Motivational Quotes

Purpose

Each of our acts makes a statement as to our purpose.

- Buscaglia, Leo

Best Quotes about Purpose

For I say unto you in all sadness of conviction that to think great thoughts you must be heroes as well as idealists. Only when you have worked alone -- when you have felt around you are a black gulf of solitude more isolating than that which surrounds the dying man, and in hope and despair have trusted to your own unshaken will -- then only can you gain the secret isolated joy of the thinker, who knows that a hundred years after he is dead and forgotten men who have never heard of him will be moving to the measure of his thought -- the subtle rapture of postponed power, which the world knows not because it has no external trappings, but which to his prophetic vision is more real than that which commands an army. And if this joy should not be yours, still it is only thus you can know that you have done what lay in you to do -- can say that you have lived, and be ready for the end.

Holmes Jr., Oliver Wendell

Pep without purpose is piffle.

Only the consciousness of a purpose that is mightier than any man and worthy of all men can fortify and inspirit and compose the souls of men.

Lippmann, Walter

People should follow their own energy.

Schultz, Will

Without knowing what I am and why I am here, life is impossible.

Tolstoy, Count Leo

You are only as strong as your purpose, therefore let us choose reasons to act that are big bold righteous and eternal.

Munro, Barry

Every man is occasionally visited by the suspicion that the planet on which he is riding is not really going anywhere; that the Force which controls its measured eccentricities hasn't got anything special in mind. If he broods on this somber theme long enough he gets the doleful idea that the laughing children on a merry-go-round or the thin, fine hands of a lady's watch are revolving more purposely than he is.

Thurber, James

We know there is intention and purpose in the universe, because there is intention and purpose in us.

Shaw, George Bernard

For an athlete to function properly, he must be intent. There has to be a definite purpose and goal if you are to progress. If you are not intent about what you are doing, you aren't able to resist the temptation to do something else that might be more fun at the moment.

Wooden, John

10.

The first thing to do in life is to do with purpose what one purposes to do.

Casals, Pablo

11.

Anyone can live heroically and successfully for one day. The man who achieves a high purpose makes that day the pattern for all the days of his life.

12.

The capacity for hope is the most significant fact of life. It provides human beings with a sense of destination and the energy to get started.

Cousins, Norman

13.

The only way you can be successful on a post or win at it is to be at cause over it.

Hubbard, L. Ron

14.

If we don't stand for something, we may fall for anything.

15.

The man without a purpose is like a ship without a rudder -- waif, a nothing, a no man. Have a purpose in life, and, having it, throw such strength of mind and muscle into your work as God has given you.

Carlyle, Thomas

16.

There is no better test of a man's work than time, which also reveals the thoughts which lay hidden in his breast.

Simonides

17.

A man should conceive of a legitimate purpose in his heart, and set out to accomplish it. He should make this purpose the centralizing point of his thoughts. It may take the form of a spiritual ideal, or it may be a worldly object, according to his nature at the time being; but whichever it is, he should steadily focus his thought forces upon the object which he has set before him. He should make this purpose his supreme duty, and should devote himself to its attainment, not allowing his thoughts to wander away into ephemeral fancies, longings, and imaginings. This is the royal road to self-control and true concentration of thought. Even if he fails again and again to accomplish his purpose (as he necessarily must until weakness is overcome), the strength of character gained will be the measure of his true success, and this will form a new starting point for future power and triumph.

Allen, James

18.

What allows us, as human beings, to psychologically survive life on earth, with all of its pain, drama, and challenges, is a sense of purpose and meaning

Angelis, Barbara De

19.

Your cause belongs to those that can avenge your wrongs.

Winkworth

20.

The purpose in life is to collaborate for a common cause; the problem is nobody seems to know what it is.

Gschwandtner, Gerhard

21.

Mix a conviction with a man and something happens.

Powell, Adam Clayton

22.

Many good purposes lie in the churchyard.

Henry, Philip

23.

It is good to follow one's own bent, so long as it leads upward.

Gide, Andre

24.

It's not so much how busy you are, but why you are busy. The bee is praised. The mosquito is swatted.

O'Connor, Mary

25.

Never be afraid to treat the path alone. Know which is your path and follow it wherever it may lead you; do not feel you have to follow in someone else's footsteps.

Bellin, Gita

26.

I see no business in life but the work of Christ.

Martyn, Henry

27.

The aims of life are the best defense against death.

Levi, Primo

28.

The purpose of a man's heart are deep waters, but a man of understanding draws them out. [Proverbs 20:5]

Bible

29.

The sense of paralysis proceeds not so much out of the mammoth size of the problem but out of the puniness of the purpose.

Cousins, Norman

30.

Many men go fishing their entire lives without knowing it is not fish they are after.

Thoreau, Henry David

31.

Battle doesn't need a purpose; the battle is its own purpose.

Proverb

32.

What on earth are you doing for Heaven's sake?

33.

Lack of something to feel important about is almost the greatest tragedy a man may have.

Morgan, Arthur E.

34.

Ordinary people think merely of spending time. Great people think of using it.

35.

Be above it! Make the world serve your purpose, but do not serve it.

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von

36.

Once we are destined to live out our lives in the prison of our mind, our duty is to furnish it well.

Ustinov, Peter

37.

My life has no purpose, no direction, no aim, no meaning, and yet I'm happy. I can't figure it out. What am I doing right.

Schulz, Charles M.

38.

We need not only a purpose in life to give meaning to our existence but also something to give meaning to our suffering. We need as much something to suffer for as something to live for.

Hoffer, Eric

39.

Why do I not seek some real good; one which I could feel, not one which I could display?

Seneca

40.

I know of no such unquestionable badge and ensign of a sovereign mind as that of tenacity of purpose...

Emerson, Ralph Waldo

41.

Man becomes greater in proportion to knowing himself and his faculties. Let him become conscious of what he is and he will soon also learn what he should be.

Schelling, Felix E.

42.

I just wake up and say, You're a bum, go do something worthwhile today.

Brooks, Garth

43.

Are we interested in sight seeing or soul saving?

44.

The longest journey is the journey inwards. Of him who has chosen his destiny, Who has started upon his quest for the source of his being.

Hammarskjold, Dag

45.

Great minds have purposes; others have wishes.

Irving, Washington

46.

There is no road to success but through a clear strong purpose. Nothing can take its place. A purpose underlies character, culture, position, attainment of every part.

Munger, Thornton T.

47.

Ever more people today have the means to live, but no meaning to live for.

Frankl, Viktor E.

48.

A just cause is not ruined by a few mistakes.

Dostoevsky, Fyodor

49.

The secret to success is constancy to purpose.

Disraeli, Benjamin

50.

Better to die of something than to die in old age of nothing.