150+ Famous Quotes to Inspire Your Life, Success, and Beyond

The world is overflowing with words, but some phrases rise above the din and etch themselves into our memory. These are the famous quotes, the nuggets of wisdom and wit passed down through generations.

Quotes can spark a fire within us, challenge our assumptions, or offer solace in difficult times. Whether it’s the soaring pronouncements of philosophers or the observations of everyday people, famous quotes offer a chance to connect with the human experience across time and cultures. 

At SmartReach, we believe motivation fuels success, especially at work, so we’ve gathered some famous quotes to keep you inspired.

Let’s check out some of them.

Famous Quotes Categories

✅ Best quotes of all time

• “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” – Franklin D. Roosevelt 
• “To be, or not to be, that is the question.” – William Shakespeare 
• “The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.” – Eleanor Roosevelt 
• “That which does not kill us makes us stronger.” – Friedrich Nietzsche 
• “Knowledge is power.” – Francis Bacon
• “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” – Lao Tzu 
• “The greatest glory in living lies not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.” – Nelson Mandela 
• “It is better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all.” – Alfred Tennyson 
• “Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.” – John F. Kennedy
• “A small leak will sink a great ship.” – Benjamin Franklin 
• “It is better to light a single candle than to curse the darkness.” – Confucius (Advocating for action over negativity)
• “You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.” – Wayne Gretzky (This quote emphasizes the importance of taking risks)
• “Curiosity killed the cat, but satisfaction brought it back.” – Eugene O’Neill (A playful take on the dangers and rewards of curiosity)
• “The pen is mightier than the sword.” – Edward Bulwer-Lytton (This quote highlights the power of words and ideas over violence)
• “Life is what happens when you’re busy making other plans.” – John Lennon (A humorous observation on how life can often take unexpected turns)

✅ Famous inspirational quotes

• “Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.” – Nelson Mandela 
• “The difference between ordinary and extraordinary is that little extra.” – Jimmy Johnson
• “Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap, but by the seeds that you plant.” – Robert Louis Stevenson
• “The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched – they must be felt with the heart.” – Helen Keller 
• “Believe you can and you’re halfway there.” – Theodore Roosevelt
• “You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose.” -Dr. Seuss
• “Keep smiling, because life is a beautiful thing and there’s so much to smile about.” – Marilyn Monroe
• “In the depth of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer.” – Albert Camus
• “In three words, I can sum up everything I’ve learned about life: it goes on.” – Robert Frost

So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.

By – Scott Fitzgeral

• “Life is either a daring adventure or nothing.” – Helen Keller
• “You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose.” – Dr. Seuss
• “Hold fast to dreams, for if dreams die, life is like a bird with broken wings that cannot fly.” – Langston Hughes (This quote emphasizes the importance of holding onto your aspirations)
• “The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” – Lao Tzu (This proverb reminds us that even the greatest achievements start small)
• “You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You must do the thing you think you cannot do.” – Eleanor Roosevelt (This quote encourages facing challenges to build resilience)
• “Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from safe harbor, catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore, Dream, Discover.” – Mark Twain (This quote emphasizes living life to the fullest and taking risks)
• “You don’t have to be great to start, but you have to start to be great.” – Zig Ziglar (This quote highlights the importance of taking the first step towards your goals)
• “The best way to predict your future is to create it.” – Abraham Lincoln
• “The only person you are destined to become is the person you decide to be.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson 
• “It is during our darkest moments that we must focus to see the light.” – Aristotle 
• “You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream.” – C.S. Lewis 
• “The only way to do great work is to love what you do.” – Steve Jobs 
• “Don’t let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do.” – John Wooden 
• “It’s not what happens to you, but how you react to it that matters.” – Epictetus 
• “The purpose of our lives is to be happy.” – Dalai Lama 
• “The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.” – Eleanor Roosevelt 

Let us never forget that medicine is for people. It is not for profit, it is not for status, it is not for self.

