I love quotes. They inspire me, but they only change me if I let them. It is easy to talk about change, but it isn’t always so easy to apply my favorite quotes to my actual life. Here are just a few quotes that have truly affected not only who I am, but also who I want to be. I am not going to put who they are by because I can’t always find who said or wrote them, but just know that none of these quotes are my own!

Love is not afraid to empower the other person.

Even after all this time, the sun never says to the trees, “you owe me”.

We shouldn’t live how we used to be because we aren’t who we used to be.

One man in his time plays many parts.

Make a career of humanity.

Be more concerned with your character than your reputation.

Success isn’t the key to happiness; happiness is the key to success.

You can be stuck anywhere, but you can’t blame the location; you can only blame yourself.

Don’t be afraid to reveal your truth.

Before you change the system, you’ve got to change yourself.

Inhale the future, exhale the past.

Be so busy improving yourself that you have no time to criticize others.

Take the pain, ignite it.

You see things, and you understand; you’re a wallflower.

We travel not to escape life, but for life not to escape us.

Everything has beauty, but not everyone can see.

Go outside and try to recapture the happiness within yourself; think of all the beauty in yourself and in everything around you and be happy.

Isn’t it strange that we talk least about the things we think about most?

There is a time and a place for love and kindness. That time is all the time. That place is everywhere. Be kind for everyone you meet is fighting a harder battle.

One way to get the most out of life is to look upon it as an adventure.

It’s okay not to be okay.

Too many of us aren’t living our dreams because we are too busy living our fears.

You don’t need a certain number of friends, just a number of friends you can be certain of.

With freedom, books, flowers, and the moon, who could not be happy?

Never blame anyone in your life. Good people give you happiness. Bad people give you experience. The worst people give you a lesson, and the best people give you memories.

There is something to be learned from everything and everyone.

Wherever life plants you, bloom with grace.

Ships don’t sink because of the water around them; ships sink because of the water that gets in them. Don’t let what’s happening around you get inside you and weigh you down.

You don’t need to care what people think about you, but you do need to care about people.

I want to be with someone who dreams of doing everything in life, and nothing on a rainy Sunday afternoon.

Find your calm, reclaim your peace, re-create the love you couldn’t find in others.

Do what you love, and you’ll never have another problem with Monday.

How we spend our days is how we spend our lives.

If you want to know where your heart is, look where your mind wanders.