Abdul Kalam Inspirational Quotes: I’ve always loved the words of inspiration from Abdul Kalam. They have a sense of unbridled optimism in them. There’s a force that says, I will brave all the odds and reach my destiny. It not only fills me with hope but also inspires me to get out of the self-pity and do something about my situation.
I started reading this book, The Happiness Project in the quest to find my source of inspiration or passion for life. It is as if I’m on a mad rush to find my connection to something that makes me feel completely involved and either give me a sense of purpose or a feeling of satisfaction. The quest however continues, but I did fall in love with this quote – what you do every day matters more than what you do once in a while. We are creatures of our habits and these habits have a way of shaping us. It is a funny thing. Initially, we need to actively shape these habits. But over time, these habits have the beautiful way of shaping us completely.
The word impossible has many connotations. But I find nothing more powerful than Muhammad Ali’s words – Impossible is just a big word thrown around by small men. It not only attacks the word impossible, but also the mindset of people using that as an excuse. There’s no excuse we can give to ourselves for
Champions are different. They are different because they do something beyond what others will. It is not just the physical aspect of doing something. What’s more powerful is the internal aspect – the mind which travels well beyond what others do. Everyone goes to the gym – but the champions are those who do this, but also something beyond that takes them to the next level.
If you refused to be afraid: This is such a powerful quote by Mahatma Gandhi. It talks about the power of control we exert on our fears. When we are so scared, it feels like we have no choice and the immediate response is to hide. But the response to fear also is a choice – if we stand tall against this fear, there’s a different response that our minds will create. It will bring up the other aspects of our personality such as resilience, fighting spirit, desire to move beyond fear etc. It doesn’t suggest us to deny fear, but act on it with diligence and from a position of power.
Satisfaction lies in the effort, not in the attainment: Success and failure is all about the results – this is what most of us are taught to believe. I can see the logic in this because success comes with results and accolades that help us recognise a victory. This quote by Mahatma Gandhi talks about the effort involved in achieving success. Some of our successes can sometimes be fluke events. Although they give us the results, the satisfaction derived from them is small and in some cases disappointing. This quote brings the focus back to the effort involved and the satisfaction derived from this effort.
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