By – Albert Schweitzer 

• “Let us never forget that medicine is for people. It is not for profit, it is not for status, it is not for self.” – Albert Schweitzer 
• “The Wright brothers didn’t have a wind tunnel to test their flying machines. They built a kite and got to work.” – Sheryl Sandberg 
• “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.” – Martin Luther King Jr.
• “The only person you are destined to become is the person you decide to be.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

Recommended Read: 140 Sales Motivational Quotes to Boost Performance

✅ Iconic quotes

• That’s one small step for a man, a giant leap for mankind. – Neil Armstrong
• The only thing we have to fear is fear itself. – Franklin D. Roosevelt
• Three can keep a secret, if two of them are dead. – Benjamin Franklin
• Tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all. – Alfred Lord Tennyson

You must be the change you wish to see in the world.

By – Mahatma Gandhi

• A rose by any other name would smell as sweet. – William Shakespeare
• All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players. – William Shakespeare
• Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country. – John Kennedy

✅ Success quotes

•  “Don’t be distracted by criticism. Remember — the only taste of success some people get is to take a bite out of you.” – Zig Ziglar
• “Success usually comes to those who are too busy to be looking for it.” – Henry David Thoreau
• “Everything you can imagine is real.” – Pablo Picasso
• “If you want to make your dreams come true, the first thing you have to do is wake up.” – J.M. Power
• “There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure.” – Colin Powell
• “The real test is not whether you avoid this failure, because you won’t. It’s whether you let it harden or shame you into inaction, or whether you learn from it; whether you choose to persevere.” – Barack Obama
• “The only limit to our realization of tomorrow will be our doubts of today.” – Franklin D. Roosevelt
• “It is better to fail in originality than to succeed in imitation.” – Herman Melville
• “The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.” – Eleanor Roosevelt

The road to success and the road to failure are almost exactly the same.

By – Colin R. Davis

• “Always remember, your focus determines your reality.” – George Lucas
• “If you set your goals ridiculously high and it’s a failure, you will fail above everyone else’s success.” – James Cameron
• “Don’t be afraid to give up the good to go for the great.” – John D. Rockefeller
• “Success is walking from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm.” – Winston Churchill
• “The difference between ordinary and extraordinary is that little extra.” – Jimmy Johnson
• “It is never too late to be what you might have been.” – George Eliot
• “Continuous effort, not strength or intelligence, is the key to unlocking our potential.” – Winston Churchill 
• “Fall seven times and stand up eight.” – Japanese Proverb
• “Rome wasn’t built in a day.” – John Heywood
• “Start before you’re ready.” – Steven Pressfield 
• “The best revenge is massive success.” – Frank Sinatra
• “Learn from the mistakes of others. You can’t live long enough to make them all yourself.” – Eleanor Roosevelt
• “Either you run the day or the day runs you.” – Jim Rohn
• “Success is a journey, not a destination. The doing is often more important than the outcome.” – Arthur Ashe
• “Your most important investment is in yourself.” – Warren Buffett
• “Believe you can and you’re halfway there.” – Theodore Roosevelt
• “Leave nothing for tomorrow which can be done today.” – Abraham Lincoln

✅ Famous quotes / Famous phrases

• “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” – Maya Angelou
•  “The most difficult thing is the decision to act; the rest is merely tenacity.” – Amelia Earhart
• “Dream big and dare to fail.” – Norman Vaughan
• “You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.” – Wayne Gretzky
• “Nothing is impossible, the word itself says, ‘I’m possible!’” – Audrey Hepburn
• “I have learned over the years that when one’s mind is made up, this diminishes fear.” – Rosa Parks
• “An unexamined life is not worth living.” – Socrates
• “It is still best to be honest and truthful; to make the most of what we have; to be happy with simple pleasures; and have courage when things go wrong.” – Laura Ingalls Wilder
• “Whether you think you can or you think you can’t, you’re right.” – Henry Ford
• “Don’t find fault, find a remedy: anyone can complain.” – Henry Ford
• “The question isn’t who is going to let me; it’s who is going to stop me.” – Ayn Rand
• “Winning isn’t everything, but wanting to win is.” – Vince Lombardi
• “How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.” – Anne Frank
• “Believe you can, and you’re halfway there.” – Theodore Roosevelt
• “I alone cannot change the world, but I can cast a stone across the water to create many ripples.” – Mother Teresa
• “Everything you’ve ever wanted is on the other side of fear.” – George Addair
• “A man may die, nations may rise and fall, but an idea lives on.” – John F. Kennedy
• “It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop.” – Confucius
• “You become what you believe.” – Oprah Winfrey
• “Courage is grace under pressure.” – Ernest Hemingway

