300 Dream Quotes

“Dreams” can mean those strange visions that visit us while we sleep that most people forget by the time they wake up. Or, they can mean our hopes, wishes, desires, or goals, often with the implication that obtaining these dreams are difficult, if not impossible, for most people.

Most of the quotes below refer to the second definition of “dreams.” However, some writers/speakers blur the lines when they challenge the premise that our reality is more real than our dreams. What about you?

Do you believe in your dreams as something real, or at least something that can be real? Your answer will determine whether you will ever obtain your dreams. Dare to go after your dreams! The only one who can really stop you is you.

300 QUOTES ABOUT DREAMS

1. If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more, and become more, you are a leader.
- John Quincy Adams

2. I know how men in exile feed on dreams of hope.
- Aeschylus

3. Dreams digest the meals that are our days.
- Astrid Alauda

4. Dreams are free, so free your dreams.
- Astrid Alauda

5. Our dreams drench us in senses; and, senses steep us again in dreams.
- Amos Bronson Alcott

6. Dream lofty dreams; and, as you dream, so you shall become. Your Vision is the promise of what you shall one day be. Your Ideal is the prophecy of what you shall at last unveil.
- James Allen

7. The dreamers are the saviors of the world.
- James Allen

8. The greatest achievement was, at first, and, for a time, a dream. The oak sleeps in the acorn; the bird waits in the egg; and, in the highest vision of the soul, a waking angel stirs. Dreams are the seedlings of realities.
- James Allen

9. Dreams are excursions into the limbo of things, a semi-deliverance from the human prison.
- Henri Amiel

10. It is only by introducing the young to great literature, drama, and music, and to the excitement of great science, that we open to them the possibilities that lie within the human spirit—enable them to see visions and dream dreams.
- Eric Anderson

11. I have heard it said that the first ingredient of success—the earliest spark in the dreaming youth—is this: dream a great dream.
- John A. Appleman

12. In dreams, and in love, there are no impossibilities.
- Janos Arany

13. I’ll do my dreaming with my eyes wide open; and, I’ll do my looking back with my eyes closed.
- Tony Arato

14. Hope is a waking dream.
- Aristotle

15. A daydream is a meal at which images are eaten. Some of us are gourmets; some gourmands; and, a good many take their images precooked, out of a can, and swallow them down whole, absent-mindedly, and with little relish.
- W. H. Auden

16. It takes a person who is wide awake to make his dream come true.
- Roger Ward Babson

17. You are never given a dream without also being given the power to make it true. You may have to work for it, however.
- Richard Bach

18. A word is a bud attempting to become a twig. How can one not dream while writing? It is the pen which dreams. The blank page gives the right to dream.
- Gaston Bachelard

19. The dream is real, my friends. The failure to realize it is the only unreality.
- Toni Cade Bambara

20. Vision without action is a dream. Action without vision is simply passing the time. Action with vision is making a positive difference.
- Joel Barker

21. Dreams do come true if we only wish hard enough; you can have anything in life if you will sacrifice everything else for it.
- J. M. Barrie

22. A man is not old, until regrets take the place of dreams.
- John Barrymore

23. Imagination has brought mankind through the dark ages to its present state of civilization. Imagination led Columbus to discover America. Imagination led Franklin to discover electricity. Imagination has given us the steam engine, the telephone, the talking machine, and the automobile, for these things had to be dreamed of before they became realities. So, I believe that dreams—daydreams, you know, with your eyes wide open and your brain machinery whizzing—are likely to lead to the betterment of the world. The imaginative child will become the imaginative man or woman most apt to invent, and, therefore, to foster, civilization.
- L. Frank Baum

24. One man, scorned and covered with scars, still strives, with his last ounce of courage, to reach the unreachable stars; and, the world will be better for this.
- Henry Ward Beecher

25. Dreaming men are haunted men.
- Stephen Vincent Benet

26. You are your dream.
- Eric Bennett

27. In order to be a realist, you must believe in miracles.
- David Ben-Gurion

28. Risk more than others think is safe. Care more than others think is wise. Dream more than others think is practical. Expect more than others think is possible.
- Claude Bissell

29. Good plans shape good decisions. That’s why good planning helps to make elusive dreams come true.
- Lester Bittel

30. It takes a lot of courage to show your dreams to someone else.
- Erma Bombeck

31. There are people who put their dreams in a little box and say, “Yes, I’ve got dreams, of course I’ve got dreams.” Then they put the box away and bring it out once in awhile to look in it; and, yep, they’re still there. These are great dreams; but, they never even get out of the box. It takes an uncommon amount of guts to put your dreams on the line, to hold them up and say, “How good or how bad am I?” That’s where courage comes in.
- Erma Bombeck

32. Dream the dreams that have never been dreamt.
- David Bower

33. The moment of enlightenment is when a person’s dreams of possibilities become images of probabilities.
- Vic Braden

34. The only thing that will stop you from fulfilling your dreams is you.
- Tom Bradley

35. I have always been amazed at the way an ordinary observer lends so much more credence and attaches so much more importance to waking events than to those occurring in dreams … Man … is above all the plaything of his memory.
- Andre Breton

36. The best reason for having dreams is that, in dreams, no reasons are necessary.
- Ashleigh Brilliant

37. They say dreams are the windows of the soul—take a peek and you can see the inner workings, the nuts, and bolts.
- Henry Bromel

