50 of the Greatest Wisdom Quotes--And Why

It seems to me that most people like to sink their teeth into a great quote. The fifty quotes I’ve listed have impacted my thinking and personal development. The quotes come from a variety of sources including philosophers, playwrights, statesmen, poets, scientists, artists, authors, inventors, business people, spiritual teachers, athletes, activists, adventurers, musicians, and journalists.

I could have included a hundred quotes easily gleaned from a google search. But I wanted to explain why I thought the quote was great. The quotes are in random order. I did have an idea to list them 1-50 in order of their greatness, but soon realized that would be an impossible task.

I’d suggest you dip into this from time to time rather than just reading it as you would a normal book and then leaving it alone. If you have a day when things aren’t going quite according to plan or you feel less than inspired, open this up and I’m sure you’ll spot a quote in no time that will get you back on track. I’m sure my list is missing some of your favorite quotes. If so, I’d suggest you list quotes and write down what they mean to you.

I really hope you enjoy the quotes and my comments. Feel free to forward on to any friends, family members, colleagues or direct reports you think may get some benefit.

1. “Those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything.”

– George Bernard Shaw

Apparently it’s statesmanlike to stand firm and not change your mind. It’s  also idiotic to ignore new evidence and refuse to admit you may have been wrong with your first conclusion. Your brain actually hates to be wrong and it sets off a series of  chemical responses that don’t feel good at all. It takes courage to ignore those feelings and admit your mistake.

We all get stuff wrong, just admit it when you do and move on with  your newfound insight.

2. “Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw  back. Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation), there is one elementary truth, the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves too.

All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one‟s  favor   all  manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material  assistance, which  no man could have dreamed would  have come his way.

Whatever you can do, or dream you can do, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic  in it. Begin it now.” 

– William H Murray

This is often mistakenly attributed to Goethe when it really just came from a Goethe couplet and is presumed to have been said in full by Scottish Mountaineer, W. H. Murray, although that is not 100% certain.

Is there are greater quote on the importance of commitment? I doubt it.

3.”Always do what you are afraid to do.” 

– Ralph Waldo Emerson

Presuming you don’t take this too literally and decide to strip naked, rub yourself down with fish guts and go teasing Grizzly  Bears in mating season, this is  a fantastic quote. The reality is speaking in front of large audiences scares me, but I still do it and boy am I glad every time I do, that I didn’t succumb to my fears.

Fear is ok, it’s just an emotion and you’re unlikely to die from being scared, but every time you do something that scares you, you widen your comfort zone and it’s less likely to scare you as much next time.

4. “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act but a habit”

 – Aristotle

Malcolm  Gladwell in his brilliant book, “Outliers” talked about the growing realization in science that few people are born gifted. 

That it takes time (thought to be about 10,000 hours) and persistence to be world  class at anything. It seems Aristotle beat Gladwell to the punch by about 2,000 years or so. You can be great, you just have to stick with whatever it is you want to be great at.

5.  “A small group of thoughtful people could change the world. Indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has” 

– Margaret Mead

Another oft cited quote and one that inspires people (or at least should do) to believe they really do have more power than they could ever imagine. Don’t think you are powerless because you’re not.

6.“What you think of yourself is much more important than what others think of you” 

– Seneca

If only you knew how often I try to impress this belief on clients. So many people get wrapped up in trying to make other people like them, that they forget to like themselves. In other words, they give away their personal power and their happiness is then dependent on the good opinion of others.

It shouldn’t be.

7. “Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm”

– Winston Churchill

There are so many quotes regarding the importance of failure in being successful, but in my opinion, this is the best. We ALL fail from time to time and the more you fail the more likely you are to succeed.

As long that is, you don’t drag your bottom lip around on the floor all the time bemoaning the fact that things aren’t going your way.  During tough times, I've found it helpful to reflect on another insightful quote from Robert Kiyosaki, “You either win or you learn.” So learn from the set back and move ahead a little wiser.

8. “You must be the change you wish to see in the world” 

– Gandhi

I almost left this out because it’s been done to death and it possibly the most well-known quote in the universe. But there’s a good reason for that, and that’s because it’s deeply profound.

