The Best Inspirational Quotes to Motivate and Uplift You Out of a Slump
Falling into a slump at work or struggling to find that spark of ambition in life? You’ve come to the right place. We’ve compiled a list of over 100 short inspirational quotes that’ll help motivate and excite you in your daily life. Feel more inspired and determined after reading these positive quotes to brighten your day and powerful quotes from famous people, such as Oprah Winfrey, Helen Keller, and Oscar Wilde. Whatever you’re looking for, there’s sure to be a mix from our list of motivational quotes designed to lift your spirits.
These short sayings are great to send to friends and family too via an "I’m thinking of you" card, thoughtful text message, or post on social media. Because let’s be honest, who couldn’t use a bit of inspiration? These quotes are particularly great for recent high school and college graduates and students who may be feeling overwhelmed or unsure of their next steps in life, as they offer guidance and motivation to chase after your dreams. And for anyone struggling with their mental health, these quotes may serve as a great daily reminder to seek strength and healing.
For more inspirational and funny quotes, be sure to check out our lists of good morning quotes to start your day off right, happy quotes to brighten up your life, and Monday motivation quotes next.
Short Inspirational Quotes
"Be there for others, but never leave yourself behind." — Dodinsky, In the Garden of Thoughts: Be Your Best Self
“You are your best thing.” — Toni Morrison, Beloved
"Be happy for this moment. This moment in your life." — Omar Khayyam
"If you carry joy in your heart, you can heal any moment." — Carlos Santana
"If you can dream it, you can do it." — Walt Disney
"Do something wonderful, people may imitate it." — Albert Schweitzer
"Try to be a rainbow in someone's cloud." — Maya Angelou
“Give light, and people will find the way.” — Ella Baker
“Keep your face to the sunshine, and you cannot see a shadow.” — Helen Keller
“A person without regrets is a nincompoop.” — Mia Farrow
“Life is short, and it is here to be lived.” — Kate Winslet
“If you risk nothing, then you risk everything.” — Geena Davis
“Self-esteem means knowing you are the dream.” — Oprah Winfrey
“Everything you can imagine is real.” — Pablo Picasso
“Speak your mind, even if your voice shakes.” — Maggie Kuhn
"It is better to travel well than to arrive." — Buddha
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Powerful Motivational Quotes
“The sky isn’t the limit — the sky has no limit.” — Sarah Barker
“If you prioritize yourself, you are going to save yourself.” — Gabrielle Union, We're Going to Need More Wine
“Fall seven times, stand up eight.” — Japanese Proverb
“You do not find the happy life. You make it.” — Camilla Eyring Kimball
“You’ve got to get up every morning with determination if you’re going to go to bed with satisfaction.” — George Lorimer
“If you are working on something that you really care about, you don’t have to be pushed. The vision pulls you.” — Steve Jobs
"Aim for the moon. If you miss, you may hit a star." — W. Clement Stone"If you cannot do great things, do small things in a great way." — Napoleon Hill
"If opportunity doesn't knock, build a door." — Milton Berle
"The moment you doubt whether you can fly, you cease forever to be able to do it." — J.M. Barrie, Peter Pan
“Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.” — Theodore Roosevelt
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Famous Inspirational Quotes
“When we strive to become better than we are, everything around us becomes better too.” — Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist
"Your talent is God's gift to you. What you do with it is your gift back to God." — Leo Buscaglia, Living, Loving, & Learning
“For every minute you are angry, you lose sixty seconds of happiness.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson
"Joy does not simply happen to us. We have to choose joy and keep choosing it every day." — Henri J.M. Nouwen
"To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people just exist." — Oscar Wilde
"Never regret anything that made you smile." — Mark Twain
“Stay close to anything that makes you glad you are alive.” — Hafez
“Don’t count the days, make the days count.” — Muhammad Ali
"In three words, I can sum up everything I've learned about life: It goes on." — Robert Frost
“Don’t worry about the world coming to an end today. It is already tomorrow in Australia.” — Charles M. Schulz
"Yesterday's the past, tomorrow's the future, but today is a gift. That's why it's called the present." — Bil Keane
"It always seems impossible until it's done." — Nelson Mandela
“The best way out is always through.” — Robert Frost
"All our dreams can come true if we have the courage to pursue them.” — Walt Disney
