Wonderful Inspirational Quotes & Sayings to Motivate and Empower You

• Several collections of inspirational quotes ...
• ... plus motivational quotes and happiness quotes, too
• Use them to encourage, motivate and inspire yourself and others
• Or simply enjoy them - and this essay-like presentation of them

 

Give Yourself or Others that Little Boost!

Want encouragement? Want inspiration? Want to motivate yourself?

Or do you want to encourage, inspire and motivate people around you?

Well, you've come to the right place. Here at Quotescoop.com we want the same thing. So, let's just jump right into it:

Whether you think you can or whether you think you can't, you're right.
~ Henry Ford ~

That' how things are. It's your thinking, or more precisely: your beliefs that determine your life experience. But we'll get back to that in just a moment.

Boost Yourself and Others

If you're feeling down inspirational quotes can lighten your day considerably. The same goes for the people around you. You can boost yourself and others just by using some good quotes:

Life is the biggest bargain. We get it for nothing.
~ Jewish proverb ~

A diamond is merely a lump of coal that did well under pressure.
~ Motivational saying ~

What we call failure is not the falling down, but the staying down.
~ Mary Pickford ~

People who say it cannot be done should not interrupt those who are doing it.
~ Motivational saying ~

Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.
~ Ralph Waldo Emerson ~

The biggest risk you will ever take is not taking one at all.
~ Motivational saying ~

Take risks: If you win, you will be happy; if you lose, you will be wise.
~ Inspirational saying ~

How come something as simple as an inspirational quote can lift your mood - or the mood of others?

That's because the best inspiration quotes contain a lot of truth. When we read (or hear) the inspirational sayings, we sense the truth in them. And so, our spirit lifts.

Because, hey, things are never as bleak as they seem. Never!

Just remember ... if the world didn't suck, we'd all fall off.
~ Trevor Myers ~

The Power of Beliefs

Beliefs are very, very powerful. When you believe something, you'll try to prove it's true. And most of the time you will succeed!

The funny thing is, two people may very well believe two completely opposite things, and BOTH succeed in proving to themselves - and others - that they're right. All they have to do is believe it enough.

'There is no use trying,' said Alice; 'one can't believe impossible things'.

'I dare say you haven't had much practice,' said the Queen. 'When I was your age, I always did it for half an hour a day. Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.'
~ Lewis Carroll ~
(from the book 'Through the Looking Glass' - the drawing to the right is by Lewis Carrol himself)

Belief means not wanting to know what is true.
~ Friedrich Nietzsche ~

Question: What do you get when you cross an insomniac, an agnostic, and a dyslexic?
Answer: Someone who stays up all night wondering if there is a Dog.
~ Groucho Marx ~

I have as much authority as the Pope, I just don't have as many people who believe it.
~ George Carlin ~

Yes, life has a sense of humor - in fact life IS a sense of humor. The times when I playfully view myself, everyone else and life itself as a wonderful cosmic joke are absolutely the best times of my life. I consciously strive to maximize those times!
~ Soren Lauritzen ~, the Personal Development Guy

I hope life isn't a joke, because I don't get it.
~ Jack Handey ~

Two Men Say They're Jesus ...

On the classical rock album 'Love Over Gold' the British rock group Dire Straits (voice: Mark Knopfler) sings:

I go down to Speakers' Corner, I'm thunderstruck;
they got free speech, tourists, police in trucks.
Two men say they're Jesus; one of them must be wrong.
There's a protest singer, he's singing a protest song ...
~ Dire Straits ~ (lyrics from the song 'Industrial Disease')

Obviously - or apparently - two men can't be Jesus, so one of them must be wrong. Furthermore we think we know that Jesus died over 2.000 years ago. The excellent question some people will ask at this point is:

If different people believe completely opposite things, can they all be right?

The short answer is actually 'yes, relatively speaking'. The longer answer, however, really is rather long winded and we won't go into it here, because this page is supposed to be focused on inspirational quotes.

Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one.
~ Albert Einstein ~

Suffice it to say that is has to do with the difference between 'relative/personal reality' and 'absolute reality', and beliefs are what you use to create personal reality (i.e. relative reality).

Relative/personal reality: The scary, lonely and painful thing you and others believe reality to be.

Absolute reality: The wonderful, happy thing that reality actually is.

You can't experience the joy of absolute reality until you STOP believing in the misery of your personal, relative reality.
~ Soren Lauritzen ~ , the Personal Development Guy

Using Inspirational Quotes

When it comes to motivating and inspiring yourself and others, nothing is more powerful than beliefs.

If you don't like something, change it. If you can't change it, change the way you think about it.
~ Inspirational saying ~

When you use motivational quotes, you're actually giving your own beliefs (or those of other people) a nudge by stating something that differs from whatever limiting beliefs you (or: they) currently hold.

The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man.
~ George Bernard Shaw ~

In effect you're using the inspirational quotes to push your (or: other people's) personal (relative) reality around - just a bit.

Of course, to really make a difference you have to BELIEVE whatever it is you're using the inspirational quotes to say. Your belief can move mountains, as the inspirational saying goes.

Never tell me the sky's the limit when there are footprints on the moon.
~ Motivational saying ~

You Can Do, Have and Be Whatever You Choose ...

... but you do have to choose.

It's not how tragically we suffer but how miraculously we live.
~ Inspirational saying ~

Choosing is one thing you can't avoid in this life. Even 'not choosing' is a choice, too.

However, there's no need to worry about choosing, because ...

When it comes to choosing we're all pretty much 'scared shitless'.

But there's no reason to be scared, because whatever you choose is fine. Really!

So don't sweat it, just choose something, anything your heart fancies. Your choice will lead to experiences and that's what it's all about.

That's life, right there: Experiences!  It's all trial-and-error, anyway; that's the fun of it!
~ Soren Lauritzen ~ , the Personal Development Guy

And, in a related inspirational quote:

Yes, your choices create your experiences.

But if you don't like your current experience, then just make a new and different choice.

Since life and experience is a matter of trial-and-error, there's no need to take choosing - or life itself - too seriously.
~ Soren Lauritzen ~ , the Personal Development Guy

To quote the indomitable cartoonist, Gary Larson:

A Cow Is a Cow Is a Cow ...

... to paraphrase a one of the famous quotes from the author Gertrude Stein who was actually talking about roses at the time.

And cows eat green stuff, just like we do. Perhaps cows ponder things deeply as they are standing there, munching. Perhaps cows use inspiring quotes, too. Perhaps cows are even so busy philosophizing about life that they forget to stop and smell the roses (before they eat them), just like we tend to do!

We just don't know and it doesn't really matter, because what matters is that we're here! And that's the point of all of this, really:

You are here, smack dab in the middle of life, there's no denying that! So while you're here: why not make the best of it? Consciously make an experience for yourself that's overflowing with all kinds of love.
~ Soren Lauritzen ~ , the Personal Development Guy

Attack life, it's going to kill you anyway.
~ Steven Coallier ~

Daydreams are doable. The turn-on is not in scale, spectacle, or cost. It's in the doing. Anything you haven't done is an adventure. Wanting to is the principal requirement. If you can do and want to, don't not. In short, while alive, live.
~ Malcolm Forbes ~

The question is, though ...

Where Do You Want to Go?

In the previously mentioned book 'Alice in Wonderland' (by Lewis Carroll) the main character, Alice, often feels quite lost. Don't we all? It's a confusing world - both for Alice in Wonderland and for us. That particular book contains a lot of rather famous more or less inspirational quotes.

Anyway, along the way in the book a great exchange of words takes place between Alice and the widely smiling Cheshire Cat ... this is it, one of many wonderful Alice in Wonderland quotes (or, if you like, Cheshire Cat quotes):

[ALICE:]
'Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?'

'That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,' said the Cat.

'I don't much care where --' said Alice.

