Important And Inspirational Quotes & Sayings

It is not money that is important, it is life that is important and precious. — Debasish Mridha

Every individual has a place to fill in the world and is important in some respect, whether he chooses to be so or not. — Nathaniel Hawthorne

I do not ask who you are, that is not important to me, You can do nothing and be nothing but what I will infold you. — Walt Whitman

And the very important fact that I'm here to worry with you and go through all of this - every little bit of it - by your side, even your worst-case-scenario, should it somehow come to that. You wouldn't be doing any of it alone.'
Her voice drops and she looks down at our hands, fingers entwined, resting on her lap. 'Whatever happens, there will always be us. — Tabitha Suzuma

Attitude is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, than education, money, circumstances, than failures and success, than what other people think, say, or do. It is more important than appearance, ability, or skill. It will make or break a business, a home, a friendship, an organization. The remarkable thing is I have a choice every day of what my attitude will be. I cannot change my past. I cannot change the actions of others. I cannot change the inevitable. The only thing I can change is attitude. Life is ten percent what happens to me and ninety percent how I react to it. — Charles R. Swindoll

If your life means nothing to anyone, it does mean a lot to you and that's what is important. — Abdulazeez Henry Musa

Sure, it may be one step forward and two steps back, but after a time with Parkinson's, I've learned that what is important is making that step count; always looking up. — Michael J. Fox

It won't be as easy, but lots of things that are worth doing aren't easy. It just takes commitment, discipline, and, most important, faith that it's all going to work out. — Jason Fried

We're on this planet for too short a time. And at the end of the day, what's more important? Knowing that a few meaningless figures balanced - or knowing that you were the person you wanted to be? — Sophie Kinsella

Belief, like fear or love, is a force to be understood as we understand the theory of relativity and principals of uncertainty. Phenomena that determine the course of our lives. Yesterday, my life was headed in one direction. Today, it is headed in another. Yesterday, I believe I would never have done what I did today. These forces that often remake time and space, that can shape and alter who we
imagine ourselves to be, begin long before we are born and continue after we perish. Our lives and our choices, like quantum trajectories, are understood moment to moment. That each point of intersection, each encounter, suggest a new potential direction. Proposition, I have fallen in love with Luisa Rey. Is this possible? I just met her and yet, I feel like something important has happened to me. — David Mitchell

Homicide is not a sin. It is sometimes a necessary violence on resistant and ossified forms of existence which have ceased to be amusing. In the interests of an important and fascinating experiment, it can even become meritorious. Here is the starting point of a new apologia for sadism. — Bruno Schulz

Have you noticed how children never bypass a puddle of water, but jump, splash, and slosh right through it? That's because they know an important truth: Life was meant to be lived; puddles were meant to be experienced. — Richelle E. Goodrich

A fact was the hard outer cover of meaning, and meaning was the soft living stuff inside a fact. Fact and meaning were the driving cogs of living. If the gear of fact drove the gear of meaning, then they revolved in opposite directions, but put the gear of fantasy between the two and they both revolved in the same direction. Fantasy was and is important; it leads to heaven knows where, but follow it and see. Sometimes it pays off. — Fynn

I need to be startlingly clear. This thing of finding your authentic voice, expressing your blessed weirdness and revealing your soul isn't an elegant process. You don't do it to be cool. You don't do it to get laid or get rich. It's only real when it is ruthless, relentless and inevitable. But it is also a matter of personal and collective survival. Yes, it's that important. You are that critical. — Jacob Nordby

It seems to me that dealing with little boys is a lot like playing poker. You need to know when to hold them, when to fold them, and when to walk away. But the most important thing you need to know is, oral contraceptives are only 97 percent effective. — Paula Wall

Today we have a temporary aberration called "industrial capitalism" which is inadvertently liquidating its two most important sources of capital, the natural world and properly functioning societies.
No sensible capitalist would do that. — Amory Lovins

Self-love is the most important love to have. When we love ourselves we're much happier and need less from others. There can still be loneliness, rejection, and loss in our lives, but we handle these things much better when we're happy with who we are. — Darryl Duke

There are four important words that define your life: love, hope, happiness, and kindness. — Debasish Mridha

