Inspirational Quotes by Criss Jami — Words of Wisdom for Daily Success

“The writer's curse is that even in solitude, no matter its duration, he never grows lonely or bored.”

“Gloating is a superficial glowing, floating is an idle flowing, and bloatedness is the paralysis of blowing up; because silent movement results in loud victories.”

“I'd rather strive for the kind of interview where instead of me asking to introduce myself to society, society asks me to introduce myself to society.”

“There's sometimes a tugging feeling you get to push further when you aren't being challenged enough or when things get too comfortable.”

“Have nuts and be nuts.”

“Always work towards a dream or you'll always dream of working elsewhere.”

“It is easier for one to take risks and to chase his dreams with a mindset that he has nothing to lose. In this lies the immense passion, the great advantage of avoiding a materialistic, pleasure-filled way of life.”

“One may not always know his purpose until his only option is to monopolize in what he truly excels at. He grows weary of hearing the answer 'no' time and time again, so he turns to and cultivates, monopolizes in his one talent which others cannot possibly subdue. Then, beyond the crowds of criticism and rejection, the right people recognize his talent - among them he finds his stage.”

“Every man has a specific skill, whether it is discovered or not, that more readily and naturally comes to him than it would to another, and his own should be sought and polished. He excels best in his niche - originality loses its authenticity in one's efforts to obtain originality.”

“The ultimate story of success: When a nobody, who has never once in his entire life known the feeling of being remembered or respected, suddenly snaps and becomes a world dictator. On one hand it sounds just, but on the other, it illustrates the reason why a prosperity message has and needs its limitations.”

“One does not have to be a philosopher to be a successful artist, but he does have to be an artist to be a successful philosopher. His nature is to view the world in an unpredictable albeit useful light.”

“You can perhaps, in a number of circumstances, tell yourself that you can't have more than you have until you do better than you're doing, but by all means steer clear of its reverse, the creed of defeat, in saying that you can't do better than you're doing until you can have more than you have.”

“Constantly stopping to explain oneself may expand into a frustrating burden for the rare individual, so ceasing to do so is like finally dropping the weights and sprinting towards his goals. Those who insincerely misunderstand, who intentionally distort the motives of a pure-intentioned individual, then, no longer have the opportunity to block his path; instead, they are the ones left to stand on the sidelines shouting frustratedly in the wind of his trail.”

“As Aristotle said, 'Excellence is a habit.' I would say furthermore that excellence is made constant through the feeling that comes right after one has completed a work which he himself finds undeniably awe-inspiring. He only wants to relax until he's ready to renew such a feeling all over again because to him, all else has become absolutely trivial.”

“To be heroic is to be courageous enough to die for something; to be inspirational is to be crazy enough to live a little.”

“When emerging from humble beginnings, those around you tend to underestimate your authenticity because they knew you before you were 'somebody'.”

“Credentials are like potential energy, the compliments of a name on paper, in documents, word of mouth, but faith is like kinetic energy, the motion and the force that which is witnessed. Hence in the end it is the faith rather than the credentials that really takes you places.”

“Most men either compromise or drop their greatest talents and start running after, what they perceive to be, a more reasonable success, and somewhere in between they end up with a discontented settlement. Safety is indeed stability, but it is not progression.”

“Soar with wit. Conquer with dignity. Handle with care.”

“The harder you fall, the heavier your heart; the heavier your heart, the stronger you climb; the stronger you climb, the higher your pedestal.”

“Find a purpose to serve, not a lifestyle to live.”

“To be honest, one can only feel glad that so many modern iconoclasts consider Christianity to be full of exceptionally hypocritical, religious zealots - it's biblically accurate and a prophecy fulfilled. The old smoke screen is one of Satan's favorite tricks. He conceals the authentic. He has a persistent strategy of targeting those who remind him of Christianity because he fears those who remind him of Christ.”

“Senses of humor define people, as factions, deeper rooted than religious or political opinions. When carrying out everyday tasks, opinions are rather easy to set aside, but those whom a person shares a sense of humor with are his closest friends. They are always there to make the biggest influence.”

