80 Thoughtful Quotes to Reflect On

These days, the bustle can get so busy that we have no time to reflect on our path and life in general. Luckily for us, when it comes to thinking about life and our journeys, there are or were wise individuals with sage soundbites to share.

Living an intentional life where your actions are well thought through can be difficult if you have a lot of demands on your time. Among all the rush, we could be experiencing harmful patterns when it comes to facing challenges, learning the art of happiness, and dealing with anger.

If we don't take time to reflect on these areas, we struggle to step out of our habitual trains of thought that keep us in toxic loops.

We also don't leave any time to reflect on life in general. Looking at our lives from deeper perspectives and reflecting on its many aspects, such as intelligence and beauty, brings quality to daily living.

These 80 quotes cover every aspect of living a well-thought-out life, from going through hard times, the importance of gratitude, and contemplations on art and beauty.

Shannon L. Alder’s quote: “Storms don’t come to teach us painful lessons, rather they were meant to wash us clean.” | Image: Amodays

THOUGHTFUL QUOTES FOR WHEN TIMES ARE TOUGH

“Well, I must endure the presence of a few caterpillars if I wish to become acquainted with the butterflies.” — Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

“Life is never made unbearable by circumstances, but only by lack of meaning and purpose.” —Victor Frankl

“You have power over your mind – not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength.” — Marcus Aurelius

“Tragedies and new beginnings are often interwoven like an intricate web of fibers bearing all different kinds of colors.” ― Kimberly Anne Inc.

“At some point, you have to stop running and turn around and face whoever wants you dead. The hard thing is finding the courage to do it.”― Suzanne Collins

Carl Jung’s quote: “Nobody, as long as he moves about among the chaotic currents of life, is without trouble.” | Image: Amodays

“You are, after all, what you think. Your emotions are the slaves to your thoughts, and you are the slave to your emotions.” ― Elizabeth Gilbert

“I am a slow walker, but I never walk back.” ― Abraham Lincoln

“Never underestimate the power of thought; it is the greatest path to discovery.” — Idowu Koyenikan

“Nobody, as long as he moves about among the chaotic currents of life, is without trouble.” — Carl Jung

“Only one who takes over his own life history can see in it the realization of his self. Responsibility to take over one’s own biography means to get clear about who one wants to be.” — Jürgen Habermas

Eckhart Tolle’s quote: “The past has no power over the present moment.” | Image: Amodays

“Be like water making its way through cracks. Do not be assertive, but adjust to the object, and you shall find a way around or through it. If nothing within you stays rigid, outward things will disclose themselves. Empty your mind, be formless. Shapeless, like water. If you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup. You put water into a bottle and it becomes the bottle. You put it in a teapot, it becomes the teapot. Now, water can flow or it can crash. Be water, my friend.” — Bruce Lee

“Stop the habit of wishful thinking and start the habit of thoughtful wishes.” — Mary Martin

“Storms don’t come to teach us painful lessons, rather they were meant to wash us clean.” — Shannon L. Alder

“The past has no power over the present moment.” — Eckhart Tolle

THOUGHTFUL QUOTES ON THE IMPORTANCE OF GRATITUDE

“None is more impoverished than the one who has no gratitude. Gratitude is a currency that we can mint for ourselves, and spend without fear of bankruptcy.” — Fred De Witt Van Amburgh

Alphonse Karr’s quote: “Some people grumble that roses have thorns; I am grateful that thorns have roses.” | Image: Amodays

“Reflect upon your present blessings, of which every man has plenty; not on your past misfortunes, of which all men have some.” — Charles Dickens

“There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.” — Albert Einstein

“Thankfulness is the beginning of gratitude. Gratitude is the completion of thankfulness. Thankfulness may consist merely of words. Gratitude is shown in acts.” — Henri Frederic Amiel

“Some people grumble that roses have thorns; I am grateful that thorns have roses.” — Alphonse Karr

“Let us be grateful to the people who make us happy; they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom.” ― Marcel Proust

Albert Einstein’s quote: “There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.” | Image: Amodays

"Enjoy the little things, for one day you may look back and realize they were the big things." — Robert Brault

"I would maintain that thanks are the highest form of thought and that gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder." — Gilbert K. Chesterton