Life is worth living and no matter what it throws at you it is important to keep your eyes on the prize of the happiness that will come. Even when the Death Railway reduced us to little more than animals, humanity in the shape of our saintly medical officers triumphed over barbarism.
Remember, while it always seems darkest before the dawn, perseverance pays off and the good times will return. — Alistair Urquhart

A Good Man. Every night, like a question-and-answer prayer, my son and I recite ... What are you going to be? And he says ... An honest man. A fair man. A courageous man. And a good man. That's the most important thing, Papa. And my job is finally done. For the night. — Carew Papritz

I'd always heard people say and I'm sure you heard it too, "Change takes time." But, my parents taught me the more important lesson, very silently but with even greater clarity, "Change takes time. But, it also takes people." People who are willing to put in their everything. Change doesn't happen by itself. — Sharad Vivek Sagar

Effective people stay out of Quadrants III and IV because, urgent or not, they aren't important. They also shrink Quadrant I down to size by spending more time in Quadrant II ... Quadrant II is the heart of effective personal management. — Stephen Covey

Deliberately and purposefully schedule meetings with yourself. These are the most important meetings in the life of one who intends to make their success deliberate. During these meeting you do much of the quality and honest communication with yourself. This is besides the conversations you are always carrying on with yourself in your own head or audibly. That doesn't mean you are crazy, we all do it and we just need to improve the quality and positivity of those conversations. — Archibald Marwizi

The important thing to me is that I'm not driven by people's praise and I'm not slowed down by people's criticism. I'm just trying to work at the highest level I can. — Russell Crowe

The books, and your capacity for understanding them, are just the same in all places ... Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed, is more important than any other one thing. — Abraham Lincoln

I have learned that friendship without faith is useless. Friendship entails faith in oneself that you'll remain loyal to this bond, and faith in your friends that you will be there for them at all times. The most important of all is the biggest faith in God and in making Him the center of all our relationships. — Kcat Yarza

Keep in mind that you are always saying "no" to something. If it isn't to the apparent and urgent things in your life, it is probably to the most fundamental, highly important things. — Stephen Covey

Oh, Anyone can make a quilt,' she said modestly. 'It's just scraps, from the clothes you've sewn.'
'Yes, but the talent is in joining the pieces, the way you have.'
'Look,' Om pointed, 'look at that - the poplin from our very first job.'
'You remember,' said Dina, pleased. 'And how fast you finished those first dresses. I thought I had two geniuses.'
'Hungry stomachs were driving our fingers,' chuckled Ishvar.
'Then came that yellow calico with orange strips. And what a hard time this young fellow gave me. Fighting and arguing about everything.'
'Me?Argue?Never.'
...
He steeped back, pleased with himself, as though he had elucidated an intricate theorem. 'So that's the rule to remember, the whole quilt is much more important than the square'. — Rohinton Mistry

They've said: PRAYING isn't enough in this situation.
Contrary to belief, prayer is all you need. If you believe that it isn't, it's only because you haven't truly experience the power of praying in your life.
Keep praying. When there was a battle, one man prayed, and God caused the sun to delay setting, so they could win the battle. (Joshua 10)
The prayers of the Righteous, they have overwhelming impacts and I encourage you to include that in whatever your next move is in this situation.
I don't march, I don't openly protest... No important reasons... I just don't... but I can do what I do best... Help behind the scenes.. and PRAY.. because, I know it works.
Peace and Blessings — Jennifer M. Malone

I want to be like the air. The good-hearted person whose kindness overflows and people realize how important she was to them, once she is gone. I want to be that kind of person. — Aya Kito

Before big bridges, deep tunnels and the advent of health and safety regulations, there were many ways to cross rivers. They would use rowing boats, rickety rafts or in the absence of a vessel, swim or wade. Everyone knew what a stepping-stone was. They all understood that it was not something that you would want to stand on for any length of time. It was a means to an end, an important point and a route from A to B. — Johnathan Cainer

How important are the visual arts in our society? I feel strongly that the visual arts are of vast and incalculable importance. Of course I could be prejudiced. I am a visual art. — Kermit The Frog

What's important is the journey--keep your foot on the gas and your eyes on the road. — David C. Cassidy

It's ever so important to believe in what you do, trust your ability to create and show yourself worthy. Never sell yourself short. — Simon Zingerman

Simple and easy does not mean it is not important — Thomas Gutierrez

The most important point to remember in developing self-confidence is to take responsibility for who we are. This empowers us. We can change anything, do anything, and be anything when we assume full responsibility for ourselves. — Rachael Bermingham

I climb out of the Jacuzzi, go to the edge of the pool, curl my toes around the border tiles, and do a standing flip, which I pretzel into a can opener, leaning back just far enough to truly propel a geyser but not so far as to hit my head.

