Favorite Quotes

I've been collecting as well as writing quotes since I was a kid. Whether they be inspirational, motivational or humorous, these are little nuggets of truth and wisdom. I view quotes as the thread of common experience that bind us together as humans. It's reading something that someone else said and identifying with the message as almost our own. Through the quote, we form a kinship with those we've probably never or ever will met. With each quote, it's like enlarging your family and connection to those around you. I glean quotes from books, movies, as well as songs, advertisements and even conversations with friends. Open your ears...there's a lot being said! 

These quotes are listed in alphabetical order; one day I may organize them by topic. But for now, here are some of my favorites. Feel free to share yours by leaving a comment :)

• "A photograph is a souvenir of life!" ~ Deborah Smith, photojournalist, adventurer

• "Be brave enough to live creatively. You have to leave the city of your comfort and go into the wilderness of your intuition. You can only get there by hard work, by risking and by not quite knowing what you are doing. What you will discover will be wonderful: Yourself." ~ Alan Alda, actor

• "Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength; loving someone deeply gives you courage." ~ by Lao Tzu, philosopher

• "Courage is not the absence of fear but rather the judgment that something else is more important than fear." ~ Ambrose Redmon

• "Everyone has oceans to fly. Is it reckless? Maybe, but what do dreams know of boundaries?" ~ Amelia Earhart, pilot, exploerer

• "How do we nurture the soul? By revering our own life. By treating it as supremely important. By reaching for the best within ourselves. By learning to love it all, not only the joys and the victories, but also the pain and the struggles." ~ Nathaniel Branden

• "I read and walked for miles at night along the beach, writing bad blank verse and searching endlessly for someone wonderful who would step out of the darkness and change my life. It never crossed my mind that that person could be me." ~ Anna Quindlen

• "I’d say seeking is one of the fundamental artistic impulses. Art is about discovery. The medium is not the message." ~ John Paul Caponigro, photographer

• "If a man goes to sea by choice, he'll go to hell for recreation." ~ Ancient Scottish Saying

• "If you can find a path with no obstacles, it probably doesn’t lead anywhere." ~ Frank A. Clark

• "If I waited until I was 100% ready, I’d never have got going at all." ~ Roz Savage, adventurer

• "If I wanted to be free, truly free, I had to choose. There were many points on the compass rose; I had to locate the few that were meant for me. Not any destination picked at random; I had to head for those that summoned me with a passion, for they were the ones that gave meaning to my life. I had to ignore the warnings of those who would tell me why I couldn't do what I wanted to do." ~ Richard Bode (1995), adventurer

• "If you want to identify me, ask me not where I live, or what I like to eat, or how I comb my hair, but ask me what I think I am living for, in detail, and ask me what I think is keeping me from living fully for the thing I want to live for. Between these two answers you can determine the identity of any person." ~ Thomas Merton, Trappist monk

• "Ignorance and apathy are the two of the most dangerous weapons of mass destruction". ~ Bahram Maskanian

• "In life, as
  On the water, let
  The arch of the sky
  And the mightiness of storms
  Encompass you.
  Tremble with joy!"
  -- Quote from an Iglulik shaman recorded by Knud Rasmussen in 1921 in the "Fifth Thule Expedition" volume on Igloolik.
  

• "Instead of fearing what might happen if I failed, I should be excited about what could happen if I succeeded!" ~ Deborah Smith, photojournalist, adventurer

• "It costs so much to be a full human being that there are very few who have the enlightenment, or the courage, to pay the price. One has to abandon altogether the search for security, and reach out to the risk of living with both arms. One has to embrace the world like a lover, and yet demand no easy return of love. One has to accept pain as a condition of existence. One has to court doubt and darkness as the cost of knowing. One needs a will stubborn in conflict, but apt always to the total acceptance of every consequence of living and dying." -- Morris L. West, The Shoes of the Fisherman (1963)

• "It is beautiful to own your own destiny and be able to do what you feel in your heart. To have that and not do it? THAT is crazy to me." ~ Eric Roberson, musician

• "It's understood that we all have unhealed places, and that healing is the purpose of our being with another person. We don't try to hide our weaknesses, but rather we understand that the relationship is a context for healing through mutual forgiveness. This means to be emotionally naked, totally real and honest; not embarrassed, but accepted [seen] completely." ~ Marianne Williamson, spiritual teacher

• "Leaving the future open may be one of the most important commitments we make in our lives. Believing in something not yet proven, may just be believing in ourselves." ~ Anonymous

• "Life is a leap into the unknown. If you want a guarantee, buy a toaster." ~ Bill Harris

• "Life is either a daring adventure or nothing. Security does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than exposure." ~ Helen Keller

• "Life is too short to wake up with regrets. So love the people who treat you right. Pray for the ones who don't, and Believe everything happens for a reason. If you get a chance, take it. If it changes your life, let it. Nobody said life would be easy. They just promised it would be worth it." ~ Anonymous

• "Love is the basic need of human nature, for without it, life is disrupted emotionally, mentally, spiritually and physically." ~  Dr. Karl A. Menninger, psychologist

• "Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass, It's about learning to dance in the rain!" ~ Anonymous

• "Man cannot discover new oceans unless he has the courage to lose sight of the shore." ~ Andre Gide 

• "Only when one is connected to one's own core is one connected to others. And, for me, the core, the inner spring, can best be re-found through solitude." -- Anne Morrow Lindbergh

• "Stepping outside your comfort zone is supposed to feel uncomfortable because we’re in new and unfamiliar territory. Being uncomfortable is a sign of success, NOT of failure! So if we are uncomfortably outside our comfort zones, then than means we are growing!!! And THAT is cause for celebration!" (modified from a passage in Roz Savage's "Rowing the Atlantic") ~ Roz Savage, adventurer

• "The authentic self is the soul made visible." ~ Sarah Ban Breathnach

• "The best love is the kind that awakens the soul and makes us reach for more, that plants a fire in our hearts and brings peace to our minds." ~ The Notebook (2004)

• "The little idiosyncrasies that only I know about: that's what made her my wife. Oh she had the goods on me too, she knew all my little peccadilloes. People call these things imperfections, but they’re not. Ah, that's the good stuff!" ~ Robin Williams, Good Will Hunting (1997)

• "The map is not the territory." ~ Alfred Korzybski

• "The marksman hits the target
  partly by pulling,
  partly by letting go.
  The boatsman reaches the landing
  partly by pulling,
  partly by letting go."
  -- Egyptian proverb
  

• "The miracle isn't I finished. The miracle is that I had the courage to start." -- John "The Penguin" Bingham, runner

• "The voyage of the best ship is a zigzag line of a hundred tacks." ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson, poet

• "The word 'question' is derived from the Latin 'quarrier' (to seek) which is also the root of 'quest'. A creative life is a continued quest, and good questions can be very useful guides. Most useful are open-ended questions; they allow for fresh unanticipated answers to reveal themselves." ~ Source Unknown.

• "There's no race, no religion, no class system, no color, nothing, no sexual orientation that makes us better than anyone else. We are all deserving of love." ~ Sandra Bullock, actress

• "True love is not measured in hugs and kisses, but in struggles and fears, and those who can work though those...they possess true love." ~ Adam Murphy