However many holy words you read, however many you speak, what good will they do you if you do not act upon them?
- BuddhaMotivation
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.
Read the quotes here with that in mind and they separate quickly into two groups. One promises a feeling — drive, momentum, energy. The other recommends bypassing the feeling and beginning anyway. The second group is older, rarer, and judging by the fact that it has survived centuries, probably the more reliable of the two.
Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance you must keep moving.
- Albert EinsteinObstacles cannot crush me; every obstacle yields to stern resolve.
- Leonardo da VinciIt always seems impossible until it's done.
- Nelson MandelaNo one knows what he can do till he tries.
- Publilius SyrusNot all of us can do great things. But we can do small things with great love.
- Mother TeresaThe best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago. The second best time is now.
- Chinese ProverbArise, awake, and stop not till the goal is reached.
- Swami VivekanandaWell done is better than well said.
- Benjamin FranklinDo what you can, with what you have, where you are.
- Theodore RooseveltThe impediment to action advances action. What stands in the way becomes the way.
- Marcus AureliusThe beginning is the most important part of the work.
- PlatoHe who moves not forward goes backward.
- Johann Wolfgang von GoetheEverything is hard before it is easy.
- Johann Wolfgang von GoetheEither write something worth reading or do something worth writing.
- Benjamin FranklinI do the very best I know how — the very best I can; and I mean to keep doing so until the end.
- Abraham LincolnTraveler, there is no path. The path is made by walking.
- Antonio MachadoKnowing is not enough; we must apply. Willing is not enough; we must do.
- Johann Wolfgang von GoetheWhether you think you can, or you think you can't — you're right.
- Henry FordWaste no more time arguing about what a good man should be. Be one.
- Marcus AureliusOur greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time.
- Thomas EdisonYou can't cross the sea merely by standing and staring at the water.
- Rabindranath TagoreAct as if what you do makes a difference. It does.
- William JamesVision without action is a daydream. Action without vision is a nightmare.
- Japanese ProverbSeize the day, put very little trust in tomorrow.
- HoraceYou yourself must strive. The Buddhas only point the way.
- BuddhaNothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.
- Ralph Waldo EmersonStart by doing what's necessary; then do what's possible; and suddenly you are doing the impossible.
- Francis of AssisiNothing will work unless you do.
- Maya AngelouIt does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop.
- ConfuciusA journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.
- Lao TzuWhere there is a will, there is a way.
- Croatian ProverbFirst say to yourself what you would be; and then do what you have to do.
- EpictetusDon't explain your philosophy. Embody it.
- EpictetusOur greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.
- ConfuciusIf you can't fly then run, if you can't run then walk, if you can't walk then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward.
- Martin Luther King Jr.Whatever you are, be a good one.
- Abraham LincolnThe early riser grabs two fortunes.
- Croatian ProverbThe most difficult thing is the decision to act; the rest is merely tenacity.
- Amelia EarhartGo confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have imagined.
- Henry David ThoreauHow wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.
- Anne FrankEvery beginning is hard.
- German Proverb