16 Hard-Hitting Quotes That Will Pull You Out of Your Head and Back Into Your Passions
When you feel like you have an avalanche of ideas weighing on your shoulders but are unable to express them, it can stop you from enjoying even the most pleasurable things in life.
This pressure constantly lingers in the background, no matter what is currently occupying your time. You know there is something you ought to be creating, but you can’t bring yourself to do it.
These are the things that gnaw at your soul.
If left unrealised, they can tear you apart.
So why don’t you face them?
Because you’re afraid that you can’t do it. You’re afraid of failing. You’re afraid of the effort. You even avoid planning it out. You’re also afraid of success. You’re afraid of the responsibility of living out these ideas and being vulnerable. You’re afraid that you’re you, and you’re mortal.
If I can just avoid being, then I can avoid dying.
However, you might not know where to start — so you procrastinate. It isn’t something peculiar to you specifically; it’s the natural consequence we all experience in this situation. You don’t have to feel bad about it, but it needs to be recognised.
I personally have struggled, and still do.
But I never give up on trying to improve, and one thing I found that helped me were hard-hitting pieces of wisdom that pulled me back into reality from out of the shallow whir of my unfocused thoughts and actions. They made me realise that my life is important, and to play my part is the greatest opportunity I will ever have.
I started compiling these quotes when I noticed some impacted me a lot more than others. I set aside a dedicated document and began compiling them about a year ago.
They would always hit me in such a way that they led me back to realising the depth and responsibility of self-expression. They are a mix of pressing realities, pragmatism, insight and inspiration.
Sometimes we need a good existential shaking.
For me, it is always best to read through these quotes in the morning to properly orient my day, otherwise I’m swept up by my newsfeed or other trivial distractions.
I originally had no plan to use them in an article — but since they make a noticeable effect on my perspective, I’m going to make the wild assumption that perhaps something in this compilation can help you too.
I hope you find value in them.
“The most regretful people on earth are those who felt the call to creative work, who felt their own creative power restive and uprising, and gave to it neither power nor time.”
― Mary Oliver
“The fact is: Whatever you think the world is withholding from you, you are withholding from the world. You are withholding it because deep down you think you are small and that you have nothing to give.”
– Eckhart Tolle
“If you bring forth what is within you, what you bring forth will save you. If you do not bring forth what is within you, what you do not bring forth will destroy you.”
– The Gospel of Thomas
“Speak on any scale open to you, large or small — to your friends, your associates, your professional organizations, or any legitimate public forum. You can never tell when your words will reach the right mind at the right time.”
– Ayn Rand
“Where there is no vision, the people perish.”
– Proverbs
“You can only lead people as far as you’ve gone yourself.”
– Dr. Myles Munroe
“Feelings like disappointment, embarrassment, irritation, resentment, anger, jealousy, and fear, instead of being bad news, are actually very clear moments that teach us where it is that we’re holding back.
They teach us to perk up and lean in when we feel we’d rather collapse and back away. They’re like messengers that show us, with terrifying clarity, exactly where we’re stuck. This very moment is the perfect teacher, and, lucky for us, it’s with us wherever we are.”
– Pema Chodron
“The road to hell is paved with works-in-progress.”
― Philip Roth
No good can ever come from deviating from the path that you were destined to follow. You will be assailed by varieties of hidden pain. Most often you deviate because of the lure of money, of more immediate prospects of prosperity.
Because this does not comply with something deep within you, your interest will lag and eventually the money will not come so easily. You will search for other easy sources of money, moving further and further away from your path.
Not seeing clearly ahead of you, you will end up in a dead-end career. Even if your material needs are met, you will feel an emptiness inside that you will need to fill with any kind of belief system, drugs, or diversions.
There is no compromise here, no way of escaping the dynamic. You will recognize how far you have deviated by the depth of your pain and frustration. You must listen to the message of this frustration, this pain, and let it guide you… it is a matter of life and death.
— Robert Greene
“Don’t die with the music still in you.”
– Wayne Dyer
“When you have something to say, silence is a lie.”
― Jordan B. Peterson
“The uncontested absurdities of today are the accepted slogans of tomorrow.”
– Ayn Rand
“How vain it is to sit down to write when you have not stood up to live.”
– Henry David Thoreau
“Never begin the day until it is finished on paper.”
– Jim Rohn
“Then I get into one of the biggest causes of failure in the world today: lack of persistence. It’s a crying shame to see talented people so often fail for no other reason than they gave up too early.
The ability to continue towards a goal long after your enthusiasm for the journey has waned is at the very heart of a successful life. But society today promotes the quick fix, the shortcut, the easy money.
Now more than ever in history, we are being tempted to move on to the next big idea rather than persist with our original aim. I know how tough it can be to keep persisting. I’ve struggled with it often in my life.”
– Siimon Reynolds
“Do not fear death, but rather the unlived life. You don’t have to live forever. You just have to live.”
― Natalie Babbitt
Sit with each one of these and let the reality of them sink in. It’s easy to glide over them and think “oh yeah, I get the gist of what they are saying”.
Of course you do.
But it takes contemplation to let these realities sink in to their appropriate depth.
What would it mean to take this advice on? What would your life look like five years on without implementing the idea? Is this a real consequence I could experience in my life?
In my experience, it’s a lot harder to procrastinate with the weight of your personal existence urging you forward. It’s a battle of consciously maintaining a perspective that allows you to be productive, but it’s not all doom and gloom.
You really do have something to offer the world.
Now go do it!
