Life is not always a bed of roses. Some days you’re happy, and some days you’re sad. But even during the lowest moments of your life, you can pick yourself up by reading a few motivational quotes that will help you get through the day.
According to scientists, motivational quotes promote positive thinking and help improve self-esteem, thereby increasing a person’s overall wellbeing and quality of life. Reading an inspirational quote, especially before starting your work or study, can set the tempo for the rest of your day.
Motivational quotes are helpful when you encounter trials and difficulties in life. They cannot directly solve your problems, but they will motivate you to overcome your struggles through sheer will and effort. Don’t underestimate the power of motivational quotes to defeat whatever challenges you are facing!
The brain is the most powerful and important organ in your body, and when you feed it with these highly motivating quotes, it puts you in a good mood and gives you a positive outlook throughout the day.
You might already know a few motivational quotes that you can immediately put into good use during the difficult times. But if you don’t know a single quote, don’t worry because I’ve compiled 200 memorable quotes and sayings from some of the most famous people in history.
So sit back and enjoy our carefully curated list of motivational and inspirational quotes that will transform you into the best version of yourself. If you like these quotes, don’t forget to bookmark it (just press Ctrl + D) for future reference or share it with your friends and loved ones.
Table of Contents
Quotes About Success
- “Success is not final; failure is not fatal: It is the courage to continue that counts.” – Winston Churchill
- “Develop success from failures. Discouragement and failure are two of the surest stepping stones to success.” – Dale Carnegie
- “Success isn’t always about greatness. It’s about consistency. Consistent hard work leads to success. Greatness will come.” – Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson
- “Success depends upon previous preparation, and without such preparation, there is sure to be failure.” – Confucius
- “The best revenge is massive success.” – Frank Sinatra
- “Success is no accident. It is hard work, perseverance, learning, studying, sacrifice and most of all, love of what you are doing or learning to do.” – Pele
- “Strive not to be a success, but rather to be of value.” – Albert Einstein
- “Success is getting what you want; happiness is wanting what you get.” – W. P. Kinsella
- “The secret of getting ahead is getting started.” – Mark Twain
- “Success is stumbling from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm.” – Winston S. Churchill
- “Success usually comes to those who are too busy to be looking for it.” – Henry David Thoreau
- “The road to success and the road to failure are almost exactly the same.” – Colin R. Davis
- “The only place where success comes before work is in the dictionary.” – Vince Lombardi
- “There is no secret to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure.” – Colin Powell
- “I never dreamed about success. I worked for it.” – Esteé Lauder
- “I’ve missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. Twenty-six times, I’ve been trusted to take the game-winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.” – Michael Jordan
- “I attribute my success to this: I never gave or took any excuse.” – Florence Nightingale
- “Success is not how high you have climbed, but how you make a positive difference to the world.” – Roy T. Bennett
- “The difference between a successful person and others is not a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but rather a lack of will.” – Vince Lombardi
- “Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful.” – Albert Schweitzer
- “Success is not in what you have, but who you are.” – Bo Bennett
- “Success is the sum of small efforts, repeated day in and day out.” – Robert Collier
- “Success is not the absence of failure; it’s the persistence through failure.” – Aisha Tyler
- “Eighty percent of success is showing up.” – Woody Allen
- “To be successful, you must accept all challenges that come your way. You can’t just accept the ones you like.” – Mike Gafka
- “What’s money? A man is a success if he gets up in the morning and goes to bed at night and in between does what he wants to do.” – Bob Dylan
- “Success is a state of mind. If you want success, start thinking of yourself as a success.” – Joyce Brothers
- “I attribute my success to this: I never gave or took any excuse.” – Florence Nightingale
- “Success seems to be connected with action. Successful people keep moving.” – Conrad Hilton
- “If you want to succeed in your life, remember this phrase: That past does not equal the future.” – Tony Robbins
- “To succeed in life, you need two things: ignorance and confidence.” – Mark Twain
- “Success is where preparation and opportunity meet.” – Bobby Unser
- “The secret of success is to do the common thing uncommonly well.” – John D. Rockefeller Jr.
