What inspires you to action? Many consider the answer to this question to be their purpose. We all have different purposes that drive us. It could be solving problems, building something bigger than yourself, helping others, and more. We hope our selection of purpose quotes helps inspire you to find what might work best for you.
Being purposeful is a conscious, deliberate decision. It lasts longer than the moment of excitement usually triggered by inspiration. Because when it comes to the commitment and hard work needed to achieve a goal, remembering your primary purpose is what will keep you going.
Whether you have found your purpose or you’re still trying to figure it out, here are some helpful quotes to remember.
Related: you might also like our compilation of giving back quotes and charity quotes.
The climb might be tough and challenging,but the view is worth it. There is a purpose for that pain; you just can't always see it right away.
Victoria Arlen is a TV personality for ESPN, as well as an actress, speaker, model, and former American Paralympian swimmer. Arlen broke world records at the 2012 Summer Paralympic US swimming trials, and later went on to win four medals: one gold and silver, at the Summer Paralympics held in London the same year, despite her inability to eat, speak and move before the time.
Arlen draws inspiration for this quote from her personal experiences. Because of her disabilities and issues of childhood harassment, Arlen fought hard to prove herself. She reminds us to keep moving beyond the obstacles, even if we’re not sure of what awaits.
When you're surrounded by people who share a passionate commitment around a common purpose, anything is possible.
Howard Schultz is an American businessman. He served as chairman and CEO of the largest coffee-house chain in the world- Starbucks- from 1986 to 2000, and from 2008 to 2017. Schultz is a business author and the 680th-richest person in the U.S.
Schultz’s purpose quote reminds leaders of the importance of bringing your team into the light of the vision. Share your goals with the people who work with you, so they understand your expectations. Also, helping them achieve their personal goal influences their commitment to helping you achieve yours.
Every relationship that we have in our lives - our contact with each person, place, and event - serves a very special, if yet to be realized purpose: They are mirrors that can serve to show us things about ourselves that can be realized in no other way.
Guy Finley (amazon) is a self-help writer, philosopher, spiritual awareness teacher, and former professional songwriter and musician. Finley is the founder and director of the nonprofit, Life of Learning Foundation.
We cannot overemphasize the importance of relationships. Your contact with people, places, and events open your eyes to the world of opportunities surrounding you.
Keep on beginning and failing. Each time you fail, start all over again, and you will grow stronger until you have accomplished a purpose - not the one you began with perhaps, but one you'll be glad to remember.
Anne Sullivan was an American teacher best known for being the instructor and lifelong companion of Helen Keller, the first deaf-blind person to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree.
When attempting something new, it’s okay to expect failure. Because failing your way to success, to your purpose in life, is arguably the best way to figure out things. Sullivan's quote is a good reminder of why you need to remain resilient even in the face of failure. Because with another attempt, you’re closer to achieving your purpose.
Singleness of purpose is one of the chief essentials for success in life, no matter what may be one's aim.
Founder of the University of Chicago and Rockefeller University, John Davison Rockefeller was an American business magnate and philanthropist. He became the country's first billionaire, with a fortune worth nearly 2% of the national economy. Many consider Rockefeller to be the wealthiest American of all time.
If you're focused on doing everything, you may never recognize the "one" thing that the world needs you to do. This singularity of purpose is the primary ingredient for achieving success in whatever you set your mind on.
There are two ways of approaching your time on this planet: one is to sit around waiting for something to happen that will make sense of your existence, and the other is to get out there and find purpose for yourself.
Mariella Frostrup is a journalist, presenter and well known in British television and radio mainly for her art programmes. Frostrup is an art critic and has been on the judging panels for the Booker Prize, the Orange Prize for Fiction, and the Amnesty International Media Awards. Frostrup received the Honorary Degree of Doctor of Letters from Nottingham Trent University in 2008, in recognition of her contribution and commitment to journalism and broadcasting.
In her purpose quote, Marielle Frostrup divides people into two categories. Some sit and wait for life to decide a purpose for them. And some take control of their destiny by making deliberate efforts to discover their life purpose and pursue it with everything.
The whole purpose of education is to turn mirrors into windows.
Sydney J. Harris was a journalist for both the Chicago Daily News and the Chicago Sun-Times. He was the author of the weekday column “Strictly Personal” which appeared in more than 100 newspapers, including the Chicago Sun-Times. Harris was renowned for his humorous approach to social and philosophical issues.
To change the world, you must touch the minds of others. That's the true purpose of the form of education where a teacher interacts personally with students. If your purpose is to teach and inform others, work with the knowledge that the focus is not on you. Your purpose is to help others achieve levels of understanding beyond what you can offer them.
Be daring, be different, be impractical, be anything that will assert integrity of purpose and imaginative vision against the play-it-safers, the creatures of the commonplace, the slaves of the ordinary.
Best known for his elegant photographs of high society, Sir Cecil Beaton was a painter, interior designer, and a fashion, portrait, and war photographer. Beaton’s costume and stage designs won him three Academy Awards.
