Small Achievements Quotes & Sayings

Though we have rightly applauded our ancestors for their spiritual achievements (and do not and must not discount them now), those of us who prevail today will have done no small thing. The special spirits who have been reserved to live in this time of challenges and who overcome will one day be praised for their stamina by those who pulled handcarts. — Neal A. Maxwell

Most lives are not distinguished by great achievements. They are measured by an infinite number of small ones. Each time you do a kindness for someone or bring a smile to his face, it gives your life meaning. Never doubt your value, little friend. The world would be a dismal place without you in it. (tweaked version of a passage from Scandal in Spring) — Lisa Kleypas

Small wins are exactly what they sound like, and are part of how keystone habits create widespread changes. A huge body of research has shown that small wins have enormous power, an influence disproportionate to the accomplishments of the victories themselves. "Small wins are a steady application of a small advantage," one Cornell professor wrote in 1984. "Once a small win has been accomplished, forces are set in motion that favor another small win."4.14 Small wins fuel transformative changes by leveraging tiny advantages into patterns that convince people that bigger achievements are within reach. — Charles Duhigg

Climb onto my shoulders. I will not let you fall. — Rick Yancey

Among other grand achievements, F. A. Hayek had a remarkable career pointing out the flaws in collectivism. One of his keenest insights was that, paradoxically, any collectivist system necessarily depends on one individual (or small group) to make key social and economic decisions. In contrast, a system based on individualism takes advantage of the aggregate, or 'collective,' information of the whole society; through his actions each participant contributes his own particular, if incomplete, knowledge-information that could never be tapped by the individual at the head of a collectivist state. — Sheldon Richman

Small daily - seemingly insignificant - improvements and innovations lead to staggering achievements over time. — Robin Sharma

What a great treasure can be hidden in a small, selected library! A company of the wisest and the most deserving people from all the civilized countries of the world, for thousands of years, can make the results of their studies and their wisdom available to us. The thought which they might not even reveal to their best friends is written here in clear words for us, people from another century. Yes, we should be grateful for the best books, for the best spiritual achievements in our lives. - RALPH WALDO EMERSON — Leo Tolstoy

Great achievements are nothing more than a collection of small accomplishments. — Justin Young

Really, Watson, you excel yourself," said Holmes, pushing back his chair and lighting a cigarette. "I am bound to say that in all the accounts which you have been so good as to give of my own small achievements you have habitually underrated your own abilities. It may be that you are not yourself luminous, but you are a conductor of light. Some people without possessing genius have a remarkable power of stimulating it. I confess, my dear fellow, that I am very much in your debt. — Arthur Conan Doyle

When, thirty-five years ago, I tried to give a summary of the ideas and principles of that social philosophy that was once known under the name of liberalism, I did not indulge in the vain hope that my account would prevent the impending catastrophes to which the policies adopted by the European nations were manifestly leading. All I wanted to achieve was to offer to the small minority of thoughtful people an opportunity to learn something about the aims of classical liberalism and its achievements and thus to pave the way for a resurrection of the spirit of freedom after the coming debacle. — Ludwig Von Mises

There is one power in the Universe and we can all use it. — Ernest Holmes

I'm not sure about anything. I hate being in charge. I hate making the decisions. I'm terrified of losing Mark. I'm terrified of losing Emma. I want someone to take over. I'm not as strong as you think. The things I want are wrong and broken things to want. — Cassandra Clare

Life is a joyful journey. — Lailah Gifty Akita

In such a way is freedom of thought lost ... By small cuts. By small acts of disapproval. By a thousand discouragements of spirit. — Alexander McCall Smith

Big achievements come one small advantage at a time, one step at a time, one day at time. — Jim Rohn

When our minds are purified through karma (selfless action) and made single-pointed through up-asana (worship), we cannot remain satisfied with the small achievements in worldly life. — Tejomayananda

Oh for grace to be quiet! Why run from house to house to repeat the weary story which makes us more and more heart-sick as we tell it? Why even stay at home to cry out in agony because of wretched forebodings which may never be fulfilled? It would be well to keep a quiet tongue, but it would be far better if we had a quiet heart. Oh to be still and know that Jehovah is God! — Charles Haddon Spurgeon

Success is created through the performance of a few small daily disciplines that stack up over time to produce achievements far beyond anything you could have ever planned for. — Robin Sharma

