No person has the right to rain on your dreams.
—Marian Wright Edelman (b.1939) American Civil Regrets Advocate, Humanitarian, Lawyer
Go confidently in the direction of your dreams! Live the life you’ve imagined! As you simplify your life, the laws of the Universe will be simpler, solitude will not be solitude, poverty will not be poverty, nor weakness weakness.
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–62) American Philosopher
The permanent temptation of life is to confuse dreams with reality. The permanent defeat of life comes when dreams are surrendered to reality.
—James A. Michener (1907–97) American Novelist, Short Story Writer, Historian
I want to keep my dreams, even bad ones, because without them, I might have nothing all night long.
—Joseph Heller (1923–99) American Novelist
Let us dream of tomorrow where we can truly love from the soul, and know love as the ultimate truth at the heart of all creation.
—Michael Jackson (1958–2009) American Singer-Songwriter
Commit yourself to a dream … Nobody who tries to do something great but fails is a total failure. Why? Because he can always rest assured that he succeeded in life’s most important battle — he defeated the fear of trying.
—Robert H. Schuller (1926–2015) American Christian Televangelist, Author
A daydream is a meal at which images are eaten. Some of us are gourmets, some gourmands, and a good many take their images precooked out of a can and swallow them down whole, absent-mindedly and with little relish.
—W. H. Auden (1907–73) British-born American Poet, Dramatist
Far away there in the sunshine are my highest aspirations. I may not reach them, but I can look up and see their beauty, believe in them, and try to follow where they lead.
—Louisa May Alcott (1832–88) American Novelist
You can have it all. You just can’t have it all at once.
—Oprah Winfrey (b.1954) American TV Personality
It is never too late to be what you might have been.
—George Eliot (Mary Anne Evans) (1819–80) English Novelist
Thoughts are but dreams till their effects be tried.
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616) British Playwright
Talking about dreams is like talking about movies, since the cinema uses the language of dreams; years can pass in a second and you can hop from one place to another. It’s a language made of image. And in the real cinema, every object and every light means something, as in a dream.
—Federico Fellini (1920–93) Italian Filmmaker
For dhrames always go by conthraries, my dear.
—Samuel Lover (1797–1868) Anglo-Irish Writer, Artist, Songwriter
Our heart oft times wakes when we sleep, and God can speak to that, either by words, by proverbs, by signs and similitudes, as well as if one was awake.
—John Bunyan (1628–88) English Puritan Writer, Preacher
You cannot dream yourself into a character; you must hammer and forge yourself one.
—James Anthony Froude (1818–94) British Historian, Novelist, Biographer, Editor
If you want your dreams to come true, don’t sleep.
—Yiddish Proverb
You can dream, create, design and build the most wonderful place in the world, but it requires people to make the dream a reality.
—Walt Disney (1901–66) American Entrepreneur
Hopes are but the dreams of those that wake.
—Matthew Prior (1664–1721) English Poet, Diplomat
Don’t be pushed by your problems. Be led by your dreams.
—Anonymous
Each man should frame life so that at some future hour fact and his dreaming meet.
—Victor Hugo (1802–85) French Novelist
I stand for freedom of expression, doing what you believe in, and going after your dreams.
—Madonna (b.1958) American Pop Singer, Actress
They who dream by day are cognizant of many things which escape those who dream only by night.
—Edgar Allan Poe (1809–49) American Poet
Let us think of education as the means of developing our greatest abilities, because in each of us there is a private hope and dream which, fulfilled, can be translated into benefit for everyone and greater strength for our nation.
—John F. Kennedy (1917–63) American Head of State, Journalist
Reverie is not a mind vacuum. It is rather the gift of an hour which knows the plenitude of the soul.
—Gaston Bachelard (1884–1962) French Philosopher, Psychoanalyst, Poet
To accomplish great things we must first dream, then visualize, then plan… believe… act!
—Alfred A. Montapert (1906–97) American Engineer, Philosopher
If a little dreaming is dangerous, the cure for it is not to dream less but to dream more, to dream all the time.
—Marcel Proust (1871–1922) French Novelist
Channels are blocked in the mind, from the day. Lie down in blackness of night, forgotten remnants rush to the mind, or creeping slowly appear in the dreams.
—Nathaniel LeTonnerre
I’ve dreamt in my life dreams that have stayed with me ever after, and changed my ideas; they’ve gone through and through me, like wine through water, and altered the color of my mind.