“My belief is that, morally, God and Satan are vaguely on the same page. According to the common understanding of Satan's origins, 'holiness' is, metaphorically, frozen stiff in his veins: and at that a corrupted formula - i.e. legalism. The vital difference is that God is willing to offer grace for our sins; he delights in grace. God is the one and only holy and just punisher of sin, yes, but that is partly so because punishment for the sake of punishment is not something he loves. Whereas Satan, as the accuser, and as it is written, actually seeks God's permission to punish; he, being a seasoned legalist, delights in finding wrongs and will defy his own morality just to expose immorality. This is why both the anti-religious soul and the violently religious soul are, whether consciously or unconsciously, and sadly enough, glorifying their biggest hater: Satan is not only a lawless lover of punishing lawlessness, but also the sharpest theologian of us all. He loves wickedness, but only because he loves punishing wickedness.”

“If you have to say or do something controversial, aim so that people will hate that they love it and not love that they hate it.”

“Bad luck with women is a determined man's road to success. For every affliction, he makes, out of indignation, yet another advancement in order to exceed the man that the woman chose over him. This goes to show that great men are made great because they once learned how to fight the feeling of rejection.”

“We men are fascinated by the things we don't really understand. It gives us something to think and talk about: like females, they drive us nuts.”

“All men are born firstly with the instinct to protect themselves. But few grow to really love themselves, and even fewer learn to love their neighbor as themselves.”

“To say that one waits a lifetime for his soulmate to come around is a paradox. People eventually get sick of waiting, take a chance on someone, and by the art of commitment become soulmates, which takes a lifetime to perfect.”

“Ask anyone and they'll most likely say their family is crazy, and if they don't say their family is crazy, their friends are crazy. That's because everyone is crazy after taking the mask off. People are most themselves when not really trying to fit in, when either alone or around those already closest to them, and that is crazy.”

“I will never deny that life isn't fair. It seems as though when a woman leaves a man she is strong and independent, but when a man leaves a woman he is a pig and a jerk.”

“I would rather a romantic relationship turn into contempt than turn into apathy. The passion in the extremities make it appear as though it once meant something. We grow from hot or cold, but lukewarm is the biggest insult.”

“Love tames the benumbed beast. A man is put to use regarding a woman's physical safety, but a woman is put to use regarding a man's mental safety.”

“The manlier you are, the harder it is to understand what a woman wants: there is not a hint of female brain in you.”

“Women rescue men just as much as, if not more than, men rescue women.”

“These days when Christians bicker they exaggerate passion into a legalistic belief and prosperity into a lukewarm belief.”

“The reality of loving God is loving him like he's a Superhero who actually saved you from stuff rather than a Santa Claus who merely gave you some stuff.”

“Self-righteousness is much like a spiritual egocentricity. It constitutes a secular type of love that thrives under conditionality, one in which is only existent after an individual meets the adopted standards of the condemner; oppositely, unconditional love is a holy love.”

“There are certain levels of faith - relevant and necessary ones - which are too advanced for most adults, but not too advanced for children.”

“In the end, only God can see the heart of an individual and distinguish the difference between legalistic deadweight and the passion of holy solemnity.”

“What I admire about the modern atheist is not at all his logic, but rather his gift of imagination. There will always be the cartoon versions of Christianity further perpetuated by the extremist atheists who do not possess the humility to ask real scholars and theologians its difficult questions. There is little doubt that the atheist has the bigger imagination: the first reason is due to his persistent caricatures of what constitutes a Christian; the second because of his belief that most of his questions are actually rhetorical. From this I can infer that, instead of laughing at one another (the Christian at modern atheist immaturity and the modern atheist at Christian stupidity), we would have a better chance at productivity laughing with one another as we all dumb down what we don't understand.”

“Usually without realizing it, our ultimate peace starts and ends in the authority of God alone, which means the solution to living in joy, peace, and harmony with our fellow men has been here for all since the beginning of mankind and throughout civilization. I have yet to feel the urge to argue politics: it reminds me of getting off the freeway to sit in raging traffic.”

“To be respected is not my concern. So long as I seek to live in obedience to my Lord, respect will come accordingly from the people He deems it necessary.”

