“One can’t believe impossible things,” Alice tells the White Queen in Lewis Carroll’s Through the Looking-Glass. The White Queen, however, is quick to point out the error in Alice’s thinking. She retorts, “Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.”
Not everyone can be as open-minded as Carroll’s White Queen, but we can keep faith in the face of the seemingly impossible. It might be hard, perhaps even foolhardy, but history has shown time and again that what might seem impossible is, in fact, achievable — especially with the right mentality and good old hard work and determination.
These encouraging quotes come from people from many walks of life, from philosophers to pioneers of flight, rocket scientists to Hollywood actors, but they all agree on one thing: We can all do the impossible if we set our minds to it.
Nothing is impossible; there are ways that lead to everything… It is often merely for an excuse that we say things are impossible.François de La Rochefoucauld, essayist
If your determination is fixed, I do not counsel you to despair. Few things are impossible to diligence and skill.Samuel Johnson, author
Every noble work is at first impossible.Thomas Carlyle, essayist and philosopher
Nearly every man who develops an idea works it up to the point where it looks impossible, and then he gets discouraged. That's not the place to become discouraged.Thomas Edison
It is difficult to say what is impossible, for the dream of yesterday is the hope of today and the reality of tomorrow.Robert H. Goddard, rocketry pioneer
Women, like men, should try to do the impossible. And when they fail, their failure should be a challenge to others.Amelia Earhart
The only way to discover the limits of the possible is to go beyond them into the impossible.Arthur C. Clarke
It always seems impossible until it's done.Nelson Mandela
Everything seems to indicate that we must not be afraid to dream of the seemingly impossible if we want the seemingly impossible to become a reality.Václav Havel, author and former Czech president
Impossible is just an opinion.Paulo Coelho
There are so many impossible dreams that have come true for me that no dream is ever impossible anymore as far as I'm concerned.Michael Caine
So many dreams at first seem impossible. And then they seem improbable. And then when we summon the will, they soon become inevitable.Christopher Reeve
The only way to make the possible possible is to try the impossible. If you fail, so what?Arnold Schwarzenegger
Magic lies in challenging what seems impossible.Carol Moseley Braun, former U.S. Senator
What we usually consider impossible are nothing but engineering problems… there’s no law of physics preventing them.Michio Kaku, theoretical physicist and futurologist
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, Olympic athlete
We need people who dream impossible things, who maybe fail, sometimes succeed, but in any case who have that ambition.Emmanuel Macron, president of France
I think every working mom probably feels the same thing: You go through big chunks of time where you’re just thinking, “This is impossible — oh, this is impossible.” Then you just keep going and keep going and you sort of do the impossible.Tina Fey
The difficult is what takes a little time; the impossible is what takes a little longer.Fridtjof Nansen, explorer
It's kind of fun to do the impossible.Walt Disney
Photo credit: Todor Ilchevski/ Unsplash
