32 Inspiring Non-Fiction Quotes

In the realm of literature, non-fiction stands as a powerful beacon of truth, insight, and inspiration. Through the words of notable authors, thinkers, and leaders, non-fiction presents us not only with facts and narratives of real events but also with profound reflections on the human experience. In this exploration, we delve into a curated compilation of 32 inspiring non-fiction quotes that have the power to challenge, uplift, and ignite a passion for knowledge and understanding. Whether it's wisdom from historical figures or enlightening perspectives from modern-day influencers, these quotes promise to leave an indelible mark on your perspective and provide a wellspring of motivation. Let's embark on this journey of discovery and reflection, one quote at a time.

1. “...in real life I always seem to have a hard time winding up a conversation or asking somebody to leave, and sometimes the moment becomes so delicate and fraught with social complexity that I'll get overwhelmed trying to sort out all the different possible ways of saying it and all the different implications of each option and will just sort of blank out and do it totally straight -- 'I want to terminate the conversation and not have you be in my apartment anymore' -- which evidently makes me look either as if I'm very rude and abrupt or as if I'm semi-autistic and have no sense of how to wind up a conversation gracefully...I've actually lost friends this way.” - David Foster Wallace

2. “It was a time of beautiful brutal illusions.” - Mick Karabegovic

3. “How well opposed to grand Theft Auto are you?” - Stephenie Meyer

4. “That was the real secret of the Tarahumara: they'd never forgotten what it felt like to love running. They remembered that running was mankind's first fine art, our original act of inspired creation. Way before we were scratching pictures on caves or beating rhythms on hollow trees, we were perfecting the art of combining our breath and mind and muscles into fluid self-propulsion over wild terrain. And when our ancestors finally did make their first cave paintings, what were the first designs? A downward slash, lightning bolts through the bottom and middle--behold, the Running Man.Distance running was revered because it was indispensable; it was the way we survived and thrived and spread across the planet. You ran to eat and to avoid being eaten; you ran to find a mate and impress her, and with her you ran off to start a new life together. You had to love running, or you wouldn't live to love anything else. And like everyhing else we ove--everything we sentimentally call our 'passions' and 'desires' it's really an encoded ancestral necessity. We were born to run; we were born because we run. We're all Running People, as the Tarahumara have always known.” - Christopher McDougall

5. “The Holy Spirit doesn't need to equip you for what you're not going to do, so if you're in rebellion against Jesus and refusing His right to be Lord, He doesn't need to send the Holy Spirit to equip you for service. And, tragically, you miss out on the joy that He brings. So let the Holy Spirit deal with anything that's keeping you from obeying Christ.” - Henry and Melvin Blackaby

6. “It can be challenge enough to have to eat with myself.” - Jonathan Safran Foer

7. “Long dismissed as children's stories or 'myths' by Westerners, Australian Aboriginal stories have only recently begun to be taken seriously for what they are: the longest continuous record of historic events and spirituality in the world.” - Karl-Erik Sveiby

8. “The writing of solid, instructive stuff fortified by facts and figures is easy enough. There is no trouble in writing a scientific treatise on the folk-lore of Central China, or a statistical enquiry into the declining population of Prince Edward Island. But to write something out of one's own mind, worth reading for its own sake, is an arduous contrivance only to be achieved in fortunate moments, few and far in between. Personally, I would sooner have written Alice in Wonderland than the whole Encyclopedia Britannica.” - Stephen Leacock

9. “I will take a serious approach to a subject usually treated lightly, which is a nerdy thing to do.” - Benjamin Nugent

10. “Hope is putting Faith "on the line" and expecting results!(from Mission Possible - Spiritual Covering)” - Deborah L. McCarragher

11. “To be prepared against surprise is to be trained. To be prepared for surprise is to be educated.” - James P. Carse

12. “If you spend any amount of time doing media analysis, it’s clear that the most frenzied moral panic surrounding young women’s sexuality comes from the mainstream media, which loves to report about how promiscuous girls are, whether they’re acting up on spring break, getting caught topless on camera, or catching all kinds of STIs. Unsurprisingly, these types of articles and stories generally fail to mention that women are attending college at the highest rates in history, and that we’re the majority of undergraduate and master’s students. Well-educated and socially engaged women just don’t make for good headlines, it seems.” - Jessica Valenti

