What is it about motivational quotes that make them so endearing? Every driven person eventually figures out that there’s a whole lot of feel-good time wasters out there that consume our attention because they feel like work, and browsing endless lists of motivational quotes is no exception. And yet, there’s hidden value in finding a concise expression that perfectly captures one of our own beliefs.
Quotes often feel like our own opinions making a return visit, just heightened by someone with writing talent. And the right quote at the right time can change things—words matter, and motivating phrases can encourage us to get up, take action, ditch the excuses, escape our comfort zone, and do the hard work that needs doing.
Even genuinely successful people show some reverence to a favorite inspirational quote or two—to get through hard times, to remember an important personal principle, or even just to get ready to face the day. In business and life, quotes are short bits of wit and wisdom that are easy to revisit when we need them.
That said, here are a few of our favorite quotes from a wide variety of sources. We hope you find a few you like and can revisit often.
Motivational quotes to start your day
- “You can get everything in life you want if you will just help enough other people get what they want.” —Zig Ziglar
- “Inspiration does exist, but it must find you working.” —Pablo Picasso
- “Don’t settle for average. Bring your best to the moment. Then, whether it fails or succeeds, at least you know you gave all you had.” —Angela Bassett
- “Show up, show up, show up, and after a while the muse shows up, too.” —Isabel Allende
- “Don’t bunt. Aim out of the ballpark. Aim for the company of immortals.” ―David Ogilvy
- “I have stood on a mountain of no’s for one yes.” —Barbara Elaine Smith
- “If you believe something needs to exist, if it’s something you want to use yourself, don’t let anyone ever stop you from doing it.” —Tobias Lütke
The best motivational quotes to inspire action
8. “First forget inspiration. Habit is more dependable. Habit will sustain you whether you’re inspired or not. Habit will help you finish and polish your stories. Inspiration won’t. Habit is persistence in practice.” ―Octavia Butler
9. “The best way out isd always through.” ―Robert
10. “The battles that count aren’t the ones for gold medals. The struggles within yourself—the invisible, inevitable battles inside all of us—that’s where it’s at.” —Jesse Owens
11. “If there is no struggle, there is no progress.” —Frederick Douglass
12. “Someone will declare, “I am the leader!” and expect everyone to get in line and follow him or her to the gates of heaven or hell. My experience is that it doesn’t happen that way. Others follow you based on the quality of your actions rather than the magnitude of your declarations.” ―Bill Walsh
13. “Courage is like a muscle. We strengthen it by use.” —Ruth Gordo
14. “Develop success from failures. Discouragement and failure are two of the surest stepping stones to success.” —Dale Carnegie
15. “Relentlessly prune bullshit, don’t wait to do things that matter, and savor the time you have. That’s what you do when life is short.” —Paul Graham
16. “More is lost by indecision than wrong decision.” —Marcus Tullius Cicero
17. “If the highest aim of a captain were to preserve his ship, he would keep it in port forever.” —Thomas Aquinas
18. “You can be the ripest, juiciest peach in the world, and there’s still going to be somebody who hates peaches.” —Dita Von Teese
19. “Keep a little fire burning; however small, however hidden.” ―Cormac McCarthy
20. “Nothing in the world can take the place of Persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. The slogan ‘Press On’ has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.” —Calvin Coolidge
21. “The only way of discovering the limits of the possible is to venture a little way past them into the impossible.” ―Arthur C. Clarke
22. “Worry is a misuse of imagination.” —Unknown
23. “Courage is the most important of all the virtues because without courage, you can’t practice any other virtue consistently.” ―Maya Angelou
24. “I never look back, darling. It distracts from the now.” —Edna Mode
25. “A year from now you will wish you had started today.” —Unknown
26. “The reason we struggle with insecurity is because we compare our behind-the-scenes with everyone else’s highlight reel.” —Steve Furtick
27. “Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known.” —Carl Sagan
28. “Don’t worry about failure; you only have to be right once.” —Drew Houston
29. “You carry the passport to your own happiness.” —Diane von Furstenberg
30. “Never let success get to your head and never let failure get to your heart.” —Drake
31. “The most difficult thing is the decision to act, the rest is merely tenacity.” —Amelia Earhart
32. “I’d rather regret the things I’ve done than regret the things I haven’t done.” —Lucille Ball
33. “I will not lose, for even in defeat, there’s a valuable lesson learned, so it evens up for me.” —Jay-Z
34. “I do not try to dance better than anyone else. I only try to dance better than myself.” —Arianna Huffington
35. “If you don’t risk anything, you risk even more.” —Erica Jong
36. “I think it’s intoxicating when somebody is so unapologetically who they are.” —Don Cheadle
37. “You can never leave footprints that last if you are always walking on tiptoe.” —Leymah Gbowee
38. “If you don’t like the road you’re walking, start paving another one.” —Dolly Parton
39. “If it makes you nervous, you’re doing it right.” —Childish Gambino
40. “What you do makes a difference, and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make.” —Jane Goodall
41. “I choose to make the rest of my life the best of my life.” —Louise Hay
42. “In order to be irreplaceable one must always be different.” —Coco Chanel
43. “Anything can make me stop and look and wonder, and sometimes learn.” —Kurt Vonnegut
44. “People’s passion and desire for authenticity is strong.” —Constance Wu
45. “A surplus of effort could overcome a deficit of confidence.” —Sonia Sotomayor
46. “Doubt is a killer. You just have to know who you are and what you stand for.” —Jennifer Lopez
47. “There are three ways to ultimate success: The first way is to be kind. The second way is to be kind. The third way is to be kind.” —Mister Rogers
48 “No one changes the world who isn’t obsessed.” —Billie Jean King
49. “I learned a long time ago that there is something worse than missing the goal, and that’s not pulling the trigger.” —Mia Hamm
50. “Some people want it to happen, some wish it would happen, others make it happen.” —Michael Jordan
51. “It is remarkable how much long-term advantage people like us have gotten by trying to be consistently not stupid, instead of trying to be very intelligent.” —Charlie Munger
