“What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson
Inspirational quotes and motivational sayings are a great way to lift yourself up when you need it most.
There is an amazing life all around you and within you.
You can use these short inspirational quotes to awaken your giant within.
And you can use these short inspirational quotes to guide you on life’s journey as you become what you are capable of.
Have you lost yourself in your art today?
Have you laughed fully and freely today out loud?
Have you moved freely, thought freely, and fully felt your joy?
Have you felt your life force stir today in anticipation of the small moments that matter?
Have you taken a moment today to revel in your great achievements big and small, your personal victories, or even your mini-triumphs?
Have you looked your challenge before you square in the eye and said, “I’ve got this.”?
These are the short inspirational quotes you’ve been looking for to bring out the best in you and in your life.
“Best-of-the-Best” Short Inspirational Quotes
“Do something worth remembering.”
— Elvis Presley
“Fortune favors the brave.”
— Latin Proverb
“Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing.”
— Benjamin Franklin
“Get busy living or get busy dying.”
— Stephen King
“Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have imagined.”
— Henry David Thoreau
“I want to be all used up when I die.”
— George Bernard Shaw
“If I cannot do great things, I can do small things in a great way.”
— Martin Luther King Jr.
“In a gentle way, you can shake the world.”
— Mahatma Gandhi
“Inspiration exists, but it must find you working.”
— Pablo Picasso
“It always seems impossible until it’s done.”
— Nelson Mandela
“It is never too late to be what you might have been.”
— George Eliot
“It is not the length of life, but the depth.”
— Ralph Waldo Emerson
“It’s fun to do the impossible.”
— Walt Disney
“Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.”
— Maya Angelou
“Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one’s courage.”
— Anais Nin
“Little by little, one travels far.”
— J.R.R. Tolkien
“Smile, breathe and go slowly.”
— Thich Nhat Hanh
“The power of imagination makes us infinite.”
— John Muir
“The question isn’t who is going to let me; it’s who is going to stop me.”
— Ayn Rand
“To love oneself is the beginning of a lifelong romance.”
— Oscar Wilde
“To move the world we must first move ourselves.”
– Socrates
“Well done is better than well said.”
— Benjamin Franklin
“Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it.”
— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
“When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be.”
— Lao Tzu
“When it is dark enough, you can see the stars.”
— Ralph Waldo Emerson
“You are not a drop in the ocean; you are the entire ocean in a drop.”
– Rumi
“You must be the change you wish to see in the world.”
— Mahatma Gandhi
Short Inspirational Quotes
“A dream is the bearer of a new possibility, the enlarged horizon, the great hope.”
— Howard Thurman
“Breathing in, I calm body and mind. Breathing out, I smile. Dwelling in the present moment I know this is the only moment.”
— Thich Nhat Hanh
“Certain things catch your eye, but pursue only those that capture the heart.”
– Anonymous
“Courage doesn’t always roar. Sometimes courage is the little voice at the end of the day that says I’ll try again tomorrow.”
— Mary Anne Radmacher
“If I have seen further than others, it is by standing upon the shoulders of giants.”
— Isaac Newton
“Last night I lost the world, and gained the universe.”
— C. JoyBell C.
“Life is a great big canvas, and you should throw all the paint you can on it.”
— Danny Kaye
“Limitations live only in our minds. But if we use our imaginations, our possibilities become limitless.”
— Jamie Paolinetti
“May you live every day of your life.”
— Jonathan Swift
“Some people look for a beautiful place. Others make a place beautiful.”
— Hazrat Inayat Khan
“The only person you are destined to become is the person you decide to be.”
— Ralph Waldo Emerson
“The person who says it cannot be done should not interrupt the person who is doing it.”
— Chinese Proverb
“There are two ways of spreading light: to be the candle or the mirror that reflects it.”
— Edith Wharton
“We become what we think about.”
— Earl Nightingale
“When you do things from your soul, you feel a river moving in you, a joy.”
– Rumi
“When you wish upon a star, makes no difference who you are. Anything your heart desires will come to you.”
— Jiminy Cricket
“Write in your heart that every day is the best day of the year.”
— Ralph Waldo Emerson
Short Inspirational Quotes to Remind You of Your Path
“And in the end, it’s not the years in your life that count. It’s the life in your years.”
— Abraham Lincoln
“Do not go where the path may lead , go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.”
— Ralph Waldo Emerson
“Do your own thing on your own terms and get what you came here for.”
— Oliver James
“Don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened.”
— Dr. Seuss
“Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up.”
