Bo-Bo Knows Gratitude for Old Wisdom

Long before Nike slapped their just-do-it slogan on billboards and buses, some of the world's best thinkers were teaching that true happiness lies in yanking our thumbs out of our asses and taking action. Loosely translated, of course.

Today I'm grateful for the philosophical cheerleading squad that reminds me that there's no substitute for sweat. Hopefully my favorite quotes will inspire you as much as they do me:

"An idea that is developed and put into action is more important than an idea that exists only as an idea."
- Buddha

"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit."
- Aristotle

"Advance confidently in the direction of your dreams and you will have success unimagined in common hours."
- Henry David Thoreau

"If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them."
- Henry David Thoreau

"Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it."
- Goethe¹

"What I must do is all that concerns me, not what the people think."
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Take the first step in faith. You don't have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step."
- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"Just do it" sounds so vulgar by comparison, doesn't it?

¹ OK, technically nobody said this exactly as it's written, but it gets attributed to Goethe on quote magnets, so that's good enough for me!