Whether you’re having a rough day and need some motivation to assure yourself that it’s all going to be OK, or you’re just looking for a mission statement for the day, these inspirational quotes will help you put one foot in front of the other and make the small or sweeping changes that you desire.
No matter if it’s a movie star, a thought leader, Beyoncé or a 17th-century writer, you’re sure to find an inspirational quote that speaks to your drive and determination. Here are the best inspirational quotes for 2023!
Table of Contents
Inspirational Quotes
The power of positive thinking is remarkable. When you think of something that brings you joy, your brain actually releases endorphins. Those endorphins fill you with the feeling of well-being.
Positive thinking helps you frame your mindset and change your life.
But when we feel down, it’s often difficult to conjure up things that make us happy. That’s why having some positive inspirational quotes or a motivated line on hand can be helpful in situations like that.
From short inspirational quotes and widely relatable anecdotes to motivational quotes specifically about work and life in general, here is a list of some of my favorite inspirational quotes.
Inspirational Quotes For Your Personal Life
“People tell you the world looks a certain way. Parents tell you how to think. Schools tell you how to think. TV. Religion. And then at a certain point, if you’re lucky, you realize you can make up your own mind. Nobody sets the rules but you. You can design your own life.”— Carrie Ann Moss
“Some women choose to follow men, and some choose to follow their dreams. If you’re wondering which way to go, remember that your career will never wake up and tell you that it doesn’t love you anymore.” — Lady Gaga
“Life is what happens to us while we are making other plans.”― Allen Saunders
“Life isn’t about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself.”― George Bernard Shaw
“You are the sum total of everything you’ve ever seen, heard, eaten, smelled, been told, forgot ― it’s all there. Everything influences each of us, and because of that I try to make sure that my experiences are positive.” ― Maya Angelou
Inspirational Quotes For Positive Thinking
“Doubt kills more dreams than failure ever will.” – Suzy Kassem
“Keep your face always toward the sunshine, and shadows will fall behind you.” – Walt Whitman
“Whether you think you can or think you can’t, you’re right.” – Henry Ford
“Your talent determines what you can do. Your motivation determines how much you’re willing to do. Your attitude determines how well you do it.” —Lou Holtz
“The happiness of your life depends on the quality of your thoughts.” – Marcus Aurelius
Inspirational Quotes For A Happy Life
“You are who you are meant to be. Dance as if no one’s watching. Love as if it’s all you know. Dream as if you’ll live forever. Live as if you’ll die today.” James Dean
“You do not find the happy life. You make it.”— Camilla Eyring Kimball
“You’ve gotta dance like there’s nobody watching, Love like you’ll never be hurt, Sing like there’s nobody listening, And live like it’s heaven on earth.”― William W. Purkey
“Happiness is not something readymade. It comes from your own actions.”-Dalai Lama
“Folks are usually about as happy as they make up their minds to be.” – Abraham Lincoln
Inspirational Quotes For The Darkest Moments
“It is during our darkest moments that we must focus to see the light.” — Aristotle
“Develop success from failures. Discouragement and failure are two of the surest stepping stones to success.” -Dale Carnegie
“You learn more from failure than from success. Don’t let it stop you. Failure builds character.” — Unknown
“Fairytales do not tell children that dragons exist. Children already know that dragons exist. Fairytales tell children that dragons can be killed.” – G K Chesterton
“The bad news is time flies. The good news is you’re the pilot.” – Michael Altshuler
Inspirational Quotes From Fairy Tales
“Just because it’s what’s done doesn’t mean it’s what should be done!”- Cinderella
“With a smile and a song, life is just like a bright sunny day. Your cares fade away.” – Snow White
“It’s no use going back to yesterday because I was a different person then.” – Alice, Alice In Wonderland
“When we get to the end of the story, you will know more than you do now…” – Hans Christian Andersen, The Snow Queen
“The most important thing in life is to stop saying ‘I wish’ and start saying ‘I will’. Consider nothing impossible then treat possibilities as probabilities.” -Charles Dickens
Inspirational Quotes For Taking A Difficult Risk
“Learn as if you will live forever, live like you will die tomorrow.” — Mahatma Gandhi
“It is only when we take chances, when our lives improve. The initial and the most difficult risk that we need to take is to become honest. —Walter Anderson
“All our dreams can come true if we have the courage to pursue them.”- Walt Disney
“Move out of your comfort zone. You can only grow if you are willing to feel awkward and uncomfortable when you try something new.”- Brian Tracy
“Everything you’ve ever wanted is on the other side of fear.”- George Addair
Inspirational Quotes To Build Confidence
“Never bend your head. Always hold it high. Look the world straight in the eye.”– Helen Keller
“We generate fears while we sit. We overcome them by action. Fear is nature’s way of warning us to get busy.” – Dr. Henry Link
“The man who has confidence in himself gains the confidence of others.” – Hasidic Proverb
“What you lack in talent can be made up with desire, hustle and giving 110% all the time.” – Don Zimmer