You cannot ever change anybody else; you can only change yourself and hope you inspire other people to do the same.

9.  “Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were  to success  when they gave  up” 

– Thomas Edison

Three years ago I had a client that I knew was really close to making a huge breakthrough when she lost her nerve.  The fact that I’m telling you about  it know demonstrates how frustrated as a Coach I was. There is a time for giving up and a time for pushing through, even though the latter can sometimes be scary.

10. “Man can alter his life by altering his thinking” 

– William James

There is an amazing, if possibly apocryphal story about the father of modern psychology. Apparently he agreed to be the keynote speaker at a major conference on psychology. This was a rare event and people travelled from all over the country looking forward to hearing the great man deliver his pearls of wisdom.

At the appointed time he walked up to the lectern, stood for a moment surveying the  audience and  then said  “The greatest discovery of my generation is that a human being can alter his life by altering his  attitudes” He then apparently walked off stage, out of the building and back home, leaving everybody confused and pretty angry.

He was right though and if you are not inspired to know that you can improve the quality of your life by improving the quality of your thinking, then you’re reading the wrong eBook.

11. “We don’t stop playing because we  grow old; we grow old because we stop playing” 

– George Bernard Shaw

I hit 50 a while ago and it seems incomprehensible to me. I still get excited about work, I still love to play and as I type this I have loud music playing in the background.

Don’t stop being young because your birth certificate tells you too.

12. “If I gave people what they wanted I’d have designed a faster horse” 

– Henry Ford

This may well never have actually been said by Ford, it may just be an apocryphal quote, but we don’t care, do we, because it makes a brilliant point? Sometimes you have to step outside the box and take chances that don’t necessarily sit with conventional wisdom.

13. “You will not  be  punished for your  anger; you will be punished by your anger”

– Buddha

Is there any need to explain this? Probably not because we all know how bad we feel when we‟re angry. So let it go and don‟t feel bad.

14. “Happiness depends more on the inward disposition of mind than on outward circumstances” 

– Benjamin Franklin

You know that money and material things don’t make you happy for any length of time.  That’s because they are extrinsic, and just because the Declaration of Independence got it wrong by suggesting we need to pursue happiness, thus suggesting it’s external, doesn’t mean you have to too.

Happiness is  intrinsic,  meaning it‟s  always  within  you.  People  have a predisposition to be more happy or unhappy through genetics, but that only makes up about 50% of the story, the rest is about your determination to be happy.

15. “Life is what happens while you are busy making other plans”

– John Lennon

Doesn’t that sum up many people you know, maybe even yourself? Are you so busy planning what’s next, that you forget that now is already here? Planning is crucial of course, but so is enjoying the only time you ever have; now.

16. “No one can make you feel inferior without your consent”

– Eleanor Roosevelt

Every feeling you have is generated internally as a reaction (usually) to external events. It is your interpretation of events that gives them meaning, not the events themselves. How liberating is that? To know that people can only hurt you if you allow them to.

Of course, you have to believe it first.

17. “Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did. So throw off the bowlines, Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream.” 

– Mark Twain

Yes, yes, and three times yes. So many people try to avoid disappointment by reigning in their hopes and dreams. It certainly can help avoid any short-term failure, but it pretty much guarantees a lifetime of “what  ifs” and  that's not something  I  would wish on anybody.

18. “A ship is safe in the harbor, but that is not what a ship was built for.”

– William H Shedd

Another quote that may not be attributed to the right person, but who cares who said it, it’s still great. You can hide yourself away from the world, you can avoid doing anything risky or out there, but that’s not what  you were put on this earth to do. You were put here to be the best person you can be and that means taking risks by hauling anchor and sailing out into the uncharted open sea from time to time.

19. “Watch  your thoughts, they become words. Watch your  words, they become actions. Watch your actions, they become habits. Watch your habits, they become  your  character. Watch your character, it becomes your destiny.” 

 –   Author unknown although sometimes attributed to Frank Outlaw.

