269 Short Motivational Quotes and Sayings

Sometimes, hearing a few words of motivation can already make a difference in someone’s life. If a certain person in your life needs a bit of encouragement right now, feel free to take some of these short motivational quotes we compiled. You can also write them on a card and send them out to your loved ones. It’s a great and thoughtful way to show that you care!

Short Motivational Quotes

1. Write it on your heart that every day is the best day of the year. – Ralph Waldo Emerson

2. Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection we can catch excellence. – Vince Lombardi

3. Everything you’ve ever wanted is on the other side of fear. – George Addair

4. Dwell on the beauty of life. Watch the stars, and see yourself running with them. – Marcus Aurelius

5. You cannot tailor-make the situations in life but you can tailor-make the attitudes to fit those situations. – Zig Ziglar

6. There are two ways of spreading light, to be the candle or the mirror that reflects it. – Edith Wharton

7. To be the best, you must be able to handle the worst. – Wilson Kanadi

8. The key to immortality is first living a life worth remembering. – Bruce Lee

9. Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment. – Buddha

10. I can’t change the direction of the wind, but I can adjust my sails to always reach my destination. – Jimmy Dean

11. Keep your face always toward the sunshine and shadows will fall behind you. – Walt Whitman

12. The greatest discovery of all time is that a person can change his future by merely changing his attitude. – Oprah Winfrey

13. To succeed in life, you need two things: ignorance and confidence. – Mark Twain

14. Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds that you plant. – Robert Louis Stevenson

15. Without His love I can do nothing, with His love there is nothing I cannot do.     

16. Begin at the beginning, and go on till you come to the end, then stop. – Lewis Carroll

17. Make each day your masterpiece. – John Wooden

18. Put your heart, mind, and soul into even your smallest acts. This is the secret of success. – Swami Sivananda

19. Wherever you go, go with all your heart. – Confucius

20. The day is what you make it. So why not make it a great one? – Steve Schulte

21. What we’ve got to do is keep hope alive. Because without it we’ll sink. – John Lennon

22. Create the highest, grandest vision possible for your life, because you become what you believe.

23. When you can’t find the sunshine, be the sunshine.

24. The grass is greener where you water it.

25. Wherever life plants you, bloom with grace.

26. So, what if, instead of thinking about solving your whole life, you just think about adding additional good things. One at a time. Just let your pile of good things grow.

27. Little by little, day by day, what is mean for you will find its way.

28. Don’t forget you’re human. It’s okay to have a meltdown. Just don’t unpack and live there. Cry it out. Then refocus on where you’re headed.

29. An arrow can only be shot by pulling it backward. When life is dragging you back with difficulties, it means it’s going to launch you into something great. So just focus, and keep aiming.

30. A great attitude becomes a great day which becomes a great month which becomes a great year which becomes a great life.

31. I am in charge of how I feel and today I am choosing happiness.

32. Happiness is letting go of what you think your life is supposed to look like and celebrating it for everything that it is.

33. If you have good thoughts they will shine out of your face like sunbeams and you will always look lovely.

34. Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow.

35. Take time to do what makes your soul happy.

36. Be so happy that when others look at you, they become happy too.

37. The sun is a daily reminder that we too can rise again from the darkness, that we too can shine our own light.

38. Believe. Act as if. Live like you already have it. It’s coming.

39. Enjoy this list of short inspirational quotes. Discover simple thoughts, one liners and wise sayings to start your day.