Beaton urges us to find our purpose in the absurd, unique, corners of our imagination. There’s very little to discover in the paths most tread. We should all dare to do something positively different, regardless of what the norms are.
There is a plan and a purpose, a value to every life, no matter what its location, age, gender or disability.
Sharron Angle is an American politician who served as a Republican member of the Nevada Assembly from 1999 to 2007. She is also the author of Right Angle: One Woman's Journey to Reclaim the Constitution (on amazon, 2011).
It’s easy to look at the ordinary-ness of our lives and wonder how there’s a unique purpose attached. But we all have something significant that we can contribute to our societies. Focus on identifying what that thing is for you. And when you do, focus on turning that idea into reality.
What I have learnt is that it is important to pursue your passion more than your legacy; if you have a passion with a purpose, then everything else fits in.
Nita Ambani is an Indian philanthropist, chairperson and founder of the Reliance Foundation, Dhirubhai Ambani International School, and a non-executive director of Reliance Industries. In 2016 India Today listed Ambani in their 'fifty high and mighty Indians' list.
This purpose quote reminds us of the origins of legacies. The legendary names that we speak of are popular because of the things they did. The stories we form on these subjects detail their unique actions that were different from the actions of everyone else. Your legacy story forms as you pursue your purpose. If you want to leave a popular name behind, then work towards doing something unique. Leave behind a story worth retelling.
The purpose of human life is to serve, and to show compassion and the will to help others.
Albert Schweitzer is a theologian, organist, writer, humanitarian, philosopher, and physician. He received the 1952 Nobel Peace Prize for his philosophy of "Reverence for Life", becoming the eighth Frenchman to receive that prize.
Schweitzer summed up our primary purpose as humans; to serve, show compassion and help others. So whatever passion you find yourself pursuing, whatever dream you're chasing, whatever purpose you're fulfilling, make sure you're serving, showing compassion and helping others.
Purpose gives meaning to the actions we take and the sacrifices we make. While you figure out your unique purpose, remember the general purpose that we all share as humans. Work towards a society that is inclusive for all. Show kindness when possible. Share your knowledge by teaching others. Give your time and resources to helping others. It’s in these small, random actions that you will find the purpose that calls to you.
It's so essential to happiness to speak your truth out loud - because this sharing of your core pain is what creates a necessary healing shift - from negative beliefs about the world - to positive beliefs - and frees you up to be able to fully view life with meaning, purpose and connection with others.
I know that the purpose of life is to understand and be in the present moment with the people you love. It's just that simple.
The strongest tool we, as Americans, have is our ability to rally together and to find solutions with unity of purpose.
The only true happiness comes from squandering ourselves for a purpose.
True happiness... is not attained through self-gratification, but through fidelity to a worthy purpose.
Keep on beginning and failing. Each time you fail, start all over gain, and you will grow stronger until have accomplished a purpose - not the one you began with perhaps, but one you'll be glad to remember.
Entrepreneurs must be practical experts. They needn't set out to be subject matter experts in what they do; they must set out to solve a problem or pursue some cause or purpose greater than themselves.
When you waste a moment, you have killed it in a sense, squandering an irreplaceable opportunity. But when you use the moment properly, filling it with purpose and productivity, it lives on forever.
I need to create an environment where I can be my best self, and that means being unapologetic about saying no to things that don't serve me or move me closer to my purpose and the things that I care about the most.
The purpose of life is to love and be loved... what could possibly be more energizing than that?
The way you get meaning into your life is to devote yourself to loving others, devote yourself to your community around you, and devote yourself to creating something that gives you purpose and meaning.
It's always inspiring to me to meet people who feel that they can make a difference in the world. That's their motive, that's their passion... I think that's what makes your life meaningful, that's what fills your own heart and that's what gives you purpose.
People who achieve the highest levels of success - whether in business or in raising families or simply in discovering fulfillment and satisfaction and purpose in life - are those who place their focus on other people rather than themselves.
I hear from all different people, not just people like me, or lesbians. It be straight people, it be grown men, it be grown women, people that have been sick or depressed that say, 'Oh, you made me want to go do what I want to do for myself and chase my dreams.' That's my purpose.
When you get a young group of people that believe, are passionate... and committed to a single purpose, you better look out. Great things can happen.
Everything that I do is with a purpose and intent of wanting to make a difference.
Do your homework. Find your voice. Be authentic. And then dive in with purpose.
My purpose is to refuel, refresh and rejuvenate moms.
Efforts and courage are not enough without purpose and direction.
Find out who you are. And do it on purpose.
Many persons have a wrong idea of what constitutes true happiness. It is not attained through self-gratification but through fidelity to a worthy purpose.
Together we must learn how to compose differences, not with arms, but with intellect and decent purpose.
A noble purpose inspires sacrifice, stimulates innovation and encourages perseverance.
The purpose of life is to help others, and if you can't help them, won't you at least not hurt them? I know that is a platitude, that that is sentimental and can easily be attacked. But loving, caring is simple, and we make it complex. Our own neuroses make it complex.
Regardless of whatever I do, I know what my purpose is: to make a difference in people's lives.
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