'n lnf`lt lHd@ tj`ln nstjyb l~ l'khbr lmzlzl@ b`ks mymlyh lmnTq. hy lqym@ lmTlq@ ll`wTf lbshry@ ftsjl l'Hdth ls`yd@ 'Hynan `l~ mqys rykhtr `l~ 'nh Sdm@ khlS@, fym tdf`n lHzn lmrw`@ 'Hynan l~ lnfjr blDHk. inspirational Elizabeth Gilbert
834c48c Bigotry is the disease of ignorance, of morbid minds; enthusiasm of the free and buoyant. Education and free discussion are the antidotes of both. We are destined to be a barrier against the returns of ignorance and barbarism. Old Europe will have to lean on our shoulders, and to hobble along by our side, under the monkish trammels of priests and kings, as she can. What a Colossus shall we be when the Southern continent comes up to our mark! What a stand will it secure as a ralliance for the reason & freedom of the globe! I like the dreams of the future better than the history of the past. So good night. I will dream on, always fancying that Mrs Adams and yourself are by my side marking the progress and the obliquities of ages and countries. dreams future history ignorance inspirational progress Thomas Jefferson
845f831 Give not thyself up, then, to fire, lest it invert thee, deaden thee; as for the time it did me. There is a wisdom that is woe; but there is a woe that is madness. And there is a Catskill eagle in some souls that can alike dive down into the blackest gorges, and soar out of them again and become invisible in the sunny spaces. And even if he for ever flies within the gorge, that gorge is in the mountains; so that even in his lowest swoop the mountain eagle is still higher than other birds upon the plain, even though they soar. fortitude inspirational life motivational resilience Herman Melville
78eb310 "Twelve dead?" I said. "Jesus." biblical brief humour i inspirational jesus perhaps said short surprise twelve whatever wit Dennis Lehane
eb60a91 They slept huddled together in the rank quilts in the dark and the cold. He held the boy close to him. So thin. My heart, he said. My heart. heartbreaking inspirational Cormac McCarthy
6861892 "Joy, sadness, confidence, anxiety, love, hatred, fear-all of these feelings and thousands more that make up the human "heart" are as useless to the living dead as the organ of the same name. Who knows if this is humanity's greatest weakness or strength? The debate continues, and probably will forever." inspirational love Max Brooks
007e535 Heaven isn't an extrapolation of earthly thinking; Earth is an extension of Heaven, made by the Creator King. inspirational Randy Alcorn
3e3db17 I can't believe that we have reached the end of everything. The red dust is frightening. The carbon dioxide is real. Water is expensive. Bio-tech has created as many problems as it has fixed, but we're here, we're alive, we're the human race, we have survived wars and terrorism and scarcity and global famine, and we have made it back from the brink, not once but many times. History is not a suicide note - it's a record of our survival. humanity inspirational survival Jeanette Winterson
dceee82 What was and what may be lie, like children whose faces we cannot see, in the arms of silence. All we have is here, now. in-the-moment inspirational Ursula K. Le Guin
4387b30 "He said to himself that he really had not suffered enough to deserve such radiant happiness, and he thanked God, in the depths of his soul, for having permitted that he, a miserable man, should be so loved by this innocent being." -Jean Valjean about Cossette-" inspirational Victor Hugo
9d3b7c0 It is not death that allows us to understand each other, but poetry. history inspirational life life-philosophy love poetry Ursula K. Le Guin
82cdefe "It is possible for music to be labeled "Christian" and be terrible music. It could lack creativity and inspiration. The lyrics could be recycled cliches. That "Christian" band could actually be giving Jesus a bad name because they aren't a great band. It is possible for a movie to be a "Christian" movie and to be a terrible movie. It may actually desecrate the art form in its quality and storytelling and craft." inspirational music Rob Bell
c25585c I know my maker sanctions what I do. For the world's judgement - I wash my hands thereof. For man's opinion- I defy it classic inspirational romance Charlotte Brontë
a4ed17e Intellectual work sometimes, spiritual work certainly, artistic work always -- these are forces that fall within its grasp, forces that must travel beyond the realm of the hour and the restraint of the habit. Nor can the actual work be well separated from the entire life. Like the knights of the Middle Ages, there is little the creatively inclined person can do but to prepare himself, body and spirit, for the labor to come -- for his adventures are all unknown. In truth, the work itself is the adventure. And no artist could go about this work, or would want to, with less than extraordinary energy and concentration. The extraordinary is what art is about. creativity inspirational Mary Oliver
690d367 He had forgotten that God saw through the silk robes to the sinful heart, that the only wealth worth having was treasure in heaven, and that even the king had to kneel down in church. Feeling that everyone else was so much more powerful and sophisticated than he was, he had lost sight of his true values, suspended his critical faculties, and placed his trust in his superiors. His reward had been treachery. faith inspirational religious Ken Follett
