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• Inspirational, Funny, Motivational Mark Twain (2014). “Mark Twain on Common Sense: Timeless Advice and Words of Wisdom from America's Most-Revered Humorist”, p.53, Skyhorse Publishing, Inc.
• Positive quotes can be long or short, depending on your need and platform. (Short letterboard quotes are easier to set up, but long ones can be more satisfying—and there’s no wrong choice.).

185 Shares Small things can make a big difference. The same can be said about the short inspirational quotes below. At Everyday Power, we have compiled quotes from a wide variety of great minds including authors, athletes, TV personalities, and CEOs. Each of the following quotes is overflowing with innovation, creativity, and knowledge. Who inspires.

We are once again at the start of a workweek.

So I thought this would be a good time to share 87 of the most inspirational work quotes.

Quotes that will motivate you, help you to focus and work smarter and also reduce the stress and pressure you may feel at work (or in school).

These quotes have helped me many times to re-ignite my own motivation on a rough or bad day and to find a calmer and less stressed focus so I could keep working consistently towards my own goals and dreams.

I hope they will help you to do the same.

Motivational Quotes for Work

“Concentrate all your thoughts upon the work in hand. The sun's rays do not burn until brought to a focus. “
Alexander Graham Bell

“Either you run the day or the day runs you.”
Jim Rohn

“I’m a greater believer in luck, and I find the harder I work the more I have of it.”
Thomas Jefferson

“When we strive to become better than we are, everything around us becomes better too.”
Paulo Coelho

“Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.”
Thomas Edison

“You've got to get up every morning with determination if you're going to go to bed with satisfaction.”
George Lorimer

“Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds that you plant.”
Robert Louis Stevenson

“Just one small positive thought in the morning can change your whole day.”
Dalai Lama

“One of the best pieces of advice I ever got was from a horse master. He told me to go slow to go fast. I think that applies to everything in life. We live as though there aren't enough hours in the day but if we do each thing calmly and carefully we will get it done quicker and with much less stress.”
Viggo Mortensen

“Whether you think you can, or you think you can’t – you’re right.”
Henry Ford

“Time is an equal opportunity employer. Each human being has exactly the same number of hours and minutes every day. Rich people can't buy more hours. Scientists can't invent new minutes. And you can't save time to spend it on another day. Even so, time is amazingly fair and forgiving. No matter how much time you've wasted in the past, you still have an entire tomorrow.”
Denis Waitley

“Don’t wish it were easier. Wish you were better.”
Jim Rohn

“Do the hard jobs first. The easy jobs will take care of themselves.”
Dale Carnegie

“Developing a good work ethic is key. Apply yourself at whatever you do, whether you're a janitor or taking your first summer job because that work ethic will be reflected in everything you do in life.”
Tyler Perry

“Happiness is not in the mere possession of money; it lies in the joy of achievement, in the thrill of creative effort.”
Franklin D. Roosevelt

“Success means doing the best we can with what we have. Success is the doing, not the getting; in the trying, not the triumph. Success is a personal standard, reaching for the highest that is in us, becoming all that we can be.”
Zig Ziglar

“The future depends on what you do today.”
Mahatma Gandhi

“Do more than is required. What is the distance between someone who achieves their goals consistently and those who spend their lives and careers merely following? The extra mile.”
Gary Ryan Blair

“The man who moves a mountain begins by carrying away small stones.”
Confucius

“Things may come to those who wait, but only the things left by those who hustle.”
Abraham Lincoln

“Start by doing what’s necessary, then what’s possible; and suddenly you are doing the impossible.”
Saint Francis

“People rarely succeed unless they have fun in what they are doing.”
Dale Carnegie

“To think too long about doing a thing often becomes its undoing.”
Eva Young

“Don't be afraid to give your best to what seemingly are small jobs. Every time you conquer one it makes you that much stronger. If you do the little jobs well, the big ones will tend to take care of themselves.”
William Patten

“Talent means nothing, while experience, acquired in humility and with hard work, means everything.”
Patrick Suskind

“You will never plough a field if you only turn it over in your mind.”
Irish Proverb

“Don't wait. The time will never be just right.”
Napoleon Hill

“Success seems to be connected with action. Successful people keep moving. They make mistakes, but they don’t quit.”
Conrad Hilton

“You don’t have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step.”
Martin Luther King, Jr.

