151. ‘’Also remember that whom you choose as a life partner is a far more important decision than what career you choose to pursue. If you are lucky enough to have a true equal, someone who fills you with joy and emotional contentment, with whom you have deep shared values, who respects you and loves you for your innate you-ness; no superficial, external failure or conflict can faze you.’ Salman Khan
152. ‘If you ever feel inspired, take action with it. Don’t let anyone tell you why you shouldn’t; at least lace up and give it a try.’ Salman Khan
153. ‘So go forth with your careers, but leave space for your passions. Remember that you are much, much more than a title or a bank account. You are dancers and poets, inventors and athletes, musicians and innovators. If you give your passions room to breathe, you might find that is all they need to help you move the dial forward for everyone.’ Salman Khan
154. ‘This is great. People who know what they are doing know the rules, and know what is possible and impossible. You do not. And you should not. The rules on what is possible and impossible in the arts were made by people who had not tested the bounds of the possible by going beyond them. And you can.’ Neil Gaiman
155. ‘Sometimes the way to do what you hope to do will be clear cut, and sometimes it will be almost impossible to decide whether or not you are doing the correct thing, because you’ll have to balance your goals and hopes with feeding yourself, paying debts, finding work, settling for what you can get.’ Neil Gaiman
156. ‘I learned to write by writing. I tended to do anything as long as it felt like an adventure, and to stop when it felt like work, which meant that life did not feel like work.’ Neil Gaiman
157. ‘And I shrugged, and I still had my electric typewriter and enough money to pay the rent for a couple of months, and I decided that I would do my best in future not to write books just for the money. If you didn’t get the money, then you didn’t have anything. If I did work I was proud of, and I didn’t get the money, at least I’d have the work.’ Neil Gaiman
158. ‘I watched my peers, and my friends, and the ones who were older than me and watch how miserable some of them were: I’d listen to them telling me that they couldn’t envisage a world where they did what they had always wanted to do any more, because now they had to earn a certain amount every month just to keep where they were. They couldn’t go and do the things that mattered, and that they had really wanted to do; and that seemed as a big a tragedy as any problem of failure.’ Neil Gaiman
159. ‘People keep working, in a freelance world, and more and more of today’s world is freelance, because their work is good, and because they are easy to get along with, and because they deliver the work on time. And you don’t even need all three. Two out of three is fine. People will tolerate how unpleasant you are if your work is good and you deliver it on time. They’ll forgive the lateness of the work if it’s good, and if they like you. And you don’t have to be as good as the others if you’re on time and it’s always a pleasure to hear from you.’ Neil Gaiman
160. ‘To all today’s graduates: I wish you luck. Luck is useful. Often you will discover that the harder you work, and the more wisely you work, the luckier you get. But there is luck, and it helps.’ Neil Gaiman
161. “The beautiful thing about learning is that nobody can take that away from you.” B. B. King
162. ‘It’s being able to walk through life eager and open to self-improvement and that which is going to best help you evolve, ’cause that’s really why we’re here, to evolve as human beings. To grow into more of ourselves, always moving to the next level of understanding, the next level of compassion and growth.’ Oprah Winfrey
163. ‘And that is really what we’re all trying to do, become more of ourselves. And I believe that there’s a lesson in almost everything that you do and every experience, and getting the lesson is how you move forward. It’s how you enrich your spirit. And, trust me, I know that inner wisdom is more precious than wealth. The more you spend it, the more you gain.’ Oprah Winfrey
164. ‘And I got that lesson (hosting her own talk show). When you’re doing the work you’re meant to do, it feels right and every day is a bonus, regardless of what you’re getting paid.’ Oprah Winfrey
165. ‘If it doesn’t feel right, don’t do it. That’s the lesson. And that lesson alone will save you, my friends, a lot of grief. Even doubt means don’t. This is what I’ve learned. There are many times when you don’t know what to do. When you don’t know what to do, get still, get very still, until you do know what to do.’ Oprah Winfrey
166. ‘It’s true. And how do you know when you’re doing something right? How do you know that? It feels so. What I know now is that feelings are really your GPS system for life. When you’re supposed to do something or not supposed to do something, your emotional guidance system lets you know. The trick is to learn to check your ego at the door and start checking your gut instead.’ Oprah Winfrey
