Quotes: Dream big
Dreaming big means treating the horizon not as a barrier but as an invitation to expand what seems possible. It is a stance: learning from what came before while allowing inner images to shape action, and cultivating the courage that turns yearning into concrete plans.
Voices on this page — Rachel Boston, Deborah Harkness, Eleanor Roosevelt — explore that stance from angles of optimism, rule‑breaking and steady belief. The running question is clear: does belief in a beautiful future by itself create it, or must one also defy expectations and make the impossible into a route forward?
5 quotes on this theme, each with its source and insight
The quotes
“The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.”
Source: no specific work is documented · Check the source
Disputed attributionWhat we know
- What is documented
- Widely attributed to Eleanor Roosevelt, but quote researchers have not found this exact wording in her authenticated writings; earliest strong matches appear decades after her death.
- What remains uncertain
- The attribution is disputed: evidence ties the line to later printing and proverb-like circulation rather than a specific Roosevelt source.
The line explains why a vivid vision matters: seeing your dreams as beautiful gives purpose and drive to effort. It matches Eleanor Roosevelt’s public themes—hope, duty, human dignity—and today serves as a compact call to turn ideals into action.
“Keep looking up! I learn from the past, dream about the future and look up. There's nothing like a beautiful sunset to end a healthy day.”
Source: no specific work is documented · Check the source
Disputed attributionWhat we know
- What is documented
- Online quotation sites consistently credit Rachel Boston, but searches did not reveal an original book, interview, or dated primary source.
- What remains uncertain
- Attribution is disputed: the phrase is widely recopied on compilation sites without a verifiable primary source.
The line bundles a practical optimism: learn from yesterday, dream about tomorrow, and keep your gaze upward as a habit of hope. Ending the day by noticing a beautiful sunset becomes a small ritual of gratitude that restores perspective.
“You see things, and you say, ‘Why?’ But I dream things that never were, and I say, ‘Why not?’”
Source: Back to Methuselah, Part I, Act I (1921) · Check the source
Verified attributionWhat we know
- What is documented
- The wording appears in Shaw’s Back to Methuselah (1921), spoken by the Serpent in Part I, Act I.
- What remains uncertain
- The widely quoted Kennedy wording is a later paraphrase; many popular versions alter Shaw’s original dramatic phrasing.
Shaw sets ordinary doubt against bold imagination: instead of accepting things as they are, the line urges inventing what doesn't yet exist. It appears in Back to Methuselah (1921) as a dramatic command to embrace possibility and action.
“They did not know it was impossible, so they did it.”
Source: no specific work is documented · Check the source
Disputed attributionWhat we know
- What is documented
- The phrase is widely circulated under Mark Twain’s name, but the available evidence cites secondary quote sites rather than any primary Twain source.
- What remains uncertain
- Attribution is disputed: no verified Twain publication or speech is provided, and the line appears in modern compilations and alternate attributions.
The line celebrates bold action: when ‘impossible’ exists mainly in people’s minds, not in facts, audacity gets results. It fits Mark Twain’s skeptical, witty voice, yet no primary Twain text in the research proves he wrote or said it.
“Impossible is not French.”
Source: no specific work is documented · Check the source
Disputed attributionWhat we know
- What is documented
- The wording appears as a traditional French proverb and is used in Deborah Harkness's The Book of Life, spoken by the character Ysabeau.
- What remains uncertain
- The common link to Napoleon is traditional and later; no decisive contemporary source confirms he coined this exact phrasing.
The line captures a defiant habit of mind: treat the word ‘impossible’ as unacceptable. Deborah Harkness uses it in The Book of Life to shape a character’s voice, but the phrase itself is a traditional proverb long linked—without firm proof—to Napoleon.