Life can be tough. We all need a little boost now and then. That’s where inspirational quotes come in handy. They can lift our spirits when we’re feeling down. So today, I’m sharing 197 inspiring quotes on life.
These words of wisdom come from great leaders, thinkers, and everyday people. They cover all sorts of topics. You’ll find happy quotes, life lessons, and positive affirmations.
Some are short quotes that pack a punch. Others are longer and make you think. All of them aim to help you live your best life.
The right words can be a stepping stone to personal development. They can give you the push you need to keep moving forward. Sometimes, a good quote is the only thing that can turn your day around.
We’ve gathered our favorite quotes here. They touch on everything from making the right decision to finding joy in small things. These words remind us that we’re the only person in charge of our own life.
So dive in and explore. You might find your new favorite quote. It could be just the thing to inspire you today. Remember, the greatest glory often comes from overcoming life’s biggest challenges.
197 Inspiring Quotes on Life
- “Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated.” – Confucius
- “Our prime purpose in this life is to help others.” – Dalai Lama
- “You have succeeded in life when all you really want is only what you really need.” – Vernon Howard
- “Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment.” – Buddha
- “We do not remember days, we remember moments.” – Cesare Pavese
- “He who has a why to live can bear almost any how.” – Friedrich Nietzsche
- “The most important thing is to enjoy your life – to be happy – it’s all that matters.” – Audrey Hepburn
- “With the past, I have nothing to do; nor with the future. I live now.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
- “When I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent left, and could say, ‘I used everything you gave me’.” – Erma Bombeck
- “Life is a dream for the wise, a game for the fool, a comedy for the rich, a tragedy for the poor.” – Sholom Aleichem
- “The true secret of happiness lies in taking a genuine interest in all the details of daily life.” – William Morris
- “Life is too short for long-term grudges.” – Elon Musk
- “The purpose of life is a life of purpose.” – Robert Byrne
- “Life is a mirror and will reflect back to the thinker what he thinks into it.” – Ernest Holmes
- “Nobody made a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could do only a little.” – Edmund Burke
- “Every man dies. Not every man really lives.” – William Wallace
- “Find ecstasy in life; the mere sense of living is joy enough.” – Emily Dickinson
- “Throughout life people will make you mad, disrespect you and treat you bad. Let God deal with the things they do, cause hate in your heart will consume you too.” – Will Smith
- “I have found that if you love life, life will love you back.” – Arthur Rubinstein
- “It takes half your life before you discover life is a do-it-yourself project.” – Napoleon Hill
- “There is more to life than increasing its speed.” – Mahatma Gandhi
- “To live is to change, and to be perfect is to have changed often.” – John Henry Newman
- “The greatest pleasure of life is love.” – Euripides
- “Surprise is the greatest gift which life can grant us.” – Boris Pasternak
- “Life is a lot like jazz… it’s best when you improvise.” – George Gershwin
- “Life is 10 percent what you make it, and 90 percent how you take it.” – Irving Berlin
- “The art of life is to know how to enjoy a little and to endure very much.” – William Hazlitt
- “As a well-spent day brings happy sleep, so a life well spent brings happy death.” – Leonardo da Vinci
- “Life isn’t about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself.” – George Bernard Shaw
- “Nothing in life is to be feared, it is only to be understood.” – Marie Curie
- “We live in a rainbow of chaos.” – Paul Cezanne
- “The truth is you don’t know what is going to happen tomorrow. Life is a crazy ride, and nothing is guaranteed.” – Eminem
- “Life is a series of natural and spontaneous changes. Don’t resist them – that only creates sorrow.” – Lao Tzu
- “Life is what happens while you are busy making other plans.” – John Lennon
- “Life consists not in holding good cards but in playing those you hold well.” – Josh Billings
- “Life is a song – sing it. Life is a game – play it. Life is a challenge – meet it. Life is a dream – realize it. Life is a sacrifice – offer it. Life is love – enjoy it.” – Sai Baba
- “Life is a long lesson in humility.” – James M. Barrie
- “A life is not important except in the impact it has on other lives.” – Jackie Robinson
- “You’re only here for a short visit. Don’t hurry, don’t worry. And be sure to smell the flowers along the way.” – Walter Hagen
- “The good life is one inspired by love and guided by knowledge.” – Bertrand Russell
- “Life ought to be a struggle of desire toward adventures whose nobility will fertilize the soul.” – Rebecca West
- “Life isn’t a matter of milestones, but of moments.” – Rose Kennedy
- “A man who dares to waste one hour of time has not discovered the value of life.” – Charles Darwin
- “Life is short and we have never too much time for gladdening the hearts of those who are traveling the dark journey with us.” – Henri Frederic Amiel
- “Don’t go through life, grow through life.” – Eric Butterworth
- “Life itself is the most wonderful fairy tale.” – Hans Christian Andersen
- “You have enemies? Good. That means you’ve stood up for something, sometime in your life.” – Winston Churchill
- “We need to give each other the space to grow, to be ourselves, to exercise our diversity.” – Max de Pree
- “The only disability in life is a bad attitude.” – Scott Hamilton
- “Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, ‘What are you doing for others?'” – Martin Luther King, Jr.