Going under, I hear maximal vacuum suckage. Everything shudders. An aquatic bomb explodes. I surface to see that I have drenched half the banshees.

They stare at me in saucer-eyed wonderment, because I have just done in one dive what they have failed to do in a hundred- shellacked the ceiling, which is now dripping wet, especially around the central light fixture.

I'm kind of disguted with myself for showing off, but it's important to let them know that there are standards in the world. — Conrad Wesselhoeft

No one ever said your life would be easy. The nature of being human makes life for all of us a challenge. The most important thing to consider here is this. Your life is only as challenging as you think it is. Think of challenge as a teacher and yourself the student. It's up to you to figure out what the lesson is to be learned. To learn that lesson and build the strength and courage to face other challenges ... . — James A. Murphy

And that's what we'll do every day. If you or your friends spray-paint obscenities on our walls, we'll scrub them off, and the people will come. if you break our windows, we'll fix them, and the people will come. If you hurt us, we'll wash off the blood, slap on some bandages and the people will come ... any wound you inflict, we'll stitch up. We're not going to stop, no matter what you do. This work is too important. Too many lives are at stake. — Robert J. Wiersema

Knowledge equals power ...
The string was important. After a while the Librarian stopped. He concentrated all his powers of librarianship.
Power equals energy ...
People were stupid, sometimes. They thought the Library was a dangerous place because of all the magical books, which was true enough, but what made it really one of the most dangerous places there could ever be was the simple fact that it was a library.
Energy equals matter ...
He swung into an avenue of shelving that was apparently a few feet long and walked along it briskly for half an hour.
Matter equals mass.
And mass distorts space. It distorts it into polyfractal L-space.
So, while the Dewey system has its fine points, when you're setting out to look something up in the multidimensional folds of L-space what you really need is a ball of string. — Terry Pratchett

Today changes yesterday, and all the days to come. Today changes everything! The attitudes we carry in the present will change the way we view yesterday, and help us cope and make peace with all the moments behind us. It will also carry us forward in a brighter direction. The present moment is the most important, because it is what is happening right now. — Jenna Alatari

The most important thing I gained from my travels was the knowledge that one could achieve anything with determination and an ounce of luck. — Stefan Waydenfeld

My mama taught me the most important lesson of all: "Sometimes you don't know why things happen until later." She still gets me through the dark days even to this day, because of that one day we sat in the grass, with my heart broken to smithereens, and she told me that one simple phrase that changed my life. — Jennifer Megan Varnadore

As for 'too much description,' well, opinions differ. We write the books we want to read. And I want to read books that are richly textured and full of sensory detail, books that make me feel as if I am experiencing a story, not just reading it. Plot is only one aspect of telling a tale, and not the most important one. It is the journey that matters, not how fast you arrrive at the destination.
That's my view, anyway. Others writers differ, of course. There are hundreds of books where everything is subordinate to advancing the plot, some of them quite fine, but my work has never been about that, and never will be. — George R R Martin

If we tend to the things that are important in life, if we are right with those we love, and behave in line with our faith, our lives will not be cursed with the aching throb of unfulfilled business. Our words will always be sincere, our embraces will be tight. We will never wallow in the agony of 'I could have, I should have'. We can sleep in a storm. And when its time, our goodbyes will be complete. — Mitch Albom

Producing obituaries is a way of creating a legacy to remember important people of our times and their contributions. No matter whose obituary it is, I look for something inspirational about each person. — Laurie Nadel

We rightly scorn those who have no made use of their defects, who have not exploited their deficiencies, and have not been enriched by their losses, as we despise any man who does not suffer at being a man or simply at being. Hence no graver insult can be inflicted than to call someone 'happy', no greater flattery than to grant him a 'vein of melancholy' ... This is because gaiety is link to no important action and because, except for the mad, no one laughs when he is alone. — Emil Cioran

I find that when you have a real interest in life and a curious life, that sleep is not the most important thing. — Martha Stewart

