48 Motivational Quotes, Each Checked Against Its Original Source

These 48 motivational quotes have one thing in common: each was checked against the original book, speech or letter, or a reliable collection that cites one. Many famous lines online are misattributed. The ones below are real, with the source and year next to each.

Quotes are easy to share and hard to verify. “By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail” has no evidence tying it to Benjamin Franklin. Researchers have not found “No one can make you feel inferior without your consent” in Eleanor Roosevelt’s writings. And “Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity” does not appear in Seneca’s works. None of those are on this list.

We also added a few voices with Northern California ties: John Muir, who lived in Martinez; Jack London, who made Glen Ellen his home; and Robert Louis Stevenson, who honeymooned near Calistoga in 1880.

On starting and doing the work

• “Don’t loaf and invite inspiration; light out after it with a club” — Jack London, “Getting into Print,” 1903
• “I have begun everything with the idea that I could succeed.” — Booker T. Washington, Up from Slavery, 1901
• “Success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome while trying to succeed.” — Booker T. Washington, Up from Slavery, 1901
• “Do that which is assigned you, and you cannot hope too much or dare too much.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Self-Reliance,” 1841
• “Remember that time is money.” — Benjamin Franklin, “Advice to a Young Tradesman,” 1748
• “Habit is habit, and not to be flung out of the window by any man, but coaxed down-stairs a step at a time.” — Mark Twain, Pudd’nhead Wilson, 1894
• “If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them.” — Henry David Thoreau, Walden, 1854
• “If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.” — Henry David Thoreau, Walden, 1854
• “If there is no struggle, there is no progress.” — Frederick Douglass, West India Emancipation speech, 1857
• “Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life.” — Steve Jobs, Stanford commencement address, 2005
• “Stay hungry. Stay foolish.” — Steve Jobs, Stanford commencement address, 2005

On confidence and self-reliance

• “Trust thyself: every heart vibrates to that iron string.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Self-Reliance,” 1841
• “Insist on yourself; never imitate.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Self-Reliance,” 1841
• “Nothing can bring you peace but yourself.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Self-Reliance,” 1841
• “To be great is to be misunderstood.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Self-Reliance,” 1841
• “A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds” — Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Self-Reliance,” 1841
• “I prefer to be true to myself, even at the hazard of incurring the ridicule of others, rather than to be false” — Frederick Douglass, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, 1845
• “He who knows other men is discerning; he who knows himself is intelligent.” — Lao-Tse, Tao Te Ching, ch. 33, trans. James Legge
• “Rather than love, than money, than fame, give me truth.” — Henry David Thoreau, Walden, 1854

On simplicity and what matters

• “I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately” — Henry David Thoreau, Walden, 1854
• “Simplify, simplify.” — Henry David Thoreau, Walden, 1854
• “A man is rich in proportion to the number of things which he can afford to let alone.” — Henry David Thoreau, Walden, 1854
• “The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation.” — Henry David Thoreau, Walden, 1854
• “I say, beware of all enterprises that require new clothes, and not rather a new wearer of clothes.” — Henry David Thoreau, Walden, 1854
• “Take away your opinion, and there is taken away the complaint” — Marcus Aurelius, Meditations IV.7, trans. George Long
• “The universe is transformation: life is opinion.” — Marcus Aurelius, Meditations IV.3, trans. George Long
• “A cucumber is bitter. Throw it away. There are briars in the road. Turn aside from them. This is enough.” — Marcus Aurelius, Meditations VIII.50, trans. George Long
• “Life is a series of surprises, and would not be worth taking or keeping if it were not.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Experience,” 1844
• “We live amid surfaces, and the true art of life is to skate well on them.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Experience,” 1844
• “Happiness is not a goal, it is a by-product.” — Eleanor Roosevelt, You Learn by Living, 1960

