65 Most Inspirational Quotes of All-Time

Here they are, the most inspirational quotes ever uttered, sure to stir you and get you moving through the day. Whether you feel stuck or just need a good dose of inspiration from great minds, these should do the trick. Be sure to feed your brain inspiring quotes and phrases daily, since it needs to be fed regularly just like the rest of your body.

#1 Winston Churchill Tells How to Be a Success

“Success is going from failure to failure without losing your enthusiasm.” ~Winston Churchill | Tweet this

Getting knocked around by failures is never fun or easy, but this advice from Churchill reminds us that it’s vital that you remain enthusiastic when facing your next venture, or you can expect more of the same.
It’s not an easy task, but it’s clear to see that if you let your defeats get you down you only make it harder to get that next success under your belt. Make an effort to get enthusiastic about your current endeavor, regardless of how many times you’ve fallen short in the past. This is sure to result in a success or two, which builds momentum and makes it easier to get excited about what you’ll do next.

#2 Lao Tzu on Taking That First Step

“The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.” ~Lao Tzu | Tweet this

Each step you take toward a bigger goal might not seem like much. It may seem like you’re not really doing much at all. This will be especially true of any outside observers. Others might think you’re not getting anywhere, that you’re not getting anything done. That’s why you have to have a lot of confidence in where you’re going. You need to be clear about where you want to end up so that you have the conviction that the small steps you are taking will eventually get you to where you want to be, and you can squash any naysayers.

#3 Norman Vaughan on Big Dreams

“Dream big and dare to fail.” ~Norman Vaughan | Tweet this

Having small dreams and being afraid to fail is the antithesis of this advice, and it’s something many of us do, even though we may not want to admit it. The two go hand in hand, if you are too afraid of failing you’ll keep your dreams on a leash. But if you overcome that fear, and jump out there fully willing to completely fail, you free your mind to dream up new adventures and goals for your life. Failure comes with trying, and a life of not trying will not leave you satisfied, so it’s good to continually put yourself out there.

#4 Emerson on the Importance of Action

“What you do speaks so loudly that I cannot hear what you say.” ~Ralph Waldo Emerson | Tweet this

Here’s a take on the “Actions speak louder than words. adage. It’s true that words can often be contradicted by the actions we take. This may be because words are easy to spew out, but you can only perform so many actions in a day. Actions must be more thought out and are a more accurate measure of what you really intend to do. Make sure to choose your actions wisely, as others will come to their conclusions about you based on what you do rather than what you say. Many times there is a big discrepancy between what is said and what is done, which is why what you do matters more.

#5 Gandhi on How to Change the World

“You must be the change you wish to see in the world.” ~Gandhi | Tweet this

It’s easy to get frustrated by all the violence and pain being experienced around the world, and even easier to feel helpless about it. But rather than sitting around waiting for the world to change, it’s better to start making changes within your own sphere of influence. The theory behind this quote is that if everyone tended to their own selves the world would be the way we all want it to be. What can you do today that would help make the world around you a better place? By making the changes you wish the world would make you instantly and automatically make the world better.

#6 Dr. Robert Schuller on Being Tough

“Tough times never last, but tough people do.” ~Dr. Robert Schuller | Tweet this

It’s true that even the toughest of times don’t last forever, and as long as you remain strong you’ll make it through and be able to weather whatever storms come your way. The human spirit has shown that it’s capable of making it through tough times, and getting to the end of the tunnel. The best part of dealing with adversity is that it toughens you up for the next trial in your life. Knowing that you’re only getting better with each new struggle can be an inspiration during those times when you feel like giving up. Being a tough person doesn’t mean you have to be callous, it just means you have an inner strength that’s battle-tested.

#7 Helen Keller on Keeping the Best Outlook

“Keep your face to the sunshine and you can never see the shadow.” ~Helen Keller | Tweet this

As long as you’re looking on the bright side of things you’ll be ignoring the not-so-good things in your life. What you give attention to grows, so if you’re focusing on what’s wrong in your life you’ll just get more of it to focus on. But if you focus on what’s right in your life, what makes you happy, what you’re grateful for, and why things are so fantastic for you, you’ll only get more of the same to be happy and grateful for. Some days are easier to face towards the sunshine than others, but it’s always there, you just have to try harder during hard times.

#8 Christopher Morley on the One True Success

“There is only one success: to be able to spend your life in your own way.” ~Christopher Morley | Tweet this

It’s your life, your one and only life, and it would be a shame to spend it in a way that doesn’t suit you. But many of us wish that things were different. Either we’re unsatisfied with our jobs, or our relationships, or just the way things are going. It’s vital to your overall success to make changes as you see fit so that you can have your life be the way you really want it to be. It’s the foundation to all other success, and you can’t really have a different success without first tending to this matter.

