I am a big fan quotes, especially SMART quotes! Why do people like quotes so much? The best answer to this question was awarded to Alema Pequoia who said, “Because they precisely and definitively express what we know, recognize, feel, believe, think, accept, imagine, hope, fear, desire, acknowledge, and/or have experienced. It is a recognizable life truth.”
Quotes can be motivating, funny, uplifting, inspiring, and make you think deeper. When I joined a new military unit, the hallways, bathrooms, conference room, and even offices were littered with quotes.
Our commander knew that the right quote at the right time could give us the mental edge in our performance. (You may have some in your office or home now!)
While what you do with a quote is more important than the quote itself, for that precise moment you see it, read it, and try to internalize it, it can provide the motivation or learning experience you need.
A great quote in the fewest words possible can convey powerful emotions that ultimately help us think smarter, live smarter, and be smarter. They definitively express our feelings, thoughts, and current state in different stages in our life.
Below I have put together my favorite quotes of all time, ones that have had an impact on me. Some are from famous people, and some from ordinary people that said (and did) extraordinary things!
Check back frequently as I continue to update them and don’t forget to share them with others! I have broken down the quotes by category.Leave a comment if you know of an inspirational quote that deserves to be on our list!
I bought The Forbes Book of Business Quotations when I was at West Point and it has served me well! It is a thick book with no shortage of great quotes. Even if it is geared towards business, I have found the concepts can be used in all walks of life, including my time in the military, non-profit organizations, politics, and my personal life! There are quotes and bits of wisdom from:
Bill Gates, Ronald Reagan, Fran Lebowitz, Gore Vidal, and Donald Trump alongside timeless quotes from Ovid, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Gertrude Stein, Mahatma Gandhi, Henry Ford, Helen Keller, John D. Rockefeller, Oscar Wilde, J.R.R. Tolkien, Virginia Woolf, George Bernard Shaw, and thousands of others—not to mention hundreds of quotes from the Forbes men themselves.
Ability has nothing to do with opportunity.
Napoleon Bonaparte
I will not be concerned at other men’s not knowing me; I will be concerned at my own want of ability.
Confucius
Behind an able man there are always other able men.
Chinese Proverb
What I need is someone who will make me do what I can.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
A smooth sea never made a skilled mariner.
English Proverb
If I accept you as you are, I will make you worse; however, if I treat you as though you are what you are capable of becoming, I help you become that.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
No one can make you feel inferior without your consent. Never give it.
Eleanor Roosevelt
My Favorite List of Inspirational Work Quotes
My Favorite List of Inspirational Success Quotes
It is never too late to be what you might have been.
George Eliot
Success doesn’t come to you, you go to it.
Marva Collins
The difference between a successful person and others is not a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but rather in a lack of will.
Vincent T. Lombardi
Success is often the result of taking a misstep in the right direction.
Al Bernstein
Success is peace of mind which is a direct result of self-satisfaction in knowing you did your best to become the best you are capable of becoming.
John R. Wooden
Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful.
Herman Cain
When ability exceeds ambition, or ambition exceeds ability, the likelihood of success is limited.
Ralph Half
Flaming enthusiasm, backed up by horse sense and persistence, is the quality that most frequently makes for success.
Dale Carnegie
People rarely succeed unless they have fun in what they are doing.
Dale Carnegie
Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any other.
Abraham Lincoln
The question isn’t who is going to let me; it’s who is going to stop me.
Ayn Rand
Action is the foundational key to all success.
Pablo Picasso
A successful man is one who can lay a firm foundation with the bricks others have thrown at him.
David Brinkley
Strive not to be a success, but rather to be of value.
Albert Einstein
I can’t change the direction of the wind, but I can adjust my sails to always reach my destination.
Jimmy Dean
Too many of us are not living our dreams because we are living our fears.
Les Brown
We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.
Aristotle
You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.
Wayne Gretzky
When you want to succeed as bad you want to breathe, then you’ll be successful.
Eric Thomas
The difference between a successful person and others is not a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but rather a lack in will.
Vince Lombardi
It is hard to fail, but it is worse never to have tried to succeed.
Theodore Roosevelt
Success does not consist in never making blunders, but in never making the same one a second time.