Inspiring Quotes from Celebrities
“Some women choose to follow men, and some choose to follow their dreams. If you’re wondering which way to go, remember that your career will never wake up and tell you that it doesn’t love you anymore.” — Lady Gaga
“No matter what happens in life, be good to people. Being good to people is a wonderful legacy to leave behind.” — Taylor Swift
“Don’t waste a minute not being happy. If one window closes, run to the next window — or break down a door.” — Brooke Shields
“The only way to have a life is to commit it to like crazy.” — Angelina Jolie
“Believe in yourself. Stay in your own lane. There’s only one you.” — Queen Latifah
"Miracles happen everyday, change your perception of what a miracle is, and you'll see them all around you." — Jon Bon Jovi
“I was built this way for a reason, so I’m going to use it.” — Simone Biles
“I have standards I don’t plan on lowering for anybody, including myself.” — Zendaya
“If you are working on something that you really care about, you don’t have to be pushed. The vision pulls you.” — Steve Jobs
"Always be a first-rate version of yourself instead of a second-rate version of somebody else." — Judy Garland
"Nothing is impossible. The word itself says, 'I'm possible!'" — Audrey Hepburn
"Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better." — Albert Einstein
Inspirational Quotes About Life
“I realized that I don’t have to be perfect. All I have to do is show up, and enjoy the messy, imperfect, and beautiful journey of my life.” — Kerry Washington
“Caring for myself is not self-indulgence, it is self-preservation, and that is an act of political warfare.” — Audre Lorde
“If we give our children sound self-love, they will be able to deal with whatever life puts before them.” — Bell Hooks, Teaching to Transgress: Education as the Practice of Freedom
"Sometimes, your joy is the source of your smile, but sometimes, your smile can be the source of your joy." — Thich Nhat Hanh
“True friendship is like a rose. We don’t realize its beauty until it fades.” — Evelyn Loeb
"Things are never quite as scary when you've got a best friend." — Bill Watterson
"Wherever you go, go with all your heart." — Confucius
“You can’t turn back the clock. But you can wind it up again.” — Bonnie Prudden
"Rise above the storm, and you will find the sunshine." — Mario Fernández
"You don't always need a plan. Sometimes, you just need to breathe, trust, let go, and see what happens." — Mandy Hale
“Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.” — Mahatma Gandhi
Inspirational Quotes About Success
"Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you react to it." — Charles R. Swindoll
“Change your thoughts, and you change your world.”— Norman Vincent Peale
"Success is not a destination, it's a journey." — Zig Ziglar
“Success is liking yourself, liking what you do, and liking how you do it.” — Maya Angelou
“Success only comes to those who dare to attempt.” — Mallika Tripathi
“I never dreamed about success. I worked for it.” — Estée Lauder
“You learn more from failure than from success. Don’t let it stop you. Failure builds character.” — Unknown
“If at first you don’t succeed, then skydiving definitely isn’t for you.” — Steven Wright
“It’s a whole lot more satisfying to reach for the stars, even if you end up landing only on the moon.” — Kermit the Frog
“The road to success and the road to failure are almost exactly the same.” — Colin R. Davis
“Think like a queen. A queen is not afraid to fail. Failure is another stepping stone to greatness.” — Oprah Winfrey
"What you get by achieving your goals is not as important as what you become by achieving your goals." — Zig Ziglar
"You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream." — C.S. Lewis
“Mistakes are a fact of life. It is the response to the errors that counts.” — Nikki Giovanni
"Doubt kills more dreams than failure ever will." — Suzy Kassem
Inspirational Love Quotes
"Love doesn't make the world go 'round. Love is what makes the ride worthwhile." — Franklin P. Jones
“When you put love out in the world, it travels, and it can touch people and reach people in ways that we never even expected.” — Laverne Cox
“Let us always meet each other with a smile, for the smile is the beginning of love.” — Mother Teresa
"The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched — they must be felt with the heart." — Helen Keller
“You’ve got to learn to leave the table when love’s no longer being served.” — Nina Simone, “You’ve Got to Learn”
"Love yourself first and everything else falls into place." — Lucille Ball
“There is only one happiness in this life: to love and be loved.” — George Sand
“Darkness cannot drive out darkness: Only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: Only love can do that.” — Martin Luther King Jr.