#9 Robert Frost on Making It Through Tough Times

“The best way out is always through.” ~Robert Frost | Tweet this

If you’re in a tough spot it’s tempting to think of a clever way around it, but this serves as a reminder to just take the most direct route: through. You’ll find that a funny thing happens when you make up your mind to barrel through whatever dilemma you’re facing. Everything starts shifting when you stop hemming and hawing and finally decide to take actions to make your way through. It’s a way to get yourself on board with the idea of sticking it out and making it through, and when you stop the internal bickering you start to use your full potential to solve the problem at hand.

#10 John Muir Reminds Us of Our Own Power

“The power of imagination makes us infinite.” ~John Muir | Tweet this

You use your imagination each day, even if you think you don’t. No matter how big or small your accomplishments today, it all began in your imagination. You can use it as much or as little as you want, but it’s the starting point for everything that happens in your life, from what you eat, to what you wear, to what you do. It all begins as pictures in your mind. Be sure to harness the full power of your imagination to dream up bigger and better things for yourself. It’s the part of you that taps into the infiniteness of the universe, so don’t neglect it.

#11 John Wooden Constructing a Masterpiece

“Make each day your masterpiece.” ~John Wooden | Tweet this

It’s easy to lose sight of the importance of each day, because we seem to have so many of them. But it’s been said that a single day serves as a microcosm of your life, so be sure to spend your days in a way that embodies the way you want to live your life. At the end of it all your life will boil down to the accumulation of all of your days, and will serve as your masterpiece, so be sure to spend time each day chiseling the great sculpture that is your life. Treat each day the same, don’t write off days as being “bad, they still count towards the total work of art.

#12 Cherie Gilderbloom on Dreaming While Awake

“The best dreams happen when you’re awake.” ~Cherie Gilderbloom | Tweet this

Living a life that feels like a dream is the ultimate goal, isn’t it? You don’t want to save your best experiences for dreams experienced while you’re sleeping, because as tantalizing as they are they aren’t real. Having real moment in life that feel surreal and dreamlike is a wonderful thing to have, and the good news is that you can create this with focus and determination by making it your goal. Pick something you think would be a dream to be, do, or have, and then put all of your resources into attaining it. When you get there once you’ll be hooked, and you’ll want to move onto the next dreamlike moment.

#13 Christopher Reeve and the Power of Hope

“Once you choose hope, anything’s possible.” ~Christopher Reeve | Tweet this

The opposite of this quote is also true, once you give up hope or choose hopelessness, nothing’s possible. Hope is the feeling that things will somehow get better, that they will somehow work out. You don’t even have to know how it will happen, but it’s the believe or even the wish that it will. That’s why it’s never a good idea to give up hope because you just don’t know how things will pan out. When going about your day it’s better to feel hopeful about the things you’re working on, or the task at hand. If you have hope, it’s quite possible that it can all turn out for the best.

#14 T.S. Eliot on Starting Anew

“Every moment is a fresh beginning.” ~T.S. Eliot | Tweet this

It’s interesting to think that you can start anew with each passing moment. You can let go of the past, let go of whatever is holding you back, and start again, doing whatever it is you want to do. It’s refreshing to know that the present is not entirely enmeshed in the past, and your future is being created moment by moment. If you’ve been mired in doubt and hesitation to start a new project or to mend a relationship because of things that have happened to you in the past, remember that this moment is totally new and you can move in the direction you want to go.

#15 Charles Kettering on Failure as an Impossibility

“Believe and act as if it were impossible to fail.” ~Charles Kettering | Tweet this

What a great way to greet the world! Acting might come before believing on this one, as it’s not an easy task to believe that it’s impossible to fail. It might be a case of faking it until you make it, taking bold actions as if you really believe that you can’t fail, and then building up your confidence and your belief that you really can’t. Even if things don’t work out you still infused them with the right energy, rather than taking a defeatist approach that it probably wouldn’t work. It means you’ll try bigger and bolder things than if you are doubting yourself the whole time.

#16 Muhammad Ali on Counting Days

“Don’t count the days, make the days count.” ~Muhammad Ali | Tweet this

It can be dangerous to start counting down your days, because you want to make each one count. But many times there will be an event coming up that makes you start counting down how many days until it arrives. But each day between now and then is important, and you don’t want to breeze over any part of your life just to get to the next, seemingly better part. Putting the most of yourself into each day will make it so you never have any regrets about how you spent your time here, and you’ll know that you really did make it count each day.

