Quote Image - Desktop Image

Quote Image- Mobile Image

Get the Daily Inspiration in your inbox

By subscribing to Inspiring Quotes you are agreeing to our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.

Daily Inspiration Podcast

May 31, 2021

00:00

00:00

Monday, May 31, 2021

Instructions for living a life: Pay attention. Be astonished. Tell about it.

Mary Oliver

Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Mary Oliver (1935-2019) was an avid observer: Her work often centers the natural world in all its minute, astounding details. Her meditations on everything from a bird's plumage to the color of oysters are undeniably grounded in the present, free of anxiety about the future. “Attention is the beginning of devotion,” she wrote in her essay "Teach The Children." Oliver’s contemplation of nature’s small wonders reminds us that the simplest things have the power to change us in the deepest ways. In paying attention to our surroundings, we can invite in joy and avoid letting our negative thoughts spiral. She reminds us we have a choice: We can let the world delight us, rather than let it beat us down.

Play more header background

Daily Question

Fill in the blank: "There is only one proof of ___ — action." - Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach

More Inspiration

Practicing an art, no matter how well or badly, is a way to make your soul grow, for heaven's sake.

Kurt Vonnegut

Endure, and keep yourselves for days of happiness.

Virgil

You must not try to make love definite. It is the divine accident of life.

Sherwood Anderson

Champions keep playing until they get it right.

Billie Jean King

In all things it is better to hope than to despair.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

The winds and waves are always on the side of the ablest navigators.

Edward Gibbon

You can't live a perfect day without doing something for someone who will never be able to repay you.

John Wooden

The truth is the light and light is the truth.

Ralph Ellison

Curiosity is the wick in the candle of learning.

William Arthur Ward

It isn't just talent. You have to have something else. You have to have a kind of nerve.

Georgia O’Keeffe

What you think about day and night forms your character and personality.

Masami Saionji

Featured Articles

20 Quotes for Coffee Lovers

January 3, 2024

14 Quotes To Celebrate Aquarians

January 9, 2024

12 Quotes About Making Big Changes Later in Life

July 24, 2024

How To Find Closure, in Quotes

December 15, 2023

The Oldest Jokes in History

March 7, 2024

12 Brief Quotes From Notoriously Long Books

April 9, 2024

Unconventional Aging Advice From 10 Centenarians

July 3, 2024

How to Live a Full Life, According to French Philosopher Michel de Montaigne

July 17, 2024

Life-Affirming Quotes About Human Connection

December 18, 2023

The Classics: Quotes From History’s Greatest Poems

March 20, 2024

How Crafting Can Transform Your Life, in Quotes

June 12, 2024