What quotes inspire you?

"Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle" - unknown

"Preach the gospel at all times, and when necessary, use words" - St. Francis of Assisi

It is better to start somewhere than nowhere

Useful at work as well as in private. I am generally one that is better than finishing things than starting them, so this quote is helpful.

I feel like this thread was made for me. Here are my favorites, pulled deep from the Crandiboot archives:

"A little nonsense now and then is relished by the wisest men."

• Willy Wonka (Gene Wilder version, don't know if there's an original source)

"Its a fool who looks for logic in the chambers of the human heart."

• O' Brother Where Art Thou

"Distractions are the ultimate equalizer— no matter how good you are."

• Legendary MInnesota Vikings Head Coach, Bud Grant.

"I know that all over the world there are young people borrowing from relatives and saving their allowances to buy their first cameras and put together their first student movies, some of them dreaming of becoming famous and making a fortune. But a few are dreaming of finding out what matters to them, of saying to themselves and to anyone who will listen, “I care.” A few of them want to make good movies."

• Sidney Lumet

"So many of us choose our path out of fear disguised as practicality. What we really want seems impossibly out of reach and ridiculous to expect, so we never dare to ask the universe for it."

• Jim Carrey

"When nothing seems to help, go look at the stonecutter
hammering away at his rock- perhaps a hundred times
without as much as a crack to show.
Yet at the hundred and first blow, it will split in two,
and I know it was not the final blow that did it,
but all that had gone before."

• Jacob Riis (edited slightly by me)

"It has long since come to my attention that people of accomplishment rarely sat back and let things happen to them. They went out and happened to things."

• Falsely attributed to Da Vinci, it's from an Elinor Smith book I have not read

"Start listening to the crowd and pretty soon you'll be up there sitting with them."

• I think an NFL coach, I lost the source

"If idle thoughts don't outnumber all other thoughts, you're too busy."

• A random redditor

None of these are really "quotes" so much as things I've been told that really stuck and served me well:

"Pay attention to the toilet paper": this is a reminder to check for waste in places that we usually ignore. It comes from a senior business leader recounting his experience being sent to manage a recent acquisition. The facility was overstaffed but missing production targets. He noticed that the toilet paper costs were unusually high based on his experience running other facilities. Turns out people would go into the bathroom, shove toilet paper in the cracks in the stall and take naps, watch movies, etc. Obviously this was a delicate problem to solve because you cannot dictate bathroom breaks. But they did eventually get the facility running smoother and now it regularly wins in competitions on safety and retention.

"Computations are the rumble strips on the highway of math.": A reminder to not get lost in theory or process, but just do the thing first. It's a clunky quote (I find endearing) that my advisor told me. A lot of my research was very abstract but often when stuck, just computing the damn thing helped highlight issues.

"The most important thing is being right, the second most important is correcting yourself if you're wrong.": Another good advisor quote. A reminder that as a mathematician people depend on me to be correct and to accurately apply numbers and measures to the world. If I find an error in my work it is my responsibility to update anyone who uses my work.

"Don't say no for someone else": A common thing but something I remember frequently. If there is an opportunity you are interested in you first need to put yourself out there. Don't deny yourself an opportunity because the process appears intimidating or you feel unqualified. That's someone else's decision to make.

One of the most influential books on my life is "The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress" by Robert Heinlein. While the libertarian stuff has not aged well in my mind, the concept of rational anarchism really stuck with me. They shaped the core of my moral compass for the better over the course of 20 years. These two quotes by Prof really hammer it home for me:

I will accept any rules that you feel necessary to your freedom. I am free, no matter what rules surround me. If I find them tolerable, I tolerate them; if I find them too obnoxious, I break them. I am free because I know that I alone am morally responsible for everything I do.

This really provided a nice guidance toward examining my own moral framework, which lead me away from bigotry and ironically libertarianism later.

A rational anarchist believes that concepts such as ‘state’ and ‘society’ and ‘government’ have no existence save as physically exemplified in the acts of self-responsible individuals. He believes that it is impossible to shift blame, share blame, distribute blame… as blame, guilt, responsibility are matters taking place inside human beings singly and nowhere else. But being rational, he knows that not all individuals hold his evaluations, so he tries to live perfectly in an imperfect world…aware that his effort will be less than perfect yet undismayed by self-knowledge of self-failure.
[...]
My point is that one person is responsible. Always. [...] In terms of morals there is no such thing as ‘state.’ Just men. Individuals. Each responsible for his own acts.

