The 25 Best Motivational Quotes

To keep you inspired for days to come

Photo by Diego Gennaro on Unsplash

As a biography lover and general fan of history/great characters, I’ve always enjoyed quote hunting. Finding a bit of wisdom that sends a chill down your spine can be so exciting. Not only does it help motivate me in my day to day, but it keeps me focused on my long term goals; helping others, protecting nature, and being courageous. There are so many Pinterest boards and sites listing out hundreds of quotes, but I found them either overused (“I’ve missed more than 9,000 shots in my career…”) or too simple (“Wake up determined, go to bed satisfied.” — The Rock). For this reason, I decided to list out the quotes that I’ve found over the past two years — mostly while stuck in my house during covid — that really spoke to me personally. I tried to categorize them to the best of my abilities, and I hope that they awaken something in you like they did for me. Here’s to us quoting you one day!

POSITIVITY

1. “Clouds come floating into my life, no longer to carry rain or usher storm, but to add color to my sunset sky” — Rabindranath Tagore
2. “Pour ce qui est de l’avenir, il ne s’agit pas de le prévoir, mais de le rendre possible” — Antoine de Saint Exupery Translation: “As for the future, it’s not about predicting it, but about making it possible”
3. “Texans ignored ‘better,’ long ago forgot the useless word ‘good.’ Everything in Texas is ‘best’” — Edward Smith

PERSONAL GROWTH

1. “Travel changes you. As you move through this life and this world you change things slightly, you leave marks behind, however small. And in return, life and travel leaves marks on you.” — Anthony Bourdain
2. “When we strive to become better than we are, everything around us becomes better too” — Paulo Coelho
3. “It has been my experience that folks who have no vices have very few virtues.” — Abraham Lincoln

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TAKE ACTION

1. “I have never in my life envied a man who led an easy life… I have envied a great many people who led difficult lives and led them well.” — Teddy Roosevelt
2. “The basic difference between an ordinary man and a warrior is that a warrior takes everything as a challenge while an ordinary man takes everything either as a blessing or a curse,” — Tales of Power
3. “We have to be continually jumping off cliffs and developing our wings on the way down.” — Kurt Vonnegut
4. “None of it was sensible, yet he had to admit there was something about such follies that he liked… there was more enterprise in certain follies.” — Lonesome Dove
5. “However meaningless and vain, however dead life appears, the man of faith, of energy, of warmth… steps in an does something. “ — Vincent Van Gogh
6. “Write it. Shoot it. Publish it. Crochet it, sauté it, whatever. MAKE.” — Joss Whedon
7. “From my tribe I take nothing, I am the maker of my own fortune.” — Tecumseh

SUCCESS

1. “Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm” — Winston Churchill
2. “Persistence can change failure into extraordinary achievement” — Mary Levy
3. “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
4. “But we are dreamers. We’re born that way, I think. Maybe it’s because dreaming doesn’t cost much. In fact, it’s free.” — Kylian Mbappe
5. “Try not to become a man of success, but rather a man of value.” — Albert Einstein

NATURE

1. “Like music and art, love of nature is a common language that can transcend political or social boundaries.” — Jimmy Carter
2. “The environment is where we all meet; where all have a mutual interest; it is the one thing all of us share” — Lady Bird Johnson
3. “To make a prairie it takes a clover and one bee, One clover, and a bee, And revery. The revery alone will do, If bees are few.” — Emily Dickinson
4. “If we surrendered to earth’s intelligence we could rise up rooted, like trees.” — Rainer Maria Rilke

COURAGE

1. “Happiness depends on being free, and freedom depends on being courageous.” — Pericles
2. “Courage doesn’t always roar. Sometimes courage is a quiet voice at the end of the day saying, ‘I will try again tomorrow.’” — Mary Anne Radmacher
3. “Non vuoi solo fare il portiere. Vuoi fare questo tipo di poriere. Vuoi essere selvaggio, coraggioso, libero.” — Gianlugi Buffon Translation: “You do not want to be simply a goalkeeper. You want to be this kind of goalkeeper. You want to be wild, courageous, free.”

Photo by Hans Isaacson on Unsplash