#17 Jimmy Johnson on Giving That Little Extra

“The difference between ordinary and extraordinary is that little extra.” ~Jimmy Johnson | Tweet this

This is a cute way of pointing out the difference between what makes things extraordinary rather than ordinary. It really is a matter of a few degrees, going that little bit further to push things past the point of regularity. The key is that you want to always strive for the extraordinary. Doing a few extraordinary things might make you complacent, and ready to rest on your laurels. But then you run the risk of slipping back into ordinary behaviors. Always ask yourself if what you’re doing is ordinary or extraordinary and then give that little extra if needed.

#18 Henry David Thoreau on Hitting the Target

“You must not only aim right, but draw the bow with all your might.” ~Henry David Thoreau | Tweet this

Thoreau points out that it’s not enough to get yourself focused in the right direction, but also to give as much effort as possible to propel yourself forward. The situation can arise where you know exactly where you want to go, but you just can’t muster up the motivation to build up the momentum to get you there. Another point to consider is that you can spend a lot of energy and give a lot of action, but if you’re not pointed in the right direction you won’t end up where you want to be. Both are necessary for true success and progress.

#19 Elizabeth Barrett Browning on How to Use Today

“Light tomorrow with today.” ~Elizabeth Barrett Browning | Tweet this

Today is your opportunity to make your tomorrow better. If you think of it from the point that your today is the result of your yesterdays, it’s clear that what you are doing today is either moving your forward or moving you backward. That’s why you want to grab today by the horns and make the most of it as you can. Do that enough times and you’ll start to see signs that your todays are getting better, which only sets you up better and better for tomorrow. You can find yourself in negative or positive spiral based on how well you are spending your days.

#20 Will Rogers on Keeping on the Right Track

“Even if you’re on the right track, you’ll get run over if you just sit there.” ~Will Rogers | Tweet this

It’s often hard just getting on the right track, but you have to remember that once you’re there it’s no place to idle. You’ve got to not only get on the right track, but move yourself forward along that track once you make it there. If it took you a long time to get on the right track, you may find it daunting to have to still give a strong effort to stay on it. But things get easier as you go along, and once you have the hang of it it’s easy to stay on the right track and keep the pace so you don’t get run over.

#21 Mary Kay Ash on Overcoming Roadblocks

“When you come to a roadblock, take a detour.” ~Mary Kay Ash | Tweet this

Sounds easy enough, but it’s not our natural instinct. The natural instinct is to either get discouraged and give up, or ram up against the roadblock until we knock ourselves out. But what’s so bad about taking the long way around as long as you get to your final destination. It does take a bit of belief that the detour is still leading you to where you want to go, and it takes mental fortitude to not get sidetracked along the way and lose sight of where you’re going. Once you remove time from the equation and give yourself room to breathe you can actually enjoy taking the scenic route to your goals and dreams.

#22 Babe Ruth and the Right Mindset

“Every strike brings me closer to the next home run.” ~Babe Ruth | Tweet this

The Great Bambino struck out over a thousands times in his career, so he saw his fair share of swings and misses. But it mentality was right on. He knew that each time he got a strike, or swung and missed the ball, he was one step closer to knocking it out of the park. This is easy to apply in life rather than baseball, because if you’re swinging you’re trying, you’re attempting to get that hit. And with enough swings and adjustments you’ll eventually make contact and get that home run you’re wanting. You can never get a home run if you don’t swing at the ball.

#23 Theodore Roosevelt on the Importance of Belief

“Believe you can and you’re halfway there.” ~Theodore Roosevelt | Tweet this

The power of belief can’t be overstated, and it’s summed up nicely here. Without belief you’ll never get there, so believing that you can is crucial to the process. Believing that you can do it summons the forces of the universe behind you to help you along. Doubting yourself and whether or not you can do it means that you’ll only give half-hearted effort, and you won’t be nearly as powerful as you could be. Belief can come with time, so don’t feel you have to believe you can do it all, just believe that you can accomplish the first step in getting there.

#24 Napoleon Hill Shares the Best Time to Start

“Don’t wait. The time will never be just right.” ~Napoleon Hill | Tweet this

It always seems like something’s just not right in order to start something new in your life. But the timing may never be perfect, you just have to get it started so that things can begin to develop. You make things right as you go along, and you tinker with the process to account for what’s not perfect. As things pick up steam and build momentum you’ll realize that the “just right thinking was just an excuse to delay the start or procrastinate. You’ll thank yourself for starting even though it seemed like it wasn’t the best time to do so.