This is why ACAB, until such time that all cops root out the bad actors. Why the leaders of giant multinational corporations must be held accountable to the wrongdoing of those corporations, regardless of their personal knowledge of these wrongdoings. Why the Republican voter is morally equivalent to the fascist they elect to represent their interests.

And why do I find this inspiring? Because it inspired me to better myself. It made me reflect upon the world around me, my place in it, and how to reconcile the feeling of helplessness when faced with the consequences of giant systemic failings around us.

Two ones to live life by

I hate to advocate drugs, alcohol, violence, or insanity to anyone, but they've always worked for me.

Hunter S. Thompson

And

When you arise in the morning, think of what a precious privilege it is to be alive - to breathe, to think, to enjoy, to love.

Marcus Aurelius

So, depending on the morning, you've always got a thought to keep you sane.

As a slow-witted human being I have a very small head and I had better learn to live with it and to respect my limitations and give them full credit, rather than to try to ignore them, for the latter vain effort will be punished by failure.

• Edsger Dijkstra

There was a similar piece of advice I've heard before, something along the lines of

If your plan starts with "If everyone just..." then you don't have a plan. At no point in human history has everyone "just".

I take the Djikstra quote with a similar meaning, but applied to yourself as an individual; it's not a lamentation for our inabilities, it's just a reminder never to make plans based on false perceptions of yourself.

"Life is this crazy, mystical thing, and sometimes you just go out like a buster, and there is nothing you can do about it." - an ancient philosopher, 2016

"You’re thinking I’m a tramp, aren’t you? Well, I’m not. It’s hardly my fault that the world is full of wonderful, lovable people. Such a thing really motivates one to get out there and save it." - Leon, Fire Emblem Echoes

Know which side you're standing on, don't let people tell you you're wrong when you know you're right.

• Jason Kay, lead singer of Jamiroquai

I may have more to share later, but that one's stuck with me for decades.

You are what you love, not what loves you.

From the film Adaptation.

Also,

Every path is the right path. Everything could've been anything else. And it would have just as much meaning.

From the film Mr Nobody.

Or, for one from literature,

What matters—all that matters, really—is the will to happiness, a kind of enormous, ever-present consciousness. The rest—women, art, success—is nothing but excuses. A canvas waiting for our embroideries

From A Happy Death by Camus.

Everything great that has ever happened to humanity since the beginning has begun as a single thought in someone's mind... and if any one of us is capable of such a great thought, then all of us have the same capacity, because we're all the same.

Yiannis Chryssomallis, fulfilling a lifelong dream at The Acropolis in Greece, September 25th, 1993.

"You are not the darkness that tried to consume you. You are the light that refused to surrender."

"Life is not about 'finding' yourself, it's about 'creating' yourself. We are all works in progress."

"Normal is a setting for the washing machine."

It's a bit cheesy but the IDLES song "Television" has a good lyric:

If someone talked to you,
The way you do to you,
I'd put their teeth through,
Love yourself

It's pretty obvious and is a interesting way to put down negative self talk.

You must go on. I can't go on. I'll go on.

Samuel Beckett, The Unnamable

When I need to dig deep.

Try so hard that one day you won't have to try is a phrase I picked up while I was getting ready for state competitions in high school, and it's helped motivate me since then through a lot more than I would've thought.

A quote I can actually attribute to a source off the top of my head would be Proverbs 5:11 - And thou mourn at the last when thy flesh and thy body are consumed, which I've kept in my head to check my ego whenever I feel like acting against my best interests.

"A man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest." Paul Simon

I don't know if this inspires me so much as it helps me understand situations that otherwise baffle me.

These use some space in my brain, and either I or my wife often mention them to each other. They are part of our shared language. Like memes, but motivational.

Action precedes motivation

Internet?

Early to bed, early to raise, work hard and advertise

This one is either from Arnold Schwarzenegger documentary or biography. And I believe he is quoting an AT&T CEO.

