A thread for inspirational quotes

[Dowdsy McDowds]

I think there's probably a thread for this in one of the spam sections but I thought the Potluck section would be a good place for one given some of the topics that are brought up here.

As this isn't a spam thread, I'd like to hear your reasons behind why a quote is so inspirational to you. Is it because it reminds you of something specific, is it because it was said by an idol of yours or does it just seem like a universal truth in some way?

There are no limits to where the quote can come from; book, movie, song, liner notes, historical figure, friend, family member... whatever.

To get things rolling, my first one is very short but has stuck with me ever since reading it - So it goes

The phrase is repeated multiple times in the book Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut and is always used in relation to death and/or the end of somethings existence.
"The most important thing I learned on Tralfamadore was that when a person dies he only appears to die. He is still very much alive in the past, so it is very silly for people to cry at his funeral. All moments, past, present and future, always have existed, always will exist. The Tralfamadorians can look at all the different moments just that way we can look at a stretch of the Rocky Mountains, for instance. They can see how permanent all the moments are, and they can look at any moment that interests them. It is just an illusion we have here on Earth that one moment follows another one, like beads on a string, and that once a moment is gone it is gone forever.
When a Tralfamadorian sees a corpse, all he thinks is that the dead person is in bad condition in the particular moment, but that the same person is just fine in plenty of other moments. Now, when I myself hear that somebody is dead, I simply shrug and say what the Tralfamadorians say about dead people, which is 'So it goes.'"

I remember reading this passage in the book and just thinking, yes, this makes sense. It was a different way to view things and helped me deal with some shitty situations pretty well by grounding me and making me realise that while I was going through a lot of bad moments there were some good moments I could focus on in the past and future to cheer me up.

Over to you guys.

 

[Trill Co$by]

"Today's pain is tomorrow's laughter." - My grandmother

Maybe it comes from elsewhere, but she's where I first heard it from, and she's who made sure that I kept that in mind. After every breakup that felt like hell, after every failed test that I needed to pass... if there was a bad moment, she made sure that after every talk those words were spoken. To me, that quote is what I live by whenever something bad happens.

When I was 18, I got the phrase tattooed across my right arm and it's now a part of me forever. I really find the quote to be one of the best to live by.

 

[Mustang Sally]

"The creator stands on his own judgment. The parasite follows the opinions of others. The creator thinks, the parasite copies. The creator produces, the parasite loots. The creator's concern is the conquest of nature - the parasite's concern is the conquest of men. The creator requires independence, he neither serves nor rules. He deals with men by free exchange and voluntary choice. The parasite seeks power, he wants to bind all men together in common action and common slavery. He claims that man is only a tool for the use of others. That he must think as they think, act as they act, and live is selfless, joyless servitude to any need but his own. Look at history. Everything thing we have, every great achievement has come from the independent work of some independent mind. Every horror and destruction came from attempts to force men into a herd of brainless, soulless robots. Without personal rights, without personal ambition, without will, hope, or dignity. It is an ancient conflict."

-----Ayn Rand, "The Fountainhead"


No passage was of greater inspiration to me. We've always been taught that "selfish" is a terrible thing for a person to be. According to Rand, though, to be selfish is often a good thing because it means there is a sense of self in a person, rather than a desire only to spend your life looking to fit in with others while never accomplishing anything by yourself.

Rand appreciated "individuals" who did their work their own way, even as she decried "second-handers" who didn't live to achieve with their own brains and work, but rather lived only to gain the favor of other people, often pushing others out of their way to do it.

Of course, she was too extreme in her thinking; it's necessary to exist with others.....Rand's ideal person was someone who needed no one. But the notion of using one's own mind to achieve one's own results is a concept that always stays with me..

 

[Paralyzer Z]

"The vast majority of people have enormous potentialities of thinking. Far beyond anything ordinarily suspected: but so seldom do the right circumstances by chance surround theme to require their actualization that the vast majority die without realizing more than a fraction of their powers. Born millionaires, they live and die in poverty for the lack of favorable circumstances which would have compelled them to convert their credit into cash. "

-A.R Orage, psychological exercise and essays'​

I read this while reading a lucid dreaming training book written by Stephen LaBerge. This excerpt basically embodies the true meaning of knowledge and it's value as well as accessibility.

The bolded part is simple, symbolic and very clever, we are born with enormous potential to learn, however through most of our lives the majority of the potential dwindles away as we age. It really shows that we are oblivious to the fact that every second of life counts and could be spent doing something meaningful. Of course this could have also been propaganda to get people to by this book.

How has it helped me? Well it tells me that I have done a splendid job in preserving my potential through learning. Of course the ultimate self-actualization only happens to a selected few that unleash and save the potential, whether or not that will happen to me remains in the confines of the future. I have always been heralded (not heralded but at least complimented) by others for something that to me has always been very feasible to obtain, knowledge is that entity. For starters my peers at school always turn to me for help with things they find confusion in (AKA 90% of the material) and I am the first one they go after. It may not have a profound moral theme or anything remotely close to that but it states the cold-hard truth that I have worked hard muster through.

