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Launched in 2014, StoryBites is a weekly feature from YourStory, featuring notable quotable quotes in our earlier articles. Share these gems and insights with your colleagues and networks, and check back to the original articles for more insights.

From ideation to implementation, the changemakers in this compilation have memorable words for us all. We have divided these 40 quotes into eight categories: The big picture, Getting started, Self-awareness, Learning, Passion, Resilience, Support, and The road ahead.

Check out YourStory’s Book Review section with over 350 titles on entrepreneurship, innovation, startups, leadership, and tech trends. See also our list of Top 10 Books of the Year for Entrepreneurs for 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013 and 2012.

YourStory wishes our readers, innovators and gamechangers all the very best for the holiday season, and a year of successes and progress ahead in 2023!

The big picture

We are all the CEOs of our own self – Me, Inc. Take that role seriously! – Karthik Srinivasan, DesignUp 2022

Once we have come to this planet, we all have to leave it. What we do in between can make a huge difference. – Priya Babu, Transgender Resource Centre

Once your work starts speaking for itself, everyone respects you. – Vidhi Puri, The Cocktail Story

Patience and impatience are both valid drivers. Just make sure they serve your ultimate goal. – Sara Tate and Anna Vogt, ‘The Rebuilders’

Getting started

The idea is to take the first step. It looks tough, and it looks hard, but take that first step and the path will form. – Vaidehi Vaidya, Women in Sport, India

Start small, and let giving become a way of life. It will truly help broaden your perceptions of the world. – Siddharth Ladsariya, Young Volunteers Organisation

Trying is more important than really being successful every time. – Charu Sachdeva Mathur, IndusInd Bank

It doesn’t matter if the glass is half-empty or half-full, all that matters is that you’re the one pouring. – Mark Cuban

Self-awareness

Self-awareness is the foundation of authenticity. – Bill George and Zach Clayton, ‘True North’

You have to understand what is best for you, what is that one thing you want to do every single day of your life. – Aishwarya Srinivasan, Google Cloud

Age is not the accurate indicator of what you can do ahead. – Surabhi Washishth, Paradigm Shift Capital

Be unique and trust that uniqueness that is in you. – Anjana Gupta, SpACE Academy for Kathak

Find your flow. Those flow states are magical! Get there. – Jan Karlsson, FreyZein

If we listen to our body when it whispers to us, then we won’t need to hear our body scream. – Deepa Kannan, PFNR

Learning

While it is okay not to know, it is not okay to not learn. – Captain Anny Divya

Leave the ego behind. Learn to do the lowest job supremely well. – Sangita Raj

To live is to keep learning. – Kataoka Mami, Aichi Triennale 2022

There’s something to learn from everyone. – MayKao Hang, St. Thomas College of Health

When you listen, you are never short of ideas. – Cesar Carvalho, Gympass

Questions are more powerful than answers. – Dhilip Kumar, BYJU’S

You have to learn to discipline your mind because it’s always trying to tell you to quit. – Pushpa Bhatt, ultramarathon runner

Passion

There’s no amount of motivation that can come from outside unless you’re willing to do it yourself. So, you need to have that fire within yourself to wake up every day and want to go after what you want. – Yamini Reddy, The Outlier

If you work with passion, you can beat every naysayer. – Stefan Stücklschweiger, Fifteen Seconds

Be unapologetic if you are passionate about what you want to do and who you are. – Anvitha Rao, Swee10

Don’t ever take status-quo as an answer not to pursue your dreams. – Shantanu Narayen, Adobe Systems

Resilience

The price of success is always pain in full and upfront. – Jamil Qureshi

One needs to make friends with pain. If you are weak, the world will pull you down faster than you realise. It’s futile even trying to play the victim card. – Manish Pandey, brand consultant

Holding on to one’s vision is the hardest and the most rewarding thing to do. – Alpana Parida, Tiivra

Courage and fear are dance partners. – Ashish Goel, ‘Drawing on Courage’

We have to know the difference between fear and danger. – Louise Remedios

A no is not a no forever, people change their minds. – Aamna Khan, Binks

The toughest challenges are often the ones most worthwhile attempting. – Martin Pansy, Nuki Home Solutions

Support

Show up, speak up and don’t try to do it alone. It’s about how to get out of bed, even on the hard days. – Chandni Nihalani, PayPal India

Be empathetic. Collective intelligence can create wonders. – Vijaya Bhargav, Ostraca

Always be kind. Everything else follows automatically. – Sid Pai, ‘Techproof Me’

Inclusiveness is important, not only because you have to be just and fair, but you get better ideas. – Nadir Godrej, Godrej Industries

The road ahead

Achieving a seemingly impossible goal provides an unparalleled sense of fulfilment. – Ablu Rajesh Kumar

Don’t go about measuring the depth of the stream right now. Swim: smartly, furiously and relentlessly. Better shores await. – Utkarsh Sinha, Bexley Advisors

Every once in a while, you must be deaf to the external chatter and listen to your internal voice, for the real genius lies within. – Pavan Soni, ‘Design Your Thinking’

Reformers will play a role in creating level playing fields and bringing the world back to peace and equilibrium. – TN Hari, ‘Winning Middle India’

YourStory has also published the pocketbook ‘Proverbs and Quotes for Entrepreneurs: A World of Inspiration for Startups’ as a creative and motivational guide for innovators (downloadable as apps here: Apple, Android).