Ways to inspire others

Set a positive example. As Albert Einstein said: "Example is not the main thing in influencing others. It is the only thing." So, that means we all have the power to inspire others by our actions. Actions speak louder than words. Be someone worth emulating.

Care about others. People don’t care about how much you know until they know how much you care. Be sincere with your Thoughts, Words and Actions. Ask questions. Listen more, speak less.Take a genuine interest in people.

Encourage. Observe them doing something right, and praise/affirm them. Everyone goes through tough times. When you support people and encourage them through these times, you’ll be inspiring them to see the best in themselves and in the situation.

Inspire from your own experience. Offer to share your personal stories, teach them things you’ve learned along the way. Be willing to share your failures as well as your successes. Others will relate to you. They’ll understand that they’re not the only ones with challenges.  Ask them questions about their own progress.  Help them avoid the mistakes you’ve made in the past, and always maintain a positive outlook on their forward progress.

Challenge people. Many of us have had coaches who challenged us to do our best, and we were better for it.

Stay Positive & inspire with stories, poems and quotes. Look for people, ideas, stories, quotes, poems, movies and knowledge that you find inspiring and motivating. Share what you know and read with others. We learn best from these and we all need to develop our own inspiring stories.

Famous Person 3 :Ralph Waldo Emerson Inspirational quotes

Ralph Waldo Emerson (May 25, 1803 – April 27, 1882) was an American essayist, lecturer, and poet. He was seen as a champion of individualism and a prescient critic of the countervailing pressures of society, and he disseminated his thoughts through dozens of published essays and more than 1,500 public lectures across the United States.

The following are some of his famous quotes:

“For everything you have missed, you have gained something else, and for everything you gain, you lose something else.”

 "For every minute you are angry you lose sixty seconds of happiness."

"Our greatest glory is not in never failing, but in rising up every time we fail."

"Whatever course you decide upon, there is always someone to tell you that you are wrong. There are always difficulties arising which tempt you to believe that your critics are right. To map out a course of action and follow it to an end requires courage.”

"To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.”

“Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in, forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day, you shall begin it well and serenely...”

"Once you make a decision, the universe conspires to make it happen."

“Unless you try to do something beyond what you have already mastered, you will never grow.”

“It is one of the blessings of old friends that you can afford to be stupid with them.”

"The only way to have a friend is to be one.”

"Never lose an opportunity of seeing anything beautiful, for beauty is God's handwriting."

“What lies behind you and what lies in front of you, pales in comparison to what lies inside of you.”

"Men succeed when they realize that their failures are the preparation for their victories."

“All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make the better.”

"The purpose of life is not to be happy. It is to be useful, to be honorable, to be compassionate, to have it make some difference that you have lived and lived well.”

“Every wall is a door.”

"The god of Victory is said to be one-handed, but Peace gives victory to both sides."

"The wise man in a storm prays to God, not for safety from danger; but for deliverance from fear."

Famous Person 2 :Mother Teresa Inspirational quotes

Mother Teresa (26 August 1910 – 5 September 1997), born Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu, was a Catholic nun of Albanian ethnicity and Indian citizenship. She founded the Missionaries of Charity in Calcutta, India in 1950. For over 45 years she ministered to the poor, sick, orphaned, and dying, while guiding the Missionaries of Charity's expansion, first throughout India and then in other countries. Following her death she was beatified by Pope John Paul II and given the title Blessed Teresa of Calcutta. She was a recipient of the 1979 Nobel Peace Prize. When receiving the prize, Mother Teresa was asked, "What can we do to promote world peace?" Her response, "Go home and love your family ."

Below are some of her quotations. May they inspire you to care and love the living...

"Not all of us can do great things. But we can do small things with great love."

"Life is an opportunity, benefit from it.
Life is beauty, admire it.
Life is a dream, realize it.
Life is a challenge, meet it.
Life is a duty, complete it.
Life is a game, play it.
Life is a promise, fulfill it.
Life is sorrow, overcome it.
Life is a song, sing it.
Life is a struggle, accept it.
Life is a tragedy, confront it.
Life is an adventure, dare it.
Life is luck, make it.
Life is too precious, do not destroy it.
Life is life, fight for it."