“Fake it until you make it! Act as if you had all the confidence you require until it becomes your reality.” – Brian Tracy
Inspirational Quotes To Help You Catch Excellence
“Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection we can catch excellence.”— Vince Lombardi
“Let us make our future now, and let us make our dreams tomorrow’s reality.” – Malala Yousafzai
“The best way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing.” ― Walt Disney
“Leaders set high standards. Refuse to tolerate mediocrity or poor performance.” – Brian Tracy
“It’s not whether you get knocked down, it’s whether you get back up.” –Vince Lombardi
Inspirational Quotes To Overcome Bad News
When one door closes, sometimes we need to turn the knob to open another… – J.A. Tran
“I can’t change the direction of the wind, but I can adjust my sails to always reach my destination.” – Jimmy Dean
“Don’t Let Yesterday Take Up Too Much Of Today.” – Will Rogers
“We may encounter many defeats but we must not be defeated.” – Maya Angelou
“Leaders never use the word failure. They look upon setbacks as learning experiences.” – Brian Tracy
Inspirational Quotes For Positive Thoughts
“We become what we think about” – Earl Nightingale
“There are no limits to what you can accomplish, except the limits you place on your own thinking.” – Brian Tracy
“Inspiration comes from within yourself. One has to be positive. When you’re positive, good things happen.” – Deep Roy
“Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement. Nothing can be done without hope and confidence.” – Helen Keller
“Develop an ‘attitude of gratitude.’ Say thank you to everyone you meet for everything you do.” – Brian Tracy
Inspirational Quotes To Build Self Confidence
“Imperfection is beauty, madness is genius and it’s better to be absolutely ridiculous than absolutely boring.”― Marilyn Monroe
“May your choices reflect your hopes, not your fears.” – Nelson Mandela
“Remember always that you have not only the right to be an individual; you have an obligation to be one. You cannot make any useful contribution in life unless you do this.” – Eleanor Roosevelt
“It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are.” —E.E. Cummings
“You were born to win, but to be a winner, you must plan to win, prepare to win, and expect to win.” Zig Ziglar
Inspirational Quotes By William James
“It is our attitude at the beginning of a difficult task which, more than anything else, will affect its successful outcome.” – William James
“Belief creates the actual fact.” — William James
“Act as if what you do makes a difference. It does.” -William James
“The greatest weapon against stress is our ability to choose one thought over another.”― William James
“If you can change your mind, you can change your life.”― William James
Inspirational Quotes By Henry David Thoreau
“I learned this, at least, by my experiment: that if one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.”― Henry David Thoreau
“Dreams are the touchstones of our characters.”― Henry David Thoreau
“If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them.” ― Henry David Thoreau
“As if you could kill time without injuring eternity.” ― Henry David Thoreau
“There is no remedy for love but to love more.” ― Henry David Thoreau
Inspirational Quotes By Oprah Winfrey
You define your own life. Don’t let other people write your script.” — Oprah Winfrey
“Think like a queen. A queen is not afraid to fail. Failure is another stepping stone to greatness.” — Oprah Winfrey
“Turn your wounds into wisdom.” – Oprah Winfrey
“Doing the best at this moment puts you in the best place for the next moment.” ― Oprah Winfrey
“Real integrity is doing the right thing, knowing that nobody’s going to know whether you did it or not.”― Oprah Winfrey
Inspirational Quotes About Life By Ralph Waldo Emerson
“Our greatest glory is not in never failing, but in rising up every time we fail.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
“Live in the sunshine, swim the sea, drink the wild air.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
“Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
“Life is a journey, not a destination.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
Inspirational Quotes By Albert Einstein
“Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep moving.”― Albert Einstein
“Creativity is intelligence having fun.” – Albert Einstein
“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used to create them.” – Albert Einstein
“Imagination is everything. It is the preview of life’s coming attractions.” – Albert Einstein
“Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new.” – Albert Einstein
Inspirational Quotes To Stay Motivated
“Today’s accomplishments were yesterday’s impossibilities.” – Robert H. Schuller
“For every reason it’s not possible, there are hundreds of people who have faced the same circumstances and succeeded.” – Jack Canfield
“The future belongs to the competent. Get good, get better, be the best!” – Brian Tracy
“Your success and happiness lies in you. Resolve to keep happy, and your joy and you shall form an invincible host against difficulties.” – Helen Keller
“Courage is more exhilarating than fear and in the long run it is easier. We do not have to become heroes overnight. Just one step at a time, meeting each thing that comes up, seeing it is not as dreadful as it appeared, discovering we have the strength to stare it down.” – Eleanor Roosevelt
Motivational Quotes
Motivational quotes, like the inspirational quotes above, are meant to inspire action. These quotes have the potential to encourage you to become the best version of yourself.