Josh Billings
Success is a journey, not a destination.
Ben Sweetland
The secret of success in life is for a man to be ready for his opportunity when it comes.
Benjamin Disraeli
Success is a state of mind. If you want success, start thinking of yourself as a success.
Dr. Joyce Brothers
If you hear a voice within you say, ‘You cannot paint,’ then by all means paint and that voice will be silenced.
Vincent Van Gogh
Belief in oneself is one of the most important bricks in building any successful venture.
Lydia M. Child
The only place where success comes before work is in the dictionary.
Vidal Sassoon
Most people give up just when they’re about to achieve success. They quit on the one yard line. They give up at the last minute of the game one foot from a winning touchdown.
Ross Perot
Without continual growth and progress, such words as improvement, achievement, and success have no meaning.
Benjamin Franklin
When a man feels throbbing within him the power to do what he undertakes as well as it can possibly be done, this is happiness, this is success.
Orison Swett Marden
Success often comes to those who have the aptitude to see way down the road.
Laing Burns, Jr.
Successful people are always looking for opportunities to help others. Unsuccessful people are always asking “What’s in it for me?
Brian Tracy
Every champion was once a contender that refused to give up.
Rocky Balboa
Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal; nothing on earth can help the man with the wrong mental attitude.
Thomas Jefferson
The road to success and the road to failure are almost exactly the same.
Colin R. Davis
Think left and think right and think low and think high. Oh, the things you can think up if only you try!
Dr. Seuss
Definiteness of purpose is the starting point of all achievement.
W. Clement Stone
Success is 10 percent inspiration and 90 percent perspiration.
Thomas Edison
The secret to success: find out where people are going and get there first.
Mark Twain
I never dreamed about success. I worked for it.
Estee Lauder
To do a common thing uncommonly well brings success.
Henry Heinz
Your attitude is either the lock on, or the key to the door of your success.
Denis Waitley
Success means doing the best we can with what we have.
Zig Ziglar
Success is the doing, not the getting; in the trying, not the triumph.
Zig Ziglar
The successful warrior is the average man, with laser-like focus.
Bruce Lee
I have been impressed with the urgency of doing. Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Being willing is not enough; we must do.
Leonardo da Vinci
If your ship doesn’t come in, swim out to meet it!
Jonathan Winters
My Favorite List of Inspirational Quotes Dealing with Failure
I have not failed, I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work. Thomas Edison
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
It’s how you deal with failure that determines how you achieve success. David Feherty
In order to succeed you must fail, so that you know what not to do the next time. Anthony J. D’Angelo
Failure is success if we learn from it. Malcolm Forbes
Develop success from failures. Discouragement and failure are two of the surest stepping stones to success. Dale Carnegie
When everything seems to be going against you, remember that the airplane takes off against the wind, not with it. Henry Ford
All misfortune is but a stepping stone to fortune. Henry David Thoreau
In three words I can sum up everything I’ve learned about life: It goes on. Robert Frost
It is during our darkest moments that we must focus to see the light. Aristotle Onassis
Let no feeling of discouragement prey upon you, and in the end you are sure to succeed. Abraham Lincoln
My old father used to have a saying: If you make a bad bargain, hug it all the tighter. Abraham Lincoln
A person who never made a mistake never tried anything new. Albert Einstein
Knowing is better than wondering. Waking is better than sleeping. And even the biggest failure, even the worst most intractable mistake, beats the hell out of not trying. From my friend Kathryn Carr, I think she said it came from Grey’s Anatomy!