40. You can totally do this. 

41. Impossible is for the unwilling. – John Keats

Short Motivational Quotes

42. No pressure, no diamonds. – Thomas Carlyle 

43. Stay foolish to stay sane. – Maxime Lagacé 

44. When nothing goes right, go left. 

45. Don’t tell people your plans. Show them your results.  

46. I can and I will. 

47. Take the risk or lose the chance.  

48. Prove them wrong.  

49. No guts, no story. – Chris Brady 

50. My life is my message. – Mahatma Gandhi 

51. Screw it, let’s do it. – Richard Branson 

52. Boldness be my friend. – William Shakespeare 

53. Keep going. Be all in. – Bryan Hutchinson 

54. My life is my argument. – Albert Schweitzer 

55. Dream big. Pray bigger. 

56. Leave no stone unturned. – Euripides 

57. Fight till the last gasp. – William Shakespeare 

58. Stay hungry. Stay foolish. – Steve Jobs  

59. Broken crayons still color.  

60. And so the adventure begins. 

61. If you want it, work for it. 

62. You can if you think you can. – George Reeves 

63. Grow through what you go through. 

64. Do it with passion or not at all. 

65. She believed she could, so she did. 

66. The past does not equal the future. – Tony Robbins

Short Motivational Quotes 

67. Good things happen to those who hustle. – Anaïs Nin 

68. At the end of hardship comes happiness. 

69. If it matters to you, you’ll find a way. – Charlie Gilkey 

70. Forget about style, worry about results. – Bobby Orr 

71. Whatever you do, do with all your might. – Marcus Tullius Cicero 

72. Dream without fear. Love without limits. 

73. Every noble work is at first impossible. – Thomas Carlyle 

74. If you’re going through hell, keep going. – Winston Churchill 

75. You can do anything you set your mind to. 

76. We are twice armed if we fight with faith. – Plato 

77. The wisest mind has something yet to learn. – George Santanaya 

78. Open your mind. Get up off the couch. Move. – Anthony Bourdain 

79. Be faithful to that which exists within yourself. – André Gide 

80. Persistence guarantees that results are inevitable. – Paramahansa Yogananda 

81. In life you need either inspiration or desperation. – Tony Robbins 

82. I would rather die on my feet than live on my knees. – Euripides

83. The true success is the person who invented himself. – Al Goldstein 

84. Let him that would move the world first move himself. – Socrates 

85. Go forth on your path, as it exists only through your walking. – Augustine of Hippo 

86. We can do anything we want to if we stick to it long enough. – Helen Keller 

87. It is better to live one day as a lion, than a thousand days as a lamb. – Roman proverb 

88. Life is fragile. We’re not guaranteed a tomorrow so give it everything you’ve got. – Tim Cook 

89. The two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why. – Mark Twain 

90. Fall seven times, stand up eight. – Japanese proverb 

91. Actually, you can. Yes, yes, you can do it. Focus on the good. You are doing great. We rise by lifting others. Be happy. Be bright. Be you. Every day is a second chance. You are amazing. Remember that. Darling, you are a work of art. Each day provides its own gifts. – Marcus Aurelius 

92. Happiness looks gorgeous on you. You are capable of amazing things. You are somebody’s reason to smile. 

93. Nothing is worth more than this day. – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe 

94. Life is a question and how we live it is our answer. – Gary Keller 

95. God provides the wind, but man must raise the sails. – Augustine of Hippo

Short Motivational Quotes

96. Art is the lie that enables us to realize the truth. – Pablo Picasso 

97. Enlightenment is when a wave realizes it is the ocean. 

98. The truth isn’t always beauty, but the hunger for it is. – Nadine Gordimer 

99. This is your life, and it’s ending one minute at a time. 

100. Hearts are wild creatures, that’s why our ribs are cages. 

101. Life without love is like a tree without blossoms or fruit. – Khalil Gibran 

102. Your faith can move mountains and your doubt can create them. 

103. The knowledge of happiness brings the knowledge of unhappiness. – Swami Vivekananda 

104. There are those who give with joy, and that joy is their reward. – Khalil Gibran 

105. Life is the car, your heart is the key and God is the chauffeur. – Sri Sathya Sai Baba 

106. You are not a drop in the ocean. You are the entire ocean in a drop. – Rumi 

107. Normality is a paved road: it’s comfortable to walk, but no flowers grow on it.

108. One is never afraid of the unknown, one is afraid of the known coming to an end. – Jiddu Krishnamurti 

109. When you’re happy you enjoy the music, when you’re sad you understand the lyrics. 

110. When you’ve seen beyond yourself, then you may find, peace of mind is waiting there. – George Harrison 

111. You have to be odd to be number one. – Dr. Seuss  

112. Please all and you will please none. – Aesop 

113. The fool wonders, the wise man asks. – Benjamin Disraeli 

114. A smooth sea never made a skillful sailor. 

115. A man can’t ride your back unless it’s bent. – Martin Luther King Jr 

116. Don’t raise your voice. Improve your argument. 

117. Chop your own wood and it will warm you twice. – Henry Ford 

118. Some people are so poor, all they have is money. – Jack Kerouac 

119. All generalizations are false, including this one. – Mark Twain 

120. It’s not what you look at that matters, it’s what you see. – Henry David Thoreau 

121. There is no saint without a past, no sinner without a future. Augustine of Hippo  

122. We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give. – Winston Churchill 

123. It’s so strange that autumn is so beautiful; yet everything is dying. 

124. It’s no wonder that truth is stranger than fiction. Fiction has to make sense. – Mark Twain 

125. The man who wants to lead the orchestra must turn his back on the crowd. James Crook 

126. What counts can’t always be counted; what can be counted doesn’t always count. – Albert Einstein 

127. As a well-spent day brings happy sleep, so a life well spent brings happy death. – Leonardo da Vinci 

128. Life is not about how fast you run or how high you climb, but how well you bounce. – Vivian Komori 

129. Concentration is the ability to think about absolutely nothing when it is absolutely necessary. – Ray Knight 

130. It is better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to open one’s mouth and remove all doubt. – Mark Twain 

