Inspiring quotes
Be sure to expose yourself to criticism: A fine polish requires an abrasive.
Marilyn Vos Savant, author and columnist
Circumstance does not make the man; it reveals him to himself.
James Allen, author of As a Man Thinketh
Those who dare to fail miserably can achieve greatly.
John F Kennedy, American president
I’ve missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.
Michael Jordan, basketball player
Now don't be nervous, and don't make any mistakes!
What Fred Astaire always said to his dance partner just before they walked out together on stage.
If you wait for luck to turn up, life becomes very boring.
Mikhail Tal, chess grandmaster
It's not the forehands. It's not the fitness. It's a certain mentality.
Boris Becker, tennis champion
Work hard today so that you do not need to work even harder tomorrow.
Origin unknown
Pressure is a privilege.
Billy Jean King, tennis champion
Don't let the fear of the time it will take to accomplish something stand in the way of your doing it. The time will pass anyway; we might just as well put that passing time to the best possible use.
Earl Nightingale, American speaker and author
Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.
Abraham Lincoln, American president
Practice like it means everything in the world to you. Perform like you don't give a damn.
Jascha Heifetz, violinist
Intonation is a question of mind over matter. If the audience don't mind, it doesn't matter.
Roy Gillard, British violinist
I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times.
Bruce Lee, actor, martial artist
Attackers may sometimes regret bad moves, but it is much worse to forever regret an opportunity you allowed to pass you by.
Garry Kasparov, chess champion
The future depends on what you do today.
Mahatma Gandhi, Indian statesman
Lots of people know what to do, but few people actually do what they know. Knowing is not enough! You must take action.
Tony Robinson, life coach
Practise like you’ve never won. Play like you’ve never lost.
Michael Jordan, basketball player
If we did all the things we are capable of, we would literally astonish ourselves.
Thomas Edison, inventor
In the realm of ideas everything depends on enthusiasm... in the real world all rests on perseverance.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, author, polymath
It's determination and commitment to an unrelenting pursuit of your goal that will enable you to attain the success you seek.
Mario Andretti, race car driver
Small opportunities are often the beginning of great enterprises.
Demosthenes, statesman
Only by coming to grips with difficulty can you realize your full potential.
Charles de Gaulle, President of France
All that you touch and all that you see, is all that your life will ever be.
Pink Floyd, Dark Side of the Moon album
Only when we are no longer afraid do we begin to live.
Dorothy Thompson, journalist
The more I practice the luckier I seem to get.
Arnold Palmer, professional golfer
It is not because things are difficult that we do not dare; it is because we do not dare that they are difficult.
Seneca, statesman, dramatist, philosopher
The superior man blames himself. The inferior man blames others.
Don Shula, football coach
When I thought I couldn't go on, I forced myself to keep going. My success is based on persistence, not luck.
Estee Lauder, entrepreneur
A man learns to skate by staggering about making a fool of himself; indeed, he progresses in all things by making a fool of himself.
George Bernard Shaw, writer and critic
Your imagination is your preview of life's coming attractions.
Albert Einstein, physicist
Believe you can and you’re halfway there.
Theodore Roosevelt, 26th U.S. President
Don't play the notes. Play the meaning of the notes.
Pablo Casals, cellist
We cannot do everything at once, but we can do something at once.
Calvin Coolidge, 30th U.S. President
If people knew how hard I worked to gain my mastery, it wouldn't seem so wonderful.
Michelangelo, artist
It's not what you do once in a while; it's what you do day in and day out that makes the difference.
Jenny Craig, diet guru
The starting point of all achievement is desire. Keep this constantly in mind. Weak desires bring weak results, just as a small fire makes a small amount of heat.
Napoleon Hill, author
If you don't fail now and again, it's a sign you're playing it safe.
Woody Allen, Director
Giving up is the ultimate tragedy.
Robert Donovan, writer
There is no such thing as natural touch. Touch is something you create by hitting millions of golf balls.
Lee Trevino, golfer
The only way to fail for me is just not to try.
