EN

Quotes to start small

Short, gentle and never judgy — some are ours, some come from classic authors. Tap a quote to copy or share it.

365 quotes

There are more things likely to frighten us than there are to crush us; we suffer more often in imagination than in reality.— Seneca Don't mistake a stumble for the end of the road.Consistency beats talent when talent fails to show up.Small gestures, repeated with love, make a great life.Nowhere either with more quiet or more freedom from trouble does a man retire than into his own soul.— Marcus Aurelius A meaningful life is made of days lived with intention.Be as patient with yourself as you are with the people you love.Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.— Matthew 11:28 If a thing is difficult to be accomplished by thyself, do not think that it is impossible for man.— Marcus Aurelius Starting over is the courage of someone who still believes in themselves.A little every day beats a lot once in a while.Part of the cure is to wish to be cured.— Seneca Focus is saying no to many good things so you can say yes to the essential one.Patience is what turns effort into results.Soft water on hard stone strikes and strikes until it bores through.— Portuguese proverb Your purpose does not need to be grand. It needs to be yours.Choose few battles and fight each one with everything you have.Living with purpose means knowing how to refuse what pulls you away from yourself.If you wish to improve, be content to appear foolish and stupid.— Epictetus No dream comes true while it waits for the perfect moment.Comparing your life to others' is running in the wrong lane.Thou madest us for Thyself, and our heart is restless, until it repose in Thee.— Saint Augustine That which is a hindrance is made a furtherance to an act; and that which is an obstacle on the road helps us on this road.— Marcus Aurelius Whatever you feed with your attention grows.Every great change began with someone tired of staying the same.It is not enough to be busy; so are the ants. The question is: What are we busy about?— Henry David Thoreau Resting is not quitting. It is refueling to keep going.Start before you feel prepared. Preparation comes along the way.Nothing happens to any man which he is not formed by nature to bear.— Marcus Aurelius Great turning points begin with small, brave decisions.Do the work. Inspiration usually shows up in the middle of it.Slowing down is also a wise way of moving forward.Everything is worthwhile if the soul is not small.— Fernando Pessoa A seed does not become a tree overnight, and no one says it failed.Coming back takes as much courage as starting.Such as are thy habitual thoughts, such also will be the character of thy mind; for the soul is dyed by the thoughts.— Marcus Aurelius Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might.— Ecclesiastes 9:10 Every fear you face makes the next one a little smaller.Who you were brought you here. Who you choose to be takes you further.In the morning when thou risest unwillingly, let this thought be present: I am rising to the work of a human being.— Marcus Aurelius Take pride in honest work, however small it may seem.No one stumbles into great achievements by accident. They are built.He has not learned the lesson of life who does not every day surmount a fear.— Ralph Waldo Emerson Persistence is choosing the same dream again, even when you are tired.Start with the hardest thing. After that, the day works in your favor.Water, sun, sleep and silence: old remedies that still work.The strongest of all warriors are these two, Time and Patience.— Leo Tolstoy Don't carry into tomorrow the weight you can already put down today.When everything feels heavy, just do the next right thing.Starting over does not erase what you lived. It proves you have not given up on who you could be.The unexamined life is not worth living.— Socrates For a just man falleth seven times, and riseth up again.— Proverbs 24:16 You are not broken. You are passing through.Men are disturbed not by things, but by the views which they take of things.— Epictetus Your body is not a machine. Listen when it asks for a pause.The effort no one sees holds up the result everyone applauds.Luck is the name people give to work nobody saw.Iron rusts from disuse; stagnant water loses its purity and in cold weather becomes frozen; even so does inaction sap the vigor of the mind.— Leonardo da Vinci The discomfort of today becomes the strength of tomorrow.Today is a blank page. Write on it without apologizing for the last one.Remember that to change thy opinion and to follow him who corrects thy error is as consistent with freedom as it is to persist in thy error.— Marcus Aurelius Fear shrinks when you stop negotiating with it and act.You cannot see the grass grow, but it grows.The hardest part is breaking inertia. After that, the motion itself helps.Do not go outward; return within yourself. In the inward man dwells truth.— Saint Augustine If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.— 2 Corinthians 5:17 Forgiving yourself is not forgetting. It is deciding not to punish yourself forever.He who knows he has enough is rich.