113 Ultimate List of Motivational and Thought Provoking Quotes

By Dr. Nikki Martinez

Licensed Therapist, Life Coach, Author

Published August 30, 2022

Our best list of motivational and thought-provoking quotes on Everyday Power!

Sometimes, there are quotes or sayings that really resonate with you.

One of the simplest and most inspiring things you can do for yourself is to keep an open mind about the quote’s source, write it down, and keep it somewhere that it can be seen often.

I carry mine with me in a planner each day so that they are always at hand.

I add to my list every time I hear something that really strikes a chord.

What a simple way to give yourself that boost you need exactly when you need it!

I hope some of these thought provoking quotes resonate with you as well.

Read more related content on our inspirational quotes category page.

Thought Provoking Quotes About All Areas of Life

Enjoy these top quotes highlighting thoughts and lessons for life.

1. “Character is doing the right thing when nobody’s looking.” — J.C. Watts

2. “Not all those who wander are lost.” — J.R.R. Tolkien

3. “There is no substitute for hard work.” — Thomas Edison

4. “Well done is better than well said.” — Benjamin Franklin

5. “He that is good for making excuses, is seldom good for anything else.” — Benjamin Franklin

6. “The distance is nothing; it’s only the first step that is difficult.” — Marquise du Deffand

7. “It doesn’t matter if I don’t succeed in something. What matters is if I learn from my mistakes.” — Linda Evans

8. “If you don’t like something change it. If you can’t change it, change your attitude. Don’t complain.” — Maya Angelou

9. The grand essentials of happiness are: something to do, something to love, and something to hope for.” — Allan K Chalmers

10. “Both optimists and pessimists contribute to our society. The optimist invents the airplane, and the pessimist the parachute.” — Gil Stein

If you’re enjoying these quotes, make sure to read our collection of excuses quotes about the power of sticking to your word.

Thought Provoking Quotes About Loving Yourself

Reflecting on these quotes can help you make positive changes in your thoughts and your life.

11. “The worst loneliness is not to be comfortable with yourself.” — Mark Twain

12. “Life is too short to spend another day at war with yourself.” — Confucius

13. “A man cannot be comfortable without his own approval.” — Mark Twain

14. “The odds of hitting your target go up dramatically when you aim at it.” — Mal Pancoast

15. “Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools, because they have to say something.” — Plato

16. “Don’t go around saying the world owes you something. The world owes you nothing. It was here first.” — Mark Twain

17. “Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.” — Thomas Edison

18. “Love yourself first and everything else falls into line. You really have to love yourself to get anything done in this world.” — Lucille Ball

19. “People take different roads seeking fulfillment and happiness. Just because they are not on your road, doesn’t mean they’ve gotten lost.” — Dalai Lama

You will also enjoy our article on Mad Hatter quotes.

Thought-Provoking Quotes from Ralph Waldo Emerson

Ralph Waldo Emerson provided us with many quotes to make you think.

20. “To be great, is to be misunderstood.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson

21. “Nobody can bring you peace but yourself.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson

22. “What you do speaks so loud, that I cannot hear what you say.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson

23. “For every minute you remain angry, you give up 60 seconds of peace of mind.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson

24. “What lies behind us, and what lies before us, are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson

25. “To know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson

28. “The only person you are destined to become, is the person you decide to be.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson

29. “To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else, is the greatest accomplishment.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson

30. “Without ambition, one starts nothing. Without work, one finishes nothing. The prize will not be sent to you. You have to win it.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson

Oscar Wilde Quotes to Make You Think

These quotes from Oscar Wilde will leave you pondering.

31. “Be yourself, everyone else is already taken.” — Oscar Wilde

32. “Every saint has a past. Every sinner has a future.” — Oscar Wilde

33. “Always forgive your enemies, nothing annoys them so much.” — Oscar Wilde

34. “I have the simplest of tastes. I am always satisfied with the best.” — Oscar Wilde

35. “We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking up at the stars.” — Oscar Wilde

36. “To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all.” — Oscar Wilde

Thought Provoking Quotes About Your Future

These quotes will get you thinking about the future and new perspectives.

37. “The greatest barrier to success is the fear of failure.” — Eriksson

38. “There is no beauty without some strangeness.” — Edgar Allan Poe

39. “Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge.” — Charles Darwin

40. “All that we see or seem is but a scream within a scream.” — Edgar Allen Poe

41. “I am not what happened to me. I am what I choose to become.” — Carl Jung

42. “The dictionary is the only place where success comes before work.” — Mark Twain

43. “If you believe it’ll work out, you’ll see opportunities. If you don’t believe it’ll work out, you’ll see obstacles.” ― Wayne Dyer

Thought Provoking Quotes About Mindset

44. “The mind is everything. What you think, you become.” — Buddha

45. “Don’t make a permanent decision for a temporary emotion.” — Unknown

46. “If you tell the truth, you don’t have to remember anything.” — Mark Twain

47. “Nothing haunts us like the things we don’t say.” — Mitch Albom

48. “We ARE our choices.” — J.P. Sartre

49. “Most people would learn from their mistakes, if they weren’t so busy denying them.” — Harold J. Smith

50. “If the simple things in life don’t put a smile on your face, then you will never truly be happy.” — Unknown

51. “Make is simple, but significant.” — Don Draper

52. “Before you embark on a journey of revenge, dig two graves.” — Confucius

Quotes About Forgiveness to Make You Think

53. “Forgiveness doesn’t mean you excuse the crime. It only means you are no longer willing to be the victim.” — Unknown

54. “I’m rarely bored alone; I am often bored in groups and crowds.” — Laurie Halgoe

55. “When you complain, you make yourself the victim. Leave the situation, change the situation, or accept it. All else is madness.” — Eckhart Tolle