38. Before your dreams can come true, you have to have those dreams.
- Dr. Joyce Brothers

39. May your dreams defy the laws of gravity.
- H. Jackson Brown, Jr.

40. If you take responsibility for yourself, you will develop a hunger to accomplish your dreams.
- Les Brown

41. We must look for ways to be an active force in our own lives. We must take charge of our own destinies, design a life of substance, and truly begin to live our dreams.
- Les Brown

42. The Human Spirit can never be paralyzed. If you are breathing, you can dream.
- Michael Brown

43. That some have never dreamed is as improbable as that some have never laughed.
- Thomas Browne

44. There are many ways of breaking a heart. Stories were full of hearts being broken by love; but, what really broke a heart was taking away its dream—whatever that dream might be.
- Pearl S. Buck

45. Dream manfully and nobly; and, thy dreams shall be prophets.
- Robert Bulwer-Lytton

46. When you have a dream, you’ve got to grab it and never let go.
- Carol Burnett

47. Dreams that do come true can be as unsettling as those that don’t.
- Brett Butler

48. Dreams, ideas, and plans, not only are an escape, they give me purpose, a reason to hang on.
- Steven Callahan

49. When we are dreaming alone, it is only a dream. When we are dreaming with others, it is the beginning of reality.
- Dom Helder Camara

50. Each of us has an inner dream that we can unfold if we will just have the courage to admit what it is and the faith to trust our own admission. The admitting is often very difficult.
- Julia Cameron

51. All the things one has forgotten scream for help in dreams.
- Elias Canetti

52. As you begin to take action toward the fulfillment of your goals and dreams, you must realize that not every action will be perfect. Not every action will produce the desired result. Not every action will work. Making mistakes, getting it almost right, and experimenting to see what happens are all part of the process of eventually getting it right.
- Jack Canfield

53. We all have possibilities we don’t know about. We can do things we don’t even dream we can do.
- Dale Carnegie

54. One of the most tragic things I know about human nature is that all of us tend to put off living. We are all dreaming of some magical rose garden over the horizon—instead of enjoying the roses blooming outside our windows today.
- Dale Carnegie

55. Dreams are today’s answers to tomorrow’s questions.
- Edward Cayce

56. Dreaming about a thing in order to do it properly is right; but, dreaming about it when we should be doing it is wrong.
- Oswald Chambers

57. If you’re still hanging onto a dead dream of yesterday—laying flowers on its grave by the hour—you cannot be planting the seeds for a new dream to grow today.
- Joyce Chapman

58. Recognize that you have the courage within you to fulfill the purpose of your birth. Summon forth the power of your inner courage and live the life of your dreams.
- Gurumayi Chidvilasananda

59. I think that is a very important component, to have passion, to have a dream, to have a purpose in life. And there are three components to that purpose. One is to find out who you really are, to discover God. The second is to serve other human beings because we are here to do that. And, the third is to express your unique talents. And, when you are expressing your unique talents, you lose track of time.
- Deepak Chopra

60. A successful life is one that is lived through understanding and pursuing one’s own path, not chasing after the dreams of others.
- Chi-Ning Chu

61. When our memories outweigh our dreams, we have grown old.
- Bill Clinton

62. In dreams, we enter a world that’s entirely our own.
- Steve Cloves

63. There is only one thing that makes a dream impossible to achieve: the fear of failure.
- Paulo Coelho

64. We all have the ability … we just don’t all have the courage to follow our dreams and to follow the signs.
- Paulo Coelho

65. When everyone dreams—but only a few realize their dreams—that makes cowards of us all.
- Paul Coelho

66. What if you slept? And, what if, in your sleep, you dreamed? And, what if, in your dream, you went to heaven; and, there, plucked a strange and beautiful flower? And, what if, when you awoke, you had the flower in your hand? Ah, what then?
- Samuel Taylor Coleridge

67. We live, as we dream—alone.
- Joseph Conrad

68. Without dreams, there is no reality!
- Luis B. Couto

69. Dreams are nature’s answering service—don’t forget to pick up your messages once in a while.
- Sarah Crestinn

70. When your heart is in your dream, no request is too extreme.
- Jiminy Cricket

71. I walked beside the evening sea
And dreamed a dream that could not be;
The waves that plunged along the shore
Said only: “Dreamer, dream no more!”
- George William Curtis

72. Don’t be afraid of the space between your dreams and reality. If you can dream it, you can make it so.
- Belva Davis

73. Dream as if you’ll live forever. Live as if you’ll die today.
- James Dean

74. One must desire something to be alive.
- Margaret Deland

75. Dreaming permits each and every one of us to be quietly and safely insane, every night of our lives.
- William Dement

76. The happiest people are the ones who follow their own dreams most closely.
- Donny Deutsch

77. Keep your dreams alive. Understand to achieve anything requires faith and belief in yourself, vision, hard work, determination, and dedication. Remember all things are possible for those who believe.
- Gail Devers

78. It was all right to talk about it. They made plans. They had a moment’s vision, a fleeting dream. But, in the end, some lack in their moral fiber, some gnawing, nibbling fear held them back. They never started. They stayed where they were. They dropped back. They failed somehow to release within themselves that power which lies in every individual, and is released only when he starts forward in a straight line for the object about which he has dreamed. The man, who never starts, never feels that sense of power.
- Ray Dickinson

