I’ve never been the sort of person who recites mantras or affirmations. But that said, I love inspirational quotes as much as the next person. Quotes provide a quick shot of perspective, inspiration and encouragement – just when we need it most.
Dealing with your career and planning career reinventions can be challenging. So to help you better manage, I compiled a list of 25 of my favorite career-related quotes.
Please chime in with your favorites by leaving a comment below. After all, you can never have enough motivation. As Zig Ziglar once famously said, “People often say that motivation doesn’t last. Well, neither does bathing. That’s why we recommend it daily.”
Be More: Discover and build success on your own terms.
1. “The good news is that the moment you decide that what you know is more important than what you have been taught to believe, you will have shifted gears in your quest for abundance. Success comes from within, not from without.” ― Ralph Waldo Emerson
2. “If your success is not on your own terms, if it looks good to the world but does not feel good in your heart, it is not success at all.” ― Anna Quindlen
3. “I don’t know exactly where ideas come from, but when I’m working well ideas just appear. I’ve heard other people say similar things – so it’s one of the ways I know there’s help and guidance out there. It’s just a matter of our figuring out how to receive the ideas or information that are waiting to be heard.” ― Jim Henson
4. “Do you want to know who you are? Don’t ask. Act! Action will delineate and define you.” ― Thomas Jefferson
5. “Often people attempt to live their lives backwards, they try to have more things or more money in order to do more of what they want so that they will be happier. The way it actually works is the reverse. You must first be who you really are then do what you need to do in order to have what you want. ” ― Margaret Young
Do More: Quotes to inspire action, hard work and perseverance.
6. “God does not need our good works, but our neighbor does.” ― Martin Luther
7. “If you try and lose then it isn’t your fault. But if you don’t try and we lose, then it’s all your fault.” ― Orson Scott Card, Ender’s Game
8. “If opportunity doesn’t knock, build a door” ― Milton Berle
9. “Take the first step in faith. You don’t have to see the whole staircase. Just take the first step.” – Martin Luther King Jr.
10. “Vision without execution is just hallucination.” ― Henry Ford
11. “Begin somewhere. You cannot build a reputation on what you intend to do.” ― Liz Smith
12. “I’m a greater believer in luck, and I find the harder I work the more I have of it” ― Thomas Jefferson
Get Real: Quotes to help you gain perspective when work and life run amok
13. If you hang out with chickens, you’re going to cluck and if you hang out with eagles, you’re going to fly.” ― Steve Maraboli, Unapologetically You: Reflections on Life and the Human Experience
14. “Don’t spend time beating on a wall, hoping to transform it into a door. ” ― Coco Chanel
15. “People take different roads seeking fulfillment and happiness. Just because they’re not on your road doesn’t mean they’ve gotten lost.” ― Dalai Lama XIV
16. “I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.” ― Nelson Mandela
17. “Most of us spend too much time on what is urgent and not enough time on what is important.” ― Stephen R. Covey
18. If you do what you’ve always done, you’ll get what you’ve always gotten.” –Tony Robbins
19. “Cat, I’ll let you in on a little secret. We don’t all love our jobs every day. And doing something you have passion for doesn’t make the work part of it any easier…It just makes you less likely to quit.” ~ Georgia “The Friday Night Knitting Club” ― Kate Jacobs, The Friday Night Knitting Club
Stress Less: Quotes to help you overcome adversity
21. “No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.” ― Eleanor Roosevelt, This is My Story
22. “Sometimes good things fall apart, so better things can fall together.” ― Jessica Howell
23. “A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.” ― Winston Churchill
24. “We must be willing to let go of the life we planned so as to have the life that is waiting for us.” ― Joseph Campbell
25. “Remember that sometimes not getting what you want is a wonderful stroke of luck.” ― Dalai Lama XIV