inspirational quotes

120+ Top Inspirational Quotes of All Time

Sometimes life throws us a curveball or two, and it feels like the end of the world. We tend to dwell on the tough time we are in, and any motivation feels out of reach. Sometimes words of advice from others–those who have gone through a moment of weakness and who have lacked inspiration or motivation–can help. Whether it be a teacher providing motivation for a student or a mother sparking inspiration in her child, a great quote–one that sparks something in our soul–is always a great thing

We see inspirational quotes on social media: a positive quote by an athlete or an actress pushing their fans to go after their dreams, or a motivational quote by a philosopher or a motivational speaker to reassure people that success isn’t out of reach. While a well-known, favorite inspirational quote might speak to many, there are a plethora of motivational quotes that might be even more meaningful–it just needs to be read and understood. 

Here is a great collection of uplifting quotes for men, women, students, teachers, and more. These inspirational quotes can be a good thing for anyone who reads them. 

Inspiring Creativity Quotes

These inspiring quotes by famous artists, writers, and musicians can serve as a push to keep going, be patient when searching for creative inspiration, and not to let fear get in the way.

“You can’t use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have.”

Maya Angelou

“Musicians want to be the loud voice for so many quiet hearts.”

-Billy Joel

“The music is not in the notes, but in the silence between.”

-Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

“Your potential, the absolute best you’re capable of—that’s the metric to measure yourself against. Your standards are. Winning is not enough. People can get lucky and win. People can be assholes and win. Anyone can win. But not everyone is the best possible version of themselves.”
Ryan Holiday
inspirational quotes

“You combine hard work, creativity, and self-determination, and things start to happen.”

Sophia Amoruso

“I dwell in possibility.”

-Emily Dickinson

“To practice any art, no matter how well or badly, is a way to make your soul grow. So do it.”

-Kurt Vonnegut

“You don’t owe anyone anything; create want YOU want.”

Brandon Woelfel
inspirational quotes
“I have the human impulse to reach out, to touch, and it’s my mind that stops me, that constructs walls out of doubts, that separates me from everybody else.”
Adrienne West

“Time you enjoy wasting was not wasted.”

-John Lennon

“Why not go out on a limb? Isn’t that where the fruit is?”

-Frank Scully

inspirational quotes

“Despite everything, no one can dictate who you are to other people.”

-Prince

“Be your own artist, and always be confident in what you’re doing. If you’re not going to be confident, you might as well not be doing it.”

-Aretha Franklin

“Creative thinking inspires ideas. Ideas inspire change.”

-Barbara Januszkiewicz

“I am seeking. I am striving. I am in it with all my heart.”

-Vincent van Gogh

“The best way out is always through.”

-Robert Frost

Inspirational Quotes About Love and Friendship

“Take your broken heart, make it into art.”

-Carrie Fisher

“People come into your life for a reason, a season, or a lifetime. When you know which one it is, you will know what to do for that person.”

-Unknown

inspirational quotes

“Your heart is a vast and tender thing; you cannot keep trying to shrink it into what someone else needs. You cannot keep pouring your love into a vessel that cannot contain it. You cannot keep pouring your love into a heart that is closed off to it. It will only leave you empty.”

“Let us be grateful to people who make us happy; they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom.”

-Marcel Proust

Life is too short. Too short to waste a single second with anyone who doesn’t appreciate and value you.”

-Sarah Dessen 

“The only way to have a friend is to be one.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson

“Be friends first when you’re dating. If it turns into something more, that’s awesome, and if not, you have another friend.”

-Taylor Swift

inspirational quotes

“Many people will walk in and out of your life, but only true friends will leave footprints in your heart.”

Eleanor Roosevelt

“My definition of a friend is somebody who adores you even though they know the things you’re most ashamed of.”

-Jodie Foster

“You cannot save people; you can only love them.”

-Anaïs Nin

“You need to remember that love does not mean one person gives all and another person receives all.” 

-Abirami P. Kurukkal 

inspirational quotes

Good Motivational Quotes To Feel Empowered

“You have what it takes to be a victorious, independent, fearless woman.” 

­-Tyra Banks

“A man is absolutely not a necessity. I love men, I think men are the coolest, but you really don’t need them to live. My mom said to me, ‘You know, sweetheart, one day you should settle down and marry a rich man.’ I said, ‘Mom, I am a rich man.’” 