Garry Kasparov, Chess Champion
Pressure is a word that is misused in our vocabulary. When you start thinking of pressure, it's because you've started to think of failure.
Tommy Lasorda, baseball manager
I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.
Maya Angelou, poet
I learn something new about the game almost every time I step on the course.
Ben Hogan, golfer
Sometimes we stare so long at a door that is closing that we see too late the one that is open.
Alexander Graham Bell, inventor
I was taught that the way of progress is neither swift nor easy.
Marie Curie, physicist
It isn't where you came from; it's where you're going that counts.
Ella Fitzgerald, jazz singer
You can't talk yourself out of a problem you behave yourself into.
Stephen Covey, author and speaker
Ninety percent of all those who fail are not actually defeated. They simply quit.
Paul J. Meyer, success guru
People spend their lives in the service of their passions instead of employing their passions in the service of their lives.
Sir Richard Steele, writer, playwright, and politician
Evidence is conclusive that your self-talk has a direct bearing on your performance.
Zig Ziglar, motivational speaker
If you aren't fired with enthusiasm, you will be fired with enthusiasm.
Vince Lombardi, American football coach
The will to win is not nearly as important as the will to prepare to win.
Bobby Knight, basketball head coach
I have learned that success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has had to overcome while trying to succeed.
Booker T. Washington, educator
Progress always involves risks. You can't steal second base and keep your foot on first.
Frederick Wilcox, writer
Dig the well before you are thirsty.
Chinese proverb
Ideas are a dime a dozen. People who implement them are priceless.
Mary Kay Ash, entrepreneur
The miracle is this - the more we share, the more we have.
Leonard Nimoy, actor
Life is 10 percent what you make it, and 90 percent how you take it.
Irving Berlin, American composer and lyricist
The great use of life is to spend it doing something that will outlast it.
William James, psychologist
What do we teach our children? We should say to each of them: Do you know what you are? You are a marvel. You are unique. You may become a Shakespeare, a Michelangelo, a Beethoven. You have the capacity for anything.
Pablo Casals, cellist
Don't bother just to be better than your contemporaries or predecessors. Try to be better than yourself.
William Faulkner, author
We must all suffer from one of two pains: the pain of discipline or the pain of regret. The difference is discipline weighs ounces while regret weighs tons.
Jim Rohn, motivational coach
Character is the ability to carry out a good resolution long after the excitement of the moment has passed.
Robert Cavett, professional public speaker
I base my calculation on the expectation that luck will be against me.
Napoleon Bonaparte, French emperor
I contend that not only can you laugh at adversity, but it is essential to do so if you are to deal with setbacks without defeat.
Allen Klein, businessman
Successful people form the habit of doing what failures don't like to do. They like the results they get by doing what they don't necessarily enjoy.
Earl Nightingale, motivational speaker
Freedom lies in being bold.
Robert Frost, poet
I feel that the greatest reward for doing is the opportunity to do more.
Jonas Salk, virologist
A winner is someone who recognizes his God-given talents, works his tail off to develop them into skills and uses these skills to accomplish his goals.
Larry Bird, basketball player
It is literally true that you can succeed best and quickest by helping others to succeed.
Napoleon Hill, author
Do not fear going forward slowly; fear only to stand still.
Chinese Proverb
The only safe thing is to take a chance.
Mike Nichols, film director
Trouble is only opportunity in work clothes.
Henry Kaiser, industrialist
Small opportunities are often the beginning of great enterprises.
Demosthenes, statesman
Don't say you don't have enough time. You have exactly the same number of hours per day that were given to Helen Keller, Louis Pasteur, Michelangelo, Leonardo di Vinci, Thomas Jefferson and Albert Einstein.
Jackson Brown Jr., writer
All that is necessary to break the spell of inertia and frustration is this: Act as if it were impossible to fail.
Dorothea Brande, writer
Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time, for that's the stuff life is made of.
Benjamin Franklin, polymath, USA Founding Father
You can't do it unless you can imagine it.
George Lucas, film director
Perseverance is failing 19 times and succeeding the 20th.
