115 Inspirational Quotes + Tips for Your Selection
A great inspirational quote can help you get over those dreary phases when you need new motivation and zest for life. We can help find the right quote for you with these versatile life mottos and quotes to inspire you.
While some people find their motto for life from early childhood, others don’t find a saying or quote they can identify with until adulthood.
The Best Inspirational Quotes
To inspire you, we have gathered some life mottos that can be thought-provoking and help you make changes in your life. They can help you to find a new perspective on your life and clarify what really matters to you.
While some life mottos can motivate you, others create a more positive outlook on life.
Motivational and Inspirational Quotes
If you want to be successful but you lack motivation, maybe a motivational life motto can help you find the courage to work energetically on your goals every day. Because you are the creator of your own life.
- "There is nothing impossible to him who will try."
(Alexander the Great) - "Keep your face always toward the sunshine, and shadows will fall behind you."
(Walt Whitman) - "Start by doing what’s necessary; then do what’s possible; and suddenly you are doing the impossible."
(Francis of Assisi) - "Believe you can and you’re halfway there."
(Theodore Roosevelt) - "A place for everything, everything in its place."
(Benjamin Franklin) - "No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted."
(Aesop) - "It is never too late to be what you might have been."
(George Eliot) - "To the mind that is still, the whole universe surrenders."
(Lao Tzu) - "If I have seen further than others, it is by standing upon the shoulders of giants."
(Isaac Newton) - "Even if I knew that tomorrow the world would go to pieces, I would still plant my apple tree."
(Martin Luther) - "What lies behind you and what lies in front of you, pales in comparison to what lies inside of you."
(Ralph Waldo Emerson) - "Clouds come floating into my life, no longer to carry rain or usher storm, but to add color to my sunset sky."
(Rabindranath Tagore) - "There are two ways of spreading light: to be the candle or the mirror that reflects it."
(Edith Wharton) - "The only journey is the one within."
(Rainer Maria Rilke) - "We know what we are, but know not what we may be."
(William Shakespeare)
You can decide which direction you want your life to take, whether you will be active or passive. In the same way, you can decide whether you let defeats drag you down or whether you see them as inevitable side notes to your success.
If you can’t decide on a life motto, get inspired and write your own motto by modifying or summarizing some quotes and sayings.
Inspirational Quotes for Women
The following inspirational quotes are especially interesting for women because of their empowering character.
If you feel bad or you don’t see yourself as the great woman you are, our quotes can possibly give you strength and new courage.
- "Turn your face to the sun and the shadows fall behind you."
(Unknown) - "I dwell in possibility."
(Emily Dickinson) - "I believe that if one always looked at the skies, one would end up with wings."
(Gustave Flaubert) - "There is a stubbornness about me that can never bear to be frightened at the will of others. My courage always rises at every attempt to intimidate me."
(Jane Austen) - "Women must try to do things as men have tried. When they fail, their failure must be but a challenge to others."
(Amelia Earhart) - "A woman has two smiles that an angel might envy, the smile that accepts a lover before words are uttered, and the smile that lights on the first born babe, and assures it of a mother’s love."
(Thomas Chandler Haliburton) - "I am no bird; and no net ensnares me: I am a free human being with an independent will."
(Charlotte Brontë in Jane Eyre) - "Life is not easy for any of us. But what of that? We must have perseverance and, above all, confidence in ourselves. We must believe we are gifted for something and that this thing must be attained."
(Marie Curie) - "Don’t underestimate me. I know more than I say, think more than I speak, notice more than you realize."
(Unknown) - "Find ecstasy in life; the mere sense of living is joy enough."
(Emily Dickinson)
Inspirational Quotes for Men
In this section we have collected quotes to inspire men in particular. Because even men need a little inspiration for everyday life now and then.
- "If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away."
(Henry David Thoreau) - "Be yourself; everyone else is already taken."
(Oscar Wilde) - "There is nothing impossible to him who will try."
