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Browse all 10,075 quotes or apply filters in different categories to narrow your search.
Personal growth57 quotes
It's what we learn after we think we know it all that counts. — Frank McKinney Hubbard · 1913She was seventy-five and she was going to make some changes in her life. — Jonathan Franzen · 2001Waste no more time arguing what a good man should be. Be one. — Marcus Aurelius · 180I think we are well advised to keep on nodding terms with the people we used to be, whether we find them attractive company or not. Otherwise, they turn up unannounced and surprise us, come hammering on the mind's door at 4 a. M. Of a bad night and demand to know who deserted them, who betrayed them, who is going to make amends. — Joan Didion · 1968And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom. — Elizabeth Appell · 1979Growth was seen as an endless series of daily choices and decisions in each of which one can choose to go back toward safety or forward toward growth. Growth must be chosen again and again; fear must be overcome again and again. — Abraham Maslow · 1966All 57 quotes →Self-improvement15 quotes
Waste no more time arguing what a good man should be. Be one. — Marcus Aurelius · 180Is Goodness indeed so far away? If we really wanted Goodness, we should find that it was at our very side. — Confucius · 221 BCNeither by nature, then, nor contrary to nature do the virtues arise in us; rather we are adapted by nature to receive them, and are made perfect by habit. — Aristotle · 322 BCThe good of man is the active exercise of his soul's faculties in conformity with excellence or virtue... Moreover this activity must occupy a complete lifetime; for one swallow does not make spring, nor does one fine day; and similarly one day or a brief period of happiness does not make a man supremely blessed and happy. — Aristotle · 322 BCNever complain of that of which it is at all times in your power to rid yourself. — Adam Smith · 1759Virtue shuns ease as a companion... It demands a rough and thorny path. — Michel de Montaigne · 1580All 15 quotes →Facing one's fears4 quotes
And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom. — Elizabeth Appell · 1979Growth was seen as an endless series of daily choices and decisions in each of which one can choose to go back toward safety or forward toward growth. Growth must be chosen again and again; fear must be overcome again and again. — Abraham Maslow · 1966In a way, all of us has an El Guapo to face someday. For some, shyness might be their El Guapo. For others, a lack of education might be their El Guapo. For us, El Guapo is a big, dangerous guy who wants to kill us. But as sure as my name is Lucky Day, the people of Santa Poco can conquer their own personal El Guapo, who also happens to be the actual El Guapo! — Lucky Day · 1986Is this a breakthrough, that I'm a sailor? I sail? I sail now? — Bob Wiley · 1991Authenticity3 quotes
To be what we are, and to become what we are capable of becoming, is the only end of life. — Robert Louis Stevenson · 1882If what matters in a person's existence is to accept the inevitable consciously, to taste the good and bad to the full and to make for oneself a more individual, unaccidental and inward destiny alongside one's external fate, then my life has been neither empty nor worthless. — Hermann Hesse · 1910No man has ever been entirely and completely himself. Yet each one strives to become that-one in an awkward, the other in a more intelligent way, each as best he can. — Hermann Hesse · 1919Progress3 quotes
There can be no progress (real, that is, moral) except in the individual and by the individual himself. — Charles Baudelaire · 1867Discontent is the first step in the progress of a man or a nation. — Oscar Wilde · 1893Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself. — Leo Tolstoy · 1900Purpose of life3 quotes
The good of man is the active exercise of his soul's faculties in conformity with excellence or virtue... Moreover this activity must occupy a complete lifetime; for one swallow does not make spring, nor does one fine day; and similarly one day or a brief period of happiness does not make a man supremely blessed and happy. — Aristotle · 322 BCTo be what we are, and to become what we are capable of becoming, is the only end of life. — Robert Louis Stevenson · 1882If what matters in a person's existence is to accept the inevitable consciously, to taste the good and bad to the full and to make for oneself a more individual, unaccidental and inward destiny alongside one's external fate, then my life has been neither empty nor worthless. — Hermann Hesse · 1910Change starts at home2 quotes
Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself. — Leo Tolstoy · 1900If there is anything that we wish to change in the child, we should first examine it and see whether it is not something that could better be changed in ourselves. — Carl Jung · 1939Changing oneself2 quotes
It is never too late to give up our prejudices. — Henry David Thoreau · 1854When we are no longer able to change a situation... We are challenged to change ourselves. — Viktor Frankl · 1946Character2 quotes
Try not to become a man of success but rather try to become a man of value. — Albert Einstein · 1955Does character develop over time? In novels, of course it does: otherwise there wouldn't be much of a story. But in life? I sometimes wonder. Our attitudes and opinions change, we develop new habits and eccentricities; but that's something different, more like decoration. Perhaps character resembles intelligence, except that character peaks a little later: between twenty and thirty, say. And after that, we're just stuck with what we've got. We're on our own. If so, that would explain a lot of lives, wouldn't it? And also—if this isn't too grand a word—our tragedy. — Julian Barnes · 2011Courage2 quotes
How few there are who have courage enough to own their Faults, or resolution enough to mend them! — Benjamin Franklin · 1743Action brings with it its own courage, its own energy, a growth of self-confidence that can be acquired in no other way. — Eleanor Roosevelt · 1963Human nature2 quotes
Neither by nature, then, nor contrary to nature do the virtues arise in us; rather we are adapted by nature to receive them, and are made perfect by habit. — Aristotle · 322 BCPeople wish to be settled; only as far as they are unsettled is there any hope for them. — Ralph Waldo Emerson · 1841Life lessons2 quotes
It's what we learn after we think we know it all that counts. — Frank McKinney Hubbard · 1913Fortunately analysis is not the only way to resolve inner conflicts. Life itself still remains a very effective therapist. — Karen Horney · 1945Personality2 quotes
The childhood shows the man,
As morning shows the day. — John Milton · 1671The Child is father of the Man. — William Wordsworth · 1802Taking action2 quotes
Waste no more time arguing what a good man should be. Be one. — Marcus Aurelius · 180Action brings with it its own courage, its own energy, a growth of self-confidence that can be acquired in no other way. — Eleanor Roosevelt · 1963Virtue2 quotes
Neither by nature, then, nor contrary to nature do the virtues arise in us; rather we are adapted by nature to receive them, and are made perfect by habit. — Aristotle · 322 BCVirtue shuns ease as a companion... It demands a rough and thorny path. — Michel de Montaigne · 1580Acquiring wisdom1 quote
The soul's dark cottage, batter'd and decay'd,
Lets in new light through chinks that Time has made;
Stronger by weakness, wiser, men become
As they draw near to their eternal home.
Leaving the old; both worlds at once they view,
That stand upon the threshold of the new. — Edmund Waller · 1686Actions have consequences1 quote
No matter how much you change, you still have to pay the price for the things you've done. — Doug MacRay · 2010Adversity1 quote
Prosperity doth best discover Vice; But Adversity doth best discover Vertue. — Francis Bacon · 1625Art1 quote
I'm using art as a means of changing myself, as a means of breaking out of a category. — Vito Acconci · 1971Change1 quote
Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself. — Leo Tolstoy · 1900Childhood1 quote
Let no one think that he can conquer the first impressions of his youth. — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe · 1796Confidence1 quote
Action brings with it its own courage, its own energy, a growth of self-confidence that can be acquired in no other way. — Eleanor Roosevelt · 1963Corrosive effects of wealth1 quote
Prosperity doth best discover Vice; But Adversity doth best discover Vertue. — Francis Bacon · 1625Creativity1 quote
The only way to be new is constantly to change yourself, and the only way to be original is to increase, enlarge, deepen your own personality. — W. Somerset Maugham · 1949Criticism1 quote
Though bitter, good medicine cures illness. Though it may hurt, loyal criticism will have beneficial effects. — Sima Qian · 109 BCDecadence1 quote
In a dying culture, narcissism appears to embody-in the guise of personal "growth" and "awareness"-the highest attainment of spiritual enlightenment. The custodians of culture hope, at bottom, merely to survive its collapse. — Christopher Lasch · 1979Discontent1 quote
Discontent is the first step in the progress of a man or a nation. — Oscar Wilde · 1893Downsides of wealth1 quote
Prosperity doth best discover Vice; But Adversity doth best discover Vertue. — Francis Bacon · 1625Effects of childhood1 quote
Let no one think that he can conquer the first impressions of his youth. — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe · 1796