Inspirational Western Quotes & Sayings

I'm more interested in lookin' forward than back. The past is done and there's no changin' it. — Heather Blanton

I think the real understanding comes when we recognize our humanity in each other. That's not just between blacks and whites. That's between all religions as well. — Phylicia Rashad

i have been told many times by family, friends, colleagues and strangers that I, a black African Muslim lesbian, am not included in this vision; that my dreams are a reflection of my upbringing in a decadent, amoral Western society that has corrupted who I really am. But who am I, really? Am I allowed to speak for myself or must my desires form the battleground for causes I do not care about? My answer to that is simple: 'no one allows anyone anything.' By rejecting that notion you discover that only you can give yourself permission on how to lead your life, naysayers be damned. In the end something gives way. The earth doesn't move but something shifts. That shift is change and change is the layman's lingo for that elusive state that lovers, dreamers, prophets and politicians call 'freedom'. — Diriye Osman

If someone says, "You can make it!" down a vertical mountain when you don't ski very well, think about it before launching. This can be a turning point in your life. It sure was in mine when I slammed into the mountain.
I wish I'd said, "F'getabout it, sucka," and gone to the Kiddie Corral. Would have saved a lot of pain and surgery.
Think about this. What are you really up for? Is the thrill worth the cost? — Sandy Nathan

In an Anglo-Saxon thriller, the villain is generally punished, and the strong silent man generally wins the weak babbling girl, but there is no governmental law in Western countries to ban a story that does not comply with a fond tradition, so that we always hope that the wicked but romantic fellow will escape scot-free and the good but dull chap will be finally snubbed by the moody heroine. — Vladimir Nabokov

Under chronic stress, your body is more apt to enter a state of dis-ease. Unable to achieve its natural balance, it can't function the way it should. The ripple effects can be profound. And yet Western medicine has trained us to focus on symptomsrather than root causes like stress. Page 71 — Nick Ortner

People have a fundamental right to organize. It's rooted very much in the Constitution and people's right to free association. — Martin Heinrich

It's been much harder to forgive myself. My mistake was like a pebble dropped in a pond. The ripple effect has impacted everyone I love. — Heather Blanton

Ugly's still ugly, no matter how you see it."
"An interesting assertion. Justify it."
"You bring twenty people in here," Adam told him, "and they'll all say the same thing. They'll all say you're ugly."
"Bring in twenty of me," Art said, "and we'd all say your ass is prettier than your face."
"There aren't twenty of you."
"No, you're right. I'm unique. So I can safely say that all androids find you ugly. Not all humans find me ugly. So, technically, I'm better looking than you, using objective criteria. — Bernard Beckett

I am what I am... but for the first time in my life, I'm sorry for it. — Heather Blanton

Lovemaking is more than sex, it's a connecting of hearts, meeting of minds, & touching of souls." ~ Dr. Scott Hensley — Pamela S. Thibodeaux

Mindfulness isn't inherently Eastern, just as electricity isn't inherently Western. Mindfulness is a quality of presence that's innate in all human beings. — Shamash Alidina

I write with a fountain pen. And then revise word by word and line by line so that the first draft of a scene is usually the tenth or so draft. — John Dufresne

The best that any education can do is to add understanding of the past and present, to gird one for the future, to sharpen the intelligence, to enable one to evaluate whatever comes along, to listen, to learn, to question, to be interested in what is going on, to be involved, to believe "this concerns me," above all to keep the mind alive. This is what I believe Scott Fitzgerald did for me in his College of One. — Sheilah Graham

When I was older, I found Iqbal's work hugely inspirational. He argued against an unquestioning acceptance of Western democracy as the self-governing model, and instead suggested that by following the rules of Islam a society would tend naturally towards social justice, tolerance, peace and equality. Iqbal's interpretation of Islam differs very widely from the narrow meaning that is sometimes given to it. For Iqbal, Islam is not just the name for certain beliefs and forms of worship. The difference between a Muslim and a non-Muslim is not merely a theological one - it is a difference of a fundamental attitude towards life. — Imran Khan

Kropp on the other hand is a thinker. He proposes that a declaration of war should be a kind of popular festival with entrance-tickets and bands, like a bull fight. Then in the arena the ministers and generals of the two countries, dressed in bathing-drawers and armed with clubs, can have it out on themselves. Whoever survives the country wins. That would be much simpler and more than just this arrangement, where the wrong people do the fighting — Erich Maria Remarque

The problem with being a superhero was that people expected you to do things, like be super. — Lori Brighton

Would they ever let go, these grey, turtle-faced creatures? Would their stranglehold on the Western world ever cease? — Paul Christensen

We can best honor our dead by livin' well. Moving' forward dusna mean y love them any less. It just means ye're still alive. — Heather Blanton

I'll try to turn the other cheek....But I've only got two and they're both stinging. — Heather Blanton

Children aren't helped to become caring members of a community, or ethical decision-makers, or critical thinkers, so much as they're simply trained to follow directions. — Alfie Kohn

That we leave our homes, that we step through our doors to the world, that we travel our whole lives not because we want to collect exotic T-shirts, not because we want to consume foreign adventure the same Western way we consume plastic and Styrofoam and LCD TVs and iPads, but because it has the power to renew us - not the guarantee, not the promise, just the possibility. Because there are places our imaginations can never construct for us, and there are people who we will never meet but we could and we might. It reminds us that there is always reason to begin again. — Stephen Markley

I go to Ireland. Walk along an empty beach. When I do, I think of all the people who have walked there before, and will walk there again. Then it occurs to me nothing is forever. No matter how bad or how good, everything passes and moves on to another level. — Nora Roberts

This is the process of Self realization about which Eastern mystics have written. It is the process of salvation to which much Western theology has devoted itself. This is a day-to-day, hour-to-hour, moment-to-moment act of supreme consciousness. It is a choosing and a re-choosing every instant. It is ongoing creation. Conscious creation. Creation with a purpose. It is using the tools of creation we have discussed, and using them with awareness and sublime intention. — Neale Donald Walsch

Could he really want a relationship with a woman who was at the point in life of trading beauty for wisdom? — Heather Blanton

What makes a movie now is a package, a brand, a remake or some preexisting material. — Christopher McQuarrie

Naomi knew she should pray... Instead, she put her face in her hands and wept with all the force of a bursting dam. — Heather Blanton