Who doesn’t love inspirational famous quotes, right? And, these quotes by Rumi and others will not let you down. They’ll inspire you, uplift you, and encourage growth.
Inspirational famous quotes
The greatest quotes of all time have the power to stir up emotions inside of us and get us thinking. Great quotes help us grow, become wiser, and learn to think about how we’re seeing and handling life.
And, that’s exactly what these inspirational famous quotes by Rumi, Neville Goddard, and Les Brown will do for you!
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Inspirational quotes by Rumi
“Yesterday I was clever, so I wanted to change the world. Today I am wise, so I am changing myself” (Rumi)
I found this awesome Rumi quote on a site that lists many beautiful personal growth quotes to live by.
And, this is one of the best inspirational quotes by Rumi (in my opinion). It inspires us to look within and work on inner growth, which can be life-changing!
If you’re interested, the link above has the most beautiful quotes and poems by Rumi. It also has information on his books and bibliography. If you want to be enlightened, I sincerely recommend checking it out!
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About Rumi’s “yesterday I was clever” quote
This particular famous quote by Rumi speaks to my heart, as I personally relate it to my own growth and transformation process.
You see, one of the most important things I’ve learned on my self growth journey is that it’s better to put more time and attention toward working on yourself than toward complaining about and trying to change others.
I truly believe that the wisest thing we can do is to work on ourselves from the inside. But, at first this can be a hard concept to grasp.
We want to change things outside of ourselves, thinking that if “they” or “it” would just change we could be happy. So, we think it makes sense to want to change things outside of us – to want to change others. But, what we miss in this thinking is that…
Nothing outside of us is responsible for our happiness. Nothing outside of us can truly make us happy, because true joy and happiness comes from the inside – and therefore it’s more lasting.
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Take it from someone who has been there. For years, I bought into the idea that outside people and circumstances had to determine how I felt inside. And, I was often miserable!
It’s not a fun way to live, being affected so greatly by others – letting them have that much control over you and your life.
But, it is SO very freeing when we learn that we have the ability and right to decide how we’ll be affected by things outside of us! We can choose joy.
Yes, sometimes we can’t help it and things will jar us. But, we don’t have to let it overtake us. These days I reset much faster than I used to, which means my new base point (where I mostly stay) emotionally is much higher.
I’m happier and feel more in control overall than I used to be, and YOU can be too!
“When you do things from your soul, you feel a river moving in you, a joy” (Rumi)
(I found the above quote in QuotesGeeks’ post titled 15+ Rumi Quotes On Happiness That Will Boost Your Mood.)
About Rumi’s “when you do things from your soul” quote
To me, this quotes speaks to that feeling you get when you’re in “flow” – in flow with life, staying connected to higher guidance or your higher self and to the Universe.
It’s when you’re going with the flow of the stream and not against it, trying to swim upstream. It’s that feeling you get of true connectedness, when you’re truly present in the moment. It’s the inspiration you feel when you’re doing what’s aligned with your soul.
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Empowering Neville Goddard quotes
“Only as one is willing to give up his present limitations and identity can he become that which he desires to be” (Goddard)
I found these empowering Neville Goddard quotes (the above one and the last one) on Self Leadership Global’s site. They’ve done a great job of defining who this great author and mystic was and what his work was about, as well as listing twenty-one quotes from him.
About Goddard’s “only as one is willing” quote
If we want to become someone who is different or has a different life than what we currently have, we must begin thinking like that new person. (And, talking like them too!) We must try and let go of our old identity, being open to seeing ourselves as the new person that we wish to be.
Goddard’s related book that looks into this deeper
I just read a great Neville Goddard book that relates to this called At Your Command – How to Command & Get Anything, and I highly recommend it. (It was an e-book, which I love because they’re so convenient!)
In it, he says “If you are dissatisfied with your present expression in life, the only way to change it is to take your attention away from that which seems so real to you and rise in consciousness to that which you desire to be. You cannot serve two masters, therefore to take your attention from one state of consciousness and place it upon another is to die to one and live to the other.”