I don’t think this needs any explanation other than you become what you think about, so be careful what you think about.

20. “Judge a man by his questions rather than his answers” 

–Voltaire

The quality of your life is dictated by the quality of questions you ask not just others, but yourself too.  Questions like “Why does this always happen to me?” will not improve the quality of your life. Ask great questions and prepare yourself for some great answers!

21. “It is the  mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it” 

– Aristotle

Most people I know like to think they are open-minded.  Yet if you cannot entertain thoughts that contradict your belief system, how open-minded can you truly claim to be?

22. “What the thinker thinks, the prover proves.”

– Robert Anton Wilson

Taken from the absolutely great book, “Prometheus Rising,” Wilson sums up in a sentence something we do, which is to look for evidence to support the beliefs we already hold rather than questioning them.

23. “Nothing is impossible, the word itself says “I’m possible!” 

– Audrey Hepburn

How cool is that? Next time you tell yourself something is impossible, try using this and see if you think differently because, physical limitations notwithstanding, pretty much everything is possible.

24. “There is no how it is, only how it is for you.” 

– Peter Mclees

Holy mackerel, can you believe the audacity of the man to include one of his own quotes? Does his arrogance know no bounds!

Seriously though, I love it because it gets to the heart of self-development. Too many gurus want to tell you their way is the way. They’re wrong, don’t listen to them.

If getting up at 5.00am in the morning doesn’t suit you, don’t do it. 

If goal setting leaves you feeling deflated, don’t set any, and if reading eBooks with inspiring quotes in it doesn’t inspire you, stop reading right now! Find out what works best for you and then do it! Better still hire a Coach and get help doing it!

25. “People often say that motivation doesn’t last. Well, neither does bathing – that’s why we recommend it daily.” 

– Zig Ziglar

Mr. Ziglar nails it with this one. Self-development is like going to the gym. Nobody gets fit by going to the gym once; it’s a daily or weekly ritual. Self-development is the same, you have to work on it, if that is the case, you really want to master it.

26. “You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.” 

– Wayne Gretzky

Guess what? If you don’t write that eBook you have been thinking of, you have failed. If you don’t ask for the order you have failed. And if you don’t ask for that date for fear of rejection, you have failed.

Failure isn’t missing, failure is never trying.

27. “I am the greatest, I said that even before I knew I was.”

– Muhammad Ali

That is a classic fake it till you make it or as  it is sometimes called “The act as if frame." Your brain struggles to tell the difference between fact and fiction, which is why visualization is such a powerful tool.

Telling yourself you can do something and truly getting behind that belief can lift you to heights you previously thought of as being unattainable.

Note of caution: Be judicious with this. Do not pretend to be a brain surgeon when you’ve never been to medical school, and don’t tell yourself you’ll win American Idol by a landslide if you have the voice that would shame a frog. That’s being delusional.

28. “Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one.”

– Albert Einstein

Look if the great man himself says reality isn’t real, who are you to argue? Go and set your own reality and don’t allow other people (including the media) to impose theirs upon you, because they will, if you let them.

29. “You will never change your life until you change something you do daily. The secret of your success is found in your daily routine.”             

– John C. Maxwell

Small incremental change, or Kaizen as the Japanese call it is the way to go. Small change really does add up and the saying that people over estimate what they can achieve in a week and underestimate what they can achieve in a year, is so true.

English Author Graham Greene wrote a lot of books, but did you know he only ever wrote 500 words per day. No more, no less, he would even stop mid-sentence. He seemed to do ok for himself, so what could you introduce into your daily regime that will make you glad you did in a years’ time? Check out our article on How to Establish New Habits.

30. “This too shall pass.” 

– Anonymous

This possibly came from the Sufi poets but nobody really knows for sure and it doesn’t really matter. The way of life is change. Good times come and good times go. Bad times come and bad times go. If we can remain relaxed in the knowledge that we’ll deal with the change that comes our way, so much the better. If you are going through tough times at the moment, know that they won’t go on forever.

31. “I am always doing that which I cannot do, in order that I may learn how to do it.”

