During the holiday season last year, I purchased a daily calendar featuring inspirational quotes. A little cheesy, yes. Thought-provoking? Also yes. I have looked forward to a little dab of wisdom every day. As my year-end reflection post, I wanted to share the quotes that I saved because they were the inspiration I needed this year. Maybe some of them will be what you need in this moment.

Understanding

Seek first to understand, then be understood. Stephen Covey

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

Attitude

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

Life is what we make of it, always has been, always will be. Grandma Moses

All I can control is myself and just keep having a positive attitude. Rose Namajunas

Others believing in you is nice but worthless if not matched by your own thought. Scott Moore

I discovered I always have choices and sometimes it’s only a choice of attitude. Judith M. Knowlton

The secret of happiness is not in doing what one likes, but in liking what one does. J.M. Barrie

Worry does not empty tomorrow of its sorrow. It empties today of its strength. Corrie ten Boom

Your only obligation in any lifetime is to be true to yourself. Richard Bach

Success is achieved by developing our strengths, not by eliminating our weaknesses. Marilyn vos Savant

Vision

To accomplish great things, we must not only act, but also dream; not only plan, but also believe. Anatole France

Having a vision for your life allows you to live out of hope, rather than out of your fears. Stedman Graham

A dream becomes a goal when action is taken towards its achievement. Bo Bennett

Those who dream by day are cognizant of many things which escape those who dream only by night. Edgar Allan Poe

We must become the change we want to see. Mahatma Gandhi

The mind has exactly the same power as the hands; not merely to grasp the world, but to change it. Colin Wilson

Failure

I really think a champion is defined not by their wins but by how they recover when they fall. Serena Williams

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

Try and fail, but don’t fail to try. Stephen Kaggwa

He who never made a mistake, never made a discovery. Samual Smiles

There are no mistakes save one; the failure to learn from a mistake. Robert Fripp.

I had to pick myself up and get on with it, do it all over again, only even better this time. Sam Walton

Bravery

There is always a light if only we’re brave enough to see it. If only we are brave enough to be it. Amanda Gorman

You should never let your fears prevent you from doing what you know is right. Aung San Suu Kyi

Only when we are no longer afraid do we begin to live. Dorothy Thompson

The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don’t have any. Alice Walker

The greatest mistake you can make in life is to be continually fearing you will make one. Elbert Hubbard

Courage is like a muscle. We strengthen it by use. Ruth Gordon

Fear nothing, for every renewed effort raises all former failures into lessons, all sins into experience. Katherin Tingley

Altruism

The greatest good you can do for another is not just to share your riches, but to reveal him his own. Benjamin Disraeli

If you have knowledge, let others light their candles in it. Margaret Fuller

This world would be a whole lot better if we just made an effort to be less horrible to one another. Elliot Page

Optimisim

Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement. Nothing can be done without hope and confidence. Helen Keller

Light tomorrow with today. Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Not knowing you can’t do something is sometimes all it takes to do it. Ally Carter

Action

Opportunities multiply as they are seized. Sun Tzu

Success is the sum of small efforts, repeated day in and day out. Robert J. Collier

Beginning are only difficult without any action. Byron Pulsifer

Leadership is a series of behaviors rather than a role for heroes. Margaret Wheatley

Great things are not done by impulse, but by a series of small things brought together. Vincent van Gogh

Support

Surround yourself with people who are going to motivate and inspire you. Charles M. Marcus

What quotes gave you inspiration this year?

Thank you to all of my subscribers. I appreciate your interest in my musings about job seeking, leadership, and non-profits. I will be taking a two-week break for the winter holiday. See you in 2026!