- “Never be bullied into silence. Never allow yourself to be made a victim. Accept no one’s definition of your life; define yourself.” – Harvey Fierstein
- “The most satisfying thing in life is to have been able to give a large part of one’s self to others.” – Pierre Teilhard de Chardin
- “All the art of living lies in a fine mingling of letting go and holding on.” – Havelock Ellis
- “If life were predictable it would cease to be life, and be without flavor.” – Eleanor Roosevelt
- “Life is a tragedy when seen in close-up, but a comedy in long-shot.” – Charlie Chaplin
- “What do we live for, if not to make life less difficult for each other?” – George Eliot
- “Get busy living or get busy dying.” – Stephen King
- “You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough.” – Mae West
- “Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.” – Thomas A. Edison
- “If you want to live a happy life, tie it to a goal, not to people or things.” – Albert Einstein
- “Never let the fear of striking out keep you from playing the game.” – Babe Ruth
- “Money and success don’t change people; they merely amplify what is already there.” – Will Smith
- “Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life.” – Steve Jobs
- The whole secret of a successful life is to find out what is one’s destiny to do, and then do it.” – Henry Ford
- “In order to write about life first you must live it.” – Ernest Hemingway
- “The big lesson in life, baby, is never be scared of anyone or anything.” – Frank Sinatra
- “Curiosity about life in all of its aspects, I think, is still the secret of great creative people.” – Leo Burnett
- “Life is not a problem to be solved, but a reality to be experienced.” – Soren Kierkegaard
- “The unexamined life is not worth living.” – Socrates
- “Turn your wounds into wisdom.” – Oprah Winfrey
- “The way I see it, if you want the rainbow, you gotta put up with the rain.” – Dolly Parton
- “Don’t settle for what life gives you; make life better and build something.” – Ashton Kutcher
- “Everything negative – pressure, challenges – is all an opportunity for me to rise.” – Kobe Bryant
- “I like criticism. It makes you strong.” – LeBron James
- “You never really learn much from hearing yourself speak.” – George Clooney
- “Life imposes things on you that you can’t control, but you still have the choice of how you’re going to live through this.” – Celine Dion
- “Life is never easy. There is work to be done and obligations to be met – obligations to truth, to justice, and to liberty.” – John F. Kennedy
- “Live for each second without hesitation.” – Elton John
- “Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep moving.” – Albert Einstein
- “Life is really simple, but men insist on making it complicated.” – Confucius
- “Life is a succession of lessons which must be lived to be understood.” – Helen Keller
- “Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work.” – Steve Jobs
- “My mama always said, life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re gonna get.” – Forrest Gump (Tom Hanks)
- “Watch your thoughts; they become words. Watch your words; they become actions. Watch your actions; they become habits. Watch your habits; they become character. Watch your character; it becomes your destiny.” – Lao-Tze
- “When we do the best we can, we never know what miracle is wrought in our life or the life of another.” – Helen Keller
- “The healthiest response to life is joy.” – Deepak Chopra
- “Life is like a coin. You can spend it any way you wish, but you only spend it once.” – Lillian Dickson
- “The best portion of a good man’s life is his little nameless, unencumbered acts of kindness and of love.” – William Wordsworth
- “In three words I can sum up everything I’ve learned about life: It goes on.” – Robert Frost
- “Life is ten percent what happens to you and ninety percent how you respond to it.” – Charles Swindoll
- “Keep calm and carry on.” – Winston Churchill
- “Maybe that’s what life is… a wink of the eye and winking stars.” – Jack Kerouac
- “Life is a flower of which love is the honey.” – Victor Hugo
- “Keep smiling, because life is a beautiful thing and there’s so much to smile about.” – Marilyn Monroe
- “Health is the greatest gift, contentment the greatest wealth, faithfulness the best relationship.” – Buddha
- “You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose.” – Dr. Seuss