d102c4b Living's for those of us who failed. Greedy God, gathering in the good ones, leaving the world to the rest of us, to rot. inspirational Colleen McCullough
fd7cace To devote yourself to the creation and enjoyment of beauty, then, can be a serious business--not always necessarily a means of escaping reality, but sometimes a means of holding on to the real when everything is flaking away into... rhetoric and plot. beauty inspirational Elizabeth Gilbert
d056fe4 Some powerful magnificence not human in other words, seemed under me. And it was the same mild pink colour, like the water of a watermelon, that did it. At once I recognised the importance of this, as throughout my life I had known these moments when the dumb begin to speak, when I hear the voices of objects and colours; then the physical universe starts to wrinkle and change and heave and rise and smooth, so it seems even the dogs have to lean against a tree, shivering. colour hallucinations imagery inspirational revelation vision Saul Bellow
defe1b6 And I was wondering how to depart without self-loathing or sadness, or with as little as possible, when a kind of immense sigh all around me announced it was not I who was departing, but the flock. asshole inspirational jerkass Samuel Beckett
e3500e5 I long to look at my holiday season with eyes that see the Christ in Christmas. christmas inspirational Ann Marie Stewart
80cd5ab The comfortable people want only wax moon faces, poreless, hairless, expressionless. We are living in a time when flowers are trying to live on flowers, instead of growing on good rain and black loam. Even fireworks, for all their prettiness, come from the chemistry of the earth. Yet somehow we think we can grow, feeding on flowers and fireworks, without completing the cycle back to reality. inspirational Ray Bradbury
9dafa6b Onzi, shcho biaga ot uchastta si, mozhe niakoi den da otkrie, che samo e izbral po-priaka p'teka. inspirational journey life path J.R.R. Tolkien
27f88ef You don't even have to love your job; you can merely love what your job does for you - the confidence and self-fulfillment that come with doing and earning. inspirational job Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
6b2527f You do it how you can do it, so long as it's getting done, you're okay. inspirational life Emma Forrest
364698b "To all those who I do not know, and who live in the worlds where superstition and barbarism are still dominant, and into whose hands I hope this little book may fall, I offer the modest encouragement of an older wisdom. It is in fact this, and not any arrogant preaching that come to us out of the whirlwind: "Die stimme der vernunft ist leise". Yes, The voice of reason is very soft, but it is very persistent. In this, and in the lives and minds of combatants known and unknown, we repose our chief hope." inspirational resistance Christopher Hitchens
b550af8 -Do you think artists are supposed to be happy? -Everyone is supposed to be. -I said staunchly,and I knew that I was indeed an idiot and that was my destiny and I didn't mind it happiness inspirational Elizabeth Kostova
7cae547 Evil is a word used by the ignorant and the weak. The Dark Side is about survival. It's about unleashing your inner power. It glorifies the strength of the individual. dark-side darth-bane inspirational motivation motivational sith sith-lord star-wars zannah Drew Karpyshyn
1fbab6e "Don't stop now. Keep going. The next time someone makes you feel though, winning as you are, perhaps you're getting too big for your britches; say to them silently, "i haven't even started yet." inspirational spiritual-growth Marianne Williamson
81e2cf7 What I want to get out of my college course is some knowledge of the best way of living life and doing the most and best with it. I want to learn to understand and help other people and myself. inspirational university L.M. Montgomery
00bd066 When she quieted the jet engine buzz of worries assaulting her brain, when she stopped thinking altogether and just felt, she knew this was right. Feeling the silence of peace and conviction was so foreign to her she wasn't even sure what to do with it. feeling inspirational mccarthy Erin McCarthy
4ec798a "Do not confuse "duty" with what other people expect of you; they are utterly different. Duty is a debt you owe to yourself to fulfill obligations you have assumed voluntarily. Paying that debt can entail anything from years of patient work to instant willingness to die. Difficult it may be, but the reward is self-respect. But there is no reward at all for doing what other people expect of you, and to do so is not merely difficult, but impossible." inspirational Robert A. Heinlein
c0c8fdb It's tempting to ask why if you fed your neighbors during the time of the earthquake and fire, you didn't do so before or after. inspirational thought-provoking utopia Rebecca Solnit
1deb541 Your life is like a mosaic, a puzzle. You have to figure out where the pieces go and put them together for yourself. inspirational life Maria Shriver
