- “I believe we are here on the planet Earth to live, grow up and do what we can to make this world a better place for all people to enjoy freedom.” — Rosa Parks
- “To love oneself is the beginning of a lifelong romance.” — Oscar Wilde
- “Sometimes the most important thing in a whole day is the rest we take between two deep breaths.”— Etty Hillesum
- “Almost everything will work again if you unplug it for a few minutes, including you.” — Anne Lamott
- “Knowing how to be solitary is central to the art of loving. When we can be alone, we can be with others without using them as a means of escape.” — Bell Hooks
- “Time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time.” — Unknown
- “Self-care is how you take your power back.” — Lalah Delia
- “Being happy never goes out of style.” — Lilly Pulitzer
The 50 most famous quotes of all time
There are many famous quotes that have been said throughout history. Some are more famous than others and are known by people all over the world.
Alan Roberts
May 20, 2022 • 4 min read
There are many famous quotes that have been said throughout history. Some are more famous than others and are known by people all over the world. Here is a list of the 50 most famous quotes of all time. Use them to get started on a Monday morning, or to grab inspiration for your next blog article or endeavour!
10 famous quotes by celebrities
- “I’m not here to be perfect, I’m here to be real.” – Lady Gaga
- “I’m not interested in money. I just want to be wonderful.” – Marilyn Monroe
- “The only thing that feels better than winning is winning when nobody thought you could.” – Hank Aaron
- “Success is not final, failure is not fatal: It is the courage to continue that counts.” – Winston Churchill
- “If you can dream it, you can do it.” – Walt Disney
- “If you want something done, ask a busy person to do it.” – Laura Ingalls Wilder
- “If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.” – John Quincy Adams
- “The best way to find out if you can trust somebody is to trust them.” – Ernest Hemingway
- “The only Limit to our realization of tomorrow will be our doubts of today.” – Franklin D. Roosevelt
- “We may encounter many defeats but we must not be defeated.” – Maya Angelou
10 famous quotes about life.
- “The most important thing is to enjoy your life – to be happy – it’s all that matters.” – Steve Jobs
- “Your time is limited, don’t waste it living someone else’s life.” – Steve Jobs
- “The best way to find out what you want in life is to try a lot of things.” – Oprah Winfrey
- “In order to be truly happy, you must pursue your dreams and goals.” – Oprah Winfrey
- “You can have anything you want if you are willing to give up everything you have.” – Oprah Winfrey
- “Don’t let anyone tell you what you can’t do. Follow your dreams and persist.” – Barack Obama
- “If you want something you’ve never had, you must be willing to do something you’ve never done.” – Unknown
- “Everything happens for a reason.” – Unknown
- “You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough.” – Mae West
- “Life is what we make it and how we make it – whether we realize it or not.” – Napoleon Hill
10 famous quotes on the road to success
- “The road to success is always under construction.” – Lily Tomlin
- “I’m not a self-made man. I’ve had a lot of help.” – Stan Lee
- “If you don’t build your dream, someone else will hire you to help them build theirs.” -Tony Gaskins
- “You’ve got to be in it to win it.” -Tony Robbins
- “Success is stumbling from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm.” -Winston Churchill
- “People often say that motivation doesn’t last. Well, neither does bathing. That’s why we recommend it daily.” -Zig Ziglar
- “If you want to make your dreams come true, the first thing you have to do is wake up.” -J.M. Power
- “The only limit to our realization of tomorrow will be our doubts of today.” -Franklin D. Roosevelt
- “We may encounter many defeats but we must not be defeated.” -Maya Angelou
- “Be persistent and never give up hope.” -George Lucas
10 famous inspirational quotes
- “The best way to find out if you can trust somebody is to trust them.” – Ernest Hemingway
- “The only way to do great work is to love what you do.” – Steve Jobs
- “If you want to live a happy life, tie it to a goal, not to people or things.” – Albert Einstein
- “If you can’t handle me at my worst, then you sure as hell don’t deserve me at my best.” – Marilyn Monroe
- “I can’t change the direction of the wind, but I can adjust my sails to always reach my destination.” – Jimmy Dean
- “The only Limit to our realization of tomorrow will be our doubts of today.” – Franklin D. Roosevelt
- “Don’t let yesterday take up too much of today.” – Will Rogers
- “It is never too late to be what you might have been.” – George Eliot
- “Don’t walk in front of me; I may not follow. Don’t walk behind me; I may not lead. Walk beside me; just be my friend.” – Albert Camus
- “I can accept failure, everyone fails at something. But I can’t accept not trying.” – Michael Jordan
10 most famous quotes of all time
- “I have a dream.” – Martin Luther King Jr.