131. So it goes. – Kurt Vonnegut  

132. Live the life you’ve dreamed. – Henry David Thoreau 

133. Life is not fair. Get used to it. – Bill Gates

Short Motivational Quotes

134. Life is a long lesson in humility. – James M. Barrie 

135. Life is a lively process of becoming. – Douglas MacArthur 

136. The unexamined life is not worth living. – Socrates 

137. Life is largely a matter of expectation. – Homer 

138. Don’t count the days. Make the days count. 

139. Anything worth doing is worth doing slowly. – Mae West 

140. Be soft. Do not let the world make you hard. 

141. Life is too important to be taken seriously. – Oscar Wilde 

142. Life is either a daring adventure or nothing. – Helen Keller 

143. The sole meaning of life is to serve humanity. – Leo Tolstoy 

144. Love the life you live. Lead the life you love. – Bob Marley 

145. Life is accepting what is and working from that. – Gloria Naylor 

146. We are all, right now, living the life we choose. – Peter McWilliams 

147. Not life, but good life, is to be chiefly valued. – Socrates 

148. Live your life, do your work, then take your hat. – Henry David Thoreau  

149. Life got to be about more than just solving problems. – Elon Musk 

150. Life isn’t as serious as the mind makes it out to be. – Eckhart Tolle 

151. Life is about making an impact, not making an income. – Kevin Kruse 

152. The quality of life is more important than life itself. – Alexis Carrel 

153. You have to die a few times before you can really live. – Charles Bukowski 

154. What’s coming will come and we’ll meet it when it does. – Hagrid 

155. Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one’s courage. – Anaïs Nin 

156. Life is defined more by its risks than by its samenesses. – Mary Anne Radmacher 

157. You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough. – Mae West 

158. Sometimes life has its way with you when you least expect it. – Jon Hamm 

159. Life isn’t about getting and having, it’s about giving and being. – Kevin Kruse 

160. Life can only be understood backwards, but it must be lived forwards. – Soren Kierkegaard 

161. Life is amazing. Life is fucking messy. Life is what you make of it. – Dwayne Johnson 

162. Life is not a problem to be solved, but a reality to be experienced. – Soren Kierkegaard

163. Nowadays people know the price of everything and the value of nothing. – Oscar Wilde 

164. Only one life that soon is past, only what’s done with love will last. 

165. Don’t be afraid your life will end. Be afraid that it will never begin. – Grace Hansen 

166. To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all. – Oscar Wilde 

167. In three words I can sum up everything I’ve learned about life, it goes on. – Robert Frost

Short Motivational Quotes

168. Life really does begin at forty. Up until then, you are just doing research. – Carl Gustav Jung

169. The meaning of life is to find your gift. The purpose of life is to give it away. – William Shakespeare

170. Life, it seems, is nothing if not a series of initiations, transitions, and incorporations. – Alan Dundes

171. Life becomes harder for us when we live for others, but it also becomes richer and happier. – Albert Schweitzer

172. Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away. 

173. Love for all, hatred for none. – Khalifatul Masih III

174. Change the world by being yourself. – Amy Poehler

175. Never regret anything that made you smile. – Mark Twain

176. Aspire to inspire before we expire.

177. Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication. – Leonardo da Vinci

