Inspirational quotes have been all the range for some time now. But do they really work? Whether itβs a sentiment that echoes how you try to live your life or just the right words at the right time, motivational quotes can have a dramatic influence on your mood and drive to succeed.
The way you think and feel about yourself, your goals and expectations for the future, and how you interact with the world around you can all have a massive effect on your success (or failure). Thatβs why you see so many famous quotes about life, love, and success repeated time and time again.
Below, weβre going to look at 130 of the best quotes of all time. These memorable quotes are from a plethora of sources, from famous historical figures to poets, celebrities, and more.
No matter whatβs going on in your life right now, weβre sure these classic quotes will have you feeling inspired, motivated, and understood; so you can take your next steps to success.
E-stores are going to make the big bucks this year.
You can do it too.
You can do it too.
Show me how
Getting Started
Sometimes, the hardest thing in life is simply to take the first step. As Neil Armstrongβs famous quote goes: βitβs one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.β Just like walking on the moon, you can achieve anything once you get started.
But when it all feels a bit overwhelming, here are some of the best quotes of all time to put you in the mood for taking that first giant leap:
1.βThe secret of getting ahead is getting startedβ β Mark Twain
2.βThe only impossible journey is the one you never beginβ β Tony Robbins
3.βThe best way to get started is to quit talking and begin doingβ β Walt Disney
4.βWhen you know what you want, and want it bad enough, youβll find a way to get itβ β Jim Rohn
5.βGo confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have imaginedβ β Henry David Thoreau
6.βTake action. An inch of movement will bring you closer to your goals than a mile of intentionβ β Steve Maraboli
7.βNever let the fear of striking out keep you from playing the gameβ β Babe Ruth
8.βKnowing is not enough; we must apply. Wishing is not enough; we must doβ β Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
9.βDonβt be afraid to give up the good for the greatβ β John D. Rockefeller
10.βIf you genuinely want something, donβt wait for it β teach yourself to be impatientβ β Gurbaksh Chahal
11.βThe most difficult thing is the decision to act; the rest is merely tenacityβ β Amelia Earhart
12.βYou donβt have to be great to start, but you have to start to be greatβ β Zig Ziglar
13.βYou miss 100% of the shots you donβt takeβ β Wayne Gretzky
14.βTwenty years from now, you will be more disappointed by the things that you didnβt 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.β - Mark Twain
15.βEverything youβve ever wanted is on the other side of fearβ β George Addair
Believing in yourself
When pressure is mounting from every angle, it can be tough to keep believing in yourself. Whether youβve had a recent knockdown or are getting started in a new endeavor, these famous quotes are sure to help you believe that you can do anything you put your mind to.
16.βDecide what you want. Believe you can have it. Believe you deserve it and believe itβs possible for youβ β Jack Canfield
17.βI believe that the only courage anybody ever needs is the courage to follow your dreamsβ β Oprah Winfrey
18.βWhatever the mind of man can conceive and believe, it can achieveβ β Napoleon Hill
19.βThe only limit to our realization of tomorrow will be our doubts of todayβ β Franklin D. Roosevelt
20.βIf you can dream it, you can achieve it. You will get all you want in life if you help enough other people get what they want.β β Zig Ziglar
21.βWhether you think you can or think you canβt, youβre rightβ β Henry Ford
22.βMagic is believing in yourself; if you can do that, you can make anything happenβ β Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
23.βBelieve in yourself. You are braver than you think, more talented than you know, and capable of more than you imagineβ β Roy T. Bennett
24.βBelieve you can, and youβre halfway thereβ β Theodore Roosevelt
25.βThere are no limits to what you can accomplish, except the limits you place on your own thinkingβ β Brian Tracy
26.βAll our dreams will come true if we have the courage to pursue themβ β Walt Disney
Fear
Fear is the primary reason people fail, or even donβt start something in the first place. But living your life in fear will only cause disappointment in the long run. After all, βwe miss 100% of the shots we donβt take,β so donβt let fear stop you from taking your shot.
27. βWe generate fears while we sit. We overcome them by actionβ β Dr. Henry Link
28. βToo many of us are not living our dreams because we are living our fearsβ β Les Brown
29. βI have learned over the years that when oneβs mind is made up, this diminishes fearβ β Rosa Parks
Change
Change can be tricky, even if it was a change you thought you wanted at the time. Whether youβre changing careers, moving house, dealing with kids, struggling with grief, or starting a new relationship, these motivational quotes for life will help you deal with all of lifeβs twists and changes.
