119+ Inspirational Quotes to Motivate Your Life and Success (2023)

There are plenty of lists out there with inspirational quotes to motivate readers to succeed or think differently about life.

I’m a firm believer that while reading quotes of the day can powerfully guide you in the right direction and impact your thought patterns, it is taking action that matters most.

Whether you want to make more money, start a website or blog, (or even ask that cute guy or girl out on a date), it’s the action that makes a difference, not overthinking.

But as Albert Einstein said:

The world as we have created it is a process of our thinking. It cannot be changed without changing our thinking.

Thoughts can also shape our reality. Marcus Aurelius put it best in Meditations:

You have power over your mind – not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength.

My goal is that this list of the best inspirational quotes will shift your thought patterns so that you take inspired action.

I scoured the Internet and added only my top 119+ favorite quotes to live by. These aren’t just inspiring and motivational quotes, but also pretty deep, slightly mind-blowing, and will hopefully shift your perspective.

This list of daily inspirational quotes has:

• Inspiring and deep quotes to live by
• Motivational quotes to push beyond self-limiting beliefs
• Success quotes to help you take action
• Business and work quotes to complete hard work
• Famous quotes on life and finding meaning to get through tough times
• The best quotes to improve your mood and positivity
• Great quotes on change and dealing with uncertainty
• Uplifting and inspiring quotes to provide daily motivation
• Short inspirational quotes to live by
• Love quotes

Here are my picks for the top 119 inspirational quotes.

Inspirational Quotes

1. “If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up the men to gather wood, divide the work and give orders. Instead, teach them to yearn for the vast and endless sea.” – Antoine de Saint-Exupery

2. “You are not in the universe, you are the universe, an intrinsic part of it. Ultimately you are not a person, but a focal point where the universe is becoming conscious of itself. What an amazing miracle.” – Eckhart Tolle

3. “We do not see things as they are, we see things as we are.” – Anais Nin

4. “You are a child of the universe, no less than the trees and the stars; you have a right to be here.” – Max Ehrmann

5. “Fairytales are more than true: not because they tell us that dragons exist, but because they tell us that dragons can be beaten.” – Neil Gaiman

6. “There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow men, true nobility is being superior to your former self.” – Ernest Hemingway

7. “The nitrogen in our DNA, the calcium in our teeth, the iron in our blood, the carbon in our apple pies was made in the interiors of collapsing stars. We are made of star-stuff.” – Carl Sagan

8. “We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be.” – Kurt Vonnegut

9. “When we love, we always strive to become better than we are. When we strive to become better than we are, everything around us becomes better too.” – Paulo Coelho

10. “If you’re reading this… Congratulations, you’re alive. If that’s not something to smile about, then I don’t know what is.” – Chad Sugg

11. “I will love the light for it shows me the way, yet I will endure the darkness because it shows me the stars.” – Og Mandino

Motivational Quotes

1. “A ship is safe in harbor, but that’s not what ships are for.” -William Shedd

2. “Whether you think you can or think you can’t, you’re right.” – Henry Ford

3. “Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.” – Steve Jobs

4. “A nation grows great when a man plants a tree: the shade of which he will never enjoy.” – Greek Proverb

5. “The sooner you step away from your comfort zone, the sooner you’ll realize that it wasn’t really all that comfortable.” – Eddie Harris

6. “Better to write for yourself and have no public, than to write for the public and have no self.” – Cyril Connolly

7. “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” – Maya Angelou

8. “The best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago, the second-best time is right now.” – Chinese Proverb

9. “To give pleasure to a single heart by a single act is better than a thousand heads bowing in prayer.” – Mahatma Gandhi

10. “The only thing standing between you and your goal is the B.S. story you keep telling yourself as to why you can’t achieve it.” – Jordan Belfort

11. “You may not realize it when it happens, but a kick in the teeth may be the best thing in the world for you.” – Walt Disney

12. “Talent is God-given. Be humble. Fame is man-given. Be grateful. Conceit is self-given. Be careful.” – John Wooden

13. “Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go.” – T.S. Eliot

Success Quotes

1. “If I had six hours to chop down a tree, I’d spend the first four sharpening the axe.” – Abraham Lincoln

2. “The number one reason people fail in life is because they listen to their friends, family, and neighbors.” – Napoleon Hill

3. “A man cannot build a reputation on what he is going to do.” – Henry Ford

4. “Everything you’ve ever wanted is on the other side of fear.” – George Addair

5. “It is better to fail in originality than to succeed in imitation.” – Herman Melville

6. “Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

7. “Have I not destroyed my enemy when I have made him into my friend?” – Abraham Lincoln

8. “What you lack in talent can be made up with desire, hustle and giving 110% all the time.” – Don Zimmer

9. “[It’s] curious that we spend more time congratulating people who have succeeded than encouraging people who have not.” – Neil deGrasse Tyson