Julie Andrews, actress
Our minds can shape the way a thing will be because we act according to our expectations.
Federico Fellini, director
No matter what it is, pick yourself up and go on to the next project.
Shelley Duvall, actress
I am willing to put myself through anything; temporary pain or discomfort means nothing to me as long as I can see that the experience will take me to a new level.
Diana Nyad, swimmer
Don't ever be afraid to admit you were wrong. It's like saying you're wiser today than you were yesterday.
Robert Newell, humorist
Character is built daily by the way one thinks and acts - thought by thought, action by action.
Helen Douglas, legislator
I don't think that once you get to one level, you can relax. You've got to keep pushing.
Larry Bird, basketball player
Life is the sum of all your choices.
Albert Camus, author
The real winners in life are the people who look at every situation with an expectation that they can make it work or make it better.
Barbara Pletcher, author
Only when we are no longer afraid do we begin to live.
Dorothy Thompson, journalist
A good goal is like a strenuous exercise - it makes you stretch.
Mary Kay Ash, cosmetics pioneer
Our greatest enemies, the ones we must fight most often, are within.
Thomas Paine, statesman
Don't be content with doing only your duty. Do more than your duty. It's the horse that finishes a neck ahead that wins the race.
Andrew Carnegie, industrialist
Putting off an easy thing makes it hard. Putting off a hard thing makes it impossible.
Charles Wilson, legislator
Even when I lost, I learned what my weaknesses were and I went out the next day to turn those weaknesses into strengths.
Larry Bird, basketball player
Sometimes we stare so long at a door that is closing that we see too late the one that is open.
Alexander Graham Bell, inventor
Only those who risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go.
T.S. Eliot, writer and poet
You have to believe in yourself, that's the secret. Even when I was in the orphanage, when I was roaming the street trying to find enough to eat, even then I thought of myself as the greatest actor in the world.
Charlie Chaplin, actor
The next sentence is true. The previous sentence was false.
Origin unknown
The greater danger for most of us lies not in setting our aim too high and falling short, but in setting our aim too low and achieving our mark.
Michelangelo, artist
The most important thing in music is what is not in the notes.
Pablo Casals, cellist
Though everything else may appear shallow and repulsive, even the smallest task in music is so absorbing, and carries us so far away from town, country, earth, and all worldly things, that it is truly a blessed gift of God.
Felix Mendelssohn, composer
Tim Henman is trying too hard. When you are trying as hard as he is, all the playing goes on to a conscious level, instead of remaining on a deep, instinctive level. He needs to forget himself. He should just run to the ball and hit it, and remember what it feels like to enjoy hitting the ball, without caring so much about the result.
Television commentary (possibly by John McEnroe), 1997 tennis quarterfinal at Wimbledon in which Michael Stich defeated the British champion Tim Henman..
It's not true that 'practice makes perfect'. Only perfect practice make perfect. Bad practice makes worse.
Origin unknown
Perfection is the enemy of the good.
Voltaire, French philosopher
The good is the enemy of the great.
James C. Collins, American author
Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection we can catch excellence.
Vince Lombardi, American football player
I can accept failure, everyone fails at something. But I can't accept not trying.
Michael Jordan, basketball player
When everything seems to be going against you, remember that the airplane takes off against the wind, not with it
Henry Ford
Remember that not getting what you want is sometimes a wonderful stroke of luck.
Dalai Lama
You can’t use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have.
Maya Angelou, African-American poet and author
A person who never made a mistake never tried anything new.
Albert Einstein, physicist
There is no substitute for work; what seems ease of performance comes from the greatest labor.
Pablo Casals, cellist
Not long before Horowitz died, he called Gelb [his manager], and told him he was like family now and he didn’t have to call him "Mr. Horowitz". He could call him "Maestro."
The New York Times
I come home at nightfall, tidy my hair, put on my evening shoes and then go off to a party. About ten or eleven, sometimes twelve but never later, I come home, play the piano, have a good cry, read, look at things, have a laugh, get into bed, blow out my candle and always dream about you all.