THOUGHTFUL QUOTES ON ART AND BEAUTY

"Art is the lie that enables us to realize the truth.” — Pablo Picasso

“Art and love are the same thing: It’s the process of seeing yourself in things that are not you.” — Chuck Klosterman

“Art enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time.” — Thomas Merton

Stephen Chbosky’s quote: “And in this moment, I swear, we are infinite.” | Image: Amodays

“Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life.” — Pablo Picasso

“Art is not what you see, but what you make others see.” — Edgar Degas

“The most beautiful experience we can have is the mysterious. It is the fundamental emotion that stands at the cradle of true art and true science.” — Albert Einstein

“There is nothing wrong with the love of Beauty. But Beauty - unless she is wed to something more meaningful - is always superficial.” ― Donna Tartt

“I know these will all be stories someday, and our pictures will become old photographs. We all become somebody’s mom or dad. But right now, these moments are not stories. This is happening. I am here, and I am looking at her. And she is so beautiful. I can see it. This one moment when you know you’re not a sad story. You are alive. And you stand up and see the lights on the buildings and everything that makes you wonder. And you’re listening to that song and that drive with the people who you love most in this world. And in this moment, I swear, we are infinite.” ― Stephen Chbosky

Pablo Picasso’s quote: “Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life.” | Image: Amodays

“Some days seem to fit together like a stained glass window. A hundred little pieces of different color and mood that, when combined, create a complete picture.” ― Maggie Stiefvater

"And since creativity is still the most effective way for me to access wonder, I choose it." ― Elizabeth Gilbert

THOUGHTFUL QUOTES ON HAPPINESS

“Happiness is the feeling that power increases — that resistance is being overcome.” — Friedrich Nietzsche

“Happiness is like a butterfly; the more you chase it, the more it will elude you, but if you turn your attention to other things, it will come and sit softly on your shoulder.” — Henry David Thoreau

“Rules for happiness: something to do, someone to love, something to hope for.” — Immanuel Kant

Socrates quote: “The secret of happiness, you see is not found in seeking more, but in developing the capacity to enjoy less.” | Image: Amodays

“Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony.” — Mahatma Gandhi

"I have learned to seek my happiness by limiting my desires, rather than in attempting to satisfy them.” — John Stuart Mill

“Happiness is not something ready-made. It comes from your own actions.” — The Dalai Lama

“Happiness depends upon ourselves.” — Aristotle

“The secret of happiness, you see, is not found in seeking more, but in developing the capacity to enjoy less.” — Socrates

Immanuel Kant’s quote: “Rules for happiness: something to do, someone to love, something to hope for.” | Image: Amodays

“Action may not always bring happiness, but there is no happiness without action." — William James

“Now and then, it is good to pause in our pursuit of happiness and just be happy.” — Guillaume Apollinaire

“One wandering thought pollutes the day.” — Mary Shelle

"A happy soul in a happy body." — Lailah Gifty Akita

THOUGHTFUL QUOTES TO MAKE YOU THINK

“Everything you believe, accepted and lifestyle around you is of someone's idea, an idea that you already believe in so hard that you do not want to question yourself.” ― Dido Stargaze

Charles Bukowski’s quote: “Some people never go crazy. What truly horrible lives they must lead.” | Image: Amodays

“Every man is a creature of the age in which he lives and few are able to raise themselves above the ideas of the time.” — Voltaire

“Life must be understood backward. But it must be lived forward.” — Søren Kierkegaard

“Man is a mystery. It needs to be unraveled, and if you spend your whole life unraveling it, don’t say that you’ve wasted time. I am studying that mystery because I want to be a human being.” — Fyodor Dostoevsky

“We're all going to die, all of us, what a circus! That alone should make us love each other but it doesn't. We are terrorized and flattened by trivialities, we are eaten up by nothing.” ― Charles Bukowski

“There's nothing wrong with enjoying looking at the surface of the ocean itself, except that when you finally see what goes on underwater, you realize that you've been missing the whole point of the ocean. Staying on the surface all the time is like going to the circus and staring at the outside of the tent.” ― Dave Barry

Soren Kierkegaard’s quote: “Life is not a problem to be solved but a reality to be experienced.” | Image: Amodays

“Human nature is like water. It takes the shape of its container.” ― Wallace Stevens

“Some people never go crazy. What truly horrible lives they must lead.” ― Charles Bukowski