✅ Famous life quotes

• “The purpose of life is not to be happy. It is to be useful, to be honorable, to be compassionate, to have it make some difference that you have lived and lived well.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
• “Life is 10% what happens to us and 90% how we react to it.” – Charles R. Swindoll 
• “The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing.” – Socrates
• “Get busy living or get busy dying.” – Stephen King 
• “Life is a journey, not a destination.” – T.S. Eliot 
• “You only live once, but if you live it right, once is enough.” – Mae West 
• “Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep moving.” – Albert Einstein
• “There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.” – Albert Einstein 

You don’t have to control your thoughts. You just have to stop letting them control you.

– Dan Millman 

• “You don’t have to control your thoughts. You just have to stop letting them control you.” – Dan Millman 
• “Life is short and it is here to be lived.” – Katharine Hepburn 
• “You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty.” – Mahatma Gandhi
• “You may say I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one. I hope someday you’ll join us. And the world will live as one.” – John Lennon
• “The old man and the sea is a story about the triumph of the human spirit.” – Ernest Hemingway
• “There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.” – William Shakespeare 
• “Life is a beautiful journey, that is meant to be embraced to the fullest every day.” – Parade Magazine 

Life is a journey filled with moments of joy, challenges, and endless opportunities for growth. Throughout history, great minds have shared profound wisdom to inspire and guide us.

Here are some additional timeless quotes about life that can spark reflection and motivate us to embrace each day to the fullest:

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

“Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment.”
– Buddha

“The purpose of our lives is to be happy.”
– Dalai Lama

“Life isn’t about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself.”
– George Bernard Shaw

“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life.”
– Steve Jobs

“Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated.”
– Confucius

“Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.”
– Theodore Roosevelt

“The best way to predict the future is to create it.”
– Peter Drucker

Inspiration can come from many places, including the names we choose to represent ourselves online. If you’re looking for a creative and unique way to craft a username that reflects your personality or favorite quote, a username generator can help you find the perfect fit.

✅ Quotes by famous people

• “Sometimes the road less traveled is less traveled for a reason.” —Jerry Seinfeld
• “Never go to bed mad. Stay up and fight.” —Phyllis Diller
• “Misers are no fun to live with, but they make great ancestors.” —Tom Snyder 
• “Happiness is good health and a bad memory.” —Ingrid Bergman
• “Happiness often sneaks in through a door you didn’t know you left open.” —John Barrymore
• “Happiness is having a large, caring, close-knit family in another city.” —George Burns
• “One of the lessons of history is that nothing is often a good thing to do and always a clever thing to say.” —Will Durant
• “True terror is to wake up one morning and discover that your high school class is running the country.” —Kurt Vonnegut (March 2015)
• “Anybody who tells you money can’t buy happiness never had any.” —Samuel L. Jackson
• “The older you get the more you realize that kindness is synonymous with happiness.” —Lionel Barrymore
• “The holy passion of friendship is of so sweet and steady and loyal and enduring a nature that it will last through a whole lifetime, if not asked to lend money.” —Mark Twain
• “A man always has two reasons for doing anything—a good reason and the real reason.” —J. Pierpont Morgan
• “Not in doing what you like but in liking what you do is the secret of happiness.” —J.M. Barrie
• “Always forgive your enemies; nothing annoys them so much.”—Oscar Wilde
• “It’s not necessary to take a person’s advice to make him feel good—all you have to do is ask it.” — Richard Armour
• “Happiness makes up in height for what it lacks in length.” —Robert Frost
• “The world is extremely interesting to a joyful soul.” —Alexandra Stoddard
• “Don’t wait around for other people to be happy for you. Any happiness you get you’ve got to make yourself.” —Alice Walker

✅ Sales Motivational Quotes

• “Become the person who would attract the results you seek.”- Jim Cathcart
• “No matter how many customers you have, each is an individual. The day you start thinking of them as this amorphous ‘collection’ and stop thinking of them as people is the day you start going out of business.” -Dharmesh Shah
• “Solve customer problems and make sure that the customer is representative of a large market and then you will have a pretty good formula.” -Melanie Perkins
• “Failure will never overtake me if my determination to succeed is strong enough.” -Og Mandino
• “Doubt is a killer. You just have to know who you are and what you stand for.” -Jennifer Lopez
• “I like to think of sales as the ability to gracefully persuade, not manipulate, a person or persons into a win-win situation.” – Bo Bennet

You can check for more such quotes from our sales motivational quotes blog.