“Talk to yourself like you would to someone you love.” — Brené Brown
"Encourage yourself, believe in yourself, and love yourself. Never doubt who you are." — Stephanie Lahart, Overcoming Life's Obstacles: Enlighten-Encourage-Empower
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Inspirational Quotes About Change
"To improve is to change; to be perfect is to change often." — Winston Churchill
“The greatest discovery of all time is that a person can change his future by merely changing his attitude.” — Oprah Winfrey
“Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself.” — Leo Tolstoy
"Life isn't about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself." — George Bernard Shaw
“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
“Vitality shows not only in the ability to persist, but in the ability to start over.” — F. Scott Fitzgerald
“It is never too late to be what you might have been.” — George Eliot
"You must be the change you wish to see in the world." — Mahatma Ghandi
“Be open to learning new lessons, even if they contradict the lessons you learned yesterday.” — Ellen DeGeneres
“They always say time changes things, but you actually have to change them yourself.” — Andy Warhol
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Inspirational Quotes for Courage
"You can't cross the sea merely by standing and staring at the water." — Rabindranath Tagore
"Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one’s courage.” — Anaïs Nin
“Courage doesn’t always roar. Sometimes, courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying, ‘I will try again tomorrow’.” — Mary Anne Radmacher
"With the new day comes new strength and new thoughts." — Eleanor Roosevelt
“Fairy tales are more than true: not because they tell us that dragons exist, but because they tell us that dragons can be beaten.” — Neil Gaiman
“What we fear of doing most is usually what we most need to do.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson
“Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.” — Winston S. Churchill
“It is only when we take chances, when our lives improve. The initial and the most difficult risk that we need to take is to become honest.” — Walter Anderson
"Above all, be the heroine of your life, not the victim." — Nora Ephron
“It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are.” — E.E. Cummings
“The individual who says it is not possible should move out of the way of those doing it.” — Trivia Cunningham
“A problem is a chance for you to do your best.” — Duke Ellington
“Real courage is when you know you’re licked before you begin, but you begin anyway and see it through no matter what.” — Harper Lee
"A person who never made a mistake never tried anything new." — Albert Einstein
Inspiring Quotes About Being Yourself
“Be yourself; everyone else is already taken.” — Oscar Wilde
“Don’t compromise yourself. You’re all you’ve got.” — Janis Joplin
"Follow your heart. Listen to your inner voice. Stop caring about what others think.”
— Roy T. Bennett, The Light in the Heart“A girl should be two things: who and what she wants.” — Coco Chanel
“You can’t be hesitant about who you are.” — Viola Davis
“You’ve gotta dance like there’s nobody watching, love like you’ll never be hurt, sing like there’s nobody listening, and live like it’s heaven on earth.” — William W. Purkey
“Imperfection is beauty, madness is genius, and it’s better to be absolutely ridiculous than absolutely boring.” — Marilyn Monroe
“Scarcity of self-value cannot be remedied by money, recognition, affection, attention, or influence.” — Gary Zukav
"By being yourself, you put something wonderful in the world that was not there before." — Edwin Elliot
"Those who bring sunshine into the lives of others cannot keep it from themselves." — J.M. Barrie
“I always wanted to be somebody, but now, I realize I should have been more specific.” — Lily Tomlin
“It is better to fail in originality than to succeed in imitation.” — Herman Melville
"The only person you are destined to become is the person you decide to be." — Ralph Waldo Emerson
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