Updated June 5, 2025 |
Infoplease Staff
We’re diving into the top 180 most inspirational quotes about anything and everything. If you’ve ever heard an expression or someone quoted something before and wondered where it came from, we probably have it here.
These inspiration quotes come from some of the world's most famously renowned leaders, writers, thinkers, actors and artists. From pro-boxer Muhammed Ali to Scientist Albert Einstein, our top most inspirational quote list won't leave you without a spark of motivation and a fresh perspective on life.
The Top 180 Inspirational Quotes
- “The only way to do great work is to love what you do.” – Steve Jobs
- “Success is not final, failure is not fatal: It is the courage to continue that counts.” – Winston Churchill
- “Believe you can and you're halfway there.” – Theodore Roosevelt
- “In the middle of every difficulty lies opportunity.” – Albert Einstein
- “Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life.” – Steve Jobs
- “What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
- “I can't change the direction of the wind, but I can adjust my sails to always reach my destination.” – Jimmy Dean
- “Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can.” – Arthur Ashe
- “Act as if what you do makes a difference. It does.” – William James
- “Happiness is not something ready made. It comes from your own actions.” – Dalai Lama
- “It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop.” – Confucius
- “Everything you’ve ever wanted is on the other side of fear.” – George Addair
- “You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.” – Wayne Gretzky
- “Whether you think you can or you think you can’t, you’re right.” – Henry Ford
- “Hardships often prepare ordinary people for an extraordinary destiny.” – C.S. Lewis
- “The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.” – Eleanor Roosevelt
- “Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.” – Theodore Roosevelt
- “If you want to lift yourself up, lift up someone else.” – Booker T. Washington
- “Dream big and dare to fail.” – Norman Vaughan
- “What you get by achieving your goals is not as important as what you become by achieving your goals.” – Zig Ziglar
- “Limit your 'always' and your 'nevers'.” – Amy Poehler
- “Try to be a rainbow in someone’s cloud.” – Maya Angelou
- “You do not find the happy life. You make it.” – Camilla Eyring Kimball
- “Inspiration comes from within yourself. One has to be positive. When you're positive, good things happen.” – Deep Roy
- “Sometimes you will never know the value of a moment, until it becomes a memory.” – Dr. Seuss
- “Nothing will work unless you do.” – Maya Angelou
- “The best way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing.” – Walt Disney
- “Don’t watch the clock; do what it does. Keep going.” – Sam Levenson
- “Keep your face always toward the sunshine—and shadows will fall behind you.” – Walt Whitman
- “You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream.” – C.S. Lewis
- “Failure is the condiment that gives success its flavor.” – Truman Capote
- “Believe in yourself and all that you are.” – Christian D. Larson
- “Success usually comes to those who are too busy to be looking for it.” – Henry David Thoreau
- “Don’t be pushed around by the fears in your mind. Be led by the dreams in your heart.” – Roy T. Bennett
- “Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have imagined.” – Henry David Thoreau
- “Great things never come from comfort zones.” – Ben Francia
- “Don’t limit your challenges. Challenge your limits.” – Jerry Dunn
- “Success is the sum of small efforts, repeated day in and day out.” – Robert Collier
- “Opportunities don’t happen. You create them.” – Chris Grosser
- “If you are not willing to risk the usual, you will have to settle for the ordinary.” – Jim Rohn
- “I never dreamed about success. I worked for it.” – Estee Lauder
- “A goal without a plan is just a wish.” – Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
- “I find that the harder I work, the more luck I seem to have.” – Thomas Jefferson
- “Doubt kills more dreams than failure ever will.” – Suzy Kassem
- “Don’t count the days, make the days count.” – Muhammad Ali
- “The secret of getting ahead is getting started.” – Mark Twain
- “I attribute my success to this: I never gave or took any excuse.” – Florence Nightingale
- “You don’t have to be great to start, but you have to start to be great.” – Zig Ziglar
- “It’s not whether you get knocked down, it’s whether you get up.” – Vince Lombardi
- “Opportunities multiply as they are seized.” – Sun Tzu
- “Success is how high you bounce when you hit bottom.” – George S. Patton
- “The road to success and the road to failure are almost exactly the same.” – Colin R. Davis
- “The successful warrior is the average man, with laser-like focus.” – Bruce Lee
