50 Quotes That Will Help Get You Motivated

In business, as in life, we often need reminded of the reasons why we do what we do.  In our heads, we know it is because we want to succeed but without the proper words, we might forget the reasons.

These fifty quotes will remind you that when you struggle, suffer, and fail it is because you had the courage to continue past where others have quit.  That courage is why you will succeed.

1. “The quality of a person’s life is in direct proportion to their commitment to excellence, regardless of their chosen field of endeavor.”–Vince Lombardi

2. “Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.” – Thomas A. Edison

3.“Most of the important things in the world have been accomplished by people who have kept on trying when there seemed to be no hope at all.” – Dale Carnegie

4. “If you are going to achieve excellence in big things, you develop the habit in little matters. Excellence is not an exception, it is a prevailing attitude.” –Charles R. Swindoll

5. “Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful.” –Albert Schweitzer

6. “It is hard to fail, but it is worse never to have tried to succeed.” -Theodore Roosevelt

7. “Act now. There is never any time but now, and there never will be any time but now.” –Wallace Wattles

8. “The greater danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it.” – Michelangelo

9. “There are those who work all day. Those who dream all day. And those who spend an hour dreaming before setting to work to fulfill those dreams. Go into the third category because there’s virtually no competition.” – Steven J Ross

10. “The tragedy of life doesn’t lie in not reaching your goal. The tragedy lies in having no goals to reach.” – Benjamin Mays

11. “The secret of joy in work is contained in one word – excellence. To know how to do something well is to enjoy it.”–Pearl Buck

12. “An invincible determination can accomplish almost anything and in this lies the great distinction between great men and little men.”–Thomas Fuller

13. “I was never afraid of failure, for I would sooner fail than not be among the best.” -John Keats

14. “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.” – Aristotle

15. “If you don’t design your own life plan, chances are you’ll fall into someone else’s plan. And guess what they have planned for you? Not much.” – Jim Rohn

16. “Don’t wait for a light to appear at the end of the tunnel Stride down there and light the bloody thing yourself.” – Dara Henderson

17. “Think like a man of action, and act like a man of thought.” – Henri L. Bergson

18. “Hard work spotlights the character of people. Some turn up their sleeves. Some turn up their noses, and some don’t turn up at all.” – Sam Ewing

19. “The tragedy in life doesn’t lie in not reaching your goal. The tragedy lies in having no goal to reach.”–Benjamin Mays

20. “Nothing in the world can take the place of Persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan ‘Press On’ has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.”–Calvin Coolidge

21. “Successful and unsuccessful people do not vary greatly in their abilities. They vary in their desires to reach their potential.”–John Maxwell

22. “Your time is limited, don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma, which is living the result of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of other’s opinion drowned your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition, they somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.”–Steve Jobs

23. “The greatest mistake you can make in life is to continually be afraid you will make one.” -Elbert Hubbard

24. “The entrepreneur is essentially a visualizer and actualizer… He can visualize something, and when he visualizes it he sees exactly how to make it happen.”–Robert L. Schwartz

25. “Don’t wish it were easier, wish you were better. Don’t wish for fewer problems, wish for more skills. Don’t wish for less challenges, wish for more wisdom.” – Earl Shoaf

26. “Efficiency is doing things right. Effectiveness is doing the right things.” – Peter Drucker

27. “Your attitude, not your aptitude, determines your altitude.” – Zig Ziglar

28. “Our greatest glory consists not in never falling, but in rising everytime we fall.” -Oliver Goldsmith

29. “Inaction breeds doubt and fear. Action breeds confidence and courage. If you want to conquer fear, do not sit home and think about it. Go out and get busy.” -Dale Carnegie

30. “The man who does not work for the love of work but only for money is not likely to neither make money nor find much fun in life.” – Charles M. Schwab

31. “Live daringly, boldly, fearlessly. Taste the relish to be found in competition – in having put forth the best within you.” – Henry J. Kaiser

32. “If there is such a thing as good leadership, it is to give a good example.” – Ingvar Kamprad

33. “To think is easy. To act is difficult. To act as one thinks is the most difficult.” – Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

34. “Be patient with yourself. Self-growth is tender; it’s holy ground. There’s no greater investment.”–Stephen Covey

35. “There is nothing more genuine than breaking away from the chorus to learn the sound of your own voice.”- Po Bronson

36. “The problem is not that there are problems. The problem is expecting otherwise and thinking that having problems is a problem.” – Theodore Rubin

37. “You need to be aware of what others are doing, applaud their efforts, acknowledge their successes, and encourage them in their pursuits. When we all help one another, everybody wins.” – Jim Stovall

38. “The entrepreneur always searches for change, responds to it, and exploits it as an opportunity.” – Peter F. Drucker

39. “Sometimes when you innovate, you make mistakes. It is best to admit them quickly and get on with improving your other innovations.” – Steve Jobs

40. “There is no passion to be found playing small – in settling for a life that is less than the one you are capable of living.” – Nelson Mandela

41. “A man’s life is interesting primarily when he has failed–I well know.
For it’s a sign that he tried to surpass himself.” -Georges Clemenceau

42. “Try a thing you haven’t done three times. Once, to get over the fear of doing it. Twice, to learn how to do it. And a third time to figure out whether you like it or not.” -Virgil Thomson

43. “Our doubts are traitors, and make us lose the good we oft might win, by fearing to attempt.” -William Shakespeare

44. “We must train from the inside out. Using our strengths to attack and nullify any weaknesses. It’s not about denying a weakness may exist but about denying its right to persist.” -Vince McConnell

45. “My attitude is that if you push me towards something that you think is a weakness, then I will turn that perceived weakness into a strength.”–Michael Jordan

46. “You’ve got to say, I think that if I keep working at this and want it badly enough I can have it. It’s called perseverance.” – Lee Iacocca

47. “The trick is in what one emphasizes. We either make ourselves miserable, or we make ourselves strong. The amount of work is the same.” – Carlos Castaneda

48. “The man who will use his skill and constructive imagination to see how much he can give for a dollar, instead of how little he can give for a dollar, is bound to succeed.” – Henry Ford

49. “If you work just for money, you’ll never make it, but if you love what you’re doing and you always put the customer first, success will be yours.” – Ray Kroc

50. “Use what talents you possess, the woods will be very silent if no birds sang there except those that sang best.” – Henry van Dyke