Development means a capacity for self-sustaining growth. It means that an economy must register advances which in turn will promote further progress. The loss of industry and skill in Africa was extremely small, if we measure it from the viewpoint of modern scientific achievements or even by the standards of England in the late eighteenth century. However, it must be borne in mind that to be held back at one stage means that it is impossible to go on to a further stage. When a person is forced to leave school after only two years of primary school education, it is no reflection on him that he is academically and intellectually less developed than someone who had the opportunity to be schooled right through to university level. What Africa experienced in the early centuries of trade was precisely a loss of development opportunity, and this is of greatest importance. Pg. 105 — Walter Rodney

Small disciplines repeated with consistency every day lead to great achievements gained slowly over time. — John C. Maxwell

God measures people by the small dimensions of humility and not by the bigness of their achievements or the size of their capabilities. — Billy Graham

We cultivate a very small field for Christ, but we love it, knowing that God does not require great achievements but a heart that holds back nothing for self. — Rose Philippine Duchesne

Dreamers should not be blinded or satisfied by their small achievements. — Euginia Herlihy

It was a source of both terror and comfort to me then that I often seemed invisible - incompletely and minimally existent, in fact. It seemed to me that I made no impact on the world, and that in exchange I was privileged to watch it unawares. — Marilynne Robinson

I didn't even know for years that people ever even got paid for this, because they don't teach you that in school. They don't say Shakespeare got a check. — Walter Dean Myers

Daisy," Westcliff said gently, "most lives are not distinguished by great achievements. They are measured by an infinite number of small ones. Each time you do a kindness for someone or bring a smile to his face, it gives your life meaning. Never doubt your value, little friend. The world would be a dismal place without Daisy Bowman in it. — Lisa Kleypas

There are no clean victories for black people, nor, perhaps, for any people. The presidency of Barack Obama is no different. One can now say that an African American individual can rise to the same level as a white individual, and yet also say that the number of black individuals who actually qualify for that status will be small. One thinks of Serena Williams, whose dominance and stunning achievements can't, in and of themselves, ensure equal access to tennis facilities for young black girls. The gate is open and yet so very far away. — Ta-Nehisi Coates

Human beings who leave behind them no great achievements, but only a series of small kindnesses, have not had wasted lives — Charlotte Gray

I draw from my family and my friends and I feel like that small-town person. The achievements, the materialistic possessions have really become to mean less. They mean nothing. — Sheryl Crow

Obviously a candidate has to be held responsible for the words that come out of his mouth, regardless of where they came from. — Roger Stone

Any dream that I am absolutely confident I can achieve should immediately be discarded for the simple reason that it is simply too small. — Craig D. Lounsbrough

If the problem can be solved why worry? If the problem cannot be solved worrying will do you no good. — Shantideva

I felt inadequate to show him the way. I wanted my son to know much laughter and more love, to appreciate the grace of this world and the abiding mystery of it, to know the pleasure of small achievements, of trifles and of follies, to be always aware of the million wonderful little pictures in the big one ... we would have to find our way together. I loved him enough to endure any horror for him and to die that he might be spared. No matter how much you care for another person, however, you can't guarantee him a happy life, not with love, or money, not with sacrifice. You can only do your best - and pray for him. — Dean Koontz

There is no better way to influence children than being their role model. — Eraldo Banovac

That our knowledge only illuminates a small corner of the Universe, that it is incomplete, approximate, tentative and merely probable need not concert us. It is genuine nevertheless. Physical science stands as one of the great achievements of the human spirit. — Arthur David Ritchie

We had such a wonderful set of circumstances in Wilmington. Yes, the four of us became famous literally overnight, but we were in a small town and we always knew when people were coming down. We always knew when to behave. — Katie Holmes

Goodbye my almost lover, goodbye my hopeless dream, I'm tryin not to think about you, Can't you just let me be? So long, my luckless romance, my back is turned on you, should've known you'd bring me heartbreak, almost lovers always do — A Fine Frenzy

I'm not looking for self-control. — Maggie Stiefvater

There is something solid and doughty in the man that can rise from defeat, the stuff of which victories are made in due time, when we are able to choose our position better, and the sun is at our back. — James Russell Lowell

A little here and a little there will always accumulate, so why be surprised when steady, small steps take you to great places? — Richelle E. Goodrich

He had almost fallen asleep on top of Elin last night, and counted it among the week's few small achievements that he had finished the job, at least. — Robert Galbraith