- “Good friends, good books, and a sleepy conscience: this is the ideal life.” – Mark Twain
- “Life would be tragic if it weren’t funny.” – Stephen Hawking
- “Live in the sunshine, swim the sea, drink the wild air.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
- “Life is what we make it, always has been, always will be.” – Grandma Moses
- “Life’s tragedy is that we get old too soon and wise too late.” – Benjamin Franklin
- “Life is about making an impact, not making an income.” – Kevin Kruse
- “I’ve missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.” – Michael Jordan
- “Every strike brings me closer to the next home run.” – Babe Ruth
- “The two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why.” – Mark Twain
- “Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one’s courage.” – Anais Nin
- When I was 5 years old, my mother always told me that happiness was the key to life. When I went to school, they asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I wrote down ‘happy’.” – John Lennon
- “Too many of us are not living our dreams because we are living our fears.” – Les Brown
- “I believe every human has a finite number of heartbeats. I don’t intend to waste any of mine.” – Neil Armstrong
- “Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.” – Mahatma Gandhi
- “If you live long enough, you’ll make mistakes. But if you learn from them, you’ll be a better person.” – Bill Clinton
- “Life is short, and it is here to be lived.” – Kate Winslet
- “The longer I live, the more beautiful life becomes.” – Frank Lloyd Wright
- “Every moment is a fresh beginning.” – T.S. Eliot
- “When you cease to dream you cease to live.” – Malcolm Forbes
- “If you spend your whole life waiting for the storm, you’ll never enjoy the sunshine.” – Morris West
- “Don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened.” – Dr. Seuss
- “If you can do what you do best and be happy, you’re further along in life than most people.” – Leonardo DiCaprio
- “Don’t limit yourself. Many people limit themselves to what they think they can do. You can go as far as your mind lets you.” – Mary Kay Ash
- “It is our choices that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities.” – J. K. Rowling
- “If you’re not stubborn, you’ll give up on experiments too soon. And if you’re not flexible, you’ll pound your head against the wall and you won’t see a different solution to a problem you’re trying to solve.” – Jeff Bezos
- “The best way to predict your future is to create it.” – Abraham Lincoln
- “You must expect great things of yourself before you can do them.” – Michael Jordan
- “Identity is a prison you can never escape, but the way to redeem your past is not to run from it, but to try to understand it, and use it as a foundation to grow.” – Jay-Z
- “There are no mistakes, only opportunities.” – Tina Fey
- “It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you’ll do things differently.” – Warren Buffett
- “As you grow older, you will discover that you have two hands, one for helping yourself, the other for helping others.” – Audrey Hepburn
- “Sometimes you can’t see yourself clearly until you see yourself through the eyes of others.” – Ellen DeGeneres
- “You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty.” – Mahatma Gandhi
- “All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make, the better.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
- “Here’s to the crazy ones, the misfits, the rebels, the troublemakers, the round pegs in the square holes … the ones who see things differently.” – Steve Jobs
- “It had long since come to my attention that people of accomplishment rarely sat back and let things happen to them. They went out and happened to things.” – Leonardo Da Vinci
- “Throughout life people will make you mad, disrespect you and treat you bad. Let God deal with the things they do, cause hate in your heart will consume you too.” – Will Smith
- “Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment.” – Buddha
- “Life is a dream for the wise, a game for the fool, a comedy for the rich, a tragedy for the poor.” – Sholom Aleichem
- “If you love life, don’t waste time, for time is what life is made up of.” – Bruce Lee
- “When one door closes, another opens; but we often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door that we do not see the one that has opened for us.” – Alexander Graham Bell
- “Never take life seriously. Nobody gets out alive anyway.” – Anonymous
