Sometimes, a few words can say everything. Symbolic quotes hold power. They capture deep thoughts and feelings in a small space. They inspire, comfort, and challenge us.
In this list, you’ll find quotes that speak to the heart. Each quote offers a glimpse into universal truths. Whether you’re looking for wisdom or comfort, these quotes will surely resonate with you. Let’s explore the best symbolic quotes together.
Famous Quotes with Deep Meanings
“To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
“We accept the love we think we deserve.” – Stephen Chbosky, The Perks of Being a Wallflower
“Not all those who wander are lost.” – J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring
“The only way to do great work is to love what you do.” – Steve Jobs
“To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all.” – Oscar Wilde
“The wound is the place where the Light enters you.” – Rumi
“we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.” – Martin Luther King Jr.
“It is not in the stars to hold our destiny but in ourselves.” – William Shakespeare, Julius Caesar
“Every man is guilty of all the good he did not do.” – Voltaire
“Life is what happens when you’re busy making other plans.” – John Lennon
“The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.” – Lao Tzu
“Don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened.” – Dr. Seuss
“You must be the change you wish to see in the world.” – Mahatma Gandhi
“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” – George Santayana
“The unexamined life is not worth living.” – Socrates
“To love and be loved is to feel the sun from both sides.” – David Viscott
“Sometimes the questions are complicated and the answers are simple.” – Dr. Seuss
“A person’s a person, no matter how small.” – Dr. Seuss, Horton Hears a Who!
“A room without books is like a body without a soul.” – Marcus Tullius Cicero
“To err is human, to forgive, divine.” – Alexander Pope
“The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing.” – Socrates
“It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live.” – J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone
“You don’t have a soul. You are a soul. You have a body.” – C.S. Lewis
“Happiness is not something ready-made. It comes from your own actions.” – Dalai Lama
“Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
“All that we see or seem is but a dream within a dream.” – Edgar Allan Poe
“The greatest glory in living lies not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.” – Nelson Mandela
“Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.” – Martin Luther King Jr.
“Every artist was first an amateur.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
“You can’t use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have.” – Maya Angelou
“I think, therefore I am.” – René Descartes
“In three words I can sum up everything I’ve learned about life: It goes on.” – Robert Frost
Inspirational Quotes to Live By
“The only limit to our realization of tomorrow is our doubts of today.” – Franklin D. Roosevelt
“To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all.” – Oscar Wilde
“it’s not the years in your life that count. It’s the life in your years.” – Abraham Lincoln
“What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
“Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
“You must be the change you wish to see in the world.” – Mahatma Gandhi
“Life is either a daring adventure or nothing at all.” – Helen Keller
“To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
“Not all those who wander are lost.” – J.R.R. Tolkien
“In the middle of every difficulty lies opportunity.” – Albert Einstein
“Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.” – Winston Churchill
“The only way to do great work is to love what you do.” – Steve Jobs
“The best way to predict the future is to create it.” – Peter Drucker
“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.” – Aristotle
“Believe you can and you’re halfway there.” – Theodore Roosevelt
“Kindness is a language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see.” – Mark Twain
“It is never too late to be what you might have been.” – George Eliot
“Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.” – Martin Luther King Jr.