-Cher

“Remember that the stars and planets did not die for you to waste your time wondering if you are pretty enough or worthy enough to exist.”

Nikita Gill

inspirational quotes

“No matter how many mistakes you make or how slow you progress, you are still way ahead of everyone who isn’t trying.”

-Tony Robbins

“Waste no more time arguing about what a good man should be. Be one.”

-Marcus Aurelius

“We call ships ‘she.’ We call our machines ‘women.’ We compare women to black widows and vipers. And you’re going to tell me it’s not ‘lady-like’ to scream, to take up space, to fight and demand respect and do whatever I want. You’ve looked at nuclear bombs and been so in awe that you could only name them after women. Don’t try to down-play my power.”

Anonymous

“If you want to run for Prime Minister, you can. If you don’t, that’s wonderful, too. Shave your armpits, don’t shave them, wear flats one day, heels the next. These things are so irrelevant and surface to what it is all really about, and I wish people wouldn’t get caught up in that. We want to empower women to do exactly what they want, to be true to themselves, to have the opportunities to develop. Women should feel free.”

-Emma Watson

“You got a dream you gotta protect it. People can’t do something themselves; they tell you, you can’t do it. If you want something, go get it, period.”

Will Smith
inspirational quotes
“A reminder to be resilient. NO. MATTER. WHAT. Dig yourself out of your hole and move. Just move. It’ll get better. One bad day does not = a bad life.”
-Cassey Ho
“I’m tough, I’m ambitious, and I know exactly what I want. If that makes me a bitch, okay.”

Madonna

“Don’t be afraid if things seem difficult in the beginning. That’s only the initial impression. The important thing is not to retreat: You have to master yourself.”
Olga Korbut
“Feminism isn’t about making women strong. Women are already strong. It’s about changing the way the world perceives that strength.”
-G.D Anderson
inspirational quotes
“Change takes courage.”
“You always want to outwork your potential. As hard as you believe you can work, you can work harder than that.”
Kobe Bryant
“The earth has never stopped moving, growing, evolving for anyone, and neither should you.”
-Nikita Gill 
“Believe me; the reward is not so great without the struggle.”
Wilma Rudolph
inspirational quotes

Courage, sacrifice, determination, commitment, toughness, heart, talent, guts. That’s what little girls are made of; the heck with sugar and spice.”

-Bethany Hamilton

“You can, you should, and if you’re brave enough to start, you will.”

-Stephen King

“You were put on this earth to achieve your greatest self, to live out your purpose, and to do it courageously.”
-Steve Maraboli
“No matter what a woman looks like. If she’s confident, she’s sexy.”
-Paris Hilton
inspirational quotes
“Rather be in solitude than to lose yourself trying to please the wrong crowd.”
-Mitta Xinindlu

Motivational Quotes About Success 

Success is no accident. It is hard work, perseverance, learning, studying, sacrifice, and most of all, love of what you are doing or learning to do.” 

-Pele

“Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time, we fall.”

-Confucius

“You can fail at what you don’t want, so you might as well take a chance on doing what you love.”
-Jim Carrey
inspirational quotes
“I have learned over the years that when one’s mind is made up, this diminishes fear; knowing what must be done does away with fear.” 

Rosa Parks

“Things work out best for those who make the best of how things work out.”

-John Wooden

“A dream doesn’t become reality through magic; it takes sweat, determination, and hard work.”

-Colin Powell

“We can do no great things, only small things with great love.” 

Mother Teresa

Success means having the courage, the determination, and the will to become the person you believe you were meant to be.”

-George Sheehan

inspirational quotes

“Passion without a true sense of purpose-without direction and without a desire to work your ass off-is worthless.”

-Melanie Berliet 

Dream your own dreams, achieve your own goals. Your journey is your own and unique.”

-Roy Bennett

“Develop success from failures. Discouragement and failures are two of the surest stepping stones to success.”

-Dale Carnegie

“The only thing to do with good advice is to pass it on. It is never of any use to oneself.”

-Oscar Wilde

“Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it.”

Steve Jobs

“You dream. You plan. You reach. There will be obstacles. There will be doubters. There will be mistakes. But with hard work, with belief, with confidence and trust in yourself and those around you, there are no limits.”

