Life Quotes and Sayings

Inspirational Life Quotes and Sayings to Uplift your Day

Below is a list of some of my favourite life quotes and sayings from famous philosophers such as Lao tzu, Confucious, Zhuangzi, Ghandi, Albert Einstein, Deepak Chopra.

Each morning I upload a famous life quote and saying to my Acupuncture facebook page. To receive life quotes and sayings to start your day click like here.

Life Quotes and Sayings by Lao Tzu

“A leader is best when people barely know he exists, when his work is done, his aim fulfilled, they will say: we did it ourselves”
Lao Tzu 

“Be Content with what you have; rejoice in the way things are. When you realize there is nothing lacking, the whole world belongs to you”
Lao Tzu

“Do the difficult things while they are easy and do the great things while they are small. A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step”
Lao Tzu 

“Great acts are made up of small deeds”
Lao Tzu 

“By letting it go it all gets done. The world is won by those who let it go. But when you try and try. The world is beyond the winning”
Lao Tzu 

“Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage”
Lao Tzu 

“Be Content with what you have; rejoice in the way things are. When you realize there is nothing lacking, the whole world belongs to you”
Lao Tzu 

“Health is the greatest possession. Contentment is the greatest treasure. Confidence is the greatest friend. Non-being is the greatest joy”
Lao Tzu 

“A good traveller has no fixed plans, and is not intent on arriving”
Lao Tzu

“At the centre of your being you have the answer; you know who you are and you know what you want”
Lao Tzu

“All difficult things have their origin in that which is easy, and great things in that which is small”
Lao Tzu 

“An ant on the move does more than a dozing ox”
Lao Tzu 

“Anticipate the difficult by managing the easy”
Lao Tzu 

“Be the chief but never the lord”
Lao Tzu 

“Because of a great love, one is courageous”
Lao Tzu 

“Fill your bowl to the brim and it will spill. Keep sharpening your knife and it will blunt”
Lao Tzu 

“For the wise man looks into space and he knows there are no limited dimensions”
Lao Tzu 

“From caring comes courage”
Lao Tzu 

“He who conquers others is strong; He who conquers himself is mighty”
Lao Tzu  

“He who does not trust enough, will not be trusted”
Lao Tzu 

“He who is contented is rich”
Lao Tzu 

“He who knows others is wise. He who knows himself is enlightened”
Lao Tzu 

“He who knows that enough is enough will always have enough”
Lao Tzu 

“He who knows, does not speak. He who speaks, does not know”
Lao Tzu 

“He who talks more is sooner exhausted”
Lao Tzu 

“If you do not change direction, you may end up where you are heading”
Lao Tzu 

“If you would take, you must first give, this is the beginning of intelligence”
Lao Tzu 

In dwelling, live close to the ground. In thinking, keep to the simple. In conflict, be fair and generous. In governing, don’t try to control. In work, do what you enjoy. In family life, be completely present.
Lao Tzu 

In the world there is nothing more submissive and weak than water. Yet for attacking that which is hard and strong nothing can surpass it.
Lao Tzu 

Kindness in words creates confidence. Kindness in thinking creates profoundness. Kindness in giving creates love.
Lao Tzu 

Knowing others is wisdom, knowing yourself is Enlightenment.
Lao Tzu 

Life and death are one thread, the same line viewed from different sides.
Lao Tzu 

Life is a series of natural and spontaneous changes. Don’t resist them – that only creates sorrow. Let reality be reality. Let things flow naturally forward in whatever way they like.
Lao Tzu 

Love is of all passions the strongest, for it attacks simultaneously the head, the heart and the senses.
Lao Tzu 

Manifest plainness, embrace simplicity, reduce selfishness, have few desires.
Lao Tzu 

Music in the soul can be heard by the universe
Lao Tzu 

“Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished”
Lao Tzu 

“Nothing is softer or more flexible than water, yet nothing can resist it”
Lao Tzu 

“Of all that is good, sublimity is supreme. Succeeding is the coming together of all that is beautiful. Furtherance is the agreement of all that is just. Perseverance is the foundation of all actions”
Lao Tzu 

“One cannot reflect in streaming water. Only those who know internal peace can give it to others”
Lao Tzu 

