Little Box of Quotes
Daily quotes. No noise.
- The only thing that I see that is distinctly different about me is I’m not afraid to die on a treadmill. I will not be out-worked, period. You might have more talent than me, you might be smarter than me, you might be sexier than me, you might be all of those things you got it on me in nine categories. But if we get on the treadmill together, there’s two things: You’re getting off first, or I’m going to die. It’s really that simple, right? You’re not going to out-work me. It’s such a simple, basic concept. The guy […]
- Inspiration is for amateurs—the rest of us just show up and get to work. ~ Chuck Close
A daily quote. Simple.
Above are the two most-recent quotes sent. Yes, it updates here every day.
No nonsense, no noise, no hooks, no ads. Just one quote each day.
Want to see more of the quotes? The most-recent 20 are at the bottom!
Origin of my collection
A long 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.
My mission is creating better conversations to spread understanding and compassion. I want us to go from simply having conversations, to actively creating better conversations. You can learn more about me and all my projects at, https://craigconstantine.com.
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Latest 20 quotes
Here are the last 20 quotes sent via email. Yes, it updates here every day.
- The only thing that I see that is distinctly different about me is I’m not afraid to die on a treadmill. I will not be out-worked, period. You might have more talent than me, you might be smarter than me, you might be sexier than me, you might be all of those things you got it on me in nine categories. But if we get on the treadmill together, there’s two things: You’re getting off first, or I’m going to die. It’s really that simple, right? You’re not going to out-work me. It’s such a simple, basic concept. The guy […]
- Inspiration is for amateurs—the rest of us just show up and get to work. ~ Chuck Close
- Sit at your desk and listen. ~ Franz Kafka
- If everyone is thinking alike, then somebody isn’t thinking. ~ George S. Patton
- Do not be fooled:Success is not the key to happiness.Happiness is the key to success.~ unknown
- Procrastination is the most common manifestation of Resistance because it’s the easiest to rationalize. We don’t tell ourselves, “I’m never going to write my symphony.” Instead we say, “I’m going to write my symphony; I’m just going to start tomorrow.” ~ Steven Pressfield
- I find that whatever hindrances occur I write just about the same amount of truth in my journal; For the record is more concentrated, and usually it is so very real and earnest life, after all, that interrupts. All flourishes are omitted. ~ H. D. Thoreau
- What is not clear should be cleared up. What is not easy to do should be done with great persistence. ~ Confucius
- To be an artist, you don’t have to compose music or paint or be in the movies or write books. It’s just a way of living. It has to do with paying attention, remembering, filtering what you see and answering back, participating in life.~ Viggo Mortensen
- You must catch yourself. Some people boast of their failings; Do you suppose a man who counts his vices as virtues can take thought for remedying them? So far as you can, then, be your own prosecutor, investigate yourself, function first as accuser, then as judge, and only in the end as advocate. And sometimes you must overrule the advocate. ~ Seneca
- Don’t let your imagination be crushed by life as a whole. Don’t try to picture everything bad that could possibly happen. Stick with the situation at hand, and ask, “Why is this so unbearable? Why can’t I endure it?” You’ll be embarrassed to answer. Then remind yourself that past and future have no power over you. Only the present—and even that can be minimized. Just mark off its limits. And if your mind tries to claim that it can’t hold out against that… well, then, heap shame upon it. ~ Marcus Aurelius
- Concentrate every minute … on doing what’s in front of you with precise and genuine seriousness, tenderly, willingly, with justice. And on freeing yourself from all other distractions. Yes, you can—if you do everything as if it were the last thing you were doing in your life, and stop being aimless, stop letting your emotions override what your mind tells you, stop being hypocritical, self-centered, irritable. ~ Marcus Aurelius
- If I had influence with the good fairy who is supposed to preside over the christening of all children I should ask that her gift to each child in the world be a sense of wonder so indestructible that it would last throughout life, as an unfailing antidote against the boredom and disenchantments of later years, the sterile preoccupation with things that are artificial, the alienation from the sources of our strength. ~ Rachel Carson
- Wise consumption is much more complicated than wise production. What five people will produce, one person can very easily consume, and the question for each individual and for every nation is not how are we to produce, but how our products are to be consumed. ~ John Ruskin
- Play more. I feel like people are so serious, and it doesn’t take much for people to drop back into the wisdom of a childlike playfulness. If I had to prescribe two things to improve health and happiness in the world, it’d be movement and play. Because you can’t really play without moving, so they’re intertwined. ~ Jason Nemer
- This is the divine law of life: That only virtue stands firm. All the rest is nothing. ~ Pythagoras
- By the time it came to the edge of the Forest the stream had grown up, so that it was almost a river, and, being grown-up, it did not run and jump and sparkle along as it used to when it was younger, but moved more slowly. For it knew now where it was going, and said to itself, “There is no hurry. We shall get there some day.” ~ A. A. Milne
- What you meet in another being is the projection of your own level of evolution. ~ Ram Dass
- Friendship is unnecessary, like philosophy, like art, like the universe itself… It has no survival value; Rather it is one of those things which give value to survival. ~ C.S. Lewis
- No one but you knows how hard you work, how many hours you put in behind the scenes, so rely on yourself for approval, not the outside world.~ unknown