100 Best Motivational Quotes for Business Professionals

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To achieve success you must be focused. Whether you are starting your own business, or simply trying to learn more, inspirational quotes can encourage you to work hard, and be innovative which are both key tools for success.

However, sometimes it takes a little inspiration to find the motivation to crush it at your job and career. The following groups of quotes aim to motivate young people in any form whether it be just reading them when you’re feeling unmotivated or writing them out to keep in front of you as a daily reminder.

Getting Started

1. “I find it best to dive right in and learn the hard way.” — Pete Cashmore, Mashable
2. “If you do the things that are easier first, then you can actually make a lot of progress.”– Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook
3. “A hard thing is done by figuring out how to start.”– Rand Fishkin, SEOmoz
4. “To any entrepreneur: if you want to do it, do it now. If you don’t, you’re going to regret it.”– Catherine Cook, MyYearbook
5. “If you’ve got an idea, start today. There’s no better time than now to get going. That doesn’t mean quit your job and jump into your idea 100% from day one, but there’s always small progress that can be made to start the movement.”– Kevin Systrom, Instagram
6. “It is always the start that requires the greatest effort.”– James Penney, founder and CEO J.C. Penny

Being a Young Entrepreneur

1. “I think I was very naïve early on, but that also meant I didn’t know what couldn’t be done.”– Matt Mickiewicz, 99 Designs
2. “It’s not about how many years of experience you have. It’s about the quality of your years of experience.”– Jacob Cass, Logo of the Day
3. “The earlier you start, the more time you have to mess up.”– Emil Motycka, Motycka Enterprises
4. “There’s no committee that says, ‘This is the type of person who can change the world — and you can’t.’ Realizing that anyone can do it is the first step. The next step is figuring out how you’re going to do it.”– Adora Svitak, Flying Fingers
5. Whenever you are asked if you can do a job, tell ’em, “Certainly I can!” Then get busy and find out how to do it. — Theodore Roosevelt

Being Responsible

1. Work while you have the light. You are responsible for the talent that has been entrusted to you. — Henri Frédéric Amiel
2. Responsibility to yourself means . . . learning to respect and use your own brains and instincts; hence, grappling with hard work. — Adrienne Rich
3. What the society thinks is of no interest to me. All that’s important is how I see myself. I know who I am. I know the value of my work. — Robin Sharma
4. If you wish to achieve worthwhile things in your personal and career life, you must become a worthwhile person in your own self-development. — Brian Tracy
5. You can either complain about how hard your life is, or you can realize that only you are responsible for it. — Glenn Beck
6. Empower yourself and realize the importance of contributing to the world by living your talent. Work on what you love. You are responsible for the talent that has been entrusted to you. — Catharina Bruns, Founder WorkIsNotaJob

Hard Work

1. “The price of success is hard work, dedication to the job at hand, and the determination that whether we win or lose, we have applied the best of ourselves to the task at hand.”–Vince Lombardi, executive, head coach, player NFL
2. “I’m convinced that about half of what separates the successful entrepreneurs from the non-successful ones is pure perseverance.”– Steve Jobs, Co-founder, CEO, Chairman Apple Inc.
3. “If you’re passionate about something and you work hard, then I think you will be successful.”– Pierre Omidyar, founder and chairman eBay
4. “Ideas are easy. Implementation is hard.”– Guy Kawasaki, co-founder Alltop
5. “I never took a day off in my twenties. Not one.” — Bill Gates, co-founder Microsoft
6. “If hard work is the key to success, most people would rather pick the lock.”– Claude McDonald
7. “Have the end in mind and every day make sure you’re working towards it.” — Ryan Allis, co-founder and CEO iContact
8. “The critical ingredient is getting off your butt and doing something. It’s as simple as that. A lot of people have ideas, but there are few who decide to do something about them now. Not tomorrow. Not next week. But today. The true entrepreneur is a doer, not a dreamer.”– Nolan Bushnell, founder Atari and Chuck-E-Cheese’s