“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

”This is the real secret of life — to be completely engaged with what you are doing in the here and now. And instead of calling it work, realize it is play.”
Alan Wilson Watts

“Motivation is a fire from within. If someone else tries to light that fire under you, chances are it will burn very briefly.”
Stephen R. Covey

“Nothing in the world can take the place of perseverance. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful people with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost legendary. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Perseverance and determination alone are omnipotent.”
Calvin Coolidge

“Try not to become a person of success, but rather try to become a person of value.”
Albert Einstein

RELATED: 145 Words of Encouragement

Hard Work Quotes (and Quotes about Working Smarter)

“The secret of getting ahead is getting started. The secret of getting started is breaking your complex overwhelming tasks into small manageable tasks, and then starting on the first one.”
Mark Twain

“Happiness is the real sense of fulfillment that comes from hard work.”
Joseph Barbara

“If I had eight hours to chop down a tree, I’d spend six hours sharpening my ax.”
Abraham Lincoln

“Nothing is less productive than to make more efficient what should not be done at all.”
Peter Drucker

“Let me tell you the secret that has led me to my goals: my strength lies solely in my tenacity.”
Louis Pasteur

“In a moment of decision, the best thing you can do is the right thing to do, the next best thing is the wrong thing, and the worst thing you can do is nothing.”
Theodore Roosevelt

“Luck is a matter of preparation meeting opportunity.”
Seneca

“It is not a daily increase, but a daily decrease. Hack away at the inessentials.”
Bruce Lee

“Don’t be afraid of hard work. Nothing worthwhile comes easily. Don’t let others discourage you or tell you that you can’t do it. In my day I was told women didn’t go into chemistry. I saw no reason why we couldn’t.”
Gertrude B. Elion

“If you want to make an easy job seem mighty hard, just keep putting off doing it.”
Olin Miller

“It does not matter how slowly you go, so long as you do not stop.”
Confucius

“I am not a product of my circumstances. I am a product of my decisions.”
Stephen Covey

“Plenty of men can do good work for a spurt and with immediate promotion in mind, but for promotion you want a man in whom good work has become a habit.”
Henry L. Doherty

“Learn from the mistakes of others. You can’t live long enough to make them all yourselves.”
Chanakya

“Attitude is a choice. Happiness is a choice. Optimism is a choice. Kindness is a choice. Giving is a choice. Respect is a choice. Whatever choice you make makes you. Choose wisely.”
Roy T. Bennett

“Amateurs sit and wait for inspiration, the rest of us just get up and go to work.”
Stephen King

“There are no shortcuts to any place worth going.”
Beverly Sills

“I would visualize things coming to me. It would just make me feel better. Visualization works if you work hard. That’s the thing. You can’t just visualize and go eat a sandwich.”
Jim Carrey

“If you don’t pay appropriate attention to what has your attention, it will take more of your attention than it deserves.”
David Allen

“A clay pot sitting in the sun will always be a clay pot. It has to go through the white heat of the furnace to become porcelain.”
Mildred Struven

“If something is wrong, fix it now. But train yourself not to worry, worry fixes nothing.”
Ernest Hemingway

“Think of many things; do one.”
Portuguese proverb

“Much of the stress that people feel doesn't come from having too much to do. It comes from not finishing what they started.”
David Allen

“Our greatest fear should not be of failure but of succeeding at things in life that don't really matter.”
Francis Chan

“The price of success is hard work, dedication to the job at hand, and the determination that whether we win or lose, we have applied the best of ourselves to the task at hand.”
Vince Lombardi

“Once you have commitment, you need the discipline and hard work to get you there.”
Haile Gebrselassie

