250 Short Inspirational Quotes to Motivate You

Let’s take a plunge in the ocean of short inspirational quotes to get motivated, focused and positive towards life.

We all have days when we feel a little down or unmotivated, and suddenly a powerful saying comes in front of you in your social media feed. Those few powerful words reignite our spark in that moment and we feel uplifted. We all need a daily reminder or some inspiration to nuture our inner strength. As a lover of wisdom and positive affirmations, I’ve curated this list to bring you a dose of motivation from some of the greatest minds and hearts throughout history.

Enjoy short inspirational quotes, let them resonate with you, and remember that every day is an opportunity to be your best self.

250 Short Inspirational Quotes to Motivate You

1-25: Motivational Quotes

1. “The only way to do great work is to love what you do.” – Steve Jobs
2. “Believe you can and you’re halfway there.” – Theodore Roosevelt
3. “You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.” – Wayne Gretzky
4. “Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success.” – Albert Schweitzer
5. “The harder you work for something, the greater you’ll feel when you achieve it.” – Unknown
6. “Dream big and dare to fail.” – Norman Vaughan
7. “Don’t watch the clock; do what it does. Keep going.” – Sam Levenson
8. “What you get by achieving your goals is not as important as what you become by achieving your goals.” – Zig Ziglar
9. “The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.” – Eleanor Roosevelt
10. “Don’t be pushed around by the fears in your mind. Be led by the dreams in your heart.” – Roy T. Bennett
11. “It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop.” – Confucius
12. “You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream.” – C.S. Lewis
13. “The secret of getting ahead is getting started.” – Mark Twain
14. “Keep your face always toward the sunshine—and shadows will fall behind you.” – Walt Whitman
15. “Act as if what you do makes a difference. It does.” – William James
16. “Believe in yourself and all that you are. Know that there is something inside you that is greater than any obstacle.” – Christian D. Larson
17. “If you want to fly, you have to give up the things that weigh you down.” – Roy T. Bennett
18. “Hardships often prepare ordinary people for an extraordinary destiny.” – C.S. Lewis
19. “The best way to predict the future is to create it.” – Peter Drucker
20. “Success is not how high you have climbed, but how you make a positive difference to the world.” – Roy T. Bennett
21. “Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.” – Theodore Roosevelt
22. “Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can.” – Arthur Ashe
23. “Success is not in what you have, but who you are.” – Bo Bennett
24. “Everything you’ve ever wanted is on the other side of fear.” – George Addair
25. “The best way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing.” – Walt Disney

26-50: Quotes on Persistence and Hard Work

26. “It always seems impossible until it’s done.” – Nelson Mandela
27. “The only limit to our realization of tomorrow is our doubts of today.” – Franklin D. Roosevelt
28. “Don’t wait. The time will never be just right.” – Napoleon Hill
29. “The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing.” – Walt Disney
30. “You don’t have to be great to start, but you have to start to be great.” – Zig Ziglar
31. “Don’t let yesterday take up too much of today.” – Will Rogers
32. “It’s not whether you get knocked down, it’s whether you get up.” – Vince Lombardi
33. “The best revenge is massive success.” – Frank Sinatra
34. “Do one thing every day that scares you.” – Eleanor Roosevelt
35. “Don’t let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do.” – John Wooden
36. “You are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think.” – A.A. Milne
37. “The only place where success comes before work is in the dictionary.” – Vidal Sassoon
38. “Don’t wish it were easier. Wish you were better.” – Jim Rohn
39. “The only way to achieve the impossible is to believe it is possible.” – Charles Kingsleigh
40. “We may encounter many defeats but we must not be defeated.” – Maya Angelou
41. “It’s not about perfect. It’s about effort.” – Jillian Michaels
42. “It’s not the load that breaks you down, it’s the way you carry it.” – Lou Holtz
43. “Perseverance is not a long race; it’s many short races one after the other.” – Walter Elliot
44. “I find that the harder I work, the more luck I seem to have.” – Thomas Jefferson
45. “Difficulties in life are intended to make us better, not bitter.” – Dan Reeves
46. “Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.” – Confucius
47. “You just can’t beat the person who never gives up.” – Babe Ruth
48. “It’s hard to beat a person who never gives up.” – Babe Ruth
49. “The only thing that overcomes hard luck is hard work.” – Harry Golden
50. “Push yourself, because no one else is going to do it for you.” – Unknown