13. “The Bible is a book of Science. Secular Humanism is a religion of mythology.” - Michael Findley

14. “In terms of size, mammals are an anomaly, as the vast majority of the world's existing species are snail-sized or smaller. It's almost as if, regardless of your kingdom, the smaller your size & the earlier your place on the tree of life, the more critical is your niche on Earth: snails & worms create soil, & blue-green algae create oxygen; mammals seem comparatively dispensable, the result of the random path of evolution over a luxurious amount of time.” - Elisabeth Tova Bailey

15. “Combat isn't where you might die -- though that does happen -- it's where you find out whether you get to keep on living. Don't underestimate the power of that revelation. Don't underestimate the things young men will wager in order to play that game one more time.” - Sebastian Junger

16. “أحياناً نقود أنفسنا للطريق المهلك علماً بذلك .. ليس رغبة بالهلاك، بل أملاً بتغيير النتيجة” - Ms.Candy

17. “... by treating nature as exterior and inferior to humans we saw no harm to ourselves in polluting the soil, the plants, the air and the water. We did not notice the effect of our pollution on whatever walked over it, ran across it, climbed up it, flew through it, or swam in it.Now we notice that harming other constituents of our planetary system brings harm to ourselves.” - Betty Jean Craige

18. “If you don't feel you have any choice in a situation, self-esteem and confidence plummet. But once you understand that you do have a choice, self-esteem will improve. You aren't a helpless victim anymore. You decide how you deal with a situation. You aren't just reacting to life; you're creating your life.” - Theresa Francis-Cheung

19. “Depending on your own background and life experiences, this may or may not be new to you, but after an eight-to-twelve-hour day, white office workers often don't feel like they've spent enough time with each other. Therefore, they are prone to organizing pseudo-official company activities such as bowling or happy hour.” - Baratunde Thurston

20. “When you're conscious of what you're permitting to germinate inside you, the weeds in your life will wither away of their own accord.” - Lawrence Shorter

21. “Today the outlandish becomes routine overnight. The humorist is trying to say that it's still outlandish.” - William Zinsser

22. “Remember, the most common thing about common sense is how uncommon it is.” - Jason Jennings

23. “I did not realize at the time, as I have discovered since, that anyone who attempts any thing original in this world must expect a bit of ridicule." Clarence Birdseye” - Mark Kurlansky

24. “I lay on my floor crying again… shaking. Searching for inner strength and coming up empty. My eyes burned and my mouth was dry as I sucked on air that seemed to keep getting thicker and harder to breathe. I tried to leave again, but ended up leaning my forehead against the door, feeling defeated and wishing the Grim Reaper would come for me in all his silky, black glory.” - Nathan Daniels

25. “A female magician named Catherine Trianon, who lived together 'as man and wife' with another cunning-woman, was described as having more learning 'in the tip of her finger' than others acquired in a lifetime. When her house was searched in 1680 twenty-five manuscript volumes on the occult sciences were found.” - Owen Davies

26. “By a monstrous act of reductionism, the infinite depth of who you are is confused with a sound produced by the vocal cords." (p. 28)” - Eckhart Tolle

27. “Make your problems becomeopportunities instead ofobstacles.” - Ifeanyi Enoch Onuoha

28. “They shared a doom against which virtue was no defense” - Truman Capote

29. “Imagine going to work every day to do only and exactly what you love!! All the work gets done because of the abundant diversity of your team. Different skills, interests and talents are woven together into a whole that is much greater than the sum of the parts!” - Denise Moreland

30. “Great charismatic leaders don't just say what voters want to hear; they say what voters want to say.” - C.L. Gammon

31. “Everything changes except human behavior and its consequences.” - Stephanie M. Sellers

32. “As writers we intend to make a difference, to alter people's lives for the greater good. . .this is why we write, to have an impact on society, to put a personal stamp on history. . .Art and literature are the legacies we leave to succeeding generations. We'll be forgotten, but our books and essays, our stories and poems can survive us. . .” - Lee Gutkind