— Lao Tzu A priority is whatever you protect from everything else.Excellence is not a heroic act. It is care repeated in the details.Pleasure in the job is what puts perfection in the work.Write it on your heart that every day is the best day in the year.— Ralph Waldo Emerson The first step is rarely pretty, but it is the only one that opens the way.A little courage every day is worth more than one heroic act a year.Be not afraid of growing slowly; be afraid only of standing still.— Chinese proverb What you avoid today grows bigger tomorrow.Even the highest mountain is climbed one step at a time.No one remembers who gave up early. They remember who stayed and did the work.Some blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in; forget them as soon as you can.— Ralph Waldo Emerson When you know where you are going, every step carries weight.For who hath despised the day of small things?— Zechariah 4:10 Who would pass beyond Bojador must pass beyond the pain.— Fernando Pessoa Your life is the answer you give to what you consider important.The tiredness of someone who built something is different from the tiredness of someone who only worried.Courage is not the absence of fear. It is moving forward with the fear.As a well-spent day brings happy sleep, so a life well spent brings happy death.— Leonardo da Vinci To dare is to say yes to the person you are still becoming.Be the one who takes the first step, even without an audience.The beginning is the most important part of any work.— Plato Going slowly is still going forward.Don't break the chain over one weak link. Repair it and keep going.Anxiety lives in tomorrow. Peace lives in what you do right now.No longer talk at all about the kind of man that a good man ought to be, but be such.— Marcus Aurelius Mistakes are part of the path. Standing still in them is not.Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the LORD thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest.— Joshua 1:9 It is never too late to give up our prejudices.— Henry David Thoreau A great work is only a patient sum of small tasks.Fear is a sign that something matters. Go anyway.No one goes far carrying every mistake on their back. Set the weight down and move on.He who requires much from himself and little from others, will keep himself from being the object of resentment.— Confucius What tries to break you can also reveal you.Take the step. The path appears afterward.There is nothing like a dream to create the future. Utopia today, flesh and blood tomorrow.— Victor Hugo A calm sea never made a skilled sailor. This day is shaping you.Balance is not doing everything. It is knowing what can wait.Shame paralyzes. Kindness toward yourself puts you back on your feet.Do not act as if thou wert going to live ten thousand years. While thou livest, while it is in thy power, be good.— Marcus Aurelius A relapse does not cancel the road you have traveled. It only shows where to take more care.Value every stage you complete. They add up to more than they seem.When I fall, I shall arise; when I sit in darkness, the LORD shall be a light unto me.— Micah 7:8 Do the difficult things while they are easy, and do the great things while they are small.— Lao Tzu Dream big, but start with what fits in your hands today.Sweat does not lie: sooner or later, it always shows up in the results.I have in me all the dreams of the world.— Fernando Pessoa Today, do your part with everything you have. That is enough.Your time is your life in pieces. Spend it on what is worth it.It is not that we have a short time to live, but that we waste a lot of it.— Seneca Effort without hurry, care without fear: that is how something good is born.Failure is an event, not an identity.Where your attention goes, your life goes.Like a star, without haste, but without rest.— Goethe A scar is not a flaw. It is proof that the wound has closed.No one can go everywhere. Choose where you are going.Any man can make mistakes, but only a fool persists in his error.— Cicero Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.— Psalm 30:5 Pausing is not failing. Failing is never coming back.Clarity comes from action, not from endless thinking.Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself.— Leo Tolstoy Your story is not over yet. You are still in the thick of it.Doing it afraid is still doing it.Very little indeed is necessary for living a happy life.— Marcus Aurelius The day is over. Whatever did not fit in it can wait for tomorrow.If it goes wrong, you learn. If it goes right, you grow. If you never try, nothing changes.Sometimes the detour teaches what the straight road never would.Even monkeys sometimes fall from trees.— Japanese proverb Work done well speaks for you when you are not in the room.Yesterday has already collected what it was owed. Today is yours.The superior man is modest in his speech, but exceeds in his actions.— Confucius They that sow in tears shall reap in joy.— Psalm 126:5 Every master has repeated a thousand times what the beginner tried once.Don't measure your progress by a single day. Measure it by a whole season.To be great, be whole: exclude nothing, exaggerate nothing that is you. Be whole in everything.