On this page you will find a selection of the best motivational sayings for your best self – and for (almost) every situation in life. Whether it’s sports, fitness, learning or work. Motivational sayings can get you into action. But the backgrounds are sometimes more complex: In the motivation theory one distinguishes for example Intrinsic motivation and extrinsic motivation
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How can sayings help you with motivation?
Motivational sayings can help to finally get into action, instead of planning all the time. They can equally help to regain courage when the air is out. Even a daily motivational saying, wisdom or insight can work many a small miracle when it comes to inertia and lack of motivation.
Motivational sayings about change and solutions
"He who always does what he already can, always remains what he already is." Henry Ford
"Don’t wish it were easier. Wish that you become better at it." Jim Rohn
"What I am today is an indication of what I have learned, but not of what my potential is." Virginia Satir
"You can never solve problems with the same mindset that created them." Albert Einstein
"I can’t tell if things will get better if they get different. But this much I can say: It must become different, if it is to become better." Georg Christoph Lichtenberg
"You cannot stop the waves. But you can learn to surf on them." Jon Kabat Zinn
Motivational sayings about goals and dreams
"Stay away from people who want to talk down your dreams. Little people always do. Great people make you feel that you too can become great." Mark Twain
"To achieve great things, we must not only act, but also dream. We must not only plan, but also believe." Anatole France
"We can only achieve our dreams when we decide to wake up from them." Josephine Baker
" You are never too old to dream a new dream." C. S. Lewis
"Think carefully about what you wish for. It might happen that you get it." Eduard Morike
Motivational sayings on self-knowledge and reflection
"What lies before us and what lies behind us are nothing compared to what lies within us. And when we take what’s inside us into the world, miracles happen." Henry David Thoreau
"The things we love tell us who we are." Thomas Aquinas
"He who does not find tranquility within himself will seek it elsewhere in vain." Francois de la Rochefoucauld
"When we do the same thing as everyone else, it is damn hard to express our uniqueness." Brendan Francis
"May I never be complete. May I never be full. – May I never be perfect." Chuck Palahniuk
"If you are alone with yourself, you are alone with genius." Bettina von Arnim
Motivational sayings on making and taking off
"You can’t cross a lake just by standing there and looking at the water." Rabindranath Tagore
"Do what you can, with what you have, where you are." Theodore Roosevelt
"If you want to live, you have to do something." Wilhelm Busch
"You have to do exactly what you think: It can’t be done." Eleanor Roosevelt
"Either we find a way or we make a way." Hannibal
"The world is big, and I want to get a good look at it before it gets dark." John Muir
Success sayings and sayings to succeed
"Every success begins with a desire." Napoleon Hill
"There is only one kind of success: to live your life the way you want to live it." Christopher Morley
" Don’t try to do too many things at once. Know what you want, what is the most important thing today and tomorrow. Make an effort persistently and succeed." George Allen
"Build your success on service to others, not at the expense of others." Jackson Brown Jr.
"I don’t measure success by my victories, but by whether I get better every year." Tiger Woods
"Every man with a new idea is a crackpot. Until the idea succeeds." Mark Twain
"The greatest pleasure in life is to do things that others think you can’t do"." Marcel Ayme
Motivational sayings about fear and risk
"Opportunities are knocking at your door. But by the time you’ve pushed the latches aside, undone the chain, disabled the alarm and unlocked the security lock, they’re long gone again." Rita Coolidge
" You are only afraid when you disagree with yourself." Hermann Hesse
"Don’t let the fear of failure be greater than the desire to succeed." Robert Kiyosaki
"A ship is safer when it is in the harbor. But that is not what ships are built for." Paulo Coelho
Motivational sayings about problems and failure
"An easy life never did anyone any good." Hildegard of Bingen
"That’s life and that’s the way to take it, brave, undaunted and smiling." Rosa Luxembourg
"Problems are opportunities to show what you can do." Duke Ellington
"You have some enemies? Good, it means you are up for something." Winston Churchill
"We should not be afraid of failure, but of succeeding in things that are actually not that important." Francis Chan
"Don’t let it get you down, be bold and wild and wonderful." Astrid Lindgren
Motivational sayings about happiness and contentment
"Most people make happiness a condition. But happiness only comes when you don’t put conditions on it." Arthur Rubinstein
"The best way to avoid missing happiness is to seek it. It is not the goal of life, but a byproduct." Paul Claudel
"Wealth, prestige, all can be lost, but the happiness in your own heart can only be veiled and will keep you happy as long as you live." Anne Frank
"Career is a glorious thing, but you can’t warm yourself on it on a cold night." Marilyn Monroe
Motivational sayings about freedom and courage
"Freedom means responsibility. This is the reason why most people are afraid of it." George Bernard Shaw
"If you give up freedom to gain security, you will end up losing both." Benjamin Franklin
" The secret of happiness is freedom. But the secret of freedom is courage." Thucydides
"Wherever you go, go with all your heart." Confucius
Short motivational sayings on vitality
" Relax. Let go of the wheel. Trudle through the world. It is so beautiful." Kurt Tucholsky
"Trust your strength rather than your luck." Cicero
Motivational sayings about nature and biology
"Nature always creates the best of what is possible." Aristotle
"Nature is always right." Reinhold Messner
"We all live under the same sky. But we do not all have the same horizon." Konrad Adenauer
For even more motivation, check out my personal Instagram account @christofoerster