Mistakes & Failure

1. Solving specific problems is what drives me. I am not interested in having a career. I never have been.” — Sean Parker, Napster
2. “I’ve also learned that the biggest lessons came from my biggest mistakes.”– Gurbaksh Chahal, RadiumOne
3. “The hardest part about being an entrepreneur is that you’ll fail ten times for every success.”– Adam Horwitz, Mobile Monopoly
4. “Challenge norms, push boundaries, don’t fear mistakes and always be open to learning.” — JJ Wilson
5. “Be okay with failing. The traditional route isn’t for most of us. Learn from that failure and carve your own path.” — Christian Dare
6. “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.”– Thomas Edison
7. “Success is walking from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm.”– Winston Churchill
8. “Don’t worry about failure; you only have to be right once.”– Drew Houston, co-founder and CEO Dropbox
9. “Fail often so you can succeed sooner.”– Tom Kelley, founder Ideo
10. “The most valuable thing you can make is a mistake — you can’t learn anything from being perfect.” — Adam Osborne
11. “Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently… A business absolutely devoted to service will have only one worry about profits. They will be embarrassingly large.” — Henry Ford, founder Ford Motor Company
12. “I’ve learned that mistakes can often be as good a teacher as success.”– Jack Welch, chairman and CEO General Electric
13. “Show me a person who never made a mistake, and I will show you a person who never did anything.”– William Rosenberg, founder Dunkin’ Donuts
14. “Most great people have attained their greatest success just one step beyond their greatest failure.” — Napoleon Hill
15. If you’re not making mistakes, then you’re not making decisions.”– Catherine Cook, MyYearbook
16. “I knew that if I failed I wouldn’t regret that, but I knew the one thing I might regret is not trying.”-Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO Amazon
17. “You don’t learn to walk by following rules. You learn by doing and falling over.”– Richard Branson, founder Virgin Group
18. “The only thing worse than starting something and failing… is not starting something.”–Seth Godin, founder Squidoo

Success

1. “Success is defined in units of fun. It’s all about being happy.” — Jake Nickell, Threadless
2. “Success for us means continued growth and an ongoing sense of fulfillment in everything we do.” — rock-it promotions
3. “Kindness is never wasted. Neither is time spent working to understand the perspectives and motivations of the people around you.” — Gabrielle Gallant
4. “Success is about being able to shut out all the noise in life and honestly listen to yourself.” — Ben Barry
5. “You can do everything on your bucket list, but you can’t do it all at once. Prioritize and focus on one career path or business opportunity at a time.” — Eric Janssen
6. “You have an idea, a dream? Go for it, don’t settle and don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t — opportunity is everywhere.” — Chrissy Sgourakis
7. “Know that there is always going to be sacrifice. My best advice for young professionals is to remember to enjoy the ride.” — Gidon Gabbay
8. “Success is when you start physically living those dreams that give you giddy goosebumps. And with that comes finding your happy place.” — Kat Stefankiewicz
9. “Don’t be afraid to take chances early on. The more established you become within a particular field, the harder it’ll be to break free.” — Ash Molaei
10. “[An] outlook of saying ‘yes’ to pretty much anything has single-handedly allowed me to propel my career forward.” — Bianca Lopes
11. “Focus your time on building meaningful relationships. You can be the smartest person in the room, but if nobody wants to work with you, that doesn’t matter.” — Mogo
12. “Don’t forget to take care of yourself. You need a little time off. It’s important to work hard for what you want, but you have to refill your basket.” — Tanya Dawe
13. “Success is getting what you want. Happiness is wanting what you get.”– Dale Carnegie
14. “The most dangerous poison is the feeling of achievement. The antidote is to every evening think what can be done better tomorrow”– Ingvar Kamprad, founder Ikea
15. Over-deliver every time.”– Alex Maroko, Game Speed Insider
16. “Success is not in what you have, but who you are.”– Bo Bennett, founder eBookit.com
17. Every single person I know who is successful at what they do is successful because they love doing it.”– Joe Penna, Mystery Guitar Man

Following Your Passion

1. “Anything can be done, as long as you truly believe it.”– Ashley Qualls, WhateverLife
2. “Find something you love and do it better than everyone else.”– Gurbaksh Chahal, RadiumOne
3. “Stay focused and work hard — nothing in life is for free.” — Krystle Ng-A-Mann
4. “Make sure you have a mentor in your industry; someone who is objective and can offer honest feedback. Don’t rely on family and friends for this.” — Mark Gatto

