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Quotes That Will Inspire, Motivate, and Make You Laugh!

Sometimes, when we are really stuck in life, a short, pithy statement can give us the boost we need. This is something that has become a trend, which accounts for the onslaught of quotes we see around us today—on t-shirts, on posters, on billboards, and especially online. One click will provide us with thousands of quotes neatly categorized on sites like BrainyQuotes or GoodReads.

Quotes provide us with something personally satisfying in a world that is moving at warp speed, when time is at a premium, and distractions are everywhere. Quotations, messages that use a succinct, powerful turn of phrase, with the ability to cause reflection, seem to fit into the current public mood.

Quotations, psychologists claim, can provide us with insight into understanding ourselves. The quotes that resonate with us most powerfully hook into some deep desire of unfulfilled hope within us. In today’s busy world, they are soundbites we can access on computers and iphones any time, anywhere.

Not only does this reinforce what you believe about yourself, it can shape how others feel about you if, for instance, you go public with a quote on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest or Instagram.

You can bask in the reflected glow of a well placed quote, marking you as a someone who has insight into human behavior and motivation, and is prepared to risk taking a stand. Or you can simply be a reader of quotes, one who gains insight and strength from the distilled ideas of others that inspire you to believe that you can gain wisdom from a few well placed words.

For me, it’s the author that makes a quote meaningful. For example, quotes made by people like Hellen Keller, who overcame so many obstacles in her life, or Winston Churchill, who inspired the entire western world to defy evil, resonate most with me.

Here are some inspirational quotes I have come across again and again—they are memorable because they are a distillation of a larger idea into a succinct turn of phrase. The author has pulled out the most salient pieces and made them accessible and relatable.

But don’t underestimate for one minute, the importance of the humorous quote. For me, a quote that makes me chuckle or ‘laugh out loud’, is priceless, and never fails to energize me. and improve my state of mind.

I’ve included some of those as well—I hope you read and enjoy them!

Quotes that inspire us:

“We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools.” —Martin Luther King Jr.

“Real integrity is doing the right thing, knowing that nobody’s going to know whether you did it or not.”― Oprah Winfrey

“I expect to pass through this world but once. Any good, therefore, that I can do or any kindness I can show to any fellow creature, let me do it now. Let me not defer or neglect it for I shall not pass this way again.”
—Stephen Grellet

“You will never be happy if you continue to search for what happiness consists of. You will never live if you are looking for the meaning of life.” —Albert Camus

“The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation.”—Henry David Thoreau

“Those who dwell among the beauties and mysteries of the earth are never alone or weary of life.”—Rachel Carson

“When the well’s dry, we know the worth of water.”—Benjamin Franklin

“We have to walk in a way that we only print peace and serenity on the Earth. Walk as if you are kissing the Earth with your feet.”—Thich Nhat Hanh

You are not only responsible for what you say, but also for what you do not say.”—Ralph Waldo Emerson

The worst part of success is trying to find someone who is happy for you.”―Bette Midler

“The saddest aspect of life right now is that science gathers knowledge faster than society gathers wisdom.”―Isaac Asimov

“The best index to a person’s character is how he treats people who can’t do him any good, and how he treats people who can’t fight back.”―Abigail Van Buren

“Yesterday I was clever, so I wanted to change the world. Today I am wise, so I am changing myself.”―Rumi

“Knowledge speaks, but wisdom listens”―Jimi Hendrix

“The desire to reach for the stars is ambitious. The desire to reach hearts is wise.”―Maya Angelou

“Half of seeming clever is keeping your mouth shut at the right times.”―Patrick Rothfuss

“Having children makes you no more a parent than having a piano makes you a pianist.”—Michael Levine

“Be the change that you wish to see in the world.”―Mahatma Gandhi

“No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.”―Eleanor Roosevelt

“It is never too late to be what you might have been.”―George Eliot

“We must develop and maintain the capacity to forgive. He who is devoid of the power to forgive is devoid of the power to love. There is some good in the worst of us and some evil in the best of us. When we discover this, we are less prone to hate our enemies.”—Martin Luther King Jr.

Quotes that make us laugh:

“When your mother asks, “Do you want a piece of advice?” it’s a mere formality. It doesn’t matter if you answer yes or no. You’re going to get it anyway.”—Erma Bombeck

“Outside of a dog, a book is man’s best friend. Inside of a dog it’s too dark to read.”―Groucho Marx

“A day without sunshine is like, you know, night.”―Steve Martin

“Anyone who thinks sitting in church can make you a Christian must also think that sitting in a garage can make you a car.”―Garrison Keillor

“Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I’m not sure about the universe.”―Albert Einstein

“I’m not afraid of death; I just don’t want to be there when it happens.”―Woody Allen

“Whenever I feel the need to exercise, I lie down until it goes away.”―Paul Terry

“Be careful about reading health books. Some fine day you’ll die of a misprint.”―Markus Herz

“The statistics on sanity are that one out of every four people is suffering from a mental illness. Look at your 3 best friends. If they’re ok, then it’s you.”―Rita Mae Brown