- “The road to success is always under construction.” – Lily Tomlin
- “Success is liking yourself, liking what you do, and liking how you do it.” – Maya Angelou
Quotes About Failure
- “Failure doesn’t mean you are a failure. It just means you haven’t succeeded yet.” – Robert H. Schuller
- “There is no failure except in no longer trying.” – Elbert Hubbard
- “We will fail when we fail to try.” – Rosa Parks
- “It is hard to fail, but it is worse never to have tried to succeed.” – Theodore Roosevelt
- “I don’t believe in failure. It’s not failure if you enjoyed the process.” – Oprah Winfrey
- “Doubt kills more dreams than failure ever will.” – Suzy Kassem
- “Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly.” – Robert F. Kennedy
- “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” – Thomas A. Edison
- “Believe and act as if it were impossible to fail.” – Charles Kettering
- “The road to success and the road to failure are almost exactly the same.” – Colin R. Davis
- “I can accept failure, everyone fails at something. But I can’t accept not trying.” – Michael Jordan
- “Failure will never overtake me if my determination to succeed is strong enough.” – Og Mandino
Quotes About Persistence
- “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
- “Perseverance is not a long race; it is many short races one after the other.” – Walter Elliot
- “Winners never quit, and quitters never win.” – Vince Lombardi
- “It’s hard to beat a person who never gives up.” – Babe Ruth
- “Never give up, for that is just the place and time that the tide will turn.” – Harriet Beecher Stow
- “The difference between the impossible and the possible lies in a person’s determination.” – Tommy Lasorda
- “Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time.” – Thomas Edison
- “Whether you think you can or think you can’t, you’re right.” – Henry Ford
- “Don’t stop when you’re tired, stop when you’re done.” – David Goggins
- “All you need is the plan, the road map, and the courage to press on to your destination.” – Earl Nightingale
- “It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop.” – Confucius
- “Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.” – Confucius
- “Don’t watch the clock; do what it does. Keep going.” – Sam Levenson
- “You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.” – Wayne Gretzky
- “What you lack in talent can be made up with desire, hustle, and giving 110% all the time.” – Don Zimmer
- “The greatest glory in living lies not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.” – Nelson Mandela
- “When you reach the end of your rope, tie a knot in it and hang on.” – Franklin D. Roosevelt
- “When everything seems to be going against you, remember that the airplane takes off against the wind, not with it.” – Henry Ford
- “You will face many defeats in life, but never let yourself be defeated.” – Maya Angelou
- “The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph.” – Thomas Paine
- “Only put off until tomorrow what you are willing to die having left undone.” – Pablo Picasso
- “The most difficult thing is the decision to act, the rest is merely tenacity.” – Amelia Earhart
- “The question isn’t who is going to let me; it’s who is going to stop me.” – Ayn Rand
- “The difference between winning and losing is most often not quitting.” – Walt Disney
- “It’s not whether you get knocked down, it’s whether you get up.” – Vince Lombardi
- “If you’re going through hell, keep going.” – Winston Churchill
Quotes About Goals and Dreams
- “Dream as if you’ll live forever, live as if you’ll die today.” – James Dean
- “Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have imagined.” – Henry David Thoreau
- “All our dreams can come true if we have the courage to pursue them.” – Walt Disney
- “All dreams are within reach. All you have to do is keep moving towards them.” – Viola Davis
- “You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream.” – C.S. Lewis
- “The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.” – Eleanor Roosevelt
- “What you get by achieving your goals is not as important as what you become by achieving your goals.” – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
- “Too many of us are not living our dreams because we are living our fears.” – Les Brown
- “Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
- “If you set your goals ridiculously high and it’s a failure, you will fail above everyone else’s success.” – James Cameron
- “Dream big and dare to fail.” – Norman Vaughan
- “A dream does not become reality through magic; it takes sweat, determination, and hard work.” – Colin Powell