Commitment

1. Do your best, not because your work is worth it, but because you are. — Young People’s Weekly
2. This is my work. . . Of all who live, I am the one by whom this work can best be done in the right way. — Henry Van Dyke
3. No task is too small to be done well. For the man who is worthy, who is fit to perform the deeds of the world, even the greatest, sooner or later the opportunity to do them will come. — G. W. Goethals
4. How to win in life: work hard; complain less; listen more; try, learn, grow; don’t let people tell you it can’t be done; make no excuses. — Germany Kent
5. Don’t you dare think about giving up! EVERYTHING has a process. Work with the process, not against it. Move forward with purpose and never stop believing. You can do this! — Stephanie Lahart

Ethics and Morals

1. “Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great.”– Mark Twain
2. “Your reputation is more important than your paycheck, and your integrity is worth more than your career.”– Ryan Freitas, co-founder About.me
3. “Associate yourself with people of good quality, for it is better to be alone than in bad company”– Booker T. Washington
4. “It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you’ll do things differently.” — Warren Buffett, chairman and CEO Berkshire Hathaway
5. “How you climb a mountain is more important than reaching the top.” — Yvon Chouinard, founder Patagonia
6. “If you look to lead, invest at least 40% of your time managing yourself — your ethics, character, principles, purpose, motivation, and conduct. Invest at least 30% managing those with authority over you, and 15% managing your peers.” -Dee Hock

Drive and Professionalism

1. The smallest thing, well done, becomes artistic. — William Matthews
2. How can you expect to do a great thing well when you half do the little things? These are the stepping stones to the great things. — Orison Swett Marden)
3. A professional is one who does his best work when he feels the least like working. — Frank Lloyd Wright
4. Be steady and well-ordered in your life so that you can be fierce and original in your work. — Gustave Flaubert
5. “Never hesitate to help someone else out. It’s humbling how helpful we’ve found people, even people we barely know, especially in tough times.” — Torey Celenskis and Trevor Loos

More Motivation

1. “My biggest motivation? Just to keep challenging myself. I see life almost like one long University education that I never had — every day I’m learning something new. -Richard Branson, founder Virgin Group
2. “Whether you think you can, or think you can’t — you’re right.”– Henry Ford, Founder Ford Motor Company
3. “You shouldn’t focus on why you can’t do something, which is what most people do. You should focus on why perhaps you can, and be one of the exceptions.” — Steve Case, co-founder AOL
4. “The fastest way to change yourself is to hang out with people who are already the way you want to be.”– Reid Hoffman, co-founder LinkedIn

Time Quotes

1. “ Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of other’s opinions drown out 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, Co-founder, CEO, Chairman Apple Inc.
2. No great work is ever done in a hurry. . . To do anything great requires time, patience and perseverance. — W. J.Wilmont Buston
3. To me, success is happiness, making the most of your time, doing the things you love, and surrounding yourself with the people you enjoy.” — Jeff Blay

Do What You Love

1. “Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do.”– Steve Jobs, Co-founder, CEO, Chairman Apple Inc.
2. “When you find an idea that you just can’t stop thinking about, that’s probably a good one to pursue.”-Josh James, co-founder and CEO Omniture, founder and CEO Domo
3. “It’s not about ideas. It’s about making ideas happen.”– Scott Belsky, co-founder Behance
4. “If you just work on stuff that you like and you’re passionate about, you don’t have to have a master plan with how things will play out.”–Mark Zuckerberg, founder and CEO Facebook

Give it Your Everything

1. “If you start with nothing and end up with nothing, there’s nothing lost.”– Michael Dunlop, Income Diary
2. “Once you say you’re going to settle for second, that’s what happens to you in life.”– John F. Kennedy
3. “I’m here to build something for the long-term. Anything else is a distraction.”– Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook
4. “Get out of your comfort zone and explore your potential.” — Kimmy Xiao
5. “Risk more than others think is safe. Dream more than others think is practical.”-Howard Schultz, Starbucks CEO
6. If what you are doing is not moving you towards your goals, then it’s moving you away from your goals.”– Brian Tracy, CEO Brian Tracy International
7. “A lot of people have ideas, but there are few who decide to do something about them now. Not tomorrow. Not next week. But today. The true entrepreneur is a doer, not a dreamer.” — Nolan Bushnell
8. “We are really competing against ourselves, we have no control over how other people perform.” — Pete Cashmore
9. “You can never quit. Winners never quit, and quitters never win.” — Ted Turner, TBS

Starting out as a young professional can be stressful. It’s easy to get into a cycle where you can lack motivation, confidence, and drive. Hopefully these quotes from noteworthy people have given you some confidence to push through. If you’re looking for some more professional advice and motivation check out our blog!