What inspires? What sparks creation?

There are as many answers to this as there are ideas. Leading clients through the ideation process is one of the several services we provide at Dawn. Often we use quotes to spark a discussion. We seek out quotes where the writer skillfully uses words to express and illuminate an idea in a powerful or provocative way. You’ll find some of our favorites here, including ones that have the power to alter a mindset. If you’re looking for a favorite author or a particular subject, use our search function to find these quotes from the illuminating nuggets we’ve collected.

One of the most beautiful qualities of true friendship is to understand and to be understood.

– Lucius Annaeus Seneca

In this earth, in this soil, in this pure field, let us not plant any seeds other than seeds of love and compassion.

– Rumi

A ship is safe in harbor, but that’s not what ships are for.

– William G.T. She’d

A leader is a dealer in hope.

– Napoleon Bonaparte

Learning never exhausts the mind.

– Leonardo da Vinci

Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards.

– Soren Kierkegaard

Half the world is composed of people who have something to say and can’t, and the other half who have nothing to say and keep on saying it.

– Robert Frost

The greatest way to live with honor in this world is to be what we pretend to be.

– Socrates

I am so clever that sometimes I don’t understand a single word of what I am saying.

– Oscar WIlde

An idea that is not dangerous is unworthy of being called an idea at all.

– Oscar Wilde

Some of us think that holding on makes us strong; but sometimes it is letting go.

– Hermann Hesse

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Don’t be afraid to go out on a limb. That’s where the fruit is.

– H. Jackson Brown, Jr.

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We keep moving forward, opening new doors, and doing new things, because we’re curious and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths.

– Walt Disney

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There is no value in life except what you choose to place upon it, and no happiness in any place except what you bring to it yourself.

– Henry David Thoreau

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Success isn’t a result of spontaneous combustion. You must set yourself on fire.

– Arnold H. Glasow

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Holding on to anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the one who gets burned.

– The Buddha

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Change alone is unchanging.

– Heraclitus

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If you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.

– Wayne Dyer

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Philosophers have only interpreted the world differently; what matters is to change it.

– Martin Heidegger

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Real generosity is doing something nice for someone who will never find out.

– Frank A. Clark

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