It has become a clichéd advice to follow your passion these days.

So today, you’ll find gurus telling you not to follow your passion and play safe even when they themselves are following their passion. They do it just so they can say something different and grab people’s attention.

I’m not saying that they don’t make good points, all I am saying is that we can’t ignore the fact that playing safe is the riskiest option today.

There has never been a better time to follow your passion. The globalization, technology and the internet have made the impossible a reality.

The best part? You’re not in a jail or ruled by a ruler. You are free. You couldn’t have this privilege just a few years ago.

Whether you start a passion project on the side or change your entire career is up to you and your risk tolerance. But you must start somewhere. Just like they say about making investments.

Take the first step. Today. If you need a little push, I’ve got just the right passion quotes for you that I promise will move you to the core.

1. Never leave your true path

“No good can ever come from deviating from the path that you were destined to follow.” Robert Greene

It doesn’t matter if you believe in destiny or not, life is easier when you create your own destiny and follow it wholeheartedly.

2. Live bigger

“There is no passion to be found playing small — in settling for a life that is less than the one you are capable of living.” Nelson Mandela

Demand more from yourself because you’re capable of much more than you can ever imagine. You owe it not only to yourself but to the whole world.

3. Passion isn’t euphoria

“Passion has little to do with euphoria and everything to do with patience. It is not about feeling good. It is about endurance. Like patience, passion comes from the same Latin root: pati. It does not mean to flow with exuberance. It means to suffer.” Mark Z. Danielewski

Passion is not a motivation boost. It’s a combination of enthusiasm and persistence for which you’re willing to suffer for — because you love it so much.

4. Put your soul on fire

“The most powerful weapon on earth is the human soul on fire.” Ferdinand Foch

Put a human soul on fire and nothing can stop them from achieving what they set their mind onto. But the fire only lights up when you start to believe you can achieve it.

5. Honor your calling

“If you really want to fly, harness your power to your passion. Honor your calling. Everybody has one. Trust your heart, and success will come to you.” Oprah Winfrey

If you don’t honor your calling, life will never reward you with the gift of knowing how it feels like to live on a path of passion and purpose. It’s the greatest feeling of all.

6. Love what you do

“If you don’t love what you do, you won’t do it with much conviction or passion.” Mia Hamm

Whatever you do, make sure you align your heart with the task. Loving what you do is crucial to living a passionate life.

7. Everything will fall into place

“Pursue your passion, and everything else will fall into place. This is not being romantic. This is the highest order of pragmatism.” Gabby Giffords

People often claim that following your passion is stupid. But I’ve never heard a man who said: “I wish had not followed my passion”. Because even when they fail, they get closer to what they were meant to do.

8. Be loyal to your soul

“It is the soul’s duty to be loyal to its own desires. It must abandon itself to its master passion.” Dame Rebecca West

Stay loyal to your heart and it will never do you wrong in the long-term. But if you betray your heart for short-term pleasure or comfort, it will devoid you of life’s ultimate gift.

9. Dream bigger

“Follow your passion, be prepared to work hard and sacrifice, and, above all, don’t let anyone limit your dreams.” Donovan Bailey

Don’t put a cap on your dreams. Letting go of the boundaries you enforce upon yourself will set you free to pursue the bigger dreams.

10. Explore. Dream. Discover

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” Mark Twain

Explore, dream, discover – Mark Twain pretty much sums up how to live an epic life. Imagine yourself twenty years from now - would you rather stay in the same place in life or would you be living the life of your dreams?

11. Find your why

“The two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why.” Mark Twain

Your birth is the first magical event that happens because that’s when a limitless potential is born. But only a few people experience the second magical event of life when one finds out and creates their life purpose.

12. You have nothing to lose

“Almost everything–all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure–these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.” Steve Jobs

We all know we’ll die one day. But the sad reality is that most people’s soul dies much before their body does. You have nothing else to lose when you lose your soul.

13. Keep looking

“The only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle.” Steve Jobs

Doing great work is directly proportional to the degree to which you love the task itself. If you haven’t found your love yet, it doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist.