— Pablo Picasso
“I’m a greater believer in luck, and I find the harder I work the more I have of it.”
— Thomas Jefferson
“In order to write about life first you must live it.”
— Ernest Hemingway
“It is better to travel well than to arrive.”
– Buddha
“Let the beauty of what you love be what you do.”
– Rumi
“Life belongs to the living, and he who lives must be prepared for changes.”
— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
“Life isn’t about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself.”
— George Bernard Shaw
“Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.”
— Mahatma Gandhi
“Live in the sunshine, swim the sea, drink the wild air.”
— Ralph Waldo Emerson
“Not all those who wander are lost.”
— J.R.R. Tolkien
“Not how long, but how well you have lived is the main thing.”
– Seneca
“Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.”
— Martin Luther King Jr.
“The meaning of life is to give life meaning.”
— Ken Hudgins
“The only impossible journey is the one you never begin.”
— Tony Robbins
“The only person you are destined to become is the person you decide to be.”
— Ralph Waldo Emerson
“The purpose of life is not to be happy. It is to be useful, to be honorable, to be compassionate, to have it make some difference that you have lived and lived well.”
— Ralph Waldo Emerson
“The two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why.”
— Mark Twain
“The unexamined life is not worth living.”
– Socrates
“To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all.”
— Oscar Wilde
“Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference.”
— Robert Frost
“You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream.”
— C.S. Lewis
“You become wise only after screwing up in life.”
— Garima Soni
“You don’t always need a plan. Sometimes you just need to breathe, trust, let go, and see what happens.”
— Mandy Hale
“You’re off to Great Places! Today is your day! Your mountain is waiting, so get on your way!”
— Dr. Seuss, Oh, the Places You’ll Go!
Short Motivational Quotes to Rekindle the Fire Within
“Action speaks louder than words but not nearly as often.”
— Mark Twain
“Begin anywhere.”
— John Cage
“Do or do not. There is no try.”
– Yoda
“Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.”
— Teddy Roosevelt
“Don’t ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive, and go do that, because what the world needs is people who have come alive.”
— Howard Thurman
“Education is the kindling of a flame, not the filling of a vessel.”
– Socrates
“Everything you’ve ever wanted is on the other side of fear.”
— George Addair
“Fall seven times and stand up eight.”
— Japanese Proverb
“He who has a reason to live can bear almost any how.”
— Friedrich Nietzsche
“I hated every minute of training, but I said, ‘Don’t quit. Suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion.’”
— Muhammad Ali
“I have no special talent. I am only passionately curious.”
— Albert Einstein
“I would rather die of passion than of boredom.”
— Vincent van Gogh
“If not us, who? If not now, when?”
— John F. Kennedy
“If you hear a voice within you say ‘you cannot paint,’ then by all means paint and that voice will be silenced.”
— Vincent Van Gogh
“If you’re going through hell, keep going.”
— Winston Churchill
“It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop.”
– Confucius
“Keep calm and carry on.”
— Winston Churchill
“Knowing is not enough, we must apply. Willing is not enough, we must do.”
— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
“Lord, grant that I may always desire more than I can accomplish.”
– Michelangelo
“Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.”
— Ralph Waldo Emerson
“People often say that motivation doesn’t last. Well, neither does bathing. That’s why we recommend it daily.”
— Zig Ziglar
“Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can.”
— Arthur Ashe
“Stay hungry. Stay foolish. Never let go of your appetite to go after new ideas, new experiences, and new adventures.”
— Steve Jobs
“The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.”
— Eleanor Roosevelt
“The greater damage for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that it it too low and we reach it.”
– Michelangelo
“The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.”
— Lao Tzu
“The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing.”
— Walt Disney
“Those who say it can’t be done are usually interrupted by others doing it.”
— James Baldwin
“Try Again. Fail again. Fail better.”
— Samuel Beckett
“Wake up with determination. Go to bed with satisfaction.”
— George Horace Lorimer
“Whatever you do, do with all your might.”
— Marcus Tullius Cicero
“Wherever you fly, you’ll be best of the best. Wherever you go, you will top all the rest.”
— Dr. Seuss, Oh, the Places You’ll Go!
“Yesterday you said tomorrow. Just do it.”
— Nike
Short Positive Quotes to Shine Some Sunshine on Your Day
“Everything negative – pressure, challenges – is all an opportunity for me to rise.”
— Kobe Bryant
“Happiness is not by chance, but by choice.”
— Jim Rohn
“Hope is a waking dream.”