(Alexander the Great) - "Every man’s life is a fairy tale written by God’s fingers."
(Hans Christian Andersen) - "In every real man a child is hidden that wants to play."
(Friedrich Nietzsche) - "Whatever you are, be a good one."
(Abraham Lincoln) - "A great man is hard on himself; a small man is hard on others."
(Confucius) - "To have become a deeper man is the privilege of those who have suffered."
(Oscar Wilde) - "The crucial thing is to find a truth which is truth for me, to find the idea for which I am willing to live and die."
(Søren Kierkegaard) - "You should think in such a way that everybody could look into your soul and see what is transpiring there."
(Seneca)
Inspirational Quotes for Work
Sometimes we all need a little inspiration at work. For example, if you’re working on a project and it’s just not progressing, you could probably use a little inspiration.
In addition to our quotes, however, you should also remember to take enough breaks, because these are just as important for success at work.
- "I learned this, at least, by my experiment; that if one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours."
(Henry David Thoreau) - "Without craftsmanship, inspiration is a mere reed shaken in the wind."
(Johannes Brahms) - "Let every dawn be to you as the beginning of life, and every setting sun be to you as its close."
(John Ruskin) - "I put my heart and my soul into my work, and have lost my mind in the process."
(Vincent Van Gogh) - "Far and away the best prize that life has to offer is the chance to work hard at work worth doing."
(Theodore Roosevelt) - "Let the beauty of what you love be what you do."
(Rumi) - "The best preparation for good work tomorrow is to do good work today."
(Elbert Hubbard) - "All things are difficult before they are easy."
(Thomas Fuller) - "The beginning is the most important part of the work."
(Plato) - "Laziness may appear attractive, but work gives satisfaction."
(Anne Frank)
Inspirational Love Quotes
Is there anything more beautiful in life than love? Love is a feeling that words cannot describe.
The following quotes are about love. Let them inspire you and draw new strength from them.
- "Accept the things to which fate binds you, and love the people with whom fate brings you together, but do so with all your heart."
(Marcus Aurelius) - "The things that we love tell us what we are."
(Thomas Aquinas) - "Yesterday we obeyed kings and bent our necks before emperors. But today we kneel only to truth, follow only beauty, and obey only love."
(Khalil Gibran) - "A compliment is something like a kiss through a veil."
(Victor Hugo) - "Time is too slow for those who wait, too swift for those who fear, too long for those who grieve, too short for those who rejoice, but for those who love, time is eternity."
(Henry van Dyke) - "Love is composed of a single soul inhabiting two bodies."
(Aristotle) - "'Tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all."
(Alfred Lord Tennyson) - "Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage."
(Lao Tzu) - "True love is like ghosts, which everyone talks about and few have seen."
(François de La Rochefoucauld) - "Love has no age, no limit; and no death.
(John Galsworthy)
Positive Inspirational Quotes about Life and Struggles
Maybe you are a rather melancholic person and always see the negative aspects first – even in life. If this is the case, a positive life motto can inspire you to focus on the beautiful side of life.
Try to always keep your life motto in mind so that it can help you stay positive. These inspirational quotes are suitable for everyone, whether your are still a student or a working adult.
- "Whoever is happy will make others happy too."
(Anne Frank) - "From a small seed a mighty trunk may grow."
(Aeschylus) - "Out of difficulties grow miracles."
(Jean de la Bruyere) - "If we did all the things we are capable of, we would literally astound ourselves."
(Thomas A. Edison) - "In a gentle way, you can shake the world."
(Mahatma Gandhi) - "What makes the desert beautiful is that somewhere it hides a well."
(Antoine de Saint-Exupery) - "Happiness is a butterfly, which when pursued, is always just beyond your grasp, but which, if you will sit down quietly, may alight upon you."
(Nathaniel Hawthorne) - "Happiness resides not in possessions, and not in gold, happiness dwells in the soul."