"I have found the paradox, that if you love until it hurts, there can be no more hurt, only more love."

"I am not sure exactly what heaven will be like, but I know that when we die and it comes time for God to judge us, he will not ask, 'How many good things have you done in your life?' rather he will ask, 'How much love did you put into what you did?"

"Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless."

"Everytime you smile at someone, it is an action of love, a gift to that person, a beautiful thing."

"Yesterday is gone. Tomorrow has not yet come. We have only today. Let us begin."

"Let no one ever come to you without leaving better and happier. Be the living expression of God's kindness: kindness in your face, kindness in your eyes, kindness in your smile."

"I alone cannot change the world, but I can cast a stone across the waters to create many ripples."

"May today there be peace within. May you trust that you are exactly where you are meant to be. May you not forget the infinite possibilities that are born of faith in yourself and others. May you use the gifts that you have received, and pass on the love that has been given to you. May you be content with yourself just the way you are. Let this knowledge settle into your bones, and allow your soul the freedom to sing, dance, praise and love. It is there for each and every one of us." ..."

"If you are humble nothing will touch you, neither praise nor disgrace, because you know what you are."

"We know only too well that what we are doing is nothing more than a drop in the ocean. But if the drop were not there, the ocean would be missing something."

"Reach high, for stars lie hidden in your soul. Dream deep, for every dream precedes the goal."

"I can do things you cannot, you can do things I cannot; together we can do great things."

"Prayer is not asking. Prayer is putting oneself in the hands of God, at His disposition, and listening to His voice in the depth of our hearts."

"If you can't feed a hundred people, feed just one."

"The person who gives with a smile is the best giver because God loves a cheerful giver."

"Prayer in action is love, love in action is service."

"When you don't have anything, then you have everything."

Story 1: Lessons on Patience - The Chinese Bamboo

A great lesson of patience, persistence and hard work can be learned from the story of planting Chinese bamboo.

Unlike most other plants, Chinese bamboo is quite unique on its own. When this bamboo is planted, watered, and nurtured for the whole growing season, it does not outwardly develop even just for an inch. Then, on the next growing season, the farmer must continue to irrigate, fertilize and care for the bamboo tree and yet nothing happens – it fails to sprout just the same.

And as the seasons go in and out, the farmer has to continue caring for the bamboo for four consecutive years. What could really be discouraging is the farmer has nothing substantial to demonstrate for all of his labor in caring and growing the tree. Four lonely years of hard work and caring and yet you have nothing!

And then on the fifth year...

the bamboo tree shoots up to more than 80 feet all in just one growing season! Now, that is a very astonishing demonstration of the power of nature!

Now, you might be thinking: Did the small tree loll inactive for four years and then just decides to grow dramatically on the fifth? I think the answer is quite clear for us to see. The little tree was actually developing itself underground by expanding its root system to make it tough enough to sustain its impending external growth in the fifth year and even beyond.

Now, had the tree failed to build up a strong and able underground foundation, it would be impossible for it to keep on growing when it is time to sprout outside into the outside world.

The same principle is true for people. People, who patiently toil towards worthwhile dreams and goals, building strong character while overcoming adversity and challenge, grow the strong internal foundation to handle success, while get-rich- quickers and lottery winners usually are unable to sustain unearned sudden wealth.

Had the Chinese bamboo farmer dug up his little seed every year to see if it was growing, he would have stunted the tree’s growth as surely as a caterpillar is doomed to a life on the ground if it is freed from its struggle inside a cocoon prematurely. The struggle in the cocoon is what gives the future butterfly the wing power to fly!

Learn lessons of patience and hard work from the Chinese bamboo!

Poem 1: Don't Quit

When things go wrong, as they sometimes will,
When the road you're trudging seems all uphill,
When the funds are low and the debts are high,
And you want to smile, but you have to sigh,
When care is pressing you down a bit,
Rest, if you must, but don't you quit.

Life is queer with its twists and turns,
As every one of us sometimes learns,
And many a failure turns about,
When he might have won had he stuck it out;
Don't give up though the pace seems slow--
You may succeed with another blow.

