One of the best ways that we can improve our lives is by learning from the wisdom of those who have walked the path before us. Studying the great minds who have changed and touched the souls of millions can grant us the insight we need to evaluate ourselves and our own impact on the world. The words of the great minds listed here need no explanation or embellishment and are more than good enough to stand alone. I encourage you to reflect upon the following messages and decide for yourself what they mean to you and your life. Without further ado, here are thirty life-altering quotes from 15 of the most inspiring, revolutionary, and wise men and women of all time.
“It’s one of the greatest gifts you can give yourself, to forgive. Forgive everybody.”
Maya Angelou – author, poet, and civil rights activist
“We may encounter many defeats, but we must not be defeated.”
Maya Angelou – author, poet, and civil rights activist
“We are born of love; love is our mother.”
Rumi – 13th century poet and mystic
“Let the beauty of what you love be what you do.”
Rumi – 13th century poet and mystic
“I’ve missed more than 900 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. Twenty-six times, I’ve been trusted to take the game-winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life, and that is why I succeed.”
Michael Jordan – former professional basketball player and businessman
“Be wise and help all beings impartially, abandoning none.”
Lao Tzu – ancient Chinese philosopher and writer
“A tree that fills a man’s embrace grows from a seedling. A tower nine stories high starts with one brick. A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.”
Lao Tzu – ancient Chinese philosopher and writer
“If you realize that all things change, there is nothing to hold on to. If you are not afraid of dying, there is nothing you cannot achieve.”
Lao Tzu – ancient Chinese philosopher and writer
“Still round the corner, there may wait, a new road or secret gate.”
J.R.R Tolkien – writer, poet, and professor
“The highest levels of performance come to people who are centered, intuitive, creative, and reflective – people who know to see a problem as an opportunity.”
Deepak Chopra – author and physician
“I’ve worked all my life on the subject of awareness, whether it’s awareness of the body, awareness of the mind, awareness of your emotions, awareness of your relationships, or awareness of your environment. I think the key to transforming your life is to become aware of who you are.”
Deepak Chopra – author and physician
“Meditation makes the entire nervous system go into a field of coherence.”
Deepak Chopra – author and physician
“Spread love everywhere you go. Let no one ever come to you without leaving happier.”
Mother Teresa – Roman Catholic sister and missionary
“We ourselves feel that what we are doing is just a drop in the ocean. But the ocean would be less because of that missing drop.”
Mother Teresa – Roman Catholic sister and missionary
“Whatever the mind of man can conceive and believe, it can achieve.”
Napoleon Hill – author and presidential advisor
“Faith is taking the first step even when you don’t see the whole staircase.”
Martin Luther King, Jr. – Baptist minister, activist, and leader of civil rights movement
“The time is always right to do what is right.”
Martin Luther King, Jr. – Baptist minister, activist, and leader of civil rights movement
“What we think, we become.”
Guatama Buddha – ancient sage and founder of Buddhism
“We are shaped by our thoughts; we become what we think. When the mind is pure, joy follows like a shadow that never leaves.”
Guatama Buddha – ancient sage and founder of Buddhism
“The more you praise and celebrate your life, the more there is in life to celebrate.”
Oprah Winfrey – entrepreneur, talk show host, actress, and producer
“Surround yourself with only people who are going to lift you higher.”
Oprah Winfrey – entrepreneur, talk show host, actress, and producer
“The greatest discovery of all time is that a person can change his future by merely changing his attitude.”
Oprah Winfrey – entrepreneur, talk show host, actress, and producer
“Positive thoughts are a biological mandate for a happy, healthy life.”
Bruce Lipton, PhD – developmental biologist and lecturer
“While proper use of consciousness can bring health to an ailing body, inappropriate unconscious control of emotions can easily make a healthy body diseased.”
Bruce Lipton, PhD – developmental biologist and lecturer
“Here is my challenge to you. Let go of unfounded fears and take care not to implant unnecessary fears and limiting beliefs in your children’s subconscious minds. Most of all, do not accept the fatalistic message of genetic determinism. You can help your children reach their potential and you can change your personal life. You are not ‘stuck’ with your genes.”
Bruce Lipton, PhD – developmental biologist and lecturer
“To believe in something and not to live it is dishonest.”
Mahatma Gandhi – leader of the Indian independence movement
“Peace is its own reward.”
Mahatma Gandhi – leader of the Indian independence movement
“No person, no place, and no thing have any power over us, for ‘we’ are the only thinkers in our mind. When we create peace and harmony and balance in our minds, we will find it in our lives.”
Louise L. Hay – author and speaker
“I find that when we really love and accept and approve of ourselves exactly as we are, then everything in life works.”
Louise L. Hay – author and speaker
“Rid your body of its impurities, let your speech be true and sweet, feel friendship for the world, and with humility seek wealth and knowledge.”
Tirumalai Krishnamacharya – Indian yoga teacher, healer, and scholar
These are the messages of some of the most brilliant minds the human race has ever witnessed. All of these people have one thing in common: they caused change through their massive influence, and the change that they started was positive. Each of them used their full potential to do what they were born to do and to share their gifts with the world. They continue to inspire others to do the same, (even those who passed on centuries ago). Use these teachers and leaders as models for your own life and see what new adventures and rewards life will bring to you and to the people around you.