If you feel like you hate everyone, eat something; If you feel like everyone hates you, go to sleep; If you feel like you hate yourself, have a shower; If you feel like everyone hates everyone, go outside.

Internet??

Invert, always invert

Charlie Munger

It's funny how some distance makes everything seem small

Lyrics from Frozen

Each of us is given to discover that by changing themselves they can contribute to changing something in the world. This is a mysterious commandment, for it contains the fantastic idea that everyone can set the world in motion. But it is a logical commandment, because if I and you and they and everyone else do not decide to take that path, the world in which we live, which we help shape and for which we are responsible will never be able to move either. Each of us must begin with ourselves!

Václav Havel, slightly edited by me.

I framed a greeting card that I keep by the bathroom mirror:
"It'll all be OK in the end.
If it's not OK, it's not the end"
(there is no attribution)

This doesn't inspire me the way you might imagine.

It reminds me of an episode of The Walking Dead, when Carol, who believes she is dying, is lying on the road, laughing. Because she cannot be threatened or hurt any more and all of her burdens are lifted. (She didn't actually die then, but...)

The quote reminds me that in the end, I will have to let go of everything. Everything. And that will be OK. I find that comforting.

The world is cursed. But still, you find reasons to keep living.
-Hayoa Miyazaki, Princess Mononoke

This is a dialogue, but I think about this frequently.

“All right," said Susan. "I'm not stupid. You're saying humans need... fantasies to make life bearable."

REALLY? AS IF IT WAS SOME KIND OF PINK PILL? NO. HUMANS NEED FANTASY TO BE HUMAN. TO BE THE PLACE WHERE THE FALLING ANGEL MEETS THE RISING APE.

"Tooth fairies? Hogfathers? Little—"

YES. AS PRACTICE. YOU HAVE TO START OUT LEARNING TO BELIEVE THE LITTLE LIES.

"So we can believe the big ones?"

YES. JUSTICE. MERCY. DUTY. THAT SORT OF THING.

"They're not the same at all!"

YOU THINK SO? THEN TAKE THE UNIVERSE AND GRIND IT DOWN TO THE FINEST POWDER AND SIEVE IT THROUGH THE FINEST SIEVE AND THEN SHOW ME ONE ATOM OF JUSTICE, ONE MOLECULE OF MERCY. AND YET—Death waved a hand. AND YET YOU ACT AS IF THERE IS SOME IDEAL ORDER IN THE WORLD, AS IF THERE IS SOME...SOME RIGHTNESS IN THE UNIVERSE BY WHICH IT MAY BE JUDGED.

"Yes, but people have got to believe that, or what's the point—"

MY POINT EXACTLY.”
-Terry Pratchett, Hogfather

In particular, I like this film adaptation that illuminates the point a little more clearly with Death's last line. "YOU NEED TO BELIEVE THINGS THAT AREN'T TRUE. HOW ELSE CAN THEY BECOME?" It's really changed my perspective on looking at things that might feel impossible with our current systems.

Oh, I have over 1000 in my collection. Here is a selection:

We are an impossibility in an impossible universe.
~ Ray Bradbury

Despite all my rage, I am still just a rat in a cage.
~ Smashing Pumpkins, "Bullet with Butterfly Wings"

I walked up to a beautiful woman in a bar, and I said, "Do you live around here often?"
And she said, "You're wearing two different colored socks."
and I said, "I know, but to me they're the same, I go by thickness."
~ Steven Wright

Let us then, be up and doing,
With a heart for any fate;
Still achieving, still pursuing,
Learn to labor and to wait.
~ Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

For a list of all the ways technology has failed to improve the quality of life, please press three.
~ Alice Kahn

If you don't stick to your values when they're being tested, they're not values, they're hobbies.
~ Jon Stewart

Did you hear my covert narcissism I disguise as altruism
Like some kind of congressman?

~ Taylor Swift, "Antihero"

You cannot explain human nature unless you abandon rationality. Fortunately, if you abandon rationality, you can explain anything.
~ JoAnne Schmitz

“Wen considered the nature of time and understood that the universe is, instant by instant, re-created anew. Therefore, he understood, there is, in truth, no Past, only a memory of the Past. Blink your eyes, and the world you see next did not exist when you closed them. Therefore, he said, the only appropriate state of the mind is surprise. The only appropriate state of the heart is joy. The sky you see now, you have never seen before. The perfect moment is now. Be glad of it.”

