50 Reflection Prompts (and Why We Skipped the Usual Quote List)

Lists of inspirational quotes are everywhere. Unfortunately, many of them are wrong. Lines are routinely credited to Einstein, Gandhi, Mark Twain, Abraham Lincoln or Maya Angelou that they never said, or said very differently. Researchers such as Garson O'Toole, who runs the Quote Investigator website, have traced hundreds of popular quotes and found many to be misattributed, paraphrased beyond recognition or invented.

So instead of fifty quotes we can't vouch for, here are a few classic lines with their real sources, followed by fifty reflection prompts. Prompts have an advantage: they ask you to think, rather than just nod along.

A few well-sourced classics

• "The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation." Henry David Thoreau, Walden (1854).
• "Trust thyself: every heart vibrates to that iron string." Ralph Waldo Emerson, "Self-Reliance" (1841).
• "This above all: to thine own self be true." Polonius, in William Shakespeare's Hamlet, Act 1, Scene 3.
• "No man is an island, entire of itself." John Donne, Devotions upon Emergent Occasions (1624).
• The idea that the unexamined life is not worth living is attributed to Socrates in Plato's Apology.

How to use the prompts

Choose one prompt a day and write for five to ten minutes. Don't edit; just write. You can also use them as conversation starters with a partner or friend, or as journaling topics during a weekly review.

Self-knowledge

1. When do I feel most like myself?
2. What are three things I believe that most people around me don't?
3. What do I pretend to care about that I don't really care about?
4. What compliment do I find hardest to accept, and why?
5. What did I love doing as a child that I've stopped doing?
6. What am I most curious about right now?
7. What does a good day look like for me?
8. What would I like to be known for?
9. What am I tolerating that I'd rather not?
10. What drains my energy most reliably?

Purpose and values

11. What would I do with my time if money weren't an issue?
12. Which of my values is most neglected right now?
13. What problem in the world do I most wish I could help solve?
14. What work makes me lose track of time?
15. What would I regret not trying?
16. Who do I admire, and what quality do they have that I want?
17. What am I working towards, and why?
18. When did I last feel truly proud of myself?
19. What do I want more of in the next year? Less of?
20. If my life were a book, what would this chapter be called?

Relationships

21. Who do I want to spend more time with?
22. Who has helped me recently, and have I thanked them?
23. What do I need from the people closest to me that I haven't asked for?
24. Is there someone I need to forgive?
25. What kind of friend am I?
26. When do I feel most connected to others?
27. What conversation am I avoiding?
28. Who brings out the best in me?
29. How do I show love, and how do I like to receive it?
30. What relationship would I like to repair?

Growth and challenge

31. What am I afraid of, and what would I do if I weren't?
32. What mistake taught me the most?
33. What's one skill I'd love to learn?
34. Where am I playing it safe?
35. What's the smallest step I could take towards a big goal?
36. What am I making more complicated than it needs to be?
37. What habit would most improve my life?
38. What did I learn this week?
39. What would I do differently if I could relive the past year?
40. What am I ready to let go of?

Gratitude and presence

41. What am I grateful for today that I usually overlook?
42. What made me smile today?
43. What's one beautiful thing I noticed this week?
44. What small pleasure do I want to enjoy more often?
45. Who made my life easier this week?
46. What's going well right now?
47. What do I have now that I once wished for?
48. When did I last feel completely present?
49. What's one thing I'm looking forward to?
50. What do I want to remember about today?

More prompts

If you enjoy these, there are fifty more reflection prompts organised around different themes. You can also keep your answers in a notebook or the gratitude journal.

Checking a quote before you share it

If you do share quotes, a quick check helps: search for the exact wording plus the person's name and "quote investigator", or look for the original source (a book, speech or letter). If you can't find one, it's safer to say "often attributed to" or skip it.

Related: "our deepest fear": where the famous passage comes from and something to think about: self-reliance.

Sources and further reading

• Quote Investigator
• Henry David Thoreau, Walden (Project Gutenberg)
• Ralph Waldo Emerson, Essays: First Series, including Self-Reliance (Project Gutenberg)