Success is walking from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm. Winston Churchill
If plan A fails, remember there are 25 more letters. Chris Guillebeau
Do the one thing you think you cannot do. Fail at it. Try again. Do better the second time. The only people who never tumble are those who never mount the high wire. This is your moment. Own it. Oprah Winfrey
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 that has been opened for us. Helen Keller
Persist – don’t take no for an answer. If you’re happy to sit at your desk and not take any risk, you’ll be sitting at your desk for the next 20 years. David Rubenstein
My Favorite List of Inspirational Leadership Quotes
Leadership is the art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it. Dwight D. Eisenhower (one of my favorite U.S. Generals and U.S. Presidents)
The most important persuasion tool you have in your entire arsenal is integrity. Zig Ziglar
To lead the people, walk behind them. Lao Tzu
A leader’s job is to look into the future and see the organization not as it is, but as it should be. Jack Welch
Leadership is the capacity to translate vision into reality. Warren G. Bennis
Management is doing things right. Leadership is doing the right things. Peter Drucker
One of the true tests of leadership is the ability to recognize a problem before it becomes an emergency. Arnold H. Glasgow
Happiness is not in the mere possession of money; it lies in the joy of achievement, in the thrill of creative effort. President Franklin D. Roosevelt
Far and away the best prize that life offers is the chance to work hard at work worth doing. President Theodore Roosevelt
You can never cross the ocean until you have the courage to lose sight of the shore. Christopher Columbus
There is only one boss, the customer. And he can fire everybody in the company from the chairman on down, simply by spending his money somewhere else. Sam Walton
Life will always be to a large extent what we ourselves make it. Samuel Smiles
Hold yourself responsible for a higher standard than anybody else expects of you, never excuse yourself. Henry Ward Beecher
I am not a product of my circumstances. I am a product of my decisions. Stephen Covey
Values are critical guides for making decisions. When in doubt, they cut through the fog like a beacon in the night. Robert Townsend
Giving people a little more than they expect is a good way to get back a lot more than you’d expect. Robert Half
You get the best efforts from others not by lighting a fire beneath them, but by building a fire within. Bob Nelson
If you want to know why your people are not performing well, step up to the mirror and take a peek. Ken Blanchard
The first responsibility of a leader is to define reality, the last is to say ‘Thank you.’ In between the two, the leader must become a servant. Max De Pree
They don’t care how much you know until they now how much you care. Theodore Roosevelt
The greatest management principle in the world is: ‘the things that get rewarded and appreciated get done. Michael LeBoeuf
It’s not the employer who pays the wages. Employers only handle the money. It’s the customer who pays the wages. Henry Ford
Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower. Steve Jobs
My Favorite List of Money and Finance Quotes
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Wealth is the ability to fully experience life. Henry David Thoreau
The real measure of your wealth is how much you’d be worth if you lost all your money. Anonymous
Money is a terrible master but an excellent servant. P.T. Barnum
I will tell you the secret to getting rich on Wall Street. You try to be greedy when others are fearful. And you try to be fearful when others are greedy. Warren Buffett
I never attempt to make money on the stock market. I buy on the assumption that they could close the market the next day and not reopen it for ten years. Warren Buffett
The Stock Market is designed to transfer money from the Active to the Patient. Warren Buffett
Buy when everyone else is selling and hold until everyone else is buying. That’s not just a catchy slogan. It’s the very essence of successful investing. J. Paul Getty
Too many people spend money they earned..to buy things they don’t want..to impress people that they don’t like. Will Rogers
The best time to invest may have been in the past, but the next best time to invest is now! David S. Chang
Money has never made man happy, nor will it, there is nothing in its nature to produce happiness. The more of it one has the more one wants. Instead of filling a vacuum, it makes one. Benjamin Franklin
An investment in knowledge pays the best interest. Benjamin Franklin
How many millionaires do you know who have become wealthy by investing in savings accounts? I rest my case. Robert G. Allen
It is not the man who has too little, but the man who craves more, that is poor. Seneca
Money cannot buy peace of mind. It cannot heal ruptured relationships, or build meaning into a life that has none. Richard M. DeVos
Wealth consists not in having great possessions, but in having few wants. Epictetus
A wise man should have money in his head, but not in his heart. Jonathan Swift
A little thought and a little kindness are often worth more than a great deal of money. John Ruski
