Little Box of Quotes
Daily quotes. No noise.
A daily quote. Simple.
No nonsense, no noise, no hooks, no ads. Just one quote each day.
Want a sample of the quotes? The most-recent 20 are at the bottom of this page…
Origin of my collection
A long time ago I began collecting inspirational quotes and aphorisms.
I kept them on the first version of my web site, where they were displayed randomly. But as time went on, I realized I wanted them where I would see them. Eventually I copied the fledgeling collection onto 3×5 cards and put them in a small box. As I find new ones, I add cards.
I keep the box on my desk with one card showing — just wedged in so it stands up readable. I change the card randomly, whenever the urge strikes.
Countless times I’ve pulled another card and found it eerily appropriate to the challenges of the day.
Countless times I’ve returned to my desk and felt inspired upon rediscovering an old card’s whispered counsel.
Countless times, just as I was about to throw in the towel, I was saved by an echo from the little box on my desk.
Who am I?
Hello 👋 I’m Craig Constantine.
I invite you to cultivate a meaningful life—through presence, not pursuit. You can learn more about me and all my projects at, https://craigconstantine.com.
If you like what I’m doing, please support me via Ko-Fi. (I like Ko-Fi because they don’t take a slice from the money you contribute.)
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Latest 20 quotes
Here are the last 20 quotes sent via email. Yes, it updates here every day.
- You don’t know if your idea is any good the moment it’s created. Neither does anyone else. The most you can hope for is a strong gut feeling that it is. And trusting your feelings is not as easy as the optimists say it is. There’s a reason why feelings scare us—because what they tell us and what the rest of the world tells us are often two different things. ~ Hugh MacLeod
- The lesson? To respond to the unexpected and hurtful behavior of others with something more than a wipe of the glasses, to see it as a chance to expand our understanding, even if, as Proust warns us, “when we discover the true lives of other people, the real world beneath the world of appearances, we get as many surprises as on visiting a house of plain exterior which inside is full of hidden treasure, torture-chambers or skeletons.” ~ Alain de Botton
- Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face. ~ Mike Tyson
- Our soul is sometimes a king, and sometimes a tyrant. A king, by attending to what is honorable, protects the good health of the body in its care, and gives it no base or sordid command. But an uncontrolled, desire-fueled, over-indulged soul is turned from a king into that most feared and detested thing — a tyrant. ~ Seneca
- The cucumber is bitter? Then throw it out. There are brambles in the path? Then go around them. That’s all you need to know. Nothing more. Don’t demand to know, “why such things exist.” Anyone who understands the world will laugh at you, just as a carpenter would if you seemed shocked at finding sawdust in his workshop, or a shoemaker at scraps of leather left over from work. ~ Marcus Aurelius
- To live long, it is necessary to live slowly. ~ Cicero
- I have known days like that, of warm winds drowsing in the heat of noon and all of summer spinning slowly on its reel, days briefly lived, that leave long music in the mind more sweet that truth; I play and rewind. ~ Russel Hoban
- At the mid-point of the path through life, I found myself lost in a wood so dark, the way ahead was blotted out. The keening sound I still make shows how hard it is to say how harsh and bitter that place felt to me — ~ Dante
- The real measure of our wealth is how much we’d be worth if we lost all our money. ~ John Henry Jowett
- To trace something unknown back to something known is alleviating, soothing, gratifying and gives moreover a feeling of power. Danger, disquiet, anxiety attend the unknown—the first instinct is to eliminate these distressing states. First principle: Any explanation is better than none […] the cause-creating drive is thus conditioned and excited by the feeling of fear. ~ Friederich Nietzsche
- The largest portion of life passes while we are doing ill, a good share while we are doing nothing, and the whole while we are doing that which is not to the purpose. What man can you show me who places any value on his time, who reckons the worth of each day, who understands that he is dying daily? For we are mistaken when we look forward to death; The major portion of death is already passed. Whatever years be behind us are in death’s hands. ~ Seneca
- Three things define you:1. Your patience when you have nothing.2. Your attitude when you have everything.3. …and who you help whenever you are able.~ unknown
- Not to live as if you had endless years ahead of you. Death overshadows you. While you’re alive and able—be good. ~ Marcus Aurelius
- What a strange world this would be if we all had the same sense of humor. ~ Bern Williams
- You can’t stop nothin’if you got no control.…You can’t stop wishin’if you don’t let go.…You keep on rollin’put the moment on hold. ~ Jack Johnson
- Money and success don’t change people; they merely amplify what is already there. ~ Will Smith
- The essential power that confronting your mortality will give you—I call it the Sublime. Because it also opens up this idea of how amazing the world is that we live in, and how much we take for granted because we think that we’re going to live forever. It’s an incredibly important concept to me and it’s also very personal in the sense that I came this close to dying myself. I compare it to standing at the shore of some vast ocean. The fear of that dark ocean makes you turn away and retreat. I want you to get into […]
- […] it is not true that I am self-made. Like everyone, to get to where I am, I stood on the shoulders of giants. My life was built on a foundation of parents, coaches, and teachers; of kind souls who lent couches or gym back rooms where I could sleep; of mentors who shared wisdom and advice; of idols who motivated me from the pages of magazines (and, as my life grew, from personal interaction). ~ Arnold Schwarzenegger
- There are three deaths. The first is when the body ceases to function. The second is when the body is consigned to the grave. The third is that moment, sometime in the future, when your name is spoken for the last time. ~ David Eagleman
- In truth, there is no divorce between philosophy and life. ~ Simone de Beauvoir