167. ‘And when you do get still and let your internal motivation be the driver, not only will your personal life improve, but you will gain a competitive edge in the working world as well.’ Oprah Winfrey
168. ‘But having a lot of money does not automatically make you a successful person. What you want is money and meaning. You want your work to be meaningful. Because meaning is what brings the real richness to your life. What you really want is to be surrounded by people you trust and treasure and by people who cherish you. That’s when you’re really rich.’ Oprah Winfrey
169. ‘And what I’ve found is that difficulties come when you don’t pay attention to life’s whisper, because life always whispers to you first. And if you ignore the whisper, sooner or later you’ll get a scream. Whatever you resist persists. But, if you ask the right question—not why is this happening, but what is this here to teach me?—it puts you in the place and space to get the lesson you need.’ Oprah Winfrey
170. ‘But I think she’s also saying, be a part of something. Don’t live for yourself alone. This is what I know for sure: In order to be truly happy, you must live along with and you have to stand for something larger than yourself. Because life is a reciprocal exchange. To move forward you have to give back. And to me, that is the greatest lesson of life. To be happy, you have to give something back.’ Oprah Winfrey
171. ‘The lesson here is clear, and that is, if you’re hurting, you need to help somebody ease their hurt. If you’re in pain, help somebody else’s pain. And when you’re in a mess, you get yourself out of the mess helping somebody out of theirs. And in the process, you get to become a member of what I call the greatest fellowship of all, the sorority of compassion and the fraternity of service.’ Oprah Winfrey
172. ‘So, I know this—that whether you’re an actor, you offer your talent in the way that most inspires art. If you’re an anatomist, you look at your gift as knowledge and service to healing. Whether you’ve been called, as so many of you here today getting doctorates and other degrees, to the professions of business, law, engineering, humanities, science, medicine, if you choose to offer your skills and talent in service, when you choose the paradigm of service, looking at life through that paradigm, it turns everything you do from a job into a gift.’ Oprah Winfrey
173. ‘It is the greatest of all mistakes to do nothing because you can only do little. Do what you can.’ Sydney Smith
174. ‘If you always put limits on what you can do, physical or anything else. It’ll spread over into the rest of your life. It’ll spread into your work, into your morality, into your entire being. There are no limits. There are plateaus, but you must not stay there, you must go beyond them. A man must constantly exceed his level.’ Bruce Lee
175. ‘Champions aren’t made in gyms. Champions are made from something they have deep inside them. A desire, a dream, a vision. They have to have the skill and the will. But the will must be stronger than the skill.’ Muhammad Ali
176. ‘The arts are not a way to make a living. They are a very human way of making life more bearable. Practicing an art, no matter how well or badly, is a way to make your soul grow. Sing in the shower, dance to the radio, tell stories, write a poem to a friend, even a lousy poem. Do it as well as you possibly can. You will get an enormous reward. You will have created something.’ Kurt Vonnegut
177. ‘You don’t have to be a fantastic hero to do certain things. You can be just an ordinary chap, sufficiently motivated to reach challenging goals.’ Edmund Hillary
178. ‘It is difficult to say what is impossible, for the dream of yesterday is the hope of today and the reality of tomorrow.’ Robert H. Goddard
179. ‘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.’ Christopher McCandless
180. ‘Don’t ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive and then go do that. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.’ Howard Thurman
181. ‘The brick walls are not there to keep us out. The brick walls are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something. The brick walls are there to stop the people who don’t want it badly enough. They’re there to stop the other people.’ Randy Pausch
182. ‘Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better.’ Samuel Beckett
183. ‘If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up men to gather wood and divide the work and give orders. Instead, teach them to yearn for the vast and endless sea.’ Antoine de Saint-Exupery