- “The greatest glory in living lies not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.” – Nelson Mandela
- “The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing.” – Walt Disney
- “So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.” – F. Scott Fitzgerald
- “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” – Lao Tzu
- “Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds that you plant.” – Robert Louis Stevenson
- “If you want to make your dreams come true, the first thing you have to do is wake up.” – J.M. Power
- “I can’t change the direction of the wind, but I can adjust my sails to always reach my destination.” – Jimmy Dean
- “Believe you can and you’re halfway there.” – Theodore Roosevelt
- “The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even heard, but must be felt with the heart.” – Helen Keller
Feeling inspired?
Why not put that inspiration to good use, and try Wavebox. It gives you tools to organize all your web apps, separate your work, home or client accounts. It could make you that much more productive that you could save 2 days a week!
re you looking for the best task management software to help you stay productive and organized? With so many options to choose from, it can be hard to decide which one is the best for you and your team.
Alan Roberts Jan 25, 2023 • 8 min read
Popular quotes
“I’m selfish, impatient and a little insecure. I make mistakes, I am out of control and at times hard to handle. But if you can’t handle me at my worst, then you sure as hell don’t deserve me at my best.”
― Marilyn Monroe
“Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I’m not sure about the universe.”
― Albert Einstein
tags: attributed-no-source, human-nature, humor, infinity, philosophy, science, stupidity, universe
“So many books, so little time.”
― Frank Zappa
tags: books, humor
“A room without books is like a body without a soul.”
― Marcus Tullius Cicero
tags: attributed-no-source, books, simile, soul
“Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don’t matter, and those who matter don’t mind.”
― Bernard M. Baruch
“You’ve gotta dance like there’s nobody watching,
Love like you’ll never be hurt,
Sing like there’s nobody listening,
And live like it’s heaven on earth.”
― William W. Purkey
tags: dance, heaven, hurt, inspirational, life, love, sing
“You know you’re in love when you can’t fall asleep because reality is finally better than your dreams.”
― Dr. Seuss
tags: attributed-no-source, dreams, love, reality, sleep
“You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough.”
― Mae West
tags: humor, life
“Be the change that you wish to see in the world.”
― Mahatma Gandhi
tags: action, change, inspirational, misattributed-to-gandhi, philosophy, wish
“In three words I can sum up everything I’ve learned about life: it goes on.”
― Robert Frost
tags: life
“If you want to know what a man’s like, take a good look at how he treats his inferiors, not his equals.”
― J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
tags: from-charles-bayard-mitchell
“Don’t walk in front of me… I may not follow
Don’t walk behind me… I may not lead
Walk beside me… just be my friend”
― Albert Camus
tags: attributed-no-source, friends, friendship, misattributed-albert-camus
“If you tell the truth, you don’t have to remember anything.”
― Mark Twain
tags: lies, lying, memory, truth
“Friendship . is born at the moment when one man says to another “What! You too? I thought that no one but myself . . .”
― C.S. Lewis, The Four Loves
tags: friendship
“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
“A friend is someone who knows all about you and still loves you.”
― Elbert Hubbard
tags: friend, friendship, knowledge, love
“To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all.”
― Oscar Wilde
tags: life
“Always forgive your enemies; nothing annoys them so much.”