– Pablo Picasso

Nobody strides onto the first tee and drives a ball 300 yards down the middle of the fairway the first time they ever play golf. Nobody reads a book on a foreign language and becomes instantly fluent. And nobody picks up a Violin for the first time and knocks out a flawless rendition of Vaughan Williams’ “The Lark Ascending.”

Go and do stuff that you can’t do because that is the only true way of pushing yourself to the limits and eventually you will be able to it and I guarantee you’ll be proud of yourself.

32. “I visualize things in my mind  before I do them. It’s like having a mental workshop.” 

– Jack Youngblood

Jack wasn’t just a terrific football player for the LA Rams, he was also deceptively wise. We know for a fact visualization improves performance, but we also know very few people utilize it.

33. “It’s perfect and it stinks.”

– Ram Dass

What this means (I think) is realizing that you and I exist on more than one plane of awareness simultaneously and on one plane suffering stinks, and on another plane suffering is grace in that we learn and grow from it. The question is, “Can we balance those two things in our consciousness?”

34. “Whether you think you can or think you can’t, you’re right.”

– Henry Ford

Belief in yourself is so important and often the determiner in how successful you are in life. Believe in yourself because you’re a human being with incredible endowments!

35.  “One of the symptoms of an approaching nervous breakdown is to believe that one’s works is terribly important.”  

– Bertrand Russell

Think of what you do for a living. How important is it in the great scheme of things? How important is it compared to your family, your health, and your happiness? I’d guess it’s not even close, unless that is, you are His Holiness The Dalai Lama in which case I give you permission to ignore this quote.

36. “There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so”

– Shakespeare (from Hamlet)

Another quote that perfectly sums up the fact that we determine our own reality by how we decide to view things. Things, people and events aren’t good or bad in and of themselves. It’s the meaning we attach to them through thought that makes them so.

Was Bill Shakespeare the world’s first reframer?

37. “Gratitude is a vaccine, an antitoxin, and an antiseptic.”– John Henry Jowett

Did you know it’s almost impossible to be feeling down and grateful at the same time? That the moment you shift your attention on to what you have rather than what you don’t have, your body responds accordingly.

Imagine I asked you to throw your birth certificate into a very big hat that contains the birth certificate of every other person on the planet. Then once you had done that and I’d given them a good mix you had to pull out  a birth certificate at random, would you want to?

My guess is no, and as such that tells me you have stuff to be grateful about!

38. “It’s not hard to make decisions when you know what you’re values are”

 – Roy Disney

Woo-baby!  Walt's brother knew a thing or too and he nailed this one. If you have read much of my blog or have worked with me, you will know my absolute conviction that if we don’t know our own values we cannot truly know ourselves.

Your values drive every aspect of your life and your life is always going to be a tad hit or miss until you fully understand them. Do you?

39. “Courage doesn't always roar. Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying, ‘I will try again tomorrow’” – Mary-Anne Rademacher

One failure is all many people need to give up. One, “no‟, one set back, one missed target, one rejection. The courageous and determined push through though with belief and commitment.

40. “As long as your’re going  to be thinking anyway, think big.”     

– Tony Schwartz

Too many people reign in their thinking because they just want to be “realistic” and to avoid the disappointment of aiming high and missing. Unfortunately about the only thing that approaches guarantees is a lifetime of unfulfilled dreams and long-term disappointment that is exponentially worse than that of a short-term failure.

Momentary dopamine crash notwithstanding, aiming for 20 and getting to 18 is better than aiming for 5 and hitting it!

41. “Life is either a daring adventure or nothing.”  

– Helen Keller

This is one of my favorite quotes because of its simplicity. If you aren’t pushing yourself, scaring yourself and testing yourself then you really aren’t living to your potential and there’s a good  chance you are going  to feel unfulfilled.

How amazing would your life be if you could see it as a daring adventure each and every day?

42. “I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work.”      

– Thomas Edison

I love reframing and this quote is the greatest reframe in history in my opinion. Reframing is possibly the single best skill I can teach any client because it then gives them complete control over their lives and the ability to see things how they want to.

