10 Quotes to Guide and Shape Your Life

Ozzy Balkanli
5 min readJun 1, 2017

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Live a Meaningful Life, Be a Dreamer!

I wanted to share some of my favorite quotes that could potentially help guide and shape your life.

The older I get, the more I understand the most cliché’ d quotes and the people who have spoken those words were really just trying to shed some light into our lives. I enjoy reading quotes because, in some sense, it can help change your perspective of the moment, open your eyes, and help you take action.

  1. “What you do today can improve all your tomorrows.” — Ralph Marston

Most of us live for tomorrow or waiting for that one specific moment to start something. It’s so important to make the jump today — the most important day in your life. Today is the most crucial time to start to live and do what matters most to you. I think we all forget the powerful effects of small wins, which we can incorporate into our daily lives.

2. “Never give up on a dream just because of the time it will take to accomplish it. The time will pass anyway.” — Earl Nightingale

You can either spend your time accomplishing the things you have always dreamed of, or you can let the time pass not doing anything and feeling stuck. The choice is always yours. A life spent as a passenger rather than a contributor to help the world, is a life not fully lived.

3. “Happiness is a choice, not a result. Nothing will make you happy until you choose to be happy.” — Ralph Marston

This is a good reminder to stop waiting for that one specifying moment to feel “happy”. You’ll never get there if you keep waiting for that moment because it’s not coming. Rather, happiness is how you choose to perceive things, how compassionate you are, and it’s always about living each moment as they come.

4. “Not all of us can do great things. But we can do small things with great love.” — Mother Theresa

In this day and age, we see so many people doing great things and some are becoming millionaires or billionaires at such a young age, but it’s important to realize that is not how you can measure your worth. You are worth so much more than your success. Your beautiful heart and mind are amazing and you never know how much someone needs and appreciates you.

5. “The moment you’re ready to quit is usually the moment right before a miracle happens. Don’t give up!”

This one is a tough one. We all have been there when quitting is so much easier than going through with what’s difficult. But if you repeatedly do what is easy, I think your life will become hard. I truly have seen and believe that “success” comes right when you are about to quit.

6. “If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it.” — Steve Jobs

Steve Jobs was a lucky man living out his dream job on this earth. He left this earth with an impact because he followed his passion. If that’s not inspiring to go out and figure out what you are meant to do on this earth then I don’t know what is.

7. “Sometimes you will never know the value of a moment until it becomes a memory.” — Theodor Seuss Geisel

It’s important to remind yourself of this daily to appreciate the people around you. Those people won’t always be around and someday you won’t either. This quote is over-said, but I think not over-done. Many of us forget to appreciate each moment as they are and to be in the moment every day. Technology makes it harder for our generation, but it’s not impossible. It is quite simple to be there for someone, be mindful of their feelings and cherish every moment of it.

8. “There is only one corner of the universe you can be certain of improving, and that’s your own self.”

It’s good to have a self-care routine, because let’s be honest, we can’t go back to our parents past a certain age to take care of us. Not even our partners, or loved ones can help us, you need to improve yourself on your own. It’s crucial to do so because you can’t help others before you help yourself. And if you can’t give back, then we are all living poorly because we are missing out on what you could have given back to this world.

9. “Sometimes the questions are complicated and the answers are simple.” — Dr. Seuss

A lot of times, we tend to overthink things and over-analyze questions rather than think through the answers one small step at a time. You don’t need to worry and over-analyze a situation, just take it as what it is and look at the big picture. It doesn’t need to be solved today and can be resolved over time. So, stop worrying and start looking for the simple answers.

10. “Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day. You shall begin it serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson

Going back to the first quote, yes sometimes the most important day is today, but sometimes, some days suck. Some days are awful and you don’t know how to deal. It’s important to know they don’t last forever and tomorrow is always a brand new day. Sometimes, you have done all you can do for that one day and just need to shut your eyes, sleep and wait for your second most important day — tomorrow.

If you are feeling to get more inspired, here’s a clip of Steve Jobs’ speech at Stanford's commencement.

Hope you guys have an amazing week ahead!

-Ozzy

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Ozzy Balkanli

Innately curious about finding meanings, purpose and authenticity. OzzyBalkanli.com