Our Inspirational Sayings
What are inspirational sayings?
They are one or two sentences that have a powerful message and really make you think. You may only have to think for a few seconds to understand the message, or you may have to think longer and maybe talk about the saying with friends. When you do begin to understand the message you usually think, “Yeah, that’s really true!”
Think of an inspirational saying that you find meaning in. It may be one your parents have taught you and repeated your whole life. Or it may be one that is taught to all of the children of your culture as they grow. If you have one in your first language, that’s great! Translate it the best you can so that we can understand it. Then write about what you think it means. We can share some of our favorite sayings and comment on one another’s. We can inspire each other!
So, first write/translate your inspirational saying in English.
Next, write what you feel it means to you.
Then, read and comment on other sayings.
Let’s broaden our minds and do some deep thinking!!!
Inspirational Sayings | Comments (24)24 Responses to “Our Inspirational Sayings”
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I love the saying that is called The Golden Rule. It is “Do unto others as you would have others do unto you”. The Golden Rule is what my mom told me over and over again as I was growing up. When I became a teacher my mom gave me a plaque with The Golden Rule on it to hang in my classroom so that all of my students could also read and follow it.
To me the message is that we should always speak, act and treat others the same way that we want them to treat us.
And we all want to be treated kindly and with respect.
Then, one day as I was searching for other inspirational sayings on the web, I found this one, which takes The Golden Rule just a little bit further.
“We have committed The Golden Rule to memory. Let us now commit it to life”. (By Edwin Markham)
I think this means that we all can say what The Golden Rule is, but that sometimes we don’t really follow that rule. And that to make a difference in our lives and in the lives of others we should promise ourselves and really work hard at always being kind, caring and compassionate to others.
I looked on the web for some more inspirational sayings. I really liked this one:
“The art of life is to know how to enjoy a little and to endure very much.”
William Hazlitt
If I can learn to be happy with a little and to put up with difficulties, I will have learned how to live. You never know what will come your way in life. The people I have admired the most, haven’t always had the easiest lives. I admire them because they have learned to make the most of both the good and the bad times. So, they’re always wonderful to be with, because whether things are good or bad, they make my life wonderful.
I like ‘Back to Nature’ by Rousseau. I think Back to Nature means remove all the desire and go back to a simple life. So every person finally can be free and share the power.
Everyone rules the country equally. I think everyone should be able to make choices and get benefits whether they’re rich or poor.
Hello, I am Anne, a teacher in a small rural school in Australia. As I live on a farm, one of the inspirational sayings for me is “Always make hay while the sun shines” which means never put off until tomorrow what you can do today. We have to make a lot of hay in summer so that we have feed for our cattle and sheep in winter.
I am hoping that the students in our school might be able to work with the students in yours and we would love to know whether any of your inspirational sayings are the same as ours, here in Australia.
Hi everyone! My inspirational saying is about our bad habit. In Korean it is call “세 살 버릇 여든까지 간다”. And it means “The bad habit that you had at three years old goes until when you’re eighty years old.” And in English they say “The leopard does not change his spots.” But I think they mean the very same. Because the Korean proverb (oh! And I forgot to tell that both of them are proverbs! Oops!) means ‘ it is hard to fix your bad habit that you had since when you’re young’, and I guess that it also means ‘you need to fix your bad habit before it is too late’. And I think the second one make more sense, because that is more scientific. Once, I saw this news article that talk about the bad habit. They said ‘ if you keep do your bad habit for long time, your brain will recognize that your bad habit is normal and keep doing them, even you if don’t want to.’ Freeekey~! Right?
This proverb was really meaningful for me. Because when I heard it first, I thought this is really meaningful. Because that is true!
I thought Ms. Mongno’s ‘Golden Rule’ one was very world wide! Because when I asked my mom for any idea, that was the first one that she told me. (it is meaningfull for Koreans, too.) Also, I though Dr. Everett’s one was very meaningful, too. Because my dad always remembers that inspirational saying. Dr. Everett, it that related to attitude? Because I thought it means something like ‘have a positive attitude (even in the worst situation)’
You know I really like inspirational sayings!!!