- “Be happy for this moment. This moment is your life.” – Omar Khayyam
- “Happiness is the feeling that power increases — that resistance is being overcome.” – Friedrich Nietzsche
- “I have learned to seek my happiness by limiting my desires, rather than in attempting to satisfy them.” – John Stuart Mill
- “The secret of happiness, you see is not found in seeking more, but in developing the capacity to enjoy less.” – Socrates
- “The more man meditates upon good thoughts, the better will be his world and the world at large.” – Confucius
- “The greatest blessings of mankind are within us and within our reach. A wise man is content with his lot, whatever it may be, without wishing for what he has not.” – Seneca
- “Happiness is like a butterfly; the more you chase it, the more it will elude you, but if you turn your attention to other things, it will come and sit softly on your shoulder.” – Henry David Thoreau
- “When it is obvious that goals can’t be reached, don’t adjust the goals, but adjust the action steps.” – Confucius
- “There may be people who have more talent than you, but there’s no excuse for anyone to work harder than you do – and I believe that.” – Derek Jeter
- “Don’t be afraid to fail. It’s not the end of the world, and in many ways, it’s the first step toward learning something and getting better at it.” – Jon Hamm
- “Life is very interesting… in the end, some of your greatest pains, become your greatest strengths.” – Drew Barrymore
- “I think if you live in a black-and-white world, you’re gonna suffer a lot. I used to be like that. But I don’t believe that anymore.” – Bradley Cooper
- “I don’t believe in happy endings, but I do believe in happy travels, because ultimately, you die at a very young age, or you live long enough to watch your friends die. It’s a mean thing, life.” – George Clooney
- “It’s never too late – never too late to start over, never too late to be happy.” – Jane Fonda
- “You’re only human. You live once and life is wonderful, so eat the damned red velvet cupcake.” – Emma Stone
- “A lot of people give up just before they’re about to make it. You know you never know when that next obstacle is going to be the last one.” – Chuck Norris
- “Be nice to people on the way up, because you may meet them on the way down.” – Jimmy Durante
- “I believe you make your day. You make your life. So much of it is all perception, and this is the form that I built for myself. I have to accept it and work within those compounds, and it’s up to me.” – Brad Pitt
- “The minute that you’re not learning I believe you’re dead.” – Jack Nicholson
- “Life’s tough, but it’s tougher when you’re stupid.” – John Wayne
- “Take up one idea. Make that one idea your life — think of it, dream of it, live on that idea. Let the brain, muscles, nerves, every part of your body be full of that idea, and just leave every other idea alone. This is the way to success.” – Swami Vivekananda
- “I guess it comes down to a simple choice, really. Get busy living or get busy dying.” – Shawshank Redemption
- “When we strive to become better than we are, everything around us becomes better too.” – Paulo Coelho
- “There are three things you can do with your life: You can waste it, you can spend it, or you can invest it. The best use of your life is to invest it in something that will last longer than your time on Earth.” – Rick Warren
- “You only pass through this life once, you don’t come back for an encore.” – Elvis Presley
- “In the long run, the sharpest weapon of all is a kind and gentle spirit.” – Anne Frank
- “You’re not defined by your past; you’re prepared by it. You’re stronger, more experienced, and you have greater confidence.” – Joel Osteen
- “We become not a melting pot but a beautiful mosaic. Different people, different beliefs, different yearnings, different hopes, different dreams.” – Jimmy Carter
- “Nothing is more honorable than a grateful heart.” – Seneca
- “Once you figure out who you are and what you love about yourself, I think it all kinda falls into place.” – Jennifer Aniston
- “Happy is the man who can make a living by his hobby.” – George Bernard Shaw
- “Just disconnect. Once in a day sometime, sit silently and from all connections disconnect yourself.” – Yoda
- “Be where you are; otherwise you will miss your life.” – Buddha
- “Living an experience, a particular fate, is accepting it fully.” – Albert Camus
