May 31, 2024, 7:45 a.m.
In a world where staying true to one's beliefs can often be a challenge, finding inspiration from the wisdom of others can be a powerful motivator. Conviction is that unwavering firmness of mind that drives purpose and fuels determination. Whether it’s standing up for your values, persevering through tough times, or inspiring others to do the same, a well-timed quote can offer profound clarity and encouragement. Here, we've gathered a curated collection of the top 39 conviction quotes designed to ignite your inner strength and serve as a beacon of inspiration on your journey. Dive in and let these words of wisdom fortify your resolve.
1. “Conviction is worthless unless it is converted into conduct.” - Thomas Carlyle
2. “The relationship between commitment and doubt is by no means an antagonistic one. Commitment is healthiest when it is not without doubt, but in spite of doubt. (p. 21)” - Rollo May
3. “To yield readily--easily--to the persuasion of a friend is no merit.... To yield without conviction is no compliment to the understanding of either.” - Jane Austen
4. “What do you think will be more effective when it comes to succeeding, believing you can or KNOWING you will? Let today be the last day you took timid steps of belief and start taking confident steps of purpose-driven knowing!” - Steve Maraboli
5. “Conviction affects all substances in the vicinity.” - Toba Beta
6. “The highest court is in the end one’s own conscience and conviction—that goes for you and for Einstein and every other physicist—and before any science there is first of all belief.” - Max Planck
7. “Let our voices be heard. I hope they will not be shrill voices, but, I hope we shall speak with such conviction that those to whom we speak shall know of the strength of our feeling and the sincerity of our efforts. ” - Gordon B. Hinckley
8. “When principles that run against your deepest convictions begin to win the day, then battle is your calling, and peace has become sin; you must, at the price of dearest peace, lay your convictions bare before friend and enemy, with all the fire of your faith.” - Abraham Kuyper
9. “The great safeguard of society and of domestic life was, that opinions were not acted on. Sane people did what their neighbors did, so that if any lunatics were at large, one might know and avoid them.” - George Eliot
10. “I meant what I said and I said what I meant.” - Dr. Seuss
11. “The person who hurt you--who raped you or killed your family--is also here. If you are still angry at that person, if you haven't been able to forgive, you are chained to him. Everyone could feel the emotional truth of that: When someone offends you and you haven't let go, every time you see him, you grow breathless or your heart skips a beat. If the trauma was really severe, you dream of revenge. Above you, is the Mountain of Peace and Prosperity where we all want to go. But when you try to climb that hill, the person you haven't forgiven weighs you down. It's a personal choice whether or not to let go. No one can tell you how long to mourn a death or rage over a rape. But you can't move forward until you break that chain.” - Leymah Gbowee
12. “You cannot build a dream on a foundation of sand. To weather the test of storms, it must be cemented in the heart with uncompromising conviction.” - T.F. Hodge
13. “When spontaneous demoralizing thoughts seep into your conscience, don't trip...allowing them to fester. These are random tests of your conviction and determination. Large or small, your reaction to such intrusions is a defining moment for which no one else, but you, can mitigate.” - T.F. Hodge
14. “If you forget your lines, you had better mumble with conviction.” - Connie Brockway
15. “I have always tried to be obedient regarding important matters like not being scalded to death by burning oil, but when public opinion takes a route far from one's inner conviction, one cannot value disobedience too highly.” - Barbara Dana
16. “And now, Elric had told three lies. The first concerned his cousin Yyrkoon. The second concerned the Black Sword. The third concerned Cymoril. And upon those three lies was Elric's destiny to be built, for it is only about things which concern us most profoundly that we lie clearly and with profound conviction.” - Michael Moorcock
17. “I am blind and limited. I would be a fool think myself wise. And so, not knowing what the universe means, I can only try to be responsible with the knowledge, the strength, and the time given to me. I must be true to my heart.” - Jim Butcher
18. “Conviction says, 'My behavior was wrong.' Satan, on the other hand, floods our hearts with shame. Shame says, 'There is something wrong with me.” - Dale Forehand
