Quotations are short, pithy statements that often inspire us because of their deep meaning they convey. Here are 10 that I find inspiring and hope that you do to, too! To appreciate the depth of its meaning read each one below, pause, and reflect on what it means to you!

  1. As any honest magician knows, true magic inheres in the ordinary, the commonplace, the everyday, the mystery of the obvious. Only petty minds and trivial souls yearn for supernatural events, incapable of perceiving that everything — everything! — within and around them is pure miracle.—Edward Abbey; Abbey’s Road; Plume; 1979.
  2. Your mind will answer most questions if you learn to relax and wait for the answer. –William S. Burroughs
  3. People are like stained glass windows: they sparkle and shine when the sun is out, but when the darkness sets in their true beauty is revealed only if there is a light within. —Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, psychiatrist and author
  4. Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive. —Howard Thurman
  5. Progress is obtained only by exploiting opportunities, not by solving problems. When you solve problems, all you do is guarantee a return to normalcy. —Peter Drucker
  6. Life isn’t about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself. —George Bernard Shaw
  7. The most beautiful people we have known are those who have known defeat, known suffering, known struggle, known loss, and have found their way out of the depths. These persons have an appreciation, a sensitivity, and an understanding of life that fills them with compassion, gentleness, and a deep loving concern. Beautiful people do not just happen. —Elisabeth Kubler-Ross
  8. If you bring forth what is within you, what is within you will save you. If you don’t bring forth what is within you, what is within you will destroy you. —Jodi Picoult
  9. If you would stand well with a great mind, leave him with a favorable impression of yourself; if with a little mind, leave him with a favorable opinion of himself. — Samuel Taylor Coleridge
  10. Jobs are like going to church: it’s nice once or twice a year to sing along and eat something and all that, but unless you really believe there’s something holy going on, it gets to be a drag going in every single week. —Thomas Michael Disch, science fiction author and poet