Present Over Perfect quotes are many shades of deep.
They come to light when you can empathize with the author, Shauna Niequist, who wrote this one from a place of brokenness that she unknowingly put herself in and now searches the deepest parts of her being, her soul, for solutions.
Whether you are a fan of Shauna Niequist quotes, a sucker for sweet quotes, or haven’t read the Present Over Perfect book, there is something for you.
Present over Perfect Meaning
Present over perfect is a way of living that involves showing up, taking in the world as it comes, and responding duly rather than committing lots of energy and effort into recreating and maintaining a non-existent perfect world or image.
Shauna puts her knowledge of this practice into writing by authoring Present Over Perfect: Leaving Behind Frantic for a Simpler, More Soulful Way of Living. Across multiple themes in Present Over Perfect, Shauna shares insight into this lifestyle and extends an invitation to her readers, to join her on this journey.
About Present over Perfect book, she says, ‘This book is an account of my winding, messy journey from exhaustion to peace, from isolation to connection, from hustling and multitasking to sacred presence.”
Selection Criteria for the most loved present over perfect quotes
With Shauna’s style of writing adopted in this piece, every single sentence could easily be a hit.
So we decided to narrow down not to the best of the best, but to quotes most loved and likely to be loved by readers.
Here are the factors we considered for choosing the deepest, most loved present over perfect quotes.
1. Love and value:
We value what we love. Some of the Present Over Perfect quotes on this page are what mattered most to readers. When they were called upon to leave a commentary about the book, some of these quotes could not be left out.
2. Engagement
As humans, we express our love for the things we value. On this page are Present Over Perfect quotes that receive high engagement across the web and social media in form of searches, shares, saves, and likes. If people love them, there is a good chance you’ll love them too.
3. Functionality.
I also looked at how usable the present over perfect quotes were. The ones that had high usability made the cut. So if you were ever in any of the following positions, you know where to look;
- Someone sees you reading the book and says, “Hit me”
- You’ve read the book before and you want to enjoy the experience again without reading the entire book.
- Haven’t read the book before and you want a taste before you buy it.
- Creator looking for some inspiration. (If you can, do link to us🙂)
- If you need ideas for quotes of the day for your journal.
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21 most loved present over perfect quotes
Below are the most loved present over perfect quotes in no particular order.
1. Limits on the good keep them good
The very thing that makes you you, that makes you great, that makes you different from everyone else is also the thing that, unchecked, will ruin you.
2. More work; reward for hard work
When you devote yourself to being known as the most responsible person anyone knows, more and more people call on you to be that highly responsible person.
3. Draw boundaries
If you’re not careful with your yeses, you’ll start to say no to some very important things without even realizing it.
4. the true soul’s need
What you need along the way: a sense of God’s deep, unconditional love, and a strong sense of your own purpose.
5. Tune down
The more I listen to myself, my body, my feelings, and the less I listen to the “should” and “must” and “to-do” voices, the more I realize my body and spirit have been whispering all along, but I couldn’t hear them over the chaos and noise of the life I’d created.
6. “This tickles” – Soul
I’m learning to do is to play—essentially, to purposely waste time. Strategically avoid strategy, for five minutes at a time. Intentionally not be intentional about every second. Have no purpose—on purpose.
7. Search in the right direction
That rush of love never did come, until now. Until I realized that the love I was looking for all along is never found in the hustle. You can’t prove it or earn it or compete for it. You can just make space for it, listen for it, travel all the way down to the depth of your soul, into the rhythmic beating of your very own heart, where the very spirit of God has made his home, and that’s where you’ll find it.
8. Unmasking the idol
What do you need to leave behind in order to recover that essential self that God created? What do you need to walk away from in order to reclaim those parts of you that God designed, unique to you and for his purposes?
9. It’s yours, Own it
“The world will tell you how to live if you let it. Don’t let it. Take up your space. Raise your voice. Sing your song. This is your chance to make or remake a life that thrills you.”
10. The soul’s friend and foe
“What kills a soul? Exhaustion, secret keeping, image management.
And what brings a soul back from the dead? Honesty, connection, grace”
11. Be
“Present is living with your feet firmly grounded in reality, pale and uncertain as it may seem. Present is choosing to believe that your own life is worth investing deeply in, instead of waiting for some rare miracle or fairytale. Present means we understand that the here and now is sacred, sacramental, threaded through with divinity even in its plainness. Especially in its plainness.”
12. Where true meaning lies
“But this is what I’ve learned the hard way: what people think about you means nothing in comparison to what you believe about yourself.”
13. Unlicensed Chemist in denial
You can make a drug—a way to anesthetize yourself— out of anything: working out, binge-watching TV, working, having sex, shopping, volunteering, cleaning, dieting. Any of those things can keep you from feeling pain for a while— that’s what drugs do.
14. More isn’t always more
“How we live matters, and what you choose to own will shape your life, whether you choose to admit it or not. Let’s live lightly, freely, courageously, surrounded only by what brings joy, simplicity, and beauty.”
15. What is and what isn’t
“Present over perfect is about rejecting the myth that every day is a new opportunity to prove our worth, and about the truth that our worth is inherent, given by God, not earned by our hustling.”
16. Find Home then choose it.
“It is better to be loved than admired. It is better to be truly known and seen and taken care of by a small tribe than adored by strangers who think they know you in a meaningful way.”
17. Ridiculous but Painful
“I don’t want to get to the end of my life and look back and realize that the best thing about me was I was organized.”
18. Another face of bravery
“Brave doesn’t always involve grand gestures, sometimes brave looks like staying when you want to leave, telling the truth when all you want to do is change the subject… sometimes brave looks like boring, and that’s totally, absolutely, okay.”
19. Can’t please them all
We disappoint people because we’re limited. We have to accept the idea of our own limitations in order to accept the idea that we’ll disappoint people
20. Faith failure
Because now when I step out of that boat, I’m starting to see a man with love in his eyes, a man who will rescue and rescue and rescue, and then bring me to safety, despite my faithlessness, despite my failure.
21. The Comparison Quote
I will not waste one more day trapped in comparison, competition, proving, and earning. That’s the currency of a culture that has nothing to offer me.
22. your true Amigos
Draw close to people who honor your no, who cheer you on for telling the truth, who value your growth more than they value their own needs getting met or their own pathologies celebrated.
23. Be just that.
Christians have made too much out of work in the same way that Americans have begun engaging in yoga competitions—twisted-up versions of a purer thing…Christians want to make a difference. So we do, and we do, and we do, and then we find ourselves exhausted…Again, the fault lies not with the tradition but with the perversion of it, and with the Christian herself—in this case, of course, me.
God’s asking me to be the thing he’s already created me to be. And he’s asking you to be the thing he’s already created for you to be.
There you go. Over 20 deep and lovely Present Over Perfect quotes at your disposal.
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