# Favorite motivational quotes **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 11, 2003, 7:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-motivational-quotes/200937 "2003-09-11T07:19:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![The\_Controvert](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dec6dc/32.png) [@The\_Controvert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Controvert)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2003, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-motivational-quotes/200937/21 "2003-09-12T15:06:23Z")
If you’re not part of the solution, you’re part of the precipate. ---
**Author:** ![CrankyAsAnOldMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crankyasanoldman/32/11670_2.png) [@CrankyAsAnOldMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CrankyAsAnOldMan)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2003, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-motivational-quotes/200937/22 "2003-09-12T15:24:55Z")
“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed people can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” – Margaret Mead You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, ‘I have lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along.’ You must do the thing you think you cannot do. –Eleanor Roosevelt “Stop worrying about what you ‘should’ do and go find what makes you happy” Paula Wallace (the dean of my undergrad college) ---
**Author:** ![lolagranola](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ea5d25/32.png) [@lolagranola](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lolagranola)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2003, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-motivational-quotes/200937/23 "2003-09-12T17:34:43Z")
There is always something to do. There are hungry people to feed, naked people to clothe, sick people to comfort and make well. And while I don’t expect you to save the world I do think it’s not asking too much for you to love those with whom you sleep, share the happiness of those whom you call friend, engage those among you who are visionary and remove from your live those who offer you depression, despair and disrespect. -Nikki Giovanni ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2003, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-motivational-quotes/200937/24 "2003-09-12T17:51:23Z")
Accidents happen - that’s why there’s a word for it. Khadaji ---
**Author:** ![Balance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@Balance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balance)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2003, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-motivational-quotes/200937/25 "2003-09-12T18:10:36Z")
“Enjoy yourself. If you cannot enjoy yourself, enjoy someone else.” --Don Juan & Miguel I think the sheer confidence in this one makes up for any lack of flowery language: “We can do this.” --Gesten (and the other _hertasi_), in _The Black Gryphon_ ---
**Author:** ![DeVena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/dec6dc/32.png) [@DeVena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DeVena)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2003, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-motivational-quotes/200937/26 "2003-09-12T18:19:43Z")
It is better to be a lion for a day than a sheep all your life. - Elizabeth Kenny And don’t forget dear old Auntie Mame: “Life’s a banquet and most poor suckers are starving to death!” ---
**Author:** ![skeptic\_ev](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@skeptic\_ev](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/skeptic_ev)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2003, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-motivational-quotes/200937/27 "2003-09-12T19:05:27Z")
What lies behind us and what lies before for us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us. --Ralph Waldo Emerson Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgment that something else is more important than fear. --Ambrose Redmoon Nolites te bastardes carborundorum.\* --Margaret Atwood in _The Handmaid’s Tale_ \*Don’t let the bastards grind you down. (Pseudo Latin) ---
**Author:** ![Chicago\_Faucet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chicago_faucet/32/13910_2.png) [@Chicago\_Faucet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chicago_Faucet)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2003, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-motivational-quotes/200937/28 "2003-09-12T20:16:48Z")
“This. Too. Shall. Pass.” I reserve this for the worst of my bad days. The days of black eyes and bloody fists. It is best said slowly with emphasis on the pauses. “We spend our youth attaining money, and our money attaining youth.” “You must learn to smile.” This is a quote that I swiped from The Magus, which is a book that has always been in my top ten. “The only way to find a needle in a haystack is to jump right in.” “Bring it on.” I was saying this before George Bush stole it. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2003, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-motivational-quotes/200937/29 "2003-09-12T21:01:48Z")
These come from my dad: “You better (stop doing whatever is pissing him off) or your ass will be sucking swamp water!” “You better (start doing whatever he told you to) or I’ll kick your ass till your nose bleeds!” “Work smart, not hard.” This one is from my favorite cartoon: “Being drunk is the best feeling in my poor world.” * * * She told me she loved me like a brother. She was from Arkansas, hence the Joy! ---
