Anxiety and conscience are a powerful pair of dynamos. Between them, they have ensured that I shall work hard, but they cannot ensure that one shall work at anything worthwhile.
—Arnold J. Toynbee (1889–1975) British Historian
We should often have reason to be ashamed of our most brilliant actions if the world could see the motives from which they spring.
—Francois de La Rochefoucauld (1613–80) French Writer
We talk on principal, but act on motivation.
—Walter Savage Landor (1775–1864) English Writer, Poet
The more I want to get something done, the less I call it work.
—Richard Bach (b.1936) American Writer, Aviator
I’ve always felt it was not up to anyone else to make me give my best.
—Hakeem Olajuwon (b.1963) Nigerian-American Athlete
Praise does wonders for the sense of hearing.
—Anonymous
If someone is going down the wrong road, he doesn’t need motivation to speed him up. What he needs is education to turn him around.
—Jim Rohn (1930–2009) American Entrepreneur, Author, Motivational Speaker
If you would lift me up you must be on higher ground.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
One very important aspect of motivation is the willingness to stop and to look at things that no one else has bothered to look at. This simple process of focusing on things that are normally taken for granted is a powerful source of creativity…
—Edward de Bono (1933–2021) Maltese-British Psychologist, Writer
Deals are my art form. Other people paint beautifully on canvas or write wonderful poetry. I like making deals, preferably big deals. That’s how I get my kicks.
—Donald Trump (b.1946) American Businessperson, Head of State
Necessity is the mother of taking chances.
—Mark Twain (1835–1910) American Humorist
We must each find our separate meaning in the persuasion of our days until we meet in the meaning of the world.
—Christopher Fry (1907–2005) English Poet, Playwright
You must rouse into people’s consciousness their own prudence and strength, if you want to raise their character.
—Luc de Clapiers, marquis de Vauvenargues (1715–47) French Moralist, Essayist, Writer
What you are must always displease you, if you would attain to that which you are not.
—Augustine of Hippo (354–430) Roman-African Christian Philosopher
The virtues and vices are all put in motion by interest.
—Francois de La Rochefoucauld (1613–80) French Writer
Don’t spur a willing horse.
—Common Proverb
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
We would frequently be ashamed of our good deeds if people saw all of the motives that produced them.
—Francois de La Rochefoucauld (1613–80) French Writer
The whole idea of motivation is a trap. Forget motivation. Just do it. Exercise, lose weight, test your blood sugar, or whatever. Do it without motivation. And then, guess what? After you start doing the thing, that’s when the motivation comes and makes it easy for you to keep on doing it.
—John C. Maxwell (b.1947) American Author, Speaker, Pastor
It is not the horse that draws the cart, but the oats.
—Russian Proverb
It is the around-the-corner brand of hope that prompts people to action, while the distant hope acts as an opiate.
—Eric Hoffer (1902–83) American Philosopher, Author
There is nothing that fear and hope does not permit men to do.
—Luc de Clapiers, marquis de Vauvenargues (1715–47) French Moralist, Essayist, Writer
Hope is the anchor of the soul the stimulus to action and the incentive to achievement.
—Unknown
Two purposes in human nature rule. Self-love to urge, and reason to restrain.
—Alexander Pope (1688–1744) English Poet
Poverty, frost, famine, rain, disease, are the beadles and guardsmen that hold us to common sense.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
One man with a dream, at pleasure,
Shall go forth and conquer a crown,
And three with a new song’s measure,
Can trample an empire down.
—Arthur O’Shaughnessy (1844–81) British Poet, Herpetologist
We talk on principle, but we act on interest.
—Walter Savage Landor (1775–1864) English Writer, Poet
One of the reasons it has seemed so difficult for a person to change his habits, his personality, or his way of life, has been that heretofore nearly all efforts at change have been directed to the circumference of the self, so to speak, rather than to the center.
—Maxwell Maltz (1899–1975) American Surgeon, Motivational Writer
Hunger, love, vanity, and fear. There are four great motives of human action.
—William Graham Sumner (1840–1910) American Polymath, Historian, Sociologist, Anthropologist
I am not sending messages with my feet. All I ever wanted was not to come up empty. I did it for the dough and the old applause.
—Fred Astaire (1899–1987) American Actor, Dancer, Singer
Leave a Reply