Inspiration Café

There are times when we need a lift or gentle nudge in the form of inspiration to help get us moving.

Now and then we stumble upon an phrase or words of wisdom that are exactly what we need to give us that boost.

I have assembled a collection of inspirational quotes on life, the human condition, and "the self" that I have found uplifting and pertain to the Essential Life Skills.

Near the bottom is a link to more inspiring verses and insights.
Enjoy!

Real confidence comes from knowing and accepting yourself - your strengths and your limitations - in contrast to depending on confirmation from others.
Judith M. Bardwick

Ninety percent of the world's woe comes from people not knowing themselves, their abilities, their frailties, and even their real virtues. Most of us go almost all the way through life as complete strangers to ourselves.  Sydney J. Harris

If we did all the things we are capable of, we would astound ourselves.   Thomas Edison

When we all think alike, no one has to think at all.   Walter Lippman

Learn to live with self and you will learn to live with others. Edgar Cayce

Life's challenges are not supposed to paralyze you, they're supposed to help you discover who you are.  Bernice Johnson Reagon

The greatest thing is, at any moment, to be willing to give up who we are in order to become all that we can be. Max De Pree

The privilege of a lifetime is being who you are. Joseph Campbell

Life's tragedy is that we get old too soon and wise too late.  Benjamin Franklin

All the art of living lies in a fine mingling of letting go and holding on.
Havelock Ellis

By three methods we may learn wisdom:
First by reflection which is noblest;
Second by imitation which is easiest;
And third by experience, which is bitterest. Confucius

It is not death that a man should fear, but he should fear never beginning to live. Marcus Aurelius

Man's mind stretched to a new idea never goes back to its original dimensions. Oliver Wendell Homes

To me every hour of the light and the dark is a miracle, every cubic inch of space is a miracle.  Walt Whitman

Life consists not in holding good cards but in playing those you hold well.
Josh Billings

 A life spent making mistakes is not only more honorable, but more useful than a life spent doing nothing. George Bernard Shaw

It is not the length of life, but the depth of life. Ralph Waldo Emerson

Make the most of yourself, for that is all there is of you.  Ralph Waldo Emerson

Your vision will become clear only when you look into your heart.
Who looks outside, dreams.
Who looks inside, awakens. Carl Jung

We are what we think.
All that we are arises with our thoughts.
With our thoughts, we make our world. Suddhartha Guatama Buddha

If you plan on being anything less than you are capable of being, you will probably be unhappy all the days of your life.  Abraham Maslow

Your only obligation in this or any other lifetime is to be true to yourself. Richard Bach

Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can. John Wooden

He that leaveth nothing to chance will do few things ill, but he will do very few things. George Savile Halifax

Self-confidence is the first requisite to great undertakings. Samuel Johnson

If you really put a small value upon yourself, rest assured that the world will not raise your price.  Anonymous

Opportunities to find deeper powers within ourselves come when life seems most challenging.  Joseph Campbell.

Always remember that you are absolutely unique. Just like everyone else. Margaret Mead

At bottom every man knows well enough that he is a unique being, only once on this earth; and by no extraordinary chance will such a marvelously picturesque piece of diversity in unity as he is, ever be put together a second time.    Friedrich Nietzsche

You have to expect things of yourself before you can do them.    Michael Jordan

Push yourself again and again. Don't give an inch until the final buzzer sounds.  Larry Bird

Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Willing is not enough; we must do.      Johann Wolfgang von Goethe 

Happiness is not achieved by the conscious pursuit of happiness; it is generally the by-product of other activities. Aldous Huxley 

Success is the sum of small efforts, repeated day in and day out. Robert Collier

There is only one success - to be able to spend your life in your own way. Christopher Morley

To climb steep hills requires a slow pace at first. Shakespeare

If at first you don't succeed, then quit. There's no use being a damn fool about it. W.C. Fields

The whole of life is but a moment of time. It is our duty, therefore to use it, not to misuse it. Plutarch

Happiness resides not in possessions and not in gold; the feeling of happiness dwells in the soul. Democritus

Let me tell you the secret that has led me to my goal. My strength lies solely in my tenacity. Louis Pasteur

After the game, the king and the pawn go into the same box. Italian Proverb

If you can't accept losing, you can't win. Vince Lombardi

It has been my philosophy of life that difficulties vanish when faced boldly.
Isaac Asimov

Adversity has the effect of eliciting talents, which in prosperous circumstances would have lain dormant. Horace

There is no education like adversity. Benjamin Disraeli

Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day-to-day living that wears you out.
Anton Chekhov

 A man who finds no satisfaction in himself will seek for it in vain elsewhere. La Rochefoucauld

Live up to the best that is in you: Live noble lives, as you all may, in whatever condition you may find yourselves. Henry W. Longfellow

I count him braver who overcomes his desires than him who conquers his enemies; for the hardest victory is the victory over self. Aristotle

Suffering becomes beautiful when anyone bears great calamities with cheerfulness, not through insensibility but through greatness of mind. Aristotle

The fool doth think he is wise, but the wise man knows himself to be a fool. Shakespeare

Adversity's sweet milk, philosophy. Shakespeare

Each of us is meant to have a character all our own, to be what no other can exactly be, and do what no other can exactly do. William Ellery Channing

They can because they think they can. Virgil

Heaven never helps the man who will not act. Sophocles

The searching-out and thorough investigation of truth ought to be the primary study of man. Cicero

People are always blaming their circumstances for what they are. I don't believe in circumstances. The people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want, and if they can't find them make them. George Bernard Shaw

In three words I can sum up everything I've learned about life: it goes on. Robert Frost

The optimist proclaims that we live in the best of all possible worlds; and the pessimist fears this is true. James Branch Cabell

When I hear somebody sigh, "Life is hard," I am always tempted to ask, "Compared to what?" Sydney J. Harris

Enjoy more Inspirational Quotes and Stories!