30. βBelieve you can, and youβre halfway thereβ β Theodore Roosevelt
31. βAll our dreams will come true, if we have the courage to pursue themβ β Walt Disney
32. βThe secret of change is to focus all of your energy, not on fighting the old, but on building the newβ β Socrates
33. βIf you donβt like something, change it. If you canβt change it, change your attitude.β β Mary Angelou
34. βYour mind is a powerful thing. When you fill it with positive thoughts, your life will start to changeβ β Gautama Buddha
35. βA bad attitude is like a flat tire; if you donβt change it, you wonβt go anywhereβ β Joyce Meyer
36. βWe are all here for some special reason. Stop being a prisoner of your past. Become the architect of your futureβ β Robin Sharma
37. βYouβll never change your life until you change something you do daily. The secret of your success is found in your daily routineβ β John C. Maxwell
Goals
As Benjamin Franklin once said, βfailing to prepare is preparing to fail.β Without clearly defined goals to work towards, weβre all just drifting in the ocean. If you need some more incentives to set and achieve everything youβve ever dreamed of, here are some of the best inspirational quotes to help kick start your goal-achievements and best life ever.
38. βThe future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreamsβ β Eleanor Roosevelt
39. βDream big and dare to failβ β Norman Vaughan
40. βSetting goals is the first step in turning the invisible into the visibleβ β Tony Robbins
41. βImagine your life is perfect in every respect; what would it look like?β β Brian Tracy
42. βI think goals should never be easy; they should force you to work, even if they are uncomfortable at the timeβ β Michael Phelps
43. βPeople who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who doβ β Rob Siltanen
44. βYou have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself in any direction you chooseβ β Dr. Seuss
45. βWhatever the mind can conceive and believe, it can achieveβ β Napoleon Hill
46. βFirst, have a definite, clear, practical ideal; a goal, an objective. Second, have the necessary means to achieve your ends; wisdom, money, materials, and methods. Third, adjust all your means to that endβ β Aristotle
47. βIf you set your goals ridiculously high and itβs a failure, you will fail above everyone elseβs successβ β James Cameron
48. βYou are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dreamβ β C.S. Lewis
49. βDreaming, after all, is a form of planningβ β Gloria Steinem
Success
Once youβve set your goals, striving for success is vital. There may be setbacks along the way, but these quotes from famous people will help you understand what sets them apart from everyone else and how you, too, can achieve success.
50. βDonβt wish it were easier. Wish you were better.β β Jim Rohn
51. βAlways bear in mind that your own resolution to success is more important than any other one thingβ β Abraham Lincoln
52. βI find that the harder I work, the more luck I seem to haveβ β Thomas Jefferson
53. βI never dreamed about success; I worked for itβ β Estee Lauder
54. βFor every reason itβs not possible, there are hundreds of people who have faced the same circ*mstances and succeededβ β Jack Canfield
55. βSuccess is walking from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasmβ β Winston Churchill
56. βI attribute my success to this: I never gave or took any excuseβ β Florence Nightingale
57. βSuccess usually comes to those who are too busy to be looking for itβ β Henry David Thoreau
58. βTodayβs accomplishments were yesterdayβs impossibilitiesβ β Robert H. Schuller
59. βIf you look really closely, most overnight successes took a long timeβ β Steve Jobs
60. βWhen you want to succeed as bad as you want to breathe, then youβll be successfulβ β Eric Thomas
61. βThings work out the best for those who make the best of how things work outβ β John Wooden
62. βPeople who succeed have momentum. The more they succeed, the more they want to succeed, and the more they find a way to succeed. Similarly, when someone is failing, the tendency is to get on a downward spiral that can even become a self-fulfilling prophecyβ β Tony Robbins
63. βThere are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failureβ β Colin Powell
64. βSuccess is a personal standard, reaching for the highest that is in us, becoming all we can beβ β Zig Ziglar
65. βThe road to success and the road to failure are almost exactly the sameβ β Colin R. Davis
66. βDonβt be distracted by criticism. Remember β the only taste of success some people get is to take a bite out of youβ β Zig Ziglar
67. βSuccess is not final; failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that countsβ β Winston S. Churchill
Failure
As you strive for success, you will inevitably face some setbacks along the way. No βovernight successβ is truly overnight (as youβll discover in one of these top quotes). Itβs how you deal with failure, however, that will set you up for true success and happiness in life.
68. βOur greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fallβ β Confucius
69. βYou will face many defeats in life, but never let yourself be defeatedβ β Maya Angelou
70. βYou may be disappointed if you fail, but you are doomed if you donβt tryβ β Beverly Sills
71. βFailure will never overtake me if my determination to succeed is strong enoughβ β Og Mandino
72. βYou learn more from failure than from success. Donβt let it stop you. Failure builds characterβ β Unknown
73. βItβs not whether you get knocked down, itβs whether you get upβ β Vince Lombardi
74. βItβs during our darkest moments that we must focus to see the lightβ β Aristotle
75. βMany of lifeβs failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave upβ β Thomas A. Edison
Motivation
Whether youβre dealing with failure or seemingly endless challenges are getting a bit much, we all need some extra motivation from time to time. These famous motivational quotes will help keep you on track and inspired, even when things feel impossible.