Let your positivity and optimism inspire you and lead you to success. That’s my favorite way to achieve success.
These quotes are here to help motivate you to reach your peak performance. Read them when you need a push to work towards your goals.
You experience external change only once you change internally. Start today and watch how everything around you begins to change!
“The key responsibility of leadership is to think about the future. No one else can do it for you.” – Brian Tracy
“To see what is right and not do is a lack of courage.” – Confucius.
“Go as far as you can see; when you get there, you’ll be able to see further.” —Thomas Carlyle
“Make your life a masterpiece, imagine no limitations on what you can be, have, or do.” – Brian Tracy
“My best friend is the one who brings out the best in me.” — Henry Ford
Motivational Quotes To Be A Successful Person
“When a person really desires something, all the universe conspires to help that person to realize his dream.” – Paulo Coelho
“Optimism is the one quality more associated with success and happiness than any other.”- Brian Tracy
“My mission in life is not merely to survive, but to thrive.” – Maya Angelou
“While one person hesitates because he feels inferior, the other is busy making mistakes and becoming superior.” Henry Link
“Imagine your life is perfect in every respect; what would it look like?” – Brian Tracy
Motivational Quotes To Develop Success
“We all die. The goal isn’t to live forever, the goal is to create something that will.” Chuck Palahniuk
“Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Wishing is not enough; we must do.” – Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe
“Reading is to the mind, as exercise is to the body.” – Brian Tracy
“You’ve got to get up every morning with determination if you’re going to go to bed with satisfaction.” —George Lorimer
“You don’t have to be great to start, but you have to start to be great.” – Zig Ziglar
Motivational Quotes To Pursue A New Dream
“Waiting insistently in front of a tightly closed door is unfair to all of the open doors! Give a chance to the open doors!” ― Mehmet Murat ildan
“You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream.” – C.S. Lewis
“The only limit to our realization of tomorrow will be our doubts of today.” – Franklin D. Roosevelt
You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself in any direction you choose. You’re on your own, and you know what you know. And you are the guy who’ll decide where to go. Dr. Seuss
“You make a choice: continue living your life feeling muddled in this abyss of self-misunderstanding, or you find your identity independent of it. You draw your own box.”— Duchess Meghan
Motivational Quotes For Moving Forward
“Every closed door isn’t locked and even if it is…YOU just might have the key! Search within to unlock a world of possibilities!”― Sanjo Jendayi
“It ain’t about how hard you hit. It’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward.”— Sylvester Stallone in Rocky Balboa
“It’s easy to stand in the crowd but it takes courage to stand alone.” Mahatma Gandhi
“In three words I can sum up everything I’ve learned about life: It goes on.”― Robert Frost
“I think goals should never be easy, they should force you to work, even if they are uncomfortable at the time.” – Michael Phelps
Motivational Quotes To Stay On The Right Track
“Life has got all those twists and turns. You’ve got to hold on tight and off you go.”— Nicole Kidman
“The effective leader recognizes that they are more dependent on their people than they are on them. Walk softly. ” – Brian Tracy
“One of the lessons that I grew up with was to always stay true to yourself and never let what somebody else says distract you from your goals.” – Michelle Obama
“Surely, in the light of history, it is more intelligent to hope rather than to fear, to try rather than not to try. For one thing we know beyond all doubt: Nothing has ever been achieved by the person who says, ‘It can’t be done.’” – Eleanor Roosevelt
“It takes courage to examine your life and to decide that there are things you would like to change, and it takes even more courage to do something about it.” – Sue Hadfield
English Motivational Quotes To Stay Positive
“Failure will never overtake me if my determination to succeed is strong enough.” – Og Mandino
“Things work out best for those who make the best of how things work out.” – John Wooden