The individual investor should act consistently as an investor and not as a speculator. Ben Graham
Never spend your money before you have it. Thomas Jefferson
Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work. Thomas Edison
Everyday is a bank account, and time is our currency. No one is rich, no one is poor, we’ve got 24 hours each. Christopher Rice
Let us not be satisfied with just giving money. Money is not enough, money can be got, but they need your hearts to love them. So, spread your love everywhere you go. Mother Teresa
Bottom line is, I didn’t return to Apple to make a fortune. I’ve been very lucky in my life and already have one. When I was 25, my net worth was $100 million or so. I decided then that I wasn’t going to let it ruin my life. There’s no way you could ever spend it all, and I don’t view wealth as something that validates my intelligence. Steve Jobs
There are people who have money and people who are rich. Coco Chanel
Money won’t create success, the freedom to make it will. Nelson Mandel
It’s good to have money and the things that money can buy, but it’s good, too, to check up once in a while and make sure that you haven’t lost the things that money can’t buy. George Lorimer
If you took our top fifteen decisions out, we’d have a pretty average record. It wasn’t hyperactivity, but a hell of a lot of patience. You stuck to your principles and when opportunities came along, you pounced on them with vigor. Charlie Munger
If money is your hope for independence you will never have it. The only real security that a man will have in this world is a reserve of knowledge, experience, and ability. Henry Ford
You can only become truly accomplished at something you love. Don’t make money your goal. Instead, pursue the things you love doing, and then do them so well that people can’t take their eyes off you. Maya Angelou
Investing should be more like watching paint dry or watching grass grow. If you want excitement, take $800 and go to Las Vegas. Paul Samuelson
Here’s how I think of my money – as soldiers – I send them out to war everyday. I want them to take prisoners and come home, so there’s more of them. Kevin O’Leary
Do what you love and the money will follow. Marsha Sinetar
Real riches are the riches possessed inside. B. C. Forbes
Don’t let making a living prevent you from making a life. John Wooden
Frugality includes all the other virtues. Cicero
The four most expensive words in the English language are, ‘This time it’s different.’ Sir John Templeton
Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen six, result happiness. Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pound ought and six, result misery. Charles Dickens
Many people take no care of their money till they come nearly to the end of it, and others do just the same with their time. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Formal education will make you a living; self-education will make you a fortune. Jim Rohn
Money is only a tool. It will take you wherever you wish, but it will not replace you as the driver. Ayn Rand
Financial peace isn’t the acquisition of stuff. It’s learning to live on less than you make, so you can give money back and have money to invest. You can’t win until you do this. Dave Ramsey
You must gain control over your money or the lack of it will forever control you. Dave Ramsey
The stock market is filled with individuals who know the price of everything, but the value of nothing. Phillip Fisher
Before you speak, listen. Before you write, think. Before you spend, earn. Before you invest, investigate. Before you criticize, wait. Before you pray, forgive. Before you quit, try. Before you retire, save. Before you die, give. William A. Ward
We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give. Winston Churchill
When buying shares, ask yourself, would you buy the whole company? Rene Rivkin
If you have trouble imagining a 20% loss in the stock market, you shouldn’t be in stocks. John Bogle
If we command our wealth, we shall be rich and free. If our wealth commands us, we are poor indeed. Edmund Burke
My Favorite List of Inspirational and Motivational Quotes
Dream big and dare to fail. Norman Vaughan
Build your own dreams, or someone else will hire you to build theirs. Farrah Gray
The only person you are destined to become is the person you decide to be. Ralph Waldo Emerson
Nothing will work unless you do. Maya Angelou
We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light. Plato
Believe you can and you’re halfway there. Theodore Roosevelt
Control your own destiny or someone else will. Jack Welch
Too many of us are not living our dreams because we are living our fears. Les Brown
All our dreams can come true – if we have the courage to pursue them. Walt Disney
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
Life is short, live it. Love is rare, grab it. Anger is bad, dump it. Fear is awful, face it. Memories are sweet, cherish it. Proverb
I’m a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work the more I have of it. Thomas Jefferson
Don’t say you don’t have enough time. You have exactly the same number of hours per day that were given to Helen Keller, Pasteur, Michaelangelo, Mother Teresea, Leonardo da Vinci, Thomas Jefferson, and Albert Einstein. H. Jackson Brown Jr.