We all experience highs and lows in life. If you are feeling down right now, each second that passes is another moment to turn it all around. Feelings, good and bad, always come and go. The trick is to be grateful when your mood is high and graceful when it is low. When you stop expecting people and situations to be perfect, you can start appreciating them for who and what they are. Imperfections are important, and so are mistakes. We get to be good by learning from our mistakes and we get to be real by being imperfect. — John Geiger

In times of stress, the best thing we can do for each other is to listen with our ears and our hearts and to be assured that our questions are just as important as our answers. — Fred Rogers

God often uses failure to make us useful. When Jesus called the disciples, He did not go out and find the most qualified and successful people. He found the most willing, and He found them in the workplace. He found a fisherman, a tax collector, and a farmer. The Hebrews knew that failure was a part of maturing in God. The Greeks used failure as a reason for disqualification. Sadly, in the Church, we often treat one another in this way. This is not God's way. We need to understand that failing does not make us failures. It makes us experienced. It makes us more prepared to be useful in God's Kingdom -- if we have learned from it. And that is the most important ingredient for what God wants in His children. — Os Hillman

You are Destined for Greatness. The enemy seeks to destroy your hopes and dreams. It is Important that you Activate Your Faith. Believe with All Your Heart. Nothing is Impossible for God. You shall Fulfill Your Destiny. — Amaka Imani Nkosazana

Friendships offer more than happiness and a feeling of mutual camaraderie; in time they are most important while giving you permission to ultimately be yourself. — Steven Cuoco

The best way to measure how much you've grown isn't by inches or the number of laps you can now run around the track, or even your grade point average
though those things are important, to be sure. It's what you've done with your time, how you've chosen to spend your days, and whom you've touched this year. That, to me, is the greatest measure of success. — R.J. Palacio

How strange that we should ordinarily feel compelled to hide our wounds when we are all wounded! Community requires the ability to expose our wounds and weaknesses to our fellow creatures. It also requires the ability to be affected by the wounds of others ... But even more important is the love that arises among us when we share, both ways, our woundedness. — M. Scott Peck

Ellis," he said. "You're watchin' a miracle right under your nose." He gave a few of the seeds to Ellis and let him drop them into the hole he had already made. "In each of them little things, God put life. Now you take care with it, and you feed it with water and sunlight. And, most important of all of 'em, put it in good ground, and that life is gonna sprout right out. — Tracy Winegar

It seems to me there's this tyranny that's not accidental or incidental, to make women feel compelled to look like somebody they're not. I think the effort is being made to get us to turn our time and attention to this instead of important political issues. — Eve Ensler

It's not where you start or even what happens to you along the way that's important. What is important is that you persevere and never give up on yourself. — Zig Ziglar

It is important to increase our sense of God's richness and wonder by reading what his great lovers have said about him. — Evelyn Underhill

It's important to appreciate the impact of
knowledge in our lives, and that of our parents
in getting us educated. However in today's
world, if someone have not been to school, that
means he must have been educated. — Victor Adeagbo

Anyone can criticize. It is important to be a person who can appreciate and show the way to betterment. — Debasish Mridha

The most important gifts we can give our children are confidence in their ability to remake themselves again and again and the tools with which to do that job — Anders Ericsson

And that brings me to one last point. I've got a simple message for all the dedicated and patriotic federal workers who have either worked without pay, or who have been forced off the job without pay for these last few weeks. Including most of my own staff. Thank you. Thanks for your service. Welcome back. What you do is important. It matters. You defend our country overseas, you deliver benefits to our troops who earned them when they come home, you guard our borders, you protect our civil rights, you help businesses grow and gain footholds in overseas markets. You protect the air we breathe, and the water our children drink, and you push the boundaries of science and space, and you guide hundreds of thousands of people each day through the glories of this country. Thank you. What you do is important, and don't let anybody else tell you different. — Barack Obama

When you take risks you learn that there will be times when you succeed and there will be times when you fail, and both are equally important. — Ellen DeGeneres

When you say nasty things about people, you should never say the true ones, because you can't really trully and honestly take those back ... — John Green

Making changes requires making new and different choices, choices that are more conscious, and more life-supporting. Continuing to do what we have been doing so far is also a choice, but not one that will bring any meaningful improvement. I would suggest that before we can intelligently make new choices, a thorough re-evaluation is in order. We need to look more carefully at what we value, what we have, and what we desire to make sure these are really important to us and represent what we truly want. — Ilchi Lee

