50 A Journey Of A Thousand Miles Quotes For Taking Your First Steps

By Clifton Sankofa

School Leader, Language Arts Expert & Master Quote Curator

Published January 31, 2023

Explore what excites you with our inspirational journey of a thousand miles quotes.

If you are looking to start living your dreams or are already well on your way to doing so, we have an incredible selection of quotes to help you keep going.

Who said the quote, “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step?”

This quote has been cited, used, and reused by people worldwide, but who said it?

The saying we recognize today comes from the famous Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu (Laozi), who lived during the 5th century.

Below are some reasons why you should take the first steps on your journey:

You will challenge yourself.
You will learn new skills along the way.
You will develop a stronger sense of empowerment

Laozi is recognized as the father of Taoism and is revered by many for his observations and wisdom.

People have sometimes misquoted this proverb and ascribed it to Confucius, another well-known Chinese philosopher.

Though Confucious was a contemporary of Laozi, the quote does not belong to him.

The phrase is translated as “A journey of a thousand miles begins from under the feet, and a thousand-mile journey begins where one stands.”

Why should I take the first steps toward my dreams?

Laozi’s ancient wisdom teaches us that if we wish to manifest our dreams, we must not hesitate towards our initial moves or steps.

We should embrace the journey and fearlessly pursue what excites us.

It also reminds us that no matter how long the distance of the trip is, we should not be discouraged.

When we stand proud and believe in our abilities, we can trust them to take us where we want to go.

For more awesome ideas and inspiration, check out our a journey of a thousand miles quotes below:

Short a journey of a thousand miles quotes about life and moving forward

These quotes do not take many words to remind us to keep moving forward.

1. “A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step.” — Lao Tzu

2. “The journey of a thousand miles begins with a cash advance.” — Alton Brown

3. “A journey of a thousand miles continues with the second step.” — Larry Wall

4. ”It seemed like my dad was always a thousand miles away, coaching.” — Austin Rivers

5. ”But you can travel on for ten thousand miles and still stay where you are.” — Harry Chapin

6. “The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. Watch your step.” — Thomas S. Monson

7. ”Peace is a journey of a thousand miles, and it must be taken one step at a time.” — Lydon B. Johnson

8. “I am a bag of bones stuck to a very large rock spinning a thousand miles an hour.” — Macaulay Culkin

9. “The planet’s spinning a thousand miles an hour around this gigantic nuclear explosion.” — Joe Rogan

10. ”I really try to take a step back from the soccer world and go a thousand miles an hour every day.” — Alex Morgan

A journey of a thousand miles quotes for chasing your dreams

It may seem difficult at first when we dream big, but nothing is impossible. Take the first step today.

11. ”Farming looks mighty easy when your plow is a pencil, and you’re a thousand miles from the corn field.” — Dwight D. Eisenhower

12. ”We will never make a journey of a thousand miles by fretting about how long it will take or how hard it will be.” — Anonymous

13. “According to the ancient Chinese proverb, A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step.” — John F. Kennedy

14. “A terrace nine stories high rises from level earth; A journey of a thousand miles starts from beneath one’s feet.” — Anonymous

15. “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single happy delusion that it can be done without a stop-over.” — Robert Breault

16. ”A journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step, and if that step is the right step, it becomes the last step.” — Anonymous

17. “It was either me or Confucius that said the journey of a thousand miles begins with a vicious ass raping at airport security.” — Doug Stanhope

18. ”You can work out until you’re blue in the face and run a thousand miles a week, but none of it will matter if you aren’t eating well.” — Rachel Hollis

19. “Anyone who knows me knows how sharp my mind is. I speak at a thousand miles an hour. I’ll hold a discussion or a debate with anyone.” — Mark Hunt

20. “We are not about to send American boys 9 or 10 thousand miles away from home to do what Asian boys ought to be doing for themselves.” — Lyndon B. Johnson

A journey of a thousand miles starts today quotes

It does not serve us to put our dreams off for another day. Make today the day you start a new journey.

21. “A journey that is about two thousand miles and will take about six or seven months.” — John Curran

22. “We will never make a journey of a thousand miles by fretting about how long it will take or how hard it will be.” — Anonymous

23. “We make the journey by taking each day step by step and then repeating and again until we reach our destination.” — Joseph B. Wirthlin

24. ”The reality, sitting ten thousand miles away, is that we remain the country that inspires. We remain that shining city on a hill.” — Jon Huntsman, Jr.