7dd1630 I pray that the world never runs out of dragons. I say that in all sincerity, though I have played a part in the death of one great wyrm. For the dragon is the quintessential enemy, the greatest foe, the unconquerable epitome of devastation. The dragon, above all other creatures, even the demons and the devils, evokes images of dark grandeur, of the greatest beast curled asleep on the greatest treasure hoard. They are the ultimate test of the hero and the ultimate fright of the child. They are older than the elves and more akin to the earth than the dwarves. The great dragons are the preternatural beast, the basic element of the beast, that darkest part of our imagination. The wizards cannot tell you of their origin, though they believe that a great wizard, a god of wizards, must have played some role in the first spawning of the beast. The elves, with their long fables explaining the creation of every aspect of the world, have many ancient tales concerning the origin of the dragons, but they admit, privately, that they really have no idea of how the dragons came to be. My own belief is more simple, and yet, more complicated by far. I believe that dragons appeared in the world immediately after the spawning of the first reasoning race. I do not credit any god of wizards with their creation, but rather, the most basic imagination wrought of unseen fears, of those first reasoning mortals. We make the dragons as we make the gods, because we need them, because, somewhere deep in our hearts, we recognize that a world without them is a world not worth living in. There are so many people in the land who want an answer, a definitive answer, for everything in life, and even for everything after life. They study and they test, and because those few find the answers for some simple questions, they assume that there are answers to be had for every question. What was the world like before there were people? Was there nothing but darkness before the sun and the stars? Was there anything at all? What were we, each of us, before we were born? And what, most importantly of all, shall we be after we die? Out of compassion, I hope that those questioners never find that which they seek. One self-proclaimed prophet came through Ten-Towns denying the possibility of an afterlife, claiming that those people who had died and were raised by priests, had, in fact, never died, and that their claims of experiences beyond the grave were an elaborate trick played on them by their own hearts, a ruse to ease the path to nothingness. For that is all there was, he said, an emptiness, a nothingness. Never in my life have I ever heard one begging so desperately for someone to prove him wrong. This is kind of what I believe right now... although, I do not want to be proved wrong... For what are we left with if there remains no mystery? What hope might we find if we know all of the answers? What is it within us, then, that so desperately wants to deny magic and to unravel mystery? Fear, I presume, based on the many uncertainties of life and the greatest uncertainty of death. Put those fears aside, I say, and live free of them, for if we just step back and watch the truth of the world, we will find that there is indeed magic all about us, unexplainable by numbers and formulas. What is the passion evoked by the stirring speech of the commander before the desperate battle, if not magic? What is the peace that an infant might know in its mother's arms, if not magic? What is love, if not magic? No, I would not want to live in a world without dragons, as I would not want to live in a world without magic, for that is a world without mystery, and that is a world without faith. And that, I fear, for any reasoning, conscious being, would be the cruelest trick of all. -Drizzt Do'Urden inspirational truth warming R.A. Salvatore
5931267 I read to live. I read for life. inspirational Will Schwalbe
09c0f3b Be a man. Discover where you are now, and go on from there, making the best of things. Accept your life, and you might survive it. If you hold back from it, insisting this is not your life, not where you are meant to be, life will pass you by. You may not die from such foolishness, but you might as well be dead for all the good your life will do you or anyone else. inspirational turning-point wintrow Robin Hobb
04cbeef wear flannel next to your skin, and never believe in eternal punishment. inspirational Julian Barnes
beb6c4d "You are not wrong," Laurence said. He had assumed as much himself, after all, in his Navy days: had thought the Corps full of wild, devil-may-care libertines, disregarding law and authority as far as they dared, barely kept in check-- to be used for their control over the beasts, and not respected. "But if we have more liberty than we ought," Laurence said, after a moment, struggling through, "it is because they have not enough: the dragons. They have no stake in victory but our happiness; their daily bread and nation would give them just to have peace and quiet. We are given licence so long as we do what we ought not; so long as we use their affections to keep them obedient and quiet, to ends which serve them not at all-- or which harm." "How else do you make them care?" Granby said. "If we left off, the French would only run right over us, and take our eggs themselves." "They care in China," Laurence said, "and in Africa, and they care all the more, that their rational sense is not imposed on, and their hearts put into opposition with their minds. If they cannot be woken to a natural affection for their country, such as we feel, it is our fault, and not theirs." inspirational temeraire Naomi Novik