43. “A man can fail many times. but he isn’t a failure until he begins to blame somebody else.” 

– John Burroughs

At the heart of self-development is the willingness to take control of our lives and to admit responsibility if things aren’t going according to plan. This does NOT mean beating yourself up, but it does mean refusing to be a victim by blaming your situation on outside forces.

44. “To avoid criticism, do nothing, say nothing, be nothing.”         

– Elbert Hubbard

Many people are terrified of criticism and will often keep their head down and go with the flow for fear of being on the receiving  end  of it. The world doesn’t need that; speak your mind more often. If people don’t like you for being you, then why would you want to please them by pretending to be somebody else?

45. “If you can't feed a hundred people, then feed just one.”             

– Mother Theresa

Have you ever heard the story about the little girl throwing starfish into the sea? There has been a huge storm and the beach is covered with thousands of the stranded little fellas. 

The girl is approached by a man who inquires as to what she is doing? She explains she is throwing them back and when the guy aghast at her naiveté and pointing to the endless stretch of starfish says, “You can’t possibly make a difference” With that the girl tosses one back into the ocean and says, “Well I made a difference to that one”

You too can make a difference; if that is, you want to.

46. “There is no comparison between that which is lost by not succeeding and that which is lost by not trying” 

– Francis Bacon

I know this one is similar in tone with a few other quotes but I think it’s worth repeating that failure is not that big a deal (Unless you’re an airplane pilot attempting to land a plane successfully).

47.  “If you want to build a ship, don't drum up people to collect wood and don't assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea.”                           

– Antoine de St-Exupéry

This is really a values based quote because it refers to intrinsic motivation. Most people try to motivate themselves using extrinsic motivation like earning more money, gaining a job promotion or buying a new house etc.  There’s nothing wrong with that, as long as it isn’t to the detriment of what really drives you from deep inside.

If you manage people, take this quote to heart. Don’t wave huge bonuses at people if you want to get the best out of them, find out what really drives them at a core level and you will get much greater results.

48. “We can never judge the lives of others, because each person knows only their own path and renunciation. It’s one thing to think you are on the right path, but it’s another to think that yours is the only path.”                                          

– Paulo Coelho

If everybody adopted this quote do you realize there would be no judging, no arrogant people, no fundamentalism, no hatred and no wars. It would lead to more understanding and the realization that we are all merely a product of our genes and upbringing and as such, no better nor worse than anybody else. Not bad for one little quote, eh?

49. “Procrastination is opportunities assassin” 

– Victor Kiam

How many people have had great ideas and then failed to act on them immediately?   Amazingly enough I have no idea, but my guess is that its‟ somewhere between a boat load and a shitte load, and that’s a lot of people.

Everybody procrastinates from time to time, but if you’re going to do that, do it about emptying the dishwasher and not about launching that brilliant idea or starting that business that you know just can’t fail.

50. “Where you stumble there your treasure is” 

– Joseph Campbell

“It seems a farmer was out working in the field when his plow caught on something and it wouldn’t budge. His first reaction, of course, was go into what I call Judger mind. Cursing, he began digging around to free the plow. To his surprise, it was caught on a ring buried deep in the ground.

After freeing his plow, the farmer got curious and pulled on the iron ring. Off came the lid of an ancient chest.

Before him, glittering in the sun, lay a treasure of precious jewels and gold.”

This story reminds us that it is often by confronting our greatest obstacles that we find our greatest strengths and possibilities but sometimes you have to dig deep to find them.

Bonus # 51. “Be curious always, because knowledge will not acquire you, you must acquire it.”

 – Sudie Beck

Curiosity is an incredible state to be in. You can’t be judging and curious and you probably can’t be miserable as sin and be curious. Unless I guess you are curious as to why you are as miserable as sin. 😉

Be more curious!

I hope you've enjoyed these quotes and equally I hope you'll send me an email from time to time! Also, as I said at the beginning, please feel free to forward it on to somebody whose day it may brighten up.

To your greater fulfillment and success!

Peter Mclees, Leadership Coach, Trainer and Performance Consultant

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