- “Aim for the moon. If you miss, you may hit a star.” – W. Clement Stone
- “What you get by achieving your goals is not as important as what you become by achieving your goals.” – Zig Ziglar
- “Don’t be pushed around by the fears in your mind. Be led by the dreams in your heart.” – Roy T. Bennett
- “To accomplish great things, we must not only act, but also dream; not only plan, but also believe.” – Anatole France
- “The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.” – Lao Tzu
- “You can’t cross the sea merely by standing and staring at the water.” – Rabindranath Tagore
- “Build your own dreams, or someone else will hire you to build theirs.” – Farrah Gray
- “If you are working on something that you really care about, you don’t have to be pushed. The vision pulls you.” – Steve Jobs
Quotes About Opportunity
- “The pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity. The optimist sees opportunity in every difficulty.” – Winston Churchill
- “Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.” – Thomas Edison
- “One secret of success in life is for a man to be ready for his opportunity when it comes.” – Benjamin Disraeli
- “Don’t sit down and wait for the opportunities to come. Get up and make them.” – Madam C.J. Walker
- “In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity.” – Albert Einstein
- “Opportunities don’t happen, you create them.” – Chris Grosser
- “If opportunity doesn’t knock, build a door.” – Milton Berle
Quotes About Happiness
- “Happiness is not by chance, but by choice.” – Jim Rohn
- “Happiness is not something readymade; it comes from your own actions.” – Dalai Lama
- “Not having the best situation, but seeing the best in your situation is the key to happiness.” – Marie Forleo
- “Happiness is not something you postpone for the future; it is something you design for the present.” – Jim Rohn
Quotes About Life
- “Life is 10% what happens to us and 90% how we react to it.” – Charles R. Swindoll
- “Your time is limited, don’t waste it living someone else’s life.” – Steve Jobs
- “Life is either a daring adventure or nothing at all.” – Helen Keller
- “If you look at what you have in life, you’ll always have more.” – Oprah Winfrey
- “Life isn’t about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself.” – George Bernard Shaw
- “Life is what happens when you’re busy making other plans.” – John Lennon
- “If life were predictable it would cease to be life, and be without flavor.” – Eleanor Roosevelt
- “It’s not the years in your life that count. It’s the life in your years.” – Abraham Lincoln
- “Be not afraid of life. Believe that life is worth living, and your belief will help create the fact.” – William James
- “An unexamined life is not worth living.” – Socrates
- “Your life only gets better when you get better.” – Brian Tracy
- “Life is what we make it, always has been, always will be.” – Grandma Moses
- “Do one thing every day that scares you.” – Eleanor Roosevelt
- “Life is 10% what happens to us and 90% how we react to it.” – Charles R. Swindoll
- “Life is a succession of lessons which must be lived to be understood.” – Helen Keller
- “Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated.” – Confucius
- “May you live all the days of your life.” – Jonathan Swift
- “Life is trying things to see if they work.” – Ray Bradbury
- “Life is ours to be spent, not to be saved.” – D. H. Lawrence
- “Keep smiling, because life is a beautiful thing and there’s so much to smile about.” – Marilyn Monroe
- “Life is a long lesson in humility.” – James M. Barrie
- “My mission in life is not merely to survive, but to thrive.” – Maya Angelou
- “In three words I can sum up everything I’ve learned about life: it goes on.” – Robert Frost
- “Love the life you live. Live the life you love.” – Bob Marley
- “Life without love is like a tree without blossoms or fruit.” – Khalil Gibran
- “The purpose of our lives is to be happy.” – Dalai Lama
Quotes for Today
- “The best preparation for tomorrow is doing your best today.” – H. Jackson Brown, Jr.
- “Don’t count the days, make the days count.” – Muhammad Ali
- “The future belongs to those who prepare for it today.” – Malcolm X
- “Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds that you plant.” – Robert Louis Stevenson
- “Change your life today. Don’t gamble on the future, act now, without delay.” – Simone de Beauvoir
- “Don’t let yesterday take up too much of today.” – Will Rogers
- “Today’s accomplishments were yesterday’s impossibilities.” – Robert H. Schuller
- “Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds that you plant.” – Robert Louis Stevenson
More Inspiring Quotes!