Ji Yoon, I agree with you! I really love inspirational sayings too! I think your saying about bad habits being hard to break is really true. But, I think if we really try hard we can do it! Actually we must do it in a scientific way, as you say, because we have to reprogram our brains. But, for sure we can do it!
I also like your suggestion for paraphrasing (saying in a different way) Dr. Everett’s saying…‘have a positive attitude (even in the worst situation)’. A really good friend from Taiwan once told me ‘Hope for the best, but expect the worst’. At first I thought that was pretty gloomy and sad, but now I think it’s like Dr. Everett’s saying, that we should learn and be ready to make the most of both the good and the bad times.
Seok Weon, I really agree with the Back to Nature philosophy! And I concur (agree) that it is about going back to a simple life. And we can work on that everyday by not wanting so much, not having to buy everything new, and being happy with what we have, and even sharing what we have with others.
In a way Seok Weon’s saying Back to Nature relates to Anne’s (from Australia)…
“Always make hay while the sun shines” which means never put off until tomorrow what you can do today. We have to make a lot of hay in summer so that we have feed for our cattle and sheep in winter.”
Do most of the people where you live Anne work the land and grow crops for food and for their animals?
Anne, we would love to hear from your students! Let us know what other sayings are well known in Australia. We can’t wait to hear from you all!
I read this Indonesian saying,”Tong kosong nyaring bunyinya” which means that people that speak too much don’t affect anyone, or they don’t have any meaning of what they say. And there’s another one I remember, “Hati-hati dengan air yang tenang” which means that you have to beware of a silent person because he or she might be an angry person.
Hi! In Korea there is a word say 바늘도둑 소도둑된다(a person who stoled a needle later he stoles a cow).It means that when you steal somebody’s small stuffs like eraser,pencil or a mini pencilsharpner later you will steal somebody’s pencilcase or an a money. This makes me to think of when i was in Korean school I once stoleriend’s eraser. But I realize that he will be sad and I put it back at his desk. After that I rarely steals other peoples stuffs.
I wish that nobody in this blog do this stuffs.
Ms. M, The ‘Back to nature’ that I’m talking about is Rousseau’s idea. He means every individual must get the same amount of goods, money, food and resources. Poor folks must get the same benefits as rich people get. They have rights to participate in government. That’s not the same as make hay when the sun shines!!!!
Dear Ji Yoon,
The inspirational saying that I admired was definitely related to attitude. I think a positive attitude is the secret to enduring the hard things and enjoying everything else. Unfortunately, I forget that a lot of times. I think it’s my lifelong bad habit! Do you think I can change? It sounds like you are a positive person. How do you keep a positive attitude?
“Where there is a will, there is a way.”
It means that if we really want to do somethings,no matter how difficult it is, there will always be a way to get it done.
This saying is inspiring me when I did my math tests. At first I got a bad score. So I keep practicing so now I got a very good score.
I was finding a good one that everyone can understand easily and I found “바늘 가는 데 실 간다.” [Where needle goes, there's string] I think it means to be inseparably related 《to each other》or always go with something. Like best friends usually be together. Even if they’re far away, they try to keep in touch. I tried to change this saying in some other way and it’s “Where coffee goes there’s sugar.”
I have more sayings!
{1.바다는 메워도 사람 욕심은 못 메운다.
You can fill the sea but not human’s avarice}
{2.남의 금송아지가 내집 송아지만 못하다.
My cow is better then the neighbor’s golden cow.}
{3.백지장도 맞들면 낫다.
Cooperating white paper is even better.}
Almost every Koreans will agree to Ji Yoon’s because her saying is really common saying in Korea and I also agree on hers.My four sayings are common one’s too. I think every Koreans know mine and Ji Yoon’s!
I agree to Ji yoon’s saying because what you did since you were a little kid really affects tour life when you’re grown-up. And I really admire the saying “always make hay when the sun shines” from miss Mirtschin because I always do like, when I have homework for the day after tomorrow, I always do it the next day and I have to do it until midnight. And I got one more after I watched Horton, “a person’s a person, no matter how small” it means that you should respect everybody no matter how small they are because in the movie, there are little people living on a speck of dust.