79. As long as you put in the work, you can own the dream. When the work stops, the dream disappears.
- Jim Dietz

80. The question was put to him, what hope is. And, his answer was, “The dream of a waking man.”
- Diogenes

81. If you can dream it, you can do it.
- Walt Disney

82. All our dreams can come true if we have the courage to pursue them.
- Walt Disney

83. To succeed … you need to find something to hold onto, something to motivate you, something to inspire you.
- Tony Dorsett

84. They tease me now, telling me it was only a dream. But, does it matter whether it was a dream or reality if the dream made known to me the truth?
- Fyodor Dostoevsky

85. Within your heart, keep one, still, secret spot where dreams may go, and, sheltered, so, may thrive and grow.
- Louise Driscoll

86. No vision, and you perish;
No ideal, and you’re lost.
Your heart must ever cherish
Some faith at any cost,
Some hope, some dream to cling to,
Some rainbow in the sky,
Some melody to sing to,
Some service that is high.
- Harriet du Autermont

87. I am against nature. I don’t dig nature at all. I think nature is very unnatural. I think the truly natural things are dreams, which nature can’t touch with decay.
- Bob Dylan

88. In life, many thoughts are born in the course of a moment, an hour, a day. Some are dreams, some visions. Often, we are unable to distinguish between them. To some, they are the same. However, not all dreams are visions. Much energy is lost in fanciful dreams that never bear fruit. But, visions are messages from the Great Spirit, each for a different purpose in life. Consequently, one person’s vision may not be that of another. To have a vision, one must be prepared to receive it; and, when it comes, to accept it. Thus, when these inner urges become reality, only then can visions be fulfilled. The spiritual side of life knows everyone’s heart and who to trust. How could a vision ever be given to someone to harbor if that person could not be trusted to carry it out? The message is simple: commitment precedes vision.
- High Eagle

89. Within our dreams and aspirations, we find our opportunities.
- Sue Atchley Ebaugh

90. No person has the right to rain on your dreams.
- Marian Wright Edelman

91. To dream anything that you want to dream. That’s the beauty of the human mind. To do anything that you want to do. That is the strength of the human will. To trust yourself to test your limits. That is the courage to succeed.
- Bernard Edmonds

92. All the great performers I have worked with are fueled by a personal dream.
- John Eliot

93. Overachievement is aimed at people who want to maximize their potential. And, to do that, I insist you throw caution to the wind, ignore the pleas of parents, coaches, spouses, and bosses to be “realistic.” Realistic people do not accomplish extraordinary things because the odds against success stymie them. The best performers ignore the odds. I will show you that instead of limiting themselves to what’s probable, the best will pursue the heart-pounding, exciting, really big, difference-making dreams—so long as catching them might be possible.
- John Eliot

94. Dreams are real while they last. Can we say more of life?
- Havelock Ellis

95. Ideas must work through the brains and the arms of good and brave men, or they are no better than dreams.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

96. Dare to live the life you have dreamed for yourself. Go forward and make your dreams come true.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

97. Good thoughts are no better than good dreams, unless they be executed!
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

98. Our desires presage the capacities within us; they are harbingers of what we shall be able to accomplish. What we can do and want to do is projected in our imagination, quite outside ourselves, and into the future. We are attracted to what is already ours in secret. Thus, passionate anticipation transforms what is indeed possible into dreamt-for reality.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

99. Let me never fall into the vulgar mistake of dreaming that I am persecuted whenever I am contradicted.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

100. Judge of your natural character by what you do in your dreams.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

101. A skillful man reads his dreams for self-knowledge, yet not the details but the quality.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

102. What distinguishes us one from another is our dreams … and what we do to make them come about.
- Joseph Epstein

103. All men and women are born, live, suffer, and die. What distinguishes us one from another is our dreams, whether they be dreams about worldly or unworldly things, and what we do to make them come about … We do not choose to be born. We do not choose our parents. We do not choose our historical epoch, the country of our birth, or the immediate circumstances of our upbringing. We do not, most of us, choose to die; nor, do we choose the time and conditions of our death. But, within this realm of choicelessness, we do choose how we live.
- Joseph Epstein

104. I don’t use drugs; my dreams are frightening enough.
- M. C. Escher

105. The wisest men follow their own direction.
- Euripides

106. There are some people who live in a dream world. And, there are some who face reality. And, then there are those who turn one into the other.
- Douglas H. Everett

107. All of us failed to match our dreams of perfection. So, I rate us on the basis of our splendid failure to do the impossible.
- William Faulkner

108. Always dream and shoot higher than you know how to. Don’t bother just to be better than your contemporaries or predecessors. Try to be better than yourself.
- William Faulkner

109. The end of wisdom is to dream high enough not to lose the dream in the seeking of it.
- William Faulkner

110. For all their bitching about what’s holding them back, most people have a lot of trouble coming up with the defined dreams they’re being held from.
- Tim Ferriss

111. When you cease to dream, you cease to live.
- Malcolm Forbes

112. To accomplish great things, we must not only act, but also dream. Not only plan, but also believe.
- Anatole France

113. We all dream. We do not understand our dreams. Yet, we act as if nothing strange goes on in our sleep minds—strange at least by comparison with the logical, purposeful doings of our minds when we are awake.
- Erich Fromm

