The great blessings of mankind are within us and within our reach; but we shut our eyes, and, like people in the dark, we fall foul upon the very thing e search for, without finding it.
—Seneca the Younger (Lucius Annaeus Seneca) (c.4 BCE–65 CE) Roman Stoic Philosopher, Statesman, Tragedian
Everyone has his own specific vocation or mission in life; everyone must carry out a concrete assignment that demands fulfillment. Therein he cannot be replaced, nor can his life be repeated, thus, everyone’s task is unique as his specific opportunity to implement it.
—Viktor Frankl (1905–97) Austrian Psychiatrist, Psychotherapist
We ourselves feel that what we are doing is just a drop in the ocean. But if that drop was not in the ocean, I think the ocean would be less because of that missing drop. I do not agree with the big way of doing things.
—Mother Teresa (1910–97) Roman Catholic Missionary, Nun
Whatever I have tried to do in life, I have tried with all my heart to do it well; whatever I have devoted myself to, I have devoted myself completely; in great aims and in small I have always thoroughly been in earnest.
—Charles Dickens (1812–70) English Novelist
The winds and waves are always on the side of the ablest navigators.
—Edward Gibbon (1737–94) English Historian, Politician
Integrate what you believe in every single area of your life. Take your heart to work and ask the most and best of everybody else, too.
—Meryl Streep (b.1949) American Actor
The chief duty I long to accomplish great and noble tasks, but it is my chief duty to accomplish humble tasks as though they were great and noble. The world is moved along, not only by the mighty shoves of its heroes, but also by the aggregate of the tiny pushes of each honest worker.
—Helen Keller (1880–1968) American Author
It is the greatest of all mistakes to do nothing because you can only do a little. Do what you can.
—Sydney Smith (1771–1845) English Clergyman, Essayist, Wit
They do not love that do not show their love. The course of true love never did run smooth. Love is a familiar. Love is a devil. There is no evil angel but Love.
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616) British Playwright
I don’t believe you have to be better than everybody else. I believe you have to be better than you ever thought you could be.
—Ken Venturi (1931–2013) American Golfer, Sportscaster
I have found in life that if you want a miracle you first need to do whatever it is you can do—if that’s to plant, then plant; if it is to read, then read; if it is to change, then change; if it is to study, then study; if it is to work, then work; whatever you have to do. And then you will be well on your way of doing the labor that works miracles.
—Jim Rohn (1930–2009) American Entrepreneur, Author, Motivational Speaker
Duty makes us do things well, but love makes us do them beautifully.
—Zig Ziglar (1926–2012) American Author
It is necessary to try to pass one’s self always; this occupation ought to last as long as life.
—Christina, Queen of Sweden (1626–89) Swedish Monarch
It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, and comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.
—Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919) American Head of State, Political leader, Historian, Explorer
I want, by understanding myself, to understand others. I want to be all that I am capable of becoming.
—Katherine Mansfield (1888–1923) New Zealand-born British Author
Well done is better than well said.
—Benjamin Franklin (1706–90) American Political Leader, Inventor, Diplomat
Sometimes something worth doing is worth overdoing.
—David Letterman (b.1947) American TV Personality, Comedian
You’re not obligated to win. You’re obligated to keep trying to do the best you can every day.
—Marian Wright Edelman (b.1939) American Civil Regrets Advocate, Humanitarian, Lawyer
We must learn to reawaken and keep ourselves awake, not by mechanical aid, but by an infinite expectation of the dawn, which does not forsake us in our soundest sleep. I know of no more encouraging fact than the unquestionable ability of man to elevate his life by a conscious endeavor.
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–62) American Philosopher
We become what we do.
—Soong Mei-ling (1898–2003) First Lady of the Republic of China
Any man’s life will be filled with constant, unexpected encouragements of this kind if he makes up his mind to do his level best each day of his life — that is, tries to make each day reach as nearly as possible the high-water mark of pure, unselfish, useful living.
—Booker T. Washington (1856–1915) African-American Educationist
It is not only for what we do that we are held responsible, but also for what we do not do.
—Moliere (1622–73) French Playwright
One does not always do the best there is. One does the best one can.
—Catherine II of Russia (1729–96) Russian Empress
Don’t measure yourself by what you have accomplished, but by what you should have accomplished with your ability.
—John Wooden (1910–2010) American Sportsperson
Act as though what you do makes a difference. It does.
—William James (1842–1910) American Philosopher, Psychologist, Physician
There’s a difference between interest and commitment. When you’re interested in doing something, you do it only when circumstance permit. When you’re committed to something, you accept no excuses, only results.
—Unknown
Still this planet’s soil for noble deeds grants scope abounding.
