125 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. 

Let’s check out some of them.

Famous Quotes Categories

✅ All-time famous quotes

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

Recommended Read: 140 Sales Motivational Quotes to Boost Performance

✅ Famous inspirational quotes

famous quotes
  1. “Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.” – Nelson Mandela 
  2. “The difference between ordinary and extraordinary is that little extra.” – Jimmy Johnson
  3. “Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap, but by the seeds that you plant.” – Robert Louis Stevenson
  4. “The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched – they must be felt with the heart.” – Helen Keller 
  5. “Believe you can and you’re halfway there.” – Theodore Roosevelt
  6. “You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose.” -Dr. Seuss
  7. “Keep smiling, because life is a beautiful thing and there’s so much to smile about.” – Marilyn Monroe
  8. “In the depth of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer.” – Albert Camus
  9. “In three words, I can sum up everything I’ve learned about life: it goes on.” – Robert Frost
  10. “So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.” – F. Scott Fitzgerald
  11. “Life is either a daring adventure or nothing.” – Helen Keller
  12. “You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose.” – Dr. Seuss
  13. “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)
  14. “The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” – Lao Tzu (This proverb reminds us that even the greatest achievements start small)
  15. “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)
  16. “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)
  17. “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)
  18. “The best way to predict your future is to create it.” – Abraham Lincoln
  19. “The only person you are destined to become is the person you decide to be.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson 
  20. “It is during our darkest moments that we must focus to see the light.” – Aristotle 
  21. “You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream.” – C.S. Lewis 
  22. “The only way to do great work is to love what you do.” – Steve Jobs 
  23. “Don’t let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do.” – John Wooden 
  24. “It’s not what happens to you, but how you react to it that matters.” – Epictetus 
  25. “The purpose of our lives is to be happy.” – Dalai Lama 
  26. “The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.” – Eleanor Roosevelt 
  27. “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 
  28. “The Wright brothers didn’t have a wind tunnel to test their flying machines. They built a kite and got to work.” – Sheryl Sandberg 
  29. “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.” – Martin Luther King Jr.
  30. “The only person you are destined to become is the person you decide to be.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

✅ Success quotes

famous quotes
  1.  “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
  2. “Success usually comes to those who are too busy to be looking for it.” – Henry David Thoreau
  3. “Everything you can imagine is real.” – Pablo Picasso
  4. “If you want to make your dreams come true, the first thing you have to do is wake up.” – J.M. Power
  5. “There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure.” – Colin Powell
  6. “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
  7. “The only limit to our realization of tomorrow will be our doubts of today.” – Franklin D. Roosevelt
  8. “It is better to fail in originality than to succeed in imitation.” – Herman Melville
  9. “The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.” – Eleanor Roosevelt
  10. “The road to success and the road to failure are almost exactly the same.” – Colin R. Davis
  11. “Always remember, your focus determines your reality.” – George Lucas
  12. “If you set your goals ridiculously high and it’s a failure, you will fail above everyone else’s success.” – James Cameron
  13. “Don’t be afraid to give up the good to go for the great.” – John D. Rockefeller
  14. “Success is walking from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm.” – Winston Churchill
  15. “The difference between ordinary and extraordinary is that little extra.” – Jimmy Johnson
  16. “It is never too late to be what you might have been.” – George Eliot
  17. “Continuous effort, not strength or intelligence, is the key to unlocking our potential.” – Winston Churchill 
  18. “Fall seven times and stand up eight.” – Japanese Proverb
  19. “Rome wasn’t built in a day.” – John Heywood
  20. “Start before you’re ready.” – Steven Pressfield 
  21. “The best revenge is massive success.” – Frank Sinatra
  22. “Learn from the mistakes of others. You can’t live long enough to make them all yourself.” – Eleanor Roosevelt
  23. “Either you run the day or the day runs you.” – Jim Rohn
  24. “Success is a journey, not a destination. The doing is often more important than the outcome.” – Arthur Ashe
  25. “Your most important investment is in yourself.” – Warren Buffett
  26. “Believe you can and you’re halfway there.” – Theodore Roosevelt
  27. “Leave nothing for tomorrow which can be done today.” – Abraham Lincoln