**Author:** ![mascaroni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/dc4da7/32.png) [@mascaroni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mascaroni)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2003, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-motivational-quotes/200937/30 "2003-09-12T21:54:29Z")
If at first you don’t succeed, give up. - Homer Simpson ---
**Author:** ![Cormac36](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/958977/32.png) [@Cormac36](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cormac36)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2003, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-motivational-quotes/200937/31 "2003-09-13T03:12:18Z")
I know this is a cludging together of different quotes, but I heard it from a very wise man many years ago, and it has always worked for me: The truth shall set you free, but first it will make you mad. Knowledge will make you strong, but first it will make you afraid. Over time the anger and the fear, fade But the freedom and strength remain. ---
**Author:** ![Cormac36](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/958977/32.png) [@Cormac36](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cormac36)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2003, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-motivational-quotes/200937/32 "2003-09-13T03:18:13Z")
I know this is a cludging together of different quotes, but I heard it from a very wise man many years ago, and it has always worked for me: The truth shall set you free, but first it will make you mad. Knowledge will make you strong, but first it will make you afraid. Over time the anger and the fear, fade But the freedom and strength remain. ---
**Author:** ![Buck\_The\_Diver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac8455/32.png) [@Buck\_The\_Diver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buck_The_Diver)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2003, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-motivational-quotes/200937/33 "2003-09-13T04:55:10Z")
“Most men lead lives of quiet desperation.”-Thoreau This quote has always kept me in unusual jobs and will probably lead me to a unique demise. “Courage is being scared to death and saddling up anyway.”-John Wayne This one has gotten me through some tough times. ---
**Author:** ![Odinoneeye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/97f17d/32.png) [@Odinoneeye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odinoneeye)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2003, 6:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-motivational-quotes/200937/34 "2003-09-13T06:09:36Z")
“When things are hard, of course you give them up. Now let’s go inside and watch TV.” Homer Simpson Always been my mantra. ---
**Author:** ![Manatee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/50afbb/32.png) [@Manatee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manatee)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2003, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-motivational-quotes/200937/35 "2003-09-13T06:24:13Z")
“It is common sense to take a method and try it. If it fails, admit it frankly and try another. But above all, try something.” – FDR “We learn from failure, not from success!” - Stoker, _Dracula_ ---
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2003, 6:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-motivational-quotes/200937/36 "2003-09-13T06:35:54Z")
“That which does not make you stronger, kills you.” -me Just suddenly came to me yesterday while taking a leak, and feels more true than Nietzsche’s version. ---
**Author:** ![Engineer\_Dude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9fc29f/32.png) [@Engineer\_Dude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Engineer_Dude)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2003, 6:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-motivational-quotes/200937/37 "2003-09-13T06:48:42Z")
“Kids, you tried your hardest, and you failed miserably. The lesson here is, never try.” - Homer Simpson ---
**Author:** ![DoctorJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctorj/32/2904_2.png) [@DoctorJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DoctorJ)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2003, 12:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-motivational-quotes/200937/38 "2003-09-13T12:08:06Z")
**You find it where you lost it.** These words of my now deceased uncle are a mantra for a friend of mine and I who have taken up serious online poker, whenever we start having a bad run of cards. **Whatever doesn’t kill me only postpones the inevitable.** ---
**Author:** ![Meurglys](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/258eb7/32.png) [@Meurglys](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meurglys)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2003, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-motivational-quotes/200937/39 "2003-09-13T15:07:28Z")
“If a thing’s worth doing, it’s worth doing badly.” Of course, once you’ve had a bit of practice, it’ll be worth doing it well… ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2003, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-motivational-quotes/200937/40 "2003-09-13T15:17:08Z")
**If you don’t look after your customer, someone else will.** I like this because it can be both motivational or demotivational: “someone else will? Cool! What’s on TV then?” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-motivational-quotes/200937.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-motivational-quotes/200937.md?page=3)