“It hurt because it mattered.” – John Green
“Positive thinking will let you do everything better than negative thinking will.” -Zig Ziglar
“Make sure your worst enemy is not living between your own two ears…”― Nitya Prakash
Motivational Quotes For A Positive Life
“If you don’t like the road you’re walking, start paving another one.” – Dolly Parton
“Life changes very quickly, in a very positive way, if you let it.” – Lindsey Vonn
“Every moment is a fresh beginning.” – T.S. Eliot
“Real change, enduring change, happens one step at a time.” -Ruth Bader Ginsburg
“Don’t count the days. Make the days count.” —Muhammad Ali
Motivational Quotes For A Successful Outcome
“The only limits you have are the limits you believe.” Wayne Dyer
“Nothing in life is to be feared, it is only to be understood. Now is the time to understand more, so that we may fear less.” ― Marie Curie
“Do what you can with all you have, wherever you are.” – Theodore Roosevelt
“Change the world by being yourself.” – Amy Poehler
“Change the game, don’t let the game change you.” – Macklemore
Short Motivational Quotes
Self-doubt kills talent. Edie McClurg
“Believe you can and you’re halfway there.” Theodore Roosevelt
“You get what you give.” – Jennifer Lopez
“Your life only gets better when you get better.”- Brian Tracy
“Happiness is not by chance, but by choice.” – Jim Rohn
Motivational Quotes For Work
“If you are working on something that you really care about, you don’t have to be pushed. The vision pulls you.” – Steve Jobs
“Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence win championships.” — Michael Jordan
“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
“Entrepreneurs are great at dealing with uncertainty and also very good at minimizing risk. That’s the classic entrepreneur.” – Mohnish Pabrai.
“Integrity is the most valuable and respected quality of leadership. Always keep your word.” – Brian Tracy
Motivational Quotes To Change The World
“Try to be a rainbow in someone’s cloud.”— Maya Angelou
“People who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.”- Rob Siltanen
“Be the change that you wish to see in the world.”- Mahatma Ghandi
“Someone is sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago.” – Warren Buffet
“Leaders think and talk about the solutions. Followers think and talk about the problems.” – Brian Tracy
Motivational Quotes For The Whole Human Race
War is not the answer, because only love can conquer hate. Marvin Gaye
“We must be willing to let go of the life we planned so as to have the life that is waiting for us.” – Joseph Campbell
“Light tomorrow with today!” – Elizabeth Barrett Browning
“Never limit yourself because of others’ limited imagination; never limit others because of your own limited imagination.” – Mae Jemison
“You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough.”― Mae West
Motivational Quotes By Martin Luther King, Jr.
“Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.” – Martin Luther King, Jr.
“If I cannot do great things, I can do small things in a great way.” – Martin Luther King, Jr.
“The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.” – Martin Luther King, Jr.
“The time is always right to do what is right.” – Martin Luther King, Jr.
“I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear.” – Martin Luther King, Jr.
Motivational Quotes By Winston Churchill
“Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.” Winston S. Churchill
“The pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity. The optimist sees opportunity in every difficulty.” – Winston Churchill
“Success is stumbling from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm.”― Winston S. Churchill
“We make a living by what we get. We make a life by what we give.” ― Winston Churchill
“To improve is to change; to be perfect is to change often.” ― Winston S. Churchill
Motivational Quotes By Thomas Edison
“Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work. There is no substitute for hard work.” – Thomas Edison
“A genius is often merely a talented person who has done all of his or her homework.” – Thomas Edison
“I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.”― Thomas A. Edison
“When you have exhausted all possibilities, remember this – you haven’t.”― Thomas Edison
“Just because something doesn’t do what you planned it to do doesn’t mean it’s useless.” ― Thomas A. Edison