“The purpose of life is not to be happy. It is to be useful, to be honorable, to be compassionate, to have it make some difference that you have lived and lived well.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
“Happiness is not something ready made. It comes from your own actions.” – Dalai Lama
“The only impossible journey is the one you never begin.” – Tony Robbins
“It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop.” – Confucius
“Hardships often prepare ordinary people for an extraordinary destiny.” – C.S. Lewis
“You have within you right now, everything you need to deal with whatever the world can throw at you.” – Brian Tracy
“Believe in yourself and all that you are. Know that there is something inside you that is greater than any obstacle.” – Christian D. Larson
“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life.” – Steve Jobs
“Act as if what you do makes a difference. It does.” – William James
“Every moment is a fresh beginning.” – T.S. Eliot
“The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.” – Lao Tzu
“Doubt kills more dreams than failure ever will.” – Suzy Kassem
“Your life does not get better by chance, it gets better by change.” – Jim Rohn
Love Quotes That Speak Volumes
“To love and be loved is to feel the sun from both sides.” – David Viscott
“Love is composed of a single soul inhabiting two bodies.” – Aristotle
“In all the world, there is no heart for me like yours. In all the world, there is no love for you like mine.” – Maya Angelou
“You know you’re in love when you can’t fall asleep because reality is finally better than your dreams.” – Dr. Seuss
“The best thing to hold onto in life is each other.” – Audrey Hepburn
“Love is not finding someone to live with; it’s finding someone you can’t live without.” – Rafael Ortiz
“we discover that to love and let go can be the same thing.” – Jack Kornfield
“I am yours, don’t give myself back to me.” – Rumi
“If I had a flower for every time I thought of you… I could walk through my garden forever.” – Alfred Lord Tennyson
“Love is like the wind, you can’t see it but you can feel it.” – Nicholas Sparks
“Every heart sings a song, incomplete, until another heart whispers back.” – Plato
“When I saw you I fell in love, and you smiled because you knew.” – Arrigo Boito
“Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same.” – Emily Brontë
“One word frees us of all the weight and pain of life: That word is love.” – Sophocles
“To be fully seen by somebody, then, and be loved anyhow – this is a human offering that can border on miraculous.” – Elizabeth Gilbert
“The greatest thing you’ll ever learn is just to love and be loved in return.” – Eden Ahbez
“Love is the whole thing. We are only pieces.” – Rumi
“You don’t love because: you love despite; not for the virtues, but despite the faults.” – William Faulkner
“Love is a canvas furnished by nature and embroidered by imagination.” – Voltaire
“True love is eternal, infinite, and always like itself. It is equal and pure, without violent demonstrations: it is seen with white hairs and is always young in the heart.” – Honore de Balzac
“We loved with a love that was more than love.” – Edgar Allan Poe
“The only thing we never get enough of is love; and the only thing we never give enough of is love.” – Henry Miller
“Love recognizes no barriers. It jumps hurdles, leaps fences, penetrates walls to arrive at its destination full of hope.” – Maya Angelou
“Love is the emblem of eternity; it confounds all notion of time; effaces all memory of a beginning, all fear of an end.” – Madame de Stael
“To love another person is to see the face of God.” – Victor Hugo
“You are the source of my joy, the center of my world and the whole of my heart.” – Unknown
“Love is when the other person’s happiness is more important than your own.” – H. Jackson Brown Jr.
“Love is the master key that opens the gates of happiness.” – Oliver Wendell Holmes
“A simple ‘I love you’ means more than money.” – Frank Sinatra
“I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear.” – Martin Luther King Jr.
