Mountaintops inspire leaders but valleys mature them.
—Winston Churchill (1874–1965) British Leader, Historian, Journalist, Author
People are not lazy. They simply have impotent goals—that is, goals that do not inspire them.
—Tony Robbins (b.1960) American Self-Help Author, Entrepreneur
Clear writers, like clear fountains, do not seem so deep as they are; the turbid seem the most profound.
—Walter Savage Landor (1775–1864) English Writer, Poet
We are motivated by a keen desire for praise, and the better a man is the more he is inspired by glory. The very philosophers themselves, even in those books which they write in contempt of glory, inscribe their names.
—Cicero (106BCE–43BCE) Roman Philosopher, Orator, Politician, Lawyer
There is a deity within us who breathes that divine fire by which we are animated.
—Ovid (Publius Ovidius Naso) (c.43 BCE–c.18 CE) Roman Poet
The two qualities which chiefly inspire regard and affection [Are] that a thing is your own and that it is your only one.
—Aristotle (384BCE–322BCE) Ancient Greek Philosopher, Scholar
It is because modern education is so seldom inspired by a reat hope that it so seldom achieves great results. The wish to preserve the past rather than the hope of creating the future ominates the minds of those who control the teaching of the young.
—Bertrand A. Russell (1872–1970) British Philosopher, Mathematician, Social Critic
Write while the heat is in you. The writer who postpones the recording of his thoughts uses an iron which has cooled to burn a hole with. He cannot inflame the minds of his audience.
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–62) American Philosopher
I learned that a great leader is a man who has the ability to get other people to do what they don’t want to do and like it.
—Harry S. Truman (1884–1972) American Head of State
No man is great enough or wise enough for any of us to surrender our destiny to. The only way in which anyone can lead us is to restore to us the belief in our own guidance.
—Henry Miller (1891–1980) American Novelist
Nobody motivates today’s workers. If it doesn’t come from within, it doesn’t come. Fun helps remove the barriers that allow people to motivate themselves.
—Herman Cain (1945–2020) American Businessman
It is amazingly empowering to have the support of a strong, motivated, and inspirational group of people.
—Susan Jeffers (1938–2012) American Psychologist, Self-Help Author
Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration.
—Thomas Edison (1847–1931) American Inventor, Scientist, Entrepreneur
In this and like communities public sentiment is everything. With public sentiment nothing can fail; without it nothing can succeed; consequently he who moulds public sentiment goes deeper than he who enacts statutes and decisions. He makes statutes and decisions possible or impossible to be executed.
—Abraham Lincoln (1809–65) American Head of State
A pat on the back is only a few vertebrae removed from a kick in the pants, but is miles ahead in results.
—Ella Wheeler Wilcox (1850–1919) American Poet, Journalist
The best way to inspire fresh thoughts is to seal the envelope.
—Indian Proverb
A man is not as big as his belief in himself;
he is as big as the number of persons who believe in him.
—Woodrow Wilson (1856–1924) American Head of State
Books are the best of things if well used; if abused, among the worst. They are good for nothing but to inspire. I had better never see a book than be warped by its attraction clean out of my own orbit, and made a satellite instead of a system.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
When you do not know what you are doing and what you are doing is the best—that is inspiration.
—Robert Bresson (1907–99) French Film Director
Inspiration never arrived when you were searching for it.
—Lisa Alther (b.1944) American Novelist, Short Story Writer
Our moments of inspiration are not lost though we have no particular poem to show for them; for those experiences have left an indelible impression, and we are ever and anon reminded of them.
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–62) American Philosopher
First find the man in yourself if you will inspire manliness in others.
—Amos Bronson Alcott (1799–1888) American Teacher, Writer, Philosopher
The artist is a receptacle for the emotions that come from all over the place: from the sky, from the earth, from a scrap of paper, from a passing shape, from a spider’s web.
—Pablo Picasso (1881–1973) Spanish Painter, Sculptor, Artist
In life you need either inspiration or desperation.
—Tony Robbins (b.1960) American Self-Help Author, Entrepreneur
Whatever a poet writes with enthusiasm and a divine inspiration is very fine. Earliest reference to the madness or divine inspiration of poets.
—Democritus (c.460–c.370 BCE) Ancient Greek Philosopher
The observation of nature is part of an artist’s life, it enlarges his form [and] knowledge, keeps him fresh and from working only by formula, and feeds inspiration.
—Henry Moore (1898–1986) English Sculptor
I didn’t have to think up so much as a comma or a semicolon; it was all given, straight from the celestial recording room. Weary, I would beg for a break, an intermission, time enough, let’s say, to go to the toilet or take a breath of fresh air on the balcony. Nothing doing!
—Henry Miller (1891–1980) American Novelist
Invention flags, his brain goes muddy, and black despair succeeds brown study.
—William Congreve (1670–1729) English Playwright, Poet
The greatest inspiration is often born of desperation.
—Comer Cottrell (1931–2014) American Entrepreneur
If a philosophy is to bring happiness it should be inspired by kindly eelings. Marx pretended that he wanted the happiness of the proletariat; what he really wanted was the unhappiness of the bourgeois.
—Bertrand A. Russell (1872–1970) British Philosopher, Mathematician, Social Critic
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