Work is the least important thing and family is the most important. — Jerry Seinfeld

The most important external environment is the government of India. You have to sell your ideas to the government. Selling the idea is the most important thing, and for that I'll meet anybody in the government. I am willing to salaam anyone. One thing you won't find in me and that is an ego. — Dhirubhai Ambani

My cousin Helen, who is in her 90s now, was in the Warsaw ghetto during World War II. She and a bunch of the girls in the ghetto had to do sewing each day. And if you were found with a book, it was an automatic death penalty. She had gotten hold of a copy of 'Gone With the Wind', and she would take three or four hours out of her sleeping time each night to read. And then, during the hour or so when they were sewing the next day, she would tell them all the story. These girls were risking certain death for a story. And when she told me that story herself, it actually made what I do feel more important. Because giving people stories is not a luxury. It's actually one of the things that you live and die for. — Neil Gaiman

When you're first thinking through an idea, it's important not to get bogged down in complexity. Thinking simply and clearly is hard to do. — Richard Branson

The lesson here is clear: If you want people to understand that you value their contributions and that they are important, the recognition and praise you provide must have meaning that is specific to each individual. — Tom Rath

Have you ever felt your destiny unfolding, beloved? Have you experienced the intensity of the hunt, the fixation of attention that only fate can explain? Have you ever told yourself your feelings were
excessive, but known that something huge and pivotally important was carrying you along like a riptide? You can fight that current all you want; you know it will still have its way with you. Or you can
try swimming along with it, and grow amazed by your own power - until you pause and realize that you aren't moving but being moved. You're not in control, not at all, and that's what makes the feeling so
exquisitely exciting. — Martha N. Beck

What's most important in a friendship? Tolerance and loyalty. — J.K. Rowling

The first peace, which is the most important,
is that which comes within the souls of people
when they realize their relationship,
their oneness with the universe and all its powers,
and when they realize that at the center of the universe
dwells the Great Spirit,
and that this center is really everywhere,
it is within each of us. — Black Elk

I think what's important for kids to know is that your decisions here on earth matter, your behavior matters and how you treat other people matters. — Matt Damon

With what dread and apprehension we entrust important jobs into the hands of others. Imagine the love of a needless God who is willing to want our work. — Calvin Miller

There are really only three important things to remember in life: To care, to share, and to be fair. This is not a new idea at all, and yet, observing how most people live their lives, you might think it was. — Frederick Lenz

It is important from time to time to slow down, to go away by yourself, and simply be. — Eileen Caddy

Many people say, "Well, I'd love to make a decision like that, but I'm not sure how I could change my life." They're paralyzed by the fear that they don't know exactly how to turn their dreams
into reality. And as a result, they never make the decisions that could make their lives into the masterpieces they deserve to be. I'm here to tell you that it's not important initially to know how
you're going to create a result. What's important is to decide you will find a way, no matter what. — Anthony Robbins

What is style but a form of silent speech? When I put together an outfit to wear, I am putting together chapters of a story that needs to tell itself to the world in merely a minute! When I choose an outfit to wear, I am choosing a speech, a certain flow of mind-to-skin that is important to be understood. Style is the sentiment that I make without needing to speak to anyone and it's also an internal conversation that I make with myself throughout the day, I share those intimate words every time I look into the mirror or every time I look at my photographs. — C. JoyBell C.

Reading was very important to me as a kid. It was very inspirational to me. I went to a school where that wasn't encouraged so much, but my parents encouraged that, and it has made me part of who I am. — Sasha Grey

Know the moment when to work diligently. Even more important, know the moment when not to work, but to relax and play instead. This will not only benefit you immensely, but also will astonish your friends and competitors. — Ernie J Zelinski

There is such a thing as emotional rubbish; it is produced in the factories of the mind. It consists of pain that has long since passed and is no longer useful. It consists of precautions that were important in the past, but that serve no purpose in the present. — Paulo Coelho

