Inspirational Stories Quotes & Sayings

Just think of what would have happened to poor old Naaman if he had decided to dunk himself only once? — Lawana Blackwell

To discover you purpose in life you must turn to God's Word, not the world's wisdom. You must build your life on eternal truths, not pop psychology, success-motivation, or inspirational stories. — Rick Warren

If you want a strong future: You need to get past the stories that you have told yourself and others. You need to hear the heartbeat
that's the real you. — Bill Jensen

You own everything that happend to you. Tell your stories. If people wanted you to write warmly about them, they should have behaved better.
-- Anne Lamott — Doreen Carvajal

Who thought up the dumb idea to arrange the memoir section in the bookstore by subject? — Slash Coleman

I Drink. I Burn. I Dream.
And Sometimes, I tell Stories ! — Helene Cixous

The startling truth is this: as this narrative unfolded, amidst all the voices breaking free, telling their stories for the first time, the loudest voice of all was that of Norman Rockwell. — Jane Allen Petrick

Style jazzes up your canvas. — A.D. Posey

The world is a woven basket. Every stitch counts. — A.D. Posey

We nurture the candle flames that show the way ahead. We are guerrillas of the word, unsung heroes breathing softly on the embers of the human mind, so that they might re-ignite the hearths around which we once found safe haven. The book is the Light and the Life. — Mark Cantrell

Keep your Eyes on All that's Good and Beautiful and Possible in the World. Because "The Stories We Tell Create the People We Become. — Jacqueline Lewis

We are taught that the hero's journey is the journey from weakness to strength. But I am here today to tell you that those stories are wrong. The real hero's journey is the journey from strength to weakness. — John Green

Why are so many of us enspelled by myths and folk stories in this modern age? Why do we continue to tell the same old tales, over and over again? I think it's because these stories are not just fantasy. They're about real life. We've all encountered wicked wolves, found fairy godmothers, and faced trial by fire. We've all set off into unknown woods at one point in life or another. We've all had to learn to tell friend from foe and to be kind to crones by the side of the road ... — Terri Windling

How can everyone help bring peace to the world? By not being ashamed of who they are and by acting according to their heart's desires. And by telling their stories. — Paulo Coelho

Come, come into this circle of grace and friendship.
Come bringing only your open heart.
You owe us nothing but truth, you need no heavy armor here.
Show us your beautiful scars, the evidence of adventures you've survived.
Tell your stories from the road.
This space is home.
You are safe to come as you are without fear. — Jacob Nordby

Each of us has our definition of adventure: ending an unsatisfying
relationship, returning to school, parachute jumping or training for a
marathon. Go ahead. Get your thrill on. — Gina Greenlee

The more of those little light bulbs that can turn on the better. Eventually you'll have enough to light up a movie screen. — A.D. Posey

Epiphanies awaken the soul. — A.D. Posey

Writing's much more romantic when its pen and ink and paper. It's... More timeless. and worthwhile. Think about it. There are so many words gushing out into the universe these days. All digitally. All in Comic Sans or Times New Roman. Silly Websites. Stupid news stories digitally uploaded to a 24-hour channel. Where's all this writing going? Who's keeping a note of it all? Who's in charge of deciding what's worthwhile and what isn't? But back then... Back then, if someone wanted to write something they had to buy paper. Buy it! And ink. And a pen. And they couldn't waste too many sheets cos it was expensive. So when people wrote, they wrote because it was worthwhile... not just because they had some half-baked idea and they wanted to pointlessly prove their existence by sharing it on some bloody social networking site. — Holly Bourne

We all leave something behind us. A bird in flight will lose a snow-white feather, and flowers in the hedgerows will drop their petals. And people? We leave memories. Footprints in the dust and fingerprints on everything we've touched, warmth in every hand we've held. We become stories that are spoken of, for always. And in this way, we carry on. — Susan E. Fletcher

do not only describe your situation, that event, that person, place or that thing. By describing, we limit our thoughts in pondering. We ought to prescribe. The sick describes his illness to the doctor and the doctor prescribes an antidote. We all do have stories to tell in life, we all do face challenges each day, and likewise we experience joyous moments; that is life. To espouse an unpopular cause, prescribe a great antidotes to every life occurrence from daybreak to sunset. Remember prefer prescribe to describe! — Ernest Agyemang Yeboah

Great stories strengthen us to be great souls. — Lailah Gifty Akita

We are our stories. We tell them to stay alive or keep alive those who only live now in the telling. — Niall Williams

The power of pop culture stories should not be underestimated, and there is an enormous potential for inspirational stories that can have a positive, transformative effect on our lives. — Anita Sarkeesian

Hopefully life is long. Do stuff you will enjoy thinking about and telling stories about for many years to come. Do stuff you will want to brag about. — Rachel Maddow