What we achieve inwardly will change outer reality. Plutarch
Fear less, hope more, eat less, chew more, whine less, breathe more, talk less, say more, hate less, love more, and good things will be yours. Swedish Proverb
Accept responsibility for your life. Know that it is you who will get you where you want to go, no one else. Les Brown
It takes as much energy to wish as it does to plan. Eleanor Roosevelt
Name the greatest of all inventors. Accident. Mark Twain
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 safe harbor, catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore, Dream, Discover. Mark Twain
Excellence is…caring more than others think is wise; Risking more than other think is safe; Dreaming more than others think is practical Expecting more than others think is possible. Winston Churchill
Quality is never an accident: It is always the result of high intention, sincere effort, intelligent direction and skillful execution. It represents the wise choice of many alternatives. William A. Foster
You don’t overcome challenges by making them smaller but by making yourself bigger. John Maxwell
You can have everything in life you want, if you will just help other people get what they want. Zig Ziglar
The most difficult thing is the decision to act, the rest is merely tenacity. Amelia Earhart
Every strike brings me closer to the next home run. Babe Ruth
No man ever made a great discovery without the exercise of the imagination. George Henry Lewes
Keep your eyes on the stars, and your feet on the ground. Theodore Roosevelt
We can’t help everyone, but everyone can help someone. Ronald Reagan
You may only live once, but if you live right, once is enough. Unknown
Hard work is painful when life is devoid of purpose. But when you live for something greater than yourself and the gratification of your own ego, then hard work becomes a labor of love. Steve Pavlina
Vision without action is daydream. Action without vision is nightmare. Japanese Proverb
Arriving at one goal is the starting point to another. John Dewey
Good things come to those who wait… greater things come to those who get off their ass and do anything to make it happen. Proverb
The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step. Lao Tzu
You may only live once, but if you live right, once is enough. Mae West
The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now. Chinese Proverb
Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Steve Jobs
Even if you’re on the right track, you’ll get run over if you just sit there. Will Rogers
My Favorite List of Inspirational Attitude Quotes
Too many of us are not living our dreams because we are living our fears.
Les Brown
Life is 10% what happens to me and 90% of how I react to it. Charles Swindoll
You can never plan the future by the past. Edmund Burke
We become what we think about. Earl Nightingale
Whether you think you can or you think you can’t, you’re right. Henry Ford
Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection we can catch excellence. Vince Lombardi
Watch your thoughts; they become words. Watch your words; they become actions. Watch your actions; they become habits. Watch your habits; they become character. Watch your character; it becomes your destiny. Lao-Tze
To the man who only has a hammer, everything he encounters begins to look like a nail. Abraham Maslow
You must be the change you wish to see in the world. Gandhi
The richest man is not he who has the most, but he who needs the least. Unknown
You can’t fall of you don’t climb. But there’s no joy in living your whole life on the ground. Unknown
Not everything that is faced can be changed. But nothing can be changed until it is faced. James Baldwin
Politeness has become so rare that some people mistake is for flirtation… Unknown
How very little can be done under the spirit of fear. Florence Nightingale
To have a great idea, have a lot of them. Thomas Edison
Winning isn’t everything, but wanting to win is. Vince Lombardi
People often say that motivation doesn’t last. Well, neither does bathing – that’s why we recommend it daily. Zig Ziglar
What we think, or what we know, or what we believe is, in the end, of little consequence. The only consequence is what we do. John Ruskin
You won’t step on other’s toes if you imagine yourself in their shoes. Rick Warren
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 that has been opened for us. Helen Keller
Happiness is not something you postpone for the future; it is something you design for the present. Jim Rohn
Happiness is not in the mere possession of money; it lies in the joy of achievement, in the thrill of creative effort. Franklin D. Roosevelt
It is not because things are difficult that we do not dare; it is because we do not dare that things are difficult. Seneca
It is only the very wisest and the very stupidest who cannot change. Confucius
Life isn’t about getting and having, it’s about giving and being. Kevin Kruse
It’s what each of us sows, and how, that gives us character and prestige. George Matthew Adams
Never work just for money or for power. They won’t save your soul or help you sleep at night. Marian Wright Edelman
Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Willing is not enough; we must do. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
There are two primary choices in life: to accept conditions as they exist, or accept the responsibility for changing them. Denis Waitley
It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit. Harry S. Truman
Courage is being scared to death…and saddling up anyway. John Wayne
It is during our darkest moments that we must focus to see the light. Aristotle Onassis