- “I can’t change the direction of the wind, but I can adjust my sails to always reach my destination.” – Jimmy Dean
- “Believe you can and you’re halfway there.” – Theodore Roosevelt
- “If my mind can conceive it, if my heart can believe it, then I can achieve it.” – Muhammad Ali
- “Nothing is impossible. The word itself says ‘I’m possible!'” – Audrey Hepburn
- “The people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do.” – Steve Jobs
- “A person who never made a mistake never tried anything new.” – Albert Einstein
- “It is during our darkest moments that we must focus to see the light.” – Aristotle
- “You must do the things you think you cannot do.” – Eleanor Roosevelt
- “There is nothing impossible to they who will try.” – Alexander the Great
- “Keep your face always toward the sunshine, and shadows will fall behind you.” – Walt Whitman
- “It’s always seems impossible until it’s done.” – Nelson Mandela
- “The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now.” – Chinese Proverb
- “Everything you’ve ever wanted is on the other side of fear.” – George Addair
- “The only limit to our realization of tomorrow is our doubts of today.” – Franklin D. Roosevelt
- “Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.” – Theodore Roosevelt
- “The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing.” – Walt Disney
- “To handle yourself, use your head; to handle others, use your heart.” – Eleanor Roosevelt
- “Do not wait to strike till the iron is hot; but make it hot by striking.” – William Butler Yeats
- “The only person you are destined to become is the person you decide to be.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
- “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” – Edmund Burke
- “Act as if what you do makes a difference. It does.” – William James
- “The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing.” – Socrates
- “I think, therefore I am.” – René Descartes
- “To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
- “You must be the change you wish to see in the world.” – Mahatma Gandhi
- “What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
- “Don’t be afraid to give up the good to go for the great.” – John D. Rockefeller
- “Change your thoughts and you change your world.” – Norman Vincent Peale
- “The best way to predict your future is to create it.” – Abraham Lincoln
- “If you want to lift yourself up, lift up someone else.” – Booker T. Washington
- “You change the world by being yourself.” – Yoko Ono
- “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
- “Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it.” – Confucius
- “If I have seen further than others, it is by standing upon the shoulders of giants.” – Isaac Newton
- “I think it is possible for ordinary people to choose to be extraordinary.” – Elon Musk
- “The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched – they must be felt with the heart.” – Helen Keller
- “What we think, we become.” – Buddha
- “The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.” – Mahatma Gandhi
- “If you are not willing to risk the usual, you will have to settle for the ordinary.” – Jim Rohn
- “All progress takes place outside the comfort zone.” – Michael John Bobak
- “Don’t let the fear of losing be greater than the excitement of winning.” – Robert Kiyosaki
- “Keep your eyes on the stars, and your feet on the ground.” – Theodore Roosevelt
- “You have to learn the rules of the game. And then you have to play better than anyone else.” – Albert Einstein
- “I am not a product of my circumstances. I am a product of my decisions.” – Stephen Covey
- “Don’t wait. The time will never be just right.” – Napoleon Hill
- “When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be.” – Lao Tzu
- “Remember that not getting what you want is sometimes a wonderful stroke of luck.” – Dalai Lama
- “I would rather die of passion than of boredom.” – Vincent van Gogh
- “Limitations live only in our minds. But if we use our imaginations, our possibilities become limitless.” – Jamie Paolinetti
- “Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice.” – Steve Jobs
- “You must expect great things of yourself before you can do them.” – Michael Jordan
- “I find that the harder I work, the more luck I seem to have.” – Thomas Jefferson
- “People who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.” – Rob Siltanen
- “A room without books is like a body without a soul.” – Marcus Tullius Cicero
- “You don’t have to be great to start, but you have to start to be great.” – Zig Ziglar
- “Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.” – Benjamin Franklin
- “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” – Franklin D. Roosevelt
- “You can never cross the ocean until you have the courage to lose sight of the shore.” – Christopher Columbus
- “More powerful than the will to win is the courage to begin.” – Orrin Woodward
- “If you want something you’ve never had, you must be willing to do something you’ve never done.” – Thomas Jefferson
- “Better to do something imperfectly than to do nothing flawlessly.” – Robert Schuller
- “Experience is a hard teacher because she gives the test first, the lesson afterwards.” – Vernon Sanders Law
Final Thoughts
Every day presents a new challenge, a new opportunity, and perhaps a new adventure. Start your day right by reading a thought-provoking motivational quote that will energize you and help you win all your battles in life.
I hope that you enjoyed our collection of the best motivational quotes in history. If you really like our quotes, please take the time to share it with your friends and loved ones. God bless!
