Top 100 Inspirational Quotes

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Top 100 Inspirational Quotes - Forbes
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L EA D ER S H I P | 5/28/2013 @ 11:04AM | 7,962,684 vie ws
Top 100 Inspirational Quotes

159 com m e nts, 9 calle d-out Comment Now Follow Comments
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Inspirational quotes and motivational quotes have the power to get us through a bad week, and can even give us the courage to pursue our lifes dreams. In my book, 4 Keys to Happiness and Fulfillment at Work, I share surprising research into the true triggers of workplace motivation. So in the spirit of self motivation, here are 100 inspirational quotes.
1. Whatever the mind of man can conceive and believe, it can achieve. Napoleon Hill 2. Strive not to be a success, but rather to be of value. Albert Einstein 3. Two roads diverged in a wood, and II took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference. Robert Frost 4. I attribute my success to this: I never gave or took any excuse. Florence Nightingale 5. You miss 100% of the shots you dont take. Wayne Gretzky 6. Ive missed more than 9000 shots in my career. Ive lost almost 300 games. 26 times Ive been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. Ive failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed. Michael Jordan 7. The most difficult thing is the decision to act, the rest is merely tenacity. Amelia Earhart 8. Every strike brings me closer to the next home run. Babe Ruth
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Kevin Kruse
C ontributor Follow (691)
I'm a serial entrepreneur whose companies hav e won both Inc 500 and Best Place to Work awards. I'm also a NY Times bestselling author and speaker. My newest book is Employ ee Engagement 2.0. To download free chapters v isit my website at www.kev inkruse.com.
The author is a Forbes contributor. The opinions expres s ed are thos e of the w riter.
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Mark 9. Definiteness of purpose is the starting point of all achievement. W. Clement Stone
10. The past is a ghost, the future a dream. All we ever have is now. Bill Cosby 11. Life is what happens to you while youre busy making other plans. John Lennon 12. We become what we think about. Earl Nightingale
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13. Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didnt do than by the ones you did do, so throw off the bowlines, sail away from safe harbor, catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore, Dream, Discover. Mark Twain 14. Life is 10% what happens to me and 90% of how I react to it. Charles Swindoll 15. The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they dont have any. Alice Walker 16. The mind is everything. What you think you become. Buddha 17. The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now. Chinese Proverb 18. An unexamined life is not worth living. Socrates 19. Eighty percent of success is showing up. Woody Allen 20. Your time is limited, so dont waste it living someone elses life. Steve Jobs 21. Winning isnt everything, but wanting to win is. Vince Lombardi 22. I am not a product of my circumstances. I am a product of my decisions.
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Stephen Covey 23. Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up. Pablo Picasso 24. You can never cross the ocean until you have the courage to lose sight of the shore. Christopher Columbus 25. Ive 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 26. Either you run the day, or the day runs you. Jim Rohn 27. Whether you think you can or you think you cant, youre right. Henry Ford 28. The two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why. Mark Twain 29. Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe 30. The best revenge is massive success. Frank Sinatra 31. People often say that motivation doesnt last. Well, neither does bathing. Thats why we recommend it daily. Zig Ziglar 32. Life shrinks or expands in proportion to ones courage. Anais Nin 33. If you hear a voice within you say you cannot paint, then by all means paint and that voice will be silenced. Vincent Van Gogh 34. There is only one way to avoid criticism: do nothing, say nothing, and be nothing. Aristotle 35. Ask and it will be given to you; search, and you will find; knock and the door will be opened for you. Jesus 36. The only person you are destined to become is the person you decide to be. Ralph Waldo Emerson 37. Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have imagined. Henry David Thoreau 38. When I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent left and could say, I used everything you gave me. Erma Bombeck 39. Few things can help an individual more than to place responsibility on him, and to let him know that you trust him. Booker T. Washington 40. Certain things catch your eye, but pursue only those that capture the heart. Ancient Indian Proverb 41. Believe you can and youre halfway there. Theodore Roosevelt 42. Everything youve ever wanted is on the other side of fear. George Addair 43. We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light. Plato 44. Teach thy tongue to say, I do not know, and thous shalt progress. Maimonides 45. Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can. Arthur Ashe 46. When I was 5 years old, my mother always told me that happiness was the key to life. When I went to school, they asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I wrote down happy. They told me I didnt understand the assignment, and I told them they didnt understand life. John Lennon 47. Fall seven times and stand up eight. Japanese Proverb 48. When one door of happiness closes, another opens, but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one that has been opened for us. Helen Keller 49. Everything has beauty, but not everyone can see. Confucius 50. How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world. Anne Frank 51. When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be. Lao Tzu 52. Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away. Maya Angelou