— Fernando Pessoa The hard days are shaping someone who will one day be grateful for them.Every task done with care is your signature on the world.Every artist was first an amateur.— Ralph Waldo Emerson Strength is built through repetition, not through one day's impulse.Great works are made of ordinary days well lived.A tired mind sees problems where there is only fatigue.Nothing is worth more than this day.— Goethe Live in a way you will be proud to tell about later.Whoever keeps going when no one is watching builds what everyone will see.To have faults and not to reform them, this, indeed, should be pronounced having faults.— Confucius No door opens for someone who never knocks.My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness.— 2 Corinthians 12:9 Consistency is self-love in the shape of a routine.As the saying goes, while there is life, there is hope.— Cicero Keep going. The hardest part usually comes right before the turn.Find what makes you wake up before the alarm.Begin at once to live, and count each separate day as a separate life.— Seneca Whoever plants every day has no need to rush the harvest.You can endure more than you think and achieve more than you imagine.A habit is a promise you renew every morning.Every day we ought to renew our purpose, as though this were the first day of our conversion.— Thomas à Kempis Live the day you have, not the day you fear.Regret is only worth something when it becomes direction.It is the soul you must change, not the sky.— Seneca One bad day does not undo a week of effort.Forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark.— Philippians 3:13-14 Without direction, even speed becomes waste.While we are postponing, life speeds by.— Seneca Remember the reason that made you start.Your worth does not shrink on a bad day.To see what is right and not to do it is want of courage.— Confucius Give your best today, even if today's best is smaller than yesterday's.Do it well even when no one will ever look.You don't have to deserve a new beginning. You only have to accept it.When a man does not know what harbor he is making for, no wind is the right wind.— Seneca Results are a consequence. Focus on what you control: your effort.Fear protects you from failure, but also from everything you could have lived.Fire tests gold, misfortune brave men.— Seneca The fall tells a story. The way you rise tells yours.Not every day yields much. But every day can yield something.Commit thy way unto the LORD; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass.— Psalm 37:5 Every moment think steadily as a Roman and a man to do what thou hast in hand with perfect and simple dignity.— Marcus Aurelius The pause is also part of the path.Craftsmanship is respect for the person who will receive what you make.If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need.— Cicero If today all you could do was hold on, that counts too.You are not here just to survive your days. You are here to live them.What you did yesterday explains things, but it does not decide what you do today.He who wants to do something will find a way; he who does not will find an excuse.— Arabic proverb After the longest night, morning comes just the same.Now is the only place where change happens.Grain by grain, the hen fills her belly.— Portuguese proverb Talent opens the door. Effort is what keeps you inside.Everything you build today is a brick in the house you will live in tomorrow.You are not the worst day you have ever lived.Too late loved I Thee, O Thou Beauty of ancient days, yet ever new; too late I loved Thee.— Saint Augustine The best way of avenging thyself is not to become like the wrong doer.— Marcus Aurelius The path is made of repeated steps, not perfect ones.We kill time; time buries us.— Machado de Assis The regret of not trying weighs more than the regret of failing.Today is a good day to do what you have been putting off.You are bigger than your worst mistake.Patience serves as a protection against wrongs as clothes do against cold.— Leonardo da Vinci No one matures without taking the wrong road a few times.Someone out there needs exactly what only you can offer.Our life is frittered away by detail. Simplify, simplify.— Henry David Thoreau Strength is not never falling. It is remembering you can always get back up.You have already survived things you swore you could never bear.Hands busy with what matters quiet an anxious mind.I will both lay me down in peace, and sleep: for thou, LORD, only makest me dwell in safety.— Psalm 4:8 The tree which fills the arms grew from the tiniest sprout.— Lao Tzu Finish what you started. Whatever is left half-done weighs on you in full.I feel that I am being not only reformed, but transformed.— Seneca You don't have to be strong all the time. Just don't give up on yourself.Yesterday's mistake can be today's teacher, if you let it.It is not too late. It is now, and now still counts.What was hard to bear is sweet to remember.