From Those Who Have Gone Before

I was looking through some inspirational quotes today and came across some really great ones. I thought I'd share my favorites.
One thing each of these people had in common: They didn't give up. Age didn't stop them. Disabilities didn't slow them down. Neither did political views or lack of education. These people were successful because they didn't lose sight of their goal. A lesson that I am learning....... When it's all said and done will we be able to look back on our lives and say, "I did the very best that I could. I wasn't perfect but I tried with all my heart to do and be my best. I pushed through the difficult times that life threw at me and gained wisdom even from my defeats. My successes were all the more sweet because of my hard work and dedication. I realize that all that I am and all that I have is a blessing from my Heavenly Father."
So many people accept mediocrity in life, trudging through life wondering why they are even here? Expecting no better from their lives. Scared to even try.
Can I just tell you that God has made you and you are unbelievably precious to Him. Your life means something to Him. You matter. A lot. He wouldn't have said it if He didn't mean it. "and even the very hairs of your head are numbered. So don't be afraid......" (Matt.10:30-31) If the God of the universe cares about every minute detail of our lives, shouldn't we try to be everything He created us to be?
One day in the future I will meet my Lord face to face, and I long to hear Him say, "Well done my good and faithful servant."


Thomas Alva Edison:
Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.

Theodore Roosevelt:
It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled, or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes short again and again, who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, and spends himself in a worthy cause, who at best knows achievement and who at the worst if he fails at least fails while daring greatly so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.

From a speech given in Paris at the Sorbonne in 1910

Maya Lin:
To fly, we have to have resistance.

J.C. Penney:
Give me a stock clerk with a goal and I'll give you a man who will make history. Give me a man with no goals and I'll give you a stock clerk.

Henry David Thoreau:
I have learned, that if one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.

Helen Keller:
I long to accomplish a great and noble tasks, but it is my chief duty to accomplish humble tasks as though they were great and noble. The world is moved along, not only by the mighty shoves of its heroes, but also by the aggregate of the tiny pushes of each honest worker.

Franklin D. Roosevelt:
It is common sense to take a method and try it. If it fails, admit it frankly and try another. But above all, try something.

Frank Lloyd Wright:
I know the price of success: dedication, hard work, and an unremitting devotion to the things you want to see happen.

Albert Schweitzer:
Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful.

And Finally,

Paul, Missionary (he wrote in his second letter to Timothy)
I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.