114. A dream is a microscope through which we look at the hidden occurrences in our soul.
- Erich Fromm

115. You cannot dream yourself into a character: you must hammer and forge yourself one.
- James A. Froude

116. Only the dreamer shall understand realities; though, in truth, his dreaming must be not out of proportion to his waking.
- Margaret Fuller

117. No lower can a man descend than to interpret his dreams into gold and silver.
- Kahlil Gibran

118. I prefer to be a dreamer, among the humblest with visions to be realized, than lord, among those without dreams and desires.
- Kahlil Gibran

119. The timeless in you is aware of life’s timelessness, and knows that yesterday is but today’s memory, and tomorrow is today’s dream.
- Kahlil Gibran

120. We fear death; yet, we long for slumber and beautiful dreams.
- Kahlil Gibran

121. Trust in dreams; for, in them, is hidden the gate to eternity.
- Kahlil Gibran

122. The inability to open up to hope is what blocks trust; and, blocked trust is the reason for blighted dreams.
- Elizabeth Gilbert

123. People need dreams; there’s as much nourishment in ‘em as food.
- Dorothy Gilma

124. I wake up in the morning with a dream in my eyes.
- Allen Ginsberg

125. Dreams say what they mean; but, they don’t say it in daytime language.
- Gail Godwin

126. Dream no small dreams; for, they have no power to move the hearts of men.
- Goethe

127. What is not started today is never finished tomorrow.
- Goethe

128. Then indecision brings its own delays,
And days are lost lamenting o’er lost days.
Are you in earnest? Seize this very minute.
What you can do or dream, you can begin it;
Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it.
- Goethe

129. When we can’t dream any longer, we die.
- Emma Goldman

130. I had a dream, which was not all a dream.
- George Gordon

131. More important than talent, strength, or knowledge is the ability to laugh at yourself and enjoy the pursuit of your dreams.
- Amy Grant

132. The world is for those who make their dreams come true.
- Harold Gray

133. Human beings have an inalienable right to invent themselves.
- Germaine Greer

134. I don’t possess a lot of self-confidence. I’m an actor, so I simply act confident every time I hit the stage. I am consumed with the fear of failing. Reaching deep down, and finding confidence, has made all my dreams come true.
- Arsenio Hall

135. You gotta have a dream. If you don’t have a dream, how are you gonna make a dream come true?
- Oscar Hammerstein

136. You control your future, your destiny. What you think about comes about. By recording your dreams and goals on paper, you set in motion the process of becoming the person you most want to be. Put your future in good hands—your own.
- Mark Victor Hansen

137. We must not be afraid of dreaming the seemingly impossible if we want the seemingly impossible to become a reality.
- Vaclav Havel

138. We oft forget our dreams so speedily. If we cannot catch them as they are passing out at the door, we may never set eyes on them again.
- William Hazlitt

139. Dreaming is an act of pure imagination, attesting in all men a creative power, which if it were available in waking, would make every man a Dante or Shakespeare.
- H. F. Hedge

140. The interesting thing is how one guy, through living out his own fantasies, is living out the fantasies of so many other people.
- Hugh Hefner

141. I like the dreams of the future better than the history of the past.
- Patrick Henry

142. A goal is a dream with a deadline.
- Napoleon Hill

143. Cherish your visions and your dreams, as they are the children of your soul, the blue prints of your ultimate accomplishments.
- Napoleon Hill

144. Set out each day believing in your dreams. Know, without a doubt, that you were made for amazing things.
- George Hinds

145. The things that one most wants to do are the things that are probably most worth doing.
- Winifred Holtby

146. I just know that there are a lot of people out there who are younger than I am; and, I wish to be a role model for them. If they have a dream, I want to help them keep that motivation high, so that they can realize their dream. I want to show people that they CAN have fun in life.
- Takafumi Horie

147. When your dreams tire, they go underground; and, out of kindness, that’s where they stay.
- Libby Houston

148. Hold fast to dreams;
For, if dreams die,
Life is a broken-winged bird
That cannot fly.
Hold fast to dreams;
For, when dreams go,
Life is a barren field
Frozen with snow.
- Langston Hughes

149. What happens to a dream deferred?
Does it dry up,
like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore—
And, then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or, crust and sugar over—
like a syrupy sweet?
Maybe it just sags,
like a heavy load.
Or, does it explode?
- Langston Hughes

150. There is nothing like dream to create the future. Utopia today; flesh and blood tomorrow.
- Victor Hugo

151. All men of action are dreamers.
- James G. Huneker

152. Ships at a distance have every man’s wish on board. For some, they come in with the tide. For others, they sail forever on the horizon, never out of sight, never landing, until the Watcher turns his eyes away in resignation, his dreams mocked to death by Time. That is the life of men.
- Zora Neale Hurston

153. Ideologies separate us. Dreams and anguish bring us together.
- Eugene Ionesco

154. No one should negotiate their dreams. Dreams must be free to flee and fly high. No government, no legislature, has a right to limit your dreams. You should never agree to surrender your dreams.
- Jesse Jackson