184. ‘If you’re going to try, go all the way. Otherwise, don’t even start. If you’re going to try, go all the way. This could mean losing girlfriends, wives, relatives and maybe your mind. Go all the way. It could mean not eating for 3 or 4 days. It could mean freezing on a park bench. It could mean jail. It could mean derision, mockery, isolation. Isolation is the gift. All the others are a test of your endurance, of how much you really want to do it. And you’ll do it, despite rejection and the worst odds. And it will be better than anything else you can imagine. If you’re going to try, go all the way. There is no other feeling like that. You will be alone with the Gods and the nights will flame with fire. Do it. Do it. Do it. Do it. All the way. All the way. You will ride life straight to perfect laughter. It’s the only good fight there is.’ Charles Bukowski
185. “So yes, go get that law degree. But if you do, ask yourself if the only option is to defend the rich and powerful, or if you can also find time to defend the powerless,” Obama said. “Sure, go get your MBA, or start that business, we need black businesses out there. But ask yourself what broader purpose your business might serve, in putting people to work, or transforming a neighborhood.” President Barack Obama
186. ‘The most successful CEOs I know didn’t start out intent on making money. Rather, they had a vision of how their product or service would change things, and the money followed,” he said.’ Barack Obama
187. ‘I know that when I’m on my deathbed someday, I won’t be thinking about any particular legislation I passed, or policy I promoted. I won’t be thinking about the speech I gave, or the Nobel Prize I received, I’ll be thinking about a walk I took with my daughters, a lazy afternoon with my wife, whether I did right by all of them.’ Barack Obama
188. “Commencement speakers are always telling you to find your passion. This is the biggest load of crap old people have ever foisted on the young. No, you will not find your passion. Your passion will find you. Relax and wait for it. … Don’t think about what you want from life, think about what life wants from you. If you’re observant, some large problem will plop itself in front of you. It will define your mission and your calling. Your passion won’t come from inside, it will come from outside.” David Brooks
189. “It doesn’t matter how far you might rise, at some point you’re bound to stumble. And when you do, there is something I want you to remember: No such thing as failure. Failure is just life trying to move us into another direction.” Oprah Winfrey
190. ‘Your life is precious. You’ve only got one. Don’t waste it on bad relationships, on bad marriages, on bad jobs, on bad people. Waste it wisely on what you want to do. But if you’re still playing beer pong five years from now you may be on the wrong track.’ Eric Idle
191. ‘I think yoga and meditation are good for your brain and body. They help you think more clearly, improve your memory, and help you become a more balanced, self-aware person. And I think those are all really important things that make a good investor.’ Daniel Loeb
192. ‘What separates people, Stockdale taught me, is not the presence or absence of difficulty, but how they deal with the inevitable difficulties of life.’ Jim Collins
193. ‘Because happiness requires struggle. You can only avoid pain for so long before it comes roaring back to life. At the core of all human behavior, the good feelings we all want are more or less the same. Therefore what we get out of life is not determined by the good feelings we desire but by what bad feelings we’re willing to sustain.’ Mark Manson
194. ‘But you don’t end up a successful entrepreneur unless you find a way to love the risk, the uncertainty, the repeated failures, and working insane hours on something you have no idea whether will be successful or not. Some people are wired for that sort of pain, and those are the ones who succeed.’ Mark Manson
195. ‘Everybody wants something. And everybody wants something badly enough. They just aren’t being honest with themselves about what they actually want that bad.’ Mark Manson
196. ‘If you want the benefits of something in life, you have to also want the costs. If you want the six pack, you have to want the sweat, the soreness, the early mornings, and the hunger pangs. If you want the yacht, you have to also want the late nights, the risky business moves, and the possibility of pissing off a person or ten.’ Mark Manson
197. ‘Because you have to choose something. You can’t have a pain-free life. It can’t all be roses and unicorns. Choose how you are willing to suffer.’ Mark Manson
198. ‘You can either make money to do what you love, or you can do what you love to make money. You choose.’ Mark Manson
199. ‘You need to show yourself you can do it, not tell yourself. Things will change when you show yourself that they can. Until then, you won’t believe it, and nothing will change.’ (from a random blog)
200. ‘At first glance, failure looks like evidence you will never be talented. Some artists are so averse to failure they would rather repeat the one method again and again they know works than try something new. But if you don’t fail, how will you grow?’ (from a random blog)
Book & Quote Monster 