Positive Psychology Quotes: The Wisdom of 5.000 People!
Today I sent out an e-mail with one of my favourite positive psychology quotes to over 5.000 of our loyal subscribers. It goes as follows:
“For a long time it had seemed to me that life was about to begin – real life
But there was always some obstacle in the way. Something to be got through first,
some unfinished business, time still to be served, a debt to be paid, then life would begin.
At last it dawned upon me that these obstacles were my life”
– Fr. Alfred
I invited everyone to reply with their most inspiring positive psychology quote. With everyone’s consent, I feel honoured to share with you the following quotes, insights, knowledge and wisdom. So grab a cup, sit back and enjoy these quotes!
One of Martin Seligman's and Cathy Parsons' favourite quotes:
“The purpose of life is to discover your gifts and the meaning of life is to give them away.”
[Tweet this quote!]
Christel Löwenthal's favourite quote:
“You are the books you read, the films you watch, the people you meet, the dreams you have, the conversations you engage in.
You are what you take from these.
You are the sound of the ocean, the breathe of fresh air, the brightest light and darkest corner.
You are a collective of every experience you have had in your life.
You are every single day.
So drown yourself in a sea of knowledge and existence.
Let the words run through your veins and let the colors fill your mind.”
Sotiris Karagiannis's favourite positive psychology video:
Sotiris submitted this greatly inspiring video by Constantin Pilavios entitled 'Small pleasures' instead of a quote.
Christina Frederick's favourite quote on resilience:
“My barn having burned to the ground, I can now see the moon.” [Tweet this quote!]
Julian Saez's favourite quote:
“The happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your thoughts.”
- Marcus Aurelius, Meditations [Tweet this quote!]
Shehwar Shikoh favourite quote:
“Nobody can make you feel inferior without your consent” [Tweet this quote!]
Larry Richard's favourite quote:
“Absence destroys small passions and increases great ones, as the wind extinguishes tapers and kindles fires.” [Tweet this quote!]
Jon Inge's favourite quote:
“The majority of us lead quiet, unheralded lives as we pass through this world. There will most likely be no ticker-tape parades for us, no monuments created in our honor. But that does not lessen our possible impact, for there are scores of people waiting for someone just like us to come along; people who will appreciate our compassion, our unique talents.
Someone who will live a happier life merely because we took the time to share what we had to give.
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 a potential to turn a life around. It’s overwhelming to consider the continuous opportunities there are to make our love felt.”
- Leo Buscaglia
Diana Luiza Mocanita's favourite quote:
“Promise me you will not spend so much time treading water and trying to keep your head above the waves that you forget, truly forget, how much you have always loved to swim.”
- Tyler Knott Gregson
Trish Lui's favourite quote:
“Don’t aim at success – the more you aim at it and make it a target, the more you are going to miss it. For success, like happiness, cannot be pursued. It must ensue, as the unintended side effect of one’s personal dedication to a course greater than oneself.”
- Victor Frankl, Man’s Search for Meaning
Daniela Niesta Kayser's favourite quotes as images:
John Thompson's two favourite quotes:
“Between the stimulus and response, there is a space and in that space lies our freedom and power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.”
- Victor Frankl, Man’s Search for Meaning
“Radical acceptance rests on letting go of the illusion of control and a willingness to notice and accept things as they are right now, without judging.”
- Marsha Linehan, Ph.D.
Nerilee McKenzie's favourite quote:
“Life can show up no other way than that way in which you perceive it.”
- Neale Donald Walsch [Tweet this quote!]
Alan Davidson's favourite quote:
“As long as anyone believes that his ideal and purpose is outside him, that it is above the clouds, in the past or in the future, he will go outside himself and seek fulfillment where it cannot be found. He will look for solutions and answers at every point except where they can be found – in himself.”
- Erich Fromm
Agnes Bogdan's favourite positive psychology song:
Agnes send us this song which, according to her, expresses the very core of the positive psychology.
Asfia Sohail's favourite quote:
“Each breath in itself is joy if only we try to find Bliss in it.” [Tweet this quote!]
Sharifa Siddiqui's favourite quote (a personal favourite of mine as well!):
“Ultimately, man should not ask what the meaning of his life is, but rather must recognize that it is he who is asked. In a word, each man is questioned by life; and he can only answer to life by answering for his own life; to life he can only respond by being responsible.”
- Victor Frankl, Man’s Search for Meaning
Judie Al's favourite quote:
“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 [Tweet this quote!]
Jerry Grad's two favourite quotes:
“The answer lies within the question itself.” [Tweet this quote!]
“Happiness cannot be attained by wanting to be happy - it must come as the unintended consequence of working for a goal greater than oneself.”