7da421b I am a woman with wings,' I once wrote and will revise these words again. 'I am a woman with wings dancing with other women with wings.' In a voiced community, we all flourish. feminism inspirational women Terry Tempest Williams
6ab1891 Is it possible, I wonder, to study a bird so closely, to observe and catalogue its peculiarities in such minute detail, that it becomes invisible? Is it possible that while fastidiously calibrating the span of its wings or the length of its tarsus, we somehow lose sight of its poetry? That in our pedestrian descriptions of a marbled or vermiculated plumage we forfeit a glimpse of living canvases, cascades of carefully toned browns and golds that would shame Kandinsky, misty explosions of color to rival Monet? I believe that we do. I believe that in approaching our subject with the sensibilities of statisticians and dissectionists, we distance ourselves increasingly from the marvelous and spell binding planet of imagination whose gravity drew us to our studies in the first place. That is not to say that we should cease to establish facts and verify our information, but merely to suggest that unless those facts can be imbued with the flash of poetic insight then they remain dull gems; semi-precious stones scarcely worth the collecting. inspirational science Alan Moore
183ea15 You are the machos, the life, the future of our families. You are all that's left, so you must protect our mothers and grow and do good and have families of your own. I love you. I do. I do. family inspirational integrity love Victor Villaseñor
d77df48 I know it's technically goodwill to all men, but in my mind, I drop the men because that feels segregationist/elitist/sexist/generally bad ist. Goodwill shouldn't be just for men. It should also apply to women and children, and all animals, even the yucky ones like subway rats. I'd even extend the goodwill not just to living creatures but to the dearly departed, and if we include them, we might as well include the undead, those supposedly mythic beings like vampires, and if they're in, then so are elves, fairies, and gnomes. Heck, since we're already being so generous in our big group hug, why not also embrace those supposedly inanimate objects like dolls and stu inspirational Rachel Cohn
f3afcb6 "When asking God for direction, ask Him to give you ears to hear it and the will and strength to follow it. Say, "God show me what to do and enable me to do it." direction god inspirational miracle Stormie Omartian
8864002 The ocean is a Turing machine, the sand is its tape; the water reads the marks in the sand and sometimes erases them and sometimes carves new ones with tiny currents that are themselves a response to the marks. humor inspirational math ocean Neal Stephenson
385f872 Take a moment from time to time to remember that you are alive. I know this sounds a trifle obvious, but it is amazing how little time we take to remark upon this singular and gratifying fact. By most astounding stroke of luck and infinitesimal portion of all the matter in the universe came together to create you and for the tiniest moment in the great span of eternity you have the incomparable privilege to exist. For endless eons there was no you. Before you know it, you will cease to be again. And in between you have this wonderful opportunity to see and feel and think and do. Whatever else you do with your life, nothing will remotely compare with the incredible accomplishment of having managed to get yourself born. Congratulations. Well done. You really are special. inspirational life living Bill Bryson
6078e70 There is a camaraderie that grows up among those who work with old books and old papers, largely, I suspect, because we understand that we are at odds with the rest of the world: we are travelling backwards, while all those around us are still moving forward. inspirational Peter Ackroyd
2a6177a Secrets make life more interesting. You can be in a crowded room with someone and touch them without touching, just with a look, because they know a part of you no one else knows. And whenever you're with them, the two of you are alone, because the you they see no one else can. connection-with-people friendship inspirational knowing-a-person loyalty secrets sharing sharing-secrets soul Mohsin Hamid
7821b82 DeLois lived up the block on 142nd Street and never had her hair done, and all the neighbourhood women sucked their teeth as she walked by. Her crispy hair twinkled in the summer sun as her big proud stomach moved her on down the block while I watched, not caring whether or not she was a poem. afro-hair big free inspirational judging judgmental natural real Audre Lorde
255428e In God's scheme what is a few billion years here and there. Perhaps there have come and gone a dozen human civilizations in the past billion years that we know nothing about. And after this civilization we are living in destroys itself, it will all start up again in a million years when the planet has all its messes cleaned up. Then, finally, one of these civilizations, say five billion years from now, will last because people treat each other the way they ought to. humanity inspirational kindness Leon Uris