#25 George Addair on Getting Everything You Want

“Everything you’ve ever wanted is on the other side of fear.” ~George Addair | Tweet this

Imagine there’s a door marked Fear and behind that door is all of the things you’ve wished for all of your life. You try to open the door and it’s locked. The key is overcoming that fear so that you can have the things you want and be the person you’ve always wanted to be. Fear is a tricky demon to exorcise. It’s different for each of us, and isn’t always a very strong feeling. It is sometimes a low-level vibration, that slight underlying feeling of dread that bubbles up when thinking of doing something new or venturing into the unknown.

#26 Karen Lamb on Getting Started Today

“A year from now you may wish you had started today.” ~Karen Lamb | Tweet this

What things did you start a year ago that you’re glad you started back then? If nothing comes to mind it’s high time you start something today that you can be proud of a year from now. If you’ve already got something in the works, project things out a year from now and imagine how excited you’ll be that you already got it going. A year is a long enough time to see some real progress in your efforts, and you are often enjoying the fruits of your labors from a year ago or more. Start something today if you don’t have any irons in the fires.

#27 George Eliot on Staying Optimistic

“It is never too late to be what you might have been.” ~George Eliot | Tweet this

As long as you’re alive it’s not too late to become the person you really want to be. No matter how bad you might have screwed things up in the past, or no matter how far off course you’ve gotten from what you really want to do, you can always turn it around. It doesn’t take an overhaul in most cases. You can start taking steps towards being what you might have been today. Start implementing little actions into your daily routine to make up for the gap between where you are and where you want to be.

#28 Roger Staubach on the Benefit of Giving More

“There are no traffic jams along the extra mile.” ~Roger Staubach | Tweet this

Not many people go the extra mile, which makes it easy for the rest of us to get to where we want to go. They say it’s lonely at the top, and this is because few people ever make it that far. Going the extra mile is part of that process, and it’s a habit you can start getting into right away if it’s not currently a part of your makeup. Try it out on a small scale in your personal relationships, or at your current job. As you make it a habit you’ll notice more and more opportunities to go above and beyond, and you’ll be able to accomplish more and more.

#29 Teddy Roosevelt on How and Where to Start

“Do what you can, where you are, with what you have.” ~Teddy Roosevelt | Tweet this

This is a great way to look around you and see what it is you can do with the resources you have on hand right now. Don’t say things like “if only I had this… or “I need to do that before I can do that… as these are just clever ways of putting things of to a future point that never comes. The fact is there are things you could be doing right now that will further your endeavors. Work on those and everything will start to fall in place, you’ll be where you need to be, and you’ll have what you need to have to get bigger things done.

#30 John Madden on Getting to Easy Street

“The road to Easy Street goes through the sewer.” ~John Madden | Tweet this

It’s often enticing to dream of Easy Street as having finally made it. But Madden reminds that it’s no picnic getting there, and you have to pay your dues. Things do become easier, but you may have to put up with a lot of stinky situations before getting there. Most people will give up before getting there, and spend too much time in the sewer, thinking that Easy Street is just a pipe dream. But the unpleasant parts are just a way of weeding out those that really want the prize from those that only talk about wanting it.

#31 Frederick Douglass on What Struggle Means

“If there is no struggle, there is no progress.” ~Frederick Douglass | Tweet this

Struggle often feels like a lack of progress, so it’s nice to turn it on its head and realize that it’s actually the way progress is made. If you’re not struggling you’re probably not challenging yourself enough. The important part is not to let struggle deter you from making that progress. Step one is learning to view struggling as a positive thing, rather than a negative thing. Then you won’t be so hard on yourself if you find that you’re struggling again. It just means you’re learning, growing, and taking on enough to keep you busy.

#32 Tim Ferriss on Doing What You Fear

“What we fear doing most is usually what we most need to do.” ~Tim Ferriss | Tweet this

You can use your fear to point you in the direction of what is most important to you, rather than be hard on yourself for feeling fear in the first place. If you aren’t afraid of doing something, it generally means you don’t find it very important, or you wouldn’t have that fear. In this way fear can help us drill down to the things that we simply must do. Part of that is going to entail getting over that fear, or learning to live with it so that you can still get the things done that need getting done.

