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Iain Abernethy
Iain Abernethy's picture
Motivating Quotations

Hi All,

Let’s start the “Motivating Quotations” thread on this forum too! Here are a few old favorites:

‘The superior man makes the difficulty to be overcome his first interest; success comes later’ – Confucius

‘I am grateful for all my problems... as each of them was overcome, I became stronger and more able to meet those yet to come. I grew in all my difficulties.’ – J.C. Penney

‘Strength does not come from physical capacity. It comes from an indomitable will.’ – Mahatma Gandhi

‘Only dead fish swim with the stream.’ – Malcolm Muggeridge

‘It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood.’ – Theodore Roosevelt

All the best,

Iain

DaveHaze
DaveHaze's picture

He who overcomes others is strong, he who overcomes himself is mighty. (?)

Lee Taylor
Lee Taylor's picture

To master the way you must become the way.

HawaiianBrian
HawaiianBrian's picture

"Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it. Do not believe in traditions because they have been handed down for many generations. Do not believe anything because it is spoken and rumored by many. Do not believe in anything because it is written in your religious books. Do not believe in anything merely on the authority of your teachers and elders. But after observation and analysis, when you find that anything agrees with reason and is conducive to the good and the benefit of one and all, then accept it and live up to it." - Gautama Buddha

The lessons that Buddha preached from the above quote surely transgress specific religious, cultural, and ethnic association, and one can find such lessons in ANY culture, but I find that quote is the greatest thing I (try to, but numerous times fail to) live by.

Adam
Adam's picture

"One thing you'll discover is that life is based less than you think on what you've learned, and much more than you think on what you have inside you right from the beginning." - Bret "The Hitman" Hart

Gary Chamberlain
Gary Chamberlain's picture

"Every winner has scars"  (Herbert N. Casson)

Simple but profound.  It's never pain free.

Gary

Jamie Clubb
Jamie Clubb's picture

This is a wonderful quote by the late great Carl Sagen. Wouldn't it be wonderful to be able to replace the word "science" with martial arts. It truly defines what I mean by an open mind as opposed to an empty head:

Carl Sagen wrote:
At the heart of science is an essential balance between two seemingly contradictory attitudes—an openness to new ideas, no matter how bizarre or counterintuitive they may be, and the most ruthless skeptical scrutiny of all ideas, old and new. This is how deep truths are winnowed from deep nonsense.

Gary Chamberlain
Gary Chamberlain's picture

Consider it done:

"At the heart of all good martial arts is an essential balance between two seemingly contradictory attitudes—an openness to new ideas, no matter how bizarre or counterintuitive they may be, and the most ruthless skeptical scrutiny of all ideas, old and new. This is how deep truths are winnowed from deep nonsense".

smiley

Gary Chamberlain
Gary Chamberlain's picture

"If somethings worth fighting for, it's worth fighting dirty for"

wink

Al Peasland
Al Peasland's picture

"If it was easy - everyone would be good!"

Al Peasland
Al Peasland's picture

I love this one - and quite apt for this time of year.

"You should be less concerned about what you eat between Christmas and New Year; and more concerned about what you eat between New Year and Christmas"

Happy New Year everyonecheeky

Al x

Andrew Carr-Locke
Andrew Carr-Locke's picture

No matter what your intellectual comprehension, if you copy someone else- your Zen is dead. 

(can't remember- from the book: Sword of No-sword)

Finlay
Finlay's picture

Argue your limitations, and sure enough they are yours - Richard Bach

How can i change the world if i can't even change myself - Maxi jazz

What's for you, won't go by you - My mum (possibly someone said this before she did)

Do or do not, there is no try - Yoda

swdw
swdw's picture

"Anything worth doing is worth doing right." Hunter S Thompson

"He who ignores discipline despises himself, but whoever heeds correction gains understanding." Proverbs 15:32

"A friend is the man who knows all about you, and still likes you."  Elbert Hubbard

Gary Chamberlain
Gary Chamberlain's picture

"The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. To be your own man is a hard business. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself"  (Rudyard Kipling)

I love that - so much in fact that I've just put it on my office wall. 

Gary

Harry Mord
Harry Mord's picture

"possunt, quia posse videntur. "

("They can, because they think they can.")

-- Publius Vergilius Maro (Roman poet, 1st century BC)