Frederic Chopin
Marilyn Vos Savant, author and columnist
Circumstance does not make the man; it reveals him to himself.
James Allen, author of As a Man Thinketh
Those who dare to fail miserably can achieve greatly.
John F Kennedy, American president
I’ve missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.
Michael Jordan, basketball player
Now don't be nervous, and don't make any mistakes!
What Fred Astaire always said to his dance partner just before they walked out together on stage.
If you wait for luck to turn up, life becomes very boring.
Mikhail Tal, chess grandmaster
It's not the forehands. It's not the fitness. It's a certain mentality.
Boris Becker, tennis champion
Work hard today so that you do not need to work even harder tomorrow.
Origin unknown
Pressure is a privilege.
Billy Jean King, tennis champion
Don't let the fear of the time it will take to accomplish something stand in the way of your doing it. The time will pass anyway; we might just as well put that passing time to the best possible use.
Earl Nightingale, American speaker and author
Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.
Abraham Lincoln, American president
Practice like it means everything in the world to you. Perform like you don't give a damn.
Jascha Heifetz, violinist
Intonation is a question of mind over matter. If the audience don't mind, it doesn't matter.
Roy Gillard, British violinist
I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times.
Bruce Lee, actor, martial artist
Attackers may sometimes regret bad moves, but it is much worse to forever regret an opportunity you allowed to pass you by.
Garry Kasparov, chess champion
The future depends on what you do today.
Mahatma Gandhi, Indian statesman
Lots of people know what to do, but few people actually do what they know. Knowing is not enough! You must take action.
Tony Robinson, life coach
Practise like you’ve never won. Play like you’ve never lost.
Michael Jordan, basketball player
If we did all the things we are capable of, we would literally astonish ourselves.
Thomas Edison, inventor
In the realm of ideas everything depends on enthusiasm... in the real world all rests on perseverance.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, author, polymath
It's determination and commitment to an unrelenting pursuit of your goal that will enable you to attain the success you seek.
Mario Andretti, race car driver
Small opportunities are often the beginning of great enterprises.
Demosthenes, statesman
Only by coming to grips with difficulty can you realize your full potential.
Charles de Gaulle, President of France
All that you touch and all that you see, is all that your life will ever be.
Pink Floyd, Dark Side of the Moon album
Only when we are no longer afraid do we begin to live.
Dorothy Thompson, journalist
The more I practice the luckier I seem to get.
Arnold Palmer, professional golfer
It is not because things are difficult that we do not dare; it is because we do not dare that they are difficult.
Seneca, statesman, dramatist, philosopher
The superior man blames himself. The inferior man blames others.
Don Shula, football coach
When I thought I couldn't go on, I forced myself to keep going. My success is based on persistence, not luck.
Estee Lauder, entrepreneur
A man learns to skate by staggering about making a fool of himself; indeed, he progresses in all things by making a fool of himself.
George Bernard Shaw, writer and critic
Your imagination is your preview of life's coming attractions.
Albert Einstein, physicist
Believe you can and you’re halfway there.
Theodore Roosevelt, 26th U.S. President
Don't play the notes. Play the meaning of the notes.
Pablo Casals, cellist
We cannot do everything at once, but we can do something at once.
Calvin Coolidge, 30th U.S. President
If people knew how hard I worked to gain my mastery, it wouldn't seem so wonderful.
Michelangelo, artist
It's not what you do once in a while; it's what you do day in and day out that makes the difference.
Jenny Craig, diet guru
The starting point of all achievement is desire. Keep this constantly in mind. Weak desires bring weak results, just as a small fire makes a small amount of heat.
Napoleon Hill, author
If you don't fail now and again, it's a sign you're playing it safe.
Woody Allen, Director
Giving up is the ultimate tragedy.
Robert Donovan, writer
There is no such thing as natural touch. Touch is something you create by hitting millions of golf balls.
Lee Trevino, golfer
The only way to fail for me is just not to try.
