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Even when you’re in your dream job, not every day is rainbows and sunshine. Some days aren’t so sunny, and some days are downright cloudy. Or maybe the job is fine, but you’re wondering if it’s time for something new.
If this sounds familiar, don’t worry — it happens to everyone. But what separates those who get stuck in a rut and those who don’t often comes down to motivation and inspiration!
50 Motivational and Inspirational Quotes for Work
When work (or working toward your goals) gets you down, you might need something to inspire and remind you why you’re doing what you’re doing. To help you get back on track, check out these 50 motivational quotes for work.
Motivational Quotes for Work: 7 Inspirational Quotes About Failure
Everyone messes up at work, and that’s OK, but sometimes it can be hard to bounce back from professional failure. If you find yourself worrying about mistakes you’ve made, turn to these motivational quotes about failure and how you can learn from it.
- “Develop success from failures. Discouragement and failure are two of the surest stepping stones to success.”
— Dale Carnegie
- “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.”
—Thomas Edison
- “Fall seven times, stand up eight.”
— Japanese Proverb
- “Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.”
— Confucius
- “Show me a person who has never made a mistake and I’ll show you someone who has never achieved much.”
— Joan Collins
- “Doubt kills more dreams than failure ever will.”
— Suzy Kassem
- “I never lose. Either I win or learn.”
— Nelson Mandela
Motivational Quotes for Work: 15 Inspirational Quotes About Getting Started
Fear can hold us back from a lot of things — like applying for a job we really want or going after a promotion. But giving in to fear means you may never achieve all of your professional goals. When it feels like fear or doubt is holding you back, these motivational quotes can help you get back on track.
- “A year from now you may wish you had started anyway.”
— Karen Lamb
- “Never give up on a dream just because of the time it will take to accomplish it. The time will pass anyway.”
— Earl Nightingale
- “Someday is not a day of the week.”
— Janet Dailey
- “If you don’t design your own life plan, chances are you’ll fall into someone else’s plan and guess what they have planned for you? Not much.”
— Jim Rohn
- “What we fear of doing most is usually what we most need to do.”
— Ralph Waldo Emerson
- “Stop waiting. The time will never be perfect. Things will always pop up. The best time to start is always now.”
— Anonymous
- “The future depends on what you do today.”
— Mahatma Gandhi
- “One day or day one. You decide.”
— Anonymous
- “Today is your opportunity to build the tomorrow you want.”
— Ken Poirot
- “You don’t have to be great at something to start but you have to start to be great at something.”
— Zig Ziglar
- “Don’t let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do.”
— John Wooden
- “The expert in anything was once a beginner.”
— Helen Hayes
- “The secret of getting ahead is getting started.”
— Mark Twain
- “Just believe in yourself. Even if you don’t, pretend that you do and at some point, you will.”
— Venus Williams
- “If you’re too comfortable it’s time to move on. Terrified of what’s next? You’re on the right track.”
— Susan Fales-Hill
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Motivational Quotes for Work: 21 Inspirational Quotes About Success
Success rarely happens overnight. It usually comes after years of hard work, learning, growing, and, yes, failing. When it feels like you may never reach your professional goals, read these motivational quotes to remind you that you can achieve them as long as you keep trying.
- “When someone tells me ‘no,’ it doesn’t mean I can’t do it. It simply means I can’t do it with them.”
— Karen E. Quinones Miller
- “Success is the sum of small efforts repeated day in and day out.”
— Robert Collier
- “Don’t aim for success. If you want it, just do what you love and believe in, and it will come naturally.”
— David Frost
- “Success is a state of mind. If you want success, start thinking of yourself as a success.”
— Joyce Brothers
- “Success isn’t always about greatness. It’s about consistency. Consistent hard work leads to success. Greatness will come.”
— Dwayne Johnson
- “Define success on your own terms, achieve it by your own rules, and build a life you’re proud to live.”
— Anne Sweeney
- “There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure.”
— Colin Powell
- “Dreams can come true, but there is a secret. They’re realized through the magic of persistence, determination, commitment, passion, practice, focus and hard work. They happen a step at a time, manifested over years, not weeks.”
— Elbert Hubbard
- “It does not matter how slowly you go, so long as you do not stop.”
— Confucius
- “The big secret in life is that there is no big secret. Whatever your goal, you can get there if you’re willing to work.”
— Oprah Winfrey
- “You don’t have to be a genius, or a visionary, or even a college graduate to be successful. You just need a framework and a dream.”
— Michael Dell
- “Impossible is just an opinion.”
— Paulo Coelho
- “Hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard.”
— Tim Notke
- “I didn’t get there by wishing for it, but by working for it.”
— Esteé Lauder
- “I find that the harder I work, the more luck I seem to have.”
— Thomas Jefferson
- “The only place where success comes before work is in the dictionary.”
— Vidal Sassoon
- “So many of our dreams at first seem impossible, then they seem improbable, and then, when we summon the will, they soon become inevitable.”
— Christoper Reeve
- “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
- “Unsuccessful people make their decisions based on their current situations. Successful people make their decisions based on where they want to be.”
— Benjamin Hardy
- “If you work on something a little bit every day, you end up with something that is massive.”
— Kenneth Goldsmith
- “Opportunities are usually disguised as hard work, so most people don’t recognize them.”
— Ann Landers
Motivational Quotes for Work: 7 Inspirational Quotes About Professional Growth
Even after achieving your career goals, you’ve still got a lot to learn. Remind yourself that you should never stop learning with these inspirational quotes.
- “Continuous improvement is better than delayed perfection.”
— Mark Twain
- “If you are not where you want to be, do not quit. Instead, reinvent yourself and change your habits.”
— Eric Thomas
- “Be willing to be a beginner every single morning.”
— Meister Eckhart
- “Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better.”
— Maya Angelou
- “If you don’t like the road you’re walking, start paving another one.”
— Dolly Parton
- “Embrace what you don’t know, especially in the beginning, because what you don’t know can become your greatest asset. It ensures you will absolutely be doing things differently from everybody else.”
— Sara Blakely
- “You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream.”
— C.S. Lewis
Brighter Days Ahead
On the days when you need some inspiration, turn to these 50 motivational quotes for work to remind you that hard work pays off and brighter days are ahead!
Looking for more motivation? Check out Two Sigma’s Professional Skills Development Program to help you uplevel your skills and find new inspiration at work.
Image credit: galdzer / depositphotos.com
Written by
Rachel Pelta→
Head Writer
Read more from Rachel Pelta
Rachel Pelta is the Head Writer at Forage. Previously, she was a Content Specialist at FlexJobs, writing articles for job seekers and employers. Her work has been featured in Fast Company, The Ladders, MSN, and Money Talks News.