51-75: Quotes on Success and Achievement

51. “Success is not final, failure is not fatal: It is the courage to continue that counts.” – Winston Churchill
52. “The road to success and the road to failure are almost exactly the same.” – Colin R. Davis
53. “Success usually comes to those who are too busy to be looking for it.” – Henry David Thoreau
54. “Opportunities don’t happen. You create them.” – Chris Grosser
55. “Don’t be afraid to give up the good to go for the great.” – John D. Rockefeller
56. “I find that the harder I work, the more luck I seem to have.” – Thomas Jefferson
57. “Success is walking from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm.” – Winston Churchill
58. “Try not to become a man of success. Rather become a man of value.” – Albert Einstein
59. “Stop chasing the money and start chasing the passion.” – Tony Hsieh
60. “Success is not in what you have, but who you are.” – Bo Bennett
61. “Success seems to be connected with action. Successful people keep moving. They make mistakes but they don’t quit.” – Conrad Hilton
62. “If you really look closely, most overnight successes took a long time.” – Steve Jobs
63. “The only limit to our realization of tomorrow is our doubts of today.” – Franklin D. Roosevelt
64. “Do one thing every day that scares you.” – Eleanor Roosevelt
65. “The successful warrior is the average man, with laser-like focus.” – Bruce Lee
66. “Success is not how high you have climbed, but how you make a positive difference to the world.” – Roy T. Bennett
67. “Keep your face always toward the sunshine—and shadows will fall behind you.” – Walt Whitman
68. “Don’t be afraid to give up the good to go for the great.” – John D. Rockefeller
69. “I never dreamed about success, I worked for it.” – Estée Lauder
70. “Success is not in what you have, but who you are.” – Bo Bennett
71. “The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing.” – Walt Disney
72. “The only limit to our realization of tomorrow is our doubts of today.” – Franklin D. Roosevelt
73. “The only place where success comes before work is in the dictionary.” – Vidal Sassoon
74. “Success is not how high you have climbed, but how you make a positive difference to the world.” – Roy T. Bennett
75. “Success is not final, failure is not fatal: It is the courage to continue that counts.” – Winston Churchill

76-100: Quotes on Positivity and Happiness

76. “Happiness is not something ready-made. It comes from your own actions.” – Dalai Lama
77. “Happiness is the highest form of health.” – Dalai Lama
78. “Happiness is not by chance, but by choice.” – Jim Rohn
79. “The most wasted of days is one without laughter.” – E.E. Cummings
80. “Happiness depends upon ourselves.” – Aristotle
81. “Happiness is not something you postpone for the future; it is something you design for the present.” – Jim Rohn
82. “If you want to be happy, be.” – Leo Tolstoy
83. “The purpose of our lives is to be happy.” – Dalai Lama
84. “Happiness is not a goal…it’s a by-product of a life well-lived.” – Eleanor Roosevelt
85. “Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony.” – Mahatma Gandhi
86. “For every minute you are angry you lose sixty seconds of happiness.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
87. “The secret of happiness is not in doing what one likes, but in liking what one does.” – James M. Barrie
88. “Happiness is only real when shared.” – Jon Krakauer
89. “Happiness is the art of never holding in your mind the memory of any unpleasant thing that has passed.” – Unknown
90. “Happiness is not in the mere possession of money; it lies in the joy of achievement, in the thrill of creative effort.” – Franklin D. Roosevelt
91. “Happiness is not a state to arrive at, but a manner of traveling.” – Margaret Lee Runbeck
92. “Happiness is found when you stop comparing yourself to other people.” – Unknown
93. “Happiness is the meaning and the purpose of life, the whole aim and end of human existence.” – Aristotle
94. “Happiness is not the absence of problems, it’s the ability to deal with them.” – Steve Maraboli
95. “Happiness is a state of mind. It’s just according to the way you look at things.” – Walt Disney
96. “Happiness cannot be traveled to, owned, earned, worn or consumed. Happiness is the spiritual experience of living every minute with love, grace, and gratitude.” – Denis Waitley
97. “Happiness is not something ready-made. It comes from your own actions.” – Dalai Lama
98. “Happiness is a direction, not a place.” – Sydney J. Harris
99. “Happiness is a journey, not a destination.” – Ben Sweetland
100. “Happiness is not having what you want. It is appreciating what you have.” – Unknown

