37 Quotes

“When a thing has been said, and said well, have no scruple. Take it and copy it.” ~ Anatole France

I love quotes. There’s just something about the way a few chosen words strung together can illuminate the fog, ignite the soul, and resonate with you throughout life. Its nothing short of beautiful. This week I turn 37. Life is good to me. 🙂 I’ve compiled 37 of some of my favorite quotes that have lingered with me, and I am sharing with you. 🙂

1. “The first and great commandment is don’t let them scare you. “ ~ Elmer Davis. We are all equals here, trying to figure it out. I will be intimidated by no one. 
2. “A person’s success in life can be measured by the number of uncomfortable conversations he or she is willing to have.” ~ Tim Ferriss. Life will only give you what you have the audacity to ask for. 
3. “Be bold and mighty forces will come to your aide” ~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.
4. “I am free, no matter what rules surround me. If I find them tolerable, I tolerate them; if I find them too obnoxious, I break them. I am free because I know that I alone am morally responsible for everything I do.”~ Robert A. Heinlen. Honor your conscience.   
5. “Your life is what you agree to attend to” ~ Jim Loehr. Be selective. 
6. “What you are not changing, you are choosing” ~ Laurie Buchanan. 
7. “Know thyself.”~ Socrates. If you have no idea who you are, why you do what you do, or what you are capable of, you are a liability to yourself and others. It is your duty to all of humanity to check yourself. So you can live fully, authentically, honestly, and peacefully.  
8. “When someone shows you who they are, believe them; the first time.”~ Maya Angelou. I believe in people, I believe in second chances. I am also a sucker and have suffered unnecessary grief and wasted time with people who simply were who they were. Accept people for who they are where they are. Not the potential of who you think they could be in your imagination.
9. Every word of “Forgive them anyway”: “People are often unreasonable and self-centered. Forgive them anyway. If you are kind, people may accuse you of ulterior motives. Be kind anyway. If you are honest, people may cheat you. Be honest anyway. If you find happiness, people maybe jealous. Be happy anyway. The good you do today maybe forgotten tomorrow. Do good anyway. Give the world the best you have and it may never be enough. Give your best anyway. For you see, in the end, it is between you and God. It was never between you and them anyway.” ~ Mother Theresa.  
10. “Let no one ever come to you without leaving better and happier.” ~ Mother Theresa.
11. “Don’t chase people. Be yourself, do your own thing and work hard. The right people – the ones who really belong in your life – will come to your life. And stay.” ~ Will Smith. Trust. 
12. “Don’t worry about losing. If it is right, it happens – The main thing is not to hurry. Nothing good gets away.”~ John Steinbeck. 
13. “If it comes, let it. If it goes, let it.”  Nicholas Sparks. Be open to receive. Release what is no longer yours. Be unattached. 
14. “For all that has been — thanks. For all that will be — yes.~ Dag Hammarksjold.
15. “I learned I could live more than one life in a lifetime.” ~ Marlo Morgan. 
16. “I can’t go back to yesterday. I was a different person then.” ~ Lewis Caroll. What happens in the past, stays in the past.
17. “Do I contradict myself, Very well then I contradict myself. I am large. I contain multitudes” ~ Walt Whitman. Translation: Whatever. 
18. “The first draft of everything is shit.”~ Ernest Hemmingway. It’s ok. It’s expected. Try again. 
19. “First say what you would be, then do what you have to do”. ~ Epictitus.
20. “Have more than thou showest, Speak less than thou knowest.” ~William Shakespear.
21. “Character emerges from all those little things you were too busy to do yesterday but did anyway” ~ Mignon McLaughlin. Don’t shirk your work. You only short yourself. 
22. “Sometimes you are ahead. Sometimes you are behind. The race is long, and in the end its only with yourself.” ~ Baz Luhrmann. Do not compare yourself to others. Stay in your lane.
23. “The brain and the eye may have a contractual relationship in which the brain has agreed to believe what the eye sees, but in return the eye has agreed to look for what the brain wants.”~ Daniel Gilbert. What you focus on expands. Reign your brain. 
24. “I promise if you keep searching for everything beautiful in this world you will eventually become it.” ~ Tyler Kent White. You are what you seek.
25. “Dream lofty dreams, and as you dream, so shall you become. Your vision is the promise of what you shall one day be; your ideal is the prophecy of what you shall at last unveil.”~ James Allen. You materialize what you visualize. Law. 
26. “Opportunities multiply as they are seized.” ~ Lao Tzu. 
27. “Of course the game is rigged. Don’t let that stop you–if you don’t play, you can’t win.” ~ Robert A. Heinlein. I think about this quote every semester of school….
28. “Even the greatest oak was once a little nut that held it’s ground.” ~ Unknown. Have faith in the transformative magic of perseverance and time. 
29. “You are not here merely to make a living. You are here in order to enable the world to live more amply, with greater vision, with a finer spirit of hope and achievement. You are here to enrich the world, and you impoverish yourself if you forget the errand.” ~ Woodrow Wilson. I love my job.
30. “I shall pass through this world but once. Any good therefore that I can do or any kindness that I can show to any human being, let me do it now. Let me not defer or neglect it, for I shall not pass this way again.”~ Etienne Grellet.
31. “Nothing is more important than empathy for another human being’s suffering. Nothing—not career, not wealth, not intelligence, certainly not status. We have to feel for one another if we’re going to survive with dignity.” ~ Audrey Hepburn. 
32. “Money will make you only more of what you already are.” ~ T. Harv Eker. Don’t kid yourself otherwise. 
33. “If you must look back, do so forgivingly. If you will look forward, do so prayerfully. But the wisest course would be to be present in the present gratefully.” ~ Maya Angelou. 
34. “Real generosity towards the future lies in giving all to the present.”~ Albert Camus
35. “The trouble is you think you have time.” ~ Rumi. Now is all you have. Nobody is guaranteed tomorrow. 
36. “There must be a limit to the mistakes one person can make, and when I get to the end of them, then I’ll be through with them. That’s a comforting thought” ~ L.M Montgomery. That is a comforting thought. 37 years of mistakes and counting….
37. “Yesterday I was clever so I wanted to change the world. Today I am wise so I am changing myself.” ~ Rumi. All you can do is focus on yourself. Its the only card we have to play, and that is enough.

Author: Brandy Metz, MSN, APRN, AGNP-C