Sir Terry Pratchett - Thief of Time

I just remembered one other quote that continues to influence me. It's from The Hagakure by Yamamoto Tsunetomo.

There is something to be learned from a rainstorm. When meeting with a sudden shower, you try not to get wet and run quickly along the road. But doing such things as passing under the eaves of houses, you still get wet. When you are resolved from the beginning, you will not be perplexed, though you will still get the same soaking. This understanding extends to everything.

For me, it relates to identifying what's coming and understanding that regardless of what happens, you're about to be in it. Even with your best preparations and plans, you're going to find yourself in that rainstorm, in that coming situation. Instead of lamenting how nice it would be to be dry, or how nice it would have been for things to have turned out differently ... you're still going to get soaked, you're still going to be in that situation. So identify it, understand it, and accept it.

You don't necessarily have to like where you're at, what you're experiencing. But you should be clear-eyed about it.

Coming home from very lonely places, all of us go a little mad: whether from great personal success, or just an all-night drive, we are the sole survivors of a world no one else has ever seen.

• John le Carrè

A bit terrifying to think that no one will ever see the world exactly from our perspective. But it's also inspiring, to me, that our experiences are truly our own.

Wow, some awesome quotes here - I love quote sharing threads. I still have a few old reddit ones I saved - though of course most of the best comments have been deleted. Here are a few many of my favourites:

"Fairy tales are more than true - not because they tell us dragons exist, but because they tell us dragons can be beaten." - G.K. Chesterton

“Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the conquest of it.” - No source

“The justice of the world is in its creativity, in solving problems, in our activity and struggle. While I am alive there is the possibility to act, to strive for happiness; this is justice.” – Simon Soloveychik

"Aut viam inveniam aut faciam. - I will either find a way, or make one." - Hannibal Barca

"I do not think I can win. I know I will." - From Mirumoto in the mildly popular Legend of 5 Rings tabletop RPG. A little arrogant, but it gives an important reminder for me: you have to believe in yourself if you want to get things done.

“A man should be upright, not kept upright.” – Marcus Aurelius (If my old source was right)

"Live a good life. If there are gods and they are just, then they will not care how devout you have been, but will welcome you based on the virtues you have lived by. If there are gods, but unjust, then you should not want to worship them. If there are no gods, then you will be gone, but will have lived a noble life that will live on in the memories of your loved ones." - Often attributed to Marcus Aurelius but I've seen that this is incorrect. I never have found a solid source.

"We read fantasy to find the colors again, I think. To taste strong spices and hear the song the sirens sang. There is something old and true in fantasy that speaks to something deep within us, to the child who dreamt that one day he would hunt the forests of the night, and feast beneath the hollow hills, and find a love to last forever, somewhere south of Oz and north of Shangri-La. They can keep their heaven. When I die, I'd sooner go to Middle Earth." - George R. R. Martin

“It is our failure to become our perceived ideal that ultimately defines us and makes us unique. It's not easy, but if you accept your misfortune and handle it right, your perceived failure can become a catalyst for profound re-invention.” – Conan O’Brien

“Between safety and adventure, I choose adventure.” – Craig Ferguson

“And do you know what I like about comedy? You can’t laugh and be afraid at the same time—of anything. If you're laughing, I defy you to be afraid.” – Stephen Colbert (yes, I do love me some comedians)

“Don’t be afraid to be a fool. ... Young people who pretend to be wise to the ways of the world are mostly just cynics. Cynicism masquerades as wisdom, but it is the farthest thing from it. Because cynics don’t learn anything. Because cynicism is a self-imposed blindness, a rejection of the world because we are afraid it will hurt us or disappoint us. Cynics always say no. But saying yes begins things. Saying yes is how things grow. Saying yes leads to knowledge. "Yes" is for young people. So for as long as you have the strength to, say yes.” – Stephen Colbert

And finally, one that really speaks to me in today's world:
“Duty, assuming all tasks, can betray arrogance. The idea that we can know what must be done, and do it properly. We cannot know the future, my friend. It claims so much to imagine we can. And the world is not broken any more than it always, always is.” – From Under Heaven, by Guy Gavriel Kay