“One who is too insistent on his own views, finds few to agree with him”
Lao Tzu 

“People in their handlings of affairs often fail when they are about to succeed. If one remains as careful at the end as he was at the beginning, there will be no failure”
Lao Tzu 

“Respond intelligently even to unintelligent treatment”
Lao Tzu 

“Silence is a source of great strength”
Lao Tzu 

“The higher the sun ariseth, the less shadow doth he cast; even so the greater is the goodness, the less doth it covet praise; yet cannot avoid its rewards in honours”
Lao Tzu 

“The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step”
Lao Tzu 

“The key to growth is the introduction of higher dimensions of consciousness into our awareness”
Lao Tzu 

“The more laws and order are made prominent, the more thieves and robbers there will be”
Lao Tzu 

“The power of intuitive understanding will protect you from harm until the end of your days”
Lao Tzu 

“The sage does not hoard. The more he helps others, the more he benefits himself, The more he gives to others, the more he gets himself. The Way of Heaven does one good but never does one harm. The Way of the sage is to act but not to compete”
Lao Tzu 

“The snow goose need not bathe to make itself white. Neither need you do anything but be yourself”
Lao Tzu

“The softest things in the world overcome the hardest things in the world”
Lao Tzu 

“The wise man does not lay up his own treasures. The more he gives to others, the more he has for his own”
Lao Tzu

“The words of truth are always paradoxical”
Lao Tzu

“Those who have knowledge, don’t predict. Those who predict, don’t have knowledge”
Lao Tzu

“To know yet to think that one does not know is best; Not to know yet to think that one knows will lead to difficulty”
Lao Tzu

“To lead people walk behind them”
Lao Tzu

“To realize that you do not understand is a virtue; Not to realize that you do not understand is a defect”
Lao Tzu

“To see things in the seed, that is genius”
Lao Tzu
“To the mind that is still, the whole universe surrenders”
Lao Tzu 

“Treat those who are good with goodness, and also treat those who are not good with goodness. Thus goodness is attained. Be honest to those who are honest, and be also honest to those who are not honest. Thus honesty is attained”
Lao Tzu 

“Truthful words are not beautiful; beautiful words are not truthful. Good words are not persuasive; persuasive words are not good”
Lao Tzu 

“Violence, even well intentioned, always rebounds upon oneself”
Lao Tzu 
“When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be”
Lao Tzu 

When the best leader’s work is done the people say, “We did it ourselves.”
Lao Tzu 

“When you are content to be simply yourself and don’t compare or compete, everybody will respect you”
Lao Tzu 

“Without stirring abroad, One can know the whole world; Without looking out of the window One can see the way of heaven. The further one goes The less one knows”
Lao Tzu 

Life Quotes and Sayings by Zhuangzi

“I dreamed I was a butterfly, flitting around in the sky; then I awoke. Now I wonder: Am I a man who dreamt of being a butterfly, or am I a butterfly dreaming that I am a man?”
Zhuangzi 

“Where can I find a man who has forgotten words so I can have a word with him?”
Zhuangzi 

“Flow with whatever may happen and let your mind be free. Stay centered by accepting whatever you are doing. This is the ultimate”
Zhuangzi 

“Happiness is the absence of the striving for happiness”
Zhuangzi 

“We cling to our own point of view, as though everything depended on it. Yet our opinions have no permanence; like autumn and winter, they gradually pass away”
Zhuangzi 

“All existing things are really one. We regard those that are beautiful and rare as valuable, and those that are ugly as foul and rotten The foul and rotten may come to be transformed into what is rare and valuable, and the rare and valuable into what is foul and rotten”
Zhuangzi 

“Cherish that which is within you, and shut off that which is without; for much knowledge is a curse”
Zhuangzi 

“I know the joy of fishes in the river through my own joy, as I go walking along the same river”
Zhuangzi 

“Life comes from the earth and life returns to the earth”
Zhuangzi

“Great wisdom is generous; petty wisdom is contentious”
Zhuangzi 

“Men honour what lies within the sphere of their knowledge, but do not realize how dependent they are on what lies beyond it”
Zhuangzi 

“Rewards and punishment is the lowest form of education”
Zhuangzi 

“Those who seek to satisfy the mind of man by hampering it with ceremonies and music and affecting charity and devotion have lost their original nature”
Zhuangzi