- “The more you praise and celebrate your life, the more there is in life to celebrate.” – Oprah Winfrey
- “Your image isn’t your character. Character is what you are as a person.” – Derek Jeter
- “Football is like life, it requires perseverance, self-denial, hard work sacrifice, dedication and respect for authority.” – Vince Lombardi
- “As you know, life is an echo; we get what we give.” – David DeNotaris
- “There are no regrets in life, just lessons.” – Jennifer Aniston
- “I believe that nothing in life is unimportant every moment can be a beginning.” – John McLeod
- “Find people who will make you better.” – Michelle Obama
- “As my knowledge of things grew I felt more and more the delight of the world I was in.” – Helen Keller
- “Benjamin Franklin was a humanitarian that dedicated his life to making contributions to all humans. He had a clear purpose for himself: improve the human race.” – Paulo Braga
- “You cannot control everything that happens to you; you can only control the way you respond to what happens. In your response is your power.” – Anonymous
- “Don’t allow your past or present condition to control you. It’s just a process that you’re going through to get you to the next level.” – T.D. Jakes
- “You will meet two kinds of people in life: ones who build you up and ones who tear you down. But in the end, you’ll thank them both.” – Anonymous
- “My mission in life is not merely to survive, but to thrive; and to do so with some passion, some compassion, some humor, and some style.” – Maya Angelou
- “If we don’t change, we don’t grow. If we don’t grow, we aren’t really living.” – Gail Sheehy
- “You choose the life you live. If you don’t like it, it’s on you to change it because no one else is going to do it for you.” – Kim Kiyosaki
- “It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously, that you might as well not have lived at all – in which case you fail by default.” – Anonymous
- “Life doesn’t require that we be the best, only that we try our best.” – H. Jackson Brown Jr.
- “The way I see it, every life is a pile of good things and bad things. The good things don’t always soften the bad things, but vice versa, the bad things don’t always spoil the good things and make them unimportant.” – Doctor Who
- “Life isn’t about waiting for the storm to pass, it’s about learning to dance in the rain.” – Vivian Greene
- “I enjoy life when things are happening. I don’t care if it’s good things or bad things. That means you’re alive.” – Joan Rivers
- “There’s more to life than basketball. The most important thing is your family and taking care of each other and loving each other no matter what.” – Stephen Curry
- “Today, you have 100% of your life left.” – Tom Landry
- “Nobody who ever gave his best regretted it.” – George Halas
- “Make each day your masterpiece.” – John Wooden
- “You can’t put a limit on anything. The more you dream, the farther you get.” – Michael Phelps
Final Thoughts
We hope these 197 quotes have lifted your spirit. Words have power. They can change how we see the world and ourselves.
Remember, you’re the only person who can choose your path. These quotes are like good friends. They’re there when you need them most.
Life isn’t always easy. But even in tough times, we can find hope. These words from great leaders and thinkers remind us of that. They show us that personal development is a lifelong journey.
Short quotes can pack a big punch. They’re easy to remember and share. Keep your favorites close. Use them when you need a boost.
The best life quotes teach us important lessons. They show us that small things matter. They remind us to keep moving forward, no matter what.
Your only limit is you. These positive affirmations can help you break through barriers. They’re a great way to start your day on the right foot.
So, take these words to heart. Let them guide you. Use them as a stepping stone to your best life. The right quote at the right time can make all the difference.
In the end, it’s up to you. You have the power to shape your own life. Let these inspirational quotes be your guide. They can help light the way to your greatest glory.
Jeff Campbell is a father, martial artist, budget-master, Disney-addict, musician, and recovering foodie having spent over 2 decades as a leader for Whole Foods Market. Click Here to learn more about me. Click Here to learn more about my site. Editorial Policies.
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