-Michael Phelps

“The sky is not the limit. Your mind is.”

-Lynette Simeone 

inspirational quotes

“I have nothing in common with lazy people who blame others for their lack of success. Great things come from hard work and perseverance. No excuses.”

-Kobe Bryant

“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

“I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.”

-Thomas Edison

“Your positive action, combined with positive thinking, results in success.“

-Shiv Khera

“There are days that life is about dreams, goals, brightness. And there are days that life is just about putting one foot in front of the other and continue walking – there is nothing wrong about this.”
-Paulo Coelho
inspirational quotes

“You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, ‘I lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along.”

-Eleanor Roosevelt

“Happiness is a butterfly, which, when pursued, is always beyond your grasp, but which, if you will sit down quietly, may alight upon you.”

-Nathaniel Hawthorne

“There are two types of people who will tell you that you cannot make a difference in this world: those who are afraid to try and those who are afraid you will succeed.”

-Ray Goforth

“The only place where success comes before work is in the dictionary.”

-Vidal Sassoon

“Action is the foundational key to all success.” 

-Pablo Picasso

inspirational quotes

“People are capable, at any time in their lives, of doing what they dream of.”

Paulo Coelho

“Many of life‘s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.”

-Thomas Edison

“We may live in an age of instant messaging, instant gratification, and Instagram, but there is no way to short circuit the path to success.”

-Tory Burch

“The elevator to success is out of order. You’ll have to use the stairs, one step at a time.”

-Joe Girard

Uplifting Quotes for Maintaining a Positive Attitude 

“Believing in negative thoughts is the single greatest obstruction to success.”

Charles F. Glassman

“A daily dosage of positive energy so corrosive that it wears out every negative doubt as the gap between the dream & reality closes.”

Curtis Tyrone Jones

“Tough times never last, but tough people do.”

-Robert H. Schuller

inspirational quotes

“Breathe. You were in this place before, and you got out of it stronger. Breathe. And remember, they don’t deserve your sadness; they don’t control your happiness. Breathe. Because you are strong enough to pass through your hell with a smile.”
-Drew

“I am a series of small victories and large defeats, and I am as amazed as any other that I have gotten from there to here. ”

Charles Bukowski

“There is hope, even when your brain tells you there isn’t.”

-John Green 

“Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience.”

-Ralph Waldo Emerson

“Never apologize for being sensitive or emotional. Let this be a sign that you’ve got a big heart and aren’t afraid to let others see it. Showing your emotions is a sign of strength.”

-Brigitte Nicole

inspirational quotes

“When nothing goes right, go left.”

-Unknown

“No matter what you look like or think you look like, you’re special, and loved, and perfect just the way you are.” 

-Ariel Winter

“You must always have faith in people. And most importantly, you must always have faith in yourself.”

-Elle Woods, Legally Blonde

“If you pursue happiness, you are an ordinary person. If happiness pursues you, you are an extraordinary person. Do not chase happiness; let it chase you.”

-Peter Deunov

“Make happiness a priority and be gentle with yourself in the process.”

-Bronnie Ware

“To succeed in life, you need three things: a wishbone, a backbone, and a funny bone.”

-Reba McEntire

“When one door of happiness closes, another opens; but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one which has been opened for us.”

Helen Keller

inspirational quotes

“I hope you trust in the timing of your life and that you follow your own path without worrying so much about what everyone else is doing or how fast they are moving.”

-Colleen George

“Set peace of mind as your highest goal, and organize your life around it.”

-Brian Tracy

“Change begins at the end of your comfort zone.”

-Roy T. Bennett

“However difficult life may seem, there is always something you can do and succeed at.”

-Stephen Hawking

“Beauty is not who you are on the outside; it is the wisdom and time you gave away to save another struggling soul like you.”

-Shannon Alder

“Raise your words, not your voice; it is rain that grows flowers, not thunder.”
Rumi
inspirational quotes

No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.”

-Eleanor Roosevelt

“Educating the mind without educating the heart is no education at all.” 

Aristotle

“If you’re seeing this right now, I wish you health and happiness ❤️❤️❤️❤️ #positivitymatters.”

Gary Vaynerchuk

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January Nelson is a writer, editor, and dreamer. She writes about astrology, games, love, relationships, and entertainment. January graduated with an English and Literature degree from Columbia University.