76. βWhat you lack in talent can be made up with desire, hustle, and giving 110% all the timeβ β Don Zimmer
77. βDonβt let what you cannot do interfere with what you can doβ β John Wooden
78. βNothing is impossible, the world itself says, βIβm possible!ββ β Audrey Hepburn
79. βThe question isnβt who is going to let me; itβs who is going to stop me?β β Ayn Rand
80. βWinning isnβt everything, but wanting to win isβ β Vince Lombardi
81. βIt does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stopβ β Confucius
82. βWhen everything seems to be going against you, remember that the airplane takes off against the wind, not with itβ β Henry Ford
83. βI alone cannot change the world, but I can cast a stone across the water to create many ripplesβ β Mother Teresa
Purpose
It can be tricky to find your βpurpose.β Your reason for being. But even if youβve not found it yet, donβt be disheartened! Many incredibly successful and famous people didnβt find their calling until later in life.
Remember, Stan Lee didnβt publish his first comic book until he was 38, Alan Rickman βmade itβ when he was 42, Bob Ross was 41 before he became βeveryoneβs favorite painting teacher, Morgan Freeman was 50 years old before he landed his first big break, and JK Rowling was 32 when she put pen to paper and wrote the best-selling book series in history. The moral of these stories? βItβs never too late to be what you might have been.β
84. βThe two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out whyβ β Mark Twain
85. βWhen you stop chasing the wrong things, you give the right things a chance to catch youβ β Lolly Daskal
86. βDecide upon your major definite purpose in life and then organize all your activities around it.β β Brain Tracy
87. βThe only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you havenβt found it yet, keep looking. Donβt settleβ β Steve Jobs.
88. βIt is never too late to be what you might have beenβ β George Eliot
Being yourself
It can be tough to be yourself sometimes. After all, what does that even mean? But as Oscar Wilde once famously said, βBe yourself, everyone else is taken.β
89. βThe only person you are destined to become is the person you decide to beβ β Ralph Waldo Emerson
90. βAlways stay true to yourself and never let what somebody else says distract you from your goalsβ β Michelle Obama
91. βAlways remember that you are absolutely unique. Just like everyone elseβ β Margaret Mead
92. βYour time is limited, so donβt waste it living someone elseβs lifeβ β Steve Jobs
93. βBe yourself, everyone else is already takenβ β Oscar Wilde
94. βYou have to be odd to be number oneβ β Dr. Seuss
Self-improvement
While itβs vital to be yourself, that doesnβt mean you canβt be the best version of you that you can be. These famous quotes from famous people are all about how you can improve yourself and your life. From having more confidence to staying positive, these truly are words to live by.
95. βThe man who has confidence in himself gains the confidence of othersβ β Hasidic Proverb
96. βTry not to become a person of success, but rather, try to become a person of valueβ β Albert Einstein
97. βIf you cannot do great things, do small things in a great wayβ β Napoleon Hill
98. βWe are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habitβ β Aristotle
99. βGo the extra mile, thereβs no-one on itβ β Grant Cardone
100. βDonβt judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds that you plantβ β Robert Louis Stevenson
101. βKeep your face always toward the sunshine and shadows will fall behind youβ β Walt Whitman
102. βThe pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity. The optimist sees opportunity in every difficultyβ β Winston Churchill
103. βNo-one can make you feel inferior without your consentβ β Eleanor Roosevelt
104. βI cam not a product of my circ*mstances. I am a product of my decisionsβ β Stephen Covey
105. βAlways do your best. What you plant now, you will harvest laterβ β Og Mandino
106. βWhen you reach the end of your rope, tie a knot in it and hang onβ β Franklin D. Roosevelt
Gratitude
Being grateful offers all sorts of benefits to our physical and mental health. You can practice gratitude in your daily life by writing a gratitude journal, practicing mindfulness, or following a guided gratitude meditation⦠But really, it comes down to appreciating the good in your life and all the amazing things others do for you.
Take some time to think about what you have to be grateful for, and donβt forget to thank the important (and even not-so-important) people genuinely and at every opportunity.
107. βGratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all othersβ β Cicero
108.βDevelop an βAttitude of gratitude.β Say thank you to everyone you meet for everything they do for youβ β Brain Tracy
109.βIf you look at what you have in life, youβll always have more. If you look at what you donβt have in life, youβll never have enoughβ β Oprah Winfrey
Creativity
You might think success is all about working hard no matter what, but without creativity, how can you expect your ideas to flourish? These inspirational quotes from famous people throughout history explain the importance of expressing your creativity in everything you do.