—Emily Bronte (1818–48) English Novelist, Poet
The best reason for having dreams is that in dreams no reasons are necessary.
—Ashleigh Brilliant (b.1933) British Cartoonist, Author
Most people never run far enough on their first wind to find out they’ve got a second. Give your dreams all you’ve got and you’ll be amazed at the energy that comes out of you.
—William James (1842–1910) American Philosopher, Psychologist, Physician
The mind is the limit. As long as the mind can envision the fact that you can do something, you can do it — as long as you really believe 100 percent.
—Arnold Schwarzenegger (b.1947) Austrian-American Athlete, Actor, Politician
Life moves on, whether we act as cowards or heroes. Life has no other discipline to impose, if we would but realize it, than to accept life unquestioningly. Everything we shut our eyes to, everything we run away from, everything we deny, denigrate or despise, serves to defeat us in the end. What seems nasty, painful, evil, can become a source of beauty, joy, and strength, if faced with an open mind. Every moment is a golden one for him who has the vision to recognize it as such.
—Henry Miller (1891–1980) American Novelist
The problems of the world cannot possibly be solved by skeptics or cynics whose horizons are limited by the obvious realities. We need men who can dream of things that never were and ask why not?”.”
—John F. Kennedy (1917–63) American Head of State, Journalist
Be practical as well as generous in your ideals. Keep your eyes on the stars and keep your feet on the ground.
—Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919) American Head of State, Political leader, Historian, Explorer
Our dreams are a second life. I have never been able to penetrate without a shudder those ivory or horned gates which separate us from the invisible world.
—Gerard de Nerval (1808–55) French Poet, Essayist, Critic
I was raised to believe that excellence is the best deterrent to racism or sexism. And that’s how I operate my life.
—Oprah Winfrey (b.1954) American TV Personality
Every man takes the limits of his own field of vision for the limits of the world.
—Arthur Schopenhauer (1788–1860) German Philosopher
If one feels the need of something grand, something infinite, something that makes one feel aware of God, one need not go far to find it. I think that I see something deeper, more infinite, more eternal than the ocean in the expression of the eyes of a little baby when it wakes in the morning and coos or laughs because it sees the sun shining on its cradle.
—Vincent van Gogh (1853–90) Dutch Painter
Dreams are real as long as they last. Can we say more of life?
—Havelock Ellis (1859–1939) British Sexologist, Physician, Social Reformer
You have to think anyway, so why not think big?
—Donald Trump (b.1946) American Businessperson, Head of State
If you want to build a ship, don’t herd people together to collect wood and don’t assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea.
—Antoine de Saint-Exupery (1900–44) French Novelist, Aviator
Dream big dreams! Imagine that you have no limitations and then decide what’s right before you decide what’s possible.
—Brian Tracy (b.1944) American Author, Motivational Speaker
Dreams do come true, if we only wish hard enough, You can have anything in life if you will sacrifice everything else for it.
—J. M. Barrie (1860–1937) Scottish Novelist, Dramatist
Sleep hath its own world, and a wide realm of wild reality. And dreams in their development have breath, and tears, and tortures, and the touch of joy.
—Lord Byron (George Gordon Byron) (1788–1824) English Romantic Poet
I know for sure that what we dwell on is who we become…Become the change you want to see – those are words I live by.
—Oprah Winfrey (b.1954) American TV Personality
The very substance of the ambitious is merely the shadow of a dream.
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616) British Playwright
My dreams were all my own; I accounted for them to nobody; they were my refuge when annoyed—my dearest pleasure when free.
—Mary Shelley (1797–1851) English Novelist
Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world.
—Harriet Tubman (c.1820–1913) American Abolitionist, Social Reformer
If you dream the proper dreams, and share the myths with people, they will want to grow up to be like you.
—Ray Bradbury (b.1920) American Novelist, Short Story Writer
Nothing is as real as a dream.
The world can change around you,
but your dream will not.
Responsibilities need not erase it.
Duties need not obscure it.
Because the dream is within you,
no one can take it away.
—Tom Clancy (1947–2013) American Spy Novelist
My theory has always been, that if we are to dream, the flatteries of hope are as cheap, and pleasanter, than the gloom of despair.
—Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826) American Head of State, Lawyer
Dreams
Hold fast to dreams
For if dreams die
Life is a broken-winged bird
That cannot fly.