(Democritus) - "We have it in our power to begin the world over again."
(Thomas Paine) - "Vitality shows in not only the ability to persist but the ability to start over."
(F. Scott Fitzgerald) - "Every day we should hear at least one little song, read one good poem, see one exquisite picture, and, if possible, speak a few sensible words."
(Johann Wolfgang von Goethe) - "I am not afraid of tomorrow, for I have seen yesterday and I love today!"
(William Allen White) - "Of all things visible, the highest is the heaven of the fixed stars."
(Nicolaus Copernicus) - "If the doors of perception were cleansed everything would appear to man as it is, infinite."
(William Blake) - "Nurture your minds with great thoughts. To believe in the heroic makes heroes."
(Benjamin Disraeli)
Short and Famous Inspirational Quotes
Longer quotes are often harder to remember and you may have trouble keeping them in your mind all the time.
In this case, a shorter life motto is recommended that you can quote at appropriate moments. Below you will find short life mottos that are motivational, positive and inspiring.
- "What we think, we become."
(Buddha) - "Thinking: the talking of the soul with itself."
(Plato) - "The power of imagination makes us infinite."
(John Muir) - "What we achieve inwardly will change outer reality."
(Plutarch) - "Give light, and the darkness will disappear of itself."
(Desiderius Erasmus) - "The essence of all beautiful art, all great art, is gratitude."
(Friedrich Nietzsche) - "Where there is love there is life."
(Mahatma Gandhi) - "Every man dies. Not every man lives."
(William Wallace) - "Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication."
(Leonardo da Vinci) - "Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it."
(Confucius)
Bible Verses as Inspirational Quotes
You can also find the meaning of life in the Bible. It forms an excellent guideline for your life. It teaches important values on which you can build your life.
Which values are most important to you – whether love, family, friendship, mercy or selflessness – you must decide for yourself.
The following quotes are taken from the English Standard Version Bible (ESV).
- "Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time He may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on Him, because He cares for you."
(1 Peter 5:6-7) - "For I, the LORD your God, hold your right hand; it is I who say to you, 'Fear not, I am the one who helps you.'"
(Isaiah 41:13) - "By the mouth of a fool comes a rod for his back, but the lips of the wise will preserve them."
(Proverbs 14:3) - "Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends."
(John 15:13) - "So also you have sorrow now, but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you."
(John 16:22) - "Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good."
(Romans 12:21) - "Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble."
(Matthew 6:34) - "Let all that you do be done in love."
(1 Corinthians 16:14) - "Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth."
(1 Corinthians 13:4-6) - "And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up."
(Galatians 6:9)
Funny Inspirational Quotes
A funny quote can brighten up your daily life a bit, and so can a funny life motto. This way you can tackle problems with a smile on your face.
Sometimes, to get over small setbacks it helps not to take life too seriously. The following sayings can help you do that.
- "I am so clever that sometimes I don’t understand a single word of what I am saying."
(Oscar Wilde) - "Work until your bank account looks like a phone number."
(Unknown) - "A clear conscience is a sure sign of a bad memory."
(Mark Twain) - "I didn’t fail the test. I just found 100 ways to do it wrong."
(Benjamin Franklin) - "Think like a proton. Always positive."
(Unknown) - "I used to think I was indecisive, but now I’m not so sure."
(Unknown) - "Even a stopped clock is right twice every day. After some years, it can boast of a long series of successes."
(Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach) - "A diamond is merely a lump of coal that did well under pressure."
(Unknown) - "Never put off until tomorrow what you can do the day after tomorrow."
(Mark Twain) - "If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. Then quit. No use being a damn fool about it."
(W. C. Fields)
You’ll find more funny quotes for every occasion here.
Uplifting Inspirational Quotes
If you would rather have an uplifting quote for inspiration, the following quotes might work for you. They are suitable for motivation in everyday life or as WhatsApp status saying.
