All quotes

Now dost thou resolve to avoid a fault, and within an hour thou behavest thyself as if thou hadst never resolved at all.

There are but few important events in the affairs of men brought about by their own choice.

Excitements, ideas, and efforts, in a word, are what carry us over the dam.

It is notorious that a single successful effort of moral volition, such as saying 'no' to some habitual temptation, or performing some courageous act, will launch a man on a higher level of energy for days and weeks, will give him a new range of power.

Never suffer an exception to occur till the new habit is securely rooted in your life.

To get something you never had, you have to do something you never did.

Do you think I was born to live the life of an oyster, such as I do live here?

A man cannot deserve adventures; he cannot earn dragons and hippogriffs.

If you leave a thing alone you leave it to a torrent of change.

Acquire a method of perceiving how all things change into one another.

Do not brood over the past, or dream of the future, but seize the instant and get your lesson from the hour.

The only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it. Resist it, and your soul grows sick with longing for the things it has forbidden to itself

nature makes us free and unrestrained, but we bind and confine immure and force ourselves into small and scanty space

A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines

It is injurious to the mind as well as to the body to be always in one place and always surrounded by the same circumstances.

In the course of time, we grow to love things we hated and hate things we loved.

If to-day thou art not ready, how shalt thou be ready to-morrow?

We are all to some degree oppressed, unfree. We don't come to our own. It is there, but we don't get at it. The threshold must be made to shift.

the journey of a thousand li commenced with a single step

A better life starts with small, consistent, boring actions you repeat day after day, even when you don't feel like it. One day you turn back and realise you have come farther than you could imagine. Allow life to change for the better.

Sometimes you have to make a snap decision to change your life. Change the people you spend time with. Change the places you visit. Change routine. Staying the same won't create a new version of you. The right room and right advice can do miracles for your life.

You can change your life sooner than you think. Take that chance you feel unworthy of. Make the decision that scares you. Change one habit you feel you never can. Don't underestimate your power. Get started. Momentum will build. Progress will compound. Every move counts.