“The quieter you become, the more you can hear.” — Baba Ramdas

“The least of things with a meaning is worth more in life than the greatest of things without it.” — Carl Jung

“What is interesting and important happens mostly in secret, in places where there is no power.” ― Michael Ondaatje

Charles Bukowski’s quote: “We're all going to die, all of us, what a circus! That alone should make us love each other but it doesn't.” | Image: Amodays

“Life is not a problem to be solved but a reality to be experienced.” — Soren Kierkegaard

"If you would be a real seeker after truth, it is necessary that at least once in your life you doubt, as far as possible, all things." — Rene Descartes

THOUGHTS ON EXPANDING YOUR INTELLIGENCE

“It’s not all that smart to think that you’re all that smart.” ― Craig D. Lounsbrough

“The highest activity a human being can attain is learning for understanding because to understand is to be free.” — Baruch Spinoza

“People shout when they don't have the vocabulary to whisper.” ― Maggie Stiefvater

Craig D. Lounsbrough’s quote:“It’s not all that smart to think that you’re all that smart.” | Image: Amodays

“It is so shocking to find out how many people do not believe that they can learn, and how many more believe learning to be difficult.” ― Frank Herbert, Dune

“Raise your words, not voice. It is rain that grows flowers, not thunder.” — Rumi

THOUGHTS ON TAKING RISKS BLAZING YOUR OWN PATH

“Set your life on fire. Seek those who fan your flames.” — Rumi

“Sometimes the road less traveled is less traveled for a reason.” — Jerry Seinfeld

“If you're going to try, go all the way. Otherwise, don't even start. This could mean losing girlfriends, wives, relatives, and maybe even your mind. It could mean not eating for three or four days. It could mean freezing on a park bench. It could mean jail. It could mean derision. It could mean mockery--isolation. Isolation is the gift. All the others are a test of your endurance, of how much you really want to do it. And, you'll do it, despite rejection and the worst odds. And it will be better than anything else you can imagine. If you're going to try, go all the way. There is no other feeling like that. You will be alone with the gods, and the nights will flame with fire. You will ride life straight to perfect laughter. It's the only good fight there is.” ― Charles Bukowski

Rumi’s quote: “Set your life on fire. Seek those who fan your flames.” | Image: Amodays

“Don’t be satisfied with stories, how things have gone with others. Unfold your own myth.” — Rumi

"Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new." — Albert Einstein

THOUGHTFUL QUOTES ON SUCCESS AND AMBITION

"A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step." — Lao Tzu

"Do just once what others say you can’t do and you will never pay attention to their limitations again." — James R. Cook

Confucious’ quote:“It does not matter how slowly you go, as long as you do not stop.” | Image: Amodays

"Writing in a journal reminds you of your goals and of your learning in life. It offers a place where you can hold a deliberate, thoughtful conversation with yourself." — Robin S. Sharma

"Every day, a new opportunity to decide where your next step will go is given to you. Your future will be determined by the accumulation of these daily decisions. You control your steps and therefore your destiny, so choose wisely." — Kevin Ngo

"Everyone has inside them a piece of good news. The good news is you don’t know how great you can be! How much you can love! What you can accomplish! And what your potential is." — Anne Frank

"I know of no more encouraging fact than the unquestionable ability of man to elevate his life by conscious endeavor." — Henry David Thoreau

"If you don’t like something, change it; if you can’t change it, change the way you think about it." — Mary Engelbreit

Socrates’ quote: "Do not do to others what angers you if done to you by others." | Image: Amodays

THOUGHTFUL QUOTES ON ANGER AND REVENGE

"An eye for an eye only ends up making the whole world blind." — Mahatma Gandhi

“If you hate a person, then you’re defeated by them.“ — Confucius

"Do not do to others what angers you if done to you by others." — Socrates

“Bitterness is like cancer. It eats upon the host. But anger is like fire. It burns it all clean.” ― Maya Angelou

“Usually when people are sad, they don't do anything. They just cry over their condition. But when they get angry, they bring about a change.” ― Malcolm X

Mahatma Gandhi’s quote: "An eye for an eye only ends up making the whole world blind." | Image: Amodays

These quotes show the importance of balancing our activity-filled life with thoughtful reflection on our personal experience or general existence.

While it's essential to live our lives fully and in the moment, this is only possible when we balance it with time for thoughtful reflection.

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