110.βCreativity is intelligence having funβ β Albert Einstein
111.βThe best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched β they must be felt with the heartβ β Helen Keller
112.βIt is better to fail in originality than to succeed in imitationβ β Herman Melville
Life
Life can be tough sometimes. But no matter how difficult things get, we must never forget that itβs also beautiful and a great gift to be alive! These inspirational quotes about life and all its ups and downs are some of our favorite motivational sayings and always help us feel better when things feel a little out of control.
113.βDonβt let yesterday take up too much of todayβ β Will Rogers
114.βIf life were predictable, it would cease to be life, and be without flavorβ β Eleanor Roosevelt
115.βLife is never fair. And perhaps it is a good thing for most of us that it is notβ β Oscar Wilde
116.βLife is what happens when youβre busy making other plansβ β John Lennon
117.βIn the end, itβs not the years in your life that count. Itβs the life in your yearsβ β Abraham Lincoln
118.βYou only live once. But if you do it right, once is enoughβ β Mae West
119.βLife is either a daring adventure or nothing at allβ β Helen Keller
120.βLife is 10% what happens to me and 90% of how I react to itβ β Charles Swindoll
121.βLive in the sunshine, swim the sea, drink the wild airβ β Ralph Waldo Emerson
122.βDo not let making a living prevent you from making a lifeβ β John Wooden
123.βLife is ours to be spent, not to be savedβ β D. H. Lawrence
124.βIf youβre offered a seat on a rocket ship, donβt ask what seat! Just get onβ β Sheryl Sandberg
125.βIn three words, I can sum up everything Iβve learned about life: it goes onβ - Robert Frost
Happiness and love
One of our favorite quotes to live by comes from Mother Teresa. As you can imagine, her meaningful quotes have been well repeated throughout history, but we think this one sums up this collection of motivational quotes perfectly: βIn this life, we cannot do great things. We can only do small things with great love.β
Or, in other well quoted words: βLive. Laugh. Love.β At every opportunity.
126.βWhoever is happy will make others happy tooβ β Anne Frank
127.βSpread love everywhere you go. Let no one ever come to you without leaving happierβ β Mother Teresa
128.βThe purpose of our lives is to be happyβ β Dalai Lama
129.βI would rather die of passion than of boredomβ β Vincent van Gogh
130.βKeep smiling, because life is a beautiful thing and thereβs so much to smile aboutβ β Marilyn Monroe
The best motivational quotes of all time: quotes to leave you with
Before we go, we wanted to leave you with four bonus quotes. These sayings are ones we try to incorporate into our everyday lives and hope that youβll reap the benefits of them too.
1. βGo confidently in the direction of your dreams! Live the life youβve imaginedβ β Henry David Thoreau
2.βLove the life you live. Live the life you loveβ β Bob Marley
3. βThe real test is not whether you avoid this failure, because you wonβt. Itβs whether you let it harden or shame you into inaction, or whether you learn from it; whether you choose to persevereβ β Barack Obama
4.βLife itself is the most wonderful fairy taleβ β Hans Christian Anderson
We hope these quotes have helped you feel motivated and inspired to go on and live your best life. Perhaps youβll take your favourites and add them to your wallpaper, smartphone, or print them to hang in your bedroom and give you a little boost when you need it most. Or just come back to this page for a pick me up whenever times are tough.
FAQ
What is the most famous quote ever?
There are so many famous quotes it can be tough to figure out which is the most famous. However, these three everyday sayings could be among the most commonly repeated quotes that you might not even realise were said by well-known individuals.
- βFortune favors the boldβ β Virgil
- βTime is moneyβ β Benjamin Franklin
βWhen life gives you lemons, made lemonadeβ- Elbert Hubbard
What is the most inspiring quote ever?
Picking the most inspiring quote is an almost impossible endeavour. In our everyday lives, the quotes we find the most inspiring change like the wind depending on what we need to hear and the challenges weβre facing.
That said, these quotes always make us feel like we can achieve anything we set our minds to, and we come back to them time and time again:
- βOur greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fallβ β Confucius
- βMagic is believing in yourself. If you can do that, you can make anything happenβ - β Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
- βAll our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue themβ β Walt Disney
- βThe real test is not whether you avoid this failureβ¦ Itβs whether you let it harden or shame you into inaction, or whether you learn from it; whether you choose to persevereβ β Barack Obama
What is the most powerful quote in the world?
Honestly, we think the most powerful quote in the world is the one that says the perfect thing at the perfect time. And depending on who you are and what challenges youβre currently facing, this can change on even a daily basis.
Because the most powerful quote in the world can change, we picked a powerful quote about change to answer this question:
βBe the change you wish to see in the worldβ β Gandhi.