20 Encouraging Quotes For Every 20-Something Searching For Meaning
Whether you are starting college, finishing college, starting out on a career, living in your parents’ basement, traveling the world, or couch surfing, you might be feeling a bit lost in this great big world of ours. There are so many pressures placed on young adults to figure everything out. We are supposed to know what career path we want at 18, and who we want to marry by 25. Sometimes, we all need to take a step back and realize it’s okay to question these demands. Perhaps, then, we can figure out what is best for us, because ultimately only we can know that.
Here are twenty quotes that can help when things feel overwhelming. May they bring you comfort, hope and perspective.
1. Note to self: None of us are getting out of here alive, so please stop treating yourself like an afterthought. Eat the delicious food. Walk in the sunshine. Jump in the ocean. Say the truth that you’re carrying in your heart like hidden treasure. Be silly. Be kind. Be weird. There’s no time for anything else.”
-Nanea Hoffman
2. “She was fierce, she was strong. She wasn’t simple. She was crazy and sometimes she barely slept. She always had something to say. She had flaws and that was ok. And when she was down, she got right back up. She was a beast in her own way, but one idea described her best. She was unstoppable and she took anything she wanted with a smile.”
-R. M. Drake
3. “Because of you I can feel myself slowly but surely becoming the me I have always dreamed of being.”
Tyler Knott Gregson
4. “And if there’s one thing you should do, it’s stop being a paradox. You say you want to be happy, yet you allow yourself to be surrounded by negative people. You say it’s time for a change, but things stay exactly the way they always were. You say you can’t believe they did that to you, but still won’t stand up for yourself. Now, I’m telling you, it’s time. It’s time to be exactly the person you’ve always wanted to be. It’s time to take control. It’s time you let yourself be happy, because my goodness, you deserve it.”
–Anonymous
5. “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”
–Martin Luther King, Jr.
6. “When she laughed, she was beautiful. When she cried, she was beautiful. But when she was determined, she was sexy as hell.”
-Matt Baker
7. “I would like to be known as an intelligent woman, a courageous woman, a loving woman, a woman who teaches by being.”
-Maya Angelou
8. “Listen, smile, agree. And then do whatever the fuck you were gonna do anyway.”
-Robert Downey, Jr.
9. “I want to be around people that do things. I don’t want to be around people anymore that judge or talk about what people do. I want to be around people who dream, and support, and do things.”
-Amy Poehler
10. “Ask for what you want, and be prepared to get it.”
-Maya Angelou
11. “To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all.”
-Oscar Wilde
12. “I began to realize how important it was to be an enthusiast in life. If you are interested in something, no matter what it is, go at it full speed. Embrace it with both arms, hug it, love it, and above all become passionate about it. Lukewarm is no good.”
-Roald Dahl
13. “I always did something I was a little not ready to do. I think that is how you grow.”
-Marissa Mayer
14. “You know, sometimes all you need is 20 seconds of insane courage. Just literally 20 seconds of just embarrassing bravery. And I promise you, something great will come of it.”
-Benjamin Mee
15. “She has been feeling it for a while now—that sense of awakening. There is a gentle rage simmering inside her, and it is getting stronger by the day. She will hold it close to her—she will nurture it and let it grow. She won’t let anyone take it away from her. It is her rocket fuel and finally, she is going places. She can feel it down to her very core—this is her time. She will not only climb mountains—she will move them, too.”
-Lang Leav
16. “Like a wild flower, she spent her days allowing herself to grow. Not many knew of her struggle, but eventually all knew of her light.”
-Niki Rowe
17. “Take wrong turns. Talk to strangers. Open unmarked doors. And if you see a group of people in a field, go find out what they are doing. Do things without always knowing how they’ll turn out. You’re curious and smart and bored, and all you see if the choice between working hard and slacking off. There are so many adventures that you miss because you’re waiting to think of a plan. To find them, look for tiny interesting choices. And remember that you are always making up the future as you go.”
-Randall Munroe
18. “Travel and tell no one, live a true love story and tell no one, live happy and tell no one; people ruin beautiful things.”
-Khalil Gibran
19. “I no longer have patience for certain things, not because I’ve become arrogant, but simply because I reached a point in my life where I do not want to waste more time with what displeases me or hurts me. I have no patience for cynicism, excessive criticism, and demands of any nature. I lost the will to please those who do not like me, to love those who do not love me and to smile at those who do not to smile at me. I no longer spend a single minute on those who lie or want to manipulate. I decided not to coexist anymore with pretense, hypocrisy, dishonesty and cheap praise. I do not tolerate selective erudition nor academic arrogance. I do not adjust either to popular gossiping. I hate conflict and comparison. I believe in a world of opposites and that’s why I avoid people with rigid and inflexible personalities. In friendship, I dislike the lack of loyalty and betrayal. I do not get along with those who do not know how to give a compliment or word of encouragement. Exaggerations bore me and I have difficulty accepting those who do not like animals. And on top of everything I have no patience for anyone who does not deserve my patience.”
-Meryl Streep
20. “There’s nothing more dangerous than someone who wants to make the world a better place.”
-Banksy