101-125: Quotes on Life and Living

101. “Life is what happens when you’re busy making other plans.” – John Lennon
102. “Live in the sunshine, swim the sea, drink the wild air.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
103. “Life is short, and it’s up to you to make it sweet.” – Sarah Louise Delany
104. “Life itself is the most wonderful fairy tale.” – Hans Christian Andersen
105. “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
106. “Life is a journey that must be traveled no matter how bad the roads and accommodations.” – Oliver Goldsmith
107. “Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated.” – Confucius
108. “Life is made of ever so many partings welded together.” – Charles Dickens
109. “The purpose of our lives is to be happy.” – Dalai Lama
110. “Life is what we make it, always has been, always will be.” – Grandma Moses
111. “You have within you right now, everything you need to deal with whatever the world can throw at you.” – Brian Tracy
112. “Life is 10% what happens to us and 90% how we react to it.” – Charles R. Swindoll
113. “Your time is limited, don’t waste it living someone else’s life.” – Steve Jobs
114. “Live in the sunshine, swim the sea, drink the wild air.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
115. “Life isn’t about waiting for the storm to pass but learning to dance in the rain.” – Vivian Greene
116. “The purpose of life is to believe, to hope, and to strive.” – Indira Gandhi
117. “Life is too important to be taken seriously.” – Oscar Wilde
118. “Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.” – Maya Angelou
119. “The biggest adventure you can take is to live the life of your dreams.” – Oprah Winfrey
120. “Life is what happens when you’re busy making other plans.” – John Lennon
121. “To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all.” – Oscar Wilde
122. “Good friends, good books, and a sleepy conscience: this is the ideal life.” – Mark Twain
123. “Life is what happens to us while we are making other plans.” – Allen Saunders
124. “Life isn’t about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself.” – George Bernard Shaw
125. “Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep moving.” – Albert Einstein

126-150: Quotes on Love and Compassion

126. “The best thing to hold onto in life is each other.” – Audrey Hepburn
127. “Love all, trust a few, do wrong to none.” – William Shakespeare
128. “The best proof of love is trust.” – Joyce Brothers
129. “Love yourself first and everything else falls into line.” – Lucille Ball
130. “The best thing to hold onto in life is each other.” – Audrey Hepburn
131. “Love is composed of a single soul inhabiting two bodies.” – Aristotle
132. “To love and be loved is to feel the sun from both sides.” – David Viscott
133. “Love is when the other person’s happiness is more important than your own.” – H. Jackson Brown Jr.
134. “Where there is love there is life.” – Mahatma Gandhi
135. “Love is not about how much you say ‘I love you,’ but how much you can prove that it’s true.” – Unknown
136. “Love is a friendship set to music.” – Joseph Campbell
137. “Love recognizes no barriers.” – Maya Angelou
138. “Love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into a friend.” – Martin Luther King Jr.
139. “You know you’re in love when you can’t fall asleep because reality is finally better than your dreams.” – Dr. Seuss
140. “The greatest thing you’ll ever learn is just to love and be loved in return.” – Eden Ahbez
141. “Love doesn’t make the world go ’round. Love is what makes the ride worthwhile.” – Franklin P. Jones
142. “The best and most beautiful things in this world cannot be seen or even heard, but must be felt with the heart.” – Helen Keller
143. “Love is the greatest refreshment in life.” – Pablo Picasso
144. “You come to love not by finding the perfect person, but by seeing an imperfect person perfectly.” – Sam Keen
145. “Love cures people – both the ones who give it and the ones who receive it.” – Karl Menninger
146. “The best love is the kind that awakens the soul; that makes us reach for more, that plants the fire in our hearts and brings peace to our minds.” – Nicholas Sparks
147. “Love is a better teacher than duty.” – Albert Einstein
148. “Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage.” – Lao Tzu
149. “We are shaped and fashioned by what we love.” – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
150. “To love and be loved is to feel the sun from both sides.” – David Viscott