Hold fast to dreams
For when dreams go
Life is a barren field
Frozen with snow.
—Langston Hughes (1902–67) American Poet, Fiction Writer, Dramatist
America has been a land of dreams. A land where the aspirations of people from countries cluttered with rich, cumbersome, aristocratic, ideological pasts can reach for what once seemed unattainable. Here they have tried to make dreams come true. Yet now… we are threatened by a new and particularly American menace. It is not the menace of class war, of ideology, of poverty, of disease, of illiteracy, or demagoguery, or of tyranny, though these now plague most of the world. It is the menace of unreality.
—Daniel J. Boorstin (1914–2004) American Historian, Academic, Attorney, Writer
I have always been amazed at the way an ordinary observer lends so much more credence and attaches so much more importance to waking events than to those occurring in dreams…. Man… is above all the plaything of his memory.
—Andre Breton (1896–1966) French Poet, Essayist, Critic
He dreamed he was eating shredded wheat and woke up to find the mattress half gone.
—Fred Allen (1894–1956) American Humorist, Radio Personality
Some people see things that are and ask, Why? Some people dream of things that never were and ask, Why not? Some people have to go to work and don’t have time for all that …
—George Carlin (1937–2008) American Stand-up Comedian
A dream doesn’t become reality through magic; it takes sweat, determination and hard work.
—Colin Powell (b.1937) American Military Leader
There is no straight line to a dream.
—Jack Welch (1935–2020) American Businessperson
I am accustomed to sleep, and in my dreams to imagine the same things that lunatics imagine when awake.
—Rene Descartes (1596–1650) French Mathematician, Philosopher
Big thinking precedes great achievement.
—Wilferd Arlan Peterson (1900–95) American Author
There couldn’t be a society of people who didn’t dream. They’d be dead in two weeks.
—William S. Burroughs (1914–97) American Novelist, Poet, Short Story Writer, Painter
One can write, think and pray exclusively of others; dreams are all egocentric.
—Evelyn Waugh (1903–66) British Novelist, Essayist, Biographer
I cannot sleep for dreaming; I cannot dream but I wake and walk about the house as though I’d find you coming through some door.
—Arthur Miller (1915–2005) American Playwright, Essayist
All of us failed to match our dreams of perfection. So I rate us on the basis of our splendid failure to do the impossible.
—William Faulkner (1897–1962) American Novelist
Dreams are renewable. No matter what our age or condition, there are still untapped possibilities within us and new beauty waiting to be born.
—Dale Turner (1917–2006) American Priest, Columnist, Epigrammist
I always have to dream up there against the stars. If I don’t dream I will make it, I won’t even get close.
—Henry J. Kaiser (1882–1967) American Industrialist
I make beanstalks; I’m a builder, like yourself.
—Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892–1950) American Poet, Playwright, Feminist
All successful people men and women are big dreamers. They imagine what their future could be, ideal in every respect, and then they work every day toward their distant vision, that goal or purpose.
—Brian Tracy (b.1944) American Author, Motivational Speaker
Castles in the air – -they are so easy to take refuge in. And so easy to build as well.
—Henrik Ibsen (1828–1906) Norwegian Playwright
The end of wisdom is to dream high enough not to lose the dream in the seeking of it.
—William Faulkner (1897–1962) American Novelist
A dream is a microscope through which we look at the hidden occurrences in our soul.
—Erich Fromm (1900–80) German-American Psychoanalyst, Social Philosopher
You gotta have a dream. If you don’t have a dream, how you gonna make a dream come true?
—Oscar Hammerstein II (1895–1960) American Songwriter, Composer, Theater Producer, Writer
At a time when opportunism is everything, when hope seems lost, when everything boils down to a cynical business deal, we must find the courage to dream. To reclaim romance. The romance of believing in justice, in freedom, and in dignity. For everybody.
—Arundhati Roy (b.1961) Indian Author, Actress, Activist
If I had influence with the good fairy who is supposed to preside over the christening of all children, I should ask that her gift to each child in the world be a sense of wonder so indestructible that it would last throughout life, as an unfailing antidote against boredom and disenchantments of later years, the sterile preoccupation with things that are artificial, the alienation from our sources of strength.
—Rachel Carson (1907–64) American Naturalist, Science Writer
All men dream: but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake in the day to find that it was vanity: but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act their dreams with open eyes, to make it possible.