#33 Elbert Hubbard on How to Avoid Criticism

“To avoid criticism, do nothing, say nothing, be nothing.” ~Elbert Hubbard | Tweet this

It’s easy enough to get people to criticize you, just try something, say something, or be something. Most are at home criticizing what others do and say without offering their own opinions or actions. That’s why it’s silly to worry about getting criticized. What you should really worry about is not being criticized, because that means you’re not putting enough of yourself out there to face the criticism. Over time you’ll be able to brush off criticism that has no merit, and learn from the criticism which can help you grow. It’s hard at first, because your feelings might get hurt from the initial onslaught, but it does get easier.

#34 Richard Bach on What Work Really Means

“The more I want to get something done, the less I call it work.” ~Richard Bach | Tweet this

Work can be miserable and tedious, or it can be a task you look forward to accomplishing each day. The choice is yours, and if you want to shift your thinking on it, try to develop a strong desire to get it done. This will make it seem more like a game than work, and will give you a strong sense of accomplishment when the day’s tasks are complete. You may even feel like you didn’t really do any work, because you really wanted to get it done. Trudging along doing work that you don’t particularly like can be stifling, so work on wanting to get it done.

#35 Albert Einstein on How to See What’s Coming

“Your imagination is your preview of life’s coming attractions.” ~Albert Einstein | Tweet this

If you like watching movie previews before a film, you may like the idea of your imagination acting as your own sneak peek of what to expect. That’s because you dream it up in your brain first before it happens. This can work to your benefit, but also to your detriment, so be sure to use it advantageously and imagine your life the way you want it, rather than the way you don’t want it. If you aren’t actively using your imagination you’ll grow stagnant, and you’ll notice that your life hasn’t really been improving or worsening, just kind of hovering in the same spot.

#36 Marsha Sinetar on the Best Way to Make Money

“Do what you love and the money will follow.” ~Marsha Sinetar | Tweet this

They say you should think of what you want to do when you retire, and start doing it now. That way you’ll know that you’re doing something you love, and if you do that long enough you should be able to start charging for it. Going after the money is not a good method because you’ll typically end up doing work you don’t really enjoy just for a paycheck. If you’re stuck at a job you don’t like make sure that you’re doing what you love in your free time so you can eventually replace that income.

#37 Gary Player on Hard Work and Luck

“The harder I work, the luckier I get.” ~Gary Player | Tweet this

It’s easy to equate success with luck, but that is often not the case, and those that are seemingly lucky have put in the hard work to get that way. Luck has been described as the moment when preparation meets opportunity, so you have to put in the work to get prepared for the time when opportunity comes knocking. You may have opportunities presented to you but you are not prepared to capitalize on them, and therefore cannot take advantage of that lucky moment. Put in the work and the opportunities will come and you’ll be ready for them.

#38 Frank Gehry on Bravely Going Forward

“You`ve got to bumble forward into the unknown.” ~Frank Gehry | Tweet this

The unknown is a scary place, which is why so many stay in their comfort zones. But the unknown is also where all of the fun things in life are created. You have to venture forth, and this quote reminds us that it doesn’t have to be pretty when it happens. Bumbling and stumbling is fine as long as you are leaving the familiar behind and pushing forward. You may stub your toe or bump into things, but it’s better than remaining still and staying in your safe places. The better you get at being comfortable with the unknown, the more successful you should become.

#39 Victor Kiam on What Progress Looks Like Sometimes

“Even if you fall on your face, you’re still moving forward.” ~Victor Kiam | Tweet this

Here’s some reassurance that falling flat on your face is not the end of the world. It still represents forward progress, even though you won’t get any style points. It’s a reminder that you won’t always have the proper footing, and that you can recover from any mishap as long as you continue onward. Often it seems that to make progress in our lives we have to be perfect and unerring. But the reality is that the fear of making a mistake can leave us frozen and not moving forward. It’s better to lunge forward and risk falling down than not move at all.

#40 Dalai Lama on Our True Purpose

“The purpose of our lives is to be happy.” ~Dalai Lama | Tweet this

The Dalai Lama has a way of saying things that makes it very hard to argue. It can’t be stated any plainer than this, and it’s easy enough to see if you’re currently living out your life’s purpose or not. It also makes it clear which things serve your purpose, and which take away from it. If you’ve been pondering your purpose lately, this is a quick way to get grounded again, and to take an inventory of what’s working and what’s not in your life. You may find another purpose for your life, but underneath it all is this deeper underlying purpose.

