I’ll admit that I’m quite the bookworm. Most days I’d rather curl up in bed with a good novel than go out and spend a day in the real world. Whether it be a small book with just a few chapters, or one so large that it takes days or maybe even weeks to finish, to me, it is always worth the read. You get taken into another world, feel connections form between you and the characters; the story feeling like it is coming to life right before your eyes. There is a certain power that literature holds, one that makes people feel a range of different emotions. Literature can make you feel happy or even sad, hopeful or even regretful, but one thing I believe any piece of literature does is inspire all of those who give it the time to. Here are just a couple of my favorite quotes that I feel inspire those who give them the chance…
1. "Beware; for I am fearless. And therefore powerful." — Mary Shelley, Frankenstein
2. "I am the master of my fate: I am the captain of my soul." — William Ernest Henley, Invictus
3. "It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live, remember that." — J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
4. “When we love, we always strive to become better than we are. When we strive to become better than we are, everything around us becomes better too." — Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist
5. “I suppose if a man has something once, always something of it remains.” — Ernest Hemingway, For Whom the Bell Tolls
6. “How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.” — Anne Frank, The Diary of a Young Girl
7. “There is a tide in the affairs of men, which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune.” — William Shakespeare, Julius Caesar
8. “Get busy living or get busy dying.” — Stephen King, The Shawshank Redemption
9. “You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose. You're on your own. And you know what you know. And YOU are the one who'll decide where to go...” — Dr. Seuss, Oh, the Places You’ll Go!
10. “Nothing that we do, is done in vain. I believe, with all my soul, that we shall see triumph.” ― Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities
11. “Not all those who wander are lost.” — J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Ring
12. “I know not all that may be coming, but be it what it will, I'll go to it laughing.” — Herman Melville, Moby Dick
13. “It’s better to look at the sky than live there” — Truman Capote, Breakfast at Tiffany’s
14. “All the variety, all the charm, all the beauty of life is made up of light and shadow.” ― Leo Tolstoy, Anna Karenina
15. “The lower you fall, the higher you'll fly.” ― Chuck Palahniuk, Fight Club
16. “It matters not what someone is born, but what they grow to be.” — J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
17. “My advice is, never do tomorrow what you can do today. Procrastination is the thief of time.” — Charles Dickens, David Copperfield
18. “Try to understand men, if you understand each other you will be kind to each other. Knowing a man well never leads to hate and nearly always leads to love.” ― John Steinbeck, Of Mice and Men
19. "Life is to be lived, not controlled; and humanity is won by continuing to play in face of certain defeat." — Ralph Ellison, Invisible Man
20. “It is for God to punish wicked people; we should learn to forgive.” ― Emily Brontë, Wuthering Heights
21. “The choice for mankind lies between freedom and happiness and for the great bulk of mankind, happiness is better.” — George Orwell, 1984
22. "Life appears to me too short to be spent in nursing animosity or registering wrongs." — Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre
23. “Two things everybody's got tuh do fuh theyselves. They got tuh go tuh God, and they got tuh find out about livin' fuh theyselves.” ― Zora Neale Hurston, Their Eyes Were Watching God
24. “Things are never as bad as they seem.” — Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird
25. "It doesn't matter who you are or what you look like, so long as somebody loves you." — Roald Dahl, The Witches
26. "You are your best thing" — Toni Morrison, Beloved
27. “There is nothing like looking, if you want to find something. You certainly usually find something, if you look, but it is not always quite the something you were after.” ― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit
28. “Life is going to give you just what you put in it. Put your whole heart in everything
you do, and pray, then you can wait.” ― Maya Angelou, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
29. “I’m on a roller coaster that only goes up, my friend.” ― John Green, The Fault in Our Stars
30. “There is nothing in the world so irresistibly contagious as laughter and good humor.” ― Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol
31. “I think of my life as a kind of music, not always good music but still having form and melody.”— John Steinbeck, East of Eden
32. “All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.” — J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring
33. “The enemy is always in the mind.” ― William Goldman, The Princess Bride
34. “Always.” — J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
Maybe it’s in the way that literature is worded so beautifully that everything just feels like inspiration. Or maybe it’s because we become so invested in the story that everything said in these books and novels makes complete sense to us. We can all use a little inspiration in every aspect of our lives, and literature is definitely a good place to go for it.