My inspirational saying is this. This is in Japanese “ 天才は１％のひらめきと、99％の努力から生まれるのだ“ When I change this in English, it says “ Intelligence comes from 1%, of the flash, and comes from 99% of the effort.”
I think this saying means “if you don’t do it, you can’t do it.” Because if somebody doesn’t want to do their work, if they don’t do it, they can’t do it. This saying is from Thomas Edison, the king of experiments. When I saw this saying , I thought I was not doing my work that well.So I started doing my work. I started going to Japanese school, on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturdays.
:0 :] :}
Seok Weon, I guess you are right about “Back to Nature” not really having much to do with “Always make hay while the sun shines”. But, I always thought that “Back to Nature” meant that people could choose to grow their food and live off the land instead of depending on stores and society for work and food. Are you saying that it is a political situation, something like socialism or communism?
I like your saying about friends Cheryl. It’s great to have really close friends! I think I’m like that with my husband.
And Hiro, you sure said it correctly, no matter how much we want something to happen, if we don’t try to do it, it won’t happen at all, that’s for sure!!!
Hey here is one more that is like Anne’s and Anisa’s.
“Never put off until tomorrow what you can do today.”
My inspirational saying is “するのは失敗何もしないのは大失敗” if I change this to English, it is “to try and fail is a mistake but to not try is a big mistake.” I think this means that if we don’t try, it’s IMPOSSIBLE but if we try it’s POSSIBLE. I like this inspirational saying because I think this way too and I think it’s right. If I say it in soccer, it’s like if I don’t shoot, I won’t score but if I try I might score. Well, that’s why I started to shoot more because it’s POSSIBLE.
Hiro, I like you’re inspirational saying because I think he’s right. No one will be genius unless they effort.
My inspirational saying, in Thai, is Ton Pan Ti Pud Kod ton. This means you have to help yourself . Not to let other people help you. I think this saying is important because when you can’t help yourself and when you grow up no one will help you.
Nao decha algo para amanha quando pode ser feito hoje.
that means never leave something for today when you can do it tomorrow.
I think that means don’t be lazy today and wait until tomorrow like if you can do your homework today don’t wait until tomorrow because you might not be able to do it tomorrow.
I read some of thai saying and I remember this “Ҵ٤˹ҵ ٤” which mean don’t judge people by their looks. Such as my friend is not pretty but I don’t care because she is nice to me!
My inspirational saying cames from the Christian Bible. It’s from the 10 Golden Rules. This is one of them in Finnish.
” Älä himoitse lähimmäisesi huonetta.”
This might be the same saying, but in English.
” Don’t want the people that you know houses and rooms.”
I think this means that never be jeleous of peopeles things that they have. I think it also means never take anything also. It’s quite hard to explain when you’re not from an English speaking country. So the meaning I guess is not to want too much of peoples things.
Dear Dr. Everett,
Sorry for the late reply. Well, I try to smile a lot, laugh a lot, and I take a time and think the good thing about the bad things. And I’m sure that if you think about it all the time, you will have positive attitude most of the time.(It would be good if you have positive attitude all the time!)
Start them today!!!
Sincerely,
Ji Yoon =]
Oh! And I have some more inspirational sayings.
-Weak things united become strong, United we stand, divided we fall.
-We give advice, but we cannot give conduct.
-Forgiveness is better than revenge.
-We never know the worth of water till the well is dry.
-The world is a beautiful book, but of little use to him who cannot read it.
-The will of a man is his happiness.
-Only the just man enjoys peace of mind.
-Waste not fresh tears over old griefs
-Life itself is a quotation.
-Appearances are deceptive.
-Accurst be he that first invented war. Christopher Marlowe
-Freedom is a system based on courage. Charles Peguy
-Happiness is a warm puppy. Charles M. Schulz
-Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past. George Orwell
-A friend in power is a friend lost. Henry Adams
These are great Ji Yoon!
We can use them to embed into our reflections for moving on to 6th grade.
Super job!
M.M