151-175: Quotes on Courage and Strength

151. “Courage is grace under pressure.” – Ernest Hemingway
152. “You cannot swim for new horizons until you have courage to lose sight of the shore.” – William Faulkner
153. “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
154. “Strength does not come from physical capacity. It comes from an indomitable will.” – Mahatma Gandhi
155. “Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear—not absence of fear.” – Mark Twain
156. “You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face.” – Eleanor Roosevelt
157. “Courage is the most important of all the virtues because without courage, you can’t practice any other virtue consistently.” – Maya Angelou
158. “Courage is found in unlikely places.” – J.R.R. Tolkien
159. “Strength and growth come only through continuous effort and struggle.” – Napoleon Hill
160. “We acquire the strength we have overcome.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
161. “Be strong, be fearless, be beautiful. And believe that anything is possible when you have the right people there to support you.” – Misty Copeland
162. “The greatest test of courage on earth is to bear defeat without losing heart.” – Robert Green Ingersoll
163. “Do not pray for easy lives. Pray to be stronger men.” – John F. Kennedy
164. “Strength does not come from winning. Your struggles develop your strengths.” – Arnold Schwarzenegger
165. “It is not the strength of the body that counts, but the strength of the spirit.” – J.R.R. Tolkien
166. “Fortune favors the brave.” – Virgil
167. “You never know how strong you are until being strong is your only choice.” – Bob Marley
168. “Strength does not come from physical capacity. It comes from an indomitable will.” – Mahatma Gandhi
169. “Success is not final, failure is not fatal: It is the courage to continue that counts.” – Winston Churchill
170. “Courage is not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it.” – Nelson Mandela
171. “With the new day comes new strength and new thoughts.” – Eleanor Roosevelt
172. “You have power over your mind – not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength.” – Marcus Aurelius
173. “In the middle of a difficulty lies opportunity.” – Albert Einstein
174. “The only limit to our realization of tomorrow is our doubts of today.” – Franklin D. Roosevelt
175. “Courage isn’t having the strength to go on – it is going on when you don’t have strength.” – Napoleon Bonaparte

176-200: Quotes on Change and Growth

176. “The only way to make sense out of change is to plunge into it, move with it, and join the dance.” – Alan Watts
177. “Change is the only constant in life.” – Heraclitus
178. “The greatest discovery of all time is that a person can change his future by merely changing his attitude.” – Oprah Winfrey
179. “Growth is never by mere chance; it is the result of forces working together.” – James Cash Penney
180. “Change your thoughts and you change your world.” – Norman Vincent Peale
181. “The only way to do great work is to love what you do.” – Steve Jobs
182. “If you don’t like something, change it. If you can’t change it, change your attitude.” – Maya Angelou
183. “Change brings opportunity.” – Nido Qubein
184. “Change is inevitable. Growth is optional.” – John C. Maxwell
185. “The secret of change is to focus all of your energy not on fighting the old, but on building the new.” – Socrates
186. “Progress is impossible without change, and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything.” – George Bernard Shaw
187. “The measure of intelligence is the ability to change.” – Albert Einstein
188. “Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world.” – Harriet Tubman
189. “The greatest discovery of my generation is that a human being can alter his life by altering his attitudes.” – William James
190. “Change your life today. Don’t gamble on the future, act now, without delay.” – Simone de Beauvoir
191. “The only way to make sense out of change is to plunge into it, move with it, and join the dance.” – Alan Watts
192. “Don’t watch the clock; do what it does. Keep going.” – Sam Levenson
193. “Change is the end result of all true learning.” – Leo Buscaglia
194. “The greatest mistake you can make in life is to continually be afraid you will make one.” – Elbert Hubbard
195. “Your life does not get better by chance, it gets better by change.” – Jim Rohn
196. “To improve is to change; to be perfect is to change often.” – Winston Churchill
197. “What you do today can improve all your tomorrows.” – Ralph Marston
198. “Growth is painful. Change is painful. But nothing is as painful as staying stuck somewhere you don’t belong.” – N.R. Narayana Murthy
199. “Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future.” – John F. Kennedy
200. “If we don’t change, we don’t grow. If we don’t grow, we aren’t really living.” – Gail Sheehy

