Leaders throughout history have inspired us to take action, to become our best selves, to create a better world, and to ensure a brighter future. Their legacies live on in the quotes they gave us to live by. Here are some insights from leaders across the ages whose words continue to inspire us today.

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change the world; indeed it’s the only thing that ever has.” — Margaret Mead

“I expect to pass through this world but once. Any good therefore that I can do or any kindness I can show, let me do it now. Let me not defer or neglect it, for I shall not pass this way again.” — Stephen Grellet

“Sometimes you have to let go of the picture of what you thought life would be like and learn to find joy in the story you are actually living.” — Rachel Marie Martin

“It’s not the strongest of the species, nor the smartest of the species that survive, but the ones most adaptable to change.” 
— Charles Darwin

“People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” 
— Maya Angelou

“Things turn out best for the people who make the best of the way things turn out.” — John Wooden

“Say Yes, and you’ll figure it out afterwards” — Tina Fey

“Out beyond idea of wrongdoing and righting, there is a field. I’ll meet you there. When the soul lies down in that grass the world is too full to talk about.” — Rumi

“Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it; Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it.” — Goethe

“In the end, we only regret the chances we didn’t take.” — Lewis Carroll

“Folks are usually about as happy as they make their minds up to be.” — Abraham Lincoln

“It always seems impossible until it’s done.” — Nelson Mandela

“There is nothing to fear but fear itself.” — FDR

“Nothing is either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.” — Shakespeare

“Never let a good crisis go to waste.” — Winston Churchill

“Strive to be an uncynical force, to be a steward of substance.” — Maria Popova

“Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off your goal.” — Henry Ford

“Expect not and thou shall not be disappointed.” — Chariji

“In any given moment we have two options: to step forward into growth or step back into safety.” — Abraham Maslow

“Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go.” — T.S. Eliot

“The World is full of difficulties, but its even more full of hope!” — Bob Goff

“It’s not what you get into, it’s how you get out of it.” — Miles Davis

“If one moves confidently in the directly of their dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.” — Henry David Thoreau

“Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.” — Howard Thurman

“It is during our darkest moments that we must focus to see the light.” — Aristotle

“Only the ideas that we actually live are of any value.” — Hermann Hesse

“The problem with real jobs…was the lack of opportunity to dance.” — Puma Sneakers

“May you always be Courageous, stand upright and be strong. May you stay forever young.” — Bob Dylan