10. “The difference between a successful person and others is not a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but rather a lack of will.” – Vince Lombardi

11. “Whatever we plant in our subconscious mind and nourish with repetition and emotion will one day become a reality.” – Earl Nightingale

Quotes About Success and Value

10. “Try not to become a man of success. Rather become a man of value.” – Albert Einstein

11. “If you don’t value your time, neither will others. Stop giving away your time and talents. Value what you know & start charging for it.” – Kim Garst

12. “The harder I work, the luckier I get.” – Samuel Goldwyn

13. “Would you like me to give you a formula for success? It’s quite simple, really: Double your rate of failure. You are thinking of failure as the enemy of success. But it isn’t at all. You can be discouraged by failure or you can learn from it, so go ahead and make mistakes. Make all you can. Because remember that’s where you will find success.” – Thomas J. Watson

14. “For every reason it’s not possible, there are hundreds of people who have faced the same circumstances and succeeded.” – Jack Canfield

15. “The master has failed more times than the beginner has even tried.” – Stephen McCranie

16. “Suffer the pain of discipline, or suffer the pain of regret.” – Jim Rohn

17. “Some people die at 25 and aren’t buried until 75.” – Benjamin Franklin

18. “Successful people are 100% convinced that they are masters of their own destiny , they’re not creatures of circumstance, they create circumstance, if the circumstances around them suck they change them.” – Jordan Belfort

Business Quotes

1. “This is the real secret of life — to be completely engaged with what you are doing in the here and now. And instead of calling it work, realize it is play.” – Alan Watts

2. “Time is more valuable than money. You can get more money, but you cannot get more time.” – Jim Rohn

3. “Never depend on single income. Make investments to create a second source” – Warren Buffett

4. “Don’t be afraid to give up the good to go for the great.” – John D. Rockefeller

5. “Don’t be distracted by criticism. Remember–the only taste of success some people get is to take a bite out of you.” – Zig Ziglar

6. “People ask the difference between a leader and a boss… The leader works in the open, and the boss in covert. The leader leads, and the boss drives.” – Theodore Roosevelt

More Great Work Quotes and Sayings

7. “I cannot give you a formula for success, but I can give you the formula for failure, which is: Try to please everybody.” – Herbert Bayard Swope

8. “Nobody realizes that some people expend tremendous energy merely to be normal.” – Albert Camus

9. “Success usually comes to those who are too busy to be looking for it.” – Henry David Thoreau

10. “Keep on going, and the chances are that you will stumble on something, perhaps when you are least expecting it. I never heard of anyone ever stumbling on something sitting down.” – Charles F. Kettering

11. “If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.” – John Quincy Adams

Positive Quotes and Positive Thinking Sayings

1. “Be the person your dog thinks you are.” – J.W. Stephens

2. “You can be the ripest, juiciest peach in the world, and there’s still going to be somebody who hates peaches.” – Dita Von Teese

3. “Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don’t matter and those who matter don’t mind.” – Dr. Seuss

4. “The reason we struggle with insecurity is because we compare our behind-the-scenes with everyone else’s highlight reel.” – Steven Furtick

5. “You only look in your neighbor’s bowl to ensure he has enough.” – Louis C.K.

6. “There is a powerful driving force inside every human being that, once unleashed, can make any vision, dream, or desire a reality.” – Tony Robbins

7. “To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; to appreciate beauty; to find the best in others; to leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch, or a redeemed social condition; to know that even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

8. “Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.” Ian Maclaren

9. “Those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music.” – Friedrich Nietzsche

10. “I know for sure that everything will work out. No matter how crazy or bleak the situation is, it will work out. Everything passes, good and bad.” – Xosha Roquemore

Life Quotes

1. “It’s better to have a short life that is full of what you like doing, than a long life spent in a miserable way.” – Alan Watts

2. “The problem, often not discovered until late in life, is that when you look for things in life like love, meaning, motivation, it implies they are sitting behind a tree or under a rock. The most successful people in life recognize, that in life they create their own love, they manufacture their own meaning, they generate their own motivation. For me, I am driven by two main philosophies, know more today about the world than I knew yesterday. And lessen the suffering of others. You’d be surprised how far that gets you.” – Neil deGrasse Tyson

3. “At the end of the game the King and the pawn go back into the same box.” – Italian Proverb

4. “For me, it is far better to grasp the Universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring.” – Carl Sagan

5. “Can you remember who you were, before the world told you who you should be?” – Charles Bukowski

6. “I have realized that the past and future are real illusions, that they exist in the present, which is what there is and all there is.” – Alan Watts

7. “Holding onto anger is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die.” – Unknown

8. “Our life is what our thoughts make it.” – Marcus Aurelius

9. “Life is not about waiting for the storm to pass but learning to dance in the rain.” – Unknown