#41 James Allen on Being a Dreamer

“The dreamers are the saviors of the world.” ~James Allen | Tweet this

Those that dare to dream move the world forward. Everything that’s ever been accomplished by mankind started off as a dream in someone’s mind before it became a reality. That includes the city and country you live in, the house where you reside, and the car that you drive. It’s all thanks to the dreamers out there, and you can be one of them, just as long as you make it a priority to dream and then carry out the visions of your dreams. The real saviors are those that dream and then follow through on their dreams with inspired action.

#42 Henry David Thoreau on the Cost of Everything

“The price of anything is the amount of life you exchange for it.” ~Henry David Thoreau | Tweet this

This is true and gives new meaning to the phrase time is money. The reason people have so much emotion wrapped up in money is the time it takes to attain it. When you buy something and exchange money for it, what you’re really exchanging is the time it took you to earn the money, so your time is what really paid for everything you have in your life. Looking at money as your life energy will either make you feel better about it, or worse, depending on how much you have and how hard you feel you’ve worked to obtain it.

#43 Russell Warren on What Obsessed Really Means

“Obsessed is just a word the lazy use to describe the dedicated.” ~Russell Warren | Tweet this

If you’re dedicated to your work and forego other activities in order to see it through you may be dubbed obsessed by those that don’t have as much passion for what they’re doing. You may be referred to as a Mad Scientist while you toil away, but when you have your vision locked into achieving your goals and dreams, everything else has a way of fading into the background. If you’re truly interested in seeing yourself succeed it’s good to become obsessed with it, because the more you think about something the more likely it is that it will come to you.

#44 Denise Brennan-Nelson on Putting Things Off

“Someday is not a day of the week.” ~Denise Brennan-Nelson | Tweet this

We’ve all heard that someday never comes, but it’s just too effortless to push things back to that very vague “someday. It’s a way of rationalizing that you might do something, or might get something one day, just not today. But the reality is that it’s probably not going to happen, you just can’t bear the thought of it not happening. It’s hard to monitor yourself for this type of thinking, but you’ll want to do your best to eradicate it from your mind. If it’s really important to you, set a deadline for it or you probably won’t ever end up getting it done.

#45 Beverly Sills on Taking Shortcuts

“There are no short cuts to any place worth going.” ~Beverly Sills | Tweet this

These days it seems like everyone is trying to get there faster than everywhere else, but what’s the rush? If it’s something worthwhile it’s worth doing it right and enjoying the journey along the way. If you take a shortcut you miss out on the full experience, and you miss the point. Don’t be afraid to put in the time it takes to get to where you want to go. If you stop looking for a shortcut and spend that time going down the right path, you’ll get there right when it’s the perfect time for you.

#46 Arthur Christopher Benson Brings

“Very often a change of self is needed more than a change of scene.” ~Arthur Christopher Benson | Tweet this

You take yourself with you wherever you go, so running off to a new place is no way to escape. You’ll just end up replicating the same patterns that got you where you are in the first place. But if you work on changing habits that don’t serve you, and replacing them with ones that do you’ll notice that you no longer feel like you have to escape from the situation, and can feel more comfortable in your surroundings. You can still use a change of scenery to help uproot you from your rut and make lasting changes.

#47 Ben Hogan on How to Get the Advantage

“If you can’t outplay them, outwork them.” ~Ben Hogan | Tweet this

There will be times in your life when you’re outmatched. There will always be someone better out there, but that just means you have to find other ways to beat them. The one thing you have control of is your own work ethic. You can be sure to outwork them by giving it more than they will or are able to. This extra work translates to a better ability the next time you’re matched up against them, shifting the odds of winning to your favor. So remember, all is not lost when you find yourself outplayed, you just have to remember to put in the extra work to pull off the victory.

#48 Alan Kay on Inventing the Future

“The best way to predict the future is to invent it.” ~ Alan Kay | Tweet this

This is a slight twist on the more familiar quote which states the best way is to create it. What would you expect from an inventor but to adjust it accordingly. It’s true that the future does not yet exist, so it’s possible to come up with a version of it that suits you best. Either way, you’re going to invent your future, so put your best efforts into creating the future you want, rather than one you won’t be happy with. Just be sure not to spend so much time pondering your future that you miss the present moment where life actually takes place.

#49 Billie Jean King on What Makes a Champion

“Champions keep playing until they get it right.” ~Billie Jean King | Tweet this

Think of how many people quit playing before they become a champion. Perhaps they might have made it if they just would have kept playing, making adjustments, and getting better at their craft. If you want to experience more success all you have to do is keep practicing, keep playing against better opponents, and keep learning all that you can. With enough perseverance you’ll find that you become a champion because you’ve spent time “in the trenches and now you know your game better than anyone else and you are dubbed a champion. This is not just applicable to sports, but to several areas of personal development. Which areas of your life do you want to become a champion in?