“Love doesn’t make the world go ’round; love is what makes the ride worthwhile.” – Franklin P. Jones
Motivational Quotes for Daily Life
“The only limit to our realization of tomorrow is our doubts of today.” – Franklin D. Roosevelt
“Success is not final, failure is not fatal: It is the courage to continue that counts.” – Winston Churchill
“The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.” – Eleanor Roosevelt
“Do not wait; the time will never be ‘just right.’ Start where you stand.” – Napoleon Hill
“What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
“Believe you can and you’re halfway there.” – Theodore Roosevelt
“Act as if what you do makes a difference. It does.” – William James
“The best way to predict your future is to create it.” – Peter Drucker
“Keep your face always toward the sunshine—and shadows will fall behind you.” – Walt Whitman
“Every strike brings me closer to the next home run.” – Babe Ruth
“Life is what happens when you’re busy making other plans.” – John Lennon
“You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.” – Wayne Gretzky
“The only way to do great work is to love what you do.” – Steve Jobs
“It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop.” – Confucius
“In the middle of every difficulty lies opportunity.” – Albert Einstein
“You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream.” – C.S. Lewis
“With the new day comes new strength and new thoughts.” – Eleanor Roosevelt
“It always seems impossible until it’s done.” – Nelson Mandela
“Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can.” – Arthur Ashe
“The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.” – Lao Tzu
“If you can dream it, you can do it.” – Walt Disney
“Dream as if you’ll live forever. Live as if you’ll die today.” – James Dean
“Don’t watch the clock; do what it does. Keep going.” – Sam Levenson
“You can never cross the ocean until you have the courage to lose sight of the shore.” – Christopher Columbus
“The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph.” – Thomas Paine
“Believe in yourself! Have faith in your abilities!” – Norman Vincent Peale
“Dream big and dare to fail.” – Norman Vaughan
“The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing.” – Walt Disney
“Good, better, best. Never let it rest. ‘Til your good is better and your better is best.” – St. Jerome
“What you get by achieving your goals is not as important as what you become by achieving your goals.” – Zig Ziglar
“Spread love everywhere you go. Let no one ever come to you without leaving happier.” – Mother Teresa
“Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
Quotes on Nature and Beauty
“In every walk with nature, one receives far more than he seeks.” – John Muir
“The earth has music for those who listen.” – William Shakespeare
“Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished.” – Lao Tzu
“To sit in the shade on a fine day, and look upon verdure, is the most perfect refreshment.” – Jane Austen
“Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.” – Albert Einstein
“Nature always wears the colors of the spirit.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
“The clearest way into the Universe is through a forest wilderness.” – John Muir
“Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
“The poetry of the earth is never dead.” – John Keats
“Keep close to Nature’s heart… and break clear away, once in a while, and climb a mountain or spend a week in the woods. Wash your spirit clean.” – John Muir
“In nature, nothing is perfect and everything is perfect.” – Alice Walker
“Heaven is under our feet as well as over our heads.” – Henry David Thoreau
“To forget how to dig the earth and to tend the soil is to forget ourselves.” – Mahatma Gandhi
“There are always flowers for those who want to see them.” – Henri Matisse
“Nature is pleased with simplicity. And nature is no dummy.” – Isaac Newton
“In the presence of nature, a wild delight runs through the man, in spite of real sorrows.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
“Wilderness is not a luxury but a necessity of the human spirit.” – Edward Abbey
“The goal of life is living in agreement with nature.” – Zeno
“Climb the mountains and get their good tidings.” – John Muir
“Nature is not a place to visit. It is home.” – Gary Snyder
“Live in each season as it passes; breathe the air, drink the drink, taste the fruit, and resign yourself to the influence of the earth.” – Henry David Thoreau
“One touch of nature makes the whole world kin.” – William Shakespeare
“The beauty of the natural world lies in the details.” – Natalie Angier
“Nature gives to every time and season some beauties of its own.” – Charles Dickens
“The goal is to uncover the beauty within the mundane.” – Unknown
“Colors are the smiles of nature.” – Leigh Hunt
“The mountains are calling and I must go.” – John Muir
“Nature’s beauty is a gift that cultivates appreciation and gratitude.” – Louie Schwartzberg
“The world is big and I want to have a good look at it before it gets dark.” – John Muir
“Nature itself is the best physician.” – Hippocrates
“The richness I achieve comes from Nature, the source of my inspiration.” – Claude Monet
Historical Quotes with Symbolism
“Every rose has its thorn.” – Poison
“To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
“The pen is mightier than the sword.” – Edward Bulwer-Lytton
“All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players.” – William Shakespeare
“The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” – Franklin D. Roosevelt
“A picture is worth a thousand words.” – Fred R. Barnard
“Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul.” – Emily Dickinson
“Not all those who wander are lost.” – J.R.R. Tolkien
“Et tu, Brute?” – William Shakespeare, Julius Caesar
“The unexamined life is not worth living.” – Socrates
“Do not go gentle into that good night.” – Dylan Thomas
“I think, therefore I am.” – René Descartes
“Through the looking-glass, and what Alice found there.” – Lewis Carroll
“To love and be loved is to feel the sun from both sides.” – David Viscott
“The only constant in life is change.” – Heraclitus
“Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage and then is heard no more.” – William Shakespeare, Macbeth
“The greatest wealth is to live content with little.” – Plato
“With great power comes great responsibility.” – Spider-Man
“we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.” – Martin Luther King Jr.