Often the goal is nearer than,
It seems to a faint and faltering man,
Often the struggler has given up,
When he might have captured the victor's cup,
And he learned too late when the night slipped down,
How close he was to the golden crown.

Success is failure turned inside out--
The silver tint of the clouds of doubt,
And you never can tell how close you are,
It may be near when it seems so far,
So stick to the fight when you're hardest hit--
It's when things seem worst that you must not quit.

- Author unknown

Quotes 6: Overcoming fear inspirational quotes

You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, 'I have lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along.'
You must do the thing you think you cannot do.
- Eleanor Roosevelt

Decide that you want it more than you are afraid of it."
- Bill Cosby

Every time you win, it diminishes the fear a little bit. You never really cancel the fear of losing; you keep challenging it.
-Arthur Ashe

You can conquer almost any fear if you will only make up your mind to do so. For remember, fear doesn't exist anywhere except in the mind.
- Dale Carnegie

Inaction breeds doubt and fear. Action breeds confidence and courage. If you want to conquer fear, do not sit home and think about it. Go out and get busy.
- Dale Carnegie

Confront your fears, list them, get to know them, and only then will you be able to put them aside and move ahead.
- Jerry Gillies

Fear is met and destroyed with courage.
- James F. Bell

When you are afraid, do the thing you are afraid of and soon you will lose your fear of it.
- Norman Vincent Peale

Fear defeats more people than any other one thing in the world.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

When you fear something, learn as much about it as you can. Knowledge conquers fear.
- Unknown author

Failure is sucess if we learn from it.
- Mario Andretti

I feel that the most important requirement in success is learning to overcome failure. You must learn to tolerate it, but never accept it.
- Reggie Jackson

Quotes 5: Kindness Inspirational Quotes

No act of kindness, no matter how small is ever wasted.
- Aesop, Greek fabulist

Kindness is an inner desire that makes us want to do good things even if we do not get anything in return. It is the joy of our life to do them. When we do good things from this inner desire, there is kindness in everything we think, say, want and do.
- Emmanuel Swedenborg

Wherever there is a human being, there is an opportunity for kindness.
- Seneca

Kindness is a language which the dumb can speak, the deaf can understand.
- C.N. Bovee

Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around.
- Leo Buscaglia

Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.
- Plato

Kindness is the sunshine in which virtue grows.
- Robert Green Ingersoll

Goodness is uneventful. It does not flash, it glows.
- David Grayson

Kind words can be short and easy to speak but their echoes are truly endless.
- Mother Teresa


The little unremembered acts of kindness and love are the best parts of a person's life.
- William Wordsworth

Love and kindness are never wasted. They always make a difference. They bless the one who receives them, and they bless you, the giver.
- Barbara De Angelis

Kind words do not cost much. Yet they accomplish much.
- Blaise Pascal

Remember there's no such thing as a small act of kindness. Every act creates a ripple with no logical end.
- Scott Adams

No one has yet realized the wealth of sympathy, the kindness and generosity hidden in the soul of a child. The effort of every true education should be to unlock that treasure.
- Emma Goldman

Dare to reach out your hand into the darkness, to pull another hand into the light.
— Norman B. Rice

Quotes 4: Courage Inspirational quotes

cour·age   
noun 1. the quality of mind or spirit that enables a person to face difficulty, danger, pain, etc., without fear; bravery.

You can conquer almost any fear if you will only make up your mind to do so. For remember, fear doesn't exist anywhere except in the mind.- Dale Carnegie
 With courage you will dare to take risks,have the strength to be compassionate,and the wisdom to be humble. Courage is the foundation of integrity. - Keshavan Nair
 You can measure a man by the opposition it takes to discourage him.
- Robert C. Savage
 Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm.
- Winston Churchill
 Let us not pray to be sheltered from dangers but to be fearless when facing them. - Rabindranath Tagore
 You can stand tall without standing on someone. You can be a victor without having victims.
- Harriet Woods
 You don't develop courage by being happy in your relationships everyday. You develop it by surviving difficult times and challenging adversity. -Barbara De Angelis
 The secret of happiness is freedom. The secret of freedom is courage.
- Thucydides
 Circumstance does not make the man: it reveals him to himself.
- James Allen
Every man has his own courage,and is betrayed because he seeks in himself the courage of other persons.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face.
- Eleanor Roosevelt
Courage doesn't always roar. Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying,"I will try again tomorrow."
- Mary Anne Radmacher
 Courage is doing what you're afraid to do. There can be no courage unless you're scared.
- Eddie Rickenbacker
 Self-pity is our worst enemy and if we yield to it, we can never do anything wise in this world. - Helen Keller
The cave you fear to enter holds the treasure you seek.
- Joseph Campbell
 God grant me the serenity
To accept the things I cannot change;
Courage to change the things I can;
And wisdom to know the difference.
- Reinhold Niebuhr
 Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear, not absence of fear.
- Mark Twain
 Do the thing you fear most and the death of fear is certain.
- Mark Twain

