This list of inspirational quotes are a simple, yet powerful way to motivate, encourage and uplift.
Whether it’s the wisdom of a successful person who has trekked the path before us, or simply a commonsense quote – words can be very powerful!
Inspiring quotes give us perspective, remind us of what is important and they also have us contemplating the infinite possibilities available to us – if only we are willing to imagine, think and act with inspiration.
Here is a collection of various inspirational quotes that have been sourced from those young and old, and those of diverse backgrounds and life experiences.
Inspirational Quotes
“A man is but the product of his thoughts what he thinks, he becomes.” Mahatma Gandhi
“The secret of getting ahead is getting started. The secret to getting started is breaking your overwhelming tasks into small manageable tasks and then starting on the first one.” Mark Twain
“There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.” Maya Angelou
“The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second-best time is now.” Chinese Proverb
“Believe you can and you’re halfway there.” Theodore Roosevelt
“There is freedom waiting for you,
On the breezes of the sky,
And you ask “What if I fall?”
Oh but my darling,
What if you fly?” Erin Hanson
“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life.” Steve Jobs
“Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do.” John Wooden
“You are what you repeatedly do.” Aristotle
“Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.” Theodore Roosevelt
“Everything you’ve ever wanted is on the other side of fear.” George Addair
Best Inspirational Quotes
“One way to get the most out of life is to look upon it as an adventure.” William Feather
“The difficulty lies not so much in developing new ideas as in escaping from old ones.” John Maynard Keynes
“Success is not final; failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.” Winston Churchill
“If I cannot do great things, I can do small things in a great way.” Martin Luther King Jr.
“There is no exercise better for the heart than reaching down and lifting people up.” John Holmes
“The big challenge is to become all that you have the possibility of becoming. You cannot believe what it does to the human spirit to maximize your human potential and stretch yourself to the limit.” Jim Rohn
“Don’t wait. The time will never be just right.” Napoleon Hill
“You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream.” C.S. Lewis
“Start by doing what’s necessary; then do what’s possible; and suddenly you are doing the impossible.” Francis of Assisi
“A ship is safe in harbor, but that’s not what ships are built for.” John A. Shedd
“Surround yourself with good people; surround yourself with positivity and people who are going to challenge you to make you better.” Ali Krieger
“If you wait until all the lights are ‘green’ before you leave home, you’ll never get started on your trip to the top.” Zig Ziglar
“I do not fix problems. I fix my thinking. Then problems fix themselves.” Louise Hay
“Impossible is just an opinion.” Paulo Coelho
“Do what you can, with what you’ve got, where you are.” Theodore Roosevelt
“The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” Lao Tzu
“It is never too late to be what you might have been.” George Eliot
“If you can’t fly, run. If you can’t run, walk. If you can’t walk, crawl, but by all means, keep moving.” Martin Luther King, Jr.
“There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.” Albert Einstein
“Keep challenging yourself to think better, do better, and be better.” Robin Sharma
“Wisdom starts when you know yourself. You will realise that everything aligns itself perfectly when you live your truth, break limiting habits and challenge yourself daily.” Itayi Garande
“Be yourself; everyone else is already taken.” Oscar Wilde
“The undertaking of a new action brings new strength.” Richard L. Evans
Short Inspirational Quotes
“Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, today is a gift of God, which is why we call it the present.” Bill Keane
“Today’s accomplishments were yesterday’s impossibilities.” Robert H. Schuller
“Man cannot discover new oceans unless he has the courage to lose sight of the shore.” Andre Gide
“Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, in all the places you can, at all the times you can, to all the people you can, as long as ever you can.” John Wesley
“Our greatest battles are with our minds.” Jameson Frank
“The key is not to prioritize what’s on your schedule, but to schedule your priorities.” Stephen Covey
“Life is a song – sing it. Life is a game – play it. Life is a challenge – meet it. Life is a dream – realize it. Life is a sacrifice – offer it. Life is love – enjoy it.” Sai Baba
Inspiring Quotes for Action
“Nothing diminishes anxiety faster than action.” Walter Anderson
“There is only one way to happiness and that is to cease worrying about things which are beyond the power of our will.” Epictetus
“The mind is the limit. As long as the mind can envision the fact that you can do something, you can do it, as long as you really believe 100 percent.” Arnold Schwarzenegger
“The future is fluid. Each act, each decision, and each development create new possibilities and eliminates others. The future is ours to direct.” Jacque Fresco
“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
“We must be willing to get rid of the life we’ve planned, so as to have the life that is waiting for us.” Joseph Campbell
“Worry often gives a small thing a big shadow.” Swedish proverb
“You can’t go back and make a new start, but you can start right now and make a brand new ending.” James R. Sherman
“I have always been delighted at the prospect of a new day, a fresh try, one more start, with perhaps a bit of magic waiting somewhere behind the morning.” J. B. Priestley
“Without leaps of imagination, or dreaming, we lose the excitement of possibilities. Dreaming, after all, is a form of planning.” Gloria Steinem
Positive Inspirational Quotes & Sayings
“Take stock of your thoughts and behavior. Each night ask yourself, when were you negative when you could have been positive? When did you withhold love when you might have given it? When did you play a neurotic game instead of behaving in a powerful way? Use this process to self-correct.” Marianne Williamson
“Give me a lever long enough and a fulcrum on which to place it, and I shall move the world.” Archimedes
“If you don’t make the time to work on creating the life that you want, you’re going to spend a lot of time dealing with a life you don’t want.” Kevin Ngo
“Happiness is a butterfly, which when pursued, is always just beyond your grasp, but which, if you will sit down quietly, may alight upon you.” Nathaniel Hawthorne
“If you’re bored with life you don’t get up every morning with a burning desire to do things you don’t have enough goals.” Lou Holtz
“Whatever we plant in our subconscious mind and nourish with repetition and emotion will one day become a reality.” Earl Nightingale
“There are two things to aim at in life; first to get what you want, and after that to enjoy it. Only the wisest of mankind has achieved the second.” Logan Pearsall Smith
“You can conquer almost any fear if you will make up your mind to do so. For remember, fear doesn’t exist anywhere except in the mind.” Dale Carnegie
Powerful Quotes of Inspiration:
If you’re interested in reading more inspiring quotes, especially on a particular topic of self development, be sure to check out these options:
- Love the concept of improving your growth mindset? Check out these amazing Growth Mindset Quotes – all organized by the key concepts of a growth mindset.
- Wanting to boost the positivity in your life? A quick list of 22 Short Positive Quotes – easy to read and guaranteed to give yourself a little zing!
- Inspiring quotes don’t have to be serious and stuffy! Check out these funny inspirational quotes about life and success.
- Who doesn’t enjoy the simple, common sense quotes of the Dalai Lama? What a smart, gentle and wise man. Here are beautiful inspiring quotes from the Dalai Lama.
- Change can be really hard. But it’s a vital part of growth. So best be getting on with it! These 52 Inspirational Quotes About Change will motivate and help you to see that change isn’t always so scary!
- Aristotle was a wise ancient philosopher. And his quotes still inspire to this day. Here are just some of his best:
- Fear is a huge, ugly obstacle to success. These amazing 46 quotes about fear will get your thinking about those pesky fears and inspire you to shelve them!
- Got a bit of time up your sleeve? These deep and long inspirational quotes are a great read.
- At that ‘harder’ stage of accomplishing a big goal? Here are 46 motivating quotes to encourage you to keep going and reach your goal!