Garry Kasparov, Chess Champion
Pressure is a word that is misused in our vocabulary. When you start thinking of pressure, it's because you've started to think of failure.
Tommy Lasorda, baseball manager
I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.
Maya Angelou, poet
I learn something new about the game almost every time I step on the course.
Ben Hogan, golfer
Sometimes we stare so long at a door that is closing that we see too late the one that is open.
Alexander Graham Bell, inventor
I was taught that the way of progress is neither swift nor easy.
Marie Curie, physicist
It isn't where you came from; it's where you're going that counts.
Ella Fitzgerald, jazz singer
You can't talk yourself out of a problem you behave yourself into.
Stephen Covey, author and speaker
Ninety percent of all those who fail are not actually defeated. They simply quit.
Paul J. Meyer, success guru
People spend their lives in the service of their passions instead of employing their passions in the service of their lives.
Sir Richard Steele, writer, playwright, and politician
Evidence is conclusive that your self-talk has a direct bearing on your performance.
Zig Ziglar, motivational speaker
If you aren't fired with enthusiasm, you will be fired with enthusiasm.
Vince Lombardi, American football coach
The will to win is not nearly as important as the will to prepare to win.
Bobby Knight, basketball head coach
I have learned that success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has had to overcome while trying to succeed.
Booker T. Washington, educator
Progress always involves risks. You can't steal second base and keep your foot on first.
Frederick Wilcox, writer
Dig the well before you are thirsty.
Chinese proverb
Ideas are a dime a dozen. People who implement them are priceless.
Mary Kay Ash, entrepreneur
The miracle is this - the more we share, the more we have.
Leonard Nimoy, actor
Life is 10 percent what you make it, and 90 percent how you take it.
Irving Berlin, American composer and lyricist
The great use of life is to spend it doing something that will outlast it.
William James, psychologist
What do we teach our children? We should say to each of them: Do you know what you are? You are a marvel. You are unique. You may become a Shakespeare, a Michelangelo, a Beethoven. You have the capacity for anything.
Pablo Casals, cellist
Don't bother just to be better than your contemporaries or predecessors. Try to be better than yourself.
William Faulkner, author
We must all suffer from one of two pains: the pain of discipline or the pain of regret. The difference is discipline weighs ounces while regret weighs tons.
Jim Rohn, motivational coach
Character is the ability to carry out a good resolution long after the excitement of the moment has passed.
Robert Cavett, professional public speaker
I base my calculation on the expectation that luck will be against me.
Napoleon Bonaparte, French emperor
I contend that not only can you laugh at adversity, but it is essential to do so if you are to deal with setbacks without defeat.
Allen Klein, businessman
Successful people form the habit of doing what failures don't like to do. They like the results they get by doing what they don't necessarily enjoy.
Earl Nightingale, motivational speaker
Freedom lies in being bold.
Robert Frost, poet
I feel that the greatest reward for doing is the opportunity to do more.
Jonas Salk, virologist
A winner is someone who recognizes his God-given talents, works his tail off to develop them into skills and uses these skills to accomplish his goals.
Larry Bird, basketball player
It is literally true that you can succeed best and quickest by helping others to succeed.
Napoleon Hill, author
Do not fear going forward slowly; fear only to stand still.
Chinese Proverb
The only safe thing is to take a chance.
Mike Nichols, film director
Trouble is only opportunity in work clothes.
Henry Kaiser, industrialist
Small opportunities are often the beginning of great enterprises.
Demosthenes, statesman
Don't say you don't have enough time. You have exactly the same number of hours per day that were given to Helen Keller, Louis Pasteur, Michelangelo, Leonardo di Vinci, Thomas Jefferson and Albert Einstein.
Jackson Brown Jr., writer
All that is necessary to break the spell of inertia and frustration is this: Act as if it were impossible to fail.
Dorothea Brande, writer
Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time, for that's the stuff life is made of.
Benjamin Franklin, polymath, USA Founding Father
You can't do it unless you can imagine it.
George Lucas, film director
Perseverance is failing 19 times and succeeding the 20th.