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) German Poet
It is not enough to do your best; you must know what to do, and then do your best.
—W. Edwards Deming (1900–93) American Engineer, Statistician
It is not what we get. But who we become, what we contribute… that gives meaning to our lives.
—Tony Robbins (b.1960) American Self-Help Author, Entrepreneur
Don’t lower your expectations to meet your performance. Raise your level of performance to meet your expectations. Expect the best of yourself, and then do what is necessary to make it a reality.
—Ralph Marston
It’s my job to be better than the rest, and that’s enough reason to go for me. It’s my job to be better than the rest, and that makes the day for me.
—Jimmy Buffett (b.1946) American Musician, Author
It may seem to your conceited to suppose that you can do anything important toward improving the lot of mankind. But this is a fallacy. You must believe that you can help bring about a better world. A good society is produced only by good individuals, just as truly as a majority in a presidential election is produced by the votes of single electors. Everybody can do something toward creating in his own environment kindly feelings rather than anger, reasonableness rather than hysteria, happiness rather than misery.
—Bertrand A. Russell (1872–1970) British Philosopher, Mathematician, Social Critic
Do the best you can in every task, no matter how unimportant it may seem at the time. No one learns more about a problem than the person at the bottom.
—Sandra Day O’Connor (b.1930) American Jurist
Everyone knows on any given day that there are energies slumbering in him which the incitements of that day do not call fourth. … Compared with what we ought to be, we are only half awake. Our fires are damped, our drafts are checked. We are making use of only a small part of our possible mental and physical resources. … Stating the thing broadly, the human individual thus lives fare within his limits he possesses powers of various sorts he habitually fails to use.
—William James (1842–1910) American Philosopher, Psychologist, Physician
the spring, the summer,
The chilling autumn, angry winter, change
Their wonted liveries; and the mazed world
By their increase, now knows not which is which.
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616) British Playwright
If you believe in what you are doing, then let nothing hold you up in your work. Much of the best work of the world has been done against seeming impossibilities. The thing is to get the work done.
—Dale Carnegie (1888–1955) American Self-Help Author
There is nothing of which every man is so afraid, as getting to know how enormously much he is capable of doing and becoming.
—Soren Kierkegaard (1813–55) Danish Philosopher, Theologian
Everyone has inside of him a piece of good news. The good news is that you don’t know how great you can be! How much you can love! What you can accomplish! And what your potential is!
—Anne Frank (1929–45) Holocaust Victim
People are always blaming their circumstances for what they are. Never esteem anything as of advantage to you that will make you break your word or lose your self-respect.
—Marcus Aurelius (121–180) Emperor of Rome, Stoic Philosopher
We must all wage an intense, lifelong battle against the constant downward pull. If we relax, the bugs and weeds of negativity will move into the garden and take away everything of value.
—Jim Rohn (1930–2009) American Entrepreneur, Author, Motivational Speaker
A lofty idea must be had, not of what one is doing, but of what one may someday do. Otherwise there is no point in working on.
—Edgar Degas (1834–1917) French Painter, Sculpture, Printer maker, Artist
Our grand business undoubtedly is, not to see what lies dimly at a distance, but to do what lies clearly at hand.
—Thomas Carlyle (1795–1881) Scottish Historian, Essayist
A man can do only what he can do. But if he does that each day he can sleep at night and do it again the next day.
—Albert Schweitzer (1875–1965) French Theologian, Musician, Philosopher, Physician
If I believe I cannot do something, it makes me incapable of doing it, when I believe I can, then I acquire the ability to do it, even if I did not have the ability in the beginning.
—Mohandas K. Gandhi (1869–1948) Indian Hindu Political leader
This is the beginning of a new day God has given me this day to use as I will I can waste it or use it for good but what I do today is important because I am exchanging a day of my life for it! When tomorrow comes, this day will be gone forever, leaving in its place something that I have traded for it. I want it to be gain, and not loss; good, and not evil; success, and not failure; in order that I shall not regret the price I have paid for it.
—Unknown
Do your best every day and your life will gradually expand into satisfying fullness.
—Horatio Dresser (1866–1945) American New Thought Religious Leader
Our chief want in life is somebody who will make us do what we can.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
Oh, my friend, it’s not what they take away from you that counts—it’s what you do with what you have left.
—Hubert Humphrey (1911–78) American Head of State, Politician
I am only one; but still I am one. I cannot do everything; but still I can do something; and because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do the something that I can do.
—Edward Everett Hale (1822–1909) American Unitarian Clergyman, Writer
Be such a man, and live such a life, that if every man were such as you, and every life a life like yours, this earth would be God’s Paradise.
—Phillips Brooks (1835–93) American Episcopal Clergyman, Author