Some people are moved by music, others by sports, others by nature, and some people are moved by words. The people who seek inspiration, motivation, beauty, betterment – in the depth of words – are readers, thinkers, philosophers, and communicators. Regardless of what moves you, though, words have power. The things people say reflect who they are, what they think, and how they feel. The more words you put in your head, the more opportunity you have to say the things that need to be said. Especially in the roller coaster that is college, words can have a real impact on somebody. These are just 30 of an infinite amount of quotes that speak wisdom and insight to our everyday lives as college students and as people in general.
1. “I’m going to make everything around me beautiful. That will be my life.” -- Elsie de Wolf, "The House in Good Taste"
2. “Integrity is doing the right thing even when no one is watching.” – C.S. Lewis
3. “The quieter you become, the more you can hear.” – Ram Dass, "Be Here Now"
4. “Live the full life of the mind, exhilarated by new ideas, intoxicated by the romance of the unusual.” – Ernest Hemingway, Nobel Acceptance Speech
5. “Weeds are flowers, too, once you get to know them.” – A. A. Milne, author of "Winnie the Pooh"
6. “For what it’s worth: it’s never too late, or in my case, too early to be whoever you want to be. There’s no time limit. Stop whenever you want. You can change or stay the same, there are no rules to this thing. We can make the best or worst of it. I hope you make the best of it. And I hope you see things that startle you. I hope you feel things you never felt before. I hope you meet people with a different point of view. I hope you live a life you’re proud of. If you find that you’re not, I hope you have the courage to start all over again.” – F. Scott Fitzgerald, “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” 7. “Keep your face always towards the sunshine, and the shadows will fall behind you.” – Walt Whitman, "Leaves of Grass"
8. “Anger: an acid that can do more harm to the vessel in which it is stored than to anything on which it is poured.” – Lucius Annaeus Seneca, "Seneca the Younger"
9. ”Above all, watch with glittering eyes the whole world around you, because the greatest secrets are always hidden in the most unlikely places. Those who don’t believe in magic will never find it.” –Roald Dahl, "The Minpins"
10. “That’s the real trouble with the world: too many people grow up.” – Walt Disney
11. “Maybe our girlfriends are our soul mates and guys are just people to have fun with.” – character Carrie Bradshaw, "Sex and the City"
12. “Act with kindness, but do not expect gratitude.” -- Confucius
13. “There is only one way to avoid criticism: do nothing, say nothing, and be nothing.” -- Aristotle
14. ”What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.” –- Unknown, first said in Meditations in Wall Street (1940)
15. “In a gentle way, you can shake the world.” –- Mohandas Gandhi, Quit India Speech (1942)
16. “Seek to be worth knowing rather than to be well known.” – Sandra Turley
17. "Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around." Leo Buscaglia, "Living, Loving and Learning"
18. "There is no passion to be found playing small--in settling for a life that is less than the one you are capable of living." – Nelson Mandela
19. “No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.” – Eleanor Roosevelt, "This Is My Story"
20. “I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” – Maya Angelou, Interview for Beautifully Said Magazine (2012)
21. “You are braver than you believe, and stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think.” – A. A. Milne, character Christopher Robin, "Winie the Pooh"
22. “The mind is everything. What you think, you become.” -- Buddha
23. "My mission in life is not merely to survive, but to thrive; and to do so with some passion, some compassion, some humor, and some style." – Maya Angelou, Facebook (2011)
24. “I wish it need not have happened in my time," said Frodo. "So do I," said Gandalf, "and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. 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"
25. “Isn’t it amazing what clever girls can do?” – often attributed to the character Peter Pan
26. “If it scares you, it might be a good thing to try.” – Seth Godin, motivational speaker
27. “You wouldn’t worry so much about what others think if you realized how seldom they do.” – often attributed to Eleanor Roosevelt, but no certain origin
28. “No pressure, no diamonds.” – Thomas Carlyle
29. “The only way to do great work is to love what you do.” – Steve Jobs
Regardless of what others have to say, in the end you write your own story. What inspires you? What piece of advice do you have to share? Famous or not, your own words have more power than you believe.