—T. E. Lawrence (1888–1935) British Soldier, Scholar, Writer
We all have the ability…we just don’t all have the courage to follow our dreams and to follow the signs.
—Paulo Coelho (b.1947) Brazilian Songwriter, Novelist
He who cherishes a beautiful vision, a lofty ideal in his heart, will one day realize it. Dream lofty dreams, and as you dream, so shall you become. Your Vision is the promise of what you shall one day be; your Ideal is the prophecy of what you shall at last unveil.
—James Allen (1864–1912) British Philosophical Writer
I don’t want an epitaph on my gravestone that says, ‘He would have pursued some big dreams in his life, but other people wouldn’t let him.
—Tom Peters (b.1942) American Management Consultant, Author
Dreams are extremely important. You can’t do it unless you imagine it.
—George Lucas (b.1944) American Director, Producer, Screenwriter
We could say that meditation doesn’t have a reason or doesn’t have a purpose. In this respect it’s unlike almost all other things we do except perhaps making music and dancing. When we make music we don’t do it in order to reach a certain point, such as the end of the composition. If that were the purpose of music then obviously the fastest players would be the best. Also, when we are dancing we are not aiming to arrive at a particular place on the floor as in a journey. When we dance, the journey itself is the point, as when we lay music the playing itself is the point. And exactly the same thing is true in meditation. Meditation is the discovery that the point of life is always arrived at in the immediate moment.
—Alan Watts (1915–73) British-American Philosopher, Author
No one has ever achieved anything from the smallest to the greatest unless the dream was dreamed first.
—Laura Ingalls Wilder (1867–1957) American Children’s Novelist
A dream is your creative vision for your life in the future. A goal is what specifically you intend to make happen. Dreams and goals should be just out of your present reach but not out of sight. Dreams and goals are coming attractions in your life.
—Joseph Campbell (1904–87) American Mythologist, Writer, Lecturer
We grow great by dreams. All big men are dreamers. They see things in the soft haze of a spring day or in the red fire of a long winter’s evening. Some of us let these dreams die, but others nourish and protect them; nurse them through bad days till they bring them to the sunshine and light which comes always to those who hope that their dreams will come true.
—Woodrow Wilson (1856–1924) American Head of State
All human beings are also dream beings. Dreaming ties all mankind together.
—Jack Kerouac (1922–1969) American Novelist, Poet
Look, there are no shortcuts in golf, and there are no shortcuts in life. You have to work for it. Dream big and keep your dreams for yourself. Because the dreams that you have are those things that separate you from others. If you give up your dream, you give up hope. And without hope, you are nothing.
—Tiger Woods (b.1975) American Sportsperson
There are many ways of breaking a heart. Stories were full of hearts being broken by love, but what really broke a heart was taking away its dream—whatever that dream might be.
—Pearl S. Buck (1892–1973) American Novelist, Human Rights Activist
I don’t dream at night, I dream all day; I dream for a living.
—Steven Spielberg (b.1946) American Film Director, Screenwriter, Film Producer, Businessperson
No one should negotiate their dreams. Dreams must be free to flee and fly high. No government, no legislature, has a right to limit your dreams. You should never agree to surrender your dreams.
—Jesse Jackson (b.1941) American Baptist Civil Rights Activist, Minister
It may be that those who do most, dream most.
—Stephen Leacock (1869–1944) Canadian Political Scientist, Humorist
Without a dream you’ll not get anywhere.
—Kofi Annan (1938–2018) Ghanaian Statesman, International Diplomat
…In dream consciousness…we make things happen by wishing them, because we are not only the observer of what we experience but also the creator. In our creativity we prolong the magic action of the Creator of All in the overflow of His imagination, which is all that reality is, or ever will be.
—Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan (1916–2004) British Sufi Mystic, Religious Leader, Psychologist
You are never given a wish without also being given the power to make it come true. You may have to work for it, however.
—Richard Bach (b.1936) American Novelist, Aviator
Before you agree to do anything that might add even the smallest amount of stress to your life, ask yourself: “What is my truest intention?” Give yourself time to let a yes resound within you. When it’s right, I guarantee that your entire body will feel it.
—Oprah Winfrey (b.1954) American TV Personality
The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.
—Eleanor Roosevelt (1884–1962) American First Lady, Diplomat, Humanitarian
I believe that dreams transport us through the underside of our days, and that if we wish to become acquainted with the dark side of what we are, the signposts are there, waiting for us to translate them.