Reading others' stories will be worthless unless you write your own story. — Raj Singh

A good preview makes you can't wait to see the whole movie. — A.D. Posey

Walk in truth. Leave footprints of honesty. — A.D. Posey

We are the thoughts we choose to keep. — A.D. Posey

I'd rather be a fool than afraid. — A.D. Posey

We come to life in the middle of stories that are not ours. — Paul Elie

But remember, child, we may all have our own story and destiny, and sometimes our seemingly bad fortune, but we're all part of a greater story too. One that transcends the soil, the wind, time ... even our own tears. Greater stories will have their way. — Mary E. Pearson

They teach us that human beings learn and absorb ideas and concepts through narrative, through stories, not through lessons or theoretical speeches. This is what any religious texts teach us. They're all tales about characters who must confront life and overcome obstacles, figures setting off on a journey of spiritual enrichment through exploits and revelations. — Carlos Ruiz Zafon

As an author the question I get asked the most is, "why do you write?" My knee jerk response is, "Because I love it," which is true, but not the whole truth.
So here is my revised response to that question; "I write for the thirteen year old me who hated reading and craved something different than the boring literature I was forced to read for school. I write to see something I want to read exist in the world. I write because it becomes unbearable to hold so many stories in my head without a way to express them, but most importantly, I write to be true to myself. — Day Parker

The truth is that I can't remember a moment when I didn't want to be a writer. From childhood, I loved books, I loved stories and I loved writing my own — John Boyne

You may feel like your future is slipping from your grasp, that if you don't rush now to greet your dreams you might lose out on them, but please wait. If you are coming from an unsupportive environment with regards to your sexual orientation, the best thing to do is to establish your independence. Make sure you have a support network of loving and loyal friends. Make sure you have somewhere to live. Make sure you have an income to sustain you. Place a premium on your life. Always, always place a premium on your life.

When all these elements have been configured and your psychic compass is at the ready, go forth in the knowledge that you've created a self-preserving future for yourself. Go forth in the knowledge that you have a safe space to call home. Go forth in the knowledge that not only are you kicking ass but you are kicking ass on a major scale. Go forth in the knowledge that not only are you winning at life but you have already won. — Diriye Osman

Fight the darkness. Fight for the light. — A.D. Posey

Even in a world of closed minds and judgmental people, love stories continue to evolve even in the most radical of situations. There isn't a book of how to when it comes to love. Any two people can fall in love, and that's all it takes to create an amazing love story. Never feel ashamed of who you love. — Charisse Spiers

I like stories about supervillains. They teach children that you can accomplish great things even when the whole world is against you. — G.D. Falksen

Some stories wait their turn to be told, others just tap you on the shoulder and insist you tell them. — Michael Scott

Vulnerability lets in light. — A.D. Posey

You are your own stories and therefore free to imagine and experience what it means to be human ... And although you don't have complete control over the narrative (no author does, I can tell you), you could nevertheless create it. — Toni Morrison

I'm prone to tangential digressions, but I've never regretted being remarkably inconsistent:it's led me to fascinating people and interesting stories. — Natalie MacLean

Stories never really end ... even if the books like to pretend they do. Stories always go on. They don't end on the last page, any more than they begin on the first page. — Cornelia Funke

It wasn't chance at all, Gilly. People are yearning creatures. They imagine and strive and hope. Stories about an enchanted band of vagabonds existed before the Carnival itself. But those fairy tales become the focal point of billions of daydreams, and eventually those daydreams condensed like vapor into something real. The Carnival only exists because you want it to, you and everyone else. So why's it peculiar that, when you wanted to find it, a path came into existence too? — Kristopher Reisz

What's usual for us may not be the same for everyone. I'm inspired by lives and stories of all those amazing people who overcome extraordinary challenges each day to live what we see as an ordinary life. — Sharad Vivek Sagar

You will find the greatest happiness in letting yourself be. — A.D. Posey

Someone has said that enemies are just people whose stories we don't know. I see a lot of truth in that. The more other people's stories are hidden from us, the easier it is for us to view them as enemies. But, when we begin to learn their stories, we recognize all we share in common with them and we delight in how the unique beauty of their traditions enriches our own lives. — Joe Hayes

A single recipe holds countless stories. — A.D. Posey

Always let life be wild. Forever have life be interesting. — A.D. Posey

Dip your hands into life, scoop up memories, dreams, questions and ideas and weave them into stories. — Naomi Kinsman

Accept nothing. Challenge everything. — A.D. Posey

Love is the answer to everything. It's the only reason to do anything. If you don't write stories you love, you'll never make it. If you don't write stories that other people love, you'll never make it. — Ray Bradbury

Take a deep breath. Inhale peace. Exhale happiness. — A.D. Posey

Dunce is completely bald and has a really pointed head so the temptation to get him paralytic on his thirtieth birthday, carry him to the tattooist's and get a nice big 'D' smack bang in the middle of his forehead was too much for me. Trouble is he can't afford to have it removed so he wears a big plaster over it. Gangs of children tease him.