201-225: Quotes on Success and Failure

201. “Success is not final, failure is not fatal: It is the courage to continue that counts.” – Winston Churchill
202. “The road to success and the road to failure are almost exactly the same.” – Colin R. Davis
203. “Success usually comes to those who are too busy to be looking for it.” – Henry David Thoreau
204. “Opportunities don’t happen. You create them.” – Chris Grosser
205. “Don’t be afraid to give up the good to go for the great.” – John D. Rockefeller
206. “I find that the harder I work, the more luck I seem to have.” – Thomas Jefferson
207. “Success is walking from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm.” – Winston Churchill
208. “Try not to become a man of success. Rather become a man of value.” – Albert Einstein
209. “Stop chasing the money and start chasing the passion.” – Tony Hsieh
210. “Success is not in what you have, but who you are.” – Bo Bennett
211. “Success seems to be connected with action. Successful people keep moving. They make mistakes but they don’t quit.” – Conrad Hilton
212. “If you really look closely, most overnight successes took a long time.” – Steve Jobs
213. “The only limit to our realization of tomorrow is our doubts of today.” – Franklin D. Roosevelt
214. “Do one thing every day that scares you.” – Eleanor Roosevelt
215. “The successful warrior is the average man, with laser-like focus.” – Bruce Lee
216. “Success is not how high you have climbed, but how you make a positive difference to the world.” – Roy T. Bennett
217. “Keep your face always toward the sunshine—and shadows will fall behind you.” – Walt Whitman
218. “Don’t be afraid to give up the good to go for the great.” – John D. Rockefeller
219. “I never dreamed about success, I worked for it.” – Estée Lauder
220. “Success is not in what you have, but who you are.” – Bo Bennett
221. “The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing.” – Walt Disney
222. “The only limit to our realization of tomorrow is our doubts of today.” – Franklin D. Roosevelt
223. “The only place where success comes before work is in the dictionary.” – Vidal Sassoon
224. “Success is not how high you have climbed, but how you make a positive difference to the world.” – Roy T. Bennett
225. “Success is not final, failure is not fatal: It is the courage to continue that counts.” – Winston Churchill

226-250: Quotes on Dreams and Aspirations

226. “The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.” – Eleanor Roosevelt
227. “Don’t watch the clock; do what it does. Keep going.” – Sam Levenson
228. “What you get by achieving your goals is not as important as what you become by achieving your goals.” – Zig Ziglar
229. “The future depends on what you do today.” – Mahatma Gandhi
230. “The only limit to our realization of tomorrow is our doubts of today.” – Franklin D. Roosevelt
231. “You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream.” – C.S. Lewis
232. “The secret of getting ahead is getting started.” – Mark Twain
233. “Keep your face always toward the sunshine—and shadows will fall behind you.” – Walt Whitman
234. “Act as if what you do makes a difference. It does.” – William James
235. “Believe in yourself and all that you are. Know that there is something inside you that is greater than any obstacle.” – Christian D. Larson
236. “If you want to fly, you have to give up the things that weigh you down.” – Roy T. Bennett
237. “Hardships often prepare ordinary people for an extraordinary destiny.” – C.S. Lewis
238. “The best way to predict the future is to create it.” – Peter Drucker
239. “Success is not in what you have, but who you are.” – Bo Bennett
240. “Everything you’ve ever wanted is on the other side of fear.” – George Addair
241. “The best way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing.” – Walt Disney
242. “Dream big and dare to fail.” – Norman Vaughan
243. “The only way to achieve the impossible is to believe it is possible.” – Charles Kingsleigh
244. “Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.” – Confucius
245. “You just can’t beat the person who never gives up.” – Babe Ruth
246. “Push yourself, because no one else is going to do it for you.” – Unknown
247. “Don’t be pushed around by the fears in your mind. Be led by the dreams in your heart.” – Roy T. Bennett
248. “Success is not in what you have, but who you are.” – Bo Bennett
249. “Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.” – Theodore Roosevelt
250. “Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can.” – Arthur Ashe

There you have it—250 short inspirational quotes to motivate you every day. Which quote resonated with you the most?

Share your favorite in the comments and let us know how you plan to incorporate these inspirations into your daily life.

Stay motivated, stay positive, and keep striving for greatness.