'Then it doesn't matter which way you go,' said the Cat.

'-- so long as I get SOMEWHERE,' Alice added as an explanation.

'Oh, you're sure to do that,' said the Cat, 'if you only walk long enough.'

And that about sums it up, doesn't it?

In truth it doesn't matter where you want to go - or which way you go to get there. Strange as it may sound the important thing is not the goal, nor is it the means you use to reach it.

The Most Important Thing

Both 'goals', 'doing' and 'having' are actually secondary to the thing that's really, truly important:

What matters in life is not what you're busy doing or having, but what you're busy BEING. Whatever you ARE is what you will experience in your life. Your 'beingness' equals your life experience.
~ Soren Lauritzen ~ , the Personal Development Guy

After all, you're a human being, not a human doing.

Right?

In other words: Be here now.

When someone is impatient and says, "I haven't got all day," I always wonder, How can that be? How can you not have all
day?
~ George Carlin ~

Why should I care about posterity? What's posterity ever done for me?
~ Groucho Marx ~

The past is gone. The future hasn't happened yet. Today, however, is a great gift - which is why we call it the present.
~ Inspirational saying ~

It's like the Chinese proverb says: The journey is the reward.

How can that proverb be counted as one of the inspirational quotes on this page? Easy: It reminds us that one of the basic things that we ALL have in common is the fact that we're on a journey moving through our life - and nothing more than that experience is needed!

What's More Powerful than Belief?

When someone really believes something, or they feel they have a purpose, it's as if there's a fire burning inside them. This is very powerful. It's actually the source of many inspirational quotes ...

What's money? A man is a success if he gets up in the morning and goes to bed at night and in between does what he wants to do.
~ Bob Dylan ~

... sometimes it gets turned upside down ...

A man's got to do what a man's got to do. A woman must do what he can't.
~ Rhonda Hansome ~

... and sometimes it even results in cases based on reverse psychology:

I do it because I can; I can because I want to; I want to because you said I couldn't.
~ Motivational saying ~

But even the most potent of fires will eventually burn themselves out and die.

Happily, something exists that's even more powerful than an inner fire. It's a light, too, but it doesn't burn out, ever.

People are like stained-glass windows. They sparkle and shine when the sun is out, but when the darkness sets in, their true beauty is revealed only if there is a light from within.
~ Elizabeth Kubler Ross ~

The light from within CAN be the fire of purpose or belief. But it can also be life itself. Or, if you prefer: the soul.

When we find ourselves looking at the world and saying, "There's nothing out there for me," we should probably also look into our hearts and ask, "If there’s nothing out there, is there anything in here?" We need to examine our inner dialogue to discover where we might be blocking the conscious energy flow, then remove the ego, step out of the way, and let the fire of the soul shine through us.
~ Deepak Chopra ~

How to Harness the Power of Life

How do you make life itself (or: the soul) shine through?

Well, that particular light is always shining, so all you have to do is remove whatever is blocking it.

Life itself is like a light, a beacon that will shine through everything and tell you exactly what to do in all situations. All you have to do is let it - by letting go of your limiting beliefs. Once they are gone, you yourself will shine!
~ Soren Lauritzen ~ , the Personal Development Guy

Yes, that's right. Your beliefs are powerful, but limiting. They are the primary thing standing between you and the force/light of life itself.

You don’t have a soul. You are a soul. You have a body.
~ C. S. Lewis ~

But can you live without beliefs? Oh, yes. And you can live BETTER without them than with them.

Want to be more happy? Let go of the most limiting of your beliefs. Want to be completely happy? Let go of ALL your beliefs. In truth you don't need them.
~ Soren Lauritzen ~ , the Personal Development Guy

When you do things from your soul you feel a river moving in you, a joy. When action comes from another part of you, the feeling disappears.
~ Rumi ~

Life itself is a most powerful force. The less beliefs you hold, the more you experience this. When you 'let go and let life', things become so easy - like playing.
~ Soren Lauritzen ~ , the Personal Development Guy