STAY WHIMSICAL.

I want to put a ding in the universe. – Steve Jobs

It is a sad fate for a man to die too well known to everybody else and still unknown to himself. – Francis Bacon

You were born an original, don’t die a copy. – John L. Mason

In most people's vocabularies, design means veneer. It's interior decorating. It's the fabric of the curtains of the sofa. But to me, nothing could be further from the meaning of design. Design is the fundamental soul of a human-made creation that ends up expressing itself in successive outer layers of the product or service. – Steve Jobs

There are many things that catch my eye, but few that catch my heart; it is those I consider to pursue. – Tim Redmond

For the Lord Jesus Christ's sake, Do all the good you can, To all the people you can, In all the ways you can, As long as ever you can. – Epitaph (Tombstone inscription in Shrewsbury, England)

This is the true joy in life, being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one. Being a force of nature instead of a feverish, selfish little clod of ailments and grievances complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy. I am of the opinion that my life belongs to the whole community and as I live it is my privilege - my “privilege” to do for it whatever I can. I want to be thoroughly used up when I die, for the harder I work the more I love. I rejoice in life for its own sake. Life is no brief candle to me; it is a sort of splendid torch which I've got a hold of for the moment and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to future generations. – George Bernard Shaw

If a man hasn’t discovered something that he will die for, he isn’t fit to live. – Martin Luther King Jr.

Remember: it’s not what you have; it’s what you do with what you have that makes all the difference.

The quality of a person’s life is in direct proportion to their commitment to excellence, regardless of their chosen field of endeavor. – Vince Lombardi

There are two kinds of people in the world—the realists and the dreamers. The realists know where they’re going. The dreamers have already been there. – Robert Orben

There comes a special moment in everyone’s life, a moment for which that person was born. That special opportunity, when he seizes it, will fulfill his mission. A mission for which he is uniquely qualified. In that moment, he finds greatness. It is his finest hour. – Winston Churchill

If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world. – C.S. Lewis

Be, and not seem. – Ralph Waldo Emerson

The whole secret of a successful life is to find out what it is one’s destiny to do, and then to do it. – Henry Ford

Everyone has his own specific vocation or mission in life. Everyone must carry out a concrete assignment that demands fulfillment. – Viktor Frankl

We are not merely “channels” or “instruments in the hands of God.” We are coworkers with God in the work of God in the world, knowledgeable and informed participants in that which matters to the Creator. – Gordon T. Smith

We were made for God and we will be restless until we find rest in him. – St. Augustine

If you can’t be a highway, just be a trail; If you can’t be the sun, be a star; For it isn’t by size that you win or you fail—Be the best of whatever you are. – Douglas Mallock

It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat. – Theodore Roosevelt

You were made for something more than merely avoiding failure. – John Ortberg

We discover our selves in action, and action becomes the fodder for reflection. – Gordon T. Smith

What quickens my pulse now is the stretch ahead rather than the one behind, and it is mainly for some clue to where I am going that I search through where I have been, for some hint as to who I am becoming or failing to become that I delve into what used to be. – Frederick Buechner

We are wonderfully unique in our identity, capable of an intimacy with God that makes us feel uniquely special to Him. We are also powerfully deceived by our self-focused approach to life that makes it seem there is no higher pursuit in life than to find ourselves. We are both dignified and depraved. – Larry Crabb

God will never ask you to become the wrong kind of person in order to do the right kind of things. – John Ortberg

Let go of impoverished, circumscribed, and finite perceptions of God. The love of Christ is beyond all knowledge, beyond anything we can intellectualize or imagine. It is not a mild benevolence but a consuming fire. Jesus is so unbearably forgiving, so infinitely patient, and so unendingly loving that He provides us with the resources we need to live lives of gracious response. – Brennan Manning

The dignity of our individuality (the prints on my soul are as unique as those on my fingers) reflects God's creative genius. – Larry Crabb

It takes courage to not only accept our limitations but embrace our potential. – Erwin Raphael McManus, The Artisan Soul

If you hear a voice within you say “you cannot paint,” then by all means paint and that voice will be silenced. – Vincent van Gogh

Our story is what we have to offer the world. So much more important than being heard is having something to say. – Erwin Raphael McManus, The Artisan Soul

We must never forget that what we once were is nothing compared with what we are becoming. – T. D. Jakes

Define yourself radically as one beloved by God. This is the true self. Every other identity is illusion. • Brennan Manning

Beware of paying attention or going back to what you once were, when God wants you to be something that you have never been. – Oswald Chambers, My Utmost For His Highest

If I can stay calm, faithful, and unconfused while in the middle of the turmoil of life, the goal of the purpose of God is being accomplished in me. – Oswald Chambers, My Utmost For His Highest

Instead of finding confidence to live as we should regardless of our circumstances, we have used it as justification to choose the path of least resistance, least difficulty, least sacrifice. Instead of concluding it is best to be wherever God wants us to be, we have decided that wherever it is best for us to be is where God wants us. Actually, God's will for us is less about our comfort than it is about our contribution. God would never choose for us safety at the cost of significance. – Erwin Raphael McManus, The Barbarian Way

The two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why. – Mark Twain

purpose quotes