Good quotes are often powerful words of wisdom that inspire, educate and even motivate a person to take action. They usually share common themes such as:
- Positive thinking leads to positive outcomes
- Failure is a stepping stone to success
- Help yourself by helping others
- Determination, initiative and persistence are the foundation of success
And yet these lessons of life are typically condensed into 1-2 lines. Therefore we thought it’d be a great idea to come up with the ultimate list of 100 inspiring quotes to live by.
1. “I have never in my life learned anything from any man who agreed with me.” – Dudley Field Malone
2. “If the facts don’t fit the theory, change the facts.” – Albert Einstein
3. “The trouble with not having a goal is that you can spend your life running up and down the field and never score.” – Bill Copeland
4. “It is never too late to be what you might have been.” – George Eliot
5. “All our dreams can come true – if we have the courage to pursue them.” – Walt Disney
6. “Great minds discuss ideas. Average minds discuss events. Small minds discuss people.” – Eleanor Roosevelt
7. “If opportunity doesn’t knock, build a door.” – Milton Berle
8. “An eye for eye only ends up making the whole world blind.” – M.K. Gandhi
9. “Ask not what your country can do for you — ask what you can do for your country.” – John F. Kennedy
10. “I haven’t failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” – Thomas Edison
11. “It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.” – Aristotle
12. “It wasn’t raining when Noah built the ark.” – Howard Ruff
13. “It’s not whether you get knocked down, it’s whether you get up.” – Vince Lombardi
14. “Keep your friends close and your enemies closer.” – Sun-Tzu
15. “Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere.” – Albert Einstein
16. “Never leave that till tomorrow which you can do today.” – Benjamin Franklin
17. “Be not afraid of greatness. Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon ’em.” – William Shakespeare
18. “That which doesn’t kill us makes us stronger.” – Friedrich Nietzsche
19. “The quickest way to double your money is to fold it over and put it back in your pocket.” – Will Rogers
20. “Even if you’re on the right track, you’ll get run over if you just sit there.” – Will Rogers
21. “To be prepared for war is one of the most effective means of preserving peace.” – George Washington
22. “When you come to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on.” – Franklin D. Roosevelt
23. “Do not worry if you have built your castles in the air. They are where they should be. Now put the foundations under them.” – Henry David Thoreau
24. “What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
25. “What you do speaks so loudly that I cannot hear what you say.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
26. “I think and think for months and years. Ninety-nine times, the conclusion is false. The hundredth time I am right.” – Albert Einstein
27. “Few are those who see with their own eyes and feel with their own hearts.” – Albert Einstein
28. “Age is an issue of mind over matter. If you don’t mind, it doesn’t matter.” – Mark Twain
29. “People who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.” – Apple Computers
30. “You must be the change you want to see in the world.” – M.K. Gandhi
31. “I’ve missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.” – Michael Jordan
32. “If you want to test your memory, try to recall what you were worrying about one year ago today.” – E. Joseph Cossman
33. “Whether you think you can or think you can’t, you’re right.” – Henry Ford
34. “Failure is the condiment that gives success its flavor.” – Truman Capote
35. “Remember that happiness is a way of travel, not a destination.” – Roy Goodman
36. “In between goals is a thing called life, that has to be lived and enjoyed.” – Sid Caesar
37. “The more I want to get something done, the less I call it work.” – Richard Bach
38. “The only thing worse than a man you can’t control is a man you can.” – Margo Kaufman
39. “To avoid criticism do nothing, say nothing, be nothing.” – Elbert Hubbard
40. “We see things not as they are, but as we are.” – H. M. Tomlinson
41. “The man who removes a mountain begins by carrying away small stones.” – Chinese Proverb
42. “Vision without action is daydream. Action without vision is nightmare.” – Japanese Proverb
43. “If you keep saying things are going to be bad, you have a chance of being a prophet.” – Isaac B. Singer
44. “The difference between ordinary and extraordinary is that little extra.” – Jimmy Johnson
45. “When I hear somebody sigh, ‘Life is hard,’ I am always tempted to ask, ‘Compared to what?’” – Sydney Harris
46. “The only people who find what they are looking for in life are the fault finders.” – Foster’s Law
47. “I am an optimist. It does not seem too much use being anything else.” – Winston Churchill
48. “If you’re going through hell, keep going.” – Winston Churchill
49. “Life is a shipwreck but we must not forget to sing in the lifeboats.” – Voltaire
50. “The best way to predict the future is to create it.” – Abraham Lincoln