19. “One may not always know his purpose until his only option is to monopolize in what he truly excels at. He grows weary of hearing the answer 'no' time and time again, so he turns to and cultivates, monopolizes in his one talent which others cannot possibly subdue. Then, beyond the crowds of criticism and rejection, the right people recognize his talent - among them he finds his stage.” - Criss Jami
20. “Conscience is a coward, and those faults it has not strength enough to prevent it seldom has justice enough to accuse.” - Oliver Goldsmith
21. “Are we willing to shun vain repetition and keep our prayers out of an unchallenging rut by asking God to make us more sensitive to our own sin?” - John Pereira
22. “When your only regret is if anyone thinks you regret anything - that is the definition of conviction.” - Criss Jami
23. “Little faith is enough to see the mountains of sin but not enough to see that Son of Righteousness that shall arise over them.” - Ralph Bouma
24. “How often have you and I helped to keep sinners easy in their sin, by our inconsistency! Had we been true Christians, the wicked man would often have been pricked to the heart, and his conscience would have convicted him.” - Charles H. Spurgeon
25. “The antagonism between life and conscience may be removed in two ways: by a change of life or by a change of conscience.” - Leo Tolstoy
26. “Tolstoy said, 'The antagonism between life and conscience may be removed either by a change of life or by a change of conscience.' Many of us have elected to adjust our consciences rather than our lives. Our powers of rationalization are unlimited. They allow us to live in luxury and indifference while others, whom we could help if we chose to, starve and go to hell.” - Randy Alcorn
27. “Those mortals who operate in the grey area between conviction and incredulity are in a position to choose most meaningfully, and with most meaningful consequences […] Perhaps only a doubter can appreciate the miracle of life without end.” - Terryl L. Givens
28. “It wasn't until I found the courage to look inthe mirror and say, 'I Love You' with conviction that I felt truly amazing! If no one loves you, love yourself!” - R.S. Lewis
29. “Success also requires the courage to risk disapproval. Most independent thought, new ideas, or endeavors beyond the common measure are greeted with disapproval, and ranging from skepticism and ridicule to violent outrage. To persevere in anything exceptional requires inner strength and the unshakable conviction that you are right.” - Chin Ning Chu
30. “Accept and express your underlying certitude, and it shall be worldwide sagacity.” - Ogwo David Emenike
31. “He may have as strong a sense of what would be right, as you can have, without being so equal under particular circumstances to act up to it.""Then, it would not be so strong a sense. If it failed to produce equal exertion, it could not be an equal conviction.” - Jane Austen
32. “Faith to me is trusting in every evidence that something is―that it is possible, that it is significant, that it is real.” - Richelle E. Goodrich
33. “Growth of consciousness does not depend on the might of the intellect but on the conviction of the heart.” - Wayne Gerard Trotman
34. “[W]hat one has as a born Catholic is something given and accepted before it is experienced. I am only slowly coming to experience things that I have all along accepted. I suppose the fullest writing comes from what has been accepted and experienced both and that I have just not got that far yet all the time. Conviction without experience makes for harshness.” - Flannery O'Connor
35. “In some cases, I am able to respect what so many call bigots. Such people have a more solid foundation for drawing their lines when it comes to the security of their ways and quite possibly the security of mankind. They rely on something that has worked to get man this far without placing ideals blindly driven by emotion first; they have a sure line and they say, 'No.' That, in a sense, is something I find to be highly respectable.” - Criss Jami
36. “It is a noble responsibility to not back down when you know that you know that you know that you are right.” - Criss Jami
37. “It made me in all matters a fundamentalist. I didn't go to 'take it in.' I went to be convicted.” - Denis Johnson
38. “Lust was a positive high-tension cable, plugged into my core, activating a near-epileptic seizure of conviction that this was the one thing I had to do in life.” - Will Self
39. “It's not about whether or not someone is a bigot, but whether or not the argument which that someone is arguing is worth being a bigot about.” - Criss Jami