Motivational Quotes

Purpose

Great minds have purposes; others have wishes.

- Irving, Washington

Best Quotes about Purpose

He who clings to life shall lose it -- but losing it in a right cause will gain it.

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

Frankl, Viktor E.

Nothing can resist the human will that will stake even its existence on its stated purpose.

Disraeli, Benjamin

Winners are people with definite purpose in life.

Waitley, Denis

What mankind wants is not talent; it is purpose.

Bulwer-Lytton, Edward G.

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

Buddha

The aims of life are the best defense against death.

Levi, Primo

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

Buscaglia, Leo

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

Brown, Les

10.

A pilgrim is a wanderer with purpose.

Pilgrim, Peace

11.

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

12.

The meaning of life is to give life meaning.

Hudgins, Ken

13.

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

14.

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

15.

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

Seneca

16.

You, betrayed by time and space, Seek and find your proper place.

Wizard, Her Majesty's

17.

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

Tolstoy, Count Leo

18.

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

19.

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

20.

Many good purposes lie in the churchyard.

Henry, Philip

21.

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

22.

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

23.

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

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von

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.

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

Morgan, Arthur E.

26.

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

Bible

27.

Mix a conviction with a man and something happens.

Powell, Adam Clayton

28.

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

Diana, Princess of Wales

29.

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

30.

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

Simonides

31.

Make sure the thing you're living for is worth dying for.

Mayes, Charles

32.

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

Shaw, George Bernard

33.

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

34.

At a turbulent public meeting once I lost my temper and said some harsh and sarcastic things. The proposal I was supporting was promptly defeated. My father who was there, said nothing, but that night, on my pillow I found a marked passage from Aristotle: Anybody can become angry--that is easy, but to be angry with the right person and to the right degree and at the right time and for the right purpose, and in the right way -- that is not within everybody's power and is not easy.

Gordon, Arthur

35.

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

36.

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

Brooks, Garth

37.

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

38.

Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were entreating through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. [2 Corinthians 5:20]

Bible

39.

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

40.

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

41.

Pep without purpose is piffle.

42.

Purpose is what gives life a meaning.

Parkhurst, Charles H.

43.

Our chief usefulness to humanity rests on our combining power with high purpose. Power undirected by high purpose spells calamity, and high purpose by itself is utterly useless if the power to put it into effect is lacking.

Roosevelt, Theodore

44.

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

Gschwandtner, Gerhard

45.

What is my life if I am no longer useful to others.

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von

46.

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

Hemingway, Ernest

47.

Don't become a wandering generality. Be a meaningful specific.

Ziglar, Zig

48.

Give me a man who says, This one thing I do, and not, These fifty things, I dabble in.

Moody, Dwight L.

49.

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

50.

A purpose you impart is no longer your own.

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von