“Thirty years ago my older brother, who was ten years old at the time, was trying to get a report written on birds that he’d had three months to write, which was due the next day.
We were out at our family cabin in Bolinas, and he was at the kitchen table close to tears, surrounded by binder paper and pencils and unopened books about birds, immobilized by the hugeness of the task ahead.
Then my father sat down beside him put his arm around my brother’s shoulder, and said, “Bird by bird, buddy. Just take it bird by bird. “
Anne Lamott

“Whatever you do, do it with all your might. Work at it, early and late, in season and out of season, not leaving a stone unturned, and never deferring for a single hour that which can be done just as well as now.”
Margaret Fuller

“It isn’t the mountains ahead to climb that wear you out; it’s the pebble in your shoe.”
Muhammad Ali

“There is no traffic jam along the extra mile.”
Roger Staubach

“Your ability to discipline yourself to set clear goals, and then to work toward them every day, will do more to guarantee your success than any other single factor.”
Brian Tracy

“Follow effective actions with quiet reflection. From the quiet reflection will come even more effective action.”
Peter Drucker

Uplifting Quotes for a Rough or Stressful Day at Work

”Spend eighty percent of your time focusing on the opportunities of tomorrow rather than the problems of yesterday.”
Brian Tracy

“When you get into a tight place and everything goes against you, till it seems as though you could not hang on a minute longer, never give up then, for that is just the place and time that the tide will turn.”
Harriet Beecher Stowe

“You can’t change how people treat you or what they say about you. All you can do is change how you react to it.”
Mahatma Gandhi

“Most of the important things in the world have been accomplished by people who have kept on trying when there seemed to be no hope at all.”
Dale Carnegie

“Failure is the condiment that gives success its flavor.”
Truman Capote

“Do not be embarrassed by your failures, learn from them and start again.”
Richard Branson

“I have always believed, and I still believe, that whatever good or bad fortune may come our way we can always give it meaning and transform it into something of value.”
Hermann Hesse

“When we long for life without difficulties, remind us that oaks grow strong in contrary winds and diamonds are made under pressure.”
Peter Marshall

“It ain’t as bad as you think. It will look better in the morning.”
Colin Powell

“The truth is that our finest moments are most likely to occur when we are feeling deeply uncomfortable, unhappy, or unfulfilled. For it is only in such moments, propelled by our discomfort, that we are likely to step out of our ruts and start searching for different ways or truer answers.”
M. Scott Peck

“The best way out is always through.”
Robert Frost

“There are two primary choices in life: to accept conditions as they exist, or accept the responsibility for changing them.”
Denis Waitley

“As long as they are well-intentioned, mistakes are not a matter for shame, but for learning.”
Margaret Heffernan

“Show me a person who has never made a mistake and I'll show you someone who has never achieved much.”
Joan Collins

“Strength does not come from winning. Your struggles develop your strengths. When you go through hardships and decide not to surrender, that is strength.”
Arnold Schwarzenegger

“You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream.”
C.S. Lewis

“One of the symptoms of an approaching nervous breakdown is the belief that one's work is terribly important.”
Bertrand Russell

“When one door of happiness closes, another opens, but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one that has been opened for us.”
Helen Keller

“I’ve learned that no matter what happens, or how bad it seems today, life does go on, and it will be better tomorrow.”
Maya Angelou

“The only thing that overcomes hard luck is hard work.”
Harry Golden

“The best way to not feel hopeless is to get up and do something. Don’t wait for good things to happen to you. If you go out and make some good things happen, you will fill the world with hope, you will fill yourself with hope.”
Barrack Obama

“We can easily manage if we will only take, each day, the burden appointed to it. But the load will be too heavy for us if we carry yesterday’s burden over again today, and then add the burden of the morrow before we are required to bear it.”
John Newton

Hi! You found our list of brilliant inspirational quotes for work.

Motivational quotes for work are sayings you can use to inspire and drive your teammates towards success. These work quotes are an example of employee engagement techniques.

