Inspiring Quotes

Some of the world’s best wisdom and most inspiring thoughts come packaged with ready wit and a bit of humor. The following collection of quotes are each well-said and well-thought.

“Good fences make good neighbors.” Robert Frost

“To be great is to be misunderstood.” Ralph Waldo Emerson

“We can only be said to be alive in those moments when our hearts are conscious of our treasures.” Thornton Wilder

“The first rule to tinkering is to save all the parts.” Paul Erlich “Unbidden guests are often welcomest when they are gone.” Shakespeare

“Deep down in me I knowed it was a lie, and He knowed it.  You can't pray a lie - I found that out.” Mark Twain

“My idea of an agreeable person is a person who agrees with me.” Benjamin Disraeli

“In all matters of opinion our adversaries are insane.” Oscar Wilde

“Contemplation often makes life miserable.  We should act more, think less, and stop watching ourselves live.” Nicolas de Chamfort

“Punctuality is the virtue of the bored.” Evelyn Waugh

“A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step.” Lao-Tsu

“Denial ain’t just a river in Egypt.” Mark Twain

“An eye for eye only ends up making the whole world blind.” Mahatma Gandhi

“As a child my family's menu consisted of two choices:  take it or leave it.” Buddy Hackett

“Happiness is good health and a bad memory.” Ingrid Bergman

“The great composer does not set to work because he is inspired, but becomes inspired because he is working.  Beethoven, Wagner, Bach and Mozart settled down day after day to the job in hand with as much regularity as an accountant settles down each day to his figures.  They didn't waste time waiting for inspiration.” Ernest Newman

“I wish that every human life might be pure transparent freedom.” Simone de Beauvoir

“Constant use will not wear ragged the fabric of friendship.” Dorothy Parker

“Those who do not complain are never pitied.” Jane Austen

“What is the use of a house if you haven't got a tolerable planet to put it on?” Henry David Thoreau

“When the only tool you have is a hammer, every problem begins to resemble a nail.” Abraham Maslow

“A fanatic is one who can't change his mind and won't change the subject.” Winston Churchill

“It is absurd to divide people into good and bad.  People are either charming or tedious.” Oscar Wilde

“While the spirit of neighborliness was important on the frontier because neighbors were so few, it is even more important now because our neighbors are so many.” Lady Bird Johnson

“It isn't what they say about you, it's what they whisper.” Errol Flynn

“The safest way to double your money is to fold it over once and put it in your pocket.” Kin Hubbard

“Nobody can give you wiser advice than yourself.” Cicero

“It's all right letting yourself go, as long as you can get yourself back.” Mick Jagger

“When a man is wrapped up in himself he makes a pretty small package.” John Ruskin

“The finest clothing made is a person's skin, but, of course, society demands something more than this.” Mark Twain

“Nothing makes it easier to resist temptation than a proper bringing-up, a sound set of values - and witnesses.” Franklin P. Jones

“No pressure, no diamonds.” Mary Case

“Yesterday is history.  Tomorrow is a mystery.  And today?  Today is a gift.  That's why we call it the present.” Babatunde Olatunji

“Once a woman has forgiven her man, she must not reheat his sins for breakfast.” Marlene Dietrich

“Always forgive your enemies - nothing annoys them so much.” Oscar Wilde

“The odds of going to the store for a loaf of bread and coming out with only a loaf of bread are three billion to one.” Erma Bombeck

“A real patriot is the fellow who gets a parking ticket and rejoices that the system works.” Bill Vaughan

“Sometimes you gotta create what you want to be a part of.” Geri Weitzman

“The best way to keep one’s word is not to give it.” Napoleon Bonaparte

“Nothing astonishes men so much as common sense and plain dealing.” Ralph Waldo Emerson

“The only thing worse than being talked about is not being talked about.” Oscar Wilde

“I can live for two months on a good compliment.” Mark Twain

“Who lives without folly is not so wise as he thinks.” Rochefoucauld

“Any fool can count the seeds in an apple.  Only God can count all the apples in one seed.” Robert H. Schuller

“You can't build a reputation on what you are going to do.” Henry Ford

“It is never too late to give up our prejudices.” Henry David Thoreau

“There are always flowers for those who want to see them.” Henri Matisse

“Never go to bed mad. Stay up and fight.” Phyllis Diller

“Few things are harder to put up with than a good example.” Mark Twain

“Vote early and vote often.” Al Capone

“Eat no onions or garlic, for we are to utter sweet breath.” Shakespeare

“Arguments are to be avoided. They are always vulgar and often convincing.” Oscar Wilde

“He that falls in love with himself will have no rivals.” Ben Franklin

“The right to swing my fists ends where the other man’s nose begins.” Oliver Wendell Holmes

“Nothing is more terrible than ignorance in action.” Goethe

“If I were two-faced, would I be wearing this one?” Abraham Lincoln

“I am never bored anywhere:  being bored is an insult to oneself.” Jules Renard

“A large income is the best recipe for happiness I ever heard of.” Jane Austen

“Self-destruction is the effect of cowardice in the highest extreme.” Daniel Defoe

“Anyone who lives within their means suffers from a lack of imagination.” Oscar Wilde

“How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.” Anne Frank

“I took a deep breath and listened to the old bray of my heart.  I am.  I am.  I am.” Sylvia Plath

“I don’t necessarily agree with everything I say.” Marshall McLuhan

“I often quote myself. It adds spice to my conversation.” George Bernard Shaw