✅ Famous quotes

  1. “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
  2.  “The most difficult thing is the decision to act; the rest is merely tenacity.” – Amelia Earhart
  3. “Dream big and dare to fail.” – Norman Vaughan
  4. “You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.” – Wayne Gretzky
  5. “Nothing is impossible, the word itself says, ‘I’m possible!’” – Audrey Hepburn
  6. “I have learned over the years that when one’s mind is made up, this diminishes fear.” – Rosa Parks
  7. “An unexamined life is not worth living.” – Socrates
  8. “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
  9. “Whether you think you can or you think you can’t, you’re right.” – Henry Ford
  10. “Don’t find fault, find a remedy: anyone can complain.” – Henry Ford
  11. “The question isn’t who is going to let me; it’s who is going to stop me.” – Ayn Rand
  12. “Winning isn’t everything, but wanting to win is.” – Vince Lombardi
  13. “How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.” – Anne Frank
  14. “Believe you can, and you’re halfway there.” – Theodore Roosevelt
  15. “I alone cannot change the world, but I can cast a stone across the water to create many ripples.” – Mother Teresa
  16. “Everything you’ve ever wanted is on the other side of fear.” – George Addair
  17. “A man may die, nations may rise and fall, but an idea lives on.” – John F. Kennedy
  18. “It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop.” – Confucius
  19. “You become what you believe.” – Oprah Winfrey
  20. “Courage is grace under pressure.” – Ernest Hemingway

✅ Famous quotes about life

famous quotes
  1. “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
  2. “Life is 10% what happens to us and 90% how we react to it.” – Charles R. Swindoll 
  3. “The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing.” – Socrates
  4. “Get busy living or get busy dying.” – Stephen King 
  5. “Life is a journey, not a destination.” – T.S. Eliot 
  6. “You only live once, but if you live it right, once is enough.” – Mae West 
  7. “Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep moving.” – Albert Einstein
  8. “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 
  9. “You don’t have to control your thoughts. You just have to stop letting them control you.” – Dan Millman 
  10. “Life is short and it is here to be lived.” – Katharine Hepburn 
  11. “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
  12. “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
  13. “The old man and the sea is a story about the triumph of the human spirit.” – Ernest Hemingway
  14. “There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.” – William Shakespeare 
  15. “Life is a beautiful journey, that is meant to be embraced to the fullest every day.” – Parade Magazine 

✅ Quotes from famous people

famous quotes
  1. “Sometimes the road less traveled is less traveled for a reason.” —Jerry Seinfeld
  2. “Never go to bed mad. Stay up and fight.” —Phyllis Diller
  3. “Misers are no fun to live with, but they make great ancestors.” —Tom Snyder 
  4. “Happiness is good health and a bad memory.” —Ingrid Bergman
  5. “Happiness often sneaks in through a door you didn’t know you left open.” —John Barrymore
  6. “Happiness is having a large, caring, close-knit family in another city.” —George Burns
  7. “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
  8. “True terror is to wake up one morning and discover that your high school class is running the country.” —Kurt Vonnegut (March 2015)
  9. “Anybody who tells you money can’t buy happiness never had any.” —Samuel L. Jackson
  10. “The older you get the more you realize that kindness is synonymous with happiness.” —Lionel Barrymore
  11. “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
  12. “A man always has two reasons for doing anything—a good reason and the real reason.” —J. Pierpont Morgan
  13. “Not in doing what you like but in liking what you do is the secret of happiness.” —J.M. Barrie
  14. “Always forgive your enemies; nothing annoys them so much.”—Oscar Wilde
  15. “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
  16. “Happiness makes up in height for what it lacks in length.” —Robert Frost
  17. “The world is extremely interesting to a joyful soul.” —Alexandra Stoddard
  18. “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.

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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)

What are famous quotes?

Short and memorable sayings by interesting people. They can make you laugh, think, or feel differently about the world.

What are some examples of famous quotes?

“The only thing we have to fear is fear itself” – Franklin D. Roosevelt.
“The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams” – Eleanor Roosevelt.

What are some topics that famous quotes cover?

Life lessons, happiness, success, following your dreams, and humor.

How can I use famous quotes?

You can use famous quotes to inspire yourself, motivate others, or add meaning to your writing or speech.

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Upasana
Upasana

Upasana Sahu is a digital marketing specialist with 4 years of experience in digital marketing and 3 years in content writing. She specializes in SEO, social media marketing & WordPress and is currently working with SmartReach. When she’s not crafting effective marketing strategies, Upasana enjoys cooking for her family. Connect with her on LinkedIn on the below link.

This article was reviewed by Lancelot Dsouza, Chief Marketing Officer at SmartReach.io.
With over 25 years of experience in sales, marketing, customer success, and revenue operations, Lancelot brings a wealth of knowledge to SmartReach.io. You can connect with him on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lancelotdsouza/

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