Inspirational Quotations

compiled by Earl W. Fee © 2003

Earl W. Fee is the author of How to be a Champion from 9 to 90. The book is about Body,Mind & Spirit Training.

from NEWSLETTER - April 23, 2003—#32

The quotations below I have selected form a wide number on the internet. See in particular the last quotation at the end. See also Chapter 25 in my book.

GENERAL

If it’s easy it’s probably been done before. Howard Schatz

It’s never too late to be what you might have been. George Eliot

I hope I may always desire more than I can accomplish. Michelangelo Buonarroti ( 1475-1564)

Expect problems and eat them for breakfast. Alfred A. Montapert

Have confidence that if you have done a little thing well, you can do a bigger thing well too. Ralph Waldo Emerson

I run to see who has the most guts. Steve Prefontaine

Discipline is the bridge between goals and accomplishment. Anon

Dream of things that never were and ask why not. George Bernard Shaw

The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of the dream. Eleanor Roosevelt

Excellence is in the defeats. Give attention to the defeats and excellence will follow. Perry Paxton

Fear is a darkroom where negatives develop. Asmon Asif

Genius is nothing more than a great aptitude for patience. Georges L. Lederc

In the struggle between the stone and water, in time, the water wins. Japanese Proverb

Ever tried. Ever failed. No mater. Try again. Fail again. Fail better. Samuel Beckett

I think and think for months and years. Ninety-nine times, the conclusion is false. The hundredth time I am right. Albert Einstein

It’s not that I am so smart, it’s just that I stay with the problems longer. Albert Einstein

Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend four hours sharpening the ax. Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865)

Readiness is all. William Shakespeare

Be ready. Fail. Be more ready next time. Earl Fee

You miss 100% of the shots you never take. Wayne Gretzky

To dare is risk losing your foothold for a moment. Not to dare is to risk losing yourself. Soren Kierkegaard

As a rule, the mind, residing in a body that has been weakened by pampering, is also weak, and where there is no strength of mind there can be no strength of soul. Mohandas Gandhi

A gem cannot be perfected without friction, nor a man perfected without trials. Chinese Proverb

No pressure, no diamonds. Mary Case

Each experience makes us bigger. The setbacks and grieves we endure help us in our marching forward. Henry Ford

Search for the seed of good in every adversity. Og Mardino

A certain amount of opposition is a great help in a man. Kites rise against the wind. John Neal

Fear: Whenever we’re afraid, it’s because we don’t know enough. If we knew understood enough, we would never be afraid. Earl Nightingale

You never conquer a mountain. Mountains can’t be conquered: you conquer yourself—your hopes, your fears. Jim Whitaker

Confront your fears, list them, get to know them, and only then will you be able to put them aside and move ahead. Jerry Gillie

Feel the fear and do it anyway. Susan Jeffers

Confidence and courage come through preparation and practice. Anon

Confidence comes from hours, days, weeks, years of constant work and dedication. Roger Staubach

Thank god for competition. When our competition upsets our plans or our designs, they open infinite possibilities of our own work for us. Gil Atkinson

There are always two choices. Two paths to take. One is easy. And it‘s only reward is that it’s easy. Anon

Welcome the task that makes you go beyond yourself. Farnk Mcgee

Undertake something that is difficult; it will do you good. Unless you try to do something beyond what you have already mastered, you will never grow. Ronald E. Osborn

All things are difficult before they become easy. John Norley

Difficulties strengthen he mind, as labour does the body. Seneca

What you get by achieving your goals is not as important as what you become by achieving you goals. Zig Zigler

In adulthood, necessity is the Mother of invention, but in childhood, Mother is the necessity of invention. Earl Fee

The principle is competing against yourself. It’s about improvement, about being better than you were the day [or year] before. Steve Young

The secret of living a life of excellence is merely a matter of thinking thoughts of excellence. Charles Swindall. [ I have tried this principle in living a life of luxury. No matter how hard I think thoughts of luxury it just doesn’t work for me.]

The excellence is in the details. Gregory L. Sullivan

Motivation gets you started. Habit keeps you going. Jim Ryun

Motivation is about goal setting. No goal no motivation. Earl Fee

The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. Thomas Paine

I am willing to put myself through anything; temporary pain or discomfort means nothing to me as long as I can see that the experience will take me to a new [higher] level. Diana Nyad

Deep within man dwell those slumbering powers; powers that would astonish him, that he never dreamed of possessing, forces that would revolutionize his life if aroused and put into action. Orsen Swett Marden.

[We are each like a sleeping giant tied down with many shackles and not knowing or exerting the hidden powers within us. But these powers if awakened and aroused can break these bindings and compel us to gigantic feats not dreamed possible. Earl Fee]

He who stops being better [improving], stops being good. Oliver Cromwell

Winning is not everything but the effort to win is. Zig Zigler

If your set a goal for yourself and are able to achieve it you have won your race, your goal may be to come in first, to improve your performance or just to finish the race—it’s up to you. Dave Scott

HABITS

A winner knows where he is going and how he is going to get there with good consistent habits. A loser dreams of getting there, hopes to get there, knows not the how, and has developed bad habits. Earl Fee

Order is half of life. German Proverb

Winners are the people who make a habit of doing the things losers that are uncomfortable doing. Ed Foreman

First we form habits and then they form us. Conquer your bad habits or they will conquer you. Rob Gilbert

Your decision to be, have or do something out of the ordinary entails facing difficulties that are out of the ordinary as well. Sometimes your greatest asset is simply your ability to stay with it longer than anyone else. Brian Tracy

Power includes the capacity to overcome deeply embedded habits to cultivate higher, more effective ones. Stephen R. Covey

The greatest people will be those who possess the best capacities, cultivated with the best habits. James Harris

It’s not what you do once in a while, it’s what you do day in and day out that makes the difference. Jenny Craig

We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then is not an act but a habit. Aristotle

First declare and say what you would become, then study and evaluate what actions and habits you need to do to get there, then establish the associated consistent habits, and eliminate the detrimental habits. If you follow through you become a champion. Earl Fee