10 Life Changing Quotes

Quotes have the mysterious ability of changing my perspective on life and its circumstances almost instantly. I love how they sum up huge truths in little sound bytes. And I love how they are easily remembered, passed on, and applied to life. Someone could lecture me for an hour with elaborate examples of why his/her opinion is the right one without any effect at all. But a nicely timed quote is powerful. With that said, I'll stop the lecturing!

Here are the ones that have changed my life:

1. I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father, except through me. -Jesus

Everyone needs to do something with this statement. Either Jesus was crazy and a liar, or he was/is for real. This statement leaves no room for people to say that he was just a good man. It also leaves no room for people to say that there are many ways to get to God. If Jesus is who he said he was, we must accept his birth, life, death, and resurrection or there is no way to reach God. Dare I spell that out? It means that being a very very very good person will not get you into heaven. And it means that the adhering to the 5 pillars of Islam will not get you into heaven. In a nutshell, no life, apart from one lived in Jesus Christ, will allow you to come near to God.

2. Be careful, lest in fighting the dragon you become the dragon. -Friedrich Nietzsche

Yes, I realize Nietzsche was anti-God, but I think this quote is great. The things I am the most passionate about are the things that I am the most willing to sin for (or become a “dragon” for). It’s kind of like the abortion protestors who bomb abortion clinics to prove they don’t like killing people.

3. Treat people as if they were what they ought to be and help them become what they are capable of becoming. -Johan Wolfgang von Goethe

This one comes to me often. It especially pierces my heart when I’ve been too hard on one of my kids :(

4. Stars may be seen from the bottom of a deep well when they cannot be discerned from the top of a mountain. -Charles H. Spurgeon

The most influential lessons in my life have definitely been discovered when I was at the bottom of a well. Now if I could only remember this quote when I was actually in the bottom of the well, it would make a world of difference.

5. A man there was, though some did count him mad. The more he cast away, the more he had. -John Bunyan

This is the quote I secretly live by because I don’t want people to think I’m crazy. I don’t know how it works, but I know that it does!

Here’s my latest example: My two year old is on a very strict diet. I’ll make a long story short. He eats pesto dishes 4-5 times a week. I haven’t found a store-bought pesto that doesn't contain ingredients that will make him sick. And therefore I spend a lot of time baby-ing my basil plants so I can make pesto for him and freeze enough to last through the winter. I’m not sure about your summer, but in Illinois we had a really weird one, and I only had enough for six cups of pesto by the end of June. Ugh. Lots of my friends love pesto. So I gave away 3 of those batches, even though I knew I wasn't going to have enough to last my son even through the fall. Within days of giving away the first two batches, I had other friends ask me if I would use some of their basil as they had too much! And then we had a crazy August, and my own basil started taking off. I have so much basil now there’s no way I can use it all.

6. Never underestimate the capacity of another human being to have exactly the same shortcomings you have. -Leigh Steinberg

Oh. So. True.

7. If you want to see things you’ve never seen before, you must be willing to do things you’ve never done before. -Paul Reid

This is just a positive spin on a quote I keep hearing people say: “the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again expecting different results.” This one challenges me to be creative when disciplining my kids, exert new energy toward finding a source of income, and push myself harder each time I exercise.

8. I care very little if I am judged by you or by any human court; indeed, I do not even judge myself. -The Apostle Paul

Honestly, I don’t live by this one. Not even close. But I wish I did. Sometimes when I get caught up in myself and frustrated because I said or did something ridiculous, this quote comes to mind. It seems like old people stop caring about what others think. So, maybe I’ll get there some day. Paul goes on to say, “it is the Lord who judges me.” I needed to put that in there in case someone was thinking that it doesn’t really matter what we do!

9. All the flowers of tomorrow are in the seeds of today.

Words to myself: keep sowing. Sow love every day in your kids’ lives. Sow graciousness in the checkout line. Sow sweetness to the really rude driver who just cut you off. Sow prayers for the President. Sow time in the lives of friends in need.

10. Among my most prized possessions are words that I have never spoken. Orson Scott Card