Quotes have the power to ignite inspiration, challenge our beliefs, and provide comfort during tough times.

Whether they come from great philosophers or ordinary individuals, famous quotes serve as a bridge across time and cultures, allowing us to connect with the human experience in a deeply meaningful way.

About SmartReach.io

SmartReach.io is a sales engagement platform that helps salespeople connect with potential customers. You can also use it for Linkedin outreach and also as a cold calling software.

With SmartReach.io, you can write personalized emails and automate your email. No more hitting “send” a hundred times a day! It also helps your emails avoid the spam folder and land safely in inboxes.

But emails aren’t all it does. SmartReach.io lets you connect with people on LinkedIn too, giving you more ways to reach out. You get the option to run semi-automated LinkedIn outreach campaigns.

Other than LinkedIn and email, you can run your outreach campaigns on different other channels like call, message and WhatsApp. You can create a multichannel sequence.

Your whole sales team can even work together using a shared inbox so no one misses a message. It helps you manage your team more efficiently and increases transparency across the team.

SmartReach.io can even create personalized AI-email content for you, saving you time. You just need to enter few details about your target audience and your email is ready.

SmartReach’s recent release is inbox rotation, where you get the option to add unlimited sending email addresses within a single campaign. This helps increase the deliverability rate and reduce the chance of landing in the spam folder.

Feeling overwhelmed? Try 14 days for free

Final thoughts on famous quotes

Famous quotes cover a wide range of topics and emotions. They can be inspirational, thought-provoking, humorous, or even cynical. 

Many quotes focus on life lessons and how to live a meaningful life. Others provide motivation and encouragement to pursue your dreams and goals. 

Famous quotes can be a powerful way to express ideas and leave a lasting impression.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

1. What are the most famous quotes?

Some of the most famous quotes include:

• “Be the change that you wish to see in the world.” – Mahatma Gandhi
• “In the middle of every difficulty lies opportunity.” – Albert Einstein
• “Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.” – Theodore Roosevelt
• “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” – Franklin D. Roosevelt
• “To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

2. What are 5 short quotes?

Here are five impactful short quotes:

• “Stay hungry, stay foolish.” – Steve Jobs
• “Do what you love.”
• “Dream big, work hard.”
• “Believe in yourself.”
• “Make it happen.”

3. What is a self-love quote?

“You yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe, deserve your love and affection.” – Buddha

4. What are inspiring lines?

Inspirational lines motivate and uplift. Some examples include:

• “Doubt kills more dreams than failure ever will.” – Suzy Kassem
• “Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.” – Winston Churchill
• “Act as if what you do makes a difference. It does.” – William James

5. What is the most iconic line ever?

One of the most iconic lines ever is “I think, therefore I am.” – René Descartes.

6. What is the most powerful line?

A powerful quote that resonates with many is: “With great power comes great responsibility.” – Uncle Ben (Spider-Man).

7. What is a positive saying?

A great positive saying is: “Keep your face always toward the sunshine, and shadows will fall behind you.” – Walt Whitman

8. What are inspiring lines?

Inspiring lines help encourage and uplift people. Some popular ones are:

• “You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.” – Wayne Gretzky
• “It always seems impossible until it’s done.” – Nelson Mandela

9. What is the most famous phrase?

A widely recognized phrase is: “Carpe Diem” (Seize the Day).

10. What are some fancy phrases?

Elegant or sophisticated phrases include:

• “Que sera, sera” (Whatever will be, will be).
• “C’est la vie” (That’s life).
• “Fortune favors the bold.”

11. What is the most powerful quote ever?

A timeless, powerful quote is: “Do or do not, there is no try.” – Yoda, Star Wars

12. Which is the best quote of all time?

While subjective, one of the most cherished quotes is: “The best way to predict the future is to create it.” – Peter Drucker