— Seneca You don't need to have it all figured out to take the next step.Discipline is remembering what you want when the desire fades.Men go abroad to admire the heights of mountains, the mighty waves of the sea, and the circuits of the stars, and pass themselves by.— Saint Augustine Time will pass no matter what. Let it pass with you building something.Courage is a muscle. It grows every time you use it.Bad days exist. And you keep existing after them.First say to yourself what you would be; and then do what you have to do.— Epictetus For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.— 2 Timothy 1:7 Trembling is part of it. Retreating is optional.Consistency turns the difficult into the natural.A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.— Lao Tzu Hurry steals what presence gives back.Better an imperfect start than a perfect plan that never leaves the page.It is difficulties which show what men are.— Epictetus A good night's sleep solves more than it seems.Results take time. Keep going anyway; one day they show up all at once.The world does not need another copy. It needs the whole version of you.Every habit and faculty is maintained and increased by the corresponding actions: the habit of walking by walking, the habit of running by running.— Epictetus Whoever does the simple things with care is preparing for the extraordinary.Life begins at the point where the excuse ends.He who knows others is wise; he who knows himself is enlightened.— Lao Tzu To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven.— Ecclesiastes 3:1 You can start over as many times as you need. There is no limit on new beginnings.Life rewards those who act, not those who only imagine.Nothing great is produced suddenly, since not even the grape or the fig is.— Epictetus Life happens now, between one plan and the next.Stop paying with suffering a debt that has already been settled.When there is no enemy within, the enemies outside cannot hurt you.— African proverb Gentle discipline: firm with the goal, kind to yourself.Unplug. The world keeps turning while you catch your breath.You are not behind. You are on your own time.If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.— African proverb Persisting in what matters is a quiet form of courage.Don't wait for Monday. Any moment will do for starting over.We become brave by doing brave acts.— Aristotle The meaning of life does not come ready-made. It is built along the way.His compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.— Lamentations 3:22-23 You don't need to feel ready. You need to begin.If every year we would root out one vice, we should soon become perfect men.— Thomas à Kempis The road does not disappear because you stopped. It keeps waiting for you.Not every fight is meant to be won. Some teach you to stand.Those who rise early to read should also rise early to think.— Rui Barbosa Falling and getting back up does not take you back to zero. You come back with experience.Don't let one bad chapter convince you the whole book is bad.Giving up on one day is not giving up on yourself.Wherever there is a human being, there is an opportunity for a kindness.— Seneca If it seems too big, break it down. If it seems too early, begin.Don't wait for motivation to arrive. It usually comes after action.Every obstacle is destroyed through rigor.— Leonardo da Vinci The difference between ordinary and excellent lies in the final effort.You did not lose everything. You lost a rhythm, and rhythm can be recovered.And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.— Galatians 6:9 If one man conquer in battle a thousand times thousand men, and if another conquer himself, he is the greatest of conquerors.— Buddha Don't let the fear of being wrong steal your chance of getting it right.One day at a time is the surest way to go far.Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Tomorrow is a new day; begin it well and serenely.— Ralph Waldo Emerson Some victories are silent. Getting out of bed today was one of them.Everyone you admire was once a beginner, and once embarrassed.The pain of right now is real, but it is not forever.The mind must be given relaxation; it will rise better and keener after resting.— Seneca If you can't run, walk. If you can't walk, rest and come back.Less distraction, more direction: that is how a day pays off.Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Willing is not enough; we must do.— Goethe Silent progress is progress all the same.Strong roots grow in the dark, far from everyone's eyes.Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.— Matthew 6:34 Some things are in our control and others not.— Epictetus You are allowed to change, even if no one believes it yet.A full day is not the same as a meaningful day.The gem cannot be polished without friction, nor man perfected without trials.— Chinese proverb You will never know what you are capable of until you try.One thing at a time, done well, is worth more than ten done halfway.The best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago. The second best time is now.Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.