—Gail Godwin (b.1937) American Novelist, Short Story Writer
Living in dreams of yesterday, we find ourselves still dreaming of impossible future conquests.
—Charles Lindbergh (1902–74) American Aviator, Inventor, Conservationist
Some men see things as they are and say, “Why?” I dream things that never were, and say, “Why not?”
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950) Irish Playwright
A dream that is not interpreted is like a letter that has not been opened.
—The Talmud Sacred Text of the Jewish Faith
Hope is the pillar that holds up the world. Hope is the dream of a waking man.
—Pliny the Elder (23–79) Roman Statesman, Scholar
The whole life is a succession of dreams. My ambition is to be a conscious dreamer, that is all.
—Swami Vivekananda (1863–1902) Indian Hindu Monk, Mystic
If you have a dream, give it a chance to happen.
—Richard DeVos (1926–2018) American Businessman, Philanthropist
A dream you dream alone is only a dream. A dream you dream together is reality.
—John Lennon (1940–80) British Singer, Songwriter, Musician, Activist
Dream as if you’ll live forever. Live as if you’ll die tomorrow.
—James Dean (1931–55) American Film Actor
Only in dreams does the happiness of the earth dwell.
—Friedrich Ruckert (1788–1866) German Poet, Translator
The smaller the head, the bigger the dream.
—Austin O’Malley (1858–1932) American Aphorist, Ophthalmologist
Dreams say what they mean, but they don’t say it in daytime language.
—Gail Godwin (b.1937) American Novelist, Short Story Writer
A dream is a scripture, and many scriptures are nothing but dreams.
—Umberto Eco (1932–2016) Italian Novelist
Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment.
—Buddhist Teaching
Dream is not a revelation. If a dream affords the dreamer some light on himself, it is not the person with closed eyes who makes the discovery but the person with open eyes lucid enough to fit thoughts together. Dream—a scintillating mirage surrounded by shadows—is essentially poetry.
—Michel Leiris (1901–90) French Anthropologist, Writer, Poet
I dreamed a thousand new paths… I woke and walked my old one.
—Chinese Proverb
Hold on to your dreams for they are, in a sense, the stuff of which reality is made. It is through our dreams that we maintain the possibility of a better, more meaningful life.
—Leo Buscaglia (1924–98) American Motivational Speaker
The biggest adventure you can ever take is to live the life of your dreams.
—Oprah Winfrey (b.1954) American TV Personality
Dreams have as much influence as actions
—Stephane Mallarme (1842–98) French Symbolist Poet
The indispensable first step to getting the things you want out of life is this: decide what you want.
—Ben Stein (b.1944) American Lawyer, Writer, Economist, Humorist
Dreams are great. When they disappear you may still be there, but you will have ceased to live.
—Nancy Astor, Viscountess Astor (1879–1964) American-born British Politician
Salvation of the Dawn
Look to this day,
For it is life,
The very life of life.
In its brief course lie all the truths
And realities of your existence;
The bliss of growth
The glory of action, and
The splendor of beauty;
For yesterday is but a dream
And tomorrow is only a vision,
But today well lived makes
Every yesterday a dream of happiness
And every tomorrow a vision of hope.
Look well, therefore, to this day.
Such is the salvation of the dawn.
—The Bhagavad Gita Hindu Scripture
For hope is but the dream of those that wake.
—Matthew Prior (1664–1721) English Poet, Diplomat
If you can dream it, you can do it. Always remember this whole thing was started by a mouse.
—Walt Disney (1901–66) American Entrepreneur
I do not understand the capricious lewdness of the sleeping mind.
—John Cheever (1912–82) American Novelist, Short-story Writer
If you are a dreamer come in
If you are a dreamer a wisher a liar
A hoper a pray-er a magic-bean-buyer
If youre a pretender com sit by my fire
For we have some flax golden tales to spin
Come in!
Come in!
—Shel Silverstein (1930–99) American Children’s Books Writer, Poet, Short story Author, Playwright, Author, Songwriter
Take up one idea. Make that one idea your life—think of it, dream of it, live on that idea. Let the brain, muscles, nerves, every part of your body, be full of that idea, and just leave every other idea alone. This is the way to success, that is way great spiritual giants are produced.
—Swami Vivekananda (1863–1902) Indian Hindu Monk, Mystic