87 Deep Quotes That Will Make You Think (2025 Update)

By Maxime Lagacé

Maxime is the founder of WisdomQuotes. He has been collecting quotes since 2004. His goal? To help you develop a calm and peaceful mind. Learn more about him on his about page.

Here are 87 of the best deep quotes for you.

I’ve spent over 10,000+ hours curating the best quotes.

I started collecting them in 2004, after my girlfriend died in a car accident.

The result?

Thousands of great quotes, organized by topic.

But only a few are truly deep and thought-provoking.

Why should you read these quotes?

You’ll better understand yourself
You’ll find rare insights about life
You’ll gain more peace and wisdom

And you’ll discover deep thinkers like

Voltaire
Lao Tzu
Rumi
Victor Hugo
Thoreau
Osho
Mary Oliver
Einstein
And lots more

I hope you’ll love them as much as I do.

Enjoy!

Every saint has a past, and every sinner has a future. Oscar Wilde

The average men consume. The wise create. Maxime Lagacé

Be regular and orderly in your life, so that you may be violent and original in your work. Gustave Flaubert

The adventure of life is to learn. The purpose of life is to grow. The nature of life is to change. The challenge of life is to overcome. The essence of life is to care. The opportunity of life is to serve. The secret of life is to dare. The spice of life is to befriend. The beauty of life is to give. William Arthur Ward

Be yourself; everyone else is already taken. Oscar Wilde

Don’t handicap your children by making their lives easy. Robert A. Heinlein

Time is a created thing. To say “I don’t have time”, is like saying, “I don’t want to”. Lao Tzu

Even if I knew that tomorrow the world would go to pieces, I would still plant my apple tree. Martin Luther

Maybe you are searching among the branches, for what only appears in the roots. Rumi

deep quotes never suffer have been blessed edgar allan poe wisdom

Never to suffer would never to have been blessed. Edgar Allan Poe

Most people would sooner die than think; in fact, they do so. Bertrand Russell

To dare is to lose one’s footing momentarily. Not to dare is to lose oneself. Søren Kierkegaard

He who is untrue to his own cause cannot command the respect of others. Albert Einstein

They fear love because it creates a world they can’t control. George Orwell

We are all living in cages with the door wide open. George Lucas

Whenever people agree with me I always feel I must be wrong. Oscar Wilde

We can see through others only when we can see through ourselves. Bruce Lee

Genius is the recovery of childhood at will. Arthur Rimbaud

Everything has a price, but not all prices appear on labels. Morgan Housel

deep quotes pay attention endless proper work mary oliver wisdom

To pay attention, this is our endless and proper work. Mary Oliver

Lying to ourselves is more deeply ingrained than lying to others. Fyodor Dostoevsky

To be truly positive in the eyes of some, you have to risk appearing negative in the eyes of others. Criss Jami

Everything we call real is made of things that cannot be regarded as real. Neils Bohr

I don’t care that they stole my idea. I care that they don’t have any of their own. Nikola Tesla

Sometimes people don’t want to hear the truth because they don’t want their illusions destroyed. Friedrich Nietzsche

God is a comedian playing to an audience too afraid to laugh. Voltaire

Your actions should be determined not by the desire of the people around you, but by the needs of all mankind. Leo Tolstoy

Are you afraid of the good you might do? Victor Hugo

Dreams have only one owner at a time. That’s why dreamers are lonely. William Faulkner

Stupidity lies in wanting to draw conclusions. Gustave Flaubert

If I love myself I love you. If I love you I love myself. Rumi

Related

Judge a man by his questions rather than his answers. Voltaire

The quieter you become, the more you are able to hear. Rumi

Make deep connections, not deep attachments. Cory Muscara

Adversity makes men, and prosperity makes monsters. Victor Hugo

He who knows, does not speak. He who speaks, does not know. Lao Tzu

All generalizations are dangerous, even this one. Alexandre Dumas

Your pain is the breaking of the shell that encloses your understanding. Kahlil Gibran

The man who removes a mountain begins by carrying away small stones. William Faulkner

Better to have, and not need, than to need, and not have. Franz Kafka

We suffer more often in imagination than in reality. Seneca

Unspoken expectations are premeditated resentments. Neil Strauss

Life without love is like a tree without blossoms or fruit. Kahlil Gibran

When you feel it fully, you heal it deeply. Maxime Lagacé

Doubt is an uncomfortable condition, but certainty is a ridiculous one. Voltaire

Always go too far, because that’s where you’ll find the truth. Albert Camus

Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to reform (or pause and reflect). Mark Twain