Julie Andrews, actress
Our minds can shape the way a thing will be because we act according to our expectations.
Federico Fellini, director
No matter what it is, pick yourself up and go on to the next project.
Shelley Duvall, actress
I am willing to put myself through anything; temporary pain or discomfort means nothing to me as long as I can see that the experience will take me to a new level.
Diana Nyad, swimmer
Don't ever be afraid to admit you were wrong. It's like saying you're wiser today than you were yesterday.
Robert Newell, humorist
Character is built daily by the way one thinks and acts - thought by thought, action by action.
Helen Douglas, legislator
I don't think that once you get to one level, you can relax. You've got to keep pushing.
Larry Bird, basketball player
Life is the sum of all your choices.
Albert Camus, author
The real winners in life are the people who look at every situation with an expectation that they can make it work or make it better.
Barbara Pletcher, author
Only when we are no longer afraid do we begin to live.
Dorothy Thompson, journalist
A good goal is like a strenuous exercise - it makes you stretch.
Mary Kay Ash, cosmetics pioneer
Our greatest enemies, the ones we must fight most often, are within.
Thomas Paine, statesman
Don't be content with doing only your duty. Do more than your duty. It's the horse that finishes a neck ahead that wins the race.
Andrew Carnegie, industrialist
Putting off an easy thing makes it hard. Putting off a hard thing makes it impossible.
Charles Wilson, legislator
Even when I lost, I learned what my weaknesses were and I went out the next day to turn those weaknesses into strengths.
Larry Bird, basketball player
Sometimes we stare so long at a door that is closing that we see too late the one that is open.
Alexander Graham Bell, inventor
Only those who risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go.
T.S. Eliot, writer and poet
You have to believe in yourself, that's the secret. Even when I was in the orphanage, when I was roaming the street trying to find enough to eat, even then I thought of myself as the greatest actor in the world.
Charlie Chaplin, actor
The next sentence is true. The previous sentence was false.
Origin unknown
The greater danger for most of us lies not in setting our aim too high and falling short, but in setting our aim too low and achieving our mark.
Michelangelo, artist
The most important thing in music is what is not in the notes.
Pablo Casals, cellist
Though everything else may appear shallow and repulsive, even the smallest task in music is so absorbing, and carries us so far away from town, country, earth, and all worldly things, that it is truly a blessed gift of God.
Felix Mendelssohn, composer
Tim Henman is trying too hard. When you are trying as hard as he is, all the playing goes on to a conscious level, instead of remaining on a deep, instinctive level. He needs to forget himself. He should just run to the ball and hit it, and remember what it feels like to enjoy hitting the ball, without caring so much about the result.
Television commentary (possibly by John McEnroe), 1997 tennis quarterfinal at Wimbledon in which Michael Stich defeated the British champion Tim Henman..
It's not true that 'practice makes perfect'. Only perfect practice make perfect. Bad practice makes worse.
Origin unknown
Perfection is the enemy of the good.
Voltaire, French philosopher
The good is the enemy of the great.
James C. Collins, American author
Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection we can catch excellence.
Vince Lombardi, American football player
I can accept failure, everyone fails at something. But I can't accept not trying.
Michael Jordan, basketball player
When everything seems to be going against you, remember that the airplane takes off against the wind, not with it
Henry Ford
Remember that not getting what you want is sometimes a wonderful stroke of luck.
Dalai Lama
You can’t use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have.
Maya Angelou, African-American poet and author
A person who never made a mistake never tried anything new.
Albert Einstein, physicist
There is no substitute for work; what seems ease of performance comes from the greatest labor.
Pablo Casals, cellist
Not long before Horowitz died, he called Gelb [his manager], and told him he was like family now and he didn’t have to call him "Mr. Horowitz". He could call him "Maestro."
The New York Times
I come home at nightfall, tidy my hair, put on my evening shoes and then go off to a party. About ten or eleven, sometimes twelve but never later, I come home, play the piano, have a good cry, read, look at things, have a laugh, get into bed, blow out my candle and always dream about you all.
Frederic Chopin