― Oscar Wilde
tags: attributed-no-source, enemies, forgiveness, strategy
“Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.”
― Martin Luther King Jr., A Testament of Hope: The Essential Writings and Speeches
tags: darkness, drive-out, hate, inspirational, light, love, peace
“Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.”
― Mahatma Gandhi
tags: carpe-diem, education, inspirational, learning
“We accept the love we think we deserve.”
― Stephen Chbosky, The Perks of Being a Wallflower
tags: inspirational, love
“Without music, life would be a mistake.”
― Friedrich Nietzsche, Twilight of the Idols
tags: inspirational, music, philosophy
“I am so clever that sometimes I don’t understand a single word of what I am saying.”
― Oscar Wilde, The Happy Prince and Other Stories
tags: intelligence, self-deprecation
“To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.”
― Ralph Waldo Emerson
tags: accomplishment, attributed-no-source, be-yourself, conformity, individuality
“Here’s to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They’re not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them. About the only thing you can’t do is ignore them. Because they change things. They push the human race forward. And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.”
― Steve Jobs
“Insanity is doing the same thing, over and over again, but expecting different results.”
― Narcotics Anonymous
“I believe that everything happens for a reason. People change so that you can learn to let go, things go wrong so that you appreciate them when they’re right, you believe lies so you eventually learn to trust no one but yourself, and sometimes good things fall apart so better things can fall together.”
― Marilyn Monroe
tags: attributed-no-source, misattributed-marilyn-monroe
“It is better to be hated for what you are than to be loved for what you are not.”
― Andre Gide, Autumn Leaves
tags: life, love
“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 the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”
― H. Jackson Brown Jr., P.S. I Love You
Encouraging Quotes
- “I have very strong feelings about how you lead your life. You always look ahead, you never look back.” — Ann Richards
- “All your life, you will be faced with a choice. You can choose love or hate…I choose love.” — Johnny Cash
- “I don’t go by the rule book…I lead from the heart, not the head.” — Princess Diana
- “The events in our lives happen in a sequence in time, but in their significance to ourselves they find their own order the continuous thread of revelation.” — Eudora Welty
- “The time is always right to do what is right.” — Martin Luther King Jr.
- “The best thing to hold onto in life is each other.” — Audrey Hepburn
- “Life is not a spectator sport. If you’re going to spend your whole life in the grandstand just watching what goes on, in my opinion you’re wasting your life.” — Jackie Robinson
- “If you don’t like the road you’re walking, start paving another one.” — Dolly Parton
- “Despite the forecast, live like it’s spring.” — Lilly Pulitzer
- “If I’d have done all the things I was supposed to have done, I’d be really tired.” — Willie Nelson
- “If you cannot do great things, do small things in a great way.” — Napoleon Hill
- “You may have to fight a battle more than once to win it.” — Margaret Thatcher
- “Your present circumstances don’t determine where you can go; they merely determine where you start.” — Nido Qubein
- “You don’t have to be great to start, but you have to start to be great.” — Zig Ziglar
- “Life has no limitations, except the ones you make.” — Les Brown
- “The two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why.” — Mark Twain
- “Don’t bother just to be better than your contemporaries or predecessors. Try to be better than yourself.” — William Faulkner
- “You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose.” — Dr. Seuss, Oh, The Places You’ll Go
- “A life is not important except in the impact it has on other lives.” — Jackie Robinson
- “The older you get, the more fragile you understand life to be. I think that’s good motivation for getting out of bed joyfully each day.” — Julia Roberts
- “Now it’s the little moments that stop me in my tracks, because that’s what life is all about.” — Joanna Gaines
05 of 06
Courage and Strength
- “Life is short, but it is wide. This too shall pass.” — Rebecca Wells, Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood
- “Courage doesn’t always roar. Sometimes courage is the little voice at the end of the day that says I’ll try again tomorrow.” ― Mary Anne Radmacher
