It helps a lot looking at life from the perspective of one’s certain death. Try to visualize yourself at the hour of death. Just a couple of minutes each day. It’s basic Buddhist beginners practice.
—Hans Taeger
Be plain in dress, and sober in your diet; In short, my dear, kiss me and be quiet.
—Lady Mary Wortley Montagu (1689–1762) English Aristocrat, Poet, Novelist, Writer
Much rain wears the marble.
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616) British Playwright
Inches make champions.
—Vince Lombardi (1913–70) American Football Coach
If you only keep adding little by little, it will soon become a big heap.
—Hesiod (f.700 BCE) Greek Poet
Many strokes overthrow the tallest oaks.
—John Lyly (1554–1606) English Dramatist, Novelist, Writer
In the blood of the martyrs to intolerance are the seeds of unbelief.
—Walter Lippmann (1889–1974) American Journalist, Political Commentator, Writer
If we take care of the inches we will not have to worry about the miles.
—Hartley Coleridge (1796–1849) English Writer, Poet
He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much; and he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much.
—The Holy Bible Scripture in the Christian Faith
Nothing can be done except little by little.
—Charles Baudelaire (1821–67) French Poet, Art Critic, Essayist, Translator
Let us then be up and doing,
With a heart for any fate,
Still achieving, still pursuing,
Learn to labor and to wait.
—Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807–82) American Poet, Educator, Academic
In life’s small things be resolute and great
To keep thy muscle trained; know’st thou when Fate
Thy measure takes, or when she’ll say to thee,
“I find thee worthy; do this deed for me?”
—James Russell Lowell (1819–91) American Poet, Critic
From a little spark may burst a mighty flame.
—Dante Alighieri (1265–1321) Italian Poet, Philosopher
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
If, after all, men cannot always make history have a meaning, they can always act so that their own lives have one.
—Albert Camus (1913–60) Algerian-born French Philosopher, Dramatist, Essayist, Novelist, Author
The waters wear the stones.
—The Holy Bible Scripture in the Christian Faith
It has long been an axiom of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important.
—Arthur Conan Doyle (1859–1930) Scottish Writer
A little neglect may breed great mischief. For want of a nail, the shoe was lost; for want of a shoe, the horse was lost; and for want of a horse, the rider was lost; being overtaken, and slain by the enemy. All for want of care about a horse-shoe nail.
—Benjamin Franklin (1706–90) American Political Leader, Inventor, Diplomat
For most of life, nothing wonderful happens. If you don’t enjoy getting up and working and finishing your work and sitting down to a meal with family or friends, then the chances are you’re not going to be very happy. If someone bases his happiness or unhappiness on major events like a great new job, huge amounts of money, a flawlessly happy marriage or a trip to Paris, that person isn’t going to be happy much of the time. If, on the other hand, happiness depends on a good breakfast, flowers in the yard, a drink or a nap, then we are more likely to live with quite a bit of happiness.
—Andy Rooney (b.1919) American Writer, Humorist, TV Personality
Little drops of water, little grains of sand,
Make the mighty ocean, and the pleasant land:
So the little minutes, humble though they be,
Make the mighty ages of eternity.
Little deeds of kindness, little words of love,
Help to make earth happy, like Heaven above.
—Julia Abigail Fletcher Carney (1823–1908) American Educator, Poet
How far that little candle throws his beams! So shines a good deed in a naughty world.
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616) British Playwright
Enjoy the little things, for one day you may look back and realize they were the big things.
—Robert Brault
God requires a faithful fulfillment of the merest trifle given us to do, rather than the most ardent aspiration to things to which we are not called.
—Francis de Sales (1567–1622) French Catholic Saint
We must not, in trying to think about how we can make a big difference, ignore the small daily differences we can make which, over time, add up to big differences that we often cannot foresee.
—Marian Wright Edelman (b.1939) American Civil Regrets Advocate, Humanitarian, Lawyer
Nobody makes a greater mistake than he who does nothing because he could only do a little.
—Edmund Burke (1729–97) British Philosopher, Statesman
Well-being is attained by little and little, and nevertheless is no little thing itself.
—Zeno of Citium (c.334–c.265 BCE) Greek Philosopher
Human felicity is produced not as much by great pieces of good fortune that seldom happen as by little advantages that occur every day.
—Benjamin Franklin (1706–90) American Political Leader, Inventor, Diplomat
The law of the harvest is to reap more than you sow. Sow an act, and you reap a habit; sow a habit, and you reap a character; sow a character, and you reap a destiny.
—George Boardman the Younger (1801–31) American Baptist Minister
Even a small star shines in the darkness.
—Finnish Proverb
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
Practice yourself, for heaven’s sake in little things, and then proceed to greater.
—Epictetus (55–135) Ancient Greek Philosopher
Put your heart, mind, intellect, and soul even to your smallest acts. This is the secret of success.
—Sivananda Saraswati (1887–1963) Indian Hindu Spiritual Teacher
I learned…that inspiration does not come like a bolt, nor is it kinetic, energetic striving, but it comes into us slowly and quietly and all the time, though we must regularly and every day give it a little chance to start flowing, prime it with a little solitude and idleness.
—Brenda Ueland (1891–1985) American Journalist, Editor, Writer, Teacher
Life is a great bundle of little things.
—Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. (1809–94) American Physician, Essayist
When you have a great and difficult task, something perhaps almost impossible, if you only work a little at a time, every day a little, suddenly the work will finish itself.
—Karen Blixen (Isak Dinesen) (1885–1962) Danish Novelist, Short-story Writer