#50 Norman Vincent Peale on Changing Your World

“Change your thoughts and you change your world.” ~Norman Vincent Peale | Tweet this

It seems like it would be easy enough to change your world if all it takes is changing your thoughts, but thoughts aren’t the easiest thing in the world to change. Many of the thoughts a person has each day are the result of habitual thinking, thinking the same thoughts again and again, day after day. It takes work to try and undo this sort of thinking and have new thoughts. But if you can manage to think more positive thoughts, your world will become more positive. The opposite is also true, which is why you should pay attention to the way your thoughts make you feel.

#51 Arnold Palmer on Bringing Your A Game

“Always make a total effort, even when the odds are against you.” ~Arnold Palmer | Tweet this

Giving it your all is hard enough, but when the odds are stacked against you it becomes very tempting to just pack it up and go home. But if the odds aren’t in your favor you have to give it as much effort as you possibly can if you hope to come out on top. Only you know if you’re giving your full effort, so this becomes a battle with yourself more than anything else. Learning to get the most out of yourself is a trick that the most successful achievers have mastered.

#52 Mario Andretti on Being a Bit Out of Control

“If you have everything under control, you’re not moving fast enough.” ~Mario Andretti | Tweet this

This is an interesting concept to grasp, since many of us long for feeling like we have everything under control. But if that’s the case then it means you’re not getting as much done as you could. If you can reach a point where you feel comfortable with things being a little out of control you’ll be able to get more done and have a fuller experience. Leave it to a race car driver to come up with a quote about speed, but this is easily applicable to everyday life, by taking a look at how many balls you’re juggling and whether you feel challenged enough. Be able to give up some control in order to push your boundaries.

#53 Pablo Picasso on the Importance of Action

“Action is the foundational key to all success ~Pablo Picasso | Tweet this

Without action nothing gets done. The key is not doing action for the sake of action, but taking inspired action that is in line with your bigger picture. Many people stay “busy all day, but don’t really get a lot accomplished. The difference between being busy and taking inspired action is great. You rarely feel flustered or overwhelmed when you are taking action based on a strong desire to reach your goals. But it’s easy to feel frustrated and frantic when you are just completing actions in order to have something to do.

#54 David Livingston on Making Progress

“I will go anywhere as long as it is forward.” ~David Livingston | Tweet this

Time moves in one direction, and your life should be moving in that same direction if you want to have the most satisfaction from it. Forward is the only way to go, it’s the direction of life. If you’re not moving forward, growing, expanding, taking on new challenges, you’re moving backward, shrinking, atrophying, and eventually dying. Don’t send yourself to an early grave, keep your eyes forward and your mind active so that you can keep moving in the direction of life, growth, and fun. It doesn’t really matter which destination you end up in, as long as it represents forward progress in your life.

#55 Joe Namath on Giving It Your All

“If you aren’t going all the way, why go at all? ~Joe Namath | Tweet this

The goal is getting there, and if you don’t plan on going all the way in order to get there, it’s best not to start the journey in the first place. It’s possible to start a new project in your life, get halfway there, and then stop. But the rewards come at the end, and if you didn’t commit to going all the way, giving it everything you have, and sticking it out until the end, why bother starting in the first place. The point he seems to be trying to make is that at one point you wanted to finish this, which is why you started, so be sure to go all the way, as you originally intended.

#56 Yoda Explains Why There’s No Try

“Try not. Do, or do not. There is no try.” ~Yoda | Tweet this

Yoda dropped one of his most famous phrases on Luke when Luke said he would try to move the sunken ship. He pointed out a very true statement. You either accomplish what you set out to do, or you don’t, there is no in between, no gray area called try. Choose to do that one thing that you’ve been “trying to do but have yet to succeed at. Feel that satisfaction that comes with knowing that you did, and that you didn’t just try, or you didn’t do not. You must unlearn what you have learned.

#57 Ted Williams on Consistent Improvement

“Just keep going. Everybody gets better if they keep at it.” ~Ted Williams | Tweet this

It’s natural to want to quit in the early goings, since that’s when it is typically the hardest. But the trick is if you stay with it, you’ll learn how to get better at it, more efficient, more effective, and then you’ll become proficient at it. It’s the process of learning through doing, and if you quit too soon you never end up getting to the point where you have mastered it. Think back to times in your life when you weren’t good at something at first, but eventually got better as you went along. Even the act of tying your shoes once was a challenge, but now you don’t even think about the steps involved.