'What's underneath the plaster, mister? Show us!'

They swear he has a third eye under there.

My name is Bill but Dunce calls me 'Fez' on account of my hat. I've known Dunce for over sixteen years. — Mike Russell

Tell your story. Don't try and tell the stories that other people can tell. Any starting writer starts out with other people's voices. But as quickly as you can start telling the stories that only you can tell, because there will always be better writers than you and there will always be smarter writers than you, but you are the only you. — Neil Gaiman

Who knew what evil lurked in the hearts of men? A copper, that's who. ( ... )You saw how close men lived to the beast. You realized that people like Carcer were not mad. They were incredibily sane. They were simply men without a shield. They'd looked at the world and realized that all the rules didn't have to apply to them, not if they didn't want them to. They weren't fooled by all the little stories. They shook hands with the beast. — Terry Pratchett

You're with you 24/7; you must love you the most. — A.D. Posey

There are no truths, only stories. — Elissa Sussman

In the end, we begin. — A.D. Posey

Like many others who have gone into prisons and jails with us, Chuck and Carol Middlekauff demonstrate what our ministry is all about. We train Christian 'teammates' to share the good news and love of Christ with 'the least of these' so they can continue to do it with others they encounter as they go along. In this book, Carol has written the stories of some of those encounters so you can appreciate how easy it is to tell people about Jesus. It happens when you realize God does all the work, and all you have to do is show up. I hope you will be encouraged by reading the book and then join us soon for a Weekend of Champions to find out for yourself."
Bill Glass, retired NFL all-pro defensive end, evangelist, founder of Bill Glass Champions for Life prison ministries, and author of numerous books, including The Healing Power of a Father's Blessing and Blitzed by Blessings — Bill Glass

Some days you live in pajamas, and your hair kind-of has that Albert Einstein look. — A.D. Posey

In the equation of life, the limit does not exist. — A.D. Posey

If you don't humiliate yourself, you don't live. — A.D. Posey

Stories are what grow from the seeds of adventure. Seek out adventures of your own and then tell some stories. — Marty Conley

I am an architect of words; there is no limit to the number of 'stories' I can create! — Traci M. Sanders

Our world is moving so fast and we are apt to miss so much of what is happening "right now." If we can put down our smart phones for one moment and be present to what is around us, I believe these incidental meetings and strangers who come into our lives can give us unexpected fortitude, perspective and even wisdom just when we need them the most - if we are just awake, aware and open to these new insights. — Kristin S. Kaufman

Nothing can change the past, including thought. However, dwelling on thoughts about the past does change our experience of the Now. When we drag the past into the present, everything else that belongs to the Now is marginalized and overlooked. All we see is the past or, more accurately, our story about it. All we can ever have of the past is our story about it, and that story is very unsatisfying. Our stories about the past don't feed our soul like the Now does. And worse, any story is usually a sad tale that keeps us caught up in negative feelings, and then those feelings become our current experience of life. — Gina Lake

He without inspiration and motivation exists no more in a world full of innovations and inventions! — Darnaya Darice

Some stories are easy to follow, and easy to tell. There is an introduction, a twist, and a happily-ever-after. And when telling the story, everyone forgets those small details, like that one quiet morning when the two of you woke wake up with the sunrise and talked about cookies. Or that night when she had her period, and the cramps were killing her, and she just needed your hug and something warm. — Andrea Tomic

In life, be a kid in a candy store. — A.D. Posey

Hello. It is Monday. I live in Sun City. Sun City is a city that is entirely contained inside an enormous concrete building in the shape of a sun. Its rays house our living quarters; its circular centre is where we work and shop. No one has ever been outside of the city; it is generally suspected that the environment outside of the city is uninhabitable. — Mike Russell

Power consists to a large extent in deciding what stories will be told. — Carolyn G. Heilbrun

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

A film that is a true work of art transcends theatre and heartwarmingly changes lives. — A.D. Posey

Because of sorrow, my awareness of life's pulse is strongly detectable. It is syncopation while I journey, a lap of ocean in the eyes of every person I meet. This awareness informs the flesh of my stories. Grief has been an odd companion, at first a terror, but now I am all the better having accepted it for its intrinsic worth. — Patricia Hickman

The task ahead of you is never as great as the power within you. — Fran 'Mystiblu' Hafey

Life stories with themes of ruin can trap us. Life stories that are triumphant can transform us. — Meg Jay

