You’ll find goodies like this in the Wisdom Archive, a 25,000-quote search engine dedicated to quotes about vision, quotations on values, and so on: “Everything in the material universe about us, everything ever known, had its origin first in thought. From this it took its form. Every castle, every statue, every painting, every piece of mechanism – everything had its birth, its origin, first in the mind of the one who formed it…” Ralph Waldo Trine. Yes, Trine, not Emerson. Ralph Waldo did have many great quotes about vision, and few are better than this gem: “Do not follow where the path may lead. Go, instead, where there is no path and leave a trail.”
Vision is a seeing, an insight, an ability to imagine and embody. It is looking toward the future, looking beneath the surface, and looking within. It changes the world from black and white to full color. Allied with creativity and ingenuity in the scheme of Values of the Wise, vision is a value that facilitates new possibilities, deepens understanding, and helps create a roadmap for future action. Contemplation, insight, enlightenment, and perception are closely related to this very valuable value.
Without further ado, here are some great quotes about vision:
Vision without action is a daydream. Action without vision is a nightmare. ~ Japanese proverb
The only thing worse than being blind is having sight, but no vision. ~ Helen Keller
Things don’t change. You change your way of looking, that’s all. ~ Carlos Castaneda
I believe that you cannot go any further than you can think. I certainly believe if you don’t desire a thing, you will never get it. ~ Charleszetta Waddles
Without new visions we don’t know what to build, only what to knock down. ~ Robin D. G. Kelley
Smart ideas are a dime a dozen, unless you can figure out all the thousands of little details that give life to an idea so that the idea can survive. ~ Victor Villaseñor
As a house implies a builder, and a garment a weaver, and a door a carpenter, so does the existence of the universe imply a creator. ~ Akiba
Look at everything as if you were seeing it for the first or last time. Then your time on earth will be filled with glory. ~ Betty Smith
If you want to see it, see into it directly; but when you stop to think about it, it is altogether missed. ~ Tao-Wu
The world as we see it is only the world as we see it. Others may see it differently. ~ Albert Einstein
Buddha doesn’t say we cannot enjoy the beautiful things we are lucky enough to have. He does say we should not let them distract us from our real job: awakening to our life and death. ~ Franz Metcalf
Light comes to us unexpectedly and obliquely. Perhaps it amuses the gods to try us. They want to see whether we are asleep. ~ H. M. Tomlinson
People take a measure of your vision, your character. They really want to know how you can affect their lives, whether they can trust you. ~ John Kerry
Vision is not enough, it must be combined with venture. It is not enough to stare up the steps, we must step up the stairs. ~ Vaclav Havel
Most people cannot see anything, but I can see what is in front of my nose with extreme clarity; the greatest writers can see through a brick wall. ~ W. Somerset Maugham
Ordinary life does not interest me. I seek only the high moments. I am in accord with the surrealists, searching for the marvelous. ~ Anais Nin
I’m not terribly hip on linking to a page that could be considered a competitor for search engine rankings, but hey, quotes about vision is a special topic, and I don’t want to fail to show you a good resource because of petty reasons. Of course, I still prefer Values of the Wise‘s Wisdom Archive, but here it is in black and white: quotes about vision and other values.
