Progressive Views: Quotes to Inspire

By Laura Bray
for the “Progressive Views” column, Boerne Star, December 31, 2022

For my final column of the year, I wanted to share some of my favorite inspirational quotes. I hope you find one or two to post on your office wall.

“When life seems hard, the courageous do not lie down and accept defeat; instead, they are all the more determined to struggle for a better future.”—Queen Elizabeth II

“Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.”–Barack Obama

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed, organized citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.”—Margaret Mead

“Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm.”—Winston Churchill

“Folks are usually about as happy as they make their minds up to be.”—Abraham Lincoln

“If you think you are too small to make a difference, try sleeping with a mosquito.”—His Holiness the Dalai Lama

“Strength does not come from winning. Your struggles develop your strengths. When you go through hardships and decide not to surrender, that is strength.”—Arnold Schwarzenegger

“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”—from a speech by John F. Kennedy, based on a John Stuart Mill quote

“Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much.”—Helen Keller

“No fundamental social change occurs merely because government acts. It’s because civil society, the conscience of a country, begins to rise up and demand—demand—change.”—Joe Biden

“We must use our lives to make the world a better place to live, not just to acquire things. That is what we are put on the earth for.”—Dolores Huerta

“In a gentle way, you can shake the world.”—Mahatma Gandhi

“Be hopeful, be optimistic. Never, ever be afraid to make some noise and get in good trouble, necessary trouble. We will find a way to make a way out of no way.”—Rep. John Lewis

“It isn’t enough to believe in equality and peace and human rights—one must work at it.”—Kate Quinn in “The Diamond Eye”

“Turn your wounds into wisdom.”—Oprah Winfrey

“No.”—Rosa Parks

“Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”—Martin Luther King

“There are risks and costs to action. But they are far less than the long-range risks of comfortable inaction.”—John F. Kennedy

“When a library is open, no matter its size or shape, democracy is open, too.”—Bill Moyers

“The country will not be a good place for any of us to live in unless we make it a good place for all of us to live in.”—Theodore Roosevelt

“If you judge people, you have no time to love them.”—Mother Teresa

“There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.”—1 John 4:18 (NIV)

“Let us remember: One book, one pen, one child, and one teacher can change the world.”—Malala Yousafzai

“It’s not whether you get knocked down, it’s whether you get up.”—Vince Lombardi

“You miss 100 percent of the shots you never take.”—Wayne Gretzky

“Be brave. Take risks. Nothing can substitute experience.”—Paula Coelho

“How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.”—Anne Frank

“Three things cannot be long hidden: the sun, the moon, and the truth.”—Buddha

 “Do your little bit of good where you are; it’s those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world.”—Former Archbishop Desmond Tutu 

“There are three ways to ultimate success: The first way is to be kind. The second way is to be kind. The third way is to be kind.”—Fred Rogers

“It is not true that people stop pursuing dreams because they grow old, they grow old because they stop pursuing dreams.”—Gabriel García Márquez.

Thanks for reading. To find out more about how to get involved, visit www.kcdems.us

Laura Bray is Chair of the Kendall County Democratic Party.