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Quotes about motivation and goals

230 quotes from 178 people

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We can only see a short distance ahead, but we can see plenty there that needs to be done.
Alan Turing1912–1954Computing Machinery and Intelligence (1950), p. 460.
He had discovered a great law of human action, without knowing it⁠—namely, that in order to make a man or a boy covet a thing, it is only necessary to make the thing difficult to attain.
Mark Twain1835–1910The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876), Chapter IIIn context
- Envy
In war, then, let your great object be victory, not lengthy campaigns.
Sun Tzu544–496 BCThe Art of War (5th century BC), Chapter IIIn context
- War & Peace
If you are going through hell, keep going.
?UnattributedOften credited to Winston Churchill
It’s not the size of the dog in the fight, it’s the size of the fight in the dog.
?UnattributedOften credited to Mark Twain
They can because they think they can.
Virgil70–19 BCAeneid (29–19 BC), Book V, Line 231 (tr. John Conington)
If I cannot sway the heavens, I’ll wake the powers of hell!
Virgil70–19 BCAeneid (29–19 BC), Book VII, Line 312 (tr. Robert Fagles); spoken by Juno.
The world cares very little about what a man or woman knows; it is what a man or woman is able to do that counts.
Booker T. Washington1856–1915
That you are here⁠—that life exists and identity,
That the powerful play goes on, and you may contribute a verse.
Walt Whitman1819–1892O Me! O Life! (1867)In context
- Life & Death
- Poetry
There is no chance, no destiny, no fate,
Can circumvent or hinder or control
The firm resolve of a determined soul.
Ella Wheeler Wilcox1850–1919“Will,” included in Maurine: And Other Poems, p. 145 (1882)
- Luck
Ambition is the last refuge of the failure.
Oscar Wilde1854–1900Phrases and Philosophies for the Use of the Young (1894)
- Failure
Action … is the last resource of those who know not how to dream.
Oscar Wilde1854–1900The Critic as Artist (1891), Part I
We must have patience and not lose heart, submitting to the will of God, and striving incessantly, as I have resolved to do, come what may.
William the Silent1533–1584Letter to his brother, Louis of Nassau, as quoted in William the Silent (1897) by Frederic Harrison, p. 93
- Faith
A man has to have goals — for a day, for a lifetime — and that was mine, to have people say, “There goes Ted Williams, the greatest hitter who ever lived.”
Ted Williams1918–2002My Turn at Bat: The Story of My Life (1970), p. 7
- Baseball
There is no more powerful motivation than to feel we’re being used in the creation of a world where love has healed all wounds.
Marianne Williamsonborn 1952A Return to Love: Reflections on the Principles of “A Course in Miracles” (1992), Ch. 7: Work, §9: Sales to Service
- Love