June 9, 2022 • 7 Minute Read
40 Quotes to Inspire You Create the Life You Want
You have great power within to create the life you want, but the road there may not be easy. Here are some of our favorite quotes to motivate you at every part of the journey.
Like any trip you’ve ever been on, a road trip can be filled with detours, wrong turns, immense fog, bad food, bad drivers and sometimes, you may just find yourself out of gas. But despite all this, (I think) the best part about any road trip, literal or figurative, good or bad, is that you’re out there in the world.
Living. Moving. Growing.
Create the Life You Want.
I’ve found the hardest part of any journey is the decision to start.
When I was 28 I had reached a point in my life where I felt burned out. I had been working long days at a startup and all along had been questioning whether the line of work I was in was the right one for me. Work filled me with stress and anxiety and I had never once had that feeling that this was what I was meant to do and that was important to me. I wanted to live up to my potential. The only problem was, after 28 years, I had no idea what that was.
Up until that point in my life, I had been following a recipe that I thought was tried and true. Study hard. Work hard. Make money. Buy things. Make more money. Buy more expensive things.
I had been following the recipe closely and doing quite well. I was just making the wrong dish.
It was at this point that I realized it was up to me to create the life I want.
Here are some of my favorite quotes that have helped me along the way.
10 Quotes about Getting Started
- “The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.” – Lao Tzu
- “It is never too late to be what you might have been.” – George Eliot
- “The first step towards getting somewhere is to decide you’re not going to stay where you are.” —John Pierpont “J.P.” Morgan
- “Conditions are never perfect.’Someday’ is a disease that will take your dreams to the grave with you.” -Tim Ferriss
- “Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life.” – Steve Jobs
- “The secret of getting ahead is getting started. The secret of getting started is breaking your complex, overwhelming tasks into small manageable tasks, and then starting on the first one.” – Mark Twain
- “Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don’t matter and those who matter don’t mind.” — Dr. Seuss (Theodor Seuss Geisel)
- “Stop being afraid of what could go wrong, and start being excited of what could go right” – Tony Robbins
- “All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us” – J.R.R. Tolkien
- “You miss one hundred percent of the shots you don’t take.” – Wayne Gretzky
Don’t be afraid to get lost.
It was when I finally realized I was using someone else’s ‘recipe for happiness’ that I started my own journey (with great trepidation). I spent close to two years wandering, feeling very, very lost.
I had no idea what kind of living would make me happy or how to get there.
I thought about going back to school, but had no idea what for.
It was purely by accident that I found my way. During my time of wandering, I reflected a lot on the things I used to love when I was younger. One of those things was photography. I discovered B&W photography as a teen. Back then, photography was still film and chemicals in darkrooms. I craved that feeling that I used to get watching photos develop.
In an effort to reconnect with those emotions, I went on a tour of a local art school with the idea of just taking some evening classes. During that tour, on the way to the bathroom, I got lost.
The art school was in the midst of their annual ’Spring Show’ where they showcased all the student’s best work. I couldn’t find the bathroom and while searching for it, I wandered into the graphic design exhibits. I took one look at the work on the walls and I knew that was what I was supposed to be doing.
Quotes about Wrong Turns
- “All that is gold does not glitter, Not all those who wander are lost.” –J.R.R. Tolkein
- “When you set out on a journey and night covers the road, that’s when you discover the stars.” – Nancy Willard
- “Sometimes we can only find our true direction when we let the wind of change carry us.” – Mimi Novic
- “Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try Again. Fail again. Fail better.” – Samuel Beckett
- “Character, like a photograph, develops in darkness.” – Yousuf Karsh
- “Not until we are lost do we begin to understand ourselves” –Henry David Thoreau
- “Count your summers, not your winters.”― Matshona Dhliwayo
- “It is better to light a candle than curse the darkness.” – William L. Watkinson”
- “No matter how hard the past is, you can always begin again.” – Buddha
- “Failures are finger posts on the road to achievement.” – C.S. Lewis
Keep the Faith
I’ve been journeying now for over 20 years. During that time I’ve felt lost. I’ve been found. I’ve had a lot of success. I’ve also had a lot of failure. The one thing that has kept me going and continues to keep me going is the belief that everything will be ok.
And so far, I’ve been right.
Where I’ve arrived has almost always been different that where I imaged or expected.
But it’s always been ok.
Actually, it’s been awesome.
Quote about believing, trusting, and having faith
- “Believe in yourself. You are enough.” – Caroline Ghosn
- “Every action you take is a vote for the type of person you wish to become.” – James Clear
- “Great things are done by a series of small things brought together” – Vincent van Gogh
- “It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop.” – Confuscious
- “What lies behind you and what lies in front of you, pales in comparison to what lies inside of you.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
- “No one who can rise before dawn three hundred sixty days a year fails to make his family rich.” – Malcolm Gladwell
- “Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one’s courage.” –Anais Nin
- To get through the hardest journey we need take only one step at a time, but we must keep on stepping. – Chinese Proverb
- “Don’t quit your day dream” – Anonymous
- “The darkest part of the night is just before dawn.” – Thomas Fuller
Pay Attention.
So often when we start something, we do so with a finish in mind. Maybe it’s a literal finish line. Maybe it’s a piece of paper with our name on it that we want. Or maybe it’s a place. We can be so focused on the destination, that we don’t notice what’s happening on the way there.
Here are some quotes to remind us, that it’s actually the journey that transforms us. Not the other way around.
Quotes about the Journey
- “The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes” – Marcel Proust
- “To finish the moment, to find the journey’s end in every step of the road, to live the greatest number of good hours, is wisdom.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
- “All journeys have secret destinations of which the traveler is unaware.” – Martin Buber
- “The journey between what you once were and who you are now becoming is where the dance of life really takes place.” – Barbara De Angelis
- “The key to realizing a dream is to focus not on success but significance, and then even the small steps and little victories along your path will take on greater meaning.” – Oprah Winfrey
- “Fill your life with experiences, not things. Have stories to tell, not stuff to show” – Unknown
- “Life isn’t about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself” – George Bernard Shaw
- “You are afraid of surrender because you don’t want to lose control – but you never had control. All you had was anxiety.” – Elizabeth Gilbert
- “One’s destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things” – Henry Miller
- “A moment of serendipity is a wink from destiny.”―Efrat Cybulkiewicz
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