Motivational and Inspirational Quotes

[JediNickD]

“Better a little which is well done, than a great deal imperfectly.”

– Plato

[KaraDavar]

“The most important step a man can take. It's not the first one, is it? It's the next one. Always the next step, Dalinar.”

    - Brandon Sanderson, Oathbringer

Always seems to give me the impetus to just... keep... going.

[Marmadukian]

"The hardest thing in this world is to live in it. Be brave. Live"

 - Buffy Summers, Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

[SjardisDead]

 

"Mine is not the reason why, but to do and die"

[Marmadukian]

"Number one reason a person will not succeed is because they are unwilling to endure the monotony of success"

[SjardisDead]

 

"We are born and we die. No one cares, no one remembers, and it doesn't matter. This is why we laugh."

 

Josh Stanton (The Gnoll Credo)

[JediNickD]

“Today I will do what others won’t so tomorrow I can do what others can’t.”

- Jerry Rice

[Raincloak]

"Infinite resignation is the last step before faith."  -- Kierkegaard

[JediNickD]

"Kindness should become the natural way of life, not the exception."
-Buddha

[RubiksCat]

On 9/7/2019 at 8:01 PM, Raincloak said:

"Infinite resignation is the last step before faith."  -- Kierkegaard

I like this quote, it feels like I'm on the cusp of understanding what it means. Explain please?

[JediNickD]

1 hour ago, Rubik'sCat said:

I like this quote, it feels like I'm on the cusp of understanding what it means. Explain please?

 

I love analyzing quotes!  You can read about the concept here: 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knight_of_faith

https://hinessight.blogs.com/church_of_the_churchless/2012/02/kierkegaard-leaps-of-faith-and-birth-control-controversy.html

 

Context for the quote certainly helps.

Kierkegaard writes the quote in his book Fear and Trembling while analyzing Abraham burning his son Isaac in the Old Testament: "Infinite resignation is the last stage before faith, so anyone who has not made this movement does not have faith, for only in infinite resignation does an individual become conscious of his eternal validity, and only then can one speak of grasping existence by virtue of faith."

 

You could write the same thing about the Game of Thrones scene where that one dude burns his daughter to appease a god, but it does not go well for him.  Faith had committed him fully to doing crazy things believing he would be rewarded. 

 

I guess if you are religious, then the quote may speak to you in a motivational way for leaps of faith.  If you are not religious or if you more rational in your beliefs, then it is a warning of the danger of leaps of faith.

[JediNickD]

Funny how I started this thread off with a quote from the same author and have always thought fondly of his work and agree with much of his thoughts, but had not really delved into like I did today.  The concept is actually one I am writing about for a study, and I would not have thought to include Kierkegaard's work in Fear and Trembling without your question!  So thank you very much!

 

"Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards."

--Soren Kierkegaard (1813 - 1855)

[Raincloak]

5 hours ago, Rubik'sCat said:

I like this quote, it feels like I'm on the cusp of understanding what it means. Explain please?

 

To me, what it means is: if you're in total despair, that means hope is right around the corner.  If you've lost everything, you have nowhere to go but up.  Or to put it another way, faith is something you do when you're suffering; if you are not in deep trouble, it is easy to have faith, but if you're not suffering, then faith is pretty pointless.  More to the context of "Fear and Trembling," with the parable of the knight and princess and stuff, it means: if you surrender everything, then you gain everything.

 

(I'm actually borrowing the quote for a chapter header in a story I'm writing, where a character is traumatized and heartbroken after some really bad shit, and another character gives her a pep talk.)

 

I looked up "Fear and Trembling" about a month ago because I wanted to know more about this "knight of faith" biz, which a Christian friend of mine occasionally talks about on his Facespace.  I'm not Christian, but I am a sappy romantic, and I like knights and devotion and stuff.  I dunno how keen I am on the "total surrender" thing for my own ethics, but there were some points in there I found enlightening.

 

(as far as the sacrifice of Abraham's son goes, which Kierkegaard discusses at length, Jews at least seriously question whether Abraham was, in fact, morally right in trying to do that.  Commentators note that God never speaks directly to Abraham again afterwards, and Sarah dies in the very next chapter.  Christians are way more hooked on a positive interpretation of the story, because it has much in common with the "sacrifice of Jesus" narrative.  Muslims tell the same story with Abraham's elder son, Ishmael, but I've never found out what they think of it morally.)

 

[JediNickD]

"Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have imagined."
-Henry David Thoreau

[JediNickD]

"Aim at the sun and you may not reach it; but your arrow will fly far higher than if you had aimed at an object on a level with yourself."
-F. Hawes

[JediNickD]

"Men do not mirror themselves in running water, they mirror themselves in still water. Only what is still can still the stillness of other things."
-Zhuangzi

[Luds]

 “You're never ready for what you have to do. You just do it. That makes you ready.”

― Flora Rheta Schreiber

 

 “Inspiration exists, but it has to find you working.”

― Pablo Picasso

 

“We're all going to die, all of us, what a circus! That alone should make us love each other but it doesn't. We are terrorized and flattened by trivialities, we are eaten up by nothing.”

― Charles Bukowski 

“F-E-A-R has two meanings: 'Forget Everything And Run' or 'Face Everything And Rise.' The choice is yours.”

― Zig Ziglar 

“One small crack does not mean that you are broken, it means that you were put to the test and you didn’t fall apart.”

― Linda Poindexter 

 

 

 

[JediNickD]

"I am defeated, and know it, if I meet any human being from whom I find myself unable to learn anything."
--George Herbert Palmer

[Cheetah]

"A man who is born deaf may never know that other people can hear him fart."

-- me

[JediNickD]

I was trying to find a quote to use in this time of self-quarantining and social distancing, but I felt it would be better to quote myself. 

 

"You are not alone in this time we are so far apart.  Technology is available to allow us to connect to the world.  We can finally use all those social media platforms, communication devices, and online games to do the things we should have been doing the whole time.  Connect, communicate, and care.  Reach out to friends and family with your phone, your computer, your Echo, your XBox, whatever.  Talk to them about all the things, not just the news and weather.  How about that book you are reading, movie you just watched, craft you are working on?  Share your thoughts and feelings and ask them about theirs.  Remind them that you care for them and wish them well.  A healthy connection to others needs more than a physical presence.  It needs the mind and spirit.  Connect, Communicate, and Care."

[JediNickD]

Cool quote from a New Orleans teacher following Hurricane Katrina relevant to the COVID-19 outbreak and all this missed work whether school work or anything else really.

[Jittersthe.Clown]