- “It is not the strength of the body that counts, but the strength of the spirit.” ― J.R.R. Tolkien
- “Courage is being scared to death, but saddling up anyway.” ― John Wayne
- “Real courage is doing the right thing when nobody’s looking. Doing the unpopular thing because it’s what you believe, and the heck with everybody.” ― Justin Cronin
- “It’s your life; you don’t need someone’s permission to live the life you want. Be brave to live from your heart.” ― Roy T. Bennett, The Light in the Heart
- “It’s kind of fun to do the impossible.” — Walt Disney
- “When you believe in a thing, believe in it all the way, implicitly and unquestionable.” — Walt Disney
- “Everything you want is on the other side of fear.” — Jack Canfield
- “The difference between winning and losing is most often not quitting.” — Walt Disney
- “Do you give as much energy to your dreams as you do to your fears?” — Unknown
- “You have power over your mind – not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength.” — Marcus Aurelius
- “The biggest adventure you can take is to live the life of your dreams.” — Oprah Winfrey
- “All serious daring starts from within.” — Eudora Welty
- “You’ll never do a whole lot unless you’re brave enough to try.” — Dolly Parton
- “It takes a deep commitment to change and an even deeper commitment to grow.” — Ralph Ellison
- “Stand for something or you will fall for anything. Today’s mighty oak is yesterday’s nut that held its ground.” — Rosa Parks
- “You cannot swim for new horizons until you have courage to lose sight of the shore.” — William Faulkner
06 of 06
Quotes About Living
- “Each person must live their life as a model for others.” — Rosa Parks
- “So long as the memory of certain beloved friends lives in my heart, I shall say that life is good.” — Helen Keller
- “My mission in life is not merely to survive, but to thrive; and to do so with some passion, some compassion, some humor, and some style.” — Maya Angelou
- “Life just doesn’t hand you things. You have to get out there and make things happen. That’s the exciting part.” — Emeril Lagasse
- “I’ve been around a long time, and life still has a whole lot of surprises for me.” — Loretta Lynn
- “Be a bush if you can’t be a tree. If you can’t be a highway, just be a trail. If you can’t be a sun, be a star. For it isn’t by size that you win or fail. Be the best of whatever you are.” — Martin Luther King Jr.
- “You’re going to go through tough times—that’s life. But I say, ‘Nothing happens to you, it happens for you.’ See the positive in negative events.” — Joel Osteen
- “If everything was perfect, you would never learn and you would never grow.” — Beyoncé Knowles
- “You have two choices in life; you can either like what you do or dislike what you do. I have chosen to like what I do.” — Barbara Bush
- “The greatest legacy one can pass on to one’s children and grandchildren is not money or other material things accumulated in one’s life, but rather a legacy of character and faith.” — Billy Graham
- “You build on failure. You use it as a stepping stone. Close the door on the past. You don’t try to forget the mistakes, but you don’t dwell on it. You don’t let it have any of your energy, or any of your time, or any of your space.” — Johnny Cash
- “You’ll miss the best things if you keep your eyes shut.” — Dr. Seuss, I Can Read With My Eyes Shut
- “The excursion is the same when you go looking for your sorrow as when you go looking for your joy.” — Eudora Welty
- “Life is to be lived, not controlled; and humanity is won by continuing to play in face of certain defeat.” — Ralph Ellison, Invisible Man
- “I’ve learned that you shouldn’t go through life with a catcher’s mitt on both hands; you need to be able to throw something back.” — Maya Angelou
- “Always dream and shoot higher than you know you can do. Do not bother just to be better than your contemporaries or predecessors. Try to be better than yourself.” — William Faulkner
- “We should live our lives as though Christ was coming this afternoon.” — Jimmy Carter
- “Be so happy that, when other people look at you, they become happy too.” — Anonymous
- “Life is either a great adventure or nothing.” — Helen Keller
If you’re feeling lost or blue (or need to encourage a friend who might be), these inspirational quotes about life will pep you right up. And if you’re feeling just fine today, bookmark these quotes for a time when you or a friend might need to hear them.
