Find motivational quotes from writers and thinkers of the past, one at a time. Press Next for a new quote, or pick a theme that fits your day.
“There is nothing in the world more soft and weak than water, and yet for attacking things that are firm and strong there is nothing that can take precedence of it.”
Lao Tzu (6th century BC (traditional))
Tao Te Ching, chapter 78 (trans. James Legge)
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“Nothing happens to any man which he is not formed by nature to bear.”
Marcus Aurelius (121–180)
Meditations, Book V (trans. George Long)
“The art of life is more like the wrestler's art than the dancer's, in respect of this, that it should stand ready and firm to meet onsets which are sudden and unexpected.”
Marcus Aurelius (121–180)
Meditations, Book VII (trans. George Long)
“Be like the promontory against which the waves continually break, but it stands firm and tames the fury of the water around it.”
Marcus Aurelius (121–180)
Meditations, Book IV (trans. George Long)
“It is difficulties which show what men are.”
Epictetus (c. 50–c. 135)
Discourses, Book I (trans. George Long)
“No great thing is produced suddenly, since not even the bunch of grapes or the fig is.”
Epictetus (c. 50–c. 135)
Discourses, Book I (trans. George Long)
“The tree which fills the arms grew from the tiniest sprout; the tower of nine storeys rose from a small heap of earth; the journey of a thousand li commenced with a single step.”
Lao Tzu (6th century BC (traditional))
Tao Te Ching, chapter 64 (trans. James Legge)
“There is nothing in the world more soft and weak than water, and yet for attacking things that are firm and strong there is nothing that can take precedence of it.”
Lao Tzu (6th century BC (traditional))
Tao Te Ching, chapter 78 (trans. James Legge)
“However mean your life is, meet it and live it; do not shun it and call it hard names.”
Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
Walden
“Little strokes fell great oaks.”
Benjamin Franklin (1706–1790)
Poor Richard's Almanack (1750)
“He that can have patience can have what he will.”
Benjamin Franklin (1706–1790)
Poor Richard's Almanack (1736)
“Determine that the thing can and shall be done, and then we shall find the way.”
Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865)
Speech on Internal Improvements (1848)
“The man with a new idea is a crank until the idea succeeds.”
Mark Twain (1835–1910)
Following the Equator
“Sweet are the uses of adversity.”
William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
As You Like It
“Great works are performed not by strength, but by perseverance.”
Samuel Johnson (1709–1784)
Rasselas
“Few things are impossible to diligence and skill.”
Samuel Johnson (1709–1784)
Rasselas
“To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.”
Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809–1892)
Ulysses
“The heights by great men reached and kept were not attained by sudden flight, but they, while their companions slept, were toiling upward in the night.”
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807–1882)
The Ladder of Saint Augustine
“Into each life some rain must fall.”
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807–1882)
The Rainy Day
“The strongest of all warriors are these two—Time and Patience.”
Leo Tolstoy (1828–1910)
War and Peace (trans. Louise and Aylmer Maude)
“If there is no struggle there is no progress.”
Frederick Douglass (1818–1895)
West India Emancipation speech (1857)
“The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph.”
Thomas Paine (1737–1809)
The American Crisis
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They come from classic writing that is in the public domain – words by authors, thinkers and leaders who lived long ago. The author is shown with every quote.
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Last updated October 2, 2026