Next to the originator of a good sentence is the first quoter of it.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Who doesn’t love the feeling of inspiration that comes from reading the quoted words of our wise and sometimes humorous ancestors? Especially over the past decade or so, inspirational quotes have been appearing everywhere from social media and email signature lines to headings in chapters of books. I even have a few on refrigerator magnets.
A few years ago, I began to wonder about how those brief feel-good moments from reading a quote could be taken a step further and used to create meaningful change in one’s life. It seemed to me that there is a richness that can come from taking in the practical words of wisdom available to us and using them as agents of change.
I know it can be done, because it happened to me. As an undergraduate, there was a point at which I worried I wasn’t going to be able to make it in college, would lose my scholarship, and would have to leave. One day at about the high point of my anxiety, I received a newsletter from a group to which I belonged, and it contained the following quote from Winston Churchill, “If the motivation be sufficient, even a donkey might fly.” Those words hit me hard, and from them, I found the encouragement to keep working hard toward my goals. My anxiety dissipated, and everything shifted. All these years later, I still have that quote clipped and set aside for moments at which I lose my courage and resolve.
As a result of this experience, I have over time compiled a large number of quotes on subjects related to personal growth and change. With each of them, I have written a reflection on the quote and composed questions designed to make the reader stop, reflect, journal, and shift as a result. They are part of a forthcoming book, but I will occasionally be posting quotes and reflections here in this blog. I hope you enjoy them and, more importantly, use them!
Note: Emerson’s quote can be found on page 67 of The Journals and Miscellaneous Notebooks of Ralph Waldo Emerson, Volume XVI 1866-1882, Ronald A. Bosco and Glen M. Johnson, eds., The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1982.