Life Quotes and Sayings by Confucius

“Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated”
Confucius 

“Better a diamond with a flaw than a pebble without”
Confucius 

“Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it”
Confucius 

“A superior man is modest in his speech, but exceeds in his actions”
Confucius  

“It is easy to hate and it is difficult to love. This is how the whole scheme of things works. All good things are difficult to achieve; and bad things are very easy to get”
Confucius 

“Learning without thought is labor lost; thought without learning is perilous”
Confucius 

“It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop”
Confucius 

“Speak the truth, do not yield to anger; give, if thou art asked for little; by these three steps thou wilt go near the gods”
Confucius 

“The object of the superior man is truth”
Confucius 

“Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall”
Confucius 

“Never give a sword to a man who can’t dance”
Confucius 

“Silence is a true friend who never betrays”
Confucius 

“Only the wisest and stupidest of men never change”
Confucius 

“The more man meditates upon good thoughts, the better will be his world and the world at large”
Confucius 

“The superior man acts before he speaks, and afterwards speaks according to his action”
Confucius 

“The superior man is distressed by the limitations of his ability; he is not distressed by the fact that men do not recognize the ability that he has”
Confucius 

“The superior man is modest in his speech, but exceeds in his actions”
Confucius 

“I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand”
Confucius 

“Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life”
Confucius 

“The superior man thinks always of virtue; the common man thinks of comfort”
Confucius 

“The superior man understands what is right; the inferior man understands what will sell”
Confucius 

“To be wronged is nothing unless you continue to remember it”
Confucius 

“To go beyond is as wrong as to fall short”
Confucius 

“Do not impose on others what you yourself do not desire”
Confucius 

“By three methods we may learn wisdom: First, by reflection, which is noblest; Second, by imitation, which is easiest; and third by experience, which is the bitterest”
Confucius 

“It is more shameful to distrust our friends than to be deceived by them”
Confucius 

“Faced with what is right, to leave it undone shows a lack of courage”
Confucius 

“I hear, I know. I see, I remember. I do, I understand”
Confucius 

“I want you to be everything that’s you, deep at the centre of your being”
Confucius 

“If I am walking with two other men, each of them will serve as my teacher. I will pick out the good points of the one and imitate them, and the bad points of the other and correct them in myself”
Confucius 

“If we don’t know life, how can we know death?”
Confucius 

“If you look into your own heart, and you find nothing wrong there, what is there to worry about? What is there to fear?”
Confucius 

“Never contract friendship with a man that is not better than thyself”
Confucius 

“Old age, believe me, is a good and pleasant thing. It is true you are gently shouldered off the stage, but then you are given such a comfortable front stall as spectator”
Confucius 

“Real knowledge is to know the extent of one’s ignorance”
Confucius 

“Study the past, if you would divine the future”
Confucius 

“Success depends upon previous preparation, and without such preparation there is sure to be failure”
Confucius

“The will to win, the desire to succeed, the urge to reach your full potential… these are the keys that will unlock the door to personal excellence”
Confucius 

“There are three methods to gaining wisdom. The first is reflection, which is the highest. The second is limitation, which is the easiest. The third is experience, which is the bitterest”
Confucius 

“The strength of a nation derives from the integrity of the home”
Confucius 

“The expectations of life depend upon diligence; the mechanic that would perfect his work must first sharpen his tools”
Confucius 

“The firm, the enduring, the simple, and the modest are near to virtue”
Confucius 

Life Quotes and sayings by Mahatma Ghandi

“Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever”.
Gandhi 

“The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others”.
Gandhi 

“You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty”.
Gandhi

“Man is the maker of his own destiny, and I therefore ask you to become makers of your own destiny”.
Gandhi 

“As human beings, our greatness lies not so much in being able to remake the world – that is the myth of the atomic age – as in being able to remake ourselves”.
Gandhi 

“Adaptability is not imitation. It means power of resistance and assimilation”.
Gandhi 

“The pleasure lies in making the effort, not in its fulfillment”.
Gandhi 

“Man is the maker of his own destiny, and I therefore ask you to become makers of your own destiny”.
Gandhi 

“Purity of personal life is the one indispensable condition for building up a sound education”.
Gandhi

“Close the day with prayer so that you may have a peaceful night free from dreams and nightmares”.
Gandhi 

“You can chain me, you can torture me, you can even destroy this body, but you will never imprison my mind”.
Gandhi 

