50 Short and Sweet Inspirational Quotes to Get You Motivated

Whether you're in a bit of a funk you want to get out of, need to psych yourself up to meet a challenge, or are trying to persuade yourself to go for a new goal, sometimes you just need a good ol' heaping dose of inspiration. And while upbeat songs and funny movies can certainly help lift your mood, for real encouragement sure to stimulate you right down to your soul there's nothing like short inspirational quotes. Think about it: what better to help you get through times trying (and celebrate times triumphant!) than a few words of wisdom from legendary personalities renowned for their wise ways?

Below, we've gathered up quick quotes from leaders in politics, film, music, sports, science, literature and more, people who have sailed seas both smooth and stormy. They succinctly share the secrets to a successful life, touching on topics including individuality, diligence, courage ,and conviction. Plenty positive, self-affirming in the best way, and often just flat-out cheery, the following maxims come courtesy of everyone from Winston Churchill to Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Ralph Waldo Emerson to Rosa Parks. Jot down a few that especially resonate; pick one to be your new mantra—it just might help you change your life.

For as the great Dolly Parton says, "If you don't like the road you're walking, start paving another one!"

• "There is nothing impossible to they who will try." —Alexander the Great
• "Keep your face always toward the sunshine, and shadows will fall behind you." —Walt Whitman
• "Champions keep playing until they get it right." —Billie Jean King
• “You are your best thing.” — Toni Morrison
• "Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts." —Winston Churchill
• "It is better to fail in originality than to succeed in imitation." —Herman Melville
• "You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream." —C.S. Lewis
• "A champion is defined not by their wins but by how they can recover when they fall." —Serena Williams
• "Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have imagined." —Henry David Thoreau
• "The only limit to our realization of tomorrow will be our doubts of today." —Franklin D. Roosevelt
• "Nothing is impossible. The word itself says, 'I'm possible!'" —Audrey Hepburn
• "A person who never made a mistake never tried anything new." —Albert Einstein
• "Believe you can and you're halfway there." —Theodore Roosevelt

• "Love yourself first and everything else falls into line." —Lucille Ball
• "What lies behind you and what lies in front of you, pales in comparison to what lies inside of you." —Ralph Waldo Emerson
• "Be yourself; everyone else is already taken." —Oscar Wilde
• "The most difficult thing is the decision to act; the rest is merely tenacity." —Amelia Earhart
• "Real change, enduring change, happens one step at a time." —Ruth Bader Ginsburg
• "Life isn't about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself." —George Bernard Shaw
• "Above all, be the heroine of your life, not the victim." —Nora Ephron
• "We will fail when we fail to try." —Rosa Parks
• "Vitality shows not only in the ability to persist but in the ability to start over." —F. Scott Fitzgerald
• "Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection we can catch excellence." —Vince Lombardi
• "The people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do." —Steve Jobs
• "Be a first-rate version of yourself, instead of a second-rate version of somebody else." —Judy Garland
• "Once you face your fear, nothing is ever as hard as you think." —Olivia Newton John
• "If my mind can conceive it, if my heart can believe it, then I can achieve it." —Muhammad Ali
• "All our dreams can come true — if we have the courage to pursue them." —Walt Disney
• "Embrace the glorious mess that you are." —Elizabeth Gilbert
• "Attitude is the 'little' thing that makes a big difference." —Winston Churchill

• "If you don't like the road you're walking, start paving another one!" —Dolly Parton
• "You’re braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think." —A.A. Milne
• "It is often the small steps, not the giant leaps, that bring about the most lasting change." —Queen Elizabeth II
• "If I cannot do great things, I can do small things in a great way." —Martin Luther King, Jr.
• "It is never too late to be what you might have been." —George Eliot
• "The secret of getting ahead is getting started." —Mark Twain
• "Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one's courage." —Anais Nin
• "Before anything else, preparation is the key to success." —Alexander Graham Bell
• "The mind is everything. What you think you become." —Buddha
• "Do one thing every day that scares you." —Eleanor Roosevelt
• "Light tomorrow with today." —Elizabeth Barrett Browning
• "Great things are done by a series of small things brought together." —Vincent Van Gogh

• "Only when we're drowning do we understand how fierce our feet can kick." —Amanda Gorman
• "We must believe that we are gifted for something, and that this thing, at whatever cost, must be attained." —Marie Curie
• "In the middle of every difficulty lies opportunity." —Albert Einstein
• "It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are." —e.e. cummings
• "You become what you believe." —Oprah Winfrey
• "Some people want it to happen, some wish it would happen, others make it happen." —Michael Jordan
• "It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop." —Confucius
• "In order to be irreplaceable, one must always be different." —Coco Chanel

Jill Gleeson

Jill Gleeson is a travel journalist and memoirist based in the Appalachian Mountains of western Pennsylvania who has written for websites and publications including Good Housekeeping, Woman’s Day, Country Living, Washingtonian, Gothamist, Canadian Traveller, and EDGE Media Network. Jill is the travel editor for Enchanted Living. Learn more about her journey at gleesonreboots.com.