107 Inspirational and Thoughtful Life Quotes To Motivate You in Hard Times

When life brings you lemons, make lemonade!

Life quotes help us overcome challenges, find the silver linings, and persevere through challenges. They inspire us to dream the impossible, motivate us to keep improving, and encourage us in trying times.

Discover 107 of the best life quotes to get you through anything life throws at you.

Inspirational Life Quotes

Need a little inspiration? These life quotes can help!

1. “Our prime purpose in this life is to help others. And if you can’t help them, at least don’t hurt them.” – Dalai Lama

2. “If you want to live a happy life, tie it to a goal, not to people or things.” – Albert Einstein

3. “Never let the fear of striking out keep you from playing the game.”  – Babe Ruth

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

5. “If you don’t like something, change it. If you can’t change it, change your attitude.” – Maya Angelou 

6. “Nothing is impossible, the word itself says ‘I’m possible.’” – Audrey Hepburn.

7. “If I cannot do great things, I can do small things in a great way.” – Martin Luther King, Jr.

8. “You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.” – Wayne Gretzky

9. “If you don’t like the road you’re walking, start paving another one.” – Dolly Parton

10. The good life is one inspired by love and guided by knowledge.” – Bertrand Russell

11. “Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.” –  Mahatma Gandhi

12. “Only I can change my life. No one can do it for me.” – Carol Burnett

13.  “The past can hurt. But the way I see it, you can either run from it, or you can learn from it.” – Rafiki, the Lion King

14.  “All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make, the better.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

15. “In the end, it’s not the years in your life that count. It’s the life in your years.” –  Abraham Lincoln

16. “It had long since come to my attention that people of accomplishment rarely sat back and let things happen to them. They went out and happened to things.” – Leonardo Da Vinci

17.  “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

18.  “Act as if what you do makes a difference. It does.” – William James

19.  “Life consists not in holding good cards but in playing those you hold well.” – Josh Billings

20.  “Go confidently in the direction of your dreams! Live the life you’ve imagined.” – Henry David Thoreau

21. “Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony.” – Mahatma Gandhi

22. “You are where you are in life because of what you believe is possible for yourself.” – Oprah

23. “Be happy for this moment. This moment is your life.” –  Omar Khayyam

24. “The only person you are destined to become is the person you decide to be.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

25. “I choose to make the rest of my life the best of my life.” – Louise Hay

26. “I can’t change the direction of the wind, but I can adjust my sails to always reach my destination.” – Jimmy Dean

Motivational Life Quotes

It’s time to get motivated! These life quotes will give you the drive you need to succeed.

1. “Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, ‘What are you doing for others?’” – Martin  Luther King, Jr.

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

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

4. “Greatness begins beyond your comfort zone.” – Robin Sharma

5. “There is only one corner of the universe you can be certain of improving, and that’s your own self.” – Aldous Huxley 

6. “Success is not final; failure is not fatal: It is the courage to continue that counts.” – Winston S. Churchill

7.  “Don’t settle for what life gives you; make life better and build something.” – Ashton Kutcher

8. “Strive not to be a success, but rather to be of value.” – Albert Einstein

9. “Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time.” – Thomas A. Edison

10. “Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you react to it.” – Charles R. Swindoll

11. “You’ll never change your life until you change something you do daily.” – John C. Maxwell

12. “The secret of getting ahead is getting started.” – Mark Twain

13. “Every man dies. Not every man really lives.” –  William Wallace

14. “Do what you can, with what you have, where you can.” – Theodore Roosevelt

15. “Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one’s courage.” –  Anais Nin

16. “Get busy living or get busy dying.” – Stephen King

17. “In order to write about life first you must live it.” – Ernest Hemingway

18. “You must expect great things of yourself before you can do them.” – Michael Jordan

19. “Don’t wait, life goes faster than you think.” – Unknown

20. “If everyone was satisfied with himself, there would be no heroes.” – Mark Twain

21. “The only person you should try to be better than is the person you were yesterday.” – Unknown

22. “The big secret in life is that there is no big secret. Whatever your goal, you can get there if you’re willing to work.” – Oprah

23. “You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face.” – Eleanor Roosevelt

24. “Don’t wait for opportunity. Create it.” – Unknown

25. “The best revenge is massive success.” – Frank Sinatra

26. “I have discovered in life that there are ways of getting almost anywhere you want to go, if you really want to go.” – Langston Hughes

Encouraging Life Quotes

Life isn’t always easy. When hardship strikes, these encouraging quotes about life can help.