56. “What is love? Love is absence of judgement.” — Dalai Lama

57. “Be a voice, not an echo.” — Albert Einstein

58. “Alice: This is impossible. The Mad Hatter: Only if you believe it is.” — Unknown

59. “When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be.” — Lao Tzu

60. “Do not wish for, what you will not work for.” — Unknown

61. “If it wasn’t for failures, I wouldn’t know what strength looked like.” — Byron Pulsifer

62. “The only way a relationship will last, is if you see your relationship as a place you go to give, and NOT a place you go to take.” — Anthony Robbins

63. “Shared joy is double joy; shared sorrow is half a sorrow.” — Swedish Proverb

Reflect on These Quotes About Love

64. “The joy in life is to be used for a purpose. I want to be all used up when I die.” — George Bernard Shaw

65. “No matter the time of day, no matter who is watching, and no matter what the situation, personal integrity doesn’t take a holiday.” — Byron Pulsifer

66. “He who angers you, conquers you.” — Elizabeth Kenny

67. “Let us always meet each other with smile, for the smile is the beginning of love.” — Mother Teresa

68. “We are shaped and fashioned by what we love.” — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

69. “Love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into friend.” —Martin Luther King, Jr.

70. “The way to love anything is to realize that it may be lost.” — Gilbert K. Chesterton

71. “Our first and last love is self-love.” — Christian Nestell Bovee

72. “Love recognizes no barriers. It jumps hurdles, leaps fences, penetrates walls to arrive at its destination full of hope.” — Maya Angelou

More Thought Provoking Quotes and Sayings

73. “Love takes off masks that we fear we cannot live without and know we cannot live within.” — James A. Baldwin

74. Once you realize you deserve a bright future, letting go of your dark past is the best choice you will ever make.” — Roy T. Bennett

75. “The only way of discovering the limits of the possible is to venture a little way past them into the impossible.” — Arthur C. Clarke

76. “Success if getting what you want. Happiness is wanting what you get.” — Dale Carnegie

77. Learn the rules like a pro, so you can break them like an artist.” — Pablo Picasso

78. “Although the world is full of suffering, it is full also of the overcoming of it.” — Helen Keller

79. “You must learn to let go. Release the stress. You were never in control anyway.” — Steve Maraboli

80. “Circumstances are the rulers of the weak; they are but the instruments of the wise.” — Samuel Lover

81. “Whatever the mind can conceive and believe, it can achieve.” — Napoleon Hill

80. Action may not always bring happiness, but there is no happiness without action.” — William James

81. “To have what you have never had, you have to do what you have never done.” — Roy T. Bennett

If you’re enjoying these quotes, you’ll love our collection of short motivational quotes that will get you ready to tackle the day.

Thought Provoking Quotes By Great Athletes

82. “If something stands between you and your success, move it. Never be denied.” — Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson

83. “Don’t be afraid of failure. This is the way to succeed.” — LeBron James

84. “You must not only have competitiveness but ability, regardless of the circumstance you face, to never quit.” — Abby Wambach

85. “Just believe in yourself. Even if you don’t pretend that you do and, and some point, you will.” — Venus Williams

86. “If you persevere long enough if you do the right things long enough, the right things will happen.” — Manon Rheaume

87. “It doesn’t matter what you’re trying to accomplish. It’s all a matter of discipline.” — Wilma Rudolph

88. “The only person who can stop you from reaching your goals is you.” — Jackie Joyner-Kersee

89. “I think that the good and the great are only separated by the willingness to sacrifice.” — Kareem Abdul

90. “I always felt that my greatest asset was not my physical ability, it was my mental ability.” — Bruce Jenner

91. “Winners never quit and quitters never win.” — Vince Lombardi

92. “Believe me, the reward is not so great without the struggle.” — Wilma Rudolph

93. “It is an action that creates motivation.” — Steve Backley

Inspiring Quotes To Get You Thinking

94. “Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement. Nothing can be done without hope and confidence.” — Helen Keller

95. “Get a good idea and stay with it. Dog it, and work at it until it’s done right.” — Walt Disney

96. “Perfection is not attainable. But if we chase perfection we can catch excellence.” — Vince Lombardi

97. “Keep your eyes on the stars, and your feet on the ground.” ― Theodore Roosevelt

98. “Success is stumbling from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm.” ― Winston Churchill

99. “The standard you walk past, is the standard you accept.” — David Hurley

100. “When I believe in something, I’m like a dog with a bone.” — Melissa McCarthy

101. You’ll never get bored when you try something new. There’s really no limit to what you can do.” — Dr. Seuss

102. “You can never leave footprints that last if you are always walking on tiptoe.” — Leymah Gbowee

103. “If it makes you nervous, you’re doing it right.” — Childish Gambino

Thought Provoking Quotes To Encourage You To Put In Extra Effort

104. “Don’t be pushed around by the fears in your mind. Be led by the dreams in your heart.” ― Roy T. Bennett

105. “In the middle of every difficulty lies opportunity.” ― Albert Einstein

106. “The only difference between ordinary and extraordinary is that little extra.” ― Jimmy Johnson

107. “The hard days are what make you stronger.” ― Aly Raisman

108. “Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can.” ― Arthur Ashe

109. “The best way to appreciate your job is to imagine yourself without one.” ― Oscar Wilde

110. “Go the extra mile. It’s never crowded there.” ― Wayne D. Dyer

111. “Try and fail, but don’t fail to try.” — Stephen Kaggwa

112. “You’ve got to get up every morning with determination if you’re going to go to bed with satisfaction.” ― George Lorimer

113. “Unsuccessful people make their decisions based on their current situations. Successful people make their decisions based on where they want to be.” ― Benjamin Hardy