50 inspirational and motivational quotes
by Teaching staff
What are some of the most inspiring quotes about life? Well, that depends on what kind of inspiration you're looking for.
Life quotes range across the human condition, from suffering to possibility, from hope to sacrifice, from love to loss. The best quotes about life are often the ones that contain truth, motivation, insight into some concept that seems poignant and helpful at that moment in your life, and a little wisdom that you need.
50 quotes for inspiration
“You must not want another life. You must not want to be someone else. And what you must do is this: Rejoice forever.” -Wendell Berry
“Live, travel, adventure, bless, and be unapologetic.” -Jack Kerouac
“Each of us, from a cosmic perspective, is precious. If someone disagrees with you, let him live. And in a hundred billion galaxies, there will be no other.” -Carl Sagan
“The purpose of human life, no matter who controls it, is to love those around you to be loved.” -Kurt Vonnegut
“Self-improvement is delayed by the establishment of the social organization of education, the diffusion of true knowledge, and the improvement of mental abilities.” – Nietzsche
“Every act of perception is to some extent an act of creativity, and every act of memory is to some extent an act of imagination.” – Oliver Sacks
“Men must not only know, they must act.” -Webb Du Bois
“You don't find a happy life. You create it.” – Camilla Eyring Kimball
“Act as if what you do makes a difference. It does.” -William James
“Success is not final, and failure is not fatal, but it is the courage to continue that matters.” – Winston Churchill
See also 50 of the best quotes about teaching
“Never bow your head. Always hold it high. Look the world straight in the eye.” -Helen Keller
“Instead of love, instead of money, instead of fame, give me the truth.” -Henry David Thoreau
“Don't go where the path leads, go where there is no path and leave a trail.” -Ralph Waldo Emerson
“Change will not come if we wait for another person or another time. We are the ones we have been waiting for.” -Barack Obama
“Luck is the fruit of sweat. The more you sweat, the luckier you get.” -Ray Kroc
“The real horror is to wake up one morning and discover that your high school students are running the country.” -Kurt Vonnegut
“Courage is the first of the human qualities because it is the quality that guarantees all the other qualities.” -John F. Kennedy
“Happiness makes up for in length what it lacks in height.” -Robert Frost
“Live for yourself, and you will live in vain; live for others, and you will live again.” -Bob Marley
“Mind is everything. What you think you're going to be.” – Buddha
“The only people for me are crazy ones, those who are crazy to live, crazy to talk, crazy to save, and want everything at the same time…” -Jack Kerouac
“Defeat is not bitter unless you swallow it.” – Joe Clark
“He who loves much, does much, can achieve much, and what is done with love is done well.” -Vincent Van Gogh
“The only way to find the limits of the possible is to go beyond them to the impossible.” -Arthur C. Clarke
See also 40 of the best quotes about critical thinking
“Be happy not because everything is good, but because you can see the good side of everything.” -unknown
“Will must be stronger than skill.” -Muhammad Ali
“One of the happiest moments in life is when you find the courage to let go of what you cannot change.” -unknown
“Love doesn't begin and end the way we think it does. Love is a battle. Love is a war. Love grows.” -James Baldwin
“Happiness is an attitude. We either make ourselves miserable, or happy and strong. The amount of work is the same.” -Carlos Castaneda
“What you get by achieving your goals is not as important as what you become by achieving your goals.” Henry David Thoreau
“When one door to happiness closes, another opens, but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one that has opened for us.” – Helen Keller
“You have a mind in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself in any direction you choose.” – Dr. Seuss
“A sad soul can kill faster than germs.” -John Steinbeck
“Death is not the greatest loss in life. The greatest loss is the one who dies inside while he is alive.” -Tupac Shakur
“The happiness of your life depends on the quality of your thoughts.” -Marcus Aurelius
“Your work is going to occupy a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. The only way to do great work is to love what you do.” -Steve Jobs
“Follow your inner moonlight; do not hide the madness.” -Allen Ginsberg
“Instead of wondering when your next vacation is, you should create a life you don't need to escape from.” -Seth Godin
“Everything exists except love that leaves rust in your soul.” – Langston Hughes
“The problem with the rat race is that even if you win, you're still a rat.” – Lily Tomlin
“Don't say you don't have enough time. You have exactly the same number of hours in the day that were given to Helen Keller, Pasteur, Michelangelo, Mother Teresa, Leonardo da Vinci, Thomas Jefferson, and Albert Einstein. —H. Jackson Browne, Jr.
“Someone once told me that ‘time’ is a predator that chases us throughout our lives. But I believe that time is a companion that goes with us on the journey and reminds us to cherish every moment because it will never come again.” -Jean-Luc Picard
“It is not the strongest species that survives, nor the most intelligent, but the most responsive to change.” -Charles Darwin
“The opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in business clothes and looks like work.” -Thomas Edison
“If a man loses a leg or an eye, he knows he has lost a leg or an eye; But if he loses himself – his soul – he cannot know it, because he is no longer there to know it. – Oliver Sacks
“You miss 100 percent of the shots you don't take.” -Wayne Gretzky
“Failure is simply an opportunity to start over, but this time more intelligently.” -Henry Ford
“Do or don't. There's no trying.” – Yoda
“Those who say it cannot be done should not boycott those who do.” -Chinese proverb
“Self-improvement is delayed by the establishment of the social organization of education, the diffusion of true knowledge, and the improvement of mental abilities.” – Nietzsche