These phrases also work well as quick morale boosters and to improve company culture.

This list includes:

• motivational work quotes of the day
• funny motivational work quotes
• work life balance quotes
• positive work culture quotes
• work ethic quotes
• career change quotes
• work learning quotes
• hard work quotes

And more!

Let’s get to it!

List of motivational quotes for work

From career changes, to work life balance, to routine work days, here is a list of motivational quotes for any work occasion.

Motivational work quotes of the day

1. “Failure is not the opposite of success: it’s part of success.” -Arianna Huffington, businesswoman
2. “If your dreams don’t scare you, they are too small.” -Richard Branson, businessman
3. “Believe you can and you’re halfway there.” -Theodore Roosevelt, president
4. “Quality means doing it right when no one is looking.” -Henry Ford, businessman
5. “The difference between ordinary and extraordinary is that little extra.” -Jimmy Johnson, football player
6. “It always seems impossible until it’s done.” -Nelson Mandela, world leader
7. “Progress is impossible without change, and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything.” -George Bernard Shaw, writer
8. “What we fear of doing most is usually what we most need to do.” -Ralph Waldo Emerson, philosopher
9. “You are not your resume, you are your work.” -Seth Godin, Author
10. “Every accomplishment starts with the decision to try.” -John F Kennedy, president
11. “Ability is what you’re capable of doing. Motivation determines what you do. Attitude determines how well you do it.” -Lou Holtz, football player
12. “If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them.” -Henry David Thoraeu, philosopher

Funny motivational work quotes

13. “People who wonder if the glass is half empty or half full miss the point. The glass is refillable.” -Unknown
14. “Those who say it cannot be done should not interrupt those doing it.” -Chinese proverb
15. “People often say that motivation doesn’t last. Well, neither does bathing; that’s why we recommend it daily.” -Zig Ziglar, author
16. “If you think you are too small to make a difference, try sleeping with a mosquito.” -Dalai Lama, spiritual leader
17. “Never put off until tomorrow what you can do the day after tomorrow.” -Mark Twain, writer
18. “The best revenge is massive success.” -Frank Sinatra, singer

Work life balance quotes

19. “Don’t confuse having a career with having a life.” -Hillary Clinton, politician
20. “No one on his deathbed ever said, ‘I wish I had spent more time at the office.” -Paul Tsongas, politician
21. “Never get so busy making a living that you forget to make a life.” -Dolly Parton, entertainer
22. “We need to do a better job of putting ourselves higher on our own ‘to do’ list.” -Michelle Obama, first lady
23. “Most of us spend too much time on what is urgent and not enough time on what is important.” -Stephen Covey, author
24. “There is no such thing as work-life balance. It is all life. The balance has to be within you.” -Sadhguru, author
25. “You will never find time for anything. If you want time, you must make it.” -Charles Buxton, writer and politician
26. “You can have it all. You just can’t have it all at once.” -Oprah Winfrey, media mogul
27. “Life is a balance between holding on and letting go.” -Rumi, poet
28. “Be sure when you step, step with care and great tact. And remember that life is a great balancing act.” -Dr. Seuss, author
29. “If you get tired, learn to rest, not to quit.” -Banksy, artist

Positive work culture quotes

30. “If you’ve created a work culture where vulnerability isn’t ok, you’ve also created a culture where innovation and creativity aren’t ok.” -Brené Brown, professor and lecturer
31. “Customers will never love a company until the employees love it first.” -Simon Sinek, author
32. “The only thing of real importance that leaders do is create and manage culture.” -Edgar Schein, professor and organizational expert
33. “Clients do not come first. Employees come first. If you take care of your employees, they will take care of the clients.” -Richard Branson, businessman
34. “All good leaders are connectors. They relate well and make people feel confident about themselves and their leader.” -John Maxwell, author
35. “To handle yourself use your head; to handle others, use your heart.” -Eleanor Roosevelt, first lady
36. “Happiness is not in the mere possession of money; it lies in the joy of achievement, in the thrill of creative effort.” -Franklin D Roosevelt, president
37. “It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit.” -Harry Truman, president
38. “Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds that you plant.” -Robert Louis Stevenson, writer

