Motivation is our driving force. Without motivation we can’t go on, it’s the psychological energy that dynamises our behavior and drives us to pursue our dreams, persevere and tackle adversity. Of course, motivation is not magical and often is not enough to achieve our goals, but if there is no intrinsic motivation, we can be certain that we will be destined to fail because it is an essential factor to move forward.
In fact, many of the great inventors, philosophers, and successful people have recognized through different motivational phrases the value of that inner strength that encourages us to follow when everything seems to go wrong. Some of these motivational phrases can help you find strength in the toughest moments. And sometimes, a motivational phrase at the right time, may be all you need to continue.
Wise words for the toughest moments
1. Keep your face always toward the sunshine, and shadows will fall behind you. – Walt Whitman
2 When one door of happiness closes, another opens; but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one which has been opened for us. – Helen Keller
3. Life is 10% of what happens to you and 90% of how you react. – Charles Swindoll
4. The primary cause of unhappiness is never the situation but your thoughts about it. – Eckhart Tolle
5. Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds that you plant. – Robert Louis Stevenson
6. When you stop chasing the wrong things, you give the right things a chance to catch you. – Lolly Daskal
7. To accomplish great things, we must not only act, but also dream; not only plan, but also believe. – Anatole France
Sometimes a little change of attitude changes everything. We must make sure we do not turn the improbable into impossible, not focus too much on the dark side of the moon to forget that it also has a bright side. These motivational phrases do not mean that positive attitude can do everything, but it does certainly help a lot.
8. It’s never too late to be what you might have been. – George Eliot
9. A tulip doesn’t strive to impress anyone. It doesn’t struggle to be differentthan a rose. … And there’s room in the garden for every flower. – Marianne Williamson
10. Remind yourself that you cannot fail at being yourself. – Wayne Dyer
11. The only person you are destined to become is the person you decide to be. – Ralph Waldo Emerson
12. When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be. Lao Tzu
The best way to avoid losing the compass is to make sure we are ourselves and try to overcome each day, getting the best version of ourselves. Extrinsic motivation does not last, intrinsic motivation is a great source of energy that easily recharges our batteries.
13. Failure is success if we learn from it. – Malcolm Forbes
14. Success does not consist in never making mistakes but in never making the same one a second time. – George Bernard Shaw
15. Those that do not make mistakes are not looking hard enough. – Wess Roberts
16. Success seems to be largely a matter of hanging after others have let go. – William Feather
17. Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently. – Henry Ford
18. Defeat is not the worst of failures. Do not try is the true failure. – George Edward Woodberry
19. Only one thing makes a dream impossible: the fear of failure. – Paulo Coelho
20. Do not worry about failures, worry about the chances that you miss when you do not even try. – Jack Canfield
21. Success is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm. – Winston Churchill
22. Motivation is what gets you started. Habit is what keeps you going. – Jim Ryun
These motivational phrases speak of our fear of failure, and how it often blocks us. However, people who succeed are aware that often the difference between failure and success is just to make a further step, resist a little bit. Errors are learning opportunities, no excuse is good for throwing the towel.
23. Do what you can, with what you have, wherever you are. – Theodore Roosevelt
24. Most people spend more time and energy going around problems than in trying to solve them. – Henry Ford
25. You must do the things you think you cannot do. – Eleanor Roosevelt
26. It is not that we have so little time, but that we lose so much. – Seneca
27. You do not have to be great to start, but you have to start to be great. – Zig Ziglar
28. The man who moves mountains begins by carryng away small stones. – Confucius
29. You’ve got to get up every morning with determination if you’re going to go to bed with satisfaction. – George Lorimer
30. The most difficult thing is the decision to act, the rest is merely tenacity. – Amelia Earhart
At the basis of every great conquest there is always perseverance. Behind every great idea there is a lot of work, often not seen, but it is the difference between making a dream and remain halfway. That is why, if we have big projects, we must be aware that we will have to make great sacrifices in terms of time and energy.
31. Nothing splendid has ever been achieved except by those who dared believe that something insidethem was superior to circumstance.- Bruce Barton
32. Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off your goal. – Henry Ford
33. Not willing is the cause, cannot do it is the pretext. – Seneca
34. There are three types of people. Those who make things happen, those who look at the things that happen and those who wonder what happened. – Nicholas Murray Butler
If we do not believe in ourselves, no one else will. To achieve great things we must be aware of our potential, of what we can accomplish. If we do not believe that we can do something, we will always find some excuses for abandoning.
35. We win and lose, we go up and down, we born and die. And if the story is so simple, why worry so much? – Facundo Cabral
36. Your present circumstances don’t determine where you can go; they merely determine where you start. – Nido Qubein
37. Happiness is hidden at the happiness’ waiting room. – Eduard Punset
38. It’s the possibility of having a dream come true that makes life interesting. – Paulo Coelho
39. It always seems impossible until it’s done. – Nelson Mandela
40. Successful people do things that others don’t: they do not want things to be easier, but they want to overcome themselves. – Jim Rohn
41. It’s always early to quit. – Norman Vincent Peale
These motivational phrases remind us that we must not forget to be happy as we pursue our goals, we must not postpone happiness after doing some things because in the meantime, life goes on, and we are unable to pause it.
42. Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear, not absence of fear. – Mark Twain
43. Do not let the fear of losing be greater than the excitement of winning. – Robert Kiyosaki
44. The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don’t have any. – Alice Walker
45. You can never cross the ocean until you have the courage to lose sight of the shore. – Christopher Columbus
46. You may have to fight a battle more than once to win it. – Margaret Thatcher
47. The world breaks everyone, and afterward, some are strong at the broken places. – Ernest Hemingway
48. Sometimes you don’t realize your own strength until you come face to face with your greatest weakness. – Susan Gale
49. All the great stories of the world begin with a person who decided not to give up, but continued without worrying about what would happen. – Lorry Spryte
50. Little minds are tamed and subdued by misfortune; but great minds rise above them. – Washington Irving
People who went beyond are not those who are not afraid, but those who have managed to overcome it or use it in their favor as a motivational factor. Often the most difficult circumstances are those that make us grow, so we should not be afraid of them.