Quotes 3: Encouragement Inspirational quotes

Feeling overwhelmed with the happenings at work? At home? That's normal. Everyone needs a boost of encouragement from time to time. Let's learn to pick ourselves up as we fall each time then!"It’s not whether you get knocked down.It’s whether you get up again.-Vince Lombardi" ;)

What the caterpillar calls the end of the world, the master calls a butterfly.
-Richard Bach

When everything seems to be going against you,
remember that the airplane takes off against the wind, not with it.
-Henry Ford

If you have made mistakes, there is always another chance for you.
You may have a fresh start any moment you choose,
for this thing we call 'failure' is not the falling down, but the staying down.
-Mary Pickford

Understand that it is ok to be scared or uncertain,
however right beyond those barriers ultimately lies your dreams.
-Josh Hinds

It doesn't matter how many say it cannot be done
or how many people have tried it before;
it's important to realize that whatever you're doing,
it's your first attempt at it.
-Wally Amos

Most of the important things in the world
have been accomplished by people who have kept on trying
when there seemed to be no hope at all.
-Dale Carnegie

If one dream should fall and break into a thousand pieces,
never be afraid to pick one of those pieces up and begin again.
-Flavia Weedn

The world is round and the place which may seem like the end
may also be only the beginning.
-Ivy Baker Priest

Experience is not what happens to you;
it is what you do with what happens to you.
-Aldous Huxley

Go confidently in the direction of your dreams.
Live the life you have imagined.
-Henry David Thoreau

When one door closes another door opens;
but we so often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door,
that we do not see the ones which open for us.
-Alexander Graham Bell

He who refuses to embrace a unique opportunity
loses the prize as surely as if he had failed.
-William James

Don't be afraid your life will end;
be afraid that it will never begin.
-Grace Hansen

Risk more than others think is safe.
Care more than others think is wise.
Dream more than others think is practical.
Expect more than others think is possible.
-Claude Bissell

Never let the odds keep you from doing
what you know in your heart you were meant to do.
-H. Jackson Brown, Jr.

Trust yourself. You know more than you think you do.
-Benjamin Spock

Adversity is like a strong wind.
It tears away from us all but the things that cannot be torn,
so that we see ourselves as we really are.
-Arthur Golden, Memoirs of a Geisha

When written in Chinese the word "crisis" is composed of two characters
one represents danger and the other represents opportunity.
-John F. Kennedy

It is foolish to tear one's hair in grief,
as though sorrow would be made less by baldness.
-Cicero

Famous Person 1: John C Maxwell inspirational quotes

John Calvin Maxwell (born 1947) is an evangelical Christian author, speaker, and pastor who has written many books, primarily focusing on leadership. He is an internationally recognized leadership expert, speaker, and author who has sold over 12 million books. His organizations have trained more than 2 million leaders worldwide. Dr. Maxwell is the founder of INJOY, Maximum Impact, ISS and EQUIP, an international leadership development organization working to help leaders. EQUIP is involved with leaders from more than 80 nations. Its mission is “to see effective Christian leaders fulfill the Great Commission in every nation.”

The following are some of his inspirational quotes. Enjoy!

"Life is 10% of what happens to me and 90% of how I react to it."

"The greatest day in your life and mine is when we take total responsibility for our attitudes. That's the day we truly grow up."

"Once our minds are 'tattooed' with negative thinking, our chances for long-term success diminish."

"People buy into the leader before they buy into the vision."