155. We’ve removed the ceiling above our dreams. There are no more impossible dreams.
- Jesse Jackson

156. You must never stop dreaming. Face reality, yes. But, don’t stop with the way things are; dream of things as they ought to be. Dream of peace. Peace is rational and reasonable. War is irrational in this age and unwinnable.
- Jesse Jackson

157. Your hopes, dreams, and aspirations are legitimate. They are trying to take you airborne, above the clouds, above the storms, if you only let them.
- William James

158. Most people never run far enough on their first wind to find out they’ve got a second [wind]. Give your dreams all you’ve got; and, you’ll be amazed at the energy that comes out of you.
- William James

159. My theory has always been that, if we are to dream, the flatteries of hope are as cheap, and pleasanter, than the gloom of despair.
- Thomas Jefferson

160. I like the dreams of the future better than the history of the past.
- Thomas Jefferson

161. Your aspirations are your possibilities.
- Samuel Johnson

162. In my dream, the Angel shrugged and said, “If we fail this time, it will be a failure of imagination.” And, then, she placed the world gently in the palm of my hand.
- Erica Jong

163. Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes.
- Carl Jung

164. The dream is the small hidden door in the deepest and most intimate sanctum of the soul, which opens into that primeval cosmic night that was soul long before there was a conscious ego and will be soul far beyond what a conscious ego could ever reach.
- Carl Jung

165. Look to this day!
For it is life, the very life of life.
For yesterday is but a dream,
And tomorrow is only a vision.
But, today well lived makes every yesterday a dream of happiness,
And tomorrow a vision of hope. Look well, therefore, to this day!
Such is the salutation of the dawn.
- Kalidasa

166. The problems of the world cannot possible be solved by skeptics or cynics whose horizons are limited by the obvious realities. We need men who can dream of things that never were.
- John Keats

167. Some people follow their dreams; others hunt them down and beat them mercilessly into submission.
- Neil Kendall

168. The work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives, and the dreams shall never die.
- Edward Kennedy

169. I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.
- Martin Luther King, Jr.

170. If you lose hope, somehow you lose the vitality that keeps life moving. You lose that courage to be, that quality that helps you go on, in spite of it all. And, so, today, I still have a dream.
- Martin Luther King, Jr.

171. Now, I say to you, today, my friends, even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream. I have a dream that, one day, this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.”
- Martin Luther King, Jr.

172. There’s a long, long trail a-winding into the land of my dreams.
- Stoddard King, Jr.

173. The greatest thing about man is his ability to transcend himself, his ancestry, and his environment and to become what he dreams of being.
- Tully C. Knoles

174. I do not want to die … until I have faithfully made the most of my talent and cultivated the seed that was placed in me, until the last small twig has grown.
- Kathe Kollwitz

175. Dreams are those special places that we love to wander to when we wish upon a star. Quotes about dreams whisper to us to live for today and inspire us towards our destiny, towards our tomorrows.
- Tea Rose Lane

176. I don’t design clothes; I design dreams.
- Ralph Lauren

177. People ask how can a Jewish kid from the Bronx do preppy clothes? Does it have to do with class and money? It has to do with dreams.
- Ralph Lauren

178. A leader has the vision and conviction that a dream can be achieved. He inspires the power and energy to get it done.
- Ralph Lauren

179. All men dream, but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake in the day to find that it was vanity. But, the dreamers of the day are dangerous men; for, they may act their dreams with open eyes to make it possible.
- T. E. Lawrence

180. It may be those who do most, dream most.
- Stephen Leacock

181. Not being tense, but ready. Not thinking, but not dreaming. Not being set, but flexible. Liberation from the uneasy sense of confinement. It is being wholly and quietly alive, aware and alert, ready for whatever may come.
- Bruce Lee

182. Dream is not a revelation. If a dream affords the dreamer some light on himself, it is not the person with closed eyes who makes the discovery, but the person with open eyes, lucid enough to fit thoughts together. Dream—a scintillating mirage surrounded by shadows—is essentially poetry.
- Michel Leiris

183. Channels are blocked in the mind from the day. Lie down in blackness of night, forgotten remnants rush to the mind, or, creeping slowly, appear in the dreams.
- Nathaniel LeTonnerre

184. You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream.
- C. S. Lewis

185. The best way to predict your future is to create it!
- Abraham Lincoln

186. Living in dreams of yesterday, we find ourselves still dreaming of impossible future conquests.
- Charles Lindbergh

187. Dreams are free therapy. Consult your inner Freud.
- Grey Livingston

188. Where all is but dream, reasoning and arguments are of no use, truth and knowledge nothing.
- John Locke

189. A dreamer lives forever; and, a toiler dies in a day.
- John Locke

190. One half the world must sweat and groan that the other half may dream.
- Henry Wadswoth Longfellow

191. One of the most adventurous things left us is to go to bed. For no one can lay a hand on our dreams.
- E. V. Lucas

192. The question for each man to settle is not what he would do if he had means, time, influence and educational advantages; the question is what he will do with the things he has. The moment a young man ceases to dream, or to bemoan his lack of opportunities and resolutely looks his conditions in the face and resolves to change them, he lays the cornerstone of a solid and honorable success.
- Hamilton Mabie

