Motivational quotes

The demons of depression could find no foothold when he was around

Of Frank Wild, left in command of twenty-two men on Elephant Island for four and a half months while Shackleton went for help.

If one asks for success and prepares for failure, he will get the situation he has prepared for.

Shinn argues that a person's practical preparations should align with the outcome they say they expect.

Nothing stands between man and his highest ideals and every desire of his heart, but doubt and fear.

After an anecdote about acting on intuition, Shinn identifies doubt and fear as the barriers to desired outcomes in her philosophy.

If I am a princess in rags and tatters, I can be a princess inside. It would be easy to be a princess if I were dressed in cloth of gold, but it is a great deal more of a triumph to be one all the time when no one knows it.

Sara uses her imagined identity as a princess to preserve her dignity while living in poverty.

Whats'ever 'appens to you--whats'ever--you'd be a princess all the same--an' nothin' couldn't make you nothin' different.

Becky assures Sara that losing her money and status has not changed her worth; the original Yorkshire dialect is retained.

Sara hugged her close and tried to laugh. There was a sort of comfort in the warmth of the plump, childish body.

Sara comforts little Lottie and receives comfort herself through their embrace after a difficult day.

Everything was strange and silent and she seemed to be hundreds of miles away from anyone, but somehow she did not feel lonely at all.

Alone with a robin in the newly discovered garden, Mary feels peaceful rather than lonely.

As he sat gazing into the clear running of the water, Archibald Craven gradually felt his mind and body both grow quiet, as quiet as the valley itself.

The grieving Archibald Craven experiences an unexpected moment of stillness beside a stream in the Tyrol.

He did not know how long he sat there or what was happening to him, but at last he moved as if he were awakening and he got up slowly and stood on the moss carpet, drawing a long, deep, soft breath and wondering at himself. Something seemed to have been unbound and released in him, very quietly.

After years of grief, Archibald Craven notices a quiet sense of release while resting beside a stream.

I can say with conviction that the struggle which evil necessitates is one of the greatest blessings. It makes us strong, patient, helpful men and women.

Written while she was still an undergraduate at Radcliffe, answering the charge that a deaf and blind woman has no standing to be cheerful.

Optimism that does not count the cost is like a house builded on sand.

Her guard against the cheerfulness she calls the optimism of ignorance and indifference.

But I have found out that though the ways in which I can make myself useful are few, yet the work open to me is endless.

Keller reflects on the hope, useful work, and connection she finds in her own life.