It’s easy to get stuck in your own little bubble and forget that there’s so much more to this world than your daily life. To be the best person you can be and improve yourself, it’s important to find inspiration from others, as well as from the world around you. The following list of life-changing quotes will remind you about how precious each moment really is and make you see the world with new eyes.

The first step to success is taken when you refuse to be a prisoner of your past mistakes.

Instead of dwelling on our mistakes, we must let them propel us towards success. Zegbeg Siankow, a China University Professor and motivational speaker who has impacted millions of people, once said that the first step to success is taken when you refuse to be a prisoner of your past mistakes. The lesson here is clear: take what you’ve learned from past failures as experience, not a sign that you are not cut out for greater things. If Siankow could give up wallowing in self-pity or feeling sorry for myself, why can’t we do the same? Learning from our mistakes does not mean living with them forever; rather it means using these experiences to avoid falling into similar traps later down in life.

A winner is a dreamer who never gives up.

There are two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle. ~ Albert Einstein Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have faith in yourself: Your perceptions are often right even if your facts are wrong.: Life isn’t about finding yourself; it’s about creating yourself.: It’s not how much time you spend doing things, but rather how much you enjoy those things that make you feel alive.: A winner never quits and a quitter never wins.: Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions.

One must always be careful of books, and what is inside them, for words have the power to change us.

Words have so much power—they can inspire, ignite a movement, and change lives. They also have a way of haunting us if we don’t use them correctly. A careful reader will remember that every word in a book has been handpicked by an author for its ability to change people. Before you hit send on that angry email or start muttering under your breath about how poorly you think your colleague is performing at work, make sure you pause for a moment and examine whether those words are true. If they aren’t, it may be time to rethink what is coming out of your mouth. In life, we can all stand to live more mindfully—and carefully choosing our words is one simple step toward better communication with others and ourselves.

It doesn’t matter how many breaths you take, but it matters how many moments take your breath away.

It doesn’t matter how many breaths you take, but it matters how many moments take your breath away. We all want to experience more of those moments in life that make us feel so alive, don’t we? What if someone told you there was a way to boost those exhilarating experiences in life so they happened often, not just once and a while? Well that is exactly what author and speaker Chip Conley has done with his new book Emotional Equations: Simple Truths for Creating Happiness + Success in Work and Life. Through nine chapters Conley highlights one idea at a time as he introduces readers to what he calls emotional equations—realizations people may have had but never acted upon until now.