cd45a4b The messages coming back flooded the comm buffers with rage and sorrow, threats of vengeance and offers of aid. Those last were the hardest. New colonies still trying to force their way into local ecosystems so exotic that their bodies could hardly recognize them as life at all, isolated, exhausted, sometimes at the edge of their resources. And what they wanted was to send back help. He listened to their voices, saw the distress in their eyes. He couldn't help, but love them a little bit. Under the best conditions, disasters and plagues did that. It wasn't universally true. There would always be hoarders and price gouging, people who closed their doors to refugees and left them freezing and starving. But the impulse to help was there too. To carry a burden together, even if it meant having less for yourself. Humanity had come as far as it had in a haze of war, sickness, violence, and genocide. History was drenched in blood. But it also had cooperation and kindness, generosity, intermarriage. The one didn't come without the other. helping-others humanism inspirational refugees sacrifice war war-relief James S.A. Corey
bd7cbf1 There is no question that I am the only thing standing between these animals and the business practices of August and Uncle Al, and what my father would do--what my father would want me to do--is look after them, and I am filled with that absolute and unwavering conviction. No matter what I did last night, I cannot leave these animals. I am their shepherd, their protector. inspirational Sara Gruen
418ba5e If at the moment when someone cuts us off in traffic or breaks our heart or begins bombing our ancestral village, we could withdraw from judging mode, and enter this other, more accepting mode, we could paradoxically, make ourselves more powerful. By resisting the urge to reduce, in order to subsequently destroy, we keep alive - if only for a few seconds more - the possibility of transformation. -The Thought Experiment inspirational George Saunders
93e189b Nie pytaj prozno, bo nikt sie nie dowie. Jaki nam koniec gotuja bogowie, I babilonskich nie pytaj wrozbiarzy. Lepiej tak przyjac wszystko, jak sie zdarzy. A czy z rozkazu Jowisza ta zima, Co teraz wichrem welny morskie wzdyma, Bedzie ostatnia, czy tez nam przysporzy Lat jeszcze kilka tajny wyrok bozy, Nie troszcz sie o to i ... klaruj swe wina. Mknie rok za rokiem, jak jedna godzina. Wiec lap dzien kazdy, a nie wierz ni troche W zludnej przyszlosci obietnice ploche. ~Horacy przel.: Henryk Sienkiewicz inspirational leukonoe polish sienkiewicz Horace
a515a8b I am still learning how to be a good creature. Though I try earnestly, I often fail. But I am having a great life trying... how-to-be-a-good-creature inspirational love-of-animals self-growth Sy Montgomery
207b7d1 Sometimes, if you want to be happy, you've got to run away to Bath and marry a punk rocker. inspirational julie-julia julie-powell Julie Powell
09591df Looking for a thousand years is worth it, if in the end you find what you need. inspirational sadness succeed Scott Westerfeld
06314bd "...She wasn't anyone special. She wasn't that brave, that clever or that strong. She was just somebody that felt cramped by the confines of her life. She was just somebody who had to get out. And she did it! She went out past Vega, out past Moulquet and Lambard! She saw places that aren't even there anymore! And do you know what she said? Her most famous quotation? "Anybody could have done it" -- inspirational science-fiction Alan Moore
6cbe1e8 Comparing how you feel on the inside (bad) to the way someone else looks on the outside (great) is a losing proposition. It's an impossible standard. inferiority inferiority-complex inspiration inspirational lessons Maria Shriver
c0580ff Every time you try to block a thought out of your mind, you drive it deeper into your memory. By resisting it, you actually reinforce it. inspirational life subconscious Rick Warren
5f47ff2 ...There is something holy, something divine, hidden in the most ordinary situations, and it is up to each one of you to discover it.' 'What's that supposed to mean?' I asked. 'That the good that will come is not always obvious. Nor easy to see. Nor in the place we would expect to find it. Nor what we personally desire. You should consider that the good being created by the events this night may have nothing to do with the defeat of supernatural evils or endangered lives. It may be something very quiet. Very ordinary. inspirational Jim Butcher
01bb6ec The mind of man is capable of anything-because everything is in it, all the past as well as all the future. What was there after all? Joy, fear, sorrow, devotion, valour, rage-who can tell?-but truth-truth stripped of its cloak of time. Let the fool gape and shudder-the man know, and can look on without a wink. But he must at least be as much of a man as these on the shore. He must meet the truth with his own true stuff-with his own inborn strength. inspirational Joseph Conrad
f24a38e Our love would be solace, companionship, and the mending of wounds. inspirational love Amy Tan