“Give a man a fire and he’s warm for a day, but set fire to him and he’s warm for the rest of his life.”―Terry Pratchett

“When you are courting a nice girl an hour seems like a second. When you sit on a red-hot cinder a second seems like an hour. That’s relativity.”―Albert Einstein

“Reader, suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of Congress. But I repeat myself.”―Mark Twain

“Happiness is having a large, loving, caring, close-knit family in another city.”―George Burns

“Right now I’m having amnesia and déjà vu at the same time. I think I’ve forgotten this before.”―Steven Wright

“If you want to know what God thinks of money,  just look at the people he gave it to.”―Dorothy Parker

“I always arrive late at the office, but I make up for it by leaving early.”―Charles Lamb

“I never forget a face, but in your case I’ll be glad to make an exception.”―Groucho Marx

“See, the problem is that God gives men a brain and a penis, and only enough blood to run one at a time.”―Robin Williams

“Opera is when a guy gets stabbed in the back and, instead of bleeding, he sings.”―Robert Benchley

“To lose one parent may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose both looks like carelessness.”―Oscar Wilde

“It is better to remain silent at the risk of being thought a fool, than to talk and remove all doubt.”―Maurice Switzer

19 thoughts on “Quotes That Will Inspire, Motivate, and Make You Laugh!”

  1. I have been collecting quotes for a long time and always enjoy reading them. It is like doing a meditation for me. Thanks for sharing these.

    1. Still the Lucky Few

      I’ve only recently started paying attention to them—they seem to be everywhere! Must confess, I like the funny ones best!

  2. Alexandra vanBeverGreen

    Reading these quotes is like entering a room full of people you want to know better. One at a time.

    1. Still the Lucky Few

      I like that analogy, Alexandra! The quotes do make for short conversations, though! LOL

      1. Alexandra vanBeverGreen

        Yes. I meant to say the quotes are from people with whom I would like to have conversations!

  3. I too have a “diary” of sorts, with a collection of quotes. I find it enjoyable occasionally to read through them. Sometimes it conjures up memories of times and people in my life.

    1. Still the Lucky Few

      A great idea to insert quotes into a diary! My journals, which I kept for years, would have been greatly enhanced by doing that!

  4. I love quotes. One of my favorites is

    It is something to be able to paint a particular picture, or to carve a statue, and so make a few objects beautiful; but it is far more glorious to carve and paint the very atmosphere and medium through which we look. To affect the quality of the day—that is the highest of arts.
    —-Henry David Thoreau

    Two more are,

    So you see, imagination needs moodling — long, inefficient, happy idling, dawdling and puttering.
    –Brenda Ueland

    I don’t so much regret the road not taken as my all-fired hurry along the road I took.
    —Robert Brault

  5. You would have perhaps observed that I use a lot of quotes in my blog posts. My reasoning is simple. Why reinvent the wheel. As you rightly point out, there are any number of sources available online to source them from.

    Whether I like it or not, I am flooded with quotes everyday from well wishers who I suspect subscribe to some service to get daily quotes which they use to inspire themselves and forward as a favour!

    1. Still the Lucky Few

      I agree, Rummuser—well-known quotes have become that way for a reason, so why try to replicate them! Social media ensures that we have a ready supply of quotes, so I’ve never considered subscribing to a site that would regularly email them to me. I’m trying to limit the emails that come in every day—hard to do, since there are so many great ideas out there!

  6. I enjoyed reading through your lists! Many of the quotes you chose have been meaningful for me at one or more points in my life. The most important recently has been by an unknown author: “This is your life. This is not a dress rehearsal.”

    1. Still the Lucky Few

      I like that quote too. It sort of brings us up short, and reminds us that time is passing, and we’d better pay attention! Thanks, Dr. Rin.

  7. I enjoyed your post on quotes. I’m not really a reader of quotes although when they are in front of me I do enjoy reading them. Occasionally I will look for an appropriate quote to emphasise a point I am trying to make. I have to admit I don’t get inspired by the quotes people put up on walls but perhaps that is because they have become clichéd.

    1. Still the Lucky Few

      Absolutely—so many of them are overused. And of course, there are so many avenues now, to publish quotes. You see them on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and apparently on Instagram, which I haven’t mastered yet. Like you, I seldom search them out, but do read them when I see them.

  8. Yeah, Another Blogger

    Great quotes, Diane.

    You listed a quote by Rachel Carson. A few years ago I read one of her books: The Sea Around Us. It’s really excellent, beautifully written and packed with amazing info and insights. She was a great thinker.

    See you —

    Neil S.

    1. Still the Lucky Few

      Yes, Neil, I loved her writing. The book that had the biggest impact on me was Silent Spring—she was first, I believe in understanding what was happening to our planet. By the way, your blog is becoming so popular that each time it appears in my email, you have so many comments that I feel, “Oh well, I’ll try to get to this right away, before the others do.” But I never quite make it! Suffice to say, I continue to love your writing!

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