51. “Don’t go through life, grow through life.” – Eric Butterworth
52. “Positive anything is better than negative thinking.” – Elbert Hubbard
53. “Do not wait to strike till the iron is hot; but make it hot by striking.” – William B. Sprague
54. “Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds.” – Albert Einstein
55. “I know for sure that what we dwell on is who we become.” – Oprah Winfrey
56. “In any situation, the best thing you can do is the right thing; the next best thing you can do is the wrong thing; the worst thing you can do is nothing.” – Theodore Roosevelt
57. “Keep on going and the chances are you will stumble on something, perhaps when you are least expecting it. I have never heard of anyone stumbling on something sitting down.” – Charles F. Kettering
58. “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
59. “There are two primary choices in life: to accept conditions as they exist, or accept the responsibility for changing them.” – Dr. Denis Waitley
60. “Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do.” – John Wooden
61. “Cause change and lead; accept change and survive; resist change and die.” – Ray Norda
62. “Defeat is not bitter unless you swallow it.” – Joe Clark
63. “Don’t let life discourage you; everyone who got where he is had to begin where he was.” – Richard L. Evans
64. “A mind is like a parachute, it doesn’t work if it isn’t open.” – Frank Zappa
65. “If you want to make your dreams come true, the first thing you have to do is wake up.” – J.M. Power
66. “In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock.” – Thomas Jefferson
67. “Life is 10% what happens to us and 90% how we react to it.” – Dennis P. Kimbro
68. “Winners lose much more often than losers. So if you keep losing but you’re still trying, keep it up! You’re right on track.” – Matthew Keith Groves
69. “An obstacle is often a stepping stone.” – Prescott
70. “The only thing worse than being blind is having sight but no vision.” – Helen Keller
71. “The real opportunity for success lies within the person and not in the job.” – Zig Ziglar
72. “If you cannot do great things, do small things in a great way.” – Napoleon Hill
73. “Luck is a dividend of sweat. The more you sweat, the luckier you get.” – Ray Kroc
74. “Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection we can catch excellence.” – Vince Lombardi
75. “People often say that motivation doesn’t last. Well, neither does bathing – that’s why we recommend it daily.” – Zig Ziglar
76. “If not us, who? If not now, when?” – John F. Kennedy
77. “Be more concerned with your character than with your reputation. Your character is what you really are while your reputation is merely what others think you are.” – Dale Carnegie
78. “The elevator to success is out of order. You’ll have to use the stairs… one step at a time.” – Joe Girard
79. “Some men see things as they are and say why – I dream things that never were and say why not.” – George Bernard Shaw
80. “A successful man is one who can lay a firm foundation with the bricks that others throw at him.” – Sidney Greenberg
81. “I don’t know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everybody.” – Bill Cosby
82. “The man who has confidence in himself gains the confidence of others.” – Hasidic Proverb
83. “Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things.” – Peter F. Drucker
84. “You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.” – Wayne Gretzky
85. “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
86. “I am always doing that which I cannot do, in order that I may learn how to do it.” – Pablo Picasso
87. “Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
88. “Enjoy the little things, for one day you may look back and realize they were the big things.” – Robert Brault
89. “Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted.” – Albert Einstein
90. “By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.” – Benjamin Franklin
91. “Many of life’s failures are experienced by people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.” – Thomas Edison
92. “Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.” – Confucius
93. “The pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity. The optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.” – Winston Churchill
94. “The only way to have a friend is to be one.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
95. “Great thoughts speak only to the thoughtful mind, but great actions speak to all mankind.” – Theodore Roosevelt
96. “You make a living by what you earn; you make a life by what you give.” – Winston Churchill
97. “The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.” – Lao Tzu
98. “What counts is not necessarily the size of the dog in the fight – it’s the size of the fight in the dog.” – Dwight D. Eisenhower
99. “Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great makes you feel that you, too, can become great.” – Mark Twain
100. “Every truth passes through three stages before it is recognized. In the first, it is ridiculed. In the second, it is opposed. In the third, it is regarded as self evident.” – Arthur Schopenhauer