“It is health which is real wealth, not pieces of silver and gold”.
Gandhi 

“Always aim at complete harmony of thought and word and deed. Always aim at purifying your thoughts and everything will be well”.
Gandhi 

“Confession of errors is like a broom which sweeps away the dirt and leaves the surface brighter and clearer. I feel stronger for confession”.
Gandhi 

“The difference between what we do and what we are capable of doing would suffice to solve most of the world’s problem”.
Gandhi

“Each one has to find his peace from within. And peace to be real must be unaffected by outside circumstances”.
Gandhi 

“The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong”.
Gandhi 

“Be the change that you want to see in the world”.
Gandhi 

“Action expresses priorities”.
Gandhi 

“Glory lies in the attempt to reach one’s goal and not in reaching it”.
Gandhi 

“An ounce of practice is worth more than tons of preaching”.
Gandhi 

“Imitation is the sincerest flattery”.
Gandhi 

“Don’t listen to friends when the Friend inside you says “Do this”.
Gandhi 

“Man should forget his anger before he lies down to sleep”.
Gandhi 

“A man is but the product of his thoughts what he thinks, he becomes”.
Gandhi 

“Honest disagreement is often a good sign of progress”.
Gandhi 

“In a gentle way, you can shake the world”.
Gandhi 

“There is more to life than increasing its speed”.
Gandhi 

“There is a beauty and an art in simplicity which he who runs may see”.
Gandhi 

“What kind of victory is it when someone is left defeated?”
Gandhi 

“Where there is love there is life”.
Gandhi 

“A “No” uttered from the deepest conviction is better than a “Yes” merely uttered to please, or worse, to avoid trouble”.
Gandhi 

“I suppose leadership at one time meant muscles; but today it means getting along with people”.
Gandhi 

“Persistent questioning and healthy inquisitiveness are the first requisite for acquiring learning of any kind”.
Gandhi 

“An error does not become truth by reason of multiplied propagation, nor does truth become error because nobody sees it”.
Gandhi 

“First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win”.
Gandhi 

“Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony”.
Gandhi 

“Heroes are made in the hour of defeat. Success is, therefore, well described as a series of glorious defeats”.
Gandhi 

“An eye for an eye makes us all blind”.
Gandhi

Life Quotes and Saying by Deepak Chopra

“Questions answer themselves if you are aware enough”.
Deepak Chopra

“Everyone’s consciousness draws from the same underlying reality”.
Deepak Chopra

“Consciousness is the maker of reality. Maker really means “chooser.”
Deepak Chopra

“Thoughts come and go like leaves in the wind, but the core of consciousness is forever.”
Deepak Chopra
“When it is expanded, human consciousness chooses non-violence since that is compatible with love.”
Deepak Chopra
“If you want to know the state of your personal consciousness, just look around and see what is happening to you.”
Deepak Chopra

“If you want to know the state of the collective consciousness, just look around at what is happening in the world.”
Deepak Chopra

“The world consists of images on a screen, and consciousness is the steady light that emanates from the projector.”
Deepak Chopra

“There are no physical divisions in the subtle domain and therefore no barriers between heaven and hell, light and shadow.”
Deepak Chopra

“The important thing is how much consciousness you add to the whole of human existence, for that is how eternity expresses itself.”
Deepak Chopra

“The soul is a living, dynamic part of each person. It exists as consciousness and therefore must be found in consciousness.”
Deepak Chopra

“No matter whether “I” feels victorious or defeated, elated or discouraged, these are mere phantoms compared to consciousness itself.”
Deepak Chopra

“Consciousness orchestrates its activity in response to both attention and intention. Whatever you put your attention on becomes energized. Whatever you take your attention away from dwindles.”
Deepak Chopra

“The only preparation or participation required to unleash the power of intention is a connection to the conscious intelligence field, which can be attained in many ways, one of the best being meditation.”
Deepak Chopra

“Each of us lives in multi-dimensions. We can choose where to focus our attention, and wherever that focus goes, a new reality opens up. When I speak of other dimensions, I’m referring to domains of consciousness.”
Deepak Chopra

Others
“A goal is a dream with a deadline” Napolean Hill
“A successful man is one who can lay firm foundations with the bricks others have thrown at him” David Brinkley