- Victor Frankl, Man’s Search for Meaning [Tweet this quote!]
Birender Ahluwalia's favourite quote:
“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us.” [Tweet this quote!]
Santiago De Francisco's favourite quote:
“The good life is best construed as a matrix that includes happiness, occasional sadness, a sense of purpose, playfulness, and psychological flexibility, as well autonomy, mastery, and belonging.”
- Robert Biswas-Diener
Nicole Downes' favourite quote:
“You don’t have to be the best at something. You just have to be the most determined.”
- Lauren Burns, Australian Olympic Taekwondo Gold Medallist [Tweet this quote!]
Lilian Jans-Beken's favourite quote:
“Afhadali kutoa kuliko kupokea.
Which is Swahili for: “It is better to give than to receive” [Tweet this quote!]
Marta Mendías' favourite quote:
“I am not what happened to me. I am what I choose to become.”
- Carl Jung [Tweet this quote!]
Razma Mazhar's favourite quote:
“When well-being comes from engaging our strengths and virtues, our lives are imbued with authenticity.”
- Martin Seligman [Tweet this quote!]
Raymond Tieu's favourite quote:
“When you forgive others you dignify yourself.” [Tweet this quote!]
Samay Soni
“We are not now that strength which in old days
Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are,
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.”
- excerpt from Ulysses by Lord Alfred Tennyson
Christine Weinkauff found her favourite quote where you least expect it: on a sign in the middle of a small town in northwest Indiana. Respect!
Muhammad Nauman's favourite quote:
“Love For a cause not applause.
Live to express,not to impress.
Live by choice,not by chance.
Make changes,not excuses.
Be motivated,not manipulated.
Work to excel,not to compete.
Listen to your inner voice
For therein lies the answer to life worth living”
Eamon O'Brien's favourite quote:
“In the depths of midwinter I finally learned there was an invisible summer”
- Albert Camus [Tweet this quote!]
Eamon remarked: I love simple thoughts that help me get perspective and some more self compassion
“Life is unfair”, “The goalposts will move” and above all: “other people matter”
- Chistopher Peterson
Herman Pouokam favourite poem.
Herman Pouokam advises us to read this poem by Rudyard Kipling for more inspiration.
Julie F. Troum's favourite quote:
“Purposeful action is thus the goal of all that is truly educative.”
- Dewey (1935)
Julie remarked: As an educator, my students find that having purpose leads to enjoyment and motivation.
Find out more about Julie's work @ http://www.themotivatedmusician.com
Devaraju Kadari's favourite quote:
“By activating an expansive, tolerant, and creative mindset, positive feelings maximize the social, intellectual, and physical benefits that will accrue.”
- Martin Seligman [Tweet this quote!]
Shirlynn Tan's favourite quote:
“The good life is a process, not a state of being. It is a direction not a destination.”
- Carl Rogers [Tweet this quote!]
Beth Cannarozzi's favourite quote:
“When you appreciate the good, the good appreciates.”
- Tal Ben-Shahar [Tweet this quote!]
Felicity Dwyer's favourite quote:
“There’s nothing good or bad but thinking makes it so.”
- William Shakespeare [Tweet this quote!]
Raymond Tieu's favourite quotes:
“There are two things in life that cannot wait: fulfilling filial piety and doing good deeds.” [Tweet this quote!]
“Recognize, appreciate and repay your parents' love.”
- from Jing Si Aphorism by Master Cheng Yen [Tweet this quote!]
Jack Douglas Cerva's favourite quotes:
“Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could; some blunders and absurdities have crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day; you shall begin it serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense.”
- Ralph Waldo Emerson
“When I am in New York, I want to be in Europe, and when I am in Europe, I want to be in New York.”
- Woody Allen [Tweet this quote!]
Boy Smits' favourite quote:
“Be so happy that, when other people look at you, they become happy too.” [Tweet this quote!]
Rajeev Rajdeep's favourite quote:
“The universe stands aside for those people who know where they are going...”
- Paulo Coelho [Tweet this quote!]
Hugo Alberts' favourite positive psychology quote:
“A truly happy person is one who can enjoy the scenery while on a detour.” [Tweet this quote!]
Download the PDF
You can download all of these quotes and more as a PDF file (53kB) here.
What is your favourite positive psychology quote?
When you start to share love and respect with others it comes back to you in abundance. I learned that the more you give you get it back. Life is full of surprises.
Hi Dolly
I agree with your spirit of love, giving, and sharing.
“It’s not how much we give but how much love we put into giving.”
― Mother Teresa
“If you are going through hell, keep going” (Winston Churchill)
Those are great quotes, that I really enjoyed reading. Thanks for nice collection of quotes.