- “If you really look closely, most overnight successes took a long time.” – Steve Jobs
- “Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly.” – Robert F. Kennedy
- “Courage doesn’t always roar. Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying, ‘I will try again tomorrow.’” – Mary Anne Radmacher
- “You are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think.” – A.A. Milne
- “Perseverance is not a long race; it is many short races one after the other.” – Walter Elliot
- “You must do the thing you think you cannot do.” – Eleanor Roosevelt
- “Success is walking from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm.” – Winston Churchill
- “If you want to achieve greatness stop asking for permission.” – Anonymous
- “Act as if it were impossible to fail.” – Dorothea Brande
- “Don't let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do.” – John Wooden
- “If there is no struggle, there is no progress.” – Frederick Douglass
- “Success is not how high you have climbed, but how you make a positive difference to the world.” – Roy T. Bennett
- “It always seems impossible until it’s done.” – Nelson Mandela
- “Don’t quit. Suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion.” – Muhammad Ali
- “Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it.” – Confucius
- “It’s not about perfect. It’s about effort.” – Jillian Michaels
- “No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.” – Eleanor Roosevelt
- “We generate fears while we sit. We overcome them by action.” – Dr. Henry Link
- “Strive not to be a success, but rather to be of value.” – Albert Einstein
- “Learn as if you will live forever, live like you will die tomorrow.” – Mahatma Gandhi
- “Do not wait; the time will never be ‘just right.’” – Napoleon Hill
- “Either you run the day or the day runs you.” – Jim Rohn
- “Motivation is what gets you started. Habit is what keeps you going.” – Jim Ryun
- “Discipline is choosing between what you want now and what you want most.” – Abraham Lincoln
- “Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
- “You are never too small to make a difference.” – Greta Thunberg
- “Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.” – Mahatma Gandhi
- “Action is the foundational key to all success.” – Pablo Picasso
- “Don’t be afraid to give up the good to go for the great.” – John D. Rockefeller
- “Success seems to be connected with action. Successful people keep moving.” – Conrad Hilton
- “Failure is not the opposite of success; it’s part of success.” – Arianna Huffington
- “If you can dream it, you can do it.” – Walt Disney
- “Success is getting what you want. Happiness is wanting what you get.” – Dale Carnegie
- “Don’t wish it were easier; wish you were better.” – Jim Rohn
- “Life isn’t about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself.” – George Bernard Shaw
- “Do not be embarrassed by your failures, learn from them and start again.” – Richard Branson
- “Energy and persistence conquer all things.” – Benjamin Franklin
- “The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing.” – Walt Disney
- “Success is not in what you have, but who you are.” – Bo Bennett
- “Small deeds done are better than great deeds planned.” – Peter Marshall
- “Live out of your imagination, not your history.” – Stephen R. Covey
- “If opportunity doesn’t knock, build a door.” – Milton Berle
- “Don’t let yesterday take up too much of today.” – Will Rogers
- “Success is liking yourself, liking what you do, and liking how you do it.” – Maya Angelou
- “The man who moves a mountain begins by carrying away small stones.” – Confucius
- “Fall seven times, stand up eight.” – Japanese Proverb
- “Success is a journey, not a destination.” – Arthur Ashe
- “Make each day your masterpiece.” – John Wooden
- “Change your thoughts and you change your world.” – Norman Vincent Peale
- “He who has a why to live can bear almost any how.” – Friedrich Nietzsche
- “Don’t count the days, make the days count.” – Muhammad Ali
- “The best revenge is massive success.” – Frank Sinatra
- “Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people.” – Eleanor Roosevelt
- “Success is the progressive realization of a worthy goal or ideal.” – Earl Nightingale
- “If you’re going through hell, keep going.” – Winston Churchill
- “Only in the darkness can you see the stars.” – Martin Luther King Jr.
- “Act as if what you do makes a difference. It does.” – William James
- “Don’t wait. The time will never be just right.” – Napoleon Hill
- “A year from now you may wish you had started today.” – Karen Lamb
- “You become what you believe.” – Oprah Winfrey
- “The best way to predict your future is to create it.” – Abraham Lincoln
- “A river cuts through rock, not because of its power, but because of its persistence.” – James N. Watkins
- “You don’t need to see the whole staircase, just take the first step.” – Martin Luther King Jr.