There are some inspirational quotes that are very modern. While some only really came to people’s attention in the age of social media, others originated hundreds of years ago.
- Carpe diem!
- Shit happens.
- Go hard or go home!
- No regrets!
- No pain, no gain.
- Don’t worry, be happy!
- "That which does not kill us makes us stronger."
(Friedrich Nietzsche) - I am not in the world to be what others want me to be.
- Every problem can be solved.
- Only those who know their destination can find the way to get there.
- Don’t dream your life, live your dream.
- Fill each day with one thing you do for the first time.
- Take advantage of every opportunity in life, because such moments never return.
- The early bird catches the worm.
- Home is where the heart is.
Affirmations as Inspirational Quotes
Affirmations are also suitable life mottos. They not only inspire you, but can also significantly influence your actions and your thoughts.
Positive affirmations are self-affirming phrases that help you to adopt a more positive attitude. This works by repeating the affirmations regularly, at best daily, so that you always keep them in mind. So you work by means of visualization.
- I always do my best.
- I deserve to have people in my life who love me.
- Every person in my life gives me a chance to learn something from them.
- I focus on what I have in common with other people.
- Everything I need, I already carry within me.
- I can shape my life as I see fit.
- Every day offers me the opportunity to work on myself
- I can learn from my mistakes.
- Anything I start can become a success.
- I have the necessary means and skills to succeed.
Affirmations contain specific goals that you want to achieve. Visualize these daily, you believe more and more that these will eventually happen.
This already lays the foundation for you to achieve your goal. Affirmations are therefore excellent life mottos that have a significant positive impact on your life.
Find more affirmations here and learn exactly how to apply them.
What a Life Motto Is
As the name suggests, 'life motto' describes a motto for your life, a guideline or a guiding thought that you can follow in your life.
Of course, you don’t necessarily need such a motto to become happy in life. Still, it’s nice to have a guide to point you in the right direction and build you back up if you ever stumble.
Of course, you don’t have to stick to one motto for your entire life. Just as you change, so can your life motto. It grows with you, so to speak.
Nevertheless, life mottos that you received for birth or baptism in the form of baptismal quote can also be a helpful support. These are particularly personal, since they contain wishes of family and friends. Thus, such a life motto shows that you are not alone, but have people who believe in you.
A life motto often expresses various values. Thus, by choosing your motto, you are also choosing values that are important to you in life. By reading through different life mottos, you may become clearer about your values and what is really important to you.
This could be friendship, love or success, but also gratitude, being happy or freedom. Thus, your life motto can remind you of your basic principles so that you always act on them.
To make sure you never lose sight of your life motto, you can remind yourself of it in several ways. For example, you can write it on a note and always carry it with you. This way you can keep it in mind at appropriate moments.
You can also bring it into your home as a wall tattoo or get it as a tattoo on your skin. This way, you can look at it every day until you subconsciously consider it in your decisions.
In greeting cards for birthdays and weddings, you can pass it on to other people and inspire them to live by it, too. Also, on your social media profiles, you can create a more accurate picture of yourself right away with your life motto.
How to Choose the Right Inspirational Quote for You
To find your life motto, you don’t have to come up with your own saying. Of course, you can put your thoughts in your own words, but many well-known personalities have already thought about the meaning of life.
Why shouldn’t you take inspiration from them? Often they have already expressed very well what you might be struggling to put into words. So why not simply choose from our inspirational quotes?
Which life motto suits you best depends on your personality. Of course, there are some life mottos that are true classics and seem to fit everyone like "Carpe diem" and "Don’t dream your life, live your dream".
These sayings can be inspiring, but you can almost certainly find a life motto that is even more individual and has a special effect on you.
It is best to consider areas in which you might need a little support. Are you a workaholic and need to remember to take time off and take care of your family? Or are you just the opposite and need a motivational boost to get ahead in life?
Depending on what type of person you are, you will need a different life motto. So to choose a life motto, you need to know which area of life you want to focus on in the future.