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Quotes about motivation and goals

230 quotes from 178 people

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For we pay a price for everything we get or take in this world; and although ambitions are well worth having, they are not to be cheaply won, but exact their dues of work and self-denial, anxiety and discouragement.
L. M. Montgomery1874–1942Anne of Green Gables (1908), Chapter XXXVIIn context
- Work
For my part, I will never give up and I mean never.
Elon Muskborn 19712 August 2008 in a message to SpaceX employees after the failed third launch of the Falcon 1.
Take time to deliberate, but when the time for action has arrived, stop thinking and go in.
Napoleon1769–1821
Impossible is a word to be found only in the dictionary of fools.
Napoleon1769–1821
The ambition of the greatest man of our generation has been to wipe every tear from every eye. That may be beyond us, but so long as there are tears and suffering, so long our work will not be over.
Jawaharlal Nehru1889–1964A Tryst With Destiny (14 August 1947)
If we have our own why in life, we shall get along with almost any how.
Friedrich Nietzsche1844–1900Twilight of the Idols (1889), “Maxims and Arrows,” § 1.12
- Life & Death
I teach you the Superman. Man is something that is to be surpassed. What have ye done to surpass man?
Friedrich Nietzsche1844–1900Thus Spoke Zarathustra (1883), Prologue, § 3, tr. Thomas CommonIn context
- Philosophy
I never lose an opportunity of urging a practical beginning, however small, for it is wonderful how often in such matters the mustard-seed germinates and roots itself.
Florence Nightingale1820–1910Letter to a friend, quoted in The Life of Florence Nightingale Vol. II (1914) by Edward Tyas Cook, p. 406
The progressive world is necessarily divided into two classes — those who take the best of what there is and enjoy it — those who wish for something better and try to create it.
Florence Nightingale1820–1910Cassandra (1860)
- Change
A man is not finished when he’s defeated. He’s finished when he quits.
Richard Nixon1913–19941969 note to self, as quoted in Nixon (1987) by Stephen E. Ambrose, p. 284
- Failure
Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and precious life?
MOMary Oliver1935–2019New and Selected Poems (1992)
- Life & Death
One man can make a difference and every man should try.
Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis1929–1994Written on a card for an exhibit which travelled around the US when the John F. Kennedy Library in Boston was first opening (1979), quoted in Respectfully Quoted: A Dictionary of Quotations (1989) edited by Suzy Platt
- Inspiration
Either don’t try at all or make damned sure you succeed.
Ovid43 BC–AD 17Ars Amatoria (The Art of Love), Book I, line 389 (tr. James Michie)
- Success
Don’t look back; they may be gaining on you.
Satchel Paige1906–1982
There is a high goal, a mountain peak, a star that shines in the darkness, beckoning above the horizon. Its mere existence gives you hope⁠—and that is the meaning without which you cannot live.
Jordan Petersonborn 1962Beyond Order (2021), p. 133
- Hope