40 Great Quotes about Motivation and Success

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Motivation is key to success. Of course, motivation alone is not enough and it can only take you so far. Motivation needs hard work and persistence to breed success. As Oliver Goldsmith beautifully stated, "success consists of getting up just one more time than you fall". 

Along similar lines, Vince Lombardi highlights the importance of hard work in achieving success; stating that “the only place success comes before work is in the dictionary.”

However, there are times when we feel demotivated or unsure about how to move forward towards success. In such situations, turning to motivational quotes can offer a powerful boost of inspiration and encouragement. In this post, I compiled for you some of the popular motivation and success quotes to fall back on when you feel down.

These motivation and success quotes come from various sources including famous figures from history, literature, science, and modern-thought leaders. Use their nuggets of wisdom for inspiration and for cultivating a growth mindset, one that can help you overcome hurdles and achieve your goals.


1. “Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance you must keep moving.” —Albert Einstein


Motivation and success quotes




2. “One of the differences between some successful and unsuccessful people is that one group is full of doers, while the other is full of wishers.” —Edmond Mbiaka


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


4. "Success is getting what you want. Happiness is wanting what you get." Dale Carnegie


5. "Success is how high you bounce when you hit bottom." George S. Patton


6. “Someone's sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago.” —Warren Buffet


7. "Without continual growth and progress, such words as improvement, achievement, and success have no meaning."-Benjamin Franklin


8. "All you need in this life is ignorance and confidence, and then success is sure." Mark Twain


9. "Success depends upon previous preparation, and without such preparation there is sure to be failure." Confucius


10. "However difficult life may seem, there is always something you can do and succeed at." Stephen Hawking


Motivation and success quotes




11. "Success isn't measured by money or power or social rank. Success is measured by your discipline and inner peace." Mike Ditka


12. “People often say that motivation doesn’t last. Well, neither does bathing – that’s why we recommend it daily.” —Zig Ziglar


13. “If you really want to do something, you'll find a way. If you don't, you'll find an excuse.” —Jim Rohn


14. “The greatest discovery of my generation is that a human being can alter his life by altering his attitudes.” —William James


15. "I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been given a no. Only to find that a better, brighter, bigger yes was right around the corner.” —Arlan Hamilton


16. “Keep your eyes on the stars, and your feet on the ground.” ―Theodore Roosevelt

17. "Try not to become a man of success, but rather try to become a man of value."Albert Einstein


18. "Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful". Albert Schweitzer


19. “Get a good idea and stay with it. Dog it, and work at it until it’s done right.” —Walt Disney


20. "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


21. "Success makes so many people hate you. I wish it wasn't that way. It would be wonderful to enjoy success without seeing envy in the eyes of those around you." Marilyn Monroe


22. "More is lost by indecision than wrong decision.” —Marcus Tullius Cicero


23. "Success is not final; failure is not fatal: It is the courage to continue that counts." —Winston Churchill


Motivation and success quotes




24. “The battles that count aren't the ones for gold medals. The struggles within yourself—the invisible, inevitable battles inside all of us—that's where it's at." —Jesse Owens


25. "Success is a lousy teacher. It seduces smart people into thinking they can't lose."Bill Gates


26. “Experience is a hard teacher because she gives the test first, the lesson afterward.” —Vernon Sanders Law


27. “Every strike brings me closer to the next home run.” —Babe Ruth


28. "A true friend is one who overlooks your failures and tolerates your success."Doug Larson


29."I've failed over and over and over again in my life and that is why I succeed." Michael Jordan


30. “Make sure your worst enemy doesn’t live between your own two ears.” —Laird Hamilton


31. “I never dreamed about success. I worked for it.” —Estée Lauder


Motivation and success quotes



32. "Success is a science; if you have the conditions, you get the result." Oscar Wilde


33. "Success consists of getting up just one more time than you fall." Oliver Goldsmith


34. "Success is not a good teacher, failure makes you humble." Shah Rukh Khan


35. “Sometimes magic is just someone spending more time on something than anyone else might reasonably expect.” —Raymond Joseph Teller


36. "Happiness lies in the joy of achievement and the thrill of creative effort."Franklin D. Roosevelt


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

38. “Develop success from failures. Discouragement and failure are two of the surest stepping stones to success.” —Dale Carnegie


39. “Don’t worry about failure; you only have to be right once.” —Drew Houston


40. “When everything seems to be going against you, remember that the airplane takes off against the wind, not with it.” — Henry Ford