Nothing sums up our thoughts quite like a valuable saying that just gets us.
I’ve saved read countless quotations over the years that have moved me, only to forget about completely. But re-reading them gives me a sense of comfort and quiet motivation.
So I’ve compiled a list of quotations, mostly inspirational, some funny, and others that are seemingly insignificant but really can be read into a lot deeper, that are handy for different tiny struggles you may be facing.
For when you feel like you should’ve accomplished more by now:
“Slow down, you’re doing fine. You can’t be everything you want to be before your time.”
-Billy Joel, Vienna
Really just the entire song is beautiful inspiration for when you feel like you’re not doing enough with your time. There have been countless moments in my life where I felt like I needed to make the most of every waking second or else I was a failure.
Vienna was recommended to me by my best friend, and it helps listening to on repeat for days where I falsely feel the need to speed through my youth and do everything I’ve been dreaming of doing all at once.
In a world obsessed with making the most of every moment, sometimes we can take it a little too far. Of course I’m all for living our fullest lives, but when you cross the line from motivation to stress because of it, that’s when you know you need to stop and take a breather.
Every lyric of this song is remarkable for curing the speed-demon inside of you.
For when you’re stuck and can’t move forward:
“In order to move on, you must understand why you felt what you did and why you no longer need to feel it.”
-Mitch Albom, The Five People You Meet in Heaven
For when you’re bored of who you are:
“I thought, I need to reinvent myself. I want every day of life to be wonderful, fascinating, interesting, creative. And what am I gonna do to make that happen?”
-Karen Allen
Reading a simple quotation like this puts exactly what I’m thinking into words, when I need to make some renovations in the home of my mind. In a way, I guess it makes me feel more driven to change, and less alone in this respect.
For when you feel like you’re living too much in your comfort zone:
“No amount of security is worth the suffering of a mediocre life chained to a routine that has killed your dreams.”
-Maya Mendoza
For when you feel like you'll never find "the one" for you:
"You must want to spend the rest of your life with yourself first."
-Rupi Kaur, Milk and Honey
For when you want to be super healthy, but the thought of exercise and vegetables makes you downright sad:
"What's the point of living longer if you're miserable, dear?”
-Marie Barone, Everybody Loves Raymond
Of course your health is important, but don’t go out of your way to the point of exhaustion and depression. Be as healthy as you can without pushing it too far. Give in to your guilty pleasures every so often, without feeling guilty.
And when you do indulge in those pleasures, to avoid feeling guilty and blah, just read this quotation again.
When you look back at it all, you’re gonna wish you just did more of what makes you happy. Enjoy the little things.
For when you don’t feel grateful enough for what you already have:
“It’s a beautiful thing to have lungs that allow you to breathe air and legs that allow you to climb mountains, and it’s a shame that sometimes we don’t realize that that’s enough.”
-Unknown
For when you need to regain control of your mind:
“Meditation is hard. But if you create the willpower to stop your brain from thinking long enough, you can pretty much create the willpower to do just about anything.”
-Mamata Venkat
I often feel like I can’t reign in my thoughts and emotions, until I realize that my very thoughts and emotions are literally controlled by me. If I can do something as simple as letting my thoughts come and go for even thirty seconds, I can eventually accomplish anything I set my mind out to do.
For when you're afraid your art career won't be able to sustain you:
“But to yell at your creativity, saying, “You must earn money for me!” is sort of like yelling at a cat; it has no idea what you’re talking about, and all you’re doing is scaring it away, because you’re making really loud noises and your face looks weird when you do that.”
― Elizabeth Gilbert, Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear
Anyone who wants to go into the arts as a career knows how scary of a risk it can be. You feel like your art has to be top notch, which in turn can just scare away your creativity. This fear can hold you back from actually creating genuinely meaningful art that you hold close to you.
This entire book by Elizabeth Gilbert is perfect for when you’re doubting your creativity.
For when you’re afraid of taking that risk you’ve been dreaming about:
“When it feels scary to jump, that’s exactly when you jump. Otherwise you end up staying in the same place your whole life. And that I can’t do.”
-Unknown
“Fear tricks us into living a boring life.”
-Donald Miller
“Don’t be afraid to fail. Be afraid not to try.”
-Unknown
“If there’s even a slight chance at getting something that will make you happy, risk it. Life’s too short, and happiness is too rare.”
- A.R. Lucas
"Fear does not stop death. It stops life."
-Unknown
For when you’re too caught up in others’ opinions of you:
“You can’t let people scare you. You can’t go your whole life trying to please everyone else. You can’t go through life worried about what everyone else is going to think. Whether it’s your hair, clothes, what you have to say, how you feel, what you believe and what you have. You can’t let the judgement of others stop you from being you. Because if you do, you’re no longer you. You’re someone everyone else wants you to be.”
-Unknown
“She said: 'We all spend our twenties and thirties trying so hard to be perfect, because we’re so worried about what people will think of us. Then we get into our forties and fifties, and we finally start to be free, because we decide that we don’t give a damn what anyone thinks of us. But you won’t be completely free until you reach your sixties and seventies, when you finally realize this liberating truth—nobody was ever thinking about you, anyhow.'”
― Elizabeth Gilbert, Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear
For when you just need daily inspiration to live life more fully:
“Respond to every call that excites your spirit.”
-Rumi
“You can’t do anything about the length of your life, but you can do something about its width and depth.”
-Evan Esar
“A creative life is an amplified life. It’s a bigger life, a happier life, an expanded life, and a hell of a lot more interesting life. Living in this manner—continually and stubbornly bringing forth the jewels that are hidden within you—is a fine art, in and of itself.”
― Elizabeth Gilbert, Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear
“You want to know what living life to the fullest actually is? It’s waking up on a Monday morning with no complaints. It’s knowing you always deserve to laugh. It’s doing what feels right no matter what. It’s doing what you want to, no matter how stupid you look. It’s about being yourself, ‘cause no one can tell you you're doing it wrong.”
-Unknown
“Savor life and all its magic.”
-Unknown
“Expose yourself to your greatest fear; after that, fear has no power. You are free.”
-Jim Morrison
“One day or day one. You decide.”
-Unknown
“Stop waiting for Friday, for summer, for someone to fall in love with you, for life. Happiness is achieved when you stop waiting for it and make the most of the moment you are in now.”
“For what it’s worth: It’s never too late to be whoever you want to be. I hope you live a life you’re proud of, and it you find that you’re not, I hope you have the strength to start over.”
-F. Scott Fitzgerald
And finally, my favorite...
"We are torn between nostalgia for the familiar and an urge for the foreign and strange. As often as not, we are homesick most for the places we have never known."
-Unknown
I really do feel like other peoples' words often work better than my own, and too many of these moving sayings exist for me to fit them all into one article.
It's a truly comforting and inspiring feeling when you come across the right words that sum up your thoughts and dreams. When you do find those sayings, hold onto them and read them every day. This simple act can help you through a lot.
For more of my favorite quotations, take a gander at my Pinterest board full of them!