25. “I knew no one in the business. I was from the Midwest. No one within a radius of a thousand miles was doing anything like that.” — Laurie Metcalf

26. “I never found even in my juvenile hours that it was necessary to go a thousand miles in search of themes for moralizing.” — Horace Walpole

27. ”As you get older, things conk out. It’s a bit like a car. As long as it’s something the mechanics can fix, you can chug on for a few more thousand miles.” — Len Goodman

28. “Even though I write about the human race, the further away from them, the better I feel. Two miles is great; two thousand miles is beautiful.” — Charles Bukowski

29. ”My mind became agitated with the inquiry – why a nation, separated from us by an ocean over three thousand miles in extent, should endeavor to enforce on our plans of subjugation.” — Deborah Sampson

30. “To take a journey of a thousand miles, you have to begin with the first step from the place where you stand; the romantic description of the journey and the things the body sees on the way and the description of the scenery are of no use unless you lift your foot and take the first step.” — Vimala Thakar

A journey of a thousand miles quotes about love and life

Our journeys are always improved when we have company to walk with us. These quotes celebrate the journeys that bring us together.

31. “Step by step walk the thousand-mile road.” — Miyamoto Musashi

32. “You’d have to walk a thousand miles in my shoes just to see what it’s like to be me!” — Eminem

33. “Eighteen thousand miles from the moon is some slide, but I’ll get up there again someway!” — Winsor McCay

34. “People travel thousands of miles to be with people they only see once a year. And then discover once a year is way too often.” — Johnny Carson

35. “It always rains on tents. Rainstorms will travel thousands of miles, against prevailing winds for the opportunity to rain on a tent.” — Dave Barry

36. “If I were dropped out of a plane into the ocean and told the nearest land was a thousand miles away, I’d still swim. And I’d despise the one who gave up.” — Abraham Maslow

37. “My wife says that my perfect world is to be in the Suburban driving, with her next to me and the boys in the back seat and complete silence for two thousand miles.” — John Larroquette

38. “I love my friends and family, but I also love it when they can’t find me, and I can spend all day reading or walking all alone, in silence, eight thousand miles away from everyone.” — Anonymous

39. “No man, but feels more of a man in the world if he has a bit of ground that he can call his own. However small it is on the surface, it is four thousand miles deep, and that is a very handsome property.” — Charles Dudley Warner

40. “I can sing the saddest song with a bunch of people, and the feeling of sharing that energy activates in a way that either heals it or makes me feel like I’ve risen a thousand miles above it into space, and I’m staring down on it as a little dot.” — Ryan Adams

A journey of a thousand miles quotes and sayings

Where do you want your journey to take you? You will never know until you take the first steps.

41. “When your mind is clear, and your third eye is open, you can see and know things that are taking place thousands of miles away from you.” — Frederick Lenz

42. “Walking alone is not difficult, but when we have walked a mile worth a thousand years with someone, then coming back alone is what is difficult.” — Faraaz Kazi

43. “The day after that wedding night, I found that a distance of a thousand miles, abyss and discovery and irremediable metamorphosis, separated me from the day before.” — Sidonie Gabrielle Colette

44. “A man on a thousand-mile walk has to forget his goal and say to himself every morning, ‘Today I’m going to cover twenty-five miles and then rest up and sleep.” — Leo Tolstoy

45. “Two thousand miles I roam just to make this dock my home. I’m just gon’ sit at the dock of the bay, watching the tide roll away. Sittin’ on the dock of the bay, wastin’ time.” — Otis Redding

46. “When you went into a Boston Chicken and ordered quarter-chicken, white, with mash and corn. When that was rung up, that would signal all the way along the supply chain the need for more potatoes to be put on a truck a thousand miles away.” — Stephen Elop

47. “I’m the young city bandit, hold myself down singlehanded For murder raps, I kick my thoughts alone, get remanded Born alone, die alone, no crew to keep my crown or throne I’m deep by sound alone, caved inside in a thousand miles from home.” — Nas

48. “What’s a space elevator? Simply described, it’s a thin ribbon, about 3 feet wide and sixty thousand miles long, stretching upwards from the surface of the Earth. The lower end is bolted to a heavy anchor (think of an oil drilling platform), and the top is capped with a counterweight.” — Seth Shostak

49. “You will begin to touch heaven, Jonathan, in the moment that you touch perfect speed. And that isn’t flying a thousand miles an hour, or a million, or flying at the speed of light. Because any number is a limit, and perfection doesn’t have limits. Perfect speed, my son, is being there.” — Richard Bach

50. “What sets a canoeing expedition apart is that it purifies you more rapidly and inescapably than any other. Travel a thousand miles by train, and you are a brute; pedal five hundred on a bicycle, and you remain basically a bourgeois; paddle a hundred in a canoe, and you are already a child of nature.” — Pierre Trudeau

Make the steps you take on your journey count

This Chinese proverb is powerful because it encourages us to reach our destination.

It is easy to procrastinate, and if we are not reminded, we can quickly lose sight of our dreams.

Laozi’s quote is full of wisdom because it allows us to reflect on the idea that even monumental tasks start with simple beginnings.

The first steps are essential because they set the tone for the rest of our journey.

Every tedious task we complete is like a brick that we lay on the road toward our dreams.

If an initiative is taken, the rest of the bricks begin to take shape, and our voyage begins.

No matter how cumbersome or laborious a task may seem, a movement is always required to begin.