10. “We judge ourselves by our intentions and others by their behavior.” – Stephen M.R. Covey

11. “The trouble with the world is that the stupid are cocksure and the intelligent are full of doubt.” – Bertrand Russell

12. “Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else’s opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation.” – Oscar Wilde

13. “It is no measure of health to be well-adjusted to a profoundly sick society” – Jiddu Krishnamurti

14. “No snowflake in an avalanche ever feels responsible.” – Voltaire

15. “I do not fear death. I had been dead for billions and billions of years before I was born, and had not suffered the slightest inconvenience from it.” – Mark Twain

16. “I am as bad as the worst, but, thank God, I am as good as the best.” – Walt Whitman

17. “Every day we should hear at least one little song, read one good poem,. You see one exquisite picture, and, if possible, speak a few sensible words.” – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

18. “The trouble with most of us is that we would rather be ruined by praise than saved by criticism.” – Norman Vincent Peale

19. “The most important thing is to enjoy your life – to be happy – it’s all that matters.” Audrey Hepburn

Change Quotes

1. “It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.” – Charles Darwin

2. “Trust the wait. Embrace the uncertainty. Enjoy the beauty of becoming. When nothing is certain, anything is possible.” – Mandy Hale

3. “Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself.” – Leo Tolstoy

4. “Life is a series of natural and spontaneous changes. Don’t resist them; that only creates sorrow. Let reality be reality. Let things flow naturally forward in whatever way they like.” – Lao Tzu

5. “We delight in the beauty of the butterfly, but rarely admit the changes it has gone through to achieve that beauty.” – Maya Angelou

6. “The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man.” – George Bernard Shaw

7. “Isn’t it funny how day by day nothing changes but when we look back everything is different.” – C.S. Lewis

8. “Here’s to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They’re not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them. About the only thing you can’t do is ignore them. Because they change things. They push the human race forward. And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.” – Steve Jobs

9. “We have a tendency to want the other person to be a finished product while we give ourselves the grace to evolve.” – T.D. Jakes

10. “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed, citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” – Margaret Mead

Uplifting Quotes

1. “When everything seems to be going against you, remember that the airplane takes off against the wind, not with it.” – Henry Ford

2. “Twenty years from now, you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t 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.” – Mark Twain

3. “In order to get something you never had, you have to do something you never have done” – Thomas Jefferson

4. “All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us.” – Gandalf, from Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

5. “Never forget what you are. The rest of the world will not. Wear it like armor, and it can never be used to hurt you.” – Tyrion Lannister, Game of Thrones

6. “In any given moment we have two options: to step forward into growth or to step back into safety.” – Abraham Maslow

7. “Rock bottom became the solid foundation on which I rebuilt my life.” – J.K.Rowling

8. “Attitude is a choice. Happiness is a choice. Optimism is a choice. Kindness is a choice. Giving is a choice. Respect is a choice. Whatever choice you make makes you. Choose wisely.” – Roy T. Bennett

9. “If you want to be happy, do not dwell in the past, do not worry about the future, focus on living fully in the present.” – Roy T. Bennett

10. “What you do makes a difference, and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make.” – Jane Goodall

11. “Lots of people want to ride with you in the limo, but what you want is someone who will take the bus with you when the limo breaks down.” – Oprah Winfrey

Short Inspirational Quotes

1. “If you’re going through hell, keep going.” – Winston Churchill

2. “More is lost by indecision than wrong decision”. – Tony Soprano

3. “Hustle until you no longer need to introduce yourself.” – Anonymous

4. “This too, shall pass.” – Unknown

5. “Do one thing every day that scares you.” – Anonymous

6. “The successful warrior is the average man, with laser-like focus.” – Bruce Lee

7. “Remember why you started. – Unknown

8. “Be yourself; everyone else is already taken.” – Oscar Wilde

9. “This above all: to thine own self be true.” – William Shakespeare

10. “The obstacle is the path.” – Zen Proverb

11. “The best revenge is massive success.” – Frank Sinatra

12. “Pain is temporary. Quitting lasts forever.” – Lance Armstrong, Sally Jenkins

13. “Fall seven times and stand up eight.”- Japanese Proverb

14. “Seek first to understand, then to be understood.” – Stephen Covey

Love Quotes.

1. “The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched – they must be felt with the heart.” – Helen Keller

2. “Do what you feel in your heart to be right – for you’ll be criticized anyway. You’ll be damned if you do, and damned if you don’t.” – Eleanor Roosevelt

3. “Treasure the love you receive above all. It will survive long after your good health has vanished.” – Og Mandingo

What are your Favorite Inspirational Quotes?

Here’s one final inspirational quote from me:

“In the end, please remember, you’re only floating on a rock through space, all the rules are made up, and none of it matters. So go invent your life.” – Adam Enfroy, from my article Human Nature: 3 Deep Lessons to Change Your Life