I'm a quote hoarder—like, hardcore quote hoarder. I have a journal full of my favorite quotes, a notepad in my phone, and a list on my computer that I still have to transfer over to my journal. Whenever I hear or see something that speaks to me, I have to write it down.

Sometimes I need to be reminded, sometimes I need a source of motivation, and this is one of the best ways for me to do it. So I write down things that connect with my soul, guide me, push me, intrigue me, inspire me, and help me understand that I am understood because sometimes I forget. So here's a few quotes, just in case you do, too:

1. "Don't try to figure out what other people want to hear from you, figure out what you have to say. It's the one and only thing you have to offer." - Barbara Kinslover

I don't know if there is anything more true. Your individuality and your voice? Is there anything more valuable than that?

2. "I think there's a certain delusional quality that all successful people have to have. You have to believe that something different from what has happened for the last...50 million years of history, you have to believe that something different can happen." - Will Smith

Don't let anyone beat you down, and don't let anyone try to get you to surrender. Go stand up against the greatest odds—take on the most absurd mission of your wildest dreams. You have a right and a reason to believe in yourself and your abilities, no matter what anyone says. Go ahead, let them laugh and call you crazy.

3. "Being realistic is the most commonly traveled road to mediocrity. Why would you be realistic? What's the point in being realistic?" - Will Smith

Don't strive for mediocrity when you have great potential and the power to do great things. Don't travel down that road. P.S. Will Smith has a lot more to say than the two quotes I included, so if those inspired you, you should dig into him a little more on your own.

4. “You’ve got to tell the world how to treat you. If the world tells you how to be treated, you are in trouble.” - James Baldwin

Self-explanatory, yet hard to explain. Don't let the world walk all over you and make you do things that you don't agree with, no matter how many people are in it. Stand by your beliefs, love who you want to love, be who you want to be, and demand that the world respects it.

5. "Whenever you think or you believe or you know, you're a lot of other people. But the moment you feel, you're nobody but yourself." -ee. cummings

I can remember the first time I saw this. Ponder it. Let it sink in, please. The truth behind his words are more beautiful and raw than you might realize.

6. "Unless it's mad, passionate, extraordinary love, it's a waste of your time. There are too many mediocre things in life; love shouldn't be one of them." - "Dream for an Insomniac"

Preach. Seriously though, don't settle for ordinary.

7. "Commonly, the most passionate acts are also the scariest. And, this is why people hardly follow their passions. Taking leaps of faithis scary and messy, so people often run from doing it. But, I am telling you that messy is good. If at this very moment, your life is whirling upside down and you feel as if you're on an endless roller coaster, you're not he right track." -Dylan Nole

Passion, fire, love, truth—it's all scary. But don't run from it, all it means is you're exactly where we're supposed to be.

8. "The most beautiful people we have known are those who have known defeat, known suffering, and found their way out of the depths. These persons have an appreciation, a sensitivity, and an understanding of life that fills them with compassion, gentleness, and a deep, loving concern. Beautiful people do not just happen." - Elizabeth Kubler Ros

Beautiful people do not just happen. You must know one. You may be one. And you, and they are invaluable to the lives of so many, and to the world. They are irreplaceable human beings.

10. "When nobody celebrates you, learn to celebrate yourself. When nobody else compliments, then compliment yourself. It's not up to other people to keep you encouraged. It's up to you. Encouragement should come for the inside." - Joel Osteen

Self-love is more important than you could ever imagine. Don't be discouraged by the words or actions of others. There will not always be a round of applause after every accomplishment you make. The crowd seems to get quieter and quieter as you get older..

11. "It's the children the world almost breaks who grow up to save it." -Frank Warren

Please, don't let the bastards get you down (sorry for the language).

12. "Success is not built on success. It's built on failure. It's built on frustration. Sometimes its built on catastrophe." - Summer Redstone

You never know what you find in the dark. Sometimes, it's everything you ever wanted. Sometimes, it even saves you. So don't stop fighting. You will succeed.

13. "Take the first step in faith. You don't have to see the whole staircase. Just take the first step." -Dr Martin Luther King Jr.

Sometimes it's hard to not know where you're going. It can be scary. But if you can see what's in front of you, you must take the first step and trust that you are on the right path. Have faith. Let it guide you.

14. "There is no passion to be found in settling for a life that is less than the one you are capable of living." - Nelson Mandela

Don't let your passions die out. Don't settle for anything less than what you want.

15. "Hardships often prepare ordinary people for an extraordinary destiny." - C.S. Lewis

Hell yeah, they do.

16. "For a seed to achieve it's greatest expression, it must come completely undone. The shell cracks, its insides come out and everything changes. To someone who doesn't understand growth, it would look like complete destruction." - Cynthia Occelli

Sometimes you have to fall apart, and lose yourself completely. Sometimes you have to sink into a state of hopelessness for a while in order to understand and find who you truly are, and discover everything you were meant to be.

17. "The only way to find true happiness is to risk being completely cut open." - Chuck Palahniuk, "Invisible Monsters"

It's scary, being vulnerable and putting your heart out there. But if you don't, you'll never know what you might have missed out on..

18. "I think I fall in love a little with anyone who shows me their soul. This world is so guarded and fearful. I appreciate rawness so much." - Emery Allen

Don't you?

19. "People don't love a poem because it was written by Neruda, Poe, Keats, or Bukowski. They love it, because when they read it, that poem belongs to them." - Kushtrim Thaqi

Just like one of these quotes may belong to you..

20. "Someone once told me the definition of hell: The last day you have on Earth, the person you become will meet the person you could have been." - Unknown

I hate to end this with a quote that may or may not have just scarred you for life, but doesn't it kind of make you want to just...attack the world? Yeah, me too.

21. "Have some fire. Be unstoppable. Be a force of nature. Be better than anyone here, and don't give a damn what anyone thinks." - Christina Yang

Okay I had to add one more, Christina Yang always wins. Now, you can go take on the world.