Motivational Quotes

Purpose

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

- Dostoevsky, Fyodor

Best Quotes about Purpose

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

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

What makes life dreary is the want of a motive.

Eliot, George

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

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

Shaw, George Bernard

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

Dostoevsky, Fyodor

What mankind wants is not talent; it is purpose.

Bulwer-Lytton, Edward G.

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

Gide, Andre

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

Ziglar, Zig

10.

Your purpose is to make your audience see what you saw, hear what you heard, feel what you felt. Relevant detail, couched in concrete, colorful language, is the best way to recreate the incident as it happened and to picture it for the audience.

Carnegie, Dale

11.

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

12.

Purpose is what gives life a meaning.

Parkhurst, Charles H.

13.

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

14.

The aims of life are the best defense against death.

Levi, Primo

15.

In a just cause the weak will beat the strong.

Sophocles

16.

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

17.

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

18.

People should follow their own energy.

Schultz, Will

19.

Pep without purpose is piffle.

20.

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

21.

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

22.

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

23.

They are not only idle who do nothing, but they are idle also who might be better employed.

Socrates

24.

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

25.

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

Casals, Pablo

26.

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

27.

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

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von

28.

All men should strive to learn before they die, what they are running from, and to, and why.

Thurber, James

29.

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.

30.

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

Buddha

31.

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

32.

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

Simonides

33.

Are we interested in sight seeing or soul saving?

34.

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

35.

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

Hubbard, L. Ron

36.

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

37.

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

38.

To the person with a firm purpose all men and things are servants.

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von

39.

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

40.

A just cause is not ruined by a few mistakes.

Dostoevsky, Fyodor

41.

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

Robbins, Anthony

42.

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

43.

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

Tolstoy, Count Leo

44.

Many good purposes lie in the churchyard.

Henry, Philip

45.

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

46.

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

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von

47.

The one who adapts his policy to the times prospers, and likewise that the one whose policy clashes with the demands of the times does not.

Machiavelli, Niccolo

48.

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

Martyn, Henry

49.

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.

50.

Every person above the ordinary has a certain mission that they are called to fulfill.

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von