“The creation of man is evidence for the love of God, the preservation of man is evidence for the patience of God, and Christ is evidence for the forgiveness of God. It is when we are wrapped up in our own little peeves that we begin to displace His benevolence with malevolence.”

“When comprehending how different people truly are, you also comprehend the absolute necessity of some divine authority.”

“I often ask myself, 'Who would Jesus vote for?' Then I start to think that he wouldn't vote at all; however, it would not be out of apathy or disinterest, but out of perfection and light. As a miracle worker, I think he would, by the power of God's teachings, the perseverance and the truth, influence in a modern sense whoever is put into office how to best serve his fellow men. One, like his skeptics, may find that impractical. But there is a message in that no man in power can slow the momentum of the will of God, and the miracles of his teachings will be forever victorious.”

“God tests, but he does not tempt.”

“In many cases, it is not so much that the Lord works in mysterious ways, or even in miraculous ways, but rather the Lord works in ridiculous ways, ways in which the most arrogant and the most proud - and those without faith without a doubt - may in their derision be humbled and exposed.”

“Confidence is like a dragon where, for every head cut off, two more heads grow back.”

“I believe in evolution in the sense that a short-tempered man is the successor of a crybaby.”

“Persistence. Perfection. Patience. Power. Prioritize your passion. It keeps you sane.”

“When your only regret is if anyone thinks you regret anything - that is the definition of conviction.”

“Good works is giving to the poor and the helpless, but divine works is showing them their worth to the One who matters.”

“In order to share one's true brilliance one initially has to risk looking like a fool: genius is like a wheel that spins so fast, it at first glance appears to be sitting still.”

“Love is as simple as the absence of self given to another. God, when invited, fills the void of any unrequited love; hence loving is how one is drawn closer to God no matter its most horrific repercussions.”

“A common mistake we make is that we look for God in places where we ourselves wish to find him, yet even in the physical reality this is a complete failure. For example, if you lost your car keys, you would not search where you want to search, you would search where you must in order to find them.”

“If you're waiting until you feel talented enough to make it, you'll never make it.”

“It's a good sign but rare instance when, in a relationship, you find that the more you learn about the other person, the more you continue to desire them. A sturdy bond delights in that degree of youthful intrigue. Love loves its youth.”

“Doubt is a question mark; faith is an exclamation point. The most compelling, believable, realistic stories have included them both.”

“I am thankful when I am hungry because then I know that when I eat, the food will taste better. Life has taught me that my true contentment rests in hope, and the pleasure itself is secondary. It is self-awareness, not happiness, that maintains peace.”

“I would rather my descendants have greater abilities and a greater knowledge of the love of Christ than I do, much like standing on one's shoulders in order to get a clearer view of the valley.”

“It is ignorance that is at times incomprehensible to the wise; for instance, he may not see 'the positive person' or 'the negative person' in such a black and white way as many people do. A wise man may not understand it because, as a catalyst of wisdom, but not always wise in his own eyes, even he can learn from and give back to fools. To think that an individual has absolutely nothing to offer to the table is counter-intuitively what the wise man considers to be 'the ignorance of hopelessness'.”

“Through Christ, the sting of death is but a gentle pinch to the soul; and the mourn is light. Perhaps, someday, in that glorious place, free of sin, we shall meet again.”

“Slowly, it flowed on its own, his pen wrote, 'There is no nobler 'cope' than 'hope' itself, and by hoping, you might see why: for these rhyme for a reason.' So he felt lumps in his throat, and then gulped, 'Whoa, was that the Holy Ghost who spoke? Who knows?' But this he was told at just the right time, the right season.”

“For those constantly full of joy, they sometimes feel a little guilty for always feeling so good. That guilt is compassion: it flies in with an attempt to share one's joy with others who do not have it.”

“The power of hope! Even a lack of ambition can, for a time, pay off as a necessary facet, as long as hope outweighs it.”

“With no positivity, there is no hope; with no negativity, there is no improvement.”

“If the entire world sought to make itself worthy of happiness rather than make itself happy, then the entire world would be happy.”

“Easily mistaken, it is not about a love for adversity, it is about knowing a strength and a faith so great that adversity, in all its adverse manifestations, hardly even exists.”

