For Q in the A to Z Challenge, I’m using quotes. Since my theme for the challenge has been motivation and inspiration, here are 26 quotes to inspire you. I hope you find one or more that lift you up. (And yes, I took a little liberty with X.)

Ability is what you’re capable of doing. Motivation determines what you do. Attitude determines how well you do it.

Lou Holtz

Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently.

Henry Ford

Creativity requires the courage to let go of certainties.

Erich Fromm

A dream doesn’t become reality through magic; it takes sweat, determination and hard work.

Colin Powell

Be brave. Take risks. Nothing can substitute experience.

Paulo Coelho

Thinking will not overcome fear but action will.

W. Clement Stone

To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Happiness cannot be traveled to, owned, earned, worn or consumed. Happiness is the spiritual experience of living every minute with love, grace, and gratitude.

Denis Waitly

The man who has no imagination has no wings.

Muhammed Ali

It is the supreme art of the teacher to awaken joy in creative expression and knowledge.

Albert Einstein

Knowledge rests not upon truth alone, but upon error also.

Carl Jung

When I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent left, and could say, ‘I used everything you gave me’.

Erma Bombeck

Be miserable. Or motivate yourself. Whatever has to be done, it’s always your choice.

Wayne Dyer

Wilderness is not a luxury but a necessity of the human spirit.

Edward Abbey

Education’s purpose is to replace an empty mind with an open one.

Malcolm Forbes

You cannot have a positive life and a negative mind.

Joyce Meyer

The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing.

Albert Einstein

To be one, to be united is a great thing. But to respect the right to be different is maybe even greater.

Bono

Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm.

Winston Churchill

It takes but one positive thought when given a chance to survive and thrive to overpower an entire army of negative thoughts.

Robert H Schuller

The key is to keep company only with people who uplift you, whose presence calls forth your best.

Epictetus

Your vision will become clear only when you can look into your own heart. Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes.

Carl Jung

Keep me away from the wisdom which does not cry, the philosophy which does not laugh and the greatness which does not bow before children.

Khalil Gibran

The difference between ordinary and extraordinary is that little extra.

Jimmy Johnson

The big question is whether you are going to be able to say a hearty yes to your adventure.

Joseph Campbell

Experience shows that success is due less to ability than to zeal.

Charles Buxton