#58 Scott Reed on Staying with Our Goals

“Choosing a goal and sticking to it changes everything.” ~Scott Reed | Tweet this

Getting a goal is not enough, you have to stick with it if you want to accomplish it. The reason that sticking to it changes everything is that it means you’ll actually achieve your goal and then you can establish your next goal from a totally different place. It’s good not to set too many goals from the place where you are now, because after achieving a few of them you’ll be in a different place, and you can make better goals from there. You don’t want to limit yourself by your current situation. Knock out a few goals first and then reevaluate what you want to do from your new place.

#59 Jim Rohn on What to Wish For

“Don’t wish it were easier, wish you were better.” ~Jim Rohn | Tweet this

They say you should be careful what you wish for because you just might get it. In this case if you are going to be wishing, it’s better to wish that you were better able to handle the task at hand, rather than wishing for an easier task. It’s may seem like a subtle shift, but it takes the focus off of the difficulty of what’s in front of you, and turns it inward so that you can grow to the challenge. It’s better for you to grow than for the challenge to shrink, because you always want to be improving and getting better.

#60 Ralph Waldo Emerson the Power of Small Things

“The creation of a thousand forests is in one acorn.” ~Ralph Waldo Emerson | Tweet this

Not just the creation of a thousand forests, but thousands of wooden products like desks and chairs. That acorn has a lot to offer, so don’t be discouraged if the tasks you’re completing seem miniscule. The potential of each little thing you do is great, and can lead to big things. You can also look at your ideas as the acorn, with so much abundance locked within, all that is required is the proper nutrition to get it to grow and produce more seeds, more ideas to grow into big trees. There are many ways to look at this saying, but its core message is that big things come in small packages.

#61 Wayne Gretzky Talks About Taking Shots

“You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.” ~ Wayne Gretzky | Tweet this

It’s true enough that you may miss a shot if you take it, but at least you took it. It’s far better than being a spectator of life, watching other people take the shots and only wishing you had the guts to get out there and give it a go. If you’re looking to get inspired to do something great you have no further to look than this quote which reminds us that it’s not very important if the shot goes in, but rather that you had the courage to get the shot off, and even more so that you were in the game to begin with.

#62 Vince Lombardi on Getting Back Up

“It’s not whether you get knocked down, it’s whether you get up.” ~Vince Lombardi | Tweet this

Getting knocked down is a part of life, and if you stay down you’re not going to get very far. Getting back up is the key to success in all areas of life, business, finances, relationships, and health. There are surely moments in your life where you’ve been knocked down, but you found a way to pick yourself back up and carry on. Use these memories as a highlight reel to help you get back up more quickly the next time you get knocked down. It’s easy to do it again when you’ve confirmed you’ve done it before.

#63 Napoleon Hill on the Basics of Achievement

“What the mind of man can conceive and believe, it can achieve.” ~Napoleon Hill | Tweet this

This is an amazing quote that may sound simple but has a lot behind it. It’s saying that whatever you can dream up in this life, you can achieve. But it brings up an important element, one that many overlook. You have to believe that you can achieve it, which is the part that trips up most people. You can have a big goal, or a big dream, but if you don’t believe you deserve it, or you don’t believe you can accomplish it, you won’t. Spend equal time on building up your belief and dreaming about what you want to accomplish.

#64 Howard Ruff on Being Prepared

“It wasn’t raining when Noah built the ark.” ~Howard Ruff | Tweet this

Being prepared is one thing, but this quote is asking you to take it to the next level. Noah was tipped off that the flood was coming, but life doesn’t always work out that way. You almost have to assume that something bad is going to happen at some point in your future, so why wait until it occurs to try to deal with it then? Prepare yourself for a disaster and if it doesn’t come even better. But if it does you’ll be able to handle it better and get through it more easily. It’s not a form of negative thinking to prepare for hardship, in fact it is a way of preserving your positive thinking even through rough times.

#65 Doug Ivester on Continually Dreaming

“Never let your memories be greater than your dreams.” ~Doug Ivester | Tweet this

Memories represent your past, and your dreams represent your future. The wisdom of this quote is that you should always have more planned for your future than what you’ve accomplished in the past. Getting nostalgic is one thing, but if you get to the point where you feel like your best days are behind you it can get pretty boring and desolate. Always have a dream to be working towards rather than sitting around thinking of the yesterdays gone by. Memories are still cherishable, but shouldn’t be your point of focus. Keep your eye on the future so you will always be creating new memories of great times.

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