“Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson
Everybody has days when they need a boost. Often times, people lose sight of what really matters, and they get caught up thinking about small, material things that, in the long run, aren't really important. I think it's really important that people don't sweat the small stuff, but rather look at matters from a distance on occasion.
In order to center myself when doing that, I often read quotes that I've collected over time. Whenever I see something that I think is inspirational, I write it down so that I can find it when I need to refocus. Below, I've shared a few quotes that I've found to be extremely helpful, especially throughout High School.
The beauty of quotes is that you can make whatever you want of them, so your interpretation might be totally different from mine. Regardless, read on, and I hope you find yourself refocused and full of energy to inspire yourself and others.
In addition to quotes, poetry can be another way to recenter yourself and remind yourself of what's important. To read an anthology of poems that I put together, click here.
“Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson
“If you don't like something, change it. If you can't change it, change your attitude.”
–Maya Angelou
“To know that we know what we know, and to know that we do not know what we do not know, that is true knowledge.”
–Copernicus
“Carpe diem quam minimum credula postero.”
–Horace
“Act with kindness, but do not expect gratitude.”
–Confucius
“It's much easier to conceal that you're an idiot if you never say anything.”
–Dr. Christopher Janus
“There are two ways of meeting difficulties: you alter the difficulties, or you alter yourself to meet them.”
–Phyllis Bottome
“The superior man is modest in his speech but exceeds in his actions.”
–Confucius
"I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel."
–Maya Angelou
“Only by moving grandly on the macroscopic level can we satisfy our intellectual curiosities. But only by moving minutely on the molecular level can our observations and explanations be adequately connected. So, if we would have our cake and eat it doo, we must shuttle between the macroscopic and the molecular levels in instituting the problem and in explaining it.”
–C. Wright Mills
"If I live in tradition I betray the present."
–Jiddu Krishnamurti
“Democracy is the recurrent suspicion that more than half of the people are right more than half of the time”
–E.B. White