Hard work quotes

39. “Be humble. Be hungry. And always be the hardest worker in the room.” -Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, entertainer
40. “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then, is not an act, but a habit.” -Aristotle, philosopher
41. “Work hard and be kind and amazing things will happen.” -Conan O’Brien, comedian
42. “Hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard.” -Tim Notke, coach
43. “There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure.” -Colin Powell, politician
44. “Hard work spotlights the character of people. Some turn up their sleeves. Some turn up their noses, and some don’t turn up at all.” -Sam Ewing, baseball player
45. “Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.” -Thomas Edison, inventor
46. “A river cuts through a rock not because of its power but its persistence.” -Jim Watkins, businessman
47. “Perseverance is the hard work you do after you get tired of doing the hard work you already did.” -Newt Gingrich, politician
48. “Nothing will work unless you do.” -Maya Angelou, writer
49. “Work hard in silence, let your success be your noise.” -Frank Ocean, musician

Career change quotes

50. “The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now.” -Chinese proverb
51. “The only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle.” -Steve Jobs, businessman
52. “You don’t have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step.” -Martin Luther King, Jr, civil rights leader
53. “The most difficult thing is the decision to act, the rest is merely tenacity.” -Amelia Earhart, aviator
54. “Working hard for something we don’t care about is called stress: Working hard for something we love is called passion.” -Simon Sinek, author
55. “I hope you live a life you’re proud of. If you find that you are not, I hope you have the strength to start all over again.” -F. Scott Fitzgerald
56. “The secret of change is to focus all of your energy not on fighting the old, but on building the new.” -Socrates, philosopher
57. “Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.” -Barack Obama, president
58. “You cannot swim for new horizons until you have courage to lose sight of the shore.” -William Faulkner, writer

Quotes Positive

Work learning quotes

59. “Anyone who stops learning is old, whether he’s twenty or eighty.” -Henry Ford, businessman
60. “Learn from the mistakes of others. You can’t live long enough to make them all yourselves.” -Chanakya, teacher
61. “Make your mistakes work for you by learning from them.” -Donald Trump, businessman and president
62. “If you are not growing, you are dying.” -Tony Robbins, motivational speaker
63. “The expert in anything was once a beginner.” -Helen Hayes, actress
64. “Learning is the only thing the mind never exhausts, never fears, and never regrets.” -Leonardo Da Vinci
65. “Learn a language, and you’ll avoid a war.” -Arab proverb
66. “We do not learn from experience. We learn from reflecting on experience.” -John Dewey, philosopher

Quotes Positive Short

Conclusion

Whether you use these quotes to launch or close a meeting, kickstart a group discussion, or amplify an inspirational speech, the sayings on this list are sure to energize and enlighten your team.

For more inspiration, check out our articles on team building quotes and team bonding quotes.

FAQ: Motivational quotes for work

Here are some of the most common questions and answers about motivational quotes for work.

What are motivational quotes for work?

Motivational quotes for work are famous phrases you can use to fire up your team. These quotes speak to topics such as work ethic, career changes, learning, and positive work culture.

Quotes Positive Energy

What are the best motivational quotes for work?

Some of the best motivational quotes for work include: “Quality means doing it right when no one is looking.” by Henry Ford, “It always seems impossible until it’s done.” by Nelson Mandela, and a Chinese proverb that says, “Those who say it cannot be done should not interrupt those doing it.” These are just a few phenomenal phrases that can drive your crew to chase greatness.

How do motivational quotes work?

Motivational quotes are wise words from accomplished individuals. The simplicity, truth, and power of these phrases spur action and change, or, at the very least, an attitude adjustment. The desire to be understood is a universal human need, and folks may subconsciously interpret quotes as votes of confidence from prominent figures.

Quotes Positive Thinking

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Team building content expert. Angela has a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing and worked as a community manager with Yelp to plan events for businesses.

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