1f51588 "Alex here. (...) Ron, I really enjoy all the help you have given me and the times we spent together. I hope that you will not be too depressed by our parting. It may be a very long time before we see each other again. But providing that I get through the Alaskan Deal in one piece you will be hearing form me again in the future. I'd like to repeat the advice I gave you before, in that I think you really should make a radical change in your lifestyle and begin to boldly do things which you may previously never have thought of doing or been to hesitant to attempt. So many people live within unhappy circumstances and yet will not take the initiative to change their situation because they are conditioned to a life of security, conformity, and conservatism, all of which may appear to give one piece of mind, but in reality nothing is more damaging to the adventurous spirit within a man than a secure future. The very basic core of a man's living spirit is his passion for adventure. The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences, and hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun. (...) Once you become accustomed to such a life you will see its full meaning and its incredible beauty. (...) Don't settle down and sit in one place. Move around, be nomadic, make each day a new horizon. (...) You are wrong if you think joy emanates only or principally from human relationships. God has placed it all around us. It is in everything and anything we might experience. We just have to have the courage to turn against our habitual lifestyle and engage in unconventional living. Ron, I really hope that as soon as you can you will get out of Salton City, put a little camper on the back of your pickup, and start seeing some of the great work that God has done here in the American West. you will see things and meet people and there is much to learn from them. And you must do it economy style, no motels, do your own cooking, as a general rule spend as little as possible and you will enjoy it much more immensely. I hope that the next time I see you, you will be a new man with a vast array of new adventures and experiences behind you. Don't hesitate or allow yourself to make excuses. Just get out and do it. Just get out and do it. You will be very, very glad that you did. changes courage inspirational into-the-wild joy life nature new-experiences Jon Krakauer
bf8bc8b When something extraordinary shows up in your life in the middle of the night, you give it a name and make it the best home you can. extraordinary home inspirational love taking-chances Barbara Kingsolver
1175900 Love is so supremely important. As our great poet Auden said, 'Love each other or perish inspirational love-quotes truth Mitch Albom
71a77a3 You think if someone does a brave deed quite suddenly, then he or she could never do a mean one? You are wrong. We all have good and bad in us, and we have to strive all the time to make the good cancel out the bad. We can never be perfect - we all of us do mean or wrong things at times - but we can at least make amends by trying to cancel out the wrong by doing something worthy later on. bravery good inspirational Enid Blyton
629d9a2 The heavy soul will not pass though the body is failing. inspirational j-r-ward rehvenge sad J.R. Ward
ea7af53 Broad-Based Education: Reed College at that time offered perhaps the best calligraphy instruction in the country.... I decided to take a calligraphy class to learn how to do this.... It was beautiful, historical, artistically subtle in a way that science can't capture, and I found it fascinating. None of this had even a hope of any practical application in my life. But ten years later, when we were designing the first Macintosh computer, it all came back to me. --Commencement address, Stanford University, June 12, 2005 inspirational George Beahm
b05f51a "A book is a beautiful, paper mausoleum, or tomb, in which to store ideas...to keep the bones of your thoughts in one place, for all time. I just want to say..."Hello. We can hear you. The words survived." inspirational reading writing Caitlin Moran
5f2a799 There is only one possible road you can take,' he said, 'and that is t go by way of your imagination. inspirational Julie Andrews Edwards
cf1d6ac 'Yes, we rather condemn people for eternity without the courtesy of informing them.' inspirational Matthew Pearl
fb1b8ff "... I find myself most drawn to: art that has arisen from a deeply personal conversation between the artist and the work at hand. It is art that walks perilously close to the Edge, that crosses the river of blood into Faerie, that flies so high it is scorched by the sun, and then returns to tell the tale to us. It is art that artists creating creative inspirational making Terri Windling
66f3c36 "A well-dressed, self-assured business executive steps into a quiet corner of the conference room, crowded with people. Everyone there is aware of her presence. She's dark-haired, petite, and alluring. She is quick to smile, and when she does, her whole face lights up. Her enthusiasm is infectious. Young men and women nod as they pass by, briefly breaking off their conversations with colleagues. The executive looks down at her compact electronic device and quickly texts: "Smile. Talk into the mic. Good luck." business-leaders inspirational middle-school phenomenal-female-entrepreneurs sheryl-sandberg strong-role-models-for-girls Jill Bryant
b7e43a7 You have to take opportunities and make an opportunity fit for you, rather than the other way around. inspirational opportunities Sheryl Sandberg
