Christine Bourquin > Christine's Quotes

“Nothing is so painful to the human mind as a great and sudden change.”
― Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, Frankenstein

“Act as if what you do makes a difference. It does.”
― William James

“To change one’s life:
1. Start immediately.
2. Do it flamboyantly.
3. No exceptions.”
― William James

“It's not that some people have willpower and some don't... It's that some people are ready to change and others are not.”
― James Gordon

“We cannot change our past... we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude. I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% of how I react to it. And so it is with you... we are in charge of our attitudes.”
― Charles R. Swindoll

“Real change is difficult at the beginning. Without the familiar to rely upon, you may not in as much command as you had once been. When things are not going your way, you will start doubting yourself. Stay positive, keep the faith, and keep moving forward – your breakthrough may be just around the corner.”
― Roy T. Bennett

“But you're so busy changing the world
Just one smile can change all of mine”
― Jack Johnson

“The past can teach us, nurture us, but it cannot sustain us. The essence of life is change, and we must move ever forward or the soul will wither and die.”
― Susanna Kearsley, Mariana

“Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or the present are certain to miss the future.

[Address in the Assembly Hall at the Paulskirche in Frankfurt, June 26 1963]”
― John F. Kennedy

“Act the way you'd like to be and soon you'll be the way you'd like to act.”
― Bob Dylan

“No matter what your history has been, your destiny is what you create today. What are you going to create?”
― Steve Maraboli, Life, the Truth, and Being Free

“There are things about ourselves that we need to get rid of; there are things we need to change. But at the same time, we do not need to be too desperate, too ruthless, too combative. Along the way to usefulness and happiness, many of those things will change themselves, and the others can be worked on as we go. The first thing we need to do is recognize and trust our own Inner Nature, and not lose sight of it.”
― Benjamin Hoff, The Tao of Pooh

“Art isn't only a painting. Art is anything that's creative, passionate, and personal. And great art resonates with the viewer, not only with the creator.

What makes someone an artist? I don't think is has anything to do with a paintbrush. There are painters who follow the numbers, or paint billboards, or work in a small village in China, painting reproductions. These folks, while swell people, aren't artists. On the other hand, Charlie Chaplin was an artist, beyond a doubt. So is Jonathan Ive, who designed the iPod. You can be an artists who works with oil paints or marble, sure. But there are artists who work with numbers, business models, and customer conversations. Art is about intent and communication, not substances.

An artists is someone who uses bravery, insight, creativity, and boldness to challenge the status quo. And an artists takes it personally.

That's why Bob Dylan is an artist, but an anonymous corporate hack who dreams up Pop 40 hits on the other side of the glass is merely a marketer. That's why Tony Hsieh, founder of Zappos, is an artists, while a boiler room of telemarketers is simply a scam.

Tom Peters, corporate gadfly and writer, is an artists, even though his readers are businesspeople. He's an artists because he takes a stand, he takes the work personally, and he doesn't care if someone disagrees. His art is part of him, and he feels compelled to share it with you because it's important, not because he expects you to pay him for it.

Art is a personal gift that changes the recipient. The medium doesn't matter. The intent does.

Art is a personal act of courage, something one human does that creates change in another.”
― Seth Godin, Linchpin: Are You Indispensable?

“Change is hardest at the beginning, messiest in the middle and best at the end.”
― Robin Sharma, The Leader Who Had No Title: A Modern Fable on Real Success in Business and in Life

“There was a sky somewhere above the tops of the buildings, with stars and a moon and all the things there are in a sky, but they were content to think of the distant street lights as planets and stars. If the lights prevented you from seeing the heavens, then preform a little magic and change reality to fit the need. The street lights were now planets and stars and moon. ”
― Hubert Selby Jr., Requiem for a Dream

“How would your life be different if…You didn’t allow yourself to be defined by your past? Let today be the day…You stop letting your history interfere with your destiny and awaken to the opportunity to release your greatest self.”
― Steve Maraboli, Life, the Truth, and Being Free

“Real change is difficult at the beginning, but gorgeous at the end. Change begins the moment you get the courage and step outside your comfort zone; change begins at the end of your comfort zone.”
― Roy T. Bennett

“A tiny change today brings a dramatically different tomorrow.”
― Richard Bach, One

“I cannot say whether things will get better if we change; what I can say is that they must change if they are to get better.”
― Georg Lichtenberg

“If we don't change, we don't grow. If we don't grow, we aren't really living.”
― Anatole France

“When she transformed into a butterfly, the caterpillars spoke not of her beauty, but of her weirdness. They wanted her to change back into what she always had been. But she had wings.”
― Dean Jackson

“It's up to you today to start making healthy choices. Not choices that are just healthy for your body, but healthy for your mind.”
― Steve Maraboli, Unapologetically You: Reflections on Life and the Human Experience

“Your greatest self has been waiting your whole life; don't make it wait any longer.”
― Steve Maraboli, Life, the Truth, and Being Free

“You can't just wish change; you have to live the change in order for it to become a reality.”
― Steve Maraboli, Life, the Truth, and Being Free

“The cloud is free only to go with the wind. The rain is free only in falling.”
― Wendell Berry

“In every change, in every falling leaf there is some pain, some beauty. And that's the way new leaves grow.”
― Amit Ray

“Bending beats breaking.”
― Betty Greene

“Recognizing that you are not where you want to be is a starting point to begin changing your life.”
― Deborah Day