193. I stand for freedom of expression, doing what you believe in, and going after your dreams.
- Madonna

194. The finest gift you can give anyone is encouragement. Yet, almost no one gets the encouragement they need to grow to their full potential. If everyone received the encouragement they need to grow, the genius in most everyone would blossom and the world would produce abundance beyond the wildest dreams. We would have more than one Einstein, Edison, Schweitzer, Mother Theresa, Dr. Salk, and other great minds in a century.
- Sidney Madwed

195. Dreams have as much influence as actions.
- Stephane Mallarme

196. The victory of success is half won when one gains the habit of setting goals and achieving them. Even the most tedious chore will become endurable as you parade through each day convinced that every task, no matter how menial or boring, brings you closer to fulfilling your dreams.
- Og Mandino

197. You will achieve grand dream, a day at a time. So, set goals for each day, not long and difficult projects, but chores that will take you, step by step, toward your rainbow. Write them down, if you must; but, limit your list so that you won’t have to drag today’s undone matters into tomorrow. Remember that you cannot build your pyramid in twenty-four hours. Be patient. Never allow your day to become so cluttered that you neglect your most important goal—to do the best you can, enjoy this day, and rest satisfied with what you have accomplished.
- Og Mandino

198. Each sunrise gives hope to your dreams and light to your plans.
- William Maphoto

199. Do the things that you’ve always dreamed of doing NOW. Don’t postpone them. My dad loved to be in the outdoors. But, he was always so busy as a school principal that he didn’t give himself that pleasure very often. He was going to do all his fishing and hiking when he retired; but, he never lived that long. He dies of cancer at 63. It was pretty wrenching to, not only see him suffer so badly, but, also, to realize that he had been cheated out of his dream.
- Fred Matheny

200. We live in the present; we dream of the future; but, we learn eternal truths from the past.
- Soong May-Lin

201. To the degree we’re not living our dreams, our comfort zone has more control of us than we have over ourselves.
- Peter McWilliams

202. The more a man dreams, the less he believes.
- H. L. Mencken

203. It hurts to find out that what you wanted doesn’t match what you dreamed it would be.
- Randy K. Milholland

204. Those who have compared our life to a dream were right … We, sleeping, wake, and, waking, sleep.
- Michel de Montaigne

205. Reality can destroy the dream; why shouldn’t the dream destroy reality?
- George Moore

206. If you hear a different drummer—dreamer, take a chance … The road you choose to travel means the difference in the dance.
- D. Morgan

207. You block your dream when you allow your fear to grow bigger than your faith.
- Mary Manin Morrissey

208. Life is a lying dream, he only wakes
Who casts the World aside.
- Seami Motokiyo

209. Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness. Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation), there is one elementary truth, the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, the providence moves, too. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one’s favor all manner of unforeseen incidents, meetings, and material assistance, which no man could have dreamt would have come his way.
- William Murray

210. Dreams pass into the reality of action. From the actions, stems the dream again; and, this interdependence produces the highest form of living.
- Anais Nin

211. Dreams are necessary to life.
- Anais Nin

212. Throw your dreams into space like a kite; and, you do not know what it will bring back: a new life, a new friend, a new love, a new country.
- Anais Nin

213. Everything starts as somebody’s daydream.
- Larry Niven

214. Dreams are illustrations … from the book your soul is writing about you.
- Marsha Norman

215. That is the true genius of America, a faith in the simple dreams of its people, the insistence on small miracles. That we can say what we think, write what we think, without hearing a sudden knock on the door. That we can have an idea and start our own business without paying a bribe or hearing a sudden knock on the door. That we can participate in the political process without fear of retribution. And, that our votes will be counted—or at least, most of the time.
- Barack Obama

216. Never give up on your dream … perseverance is all important. If you don’t have the desire and the belief in yourself to keep trying after you’ve been told you should quit, you’ll never make it.
- Tawni O’Dell

217. The smaller the head, the bigger the dream.
- Austin O’Malley

218. We are the music makers. We are the dreamers of the dreams.
- Arthur O’Shaughnessy

219. To want to be what one can be is purpose in life.
- Cynthia Ozick

220. We all have dreams. But, in order to make dreams come into reality, it takes an awful lot of determination, dedication, self-discipline, and effort.
- Jesse Owens

221. That which the dream shows, is the shadow of such wisdom as exists in man; even, if during his waking state, he may know nothing about it … We do not know it because we are fooling away our time with outward and perishing things, and are asleep in regard to that which is real within ourselves.
- Paracelsus

222. I don’t want an epitaph on my gravestone that says, “He would have pursued some big dreams in his life; but, other people wouldn’t let him.”
- Tom Peters

223. Big thinking precedes great achievement.
- Wilfred A. Peterson

224. I am always doing things I can’t do; that’s how I get to do them.
- Pablo Picasso

225. The place to improve the world is first in one’s own heart and head and hands.
- Robert M. Pirsig

226. Those who dream by day are cognizant of many things which escape those who dream only by night.
- Edgar Allan Poe

227. We come this way but once. We can either tiptoe through life and hope we get to death without being badly bruised; or, we can live a full, complete life achieving our goals and realizing our wildest dreams.
- Bob Proctor

228. If a little dreaming is dangerous, the cure for it is not to dream less but to dream more, to dream all the time.
- Marcel Proust

229. A man’s dreams are an index to his greatness.
- Zadok Rabinowitz

230. The question isn’t who is going to let me; it’s who is going to stop me.
- Ayn Rand

231. A desire presupposes the possibility of action to achieve it; action presupposes a goal which is worth achieving.
- Ayn Rand