“The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.” – Lao Tzu
“All that glitters is not gold.” – William Shakespeare
“To thine own self be true.” – William Shakespeare
“Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee.” – Muhammad Ali
“The only way to do great work is to love what you do.” – Steve Jobs
“Tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all.” – Alfred Lord Tennyson
“Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one.” – Albert Einstein
“The woods are lovely, dark and deep, but I have promises to keep, and miles to go before I sleep.” – Robert Frost
“Only in the darkness can you see the stars.” – Martin Luther King Jr.
“Happiness can be found even in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the light.” – J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
“There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.” – Maya Angelou
“You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough.” – Mae West
“To infinity and beyond!” – Buzz Lightyear, Toy Story
Quotes from Literature and Poetry
“All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.” – George Orwell, Animal Farm
“To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
“So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.” – F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby
“Still I rise.” – Maya Angelou, Still I Rise
“Not all those who wander are lost.” – J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring
“Do not go gentle into that good night. Rage, rage against the dying of the light.” – Dylan Thomas
“In three words I can sum up everything I’ve learned about life: it goes on.” – Robert Frost
“It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live.” – J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone
“Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?” – Mary Oliver
“And in that moment, I swear we were infinite.” – Stephen Chbosky, The Perks of Being a Wallflower
“The only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it.” – Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray
“All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.” – J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring
“We accept the love we think we deserve.” – Stephen Chbosky, The Perks of Being a Wallflower
“What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.” – William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet
“It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.” – Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, The Little Prince
“You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose.” – Dr. Seuss, Oh, the Places You’ll Go!
“Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same.” – Emily Brontë, Wuthering Heights
“Life appears to me too short to be spent in nursing animosity or registering wrongs.” – Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre
“Not all stars belong to the night; some light the way in the broadness of day.” – Original
“The more I see, the less I know for sure.” – John Lennon
“Dreams feel real while we’re in them. It’s only when we wake up that we realize something was actually strange.” – Inception
“I am no bird; and no net ensnares me: I am a free human being with an independent will.” – Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre
“To love or have loved, that is enough. Ask nothing further.” – Victor Hugo, Les Miserables
“Every man desires to live long, but no man wishes to be old.” – Jonathan Swift
“Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards.” – Søren Kierkegaard
“The only journey is the one within.” – Rainer Maria Rilke
“She was free in her wildness. She was a wanderess, a drop of free water. She belonged to no man and to no city.” – Roman Payne
“The purpose of life is to live it, to taste experience to the utmost, to reach out eagerly and without fear for newer and richer experience.” – Eleanor Roosevelt
“Some infinities are bigger than other infinities.” – John Green, The Fault in Our Stars
“You don’t have a soul. You are a soul. You have a body.” – C.S. Lewis
“The cosmos is within us. We are made of star-stuff. We are a way for the universe to know itself.” – Carl Sagan
“The sun will rise and we will try again.” – Original
To Sum Up
These symbolic quotes remind us that words can hold deep meanings and inspire thoughts. Each quote we explored carries a unique message, be it about love, life, or courage. They show how simple words can spark powerful emotions and provoke profound thinking.
Whether you’re seeking comfort, motivation, or insight, these quotes offer something for everyone. Keep them close as little reminders of strength and wisdom. They might just change how you see the world and inspire you to live a more meaningful life.