Motivational Quotes

Sometimes it takes only a few well-chosen words to motivate us in a positive direction--to try, to succeed, to hope, to keep going. With wit and wisdom, the following collection conveys thoughts that are optimistic and filled with a motivating spirit. Taken from a wide variety of speakers and writers, the following quotes are bound to motivate you to think, to feel, and possibly to act.

“The pursuit of happiness…is the greatest feat man has to accomplish.” Robert Henri

“Fear, desire, hope still push us on toward the future.” Michel de Montaigne

“What makes life dreary is want of motive.” George Eliot

“He who limps still walks.” Stanislaw Lec

“When you rise in the morning, form a resolution to make the day a happy one for a fellow creature.” Sydney Smith

“The best way out of a problem is through it.” Anonymous

“Anger dwells only in the bosom of fools.” Albert Einstein

“An aim in life is the only fortune worth finding.” Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis

“On the human chessboard, all moves are possible.” Miriam Schiff

“The cure for grief is motion.” Elbert Hubbard

“What you can do or dream you can do, begin it; boldness has genius, power and magic in it.” Goethe

“Who dares nothing need hope for nothing.” J.C.F von Schiller

“Let me listen to me and not to them.” Gertrude Stein

“The knowledge of the world is only to be acquired in the world, and not in a closet.” Earl of Chesterfield

“All work is a seed sown; it grows and spreads, and sows itself anew.” Thomas Carlyle

“To overcome difficulties is to experience the full delight of existence.” Arthur Schopenhauer

“Life does not happen to us, it happens from us.” Mike Wickett

“To have striven, to have made an effort, to have been true to certain ideals—this alone is worth the struggle.” Sir William Osler

“To understand is to forgive, even oneself.” Alexander Chase

“Do what you can, where you are, and with what you’ve got.” M.J. Kraybill

“With time and patience, the mulberry leaf becomes a silk gown.” Chinese Proverb

“The secret of getting ahead is getting started.” Mark Twain

“It’s not whether you get knocked down; it’s whether you get up again.” Vince Lombardi

“Success is not about hocus pocus…it’s about focus, focus.” All Way

“If you’re coasting, you’re going downhill.” L.R. Pierson

“It is never too late to be what you might have been.” George Eliot

“Be always sure you’re right, then go ahead.” Davy Crockett

“Confidence…is directness and courage in meeting the facts of life.” John Dewey

“Victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror.” Winston Churchill

“If you are going through hell, keep going.” Winston Churchill

“The object of war is to survive it.” John Irving

“Just do it” Nike Slogan

“We create our fate everyday…most of the ills we suffer from are directly traceable to our own behavior.” Henry Miller

“If you cannot feed a hundred people, then feed just one.” Mother Teresa

“Fortune favors the brave.” Terence

“People who are unable to motivate themselves must be content with mediocrity.” Andrew Carnegie

“Our futures are not in the hands of fate, but in ours.” Jules Jusserano

“You’ve got to do your own growing no matter how tall your grandfather was.” Irish Proverb

“I am not afraid of storms, for I am learning how to sail my own ship.” Louis May Alcott

“The world is wide, and I will not waste my life in friction when it could be turned into momentum.” Frances Willard

“Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.” Ralph Waldo Emerson

“The only way of finding the limits of the possible is by going beyond the impossible.” Arthur C. Clarke

“Oftentimes nothing profits more than self-esteem, grounded on what is just and right and well-managed.” John Milton

“Your future depends on many things, but mostly on you.” Frank Tyger

“The best place to find a helping hand is at the end of your own arm.” Swedish Proverb

“If there is no wind, row.” Latin Proverb

“Every tub must stand on its own bottom.” Thomas Edison

“A man who does not read good books has no advantage over the man who cannot read them.” Mark Twain

“Strong lives are motivated by dynamic purposes.” Kenneth Hildebrand

“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act but a habit.” Aristotle

“Motivation is what gets you started. Habit is what keeps you going.” Jim Ryun

“In my experience there is only one motivation, and that is desire.” Jane Smiley

“The man who never alters his opinion is like standing water, and breeds reptiles of the mind.” William Blake

“An axe at home saves hiring a carpenter.” J.C.F. von Schiller

“Nothing can bring you peace but yourself.” Ralph Waldo Emerson

“A wise man will make more opportunities than he finds.” Francis Bacon

“A brave man carves out his own fortune, and every man is the sum of his own works.” Miguel de Cervantes

“Where the willingness is great, the difficulties cannot be great.” Niccolo Machiavelli

“Thank God I have done my duty.” Horatio, Lord Nelson

“Work spares us from three evils: boredom, vice and need.” Voltaire

“We are still masters of our fates.
We are still captains of our souls.” Winston Churchill

“Of all the thirty-six alternatives for avoiding disaster, running away is best.” Chinese Proverb

“A kind word is like a spring day.” Russian Proverb

“Take calculated risks. That is quite different from being rash.” George S. Patton

“We are on earth to do good for others. What the others are here for I do not know.” W.H. Auden

“No act of kindness no matter how small is ever wasted.” Aesop

“Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss it you will still land among the stars.” Les Brown

“A problem is a chance for you to do your best.” Duke Ellington

“I wept because I had no shoes, until I saw a man who had no feet.” Ancient Persian Saying

“Let a man accept his destiny. No pity and no tears.” Euripides