However many holy words you read, however many you speak, what good will they do you if you do not act upon them?
Siddhartha Gautama, known as the Buddha, lived in northern India around the fifth century BC. By tradition he gave up a privileged life to pursue the question of suffering. The teachings attributed to him were transmitted orally for several generations before being written down, so his original words cannot be reliably separated from later layers.
About this theme: Motivation
Motivation is the youngest idea in this collection — it enters use as a psychological term only in the twentieth century. Older writers describe the same thing with a different vocabulary: will, duty, habit. That difference in words hides a difference in assumption. Motivation is understood as a state that comes and goes; habit as something built regardless of the state.
More by Buddha
More on Motivation
- Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance you must keep moving.— Albert Einstein
- Obstacles cannot crush me; every obstacle yields to stern resolve.— Leonardo da Vinci
- It always seems impossible until it's done.— Nelson Mandela
- No one knows what he can do till he tries.— Publilius Syrus
- Not all of us can do great things. But we can do small things with great love.— Mother Teresa