Courage, Determination, Dreams

What this power is I cannot say: all I know is that it exists and it becomes available only when a man is in that state of mind in which he knows exactly what he wants and is fully determined not to quit until he finds it. Alexander Graham Bell

Don't let go of your dreams. If you have determination and belief in your dreams, you will succeed in spite of your desire to let go. Catherine Pulsifer

So long as there is breath in me, that long I will persist. For now I know one of the greatest principles on success; if I persist long enough I will win. Og Mandino

If you have the courage to begin, you have the courage to succeed. David Viscott

The significant problems we face in life can not be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them. Albert Einstein

Think left and think right and think low and think high. Oh, the things you can think up if only you try! Dr. Suess

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

Man is not the creature of circumstances, circumstances are the creatures of man. We are free agents, and man is more powerful than matter. Benjamin Disraeli

How small a portion of our life it is that we really enjoy! In youth we are looking forward to things that are to come; in old age we are looking backward to things that are gone past; in manhood, although we appear indeed to be more occupied in things that are present, yet even that is too often absorbed in vague determination to be vastly happy on some future day when we have time. Colton

I've spent some time pondering dreams, life, reality, determination, desire, happiness...
Each of these quotes in some way is meaningful to me, some are a wake up call, some just cause me to smile, some make me squirm in my moment of life.
Do I have the courage, the determination, the belief in myself to be who I am becoming? Do I like who I am becoming? Possibly more important, but not necessarily, do those around me like who I have become? So who is more important, myself or others? Do I stop trying to please all those around me, if it is in fact, a sacrifice of happiness for myself? Do I worry about what others feel about me if I am doing the very best I can in this life? Or do I just come to the resolve that some people will love us for who we are and others will not no matter the great lengths we may go to, to accomplish such a seemingly impossible task. Sorry for my dumping moment, but I think I've always had a deep desire for pleasing others, to make sure everyone in "my world" or close proximity to, is happy, content or at least at peace. What I've found is that sometimes the harder we try, the less some people will "like us" ~ unfortunately, the some people I'm referring to can be the ones that might surprise us the most, people we thought were our friends, sometimes our family members, sometimes maybe even ourselves...
Today was a moment of reflection for me...I can think when I write, I can make sense of my feelings when they become words in front of me. I can take a good hard look at myself and guess what I've found today ~ I am Happy with who I'm becoming. I'd rather love those around me and try to lift the heart of another and sometimes have mine a little shattered and broken, than to stifle the person inside me and pretend to be what I am not.
So I'll go back to some of the quotes that I love and I'll end with one that makes me smile from deep inside...my goal would be to someday be one of these souls ~
"There are souls in this world which have their gift of finding joy everywhere and of leaving it behind them when they go." Frederick William Faber