On other people

• “The happiest individuals are those who do the most to make others useful and happy.” — Booker T. Washington, Up from Slavery, 1901
• “The most important thing in any relationship is not what you get but what you give.” — Eleanor Roosevelt, This Is My Story, 1937
• “It isn’t enough to talk about peace. One must believe in it. And it isn’t enough to believe in it. One must work at it.” — Eleanor Roosevelt, Voice of America broadcast, 1951
• “Men exist for the sake of one another. Teach them then or bear with them.” — Marcus Aurelius, Meditations VIII.59, trans. George Long
• “Love your Enemies, for they tell you your Faults.” — Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard’s Almanack, 1756
• “Let us endeavor so to live that when we come to die even the undertaker will be sorry.” — Mark Twain, Pudd’nhead Wilson, 1894
• “Consider well the proportions of things. It is better to be a young June-bug than an old bird of paradise.” — Mark Twain, Pudd’nhead Wilson, 1894
• “Every sweet hath its sour; every evil its good.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Compensation,” 1841

Northern California voices on nature and place

John Muir’s home in Martinez is now the John Muir National Historic Site. Jack London’s Beauty Ranch in Glen Ellen is Jack London State Historic Park, with more than 26 miles of trails. Robert Louis Stevenson spent his 1880 honeymoon on the slopes of Mount St. Helena, north of Calistoga, and wrote about early Napa County winemaking in The Silverado Squatters.

• “The mountains are calling and I must go, and I will work on while I can, studying incessantly.” — John Muir, letter, 1873
• “In every walk with Nature one receives far more than he seeks.” — John Muir, Steep Trails
• “Going to the mountains is going home.” — John Muir, Our National Parks, 1901
• “The clearest way into the Universe is through a forest wilderness.” — John Muir, John of the Mountains, 1938
• “Few are altogether deaf to the preaching of pine trees.” — John Muir, Sierra Club address, 1896
• “Nature is always lovely, invincible, glad, whatever is done and suffered by her creatures.” — John Muir, John of the Mountains, 1938
• “in Wildness is the preservation of the World” — Henry David Thoreau, “Walking,” 1862
• “Life consists with wildness. The most alive is the wildest.” — Henry David Thoreau, “Walking,” 1862
• “In short, all good things are wild and free.” — Henry David Thoreau, “Walking,” 1862
• “and the wine is bottled poetry” — Robert Louis Stevenson, The Silverado Squatters, 1883

How to use a quote well

• Check the source before you post or print it. A misattributed quote undercuts the message.
• Pick one for the week and write it where you will see it: a desk, a mirror, the first page of a notebook.
• For a housewarming or a first home, a short line from Muir or Thoreau about place makes a thoughtful card.
• Framed text works best in plain type with plenty of white space. Our decor tips for every room have more ideas for personal touches.

Questions people ask

Did Benjamin Franklin say “By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail”?

There is no evidence he did. Quote researchers list it as attributed only, with no source in Franklin’s writings.

Did Eleanor Roosevelt say “No one can make you feel inferior without your consent”?

It is widely credited to her, but it has not been found in This Is My Story or her other writings.

What did Thoreau mean by “castles in the air”?

The full line in Walden continues: “Now put the foundations under them.” Big goals are fine, he says, as long as you build the groundwork.

Where did John Muir live?

For his later decades, in Martinez, California. His house there is preserved by the National Park Service.

Thoreau’s advice to put foundations under your castles fits a home purchase well. If you are planning a move in wine country, browse our communities or explore Sonoma County homes for sale. When you are ready to talk, contact us.

Sources & notes

• Project Gutenberg: Henry David Thoreau, Walden
• Project Gutenberg: Henry David Thoreau, “Walking”
• Project Gutenberg: Ralph Waldo Emerson, Essays, First Series and Essays, Second Series
• Project Gutenberg: Booker T. Washington, Up from Slavery
• Project Gutenberg: Mark Twain, Pudd’nhead Wilson
• Project Gutenberg: Lao-Tse, Tao Te Ching, trans. James Legge
• Project Gutenberg: Robert Louis Stevenson, The Silverado Squatters
• Stanford Report: Steve Jobs commencement address, June 12, 2005
• Sierra Club: John Muir quotations with sources
• Wikiquote pages for Walden, Benjamin Franklin, Eleanor Roosevelt, Frederick Douglass, Jack London and Marcus Aurelius (for cited sources and attribution notes)
• National Park Service: John Muir National Historic Site
• California State Parks: Jack London State Historic Park
• California State Parks: Robert Louis Stevenson State Park

Last reviewed October 2026 by Matthew Martinez.