“Imagination doesn't always make you long for what you cannot have, but rather thrive in what you do not have.”

“Respect? Of course, always, to all, because everything seems funnier when you're trying to show respect.”

“The idea that all souls are mortal is the only notion surely terminating love and all its forms.”

“There have been times I've felt so much art in my soul I grew sick of artists.”

“Oh I know it's cliché but yeah they say that great men make it in-”

“I enjoy melancholic music and art. They take me to places I don't normally get to go.”

“Songwriting and poetry are so commonly birthed from underdogs because one can make even the ugliest situations admirable, or more beautiful than the beautiful situations - they are the most graceful media in which the lines of society are distorted.”

“Anger's like a battery that leaks acid right out of me”

“A poet should be so crafty with words that he is envied even for his pains.”

“Ultimate prosperity is one's value within. It takes a man of depth, morality, and charm to be envied yet without a sign of wealth or romance. A passion to prove such inner worth is his permission to achieve whatever he desires.”

“Together, we form a necessary paradox; not a senseless contradiction.”

“After awhile you realize that putting your actions where your mouth is makes you less likely to have to put your money where your mouth is.”

“Many people in a rather reckless context claim to 'just tell it like it is'. In actuality, nobody really stresses what one says so much as the motive behind what one says; hence, he is merely blowing hot air and detracting from 'what is'.”

“Tension, in the long run, is a more dangerous force than any feud known to man.”

“What further helps to reveal reality is when our personal thinking ceases to take reality for granted.”

“When we begin to reflect Christ, the Bible, when more understood as being centered around Christ, seems to be potentially every man's biography regarding God's promised experiences and truth for him - his individual, unique path of humbling oneself before the Lord and then being exalted by the Lord back into his true and righteous personhood. Many followers may speak of it merely to try to change other people (before changing themselves), but the prophets speak of it as a living word which miraculously tells their very own experiences.”

“Take lightly what you hear about individuals. We need not distort trust for our paltry little political agendas. We tend to trust soulless, carried information more than we trust soulful human beings; but really most people aren't so bad once you sit down and have an honest, one-on-one conversation with them, once, with an open heart, you listen to their explanations as to why they act the way they act, or say what they say, or do what they do.”

“It always seems as though the definition of love will remain debatable by an opinionated world.”

“As a writer of philosophy, it's good to ask oneself, 'Will I still believe this a week from now, or months, or even years?”

“They call good evil and evil good. There are those who are so easily offended that they lose their ability to ever discern any truth, and this is often derived from a sort of frenzy by way of their own masked prejudice.”

“Trustful people are the pure at heart, as they are moved by the zeal of their own trustworthiness.”

“Just as some people may conceal their own sinfulness thus seeming better than the norm, others expose their own sinfulness thus seeming worse than the norm.”

“Beware: open-mindedness will often say, 'Everything is permissible except a sharp opinion.”

“Cleverness isn't always true nor is the truth always clever.”

“There is a difference between criticizing people and criticizing a people's uninformed ideals. That is, unless one defines himself or others by their ideals, then he is offended, and usually offended secretly. Because oddly enough, this person is the same person quickest to resort to dismissive name-calling, such as 'bigot' or 'zealot'. And oddly enough, he is always the one, the 'open-minded' one, who adamantly protests for, not only himself, but others not to listen to any type of scholarly theological truth inherently for the sake of his own personal, moral beliefs.”

“Tolerance! The virtue that makes one bite his tongue so that he can tear out his hair.”

“Of course, in our train of thought, we would all like to think we're on the right track, or at least the same railroad company as the right track.”

“I always make sure that the world will prove me right. It gives me the freedom to contradict myself.”

“Whether you try too hard to fit in or you try too hard to stand out, it is of equal consequence: you exhaust your significance.”

“All things remarkable are surprisingly simple; albeit difficult to find.”

“As for those who spite you, and seemingly just because, it's only evident that they're learning from you. Maybe you taste bad - kind of like medicine, kind of like truth - and to them, you're thought unsafe. There is flattery in being chewed out and spit up. Humans have always had a hard time digesting foreign things.”