50 Stepping Stone Quotes That Are Motivational

By Norbert Juma

Master quote curator and editor on a mission to inspire

Published August 23, 2023

If you want to excel in life and overcome challenges, our list of stepping stone quotes will offer you the required motivation.

Apart from the quotes section, we have also discussed the concept behind the term stepping stone.

If interested, please continue reading!

What is a Stepping Stone?

A stepping stone refers to a metaphorical support that helps us achieve our goals.

It helps us by offering stability and finding new opportunities.

As a result, we can continue towards our path to success.

Foundation Building

Stepping stones are helpful for foundation building.

They can fuel our ambitions and passions to achieve a goal.

A stepping stone allows us to take small steps.

With each step, we move one step closer to our goals.

Through initial success, it is possible to boost our confidence and tackle challenging situations without much of a hassle.

Learning and Gaining Experience

It is among the most crucial benefits of a stepping stone.

Taking a step gives us the opportunity to learn new things.

It also helps us gain invaluable experience along the way.

Even if we make mistakes, this could lead to a valuable source of knowledge and experience.

Overcoming Resistance and Fear of Failure

When embarking on a journey to success, we are usually surrounded by a fear of failure.

In addition, initial resistance could let us down.

To cope with such issues, we can take strength from stepping stones.

This allows us to confront and overcome the challenges ahead.

When we achieve small milestones, it empowers us and diminishes our fear of failure.

Expanding Connections and Networks

Stepping stones also serve the purpose of expanding our connections.

It usually involves entering into a conversation with others and sharing experiences.

This helps create opportunities that are otherwise hard to find.

The networks thus created can benefit us in a variety of ways, including:

Advice
Support
Guidance
Financial assistance

Cultivating Resilience and Perseverance

Since challenges are inevitable, we need to cultivate resilience.

This is the area where stepping stones come into action.

We can learn the importance of perseverance and resilience by passing through a small stepping stone.

It helps us adapt and improvise our facilities to meet the prevailing needs.

In other words, stepping stones help us retaliate and bounce back against the odds of life.

Top 10 Stepping Stone Quotes

Let’s start the quotes section with the top 10 stepping stone quotes that are truly inspiring and motivational.

1. “I didn’t get into comics as a stepping stone.” — Jason Aaron

2. “The past is a stepping stone, not a millstone.” — Robert Plant

3. “I’ve always seen modeling as a stepping stone.” — Tyra Banks

4. “Every charitable act is a stepping stone toward heaven.” — Henry Ward Beecher

5. “When I did ‘Restless,’ I felt that was a stepping stone.” — Xzibit

6. “Classical dancing has always been the stepping stone of every dancer’s life.” — Shakti Mohan

7. “Never treat anything you do as a stepping stone. Do it fully, and follow it completely.” — Mira Nair

8. “For many young people, the minimum wage is a stepping stone to higher employment levels.” — Bruce Rauner

9. “If you make an error, use it as a stepping stone to a new idea you might not have otherwise discovered.” — Roger von Oech

10. “I think a football career should be used as a stepping stone to something better – not as an end in Itself.” — George Blanda

Stepping Stone Quotes About Failure

The following stepping stone quotes embrace failure as an essential step on the pathway to success, growth, and valuable life lessons

11. “After acting for four years, in five languages, the theatre became my stepping stone to TV and cinema.” — Rajesh Khattar

12. “The dre am of those who come to Genoa is that they use it as a stepping stone towards a big club.” — Krzysztof Piatek

13. “‘Power’ has definitely been an immense stepping stone for me. It’s opened up doors that I could only have dreamed of.” — J. R. Ramirez

14. “Your initial idea may or may not work, but you have to remember that a failed idea is nothing but a stepping stone to a bigger success.” — Naveen Jain

15. “I want to create an economy where the minimum wage is a very brief stepping stone to higher-paying jobs so people can realize their dreams.” — Thom Tillis

16. “Never be afraid to fail. Failure is only a stepping stone to improvement. Never be overconfident because that will block your improvement.” — Tony Jaa

17. “I thought Houston was a small and good stepping stone for me to get my career back on track and get a chance to compete somewhere and get that opportunity to start.” — Matt Leinart

18. “Winning the Miss India Earth 2013 title proved to be a stepping stone for a career in modeling and, eventually, films, though I didn’t aspire to become either a model or an actress.” — Sobhita Dhulipala

19. “You build on failure. You use it as a stepping stone. Close the door on the past. You don’t try to forget the mistakes, but you don’t dwell on them. You don’t let it have any of your energy, or any of your time, or any of your space.” — Johnny Cash

20. “While it’s important to accept failure and not let it bog you down, it’s also perfectly acceptable to get upset about it as long as you remember that failure is a stepping stone in your journey that is getting you to where you need to be.” — John Rampton

Stepping Stone Quotes About Life’s Challenges

The stepping stone helps you in facing the challenges of life. Here are quotes that give you related insights.

