Motivational Quotes

Purpose

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

- Eliot, George

Best Quotes about Purpose

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

Thoreau, Henry David

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

Socrates

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

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

Hildebrand, Kenneth

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

Gide, Andre

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

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

Shaw, George Bernard

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

Moody, Dwight L.

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

10.

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

11.

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

Brown, Les

12.

Winners are people with definite purpose in life.

Waitley, Denis

13.

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.

14.

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

15.

Pep without purpose is piffle.

16.

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

Hubbard, L. Ron

17.

A purpose you impart is no longer your own.

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von

18.

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

19.

Great minds have purposes; others have wishes.

Irving, Washington

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.

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

Montaigne, Michel Eyquem De

22.

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

23.

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

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.

The aims of life are the best defense against death.

Levi, Primo

26.

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

27.

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

28.

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

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von

29.

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

Brooks, Garth

30.

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

Dostoevsky, Fyodor

31.

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

Emerson, Ralph Waldo

32.

No one sat me down with a piece of paper and said, ?This is what is expected of you. But I?m lucky enough in the fact that I have found my role I love being with people.?

Diana, Princess of Wales

33.

The great and glorious masterpiece of man is how to live with purpose.

Montaigne, Michel Eyquem De

34.

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

Tolstoy, Count Leo

35.

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

Proverb

36.

The secret to success is constancy to purpose.

Disraeli, Benjamin

37.

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

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von

38.

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

39.

Many good purposes lie in the churchyard.

Henry, Philip

40.

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

Ustinov, Peter

41.

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

Wizard, Her Majesty's

42.

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

43.

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

44.

Be the business never so painful, you may have it done for money.

Fuller, Thomas

45.

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

Diana, Princess of Wales

46.

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

Hemingway, Ernest

47.

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

Martyn, Henry

48.

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

49.

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

50.

What makes life dreary is the want of a motive.

Eliot, George