It is therefore of supreme importance that we consent to live not for ourselves but for others. When we do this we will be able first of all to face and accept our own limitations. As long as we secretly adore ourselves, our own deficiencies will remain to torture us with an apparent defilement. But if we live for others, we will gradually discover that no expects us to be 'as gods'. We will see that we are human, like everyone else, that we all have weaknesses and deficiencies, and that these limitations of ours play a most important part in all our lives. It is because of them that we need others and others need us. We are not all weak in the same spots, and so we supplement and complete one another, each one making up in himself for the lack in another. — Thomas Merton

Of course our most important role as a parent is to have our children know that they are loved and worthy. Even more importantly, it's to help them discover, and fan the flames of whatever it is that they are enthusiastic about! — Steve Karagiannis

In life there are good and bad situations. But when you are down in the valley looking up at the mountain, sometimes you realize that you can see the stars a little clearer. You realize what's truly important and you know exactly what must be done to keep it just like it is. — Jennifer Megan Varnadore

We're constantly being told what other people think we are, and that's why it is so important to know yourself. — Sarah McLachlan

In this nonfundamentalist understanding of faith, practice is more important than theory, love more important than law, and mystery is seen as an insight into truth rather than an obstacle. It is the great lie of our time that all religious faith has to be fundamentalist to be valid. — Andrew Sullivan

One of the most important lessons she'd recently learned was that looking strong and confident was sometimes all the people required of you. — Stuart Hill

I would teach how science works as much as I would teach what science knows. I would assert (given that essentially, everyone will learn to read) that science literacy is the most important kind of literacy they can take into the 21st century. I would undervalue grades based on knowing things and find ways to reward curiosity. In the end, it's the people who are curious who change the world. — Neil DeGrasse Tyson

It is important in life not to be strong, but to feel strong, to measure yourself at least once. If you want something in life, reach out and grab it. — Christopher McCandless

This is our one and only chance at mortal life-here and now. The longer we live, the greater is our realization that it is brief. Opportunities come, and then they are gone. I believe that among the greatest lessons we are to learn in this short sojourn upon the earth are lessons that help us distinguish between what is important and what is not. I plead with you not to let those most important things pass you by. As you plan for that illusive, nonexistent future when you will have time to do all that you want to do. Instead, find you in the journey now. — Thomas S. Monson

Success is like a camera. Focus and concentrate on the objective. See your most important goal image for success, and ignore distracting details. Develop your pictures. If they don't turn out, keep at it. Take more shots and be persistent. Focus on making success clearly happen. Visualize optimum success and use perseverance. — Mark LaMoure

As you begin Brain Wave Vibration, it is important to do so with specific, positive intent. Without this, the action is only shaking, which might provide some temporary relaxation and escape, but it will not be permanent. Instead, as you shake, let go of everything and go to a place of oneness, the quiet center at the core of your being. It is from this place that you can begin to re-create yourself and to create the life you truly want to live. — Ilchi Lee

When you're young artist, it's really important to like pay attention to what you're doing and be honest with yourself and in the creative proccess. — Chester Bennington

Nothing is ever perfect. There is always some good in the bad and some bad in the good. What is important is to know if the good can make up for the bad. Fight only for those things that matter. Because otherwise after a point the battle will seem pointless. — Mansi Soni

Based on the experience of history and civilization of mankind, which is more important for Muslims today, to no longer busy discussing the greatness that Muslims achieved in the past, or debating who first discovered the number zero, including the number one, two, three and so on, as the contribution of Muslims in the writing of numbers in this modern era and the foundation and development of civilizations throughout the world. But how Muslims will regained the lead and control of science and technology, leading back and become a leader in the world of science and civilization, because it represents a real achievement. — Bacharuddin Jusuf Habibie

Myth is much more important and true than history. History is just journalism and you know how reliable that is. — Joseph Campbell

It is important to be present emotionally and mentally to enjoy the process. The process is the most important because it is the seed for which you are nourishing. The hustle will always be there. It is important to understand what kind of dance you are having with the hustle in determining who is in control and leading the dance. If the hustle is in control, then it has been determined you are not. And outside forces and circumstances are in control of your life and your opportunities. — Steven Cuoco

Our right brain hemisphere (transcendent mind) supports us in acknowledging our infinite potential when we understand our true nature and origins, and the importance of our free will. The latter gives us the ability to choose to live like an interdependent whole, within which, we are as musical notes inside a great symphony or the various shades of color in a painting, where our role is as important as that of every component but not better than any other — Ivan Figueroa-Otero