21. “My debut film, ‘Rock On,’ was a stepping stone, and it was cult-ish, but ‘Once Upon A Time In Mumbaai’ was a life-changing experience.” — Prachi Desai

22. “I’ve been pretty lucky. Every single thing I’ve done has meant so much to me and has been like a stepping stone to something different.” — Alexandra Daddario

23. “Halas used to tell his players that football is what you make of it. It should not be what defines you, but football should be a stepping stone for what you achieve in the rest of your life.” — George Blanda

24. “Kids are meant to believe that their stepping stone to massive money is ‘The X Factor.’ Luck is great, but most of life is hard work. We do not celebrate people who have made a success out of serious hard work.” — Iain Duncan Smith

25. “I think I constantly refer back to some of the things that I learned in New England and throughout my career. It was a great stepping stone, and it also gave me time to mature as a player and as a quarterback.” — Matt Cassel

26. “Your entire life only happens at this moment. The present moment is life itself. Yet, people live as if the opposite were true and treat the present moment as a stepping stone to the next moment – a means to an end.” — Eckhart Tolle

27. “I have always treated golf as a job. Back in the day, it was in a pro shop. That win opened another door; it was a way to jump on the stepping stone to where I am today. That’s the mental attitude you need to keep succeeding.” — Ian Poulter

28. “I did two episodes of ‘The Walking Dead,’ and it was enough to have time to get in there and really get the meat of it, but also then move on and take that experience and bring it into the next one. It was a great stepping stone.” — Juliana Harkavy

29. “I’m appreciative of things going wrong. At first, it sounds crazy, but how boring would life be if you just coasted along without any challenges? Without learning about who you really are through the process of going through the darker times? Without feeling the sense elation when you reach even a small stepping stone?” — Kirsten Sweetland

30. “Marriage isn’t the end-point of a relationship. It’s just a stepping stone, one aspect of a long-term evolution between two people who have, for whatever reason, decided to take a leap of faith and say, ‘Well, hey, this is a person who I want to try with for the rest of my life.’ Which is not a guarantee of perfection – far from it.” — Marjorie Liu

Stepping Stone Quotes About Work

Let’s explore work-related stepping stone quotes that discuss inspiring perspectives on using challenges as stepping stones to achieve success

31. “Get your education, and if you see small opportunities, take them. Each one could be a stepping stone to something bigger.” — Trisha Yearwood

32. “Australians are very provincial in many ways. If they feel that you’ve used them as a stepping stone to bigger things, they resent it.” — Graham Russell

33. “No individual is alone responsible for a single stepping stone along the path of progress, and where the path is smooth, progress is most rapid.” — Ernest Lawrence

34. “The Australian film industry has recognized Tropfest as a place to nurture young talent. It’s a stepping stone between amateur and professional.” — John Polson

35. “Churches need to be intentional about reaching the next generation by creating templates for young people to see that there is a stepping stone for leadership in this church.” — Tony Evans

36. “Bollywood is not a stepping stone to the West. I am extremely picky and in no hurry to sign a Hollywood film. I am only greedy for great roles; language and country is no barrier. And yes, I’ll always be a Hindi film star first.” — Priyanka Chopra

37. “PETA has a proven track record of success. Each victory PETA wins for the animals is a stepping stone upon which we build a more compassionate world for all beings – and we will never give up our fight until all animals are treated with respect and kindness.” — Bea Arthur

38. “It’s a shame how a lot of actors use theater as a stepping stone to film and television work; I think it shouldn’t be treated that way. Maybe it’s narcissism or something. I think we should always go back to it. I try and do a play a year, and I think that’s really helped me.” — Peter Dinklage

39. “School boards are, for the most part, made up of political wannabes who see a board seat as a stepping stone for political office, or well-meaning parents who represent an ethnic group or geography, or have some other narrow interests. Few people on them understand what governance is about.” — Eli Broad

40. “I have always thought of poems as stepping stones in one’s own sense of oneself. Every now and again, you write a poem that gives you self-respect and steadies your going a little bit farther out in the stream. At the same time, you have to conjure the next stepping stone because the stream, we hope, keeps flowing.” — Seamus Heaney

Stepping Stone Quotes Highlighting Personal Views

The following quotes show the personal views of authors about stepping stones that you will love reading.

41. “I wasn’t using college as a stepping stone to law school or some other career. I just wanted a liberal-arts education.” — Charlie Trotter

42. “Hoods are good parts because they’re always flashy and attract attention. If you’ve got any ability, you can use that as a stepping stone.” — Richard Widmark

43. “I don’t see my show as a stepping stone to something else like some people, who get a job then have a foot out the door looking for their next job.” — Craig Ferguson

44. “I’m out to prove that NXT is not to be overlooked, that it’s not a stepping stone or an easy place to compete. Every single guy and girl down there is hungry.” — Tyson Kidd

45. “I’m not one of those people who sees documentaries as a stepping stone to doing fiction. I love documentaries and watch tons of documentaries. But, I like fiction films a lot, too.” — Marshall Curry

46. “People don’t understand that that’s really what it is. They’re looking for a magic phone number or something. And to a certain extent, I understand that because comedy is treated so much as a stepping stone by a lot of people.” — Todd Barry

47. “I never wanted to be a model. My modeling career was nothing but a stepping stone to my acting career, and that’s all I ever saw it as. A pointless rock in the river that has to be stepped on in order to get to the meaningful oasis of acting.” — Halle Berry

48. “I’ve been making music for a long time, but I’ve been waiting to do it right because I don’t want people to think it’s just a stepping stone in my career. A lot of actors go that route as a way of building their careers. I don’t want it to be seen as that.” — Evan Ross

49. “I suppose, in a way, one could say I may be less interested in my career than the audience is. Not to mean that I’m disinterested in my career, but I don’t see it in terms of one stepping stone or, ‘Now I’m going to go into my blue phase,’ or what have you.” — Peter Hammill

50. “We think about education as a stepping stone into a higher socio-economic class, into a better job. And it does do those things. But I don’t think that’s what it really is. I experienced it as getting access to different ideas and perspectives and using them to construct my own mind.” — Tara Westover