Motivational Quotes

Purpose

Existence is a strange bargain. Life owes us little; we owe it everything. The only true happiness comes from squandering ourselves for a purpose.

- Cowper, William

Best Quotes about Purpose

Strong lives are motivated by dynamic purposes; lesser ones exist on wishes and inclinations.

Hildebrand, Kenneth

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

Sharpman, Al

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

Gide, Andre

The secret of man's being is not only to live but to have something to live for.

Dostoevsky, Fyodor

Pep without purpose is piffle.

Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended, but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward toward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

Bible

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

Simonides

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

Your work is to discover your work and then with all your heart to give yourself to it.

Buddha

10.

The only failure a man ought to fear is failure in cleaving to the purpose he sees to be best.

Eliot, George

11.

The crowning blessing of life is to be born with a bias to some pursuit.

Tallentyre, S. G.

12.

Knowing our personal mission further enhances the flow of mysterious coincidences as we are guided toward our destinies. First we have a question, then dreams, daydreams, and intuitions lead us toward the answers, which usually are synchronistically provided by the wisdom of another human being.

Redfield, James

13.

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.

14.

When you are inspired by some great purpose, some extraordinary project, all your thoughts break their bonds: Your mind transcends limitations, your consciousness expands in every direction, and you find yourself in a new, great, and wonderful world. Dormant forces, faculties and talents become alive, and your discover yourself to be a greater person by far than you ever dreamed yourself to be.

Patanjali

15.

Men achieve a certain greatness unawares, when working to another aim.

Emerson, Ralph Waldo

16.

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.

17.

It is essential that we enable young people to see themselves as participants in one of the most exciting eras in history, and to have a sense of purpose in relation to it.

Rockefeller, Nelson

18.

A pilgrim is a wanderer with purpose.

Pilgrim, Peace

19.

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

20.

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

21.

Winners are people with definite purpose in life.

Waitley, Denis

22.

It is good to have an end to journey toward; but it is the journey that matters, in the end

Hemingway, Ernest

23.

When you discover your mission, you will feel its demand. It will fill you with enthusiasm and a burning desire to get to work on it.

Stone, W. Clement

24.

You can come to understand your purpose in life by slowing down and feeling your heart's desires.

Wieder, Marcia

25.

The meaning of life is to give life meaning.

Hudgins, Ken

26.

Everything in the universe has a purpose. Indeed, the invisible intelligence that flows through everything in a purposeful fashion is also flowing through you.

Dyer, Wayne

27.

Many people flounder about in life because they do not have a purpose, an objective toward which to work.

Halas, George

28.

Bring me men to match my mountains: Bring me men to match my plains: Men with empires in their purpose and new eras in their brains.

Foss, Sam Walter

29.

I think that a lot of women are made to feel that they have not done the one thing that they were put on the earth to do if they didn't do the normal thing, if they didn't take the most traveled path. And it's unfortunate.

Griffith, Nanci

30.

Blessed are the single-hearted, for they shall enjoy much peace. If you refuse to be hurried and pressed, if you stay your soul on God, nothing can keep you from that clearness of spirit which is life and peace. In that stillness you will know what His will is.

Carmichael, Amy

31.

Multitudes of people, drifting aimlessly to and fro without a set purpose, deny themselves such fulfillment of their capacities, and the satisfying happiness which attends it. They are not wicked, they are only shallow. They are not mean or vicious; they simply are empty -- shake them and they would rattle like gourds. They lack range, depth, and conviction. Without purpose their lives ultimately wander into the morass of dissatisfaction. As we harness our abilities to a steady purpose and undertake the long pull toward its accomplishment, rich compensations reward us. A sense of purpose simplifies life and therefore concentrates our abilities; and concentration adds power.

Hildebrand, Kenneth

32.

Only conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ; so that whether I come and see you or remain absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel. [Philippians 1:27]

Bible

33.

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

34.

The secret to success is constancy to purpose.

Disraeli, Benjamin

35.

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.

36.

How could there be any question of acquiring or possessing, when the one thing needful for a man is to become -- to be at last, and to die in the fullness of his being.

Saint-Exupery, Antoine De

37.

The first principle of ethical power is Purpose. By purpose, I don't mean your objective or intention-something toward which you are always striving. Purpose is something bigger. It is the picture you have of yourself-the kind of person you want to be or the kind of life you want to lead.

Blanchard, Ken

38.

Everything happens for a reason and a purpose, and it serves you.

Robbins, Anthony

39.

It is your work in life that is your ultimate seduction.

Picasso, Pablo

40.

You have to know what is right for you and go after it regardless of what others say.

Brown, Les

41.

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

42.

What mankind wants is not talent; it is purpose.

Bulwer-Lytton, Edward G.

43.

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

44.

I live for my sons. I would be lost without them.

Diana, Princess of Wales

45.

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

Casals, Pablo

46.

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

47.

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

48.

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

Shaw, George Bernard

49.

Existence is a strange bargain. Life owes us little; we owe it everything. The only true happiness comes from squandering ourselves for a purpose.

Cowper, William

50.

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.