– Aristotle
“Hope is important because it can make the present moment less difficult to bear. If we believe that tomorrow will be better, we can bear a hardship today.”
— Thich Nhat Hanh
“Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul and sings the tune without the words and never stops at all.”
— Emily Dickinson
“I will not let anyone walk through my mind with their dirty feet.”
— Mahatma Gandhi
“If you want to see a rainbow you have to learn to see the rain.”
— Paulo Coelho
“It’s not what you look at that matters, it’s what you see.”
— Henry Davis Thoreau
“Life is a journey, not a destination.”
— Ralph Waldo Emerson
“Once you start down the dark path, forever will it dominate your destiny. Consume you, it will.”
– Yoda
“Stay close to anything that makes you glad you are alive.”
– Hafez
“The most wasted of days is one without laughter.”
— E.E. Cummings
“The only thing that can grow is the thing you give energy to.”
— Ralph Waldo Emerson
“There was never a night or a problem that could defeat sunrise or hope.”
— Bernard Williams
“When in doubt, throw doubt out and have a little faith….”
— E.A. Bucchianeri
“Whether you think you can, or you think you can’t – you’re right.”
— Henry Ford
“Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, and today is a gift. That is why they call it the present.”
— Eleanor Roosevelt
Short Strength Quotes to Get Back Up, When You Get Knocked Down
“I think I can. I think I can. I think I can. I know I can.”
— Watty Piper, The Little Engine That Could
“If you want to lift yourself up, lift up someone else.”
— Booker T. Washington
“It is not the mountain we conquer but ourselves.”
— Edmund Hillary
“Knowing others is intelligence; knowing yourself is true wisdom. Mastering others is strength; mastering yourself is true power.”
— Lao-Tzu
“No guts, no story.”
— Chris Brady
“No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.”
— Eleanor Roosevelt
“No problem can withstand the assault of sustained thinking.”
– Voltaire
“Power is not given to you. You have to take it.”
– Beyoncé
“That which does not kill us makes us stronger.”
— Friedrich Nietzsche
“The greatest glory in living lies not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.”
— Nelson Mandela
“The world breaks everyone and afterwards many are strong at the broken places.”
— Ernest Hemingway
“To be the best, you must be able to handle the worst.”
— Wilson Kanadi
“Turn your wounds into wisdom.”
— Oprah Winfrey
“You have power over your mind – not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength.”
— Marcus Aurelius
“Your love makes me strong. Your hate makes me unstoppable.”
— Cristiano Ronaldo
Short Success Quotes to Remind You Your Success is a Personal Journey
“A person who never made a mistake never tried anything new.”
– Albert Einstein
“Big thinking precedes great achievement.”
— Wilferd A. Peterson
“Build your own dreams, or someone else will hire you to build theirs.”
– Farrah Gray
“Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds that you plant.”
— Robert Louis Stevenson
“I am not a product of my circ*mstances. I am a product of my decisions.”
— Stephen Covey
“I am the greatest, I said that even before I knew I was.”
— Muhammad Ali
“If you can dream it, you can achieve it.”
— Zig Ziglar
“If you hear a voice within you say “you cannot paint,” then by all means paint and that voice will be silenced.”
— Vincent Van Gogh
“Fortune favors the prepared mind.” “Fortune favors the prepared mind.”
— Louis Pasteur
“Once you make a decision, the universe conspires to make it happen.”
— Ralph Waldo Emerson
“Success each day should be judged by the seeds sown, not the harvest reaped.”
— John Maxwell
“Success is achieved by developing our strengths, not by eliminating our weaknesses.”
— Marilyn vos Savant
“Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.”
— Winston Churchill
“The greatest wealth is to live content with little.”
– Plato
“Those who dare to fail miserably can achieve greatly.”
— John F. Kennedy
“To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.”
— Ralph Waldo Emerson
“Try not to become a man of success. Rather become a man of value.”
— Albert Einstein
“We become what we think about.”
— Earl Nightingale
“We must not allow other people’s limited perceptions to define us.”
— Virginia Satir
“Whatever the mind of man can conceive and believe, it can achieve.”
— Napoleon Hill
“You are what you believe yourself to be.”
— Paulo Coelho
“You have to learn the rules of the game. And then you have to play better than anyone else.”
— Albert Einstein
“Your past does not equal your future.”
— Tony Robbins
I find that whether it’s short inspirational quotes about life, a framework for success, or simply the quote of the day, taking a few moments to reflect is crucial to staying grounded, strong, and inspired.
Become what you are capable of.
It’s in you.
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