 

[Dowdsy McDowds]

"If you can't do any good, don't do any harm"

The first time I heard this was at my uncle's funeral. He was one of the nicest people I've ever known and seemed to instill a sense of calm and composure with everyone he met. His passing hit my dad pretty hard as although they had 4 other siblings, they were closest in ages and were best friends. Even now, coming up on 2 years after his death, I don't think my dad's quite got over it and misses his brother and friend dearly.

As part of a eulogy, this phrase was his advice to my 2 cousins a lot throughout their lives. Whether starting school, further education, jobs or relationships, he'd advise them as best he could but always add this at the end. It's incredibly simple and seems reminiscent of the old 'treat others as you would like to be treated' message which is something that transcends religious views and is very positive.

A few months after my uncles funeral, I was reading a Kurt Vonnegut book (surprise surprise) and a similar quote appeared. I emailed my cousin asking if she knew where he had got this phrase from but she had no idea. I think that as I associate Vonnegut with my uncle, that is perhaps a reason as to why I'm such a big fan of his stuff as I can imagine my uncle reading the pages and either doing his soft chuckle or hearty laugh.

 

[LilacFray]

Reading quotes is one of my favourite past times. There are lots to mention but I'll pick out a few. It's a shame I don't remember some clearly.

"In order to be walked over, you have to be lying down."
Ah. A gem. This is true, there's a reason why some of us might be the unfortunate who get walked on by others. What many don't realise is that there's a jolly good reason why it's happening to you - It's about time you stood up for yourself and quit stooping so low and letting others take advantage.

"There comes a morning in life when you wake up a new person; that is to say, you wake up the same person but you realize it's your own fault."
I really like this one. It's pretty much like the quote from Buckcherry's song - Sorry. It goes along the lines of 'You get older and blame turns to shame.' It takes time to realise our mistakes. We may blame the other for everything that happened but little do we think about the part we played in it.

"For everything you have missed, you have gained something else; and for everything you gain, you lose something else.
It is about your outlook towards life. You can either regret or rejoice."
This is a favourite that I always quote to people.

 

[Rayne]

At what point shall we expect the approach of danger? By what means shall we fortify against it? Shall we expect some transatlantic military giant, to step the Ocean, and crush us at a blow? Never! All the armies of Europe, Asia and Africa combined, with all the treasure of the earth (our own excepted) in their military chest; with a Bonaparte for a commander, could not by force take a drink from the Ohio, or make a track on the Blue Ridge, in a trial of a thousand years.

At what point then is the approach of danger to be expected? I answer, if it ever reach us, it must spring up amongst us. It cannot come from abroad. If destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen, we must live through all time, or die by suicide.

I confess that I first heard this quote on an album, rather than some deep intellectual reading of the speeches of Abraham Lincoln. (Titus Ancondrius's excellent The Monitor.) Ole' Abe was talking about more than his theory for a united country spanning North America; he was talking about victory of the self.


There is no opposing power or force, no matter how strong, that can strike an ultimate blow. Defeat and setback will always happen, but so long as we keep striving, we remain unbeaten. It is only through giving up on ourselves that we can truly be beaten down.


I still get a little lump in my throat, every single time I read it. It's one of the most powerful statements I've ever seen written. When shit starts getting pear-shaped, and I'm feeling pressed against the wall, I remind myself that I only lose by surrendering.

 

[Dowdsy McDowds]

Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a Man, my son!

It's not so much these lines on their own, but as the ending to one of the world's greatest poet's best poems, they work so well. The lines are from Rudyard Kipling's "If" which, to be honest is full of lines that could be inspirational by their own right, such as, "If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same,"
or
"if neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you."

The first time I remember hearing part of this poem was from an early Simpsons episode where Grampa wants to win a lot of money at a casino, but Homer is determined to stop him in case he loses it all. Of course I've heard bits and pieces from it over the years without knowing they were part of an overall piece of writing, but once I heard and read it all together it gave the final lines so much more power to them.

The full poem
http://www.kipling.org.uk/poems_if.htm

 

[Nitafrong]

"At eighteen our convictions are hills from which we look; at forty-five they are caves in which we hide." F. Scott Fitzgerald

The young always denigrate the old though don't they?

The reason why I really like the F. Scott Fitzgerald quote above is its view on life. Its one of those many things which you read and realise you always believed in, and yet never thought to articulate it.

While not seeking to insult the readers by explaining the quote, it encompasses both a fear and belief I have that in later life I will not be so open to new experiences or viewpoints and that my opinions will become more entrenched and unwavering. That and I also really enjoy the metaphorical imagry he uses, which (and I am aware of how pedantic I sound saying this) has many levels.

 

[Silly Willy Nilly Vanilly in the Milly]

It's a bit of a lengthy quote, but here you go:

The only person standing in your way is yourself. The walls we surround ourselves with are used as a defence although generally we end up attacking our selves for the damaged we cause. Everyone has doubts and insecurities its what makes us human. sometimes you just need to have faith in yourself. However strong you try to be, your always going to be weak, emotions will destroy you in the end, you have to learn to control them before they get to you. You can cry at things that have happened, but tears wont make them go away. Only you can do that. Sometimes we have to forget all we know and believe that life can only get better. If you have no faith in yourself. Then quite frankly you have nothing

It really makes you think about who you are and why exactly you stand in your own way. What can you do to make life better? Where is your faith? Do you even have faith? This quote brings these questions up and more.