14. Follow your own passion

“Follow your own passion — not your parents’, not your teachers’ — yours. Robert Ballard

Your parents may have their dreams of how your life should look like. But that’s not your dream. It can be tempting to please your parents, but please don’t sacrifice your life for them. If they love you, they’ll understand because they’ll want your happiness more than anything else.

15. Do the inner work

“A creator is vision-focused and passion-motivated. To really live into your creator self, you are called to do the inner work necessary to find your own sense of purpose — whatever touches your heart and holds meaning for you.” David Emerald

The inner work is a necessity to create your vision and find your passion. For that, you need to get in touch with yourself by spending alone time with yourself.

16. Stop wishing, start doing

“If you feel like there’s something out there that you’re supposed to be doing, if you have a passion for it, then stop wishing and just do it.” Wanda Sykes

Just do it seems like common sense advice. But how often do we do that? Don’t stay in analysis paralysis. Start and do something — anything. And have the faith that you’ll figure it out along the way.

17. You can become great

“We may affirm that absolutely nothing great in the world has been accomplished without passion.” Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel

We like to preach to the people who’ve done great things. What we don’t realize is that we ourselves are capable of accomplishing great things if only we do our job with immense passion.

18. Enthusiasm is the secret

“Enthusiasm is one of the most powerful engines of success. When you do a thing, do it with all your might. Put your whole soul into it. Stamp it with your own personality. Be active, be energetic, be enthusiastic and faithful, and you will accomplish your object. Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm. Ralph Waldo Emerson

How many people can you recall who did great things without enthusiasm for their work? Enthusiasm is the fuel you need to power up the greatness within you.

19. Curiosity beats talent

“I have no special talents. I am only passionately curious.” Albert Einstein

You don’t need talent because human curiosity is a powerful force. It can lead you to places you never imagined and make you accomplish the things you never thought you were capable of. Start asking - what if?

20. What you seek is within you

“Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world.” Harriet Tubman

You’re given this life to dream. As a dreamer, your duty is to make them a reality or die striving for them. So what is it that you dream, oh dreamer?

21. Passion will pull you up

“If you have a strong purpose in life, you don’t have to be pushed. Your passion will drive you there.” Roy T. Bennett

You don’t need external motivation when you’re driven with the intrinsic motivation to live your life’s purpose. The love and passion are enough to take you to extreme heights.

22. Passion is the cure

“When you have a big enough dream, you don’t need a crisis.” Jerry Wesch

A lot of us stay distracted by the drama of everyday life. But if you’ll notice the people who are living their passion, you’ll find they rarely get troubled by the things that don’t matter.

23. Redefine your priorities

“Nothing is as important as passion. No matter what you want to do with your life, be passionate.” Jon Bon Jovi

Prioritize your passionate work. No one else will do it for you. That’s what you’re here for, after all. Look at your calendar — is your passion your top priority?

24. Burst the fear bubble

“Too many of us are not living our dreams because we are living our fears.” Les Brown

If you’re already living your nightmare, what else do you have to lose? The life of your dreams is on the other side of the illusion of fear.

25. Make hard choices

“Hard choices, easy life. Easy choices, hard life. Nothing truly meaningful or lasting has ever been created in a short period of time. If you learn the story behind any great success, you realize how many years went by and how many hard choices were made to achieve it. Reaching for more is not only an act of ambition, it also comes from passion and love. Nothing is achieved because of easy choices.” Jerzy Gregory

The most important decisions of your life are the paths you pick to travel. Most people travel on the wrong paths because they prefer to choose the safest route. It requires courage to pick your own path. So take fear as a sign that you’re onto something great.

Following your passion isn’t that simple…

Following your passion is a tricky game. You need a balance of intuition and reason to find the right path for you. If you listen too much to your intuition, it can lead you to make stupid decisions. On the other hand, thinking too rationally and reasonably can influence you to make such a deliberate decision that it can become your soul’s death sentence.

If you’re struggling to find your passion, the workbook below can help you answer the right questions to get you started on your path.