# Inspiring quotes thread **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 3, 2012, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inspiring-quotes-thread/636576 "2012-10-03T13:09:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![April\_R](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3da27b/32.png) [@April\_R](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/April_R)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2012, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inspiring-quotes-thread/636576/1 "2012-10-03T13:09:45Z")
"A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort.” – Herm Albright Your turn! ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2012, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inspiring-quotes-thread/636576/2 "2012-10-03T16:16:27Z")
“What, me worry?” Alfred E. Newman ---
**Author:** ![April\_R](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3da27b/32.png) [@April\_R](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/April_R)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2012, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inspiring-quotes-thread/636576/3 "2012-10-14T23:17:27Z")
”Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere.” - Albert Einstein ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2012, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inspiring-quotes-thread/636576/4 "2012-10-14T23:25:42Z")
“The battle is not always to the strong, nor the race to the swift, but that’s the way to bet it.” ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2012, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inspiring-quotes-thread/636576/5 "2012-10-15T05:04:43Z")
If all the virgins in the world were laid end to end, there wouldn’t be any more. ---
**Author:** ![saucywench](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/85e7bf/32.png) [@saucywench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saucywench)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2012, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inspiring-quotes-thread/636576/6 "2012-10-15T05:29:47Z")
“There is more treasure in books than in all the pirates’ loot on Treasure Island and at the bottom of the Spanish Main … and best of all, you can enjoy these riches every day of your life.”-Walt Disney ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2012, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inspiring-quotes-thread/636576/7 "2012-10-15T05:58:31Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > If all the virgins in the world were laid end to end, there wouldn’t be any more. This is a paraphrase of a Dorothy Parker quotation: “If all the girls who attended the Yale prom were laid end to end, I wouldn’t be a bit surprised.” My contribution, from Rudyard Kipling’s “If” (though I find the whole poem inspiring): “If you can fill the unforgiving minute With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run, Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it…” ---
**Author:** ![Noone\_Special](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/noone_special/32/2863_2.png) [@Noone\_Special](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Noone_Special)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2012, 7:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inspiring-quotes-thread/636576/8 "2012-10-15T07:25:43Z")
“Outside of a dog, a book is a man’s best friend. Inside of a dog, it’s too dark to read” - Groucho Marx “Whenever you wonder at the way people behave, remember – half of the population is dumber than average” - dunno who said this first. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2012, 9:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inspiring-quotes-thread/636576/9 "2012-10-15T09:03:22Z")
When the sage points at the moon, all that the idiot sees is the finger. ---
**Author:** ![Maastricht](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e57/32.png) [@Maastricht](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maastricht)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2012, 9:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inspiring-quotes-thread/636576/10 "2012-10-15T09:07:58Z")
> [@don\_t\_ask](#): > > When the sage points at the moon, all that the idiot sees is the finger. I get that a lot when I point out a tasty morsel on the kitchen floor to my cat. 🙂 Mine is: “The bigger the island of knowledge, the longer the shoreline of wonder.” ---
**Author:** ![April\_R](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3da27b/32.png) [@April\_R](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/April_R)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2012, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inspiring-quotes-thread/636576/11 "2012-10-15T14:00:54Z")
> [@don\_t\_ask](#): > > When the sage points at the moon, all that the idiot sees is the finger. Isn’t that from Bruce Lee in Enter the Dragon [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/sDW6vkuqGLg/hqdefault.jpg "Finger Pointing to the Moon - Bruce Lee") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sDW6vkuqGLg) Lee: Don’t think. FEEL. It’s like a finger pointing at the moon. [Looks at student who is looking at the finger; smacks student again] Lee: Do not concentrate on the finger or you will miss all of the heavenly glory! [Student bows; Lee smacks him again] This is also a fav quote from enter the dragon: Han: We are all ready to win, just as we are born knowing only life. It is defeat that you must learn to prepare for. Williams: I don’t waste my time with it. When it comes, I won’t even notice. Han: Oh? How so? Williams: I’ll be too busy looking gooood. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2012, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inspiring-quotes-thread/636576/12 "2012-10-15T14:53:52Z")
_Luck is a matter of preparation meeting opportunity._ When I first heard it, it was attributed to Abe Lincoln. I have since seen it attributed to Lucius Annaeus Seneca and a host of others. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2012, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inspiring-quotes-thread/636576/13 "2012-10-15T14:58:18Z")
“Labor to keep alive in your breast that little spark of celestial fire called conscience.” - George Washington ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2012, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inspiring-quotes-thread/636576/14 "2012-10-15T15:04:14Z")
Great thread idea! Carl Sagan: “They laughed at Columbus, they laughed at Fulton, they laughed at the Wright brothers. But they also laughed at Bozo the Clown.” ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2012, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inspiring-quotes-thread/636576/15 "2012-10-15T15:08:03Z")
> [@April\_R](#): > > "A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort.” – Herm Albright That’s on my facebook! Along with “Man shall never reach his full capacity while chained to the earth. We must take wing and conquer the heavens. ~ Icarus” ---
**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2012, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inspiring-quotes-thread/636576/16 "2012-10-15T18:03:27Z")
“Life is mostly froth and bubble, Two things stand like stone, Kindness in another’s trouble, Courage in your own.” Adam Lindsay Gordon ---
**Author:** ![Peanuthead](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peanuthead/32/360_2.png) [@Peanuthead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peanuthead)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2012, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inspiring-quotes-thread/636576/17 "2012-10-15T19:28:08Z")
“Forgive you enemies. But don’t forget their names.” - JFK ---
**Author:** ![robardin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/43a26b/32.png) [@robardin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robardin)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2012, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inspiring-quotes-thread/636576/18 "2012-10-15T19:49:29Z")
“That which does not kill me postpones the inevitable.” (Which I first read from [a poster from despair.com](http://www.despair.com/adversity.html)) Also [from the same source](http://www.despair.com/fear.html): “Until you have the courage to lose sight of the shore, you will not know the terror of being forever lost at sea.” Less sarcastically (if possible for me): From Tennyson’s poem [Ulysses](http://www.portablepoetry.com/poems/alfredlord_tennyson/ulysses.html): _Though much is taken, much abides; and though We are not now that strength which in old days Moved earth and heaven; that which we are, we are; One equal temper of heroic hearts, Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield._ And Satchel Paige is supposed to have said: “Don’t look back. Something might be gaining on you.” ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2012, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inspiring-quotes-thread/636576/19 "2012-10-15T19:59:25Z")
“The man who claims that he can drive an automobile safely while kissing a pretty girl is not giving anough attention to the kissing.” - Albert Einstein ---
**Author:** ![The\_wind\_of\_my\_soul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecc23a/32.png) [@The\_wind\_of\_my\_soul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_wind_of_my_soul)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2012, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inspiring-quotes-thread/636576/20 "2012-10-15T20:51:46Z")
Throughout the year, I collect inspirational quotes that strike a chord within me. Then, at the beginning of each calendar year, I tape 52 quotes to index cards, and pick one card at random at the beginning of each week. These quotes help guide me in my decision-making throughout the week. Here’s this week’s quote: “So many people live within unhappy circumstances and yet will not take the initiative to change their situation because they are conditioned to a life of security, conformity, and conservatism, all of which may appear to give one peace of mind, but in reality nothing is more damaging to the adventurous spirit within a man than a secure future. The very basic core of a man’s living spirit is his passion for adventure. The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences, and hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun.” Jon Krakauer [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inspiring-quotes-thread/636576.md?page=2)