Motivational Quotes

Purpose

Great minds have purposes; others have wishes.

- Irving, Washington

Best Quotes about Purpose

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

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

Emerson, Ralph Waldo

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

The soul which has no fixed purpose in life is lost; to be everywhere, is to be nowhere.

Montaigne, Michel Eyquem De

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

Robbins, Anthony

What mankind wants is not talent; it is purpose.

Bulwer-Lytton, Edward G.

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

What we determine we often break. Purpose is but the slave to memory.

Shakespeare, William

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

10.

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

Gschwandtner, Gerhard

11.

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

12.

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

13.

People should follow their own energy.

Schultz, Will

14.

The purpose of man is in action not thought.

Carlyle, Thomas

15.

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

Mayes, Charles

16.

The secret to success is constancy to purpose.

Disraeli, Benjamin

17.

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

Hemingway, Ernest

18.

Many good purposes lie in the churchyard.

Henry, Philip

19.

Purpose is what gives life a meaning.

Parkhurst, Charles H.

20.

A just cause is not ruined by a few mistakes.

Dostoevsky, Fyodor

21.

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

22.

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

Ustinov, Peter

23.

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

24.

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

Seneca

25.

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

Emerson, Ralph Waldo

26.

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

27.

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

28.

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

29.

Great minds have purposes; others have wishes.

Irving, Washington

30.

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

Hildebrand, Kenneth

31.

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

32.

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

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von

33.

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

34.

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

Thoreau, Henry David

35.

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

Shaw, George Bernard

36.

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.

37.

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

38.

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

Martyn, Henry

39.

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

40.

What makes life dreary is the want of a motive.

Eliot, George

41.

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

Tallentyre, S. G.

42.

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.

43.

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

Frankl, Viktor E.

44.

One thing I have desired of the Lord, that will I seek: That I may dwell in the house f the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in His temple. [Psalms 27:4]

Bible

45.

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

Morgan, Arthur E.

46.

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

Simonides

47.

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

48.

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

Brown, Les

49.

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

Gide, Andre

50.

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

Munro, Barry