Trying to find answers to why and how my life got into such a dismal mess, I sought answers in the scriptures, in religion and philosophy, but it only confused me further. Stories, on the other hand, helped me cope, heal and recover. — Indu Muralidharan

Well, we're meant to be writing stories today, — Mark Haddon

All art is a form of vulnerability because at least part of the artist goes into the piece. — A.D. Posey

Why do I write? Because I like telling stories and I don't like repeating myself (insert chuckle here). — Najeev Raj Nadarajah

Speak up and speak clearly. I want to hear what you have to say because it matters. Let's listen to each other and respect one another's opinions. Although, they may be different, wisdom allows us to be responsible for our own feelings and actions. — Felicia Johnson

And who wouldn't wish that? Certainly everyone here- dressed up as aliens, and wizards, and zombies, and superheroes- wants desperately to be inside a story, to be part of something more logical and meaningful than real life seems to be. Because even worlds with dragons and time machines seem to be more ordered than our own. When you live for stories, when you spend so much of your time immersed in careful constructs of three and five acts, it sometimes feels like you're just stumbling through the rest of life, trying to divine meaningful narrative threads from the chaos. Which, as I learned the hard way this weekend, can be painfully fruitless. Fiction is there when real life fails you. But it's not a substitute. — Sarvenaz Tash

Just like life, it was over much too soon. And just like life, there weren't any answers. But like that one-in-an-eight-million great New York moment, I didn't need one. (Dark City Lights) — Peter Carlaftes

I think humans might be like butterflies; people die every day without many other people knowing about them, seeing their colors, hearing their stories ... and when humans are broken, they're like broken butterfly wings; suddenly there are so many beauties that are seen in different ways, so many thoughts and visions and possibilities that form, which couldn't form when the person wasn't broken! So it is not a very sad thing to be broken, after all! It's during the times of being broken, that you have all the opportunities to become things unforgettable! Just like the broken butterfly wing that I found, which has given me so many thoughts, in so many ways, has shown me so many words, and imaginations! But butterflies need to know, that it doesn't matter at all if the whole world saw their colors or not! But what matters is that they flew, they glided, they hovered, they saw, they felt, and they knew! And they loved the ones whom they flew with! And that is an existence worthwhile! — C. JoyBell C.

Stories are how we think. They are how we make meaning of life. Call them schemas, scripts, mental maps, ideas, metaphors, or narratives. Stories are how we inspire and motivate human beings. Great stories help us to understand our place in the world, create our identity, discover our purpose, form our character and define and teach human values. — Jeroninio Almeida

Be what the world needs. — A.D. Posey

Perspective is the key to everything. — A.D. Posey

I calculated how easy it would be to pull a chair next to the windowsill, climb up, and simply allow my body to fall four stories to the street. Then an inner voice broke in, There's got to be something more. Go find it. — Debra Moffitt

The game meandered on and stories began to take over. It was getting late but going to bed meant good-bye so we pushed forward — Marina Keegan

Remember Old Nan's stories, Bran. Remember the way she told them, the sound of her voice. So long as you do that, part of her will always be alive in you. — George R R Martin

Beauty lies not in a flawless complexion, but in the stories that are told by each transitioning line on a woman's face. — Alyscia Cunningham

Rocks and minerals: the oldest storytellers. — A.D. Posey

Give all of life's oxygen to the fire that is your soul. — A.D. Posey

Thousands of individuals unknowingly contribute to the creation of our lives. Over the years, these serendipitous exchanges made imprints on my mind and heart and served as catalysts for my ongoing growth and development. — Kristin S. Kaufman

I've been a storyteller since I was six years old when my mother had her first series of electroshock therapy treatments. I made up stories to keep my sisters quiet while mom slept." Dear Deb
"I didn't know how it felt to have cancer, but I knew about fear." Dear Deb
"Two people have tried to kill me. The first person was my mother." Dear Deb
"I used to believe there were big miracles and little miracles. But, I'm not so sure God measures miracles." Dear Deb
"I was raised to believe forgiveness was a gift I was supposed to give the person who hurt me, but that felt like giving a bully an ice cream cone after he pushed me down on the playground." Dear Deb
"Miracles are one of God's ways of getting our attention. I know he got mine. It's a miracle I'm here." Dear Deb — Margaret Terry

I listened so hard because it felt like, while she was telling me stories, she was massaging my soul, letting me know that I was not alone, that I will never have to be alone, that there are friends and family and churches and coffee shops. I was not going to be cast into space. — Donald Miller

At least I'm not afraid, and no one will ever call me boring. — A.D. Posey

Life takes its own turns, makes its own demands, writes its own story, and along the way, we start to realize we are not the author. — Barack Obama