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53. Happiness is not something readymade. It comes from your own actions. Dalai Lama 54. If youre offered a seat on a rocket ship, dont ask what seat! Just get on. Sheryl Sandberg 55. First, have a definite, clear practical ideal; a goal, an objective. Second, have the necessary means to achieve your ends; wisdom, money, materials, and methods. Third, adjust all your means to that end. Aristotle 56. If the wind will not serve, take to the oars. Latin Proverb 57. You cant fall if you dont climb. But theres no joy in living your whole life on the ground. Unknown 58. We must believe that we are gifted for something, and that this thing, at whatever cost, must be attained. Marie Curie 59. Too many of us are not living our dreams because we are living our fears. Les Brown 60. Challenges are what make life interesting and overcoming them is what makes life meaningful. Joshua J. Marine 61. If you want to lift yourself up, lift up someone else. Booker T. Washington 62. I have been impressed with the urgency of doing. Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Being willing is not enough; we must do. Leonardo da Vinci 63. Limitations live only in our minds. But if we use our imaginations, our possibilities become limitless. Jamie Paolinetti 64. You take your life in your own hands, and what happens? A terrible thing, no one to blame. Erica Jong 65. Whats 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 66. I didnt fail the test. I just found 100 ways to do it wrong. Benjamin Franklin 67. In order to succeed, your desire for success should be greater than your fear of failure. Bill Cosby 68. A person who never made a mistake never tried anything new. Albert Einstein 69. The person who says it cannot be done should not interrupt the person who is doing it. Chinese Proverb 70. There are no traffic jams along the extra mile. Roger Staubach 71. It is never too late to be what you might have been. George Eliot 72. You become what you believe. Oprah Winfrey 73. I would rather die of passion than of boredom. Vincent van Gogh 74. A truly rich man is one whose children run into his arms when his hands are empty. Unknown 75. It is not what you do for your children, but what you have taught them to do for themselves, that will make them successful human beings. Ann Landers 76. If you want your children to turn out well, spend twice as much time with them, and half as much money. Abigail Van Buren 77. Build your own dreams, or someone else will hire you to build theirs. Farrah Gray 78. The battles that count arent the ones for gold medals. The struggles within yourselfthe invisible battles inside all of usthats where its at. Jesse Owens 79. Education costs money. But then so does ignorance. Sir Claus Moser 80. I have learned over the years that when ones mind is made up, this diminishes fear. Rosa Parks 81. It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop. Confucius 82. If you look at what you have in life, youll always have more. If you look at what you dont have in life, youll never have enough. Oprah Winfrey 83. Remember that not getting what you want is sometimes a wonderful stroke of luck. Dalai Lama 84. You cant use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have. Maya
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Angelou 85. Dream big and dare to fail. Norman Vaughan 86. Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter. Martin Luther King Jr. 87. Do what you can, where you are, with what you have. Teddy Roosevelt 88. If you do what youve always done, youll get what youve always gotten. Tony Robbins 89. Dreaming, after all, is a form of planning. Gloria Steinem 90. Its your place in the world; its your life. Go on and do all you can with it, and make it the life you want to live. Mae Jemison 91. You may be disappointed if you fail, but you are doomed if you dont try. Beverly Sills 92. Remember no one can make you feel inferior without your consent. Eleanor Roosevelt 93. Life is what we make it, always has been, always will be. Grandma Moses 94. The question isnt who is going to let me; its who is going to stop me. Ayn Rand 95. When everything seems to be going against you, remember that the airplane takes off against the wind, not with it. Henry Ford 96. Its not the years in your life that count. Its the life in your years. Abraham Lincoln 97. Change your thoughts and you change your world. Norman Vincent Peale 98. Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing. Benjamin Franklin 99. Nothing is impossible, the word itself says, Im possible! Audrey Hepburn 100. The only way to do great work is to love what you do. Steve Jobs 101. If you can dream it, you can achieve it. Zig Ziglar
What inspires you? Take the Your Motivation Quiz to find out. Check out Kevin Kruses new book, Employee Engagement 2.0, and discover how to turn apathetic groups into emotionally committed teams. You might also like
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Forbe s write rs have the ability to call out m e m be r com m e nts the y find particularly inte re sting. C alle d-out com m e nts are highlighte d across the Forbe s ne twork . You'll be notifie d if your com m e nt is calle d out.
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elly kleinman divorce 7 months ago
All of these quotes are quite inspiring, but I would go with number 20: Winning isnt everything, but wanting to win is. Vince Lombardi
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Anon 7 months ago
You missed the most inspirational quote ever! Do or do not; there is no try. Yoda
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Jerry Briar 7 months ago
What a great compilation of inspirational and motivational quotes. Thank you very much for getting me inspired today. I found a great blog post about motivational quotes for work http://www.lifedaily.com/top-10-motivational-quotes-for-work-success/ they got me through a tough day at work! But my favourite quote is definitely your number 37! When I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent left and could say, I used everything you gave me. Erma Bombeck Thanks Jerry
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Mfonobong Nsehe , C ontributor 5 months ago
An amazing compilation!
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Susannah Breslin, C ontributor 5 months ago
This one has always inspired me, strategically: Find your place, and let the world gravitate to you. None of this mix-and-mingle business. Diana Vreeland, the late editor-in-chief of Vogue.
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Judy Martin, C ontributor 4 months ago
Kevin, This is so great! Taking the time to really absorb this.

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Kare Anderson, C ontributor 3 months ago

Congrats Kevin on the self-motivation quote yet let me gently note that the first woman cited is 24, then 37, 49, 71 and note the number of non-whites we are all still learning in this increasingly complex yet connected world where mutuality matters. Am a fan of your book
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Kevin Kruse , C ontributor 3 months ago
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Kare, thanks for your note and I dont disagree. I spend a fair amount of time on diversity issues and obviously finding great quotes from history can be tough when history has been written through the white-male western lens. Can you help me out? Why dont you send me your favorite non-white nonmale quotes and Ill consider updating the list. Thanks!
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Michelle Kafka 3 months ago
One of my favorites: A pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity, an optimist sees opportunity in every difficulty. Winston Churchhill
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