f47fc55 The time would be easy to know, for then mankind would have become as the Great Old Ones; free and wild and beyond good and evil, with laws and morals thrown aside and all men shouting and killing and revelling in joy. Then the liberated Old Ones would teach them new ways to shout and kill and revel and enjoy themselves, and all the earth would flame with a holocaust of ecstasy and freedom. inspirational partying H.P. Lovecraft
31cb789 The greatest problem of human life is fear. It is fear that robs us of happiness. It is fear that causes us to settle for far less than we are capable of. It is fear that is the root cause of negative emotions, unhappiness and problems in human relationships. inspirational life-changing Brian Tracy
02ebe02 Growth is life, and life is for ever destined to make for light. inspirational life moving-forward Jack London
86a7946 --?Por que sonries si me has tirado? Me ofrecio la mano. --Las cosas pequenas son las que me hacen feliz. inspirational Jennifer L. Armentrout
54a3539 In 1881, being on a visit to Boston, my wife and I found ourselves in the Parker House with the 's, and went over to Charleston to hear him lecture. His subject was 'Some Mistakes of Moses,' and it was a memorable experience. Our lost leaders, -- , , Theodore Parker, -- who had really spoken to disciples rather than to the nation, seemed to have contributed something to form this organ by which their voice could reach the people. . The wonderful power which Washington's Attorney-general, Edmund Randolph, ascribed to of insinuating his ideas equally into learned and unlearned had passed from 's pen to 's tongue. . { } art boston emerson emotion friendship henry-d-thoreau henry-david-thoreau henry-thoreau honor humor imagination ingersoll inspirational laughter lecture logic love memorable mirth morality orator paine pathos poetry power praise ralph-e-emerson ralph-emerson ralph-waldo-emerson reason respect robert-g-ingersoll robert-green-ingersoll robert-ingersoll simplicity some-mistakes-of-moses speech sympathy tears thomas-paine thoreau truth voice wisdom Moncure Daniel Conway
fee0a2d Henry had written a novel because there was a hole in him that needed filling, a question that needed answering, a patch of canvas that needed painting--that blend of anxiety, curiosity and joy that is at the origin of art--and he had filled the hole, answered the question, splashed colour on the canvas, all done for himself, because he had to. Then complete strangers told him that his book had filled a hole in them, had answered a question, had brought colour to their lives. The comfort of strangers, be it a smile, a pat on the shoulder or a word of praise, is truly a comfort. book creativity curiosity inspirational joy life painting strangers writer writers-on-writing writing writing-life Yann Martel
56ef583 There are no conditions to which a man cannot become used, especially if he sees that all around him are living in the same way. human-naturei inspirational Leo Tolstoy
e871917 Jesus' miracles provide us with a sample of the meaning of redemption: a freeing of creation from the shackles of sin and evil and a reinstatement of creaturely living as intended by God. inspirational miracles redemption Randy Alcorn
54dda42 If any lesson may be learned from the academic breakthroughs achieved by Pineapple and Jeremy, it is not that we should celebrate exceptionality of opportunity but that the public schools themselves in neighborhoods of widespread destitution ought to have the rich resources, small classes, and well-prepared and well-rewarded teachers that would enable us to give to every child the feast of learning that is now available to children of the poor only on the basis of a careful selectivity or by catching the attention of empathetic people like the pastor of a church or another grown-up whom they meet by chance. Charity and chance and narrow selectivity are not the way to educate children of a genuine democracy. inspirational Jonathan Kozol
b82ecc3 But the future lay open, a thousand kaleidoscopic possibilities with a small quick heartbeat, delicate and impatient inspirational pages-63-64 poetic Jonathan Safran Foer
e9ecb42 I was dead unit you found me, though I breathed. I was sightless, though I could see. And then you came...and I was awakened. dead inspirational love sightless J.R. Ward
d9105b4 "Once I dreamed of flying, she thought, and now I've flown, and dream of stealing eggs. That made her laugh. "Men are mad and gods are madder" she told the grass, and the grass murmured its agreement." inspirational George R.R. Martin
dd484dc "Poetry, I tell my students, is idiosyncratic. Poetry is where we are ourselves, (though Sterling Brown said "Every 'I' is a dramatic 'I'") digging in the clam flats for the shell that snaps, emptying the proverbial pocketbook. Poetry is what you find in the dirt in the corner, overhear on the bus, God in the details, the only way to get from here to there. Poetry (and now my voice is rising) is not all love, love, love and I'm sorry the dog died. Poetry (here I hear myself loudest) is the human voice, and are we not of interest to each other?" inspirational love poetry social-media Elizabeth Alexander