232. From the smallest necessity to the highest religious abstraction, from the wheel to the skyscraper, everything we are and everything we have comes from one attribute of man— the function of his reasoning mind.
- Ayn Rand

233. Throughout the centuries there were men who took first steps, down new roads, armed with nothing but their own vision.
- Ayn Rand

234. People create their own questions because they are afraid to look straight. All you have to do is look straight and see the road, and when you see it, don’t sit looking at it—walk.
- Ayn Rand

235. Man’s unique reward, however, is that while animals survive by adjusting themselves to their background, man survives by adjusting his background to himself.
- Ayn Rand

236. To achieve, you need thought. You have to know what you are doing and that’s real power.
- Ayn Rand

237. It has never been my object to record my dreams, just to realize them.
- Man Ray

238. Only as high as I reach can I grow, only as far as I seek can I go, only as deep as I look can I see, only as much as I dream can I be.
- Karen Ravn

239. So many of our dreams at first seem impossible; then, they seem improbable. And, then, when we summon the will, they soon become inevitable.
- Christopher Reeve

240. You’re in the midst of a war: a battle between the limits of a crowd seeking the surrender of your dreams, and the power of your true vision to create and contribute. It is a fight between those who will tell you what you cannot do, and that part of you that knows—and has always known—that we are more than our environment; and, that a dream, backed by an unrelenting will to attain it, is truly a reality with an imminent arrival.
- Anthony Robbins

241. We have, within reach, now, the attainment of almost every dream of mankind.
- Gene Roddenberry

242. The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.
- Eleanor Roosevelt

243. You can’t just sit there and wait for people to give you that golden dream. You’ve got to get out there and make it happen for yourself.
- Diana Ross

244. The fame thing is interesting because I never wanted to be famous; and, I never dreamt I would be famous. You know, my fantasy of being a famous writer—and, again, there’s a slight disconnect with reality, which happens a lot with me—I imagined being a famous writer would be like being like Jane Austen.
- J. K. Rowling

245. I have had dreams, and I have had nightmares; but, I have conquered my nightmares because of my dreams.
- Jonas Salk

246. Nothing happens unless first a dream.
- Carl Sandburg

247. Like all dreamers, I confuse disenchantment with truth.
- Jean-Paul Sartre

248. I learned that if you want to make it bad enough, no matter how bad it is, you can make it.
- Gale Sayers

249. Every challenge we face can be solved by a dream.
- David Schwartz

250. To unpathed waters, undreamed shores.
- William Shakespeare

251. We are such stuff as dreams are made on, and our little life is rounded with a sleep.
- William Shakespeare

252. Thoughts are but dreams till their effects be tried.
- William Shakespeare

253. Reality is wrong. Dreams are for real.
- Tupac Shakur

254. Some men see things as they are and ask why. Others dream things that never were and ask why not.
- George Bernard Shaw

255. In the end, the overriding factor in whether or not you realize your dreams is going to be you. Not the world. YOU.
- Russell Simmons

256. Life is full of beauty. Notice it. Notice the bumble bee, the small child, and the smiling faces. Smell the rain, and feel the wind. Live your life to the fullest potential, and fight for your dreams.
- Ashley Smith

257. “No” is a word on your path to “Yes.” Don’t give up too soon. Not even if well-meaning parents, relatives, friends, and colleagues tell you to get “a real job.” Your dreams are your real job.
- Joyce Spizer

258. Without leaps of imagination, or dreaming, we lose the excitement of possibilities. Dreaming, after all, is a form of planning.
- Gloria Steinem

259. Happy are those who dream dreams and are ready to pay the price to make them come true.
- Leo Joseph Suenens

260. A dream which is not interpreted is like a letter which is not read.
- The Talmud

261. Dreams are true while they last; and. do we not live in dreams?
- Alfred Lord Tennyson

262. I tell people I’m too stupid to know what’s impossible. I have ridiculously large dreams; and, half the time they come true.
- Debi Thomas

263. Dreams are the touchstones of our character.
- Henry David Thoreau

264. Our truest life is when we are in dreams awake.
- Henry David Thoreau

265. Do not lose hold of your dreams or aspirations. For, if you do, you may still exist, but you have ceased to live.
- Henry David Thoreau

266. I have learned this at least by my experiment: that if one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.
- Henry David Thoreau

267. I do not know how to distinguish between our waking life and a dream. Are we not always living the life that we imagine we are?
- Henry David Thoreau

268. If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them.
- Henry David Thoreau

269. Go confidently in the direction of your dreams! Live the life you’ve imagined. As you simplify your life, the laws of the universe will be simpler.
- Henry David Thoreau

270. The starting point of great success and achievement has always been the same. It is for you to dream big dreams. There is nothing more important, and nothing that works faster than for you to cast off your own limitations than for you to begin dreaming and fantasizing about the wonderful things that you can become, have, and do.
- Brian Tracy

271. Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world.
- Harriet Tubman

272. I was told I’d be out of my mind to go after my dreams … now that I’ve gotten out of my mind by following my heart … I’m living my dream.
- Brock Tully

273. Dreams are renewable. No matter what our age or condition, there are still untapped possibilities within us and new beauty waiting to be born.
- Dale Turner