Some of what Goddard speaks of may take a little thought, but I feel that’s what makes it so valuable – it goes deep. And, in this particular paragraph I believe he’s saying what many manifestation teacher’s speak of…
If you don’t like your current reality (or parts of it) and want to change it, stop looking at what you don’t want and don’t like and START looking at and speaking of what you DO want. In other words, stop giving attention to (and feeding) those things that you don’t want or you risk continuing to get more of it.
And, doesn’t it make sense to look at where you want to go instead of where you don’t want to go? To put energy toward what you want, rather than to waste the energy you have complaining about what you don’t have and don’t like?
Read about how to get what you want, with words and focus.
Things like this always make me think of this story I once heard, where they said the racecar driver kept crashing into the wall until finally a mentor said stop looking at where you don’t want to go – the wall you’re afraid of hitting. Instead, look away from it toward where you DO want to go and the car will follow – and it did.
And unfortunately we aren’t always taught this early on as something important to know for life, but it is important to control our thinking and mental state in order to live a more fulfilling life.
It seems like in general we’re taught the opposite, that it’s okay to dwell on and talk a lot about what isn’t working out – as if this will bring the answers. But, often it doesn’t and we end up more miserable. So, why not try another way? (At least to see if it works better.)
When I stopped dwelling as much on what wasn’t going my way, it’s like it freed my mind and energy up to be able to work toward making a difference instead – and I felt better.
And, I truly believe if you do the same you’ll feel better too!
“Because of your belief in external things you think power into them by transferring the power that you are to the external thing. Realize you yourself are the power you have mistakenly given to outer conditions” (Goddard)
Using key points from Goddard’s book to explain this quote
In this Neville Goddard book that I read and loved and honestly will continue to read (or listen to), he also says to look at how you see yourself. And, I do believe that this is SO important!
How we see ourselves is everything, and it can change everything. So, this is something that’s worth taking time to think on and work on.
He also basically says that if we claim what we want as ours, rather than just begging for it in prayer, it will be ours.
And, don’t get offended by this. He’s not saying not to pray, just that we should go forth with confidence. He discusses the bible quote about being able to move mountains if you have faith (Matthew 17:20-21, but I believe there are more quotes in the bible on this too).
But, we must believe! And, I believe we need to have confidence in ourselves and in what we ask for.
He also says to get first the consciousness of the thing that you want, in order to get it. And again, many spiritual teachers speak of this.
They refer to quantum physics and how everything including us is energy, and if we will just get on the same frequency of the thing we want (or think and feel like we would if we already had it) then we’d get it.
But, you can’t do that if you’re dwelling on what is currently going on around you that you don’t like or want. So try to stay positive even if it’s difficult, and be mindful of where you’re putting your thoughts and energy.
Motivational Les Brown quote
“Accept responsibility for your life. Know that it is you who will get you where you want to go, no one else” (Brown)
I found this motivational Les Brown quote on a blog post by Rebecca LeBoeuf called 50 Best Personal Growth Quotes for Your Next Chapter.
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About Les Brown and his motivation
I absolutely love Les Brown! If you need to be motivated, find his audios online to listen to (like on YouTube). He, in my opinion, is one of the best motivational speakers of all time.
When you listen to him you’ll feel something rise up inside you, ready to fight back against all that isn’t working for you – and you’ll feel more confident and like he’s by your side.
He’s very moving, and has lifted me up when I needed it plenty of times! But, be warned…
Les Brown will not let you just feel sorry for yourself and do nothing. He helps you see and feel the power within yourself, just like in his self growth quote that I mentioned above.
But this is good, because until we see our own internal power we are powerLESS. And, that helps no one.
We must first give up any victim mentality if we truly want to change our lives. And, that can sound harsh. I know, it did to me at first. But, I promise you it’s said with love and that it can be very freeing when you take your power back!
So, take it back.
Reclaim your confidence in yourself if necessary – do whatever it takes. Reclaim your dreams as possible for you, because they are. But, YOU have to see this.
“Once you see that the external doesn’t have the power you once thought it had and that you have more inner power than you ever thought you had, you are free to live a great life.”
― Abundant Life & Balance
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Closing thoughts on these inspirational famous quotes
These inspirational famous quotes by Rumi and others have been great for my self growth, and I hope you like them, too.
Remember to save this post or a pin from it so you can refer back to these inspirational quotes. And, share the link to this blog post if you want to inspire others!
