30 Quotes That Changed My Life

I have a habit of writing down good quotes. I used to have a diary for them and now they’ve all been transferred to a Google Doc which I access from my phone. So every time I come across a sentence that resonates and touches a chord with me, I quickly try to memorize it and write it down as soon as I get the chance. The thing is I never know where I would pick out a quote from – it could be from a song, a book, a prayer, a movie or even a conversation – which is why I’m always on the lookout.

Now why the habit? I’ve found that I tend to go back to read these quotes whenever I need some motivation, or just feel plain happy about something, or need something to fall back on, or even when I’m drawing a blank in my thoughts. So the point is, they have become an important part of me. I revisit them to reaffirm my beliefs and find answers in difficult situations.

Since these quotes have helped me a lot so far, I wanted to share some of them with you in the hopes that you too, would find them useful in some way or the other in leading your life.

Hope you find your peace in at least one of them. Like I do.

1. Integrity is doing the right thing even when no one is watching. – C.S. Lewis

2. We can’t all be heroes because somebody has to sit on the curb and clap as they go by.

3. The smallest coffins are the heaviest.

4. If you look at what you have in life, you’ll always have more. If you look at what you don’t have in life, you’ll never have enough. – Oprah Winfrey

5. How many times can a man look up before he can see the sky? – Blowin’ in the Wind, Bob Dylan

6. Happiness is only real when shared. – Into the Wild

7. Lord, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can and wisdom to know the difference.

8. War is ugly, senseless and scary as hell, but there are some things worth going to war over. – Grey’s Anatomy

9. In a world where you can be anything, be kind.

10. Sometimes an enemy doesn’t exist till you go looking for him. – Kong: Skull Island

11. The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves. – Julius Caesar, William Shakespeare

12. I suppose no man comes home from war. Not really. – Kong: Skull Island

13. That’s what instinct is, Nemo. Something deep inside you that feels so familiar that you have to listen to it. Like a song you’ve always known. – Finding Nemo

14. There is always something to be grateful for.

15. One was a book thief. The other stole the sky. – The Book Thief, Markus Zusack

16. Calvin – If people sat outside and looked at the stars each night, I’ll bet they’d live a lot differently.
Hobbes – How so?
Calvin – Well, when you look into infinity, you realize that there are more important things than what people do all day.
 – Calvin & Hobbes

17. The tiger is a large-hearted gentleman with boundless courage and that when he is exterminated – as exterminated he will be unless public opinion rallies to his support – India will be the poorer, having lost the finest of her fauna. – Man-Eaters of Kumaon, Jim Corbett

18. We accept the love we think we deserve. – Perks of Being a Wallflower

19. One of the deep secrets of life is that all that is really worth the doing is what we do for others. – Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, Lewis Caroll

20. The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again; but already it was impossible to say which was which. – Animal Farm, George Orwell

21. You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view. Until you climb inside of his skin and walk around in it. – To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee

22. If you want to know what a man’s like, take a good look at how he treats his inferiors, not his equals. – Harry Potter & the Goblet of Fire, J.K. Rowling

23. I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel. – Maya Angelou

24. Actions defined a man; words were a fart in the wind.

25. There are a lot of children in Afghanistan, but little childhood. – The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini

26. Despite everything, I believe that people are really good at heart. – Anne Frank, The Diary of a Young Girl

27. We’re human, after all, and everybody’s got something a little off somewhere. – The Elephant Vanishes, Haruki Murakami

28. We’re all yearning for a wedge of sky, aren’t we? I suspect God plants these yearnings in us so we’ll at least try and change the course of things. We must try, that’s all. – The Invention of Wings, Sue Monk Kidd

29. Their laughter would ring out abruptly, a sound Mother welcomed. “Our slaves are happy,” she would boast. It never occurred to her their gaiety wasn’t contentment, but survival. – The Invention of Wings, Sue Monk Kidd

30. And remember that, if you are ever so forward and clever yourselves, you shall always be modest; for, as much as you know already, there is a great deal more for you to learn. – Mansfield Park, Jane Austen

*Note. Some of the quotes lack sources primarily because of their varied nature and also, in the quest to hurriedly jot them down, the sources slip my mind.

If there is any quote that moved you or changed the way you think, you are more than welcome to share them with me. I would add them to my collection.

My girl, Veyroniqa has has penned down a quote post of her own. She has listed her 8 favourite quotes and the bonus is, she went one step further and described how each one of them has shaped her and how she has implemented the lessons from those quotes in her life. It’s a really beautiful, heartwarming piece. Please go and check it out. I promise you’ll love it just like I did! She is kind enough to even mention that her 8-quotes post has been inspired by Red Velvet. It takes a kind heart to do that. Thank you so much Vey! You’re awesome. 

Read Veyroniqa’s 8 favourite quotes. And while you’re there, check out her super awesome blog “Off With the Faeries“. The name is “off-the-charts” good!