178. All limitations are self-imposed. – Oliver Wendell Holmes

179. Tough times never last but tough people do. – Robert H. Schiuller

180. Problems are not stop signs, they are guidelines. – Robert H. Schiuller

181. One day the people that don’t even believe in you will tell everyone how they met you. – Johnny Depp

182. If I’m gonna tell a real story, I’m gonna start with my name. – Kendrick Lamar

183. If you tell the truth you don’t have to remember anything. – Mark Twain

184. Have enough courage to start and enough heart to finish. – Jessica N. S. Yourko

185. Hate comes from intimidation, love comes from appreciation. – Tyga

186. I could agree with you but then we’d both be wrong. – Harvey Specter

187. Oh, the things you can find, if you don’t stay behind. – Dr. Seuss

188. termine your priorities and focus on them. – Eileen McDargh

189. Dream as if you’ll live forever, live as if you’ll die today. – James Dean

190. Yesterday you said tomorrow. Just do it. – Nike

191. I don’t need it to be easy, I need it to be worth it. – Lil Wayne

192. If you dream it, you can do it.-Walt Disney

193. If not us, who? If not now, when? – John F. Kennedy

194. I can, therefore I am. – Simone Weil

195. Remember no one can make you feel inferior without your consent. – Eleanor Roosevelt

196. Wherever you go, go with all your heart. – Confucius

197. Do what you can, with what you have, where you are. – Theodore Roosevelt

198. Hope is a waking dream. – Aristotle

199. Do one thing every day that scares you. – Eleanor Roosevelt

200. You must do the thing you think you cannot do. – Eleanor Roosevelt

201. Life is trying things to see if they work. – Ray Bradbury

Short Motivational Quotes

202. Don’t regret the past, just learn from it. – Ben Ipock

203. Live what you love. – Jo Deurbrouck

204. The power of imagination makes us infinite. – John Muir

205. May you live every day of your life. – Jonathan Swift

206. Eighty percent of success is showing up. – Woody Allen

207. To be the best, you must be able to handle the worst. – Wilson Kanad

208. A jug fills drop by drop. – Buddha

209. The obstacle is the path. – Zen Proverb

210. If you have never failed you have never lived.

211. Hope is the heartbeat of the soul. – Michelle Horst

212. We become what we think about. – Earl Nightingale

213. An obstacle is often a stepping stone. – Prescott Bush

214. Dream big and dare to fail. – Norman Vaughan

215. Men are born to succeed, not fail. – Henry David Thoreau

216. Every road has two directions. – Russian Proverb

217. You have to make the most of the chances that come your way. – Spanish Proverb

218. Better to wear out than rust out. – French Proverb

219. He who starts well is halfway done. – Italian Proverb

220. Wishes won’t wash dishes. – American Proverb

221. A turtle travels only when it sticks its neck out. – Korean Proverb

222.   He who cannot dance puts the blame on the floor. – Hindu Proverb

223. For tomorrow belongs to the people who prepare for it today. – African Proverb

224. Patience is a bitter plant, but its fruit is sweet. – Chinese Proverb

225. It’s no use carrying an umbrella if your shoes are leaking. – Irish Proverb

226. One who smiles rather than rages is always the stronger. – Japanese Proverb

227. If a job is worth doing it is worth doing well. – English Proverb

228. Live your life and forget your age. – Norman Vincent Peale

229. May you live all the days of your life. – Jonathan Swift

230. Look at the positive side: at least you’re not as old as you will be next year. 

231. To me, a birthday means celebrating the presence of an individual in our lives. – Meena Bajaj

232.   No wise man ever wished to be younger. – Jonathan Swift

233. We don’t stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing. – George Bernard Shaw

234. Whatever with the past has gone, the best is always yet to come. – Lucy Larcom

235. Age does not protect you from love. But love, to some extent, protects you from age. – Jeanne Moreau

236. Age is a matter of feeling, not of years. – George W. Curtis

237. And in the end, it’s not the years in your life that count. It’s the life in your years. – Abraham Lincoln

238. Today is the oldest you have been, and the youngest you will ever be. – Nicky Gumbel

239. A birthday is just the first day of another 365-day journey around the sun. Enjoy the trip.

240. You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream. – Les Brown

241. There is no personal charm so great as the charm of a cheerful temperament. – Henry Van Dyke

242. There is always something to be happy about in this world. – Ken Black

243. To feel happy, focus on things in your life that will make you feel happy. – Stephen Hall

244. Happiness is a state of mind. It’s just according to the way you look at things. – Walt Disney

245. I’m grateful for charity that provides the opportunity to help others in need. – Aliya Saige

246. Make each new day count by helping someone or just making someone smile. – Catherine Pulsifer

247. We can be bitter about our handicaps or we can be happy at our blessings. – William Arthur Ward

248. Whoever is happy will make others happy, too. – Anne Frank

249. Most folks are about as happy as they make their minds up to be. – Abraham Lincoln

250. Politeness and good manners open the door to successful and happy adult life. – Jacquie McTaggart

251. It is a happiness to wonder. It is a happiness to dream. – Edgar Allan Poe

252. Really happy are those who share their happiness with others. – M. K. Soni

253. People who manage their time well feel positive, confident, and in charge of their lives. – Brian Tracy

254. Either you run the day or the day runs you. – Jim Rohn

255. I’ve seen many troubles in my time, only half of which ever came true. – Mark Twain

256. Hang on to your youthful enthusiasms you’ll be able to use them better when you’re older. – Seneca

257. The joy in life is to be used for a purpose. I want to be used up when I die. – George Bernard Shaw

258. A lot of people quit looking for work as soon as they find a job. – Zig Ziglar

259. Life is not a football game to be watched. – W. Clement Stone

260. Chase your passion, not your pension. – Denis Waitley

261. The best of all the preachers are the men who live their creeds. – Edgar A. Guest

262. Channeling stress properly turns coal into diamonds. – Sharon Melnick

263. Laughter is the fireworks of the soul. – Josh Billings

264. It’s fun to do the impossible. – Walt Disney

265. The finest steel has to go through the hottest fire. – Richard Nixon

266. Just mention the word sibling and everyone has a story to share. – Karen Gail Lewis

267. When you come to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on. – Franklin Roosevelt

268. Never use a long word where a short one will do. – George Orwell

269. Most of all, learn to laugh at yourself, meet each day with a sense of humor. – Wilferd Peterson

Leave a Comment