Don’t settle, and don’t struggle. Naval Ravikant

Conscience doth make cowards of us all. William Shakespeare

When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be. Lao Tzu

Average people know how. Wise people know why. Maxime Lagacé

If you crush a cockroach, you’re a hero. If you crush a beautiful butterfly, you’re a villain. Morals have aesthetic criteria. Friedrich Nietzsche

The merit of all things lies in their difficulty. Alexandre Dumas

What you truly need is not stuff, comfort or ease, but meaning. Maxime Lagacé

Better a cruel truth than a comfortable delusion. Edward Abbey

You are what you do, not what you say you’ll do. Carl Jung

This turning toward what you deeply love saves you. Rumi

I am a cage, in search of a bird. Franz Kafka

A question asked is worth more than an answer received. James Pierce

Passion is born deaf and dumb. Honoré de Balzac

Overrated: inspiration. Underrated: discipline. Sahil Lavingia

Take time like the river that never grows stale. Keep going and steady. No hurry, no rush. Rumi

Of all lies, art is the least untrue. Gustave Flaubert

I am a cage, in search of a bird. Franz Kafka

Common sense is in spite of, not the result of, education. Victor Hugo

If a plant cannot live according to its nature, it dies; and so a man. Henry David Thoreau

The past is never dead. It’s not even past. William Faulkner

Think lightly of yourself and deeply of the world. Miyamoto Musashi

They muddy the water, to make it seem deep. Friedrich Nietzsche

No tree, it is said, can grow to heaven unless its roots reach down to hell. Carl Jung

Man is the only creature who refuses to be what he is. Albert Camus

Let your roots run deep so no wind can knock you down. Maxime Lagacé

We are all museums of fear. Charles Bukowsk

There are no solutions, only trade-offs. Thomas Sowell

To be sane in a world of madman is in itself madness. Jean-Jacques Rousseau

What if everything in the world were a misunderstanding, what if laughter were really tears? Søren Kierkegaard

All the problems of older times were scarcity… now they’re all abundance based. Naval Ravikant

When you’re young, you want to be rich. When you’re rich, you want to be young. James Pierce

Not to be absolutely certain is, I think, one of the essential things in rationality. Bertrand Russell

deep quotes whatever feel become responsibility osho wisdom

Whatever you feel, you become. It is your responsibility. Osho

Civilization is a hopeless race to discover remedies for the evils it produces. Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Question everything. Learn something. Answer nothing. Euripides (Related: How to Ask the Right Question in the Right Way, entrepreneur.com)

The world breaks everyone, and afterward, some are strong at the broken places. Ernest Hemingway

The problem is not to find the answer, it’s to face the answer. Terence McKenna

People spend too much time doing and not enough time thinking about what they should be doing. Naval Ravikant

Unspoken expectations are premeditated resentments. Neil Strauss

You can only see clearly when you close your eyes. Maxime Lagacé

One day you will die. All of this will end. All there is to do is play. James Pierce

Key Takeaways

Conforming is dying. Rebelling is living.
Pain is a gift. It’s a fertilizer for a better life.
Fools have answers. The wise have questions.
Bored? Slow down. Look carefully. Pay attention.
Life is change. But your ego wants certainty. You’ll improve your life by making discomfort your friend.

A few thoughts on deep thinking…

I’ve always been drawn to words that inspire and challenge me to think.

In fact, I started collecting quotes and journaling back in 2004 after I lost my girlfriend in a car accident.

I was in search of answers, and I felt reading the thoughts of people like

was helping me in this process.

Then, I discovered more modern thinkers and writers like Leo Babauta, Shane Parrish, Tim Ferriss, and, more recently, Naval Ravikant.

Through their words, I found some guidance for dealing with my problems and making better decisions.

In sum,

Collecting quotes, journaling, reflecting, and meditating had a big positive effect on my life and my mental health.

And I still have these habits today.

I can’t imagine my life without doing these.

What is your process to reflect and grow?

87 Deep Quotes That Will Make You Think (2025 Update)

Key Takeaways

A few thoughts on deep thinking…

Further Readings

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