"If we're growing, we're always going to be out of our comfort zone."

"A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way."

"A great leader's courage to fulfill his vision comes from passion, not position."

"A big man is one who makes us feel bigger when we are with him."

"A man must be big enough to admit his mistakes, smart enough to profit from them, and strong enough to correct them."

"A leader lives with people to know their problems. A leader lives with God in order to solve them."

"True leadership must be for the benefit of the followers, not to enrich the leader."

Quotes 2: Servant Leadership Inspirational quotes

Servant leadership starts by the person being a servant first. He/ she must first learn to serve before taking on a leadership position. Servant leaders focus on the well-being and individual growth of the followers. People will not follow a leader until he/she shows genuine interest in them.

The following are some encouraging quotes on servant leadership. Enjoy!

We are here to add what we can to, not get what we can from life.
- Sir William Osler


We must be silent before we can listen. We must listen before we can learn. We must learn before we can prepare. We must prepare before we can serve. We must serve before we can lead."
- William Arthur Ward


Servant-leadership is all about making the goals clear and then rolling your sleeves up and doing whatever it takes to help people win. In that situation, they don't work for you, you work for them.
-Ken Blanchard


The measure of a leader is not the number of people who serve the leader, but the number of people served by the leader.
- John C. Maxwell


A person who is worthy of being a leader wants power not for himself, but in order to be of service.
- US Senator Sam J. Ervin, Jr.


Leadership should be born out of the understanding of the needs of those who would be affected by it.
- Marian Anderson


A Godly Leader finds strength by realizing his weakness, finds authority by being under authority, finds direction by laying down his own plans, finds vision by seeing the needs of others, finds credibility by being an example, finds loyalty by expressing compassion, finds honor by being faithful, finds greatness by being a servant.
- Roy Lessin

Quotes 1: Leadership inspirational quotes

The following are some Leadership inspirational quotes that have inspired me! Enjoy!:

Leadership is the art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it.
- Dwight Eisenhower

Leaders must be tough enough to fight, tender enough to cry, human enough to make mistakes, humble enough to admit them, strong enough to absorb the pain, and resilient enough to bounce back and keep on moving.
- Jesse Jackson

A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way.
- John C. Maxwell

The best executive is the one who has sense enough to pick good men to do what he wants done, and self-restraint to keep from meddling with them while they do it.
- Theodore Roosevelt

In matters of style, swim with the current;
In matters of principle, stand like a rock.
- T. Jefferson

The great leaders are like the best conductors - they reach beyond the notes to reach the magic in the players.
- Blaine Lee

The task of the leader is to get his people from where they are to where they have not been.
- Henry Kissinger

Do not follow where the path may lead. Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Never mistake knowledge for wisdom. One helps you make a living; the other helps you make a life.
- Sandra Carey

The best example of leadership is leadership by example.
- Jerry McClain

If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.
- John Quincy Adams

Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other.
- John Fitzgerald Kennedy


The manager asks how and when; the leader asks what and why.
- Warren Bennis

A leader takes people where they want to go. A great leader takes people where they don’t necessarily want to go, but ought to be.
- Rosalynn Carter

Good leaders must first become good servants.
- Robert Greenleaf

Encouraging and Inspirational Quotes

The following are some of my favourite inspirational quotes. May they inspire you!

Every artist was first an amateur.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

 The more difficulties one has to encounter, within and without, the more significant and the higher in inspiration his life will be.
- Horace Bushnell

Accept challenges, so that you may feel the exhilaration of victory.
       - George S. Patton 

The power of imagination makes us infinite.
- John Muir 

Attitude determines altitude - Anonymous

We are all inventors, each sailing out on a voyage of discovery, guided each by a private chart, of which there is no duplicate. The world is all gates, all opportunities.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.
       - Eleanor Roosevelt  

We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore,
is not an act but a habit.
- Aristotle 

The best way out is always through.
- Robert Frost 

You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You must do the thing which you think you cannot do.
 -Eleanor Roosevelt  

We are still masters of our fate.
We are still captains of our souls.
- Winston Churchill

Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm - Winston Churchill

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.
     -Mark Twain

 Courage faces fear and thereby masters it
      - Martin Luther King, Jr