- “The expert in anything was once a beginner.” – Helen Hayes
- “Don't be afraid to fail. Be afraid not to try.” – Michael Jordan
- “Success is a state of mind. If you want success, start thinking of yourself as a success.” – Dr. Joyce Brothers
- “You are capable of more than you know.” – Glenda the Good Witch
- “The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.” – Lao Tzu
- “There are no traffic jams along the extra mile.” – Roger Staubach
- “It’s never too late to be what you might have been.” – George Eliot
- “The difference between ordinary and extraordinary is that little extra.” – Jimmy Johnson
- “Motivation comes from working on things we care about.” – Sheryl Sandberg
- “Success means doing the best we can with what we have.” – Zig Ziglar
- “Believe in yourself. You are braver than you think.” – A.A. Milne
- “No matter how you feel, get up, dress up, show up, and never give up.” – Regina Brett
- “Don’t let the fear of losing be greater than the excitement of winning.” – Robert Kiyosaki
- “The mind is everything. What you think you become.” – Buddha
- “The most effective way to do it, is to do it.” – Amelia Earhart
- “Believe and act as if it were impossible to fail.” – Charles Kettering
- “You are never too old to reinvent yourself.” – Steve Harvey
- “Strength doesn’t come from what you can do. It comes from overcoming the things you once thought you couldn’t.” – Rikki Rogers
- “Champions keep playing until they get it right.” – Billie Jean King
- “Go the extra mile. It’s never crowded there.” – Dr. Wayne Dyer
- “Don’t be afraid to give up the good to go for the great.” – John D. Rockefeller
- “Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success.” – Albert Schweitzer
- “You can’t cross the sea merely by standing and staring at the water.” – Rabindranath Tagore
- “Success is achieved and maintained by those who try and keep trying.” – W. Clement Stone
- “Believe in your infinite potential. Your only limitations are those you set upon yourself.” – Roy T. Bennett
- “When everything seems to be going against you, remember that the airplane takes off against the wind, not with it.” – Henry Ford
- “You were born to be a player. You were meant to be here. This moment is yours.” – Herb Brooks
- “Work hard in silence. Let your success be your noise.” – Frank Ocean
- “Success doesn’t come to you. You go to it.” – Marva Collins
- “Failure will never overtake me if my determination to succeed is strong enough.” – Og Mandino
- “You must expect great things of yourself before you can do them.” – Michael Jordan
- “Start each day with a positive thought and a grateful heart.” – Roy T. Bennett
- “Great works are performed not by strength but by perseverance.” – Samuel Johnson
- “The best way out is always through.” – Robert Frost
- “Don’t let yesterday use up too much of today.” – Will Rogers
- “You’ve got to get up every morning with determination if you’re going to go to bed with satisfaction.” – George Lorimer
- “Act the way you want to be and soon you’ll be the way you act.” – Les Brown
- “If you fell down yesterday, stand up today.” – H.G. Wells
- “I am not a product of my circumstances. I am a product of my decisions.” – Stephen R. Covey
- “You don’t have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step.” – Martin Luther King Jr.
- “A little progress each day adds up to big results.” – Satya Nani
- “Don’t limit yourself. Many people limit themselves to what they think they can do.” – Mary Kay Ash
- “Be yourself; everyone else is already taken.” – Oscar Wilde
- “Don’t raise your voice, improve your argument.” – Desmond Tutu
- “It takes as much energy to wish as it does to plan.” – Eleanor Roosevelt
- “Success is liking yourself, liking what you do, and liking how you do it.” – Maya Angelou
- “Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice.” – Steve Jobs
- “If you don’t design your own life plan, chances are you’ll fall into someone else’s plan.” – Jim Rohn
- “I never lose. I either win or learn.” – Nelson Mandela
- “Just don’t give up trying to do what you really want to do.” – Ella Fitzgerald
- “Always do your best. What you plant now, you will harvest later.” – Og Mandino
- “You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.” – Wayne Gretzky
- “Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can.” – Arthur Ashe
- “Make your life a masterpiece; imagine no limitations on what you can be, have or do.” – Brian Tracy
- “Success is not measured by money or power but by the difference you make.” – Michelle Obama
- “Be so good they can’t ignore you.” – Steve Martin
- “Keep your eyes on the stars and your feet on the ground.” – Theodore Roosevelt
- “Opportunities are usually disguised as hard work, so most people don’t recognize them.” – Ann Landers
- “Stay away from those people who try to disparage your ambitions.” – Mark Twain
- “Work hard, be kind, and amazing things will happen.” – Conan O’Brien
- “Success is doing ordinary things extraordinarily well.” – Jim Rohn
- “Life is 10% what happens to us and 90% how we react to it.” – Charles R. Swindoll
- “Success isn’t about the end result, it’s about what you learn along the way.” – Vera Wang
- “You can if you think you can.” – George Reeves