2999225 One young fellow pointed to another steamer in the distance, and said it was the Lady of the Lake, a United States vessel which until recently was thought to be the fastest boat on the Lake; but she had just lost a trial-of-speed race to the new Royal Mail Standard boat, the Eclipse, which outran her by four minutes and a half. And I said didn't that make him proud, and he said no, because he had bet a dollar on the Lady. And all present laughed. Then something came clear to me which I used to wonder about. There is a quilt pattern called Lady of the Lake, which I thought was named for the poem; but I could never find any lady in the pattern, nor any lake. But now I saw the boat was named for the poem, and the quilt was named for the boat; because it was a pinwheel design, which must have stood for the paddle going around. And I thought that things did make sense, and did have a design to them, if only you pondered them long enough. And so perhaps might be with recent events, which at the moment seemed to me entirely senseless; and finding out the reason for the quilt pattern was a lesson to me, to have faith. inspirational reflective Margaret Atwood
d6b73a6 Becoming requires equal parts patience and rigor. Becoming is never giving up on the idea that there's more growing to be done. inspirational Michelle Obama
c8f2d3b He knew something he hadn't known before ... He not only missed her. He still loved her. inspirational love Karen Kingsbury
79f2636 Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better. --Samuel Beckett, Worstward Ho (1983) inspirational try-again Samuel Beckett
8de9582 Why shouldn't I? I demand silently. Why shouldn't I become a famous writer? Like Norman Mailer. Or Philip Roth. And F. Scott Fitzgerald and Hemmingway and all those other men. Why can't I be like them? I mean, what is the point of becoming a writer if no one reads what you've written? Damn Viktor Greene and The New School. Why do I have to keep proving myself all of the time? Why can't I be like L'il, with everyone praising and encouraging me? Or Rainbow, with her sense of entitlement. I bet Viktor Greene never asked Rainbow why she wanted to be a writer. Or what if-I wince-Viktor Greene is right? I'm not a writer after all. fame inspirational writing Candace Bushnell
0354b61 Ah, Monsieur Priest, you love not the crudities of the true. Christ loved them. He seized a rod and cleared out the Temple. His scourge, full of lightnings, was a harsh speaker of truths. When he cried, 'Sinite parvulos,' he made no distinction between the little children. It would not have embarrassed him to bring together the Dauphin of Barabbas and the Dauphin of Herod. Innocence, Monsieur, is its own crown. Innocence has no need to be a highness. It is as august in rags as in fleurs de lys. inspirational Victor Hugo
6cf2c0b You know, you spend your childhood watching TV, assuming that at some point in the future everything you see there will one day happen to you: that you too will win a Formula One race, hop a train, foil a group of terrorists, tell someone 'Give me the gun', etc. Then you start secondary school, and suddenly everyone's asking you about your career plans and your long-term goals, and by goals they don't mean the kind you are planning to score in the FA Cup. Gradually the awful truth dawns on you: that Santa Claus was just the tip of the iceberg -- that your future will not be the rollercoaster ride you'd imagined, that the world occupied by your parents, the world of washing the dishes, going to the dentist, weekend trips to the DIY superstore to buy floor-tiles, is actually largely what people mean when they speak of 'life'. Now, with every day that passes, another door seems to close, the one marked PROFESSIONAL STUNTMAN, or FIGHT EVIL ROBOT, until as the weeks go by and the doors -- GET BITTEN BY SNAKE, SAVE WORLD FROM ASTEROID, DISMANTLE BOMB WITH SECONDS TO SPARE -- keep closing, you begin to hear the sound as a good thing, and start closing some yourself, even ones that didn't necessarily need to be closed. inspirational makes-you-think tragic-comedy Paul Murray
5d07f5c I felt clean, all the bone-beaked loneliness birds banished, their rocky nests turned to river stones. Cool, clear water bubbled over them, streams in the desert. beginnings endings inspirational triumph Bryce Courtenay
b33a883 The memory of the pain did not destroy the reality of the pleasure; grief did not obliterate joy. inspirational joy memories memory pain past-and-present pleasure reality Orson Scott Card
6e1d8bc ...because I went to London on my own, and because I went to solved the mystery of Who Killed Wellington? and I found my mother and I was brave and I wrote a book and that means I can do anything. confidence imaginative inspirational Mark Haddon
86c40ad " ," Balder murmurs from the backseat, his eyes still closed. "I looked upon your face and knew happiness." Without further warning, the sky opens up and cries." happiness inspirational libba-bray love Libba Bray
13cee74 Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. death hope inspirational life motivatonal Timothy Ferriss
caa04ea To be a poet, I realized, a true poet, was to become the Avatar of humanity incarnate; to accept the mantle of poet is to carry the cross of the Son of Man, to suffer the birth pangs of the Soul-Mother of Humanity. inspirational poetry Dan Simmons
b999460 I swear to you that I am not quite such an ass as I like to appear sometimes, although I am rather an ass, I admit. evgenie inspirational the-idiot Fyodor Dostoyevsky
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