Searching for, writing down, and saving inspiring quotes is a hobby of mine.  Something about reading the exact emotions I didn’t even realize were within me is special.  Some are from my favorite writers, some I’ve picked up and taken with me from various books and conversations.  Each one touches a chord within my heart.

34 Quotes To Help You Live Your Happiest Life

“She who dares wins”

“A simple hello could lead to a million things.”

“Travel far enough you meet yourself.” —David Mitchell (Cloud Atlas)

“Wherever you are, you are in the right place to begin.” —Gretchen Ruben (The Happiness Project)

“Every one of a hundred thousand cities around the world had its own special sunset, and it was worth going there, just once, if only to see the sun go down.” —Rye Murakami

“There comes a crossroads in all our lives where one must choose.  And the right or wrong of these actions can only be read backwards like a spool of thread unravelling.  A saga that on our deathbeds we review: the incidents hurtful and kind, the ones that were pivotal and, like the wings of a butterfly, set off a storm in another land. We do not know how our choices and actions will affect the greater world, but they do.  And if we did understand we would be dazzled by the brilliance of chance.” —Louise Moulin (Saltskin)

“It’s the possibility that keeps me going, not the guarantee.” —Nicholas Sparks

“Once in a while it really hits people that they don’t have to experience the world in the way they have been told.” —Alan Keightley

“Let’s cover our tracks and never come back: not for love, not for money, not to perform and repeat, until time runs out, little jobs that are of no further importance, if indeed they were ever very much to begin with. Get smart, kiddo. This is your chance to pursue forever, free as a snail, the endless trails of your inner homeland.” –  Irma Kurtz (The Great American Bus Ride)

“Sometimes, there’s just no way to hold back the river.” —Paul Coelho (The Alchemist)

“She was free in her wilderness.  She was a wanderess, a drop of free water.  She belonged to no man and no city.” —Roman Payne

“Don’t live the same day 75 times and call it a life.”

“One of the best ways to make yourself happy is to make other people happy. One of the best ways to make other people happy is to be happy yourself.” —Gretchen Ruben (The Happiness Project)

“Searching for a purpose was the biggest mistake I made and the biggest mistake any of us could make.”  —Brooke Saward

“Every nowhere is somewhere.” —David Mitchell (Cloud Atlas)

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

“Worry is a misuse of the imagination.”

“If you love something, love it completely, cherish it, say it, but most importantly, show it.  Life is finite and fragile and just because something is there one day, it might not be the next.  Never take that for granted.  Say what you need to say, then say a little more.  Say too much. Show too much. Love too much.” —R. Queen

“Go farther and farther, distancing yourself from your personal history, from what you were forced to become. By repeating it out loud in meticulous detail. And as we tell our story, we say goodbye to what we were and as you’ll see if you try, we create space for a new, unknown world. We repeat the old story over and over until it is no longer important to us. There is just one other thing: as those spaces grow it is important to fill them up quickly, even if only provisionally, so as not to be left with a feeling of emptiness. With different stories, with experiences we never dared to have or didn’t want to have. That is how we change. That is how love grows. And when love grows, we grow with it.”  – Paulo Coehlo (The Zahir)

“Do not resist chances. Take them like vitamins.”

“I let it go.  It’s like swimming against the current.  It exhausts you.  After a while, whoever you are, you just have to let go, and the river brings you home.” —Joanne Harris (Five Quarters of the Orange)

“Sometimes you find yourself in the middle of nowhere.  And sometimes, in the middle of nowhere you find yourself.”

“When each day is the same as the next, it’s because people fail to recognize the good things that happen in their lives every day that the sun rises.” —Paul Coelho (The Alchemist)

“Trust the timing of your life.”

“You are the books you read, the films you watch, the music you listen to, the people you meet, the dreams you have, the conversations you engage in.  You are what you take from these.  You are the sound of the ocean, the breath of fresh air, the brightest light and the darkest corner.  You are every single day.  So drown yourself in a sea of knowledge and existence.  Let the words run through your veins and let the colors fill your mind.”

“If we did all of the things we are capable of doing we would literally astound ourselves.” —Thomas Edison

“Work hard in silence, let success make the noise.”

“Anything’s possible if you’ve got enough nerve.”  J.K. Rowling

“There was nowhere to go but everywhere.” —Jack Kerouac (On The Road)

“All such magical places lie beyond the ninth wave, for as everyone knows there are only nine waves and beyond them is the unknown” —Morgan Llewelyn (Bard)

“Never give up a dream just because of the time it will take to accomplish it, the time will pass anyways.” -Earl Nightingale

“Be fearless in pursuit of what sets your soul on fire.”

“The single greatest thing you can do to change your life today would be to start being grateful for what you have right now.” —Oprah

“Making a decision was only the beginning of things.  When someone makes a decision he is really diving into a strong current that will carry him to places he has never dreamed of when he first made the decision.” —Paul Coelho (The Alchemist)