— Ralph Waldo Emerson Plant something today that you will want to harvest a year from now.Breathe. You only have to win the next step, not your whole life.How long will you still wait to think yourself worthy of the best things?— Epictetus Small steps, every single day, reach places a leap never will.Fear speaks loudly, but it does not get the final word.Breathe deeply. This day will pass too.Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee.— Isaiah 41:10 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.— Henry David Thoreau Taking care of yourself is not selfish. It is what keeps you standing for others.Sometimes even to live is an act of bravery.— Seneca Resilience is made of small fresh starts amid the chaos.Getting good at something starts with being bad at it for a while.Forgive yourself for the time you lost. It taught you something too.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 Doubt shrinks once your feet start moving.The most important yes is the one you say to yourself.The cost of a thing is the amount of what I will call life which is required to be exchanged for it.— Henry David Thoreau Let go of what you cannot change and hold tight to what you still can.Repeat the same choices and you will harvest the same days.Work with purpose tires the body but rests the soul.For man proposeth, but God disposeth, and the way of a man is not in himself.— Thomas à Kempis Even by the falling of water-drops a water-pot is filled.— Buddha Rest is not a prize for finishing everything. It is a need for anyone who works.Better to arrive late than never to arrive.— Portuguese proverb Hurry wants everything now. Consistency builds what lasts.Starting well is not enough. You have to finish with the same care.Big dreams are frightening because they are the size of who you could become.God wills, man dreams, the work is born.— Fernando Pessoa Repetition is not monotony. It is how the extraordinary takes shape.Ask yourself every morning: for whom and for what am I doing this?It is not the man who has too little, but the man who craves more, that is poor.— Seneca Every morning is a second chance nobody has to give you.No one sees your inner battles, but each one makes you stronger.Doing everything is impossible. Doing what matters is a choice.Hatred does not cease by hatred at any time; hatred ceases by love.— Buddha This is the day which the LORD hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.— Psalm 118:24 Work starts to feel lighter the moment you stop putting it off.Trust thyself: every heart vibrates to that iron string.— Ralph Waldo Emerson It is not what you do once in a while that changes your life. It is what you do every day.Attention is the rarest gift you can give yourself.A kite rises against the wind, not with it.How much trouble he avoids who does not look to see what his neighbor says or does or thinks.— Marcus Aurelius Being gentle with yourself on a bad day is strength, not weakness.Your talent is a gift. What you do with it is your answer.When the winds of change blow, some people build walls and others build windmills.— Chinese proverb Turn off the noise and listen to what truly matters to you.Use the past as a step, not as a cell.Guilt looks back. Responsibility looks forward.For the things we have to learn before we can do them, we learn by doing them.— Aristotle Improve a little each day and in a year you will be unrecognizable.I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.— Philippians 4:13 For one swallow does not make a summer, nor does one day.— Aristotle Still standing after everything: that already says a lot about you.Crying is not weakness. It is the soul making room to keep going.Yesterday no longer answers and tomorrow has not arrived. Only today is open for work.The roots of education are bitter, but the fruit is sweet.— Aristotle Perfect days are rare. Persistent days build everything.A mind scattered across a thousand places never gets anywhere.Nothing in the world is softer than water, yet nothing is better at overcoming the hard and strong.— Lao Tzu Even the strongest storm ends. You will be here when the sky clears.Even the land rests between one harvest and the next.Talk to yourself the way you would talk to a friend who made a mistake.Constant practice devoted to one subject often outdoes both intelligence and skill.— Cicero Today may have been heavy. That does not define who you are.They that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary.— Isaiah 40:31 It is not because things are difficult that we do not dare; it is because we do not dare that they are difficult.— Seneca Silence the world for a moment and hear what you truly want.Be fully present wherever you are. Half of you builds nothing.Respect your limits today so you can go further tomorrow.The reward of a thing well done is to have done it.— Ralph Waldo Emerson Patience is not waiting idly. It is continuing without demanding speed.Those who wait for certainty never move from where they are.

A quote like this every day in the app

In Done!, the quote of the day comes with one-tap micro-habits — and turns into a card ready to share.

App Store Google Play

Free to download, no ads, no sign-up