274. Really great people make you feel that you, too, can become great.
- Mark Twain

275. Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great.
- Mark Twain

276. For my part, I know nothing with any certainty; but, the sight of the stars makes me dream.
- Vincent van Gogh

277. I dream my painting and paint my dream.
- Vincent van Gogh

278. Keep true to the dreams of thy youth.
- Friedrich von Schiller

279. Be careful what you water your dreams with. Water them with worry and fear, and you will produce weeds that choke the life from your dream. Water them with optimism and solutions, and you will cultivate success. Always be on the lookout for ways to turn a problem into an opportunity for success. Always be on the lookout for ways to nurture your dream.
- Lao Tzu

280. Dreams come true. Without that possibility, nature would not incite us to have them.
- John Updike

281. You are only as big as your dreams.
- Luis Villalobos

282. A dream is your creative vision for your life in the future. You must break out of your current comfort zone and become comfortable with the unfamiliar and the unknown.
- Dennis Waitley

283. Life is never easy for those who dream.
- Robert James Waller

284. Close your ears to all adverse suggestions. Never mind if people call you a fool and a dreamer. Dream on.
- Wallace D. Wattles

285. Saddle your dreams before you ride them.
- Mary Webb

286. If one dream should fall and break into a thousand pieces, never be afraid to pick one of those pieces up and begin again.
- Flavia Weedn

287. I cannot be awake for nothing looks to me as it did before,
Or else I am awake for the first time, and all before has been a mean sleep.
- Walt Whitman

288. A dreamer is one who can only find his way by moonlight; and. his punishment is that he sees the dawn before the rest of the world.
- Oscar Wilde

289. The supreme object of life is to live. Few people live. It is true life only to realize one’s own perfection, to make one’s every dream a reality.
- Oscar Wilde

290. Each moment of our life, we either invoke or destroy our dreams. We call upon it to become a fact, or we cancel our previous instructions.
- Stuart Wilde

291. We grow great by dreams. All big men are dreamers. They see things in the soft haze of a spring day, or in the red fire of a long winter’s evening. Some of us let these great dreams die. But, others nourish and protect them, nurse them through bad days; till they bring them to the sunshine and light, which comes, always, to those who sincerely hope that their dreams will come true.
- Woodrow Wilson

292. I’ve come to believe that each of us has a personal calling that’s as unique as a fingerprint—and, that the best way to succeed is to discover what you love, and, then, find a way to offer it to others in the form of service, working hard, and, also, allowing the energy of the universe to lead you.
- Oprah Winfrey

293. The key to realizing a dream is to focus not on success, but significance—and, then, even the small steps and little victories along your path will take on greater meaning.
- Oprah Winfrey

294. Yet, it is in our idleness, in our dreams, that the submerged truth sometimes comes to the top.
- Virginia Woolf

295. Dreams never hurt anybody if he keeps working right behind the dreams to make as much of them become [as] real as he can.
- Frank W. Woolworth

296. My dream was actually just to have a computer some day. If I’d imagined that it meant starting a company to sell them, I probably would have avoided the whole thing.
- Steve Wozniak

297. If the dream is big enough the facts don’t matter.
- Dexter Yager

298. In dreams begins responsibility.
- William Butler Yeats

299. I have spread my dreams beneath your feet. Tread softly because you tread on my dreams.
- William Butler Yeats

300. I have come to believe, deeply and firmly, that we can create a poverty free world if we want to. I came to this conclusion not as a product of a pious dream, but as a concrete result of experience gained in the work of the Grameen Bank.
- Muhammad Yunus

CONCLUSION

Think of your dreams as your babies. You are the single parent (unless you are lucky enough to share the same dreams with a soul mate). Your family, friends, teachers, mentors, and heroes helped shape your dreams, but the dreams are still mostly just yours. They are your metaphorical babies. Don’t they deserve to grow up and realize their full potential? Or, are you going to let them all fade away slowly, one by one? No one else can protect, nurture, and raise your dreams to maturity. If you don’t, your dreams will eventually shrivel up and die. Let’s not let that happen. Let’s all help our deepest dreams grow into full-blown realities! : )

[Note: More dream quotes in the comments section below! : ) Rather than changing the title of this post—which would require changing all the links, too—I simply added the ones I found later while working on other quote lists.]

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[For “How to Interpret Dreams,” click here.]

[For “200 Existence Quotes,” click here.]

[For “300 Entrepreneur Quotes,” click here.]

[For all posts about different QUOTES, click here.]

[For “Future Entrepreneurs Test,” click here.]

[For “The Courage to Be Rich,” click here.]

[For “How I Paid of $50,000 of Debt in One Year,” click here.]

[For “Why We Buy It Even If We Don’t Need It,” click here.]

[For “Change Your Mindset to Change Your Life,” click here.]

[For “What Would You Do If You Couldn’t Fail?,” click here.]

[For “Do You Want to Fly Like Superman?,” click here.]

[For “How to Set and Achieve Goals in 5 Simple Steps,” click here.]

[For “Money Lessons for Nice People,” click here.]

[For, “How to Be a Billionaire in 10 Steps,” click here.]

[For “How My Dad Turned $50 into $1.2 Million,” click here.]

[For “Think and Grow Rich,” click here.]

[For more “Easy Steps to Success with Work,” click here.]