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

2.  “The greatest glory in living lies not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.” –  Ralph Waldo Emerson

3. “Learn as if you will live forever, live like you will die tomorrow.” – Mahatma Gandhi

4. “The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now.” – Unknown

5. “Believe you can and you’re halfway there.” – Theodore Roosevelt

6. “Don’t take life too seriously, you’ll never get out alive.” – Van Wilder

7. “If you fell down yesterday, stand up today.” – H. G. Wells

8. “Go confidently in the direction of your dreams! Live the life you’ve imagined.” – Henry David Thoreau

9. “The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.” – Lao Tzu

10. “It is better to live your own destiny imperfectly than to live an imitation of somebody else’s life with perfection.” – Elizabeth Gilbert

11. “If life were predictable, it would cease to be life and be without flavor.” – Eleanor Roosevelt

12.  “In three words I can sum up everything I’ve learned about life: It goes on.” – Robert Frost

13.  “If you spend your whole life waiting for the storm, you’ll never enjoy the sunshine.” – Morris West

14.  “Don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened.” – Dr. Seuss 

15.  “It’s never too late – never too late to start over, never too late to be happy.” – Jane Fonda

16.  “If you really want to do something, you’ll find a way. If you don’t, you’ll find an excuse.” – Jim Rohn

17.  “You live for the fight when that’s all that you’ve got,” – John Bon Jovi

18.  I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.” – Michael Jordan

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

20.  “Do or do not, there is no try.” – Yoda

21.  “Don’t be afraid to give up the good to go for the great.” – John D. Rockefeller

22.  “What great thing would you attempt, if you knew you could not fail.” – Robert H. Schuller

23.  “Success is not final; failure is not fatal; it is the courage to continue that counts.” – Winston Churchill

24.  “If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again,” – unknown

25.  “Try again. Fail again. Fail better.” – Samuel Beckett

26.  “Don’t stop when you’re tired. Stop when you’re done.” – Wesley Snipes

27. “The only way to achieve the impossible is to believe it is possible.” – Charles Kingsleigh

28.  “Believe in yourself. You are braver than you think, more talented than you know, and capable of more than you imagine.” – Roy T. Bennett

29.  “Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you’ll land among the stars.” – Norman Vincent Peale

30. “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

Life Quotes that Make You Think

Life isn’t all roses and sunshine. Humanity was blessed with the ability to ponder things beyond comprehension, like the meaning of life, value of time, and our own mortality.

Our final group of life quotes force us to consider whether we’re living for ourselves, and if not, why aren’t we changing course?

1. “You have succeeded in life when all you want is only what you need.” – Vernon Howard

2.  “Don’t search for the meaning of life. Simply be present for the people you love.” –  Maxime Lagacé

3.  “Is this the life that you lead, or the life that’s led for you?” – Rise Against

4. “Life is what happens when you’re busy making other plans.” – John Lennon

5. “Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma—which is living with the results of other people’s thinking.” – Steve Jobs

6. “Life is a dream for the wise, a game for the fool, a comedy for the rich, a tragedy for the poor.” – Sholom Aleichem

7. “Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you’re going to get until you bite into it.” –  Forrest Gump

8. “You cannot be afraid to disappoint people. You have to live the life you want to live.” –  David Goggins

9. “If there’s a book that you want to read, but it hasn’t been written yet, then you must write it.” – Toni Morrison

10. “The purpose of life is to live it, to taste experience to the utmost, to reach out eagerly and without fear for newer and richer experience.” – Eleanor Roosevelt

11. “Life isn’t about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself.” –  George Bernard Shaw

12. “The privilege of a lifetime is being who you are.” – Joseph Campbell

13. “Too many of us are not living our dreams because we are living our fears.” – Les Brown

14.  “The two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why.” – Mark Twain

15.  “When I was 5 years old, my mother always told me that happiness was the key to life.  When I went to school, they asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up.  I wrote down ‘happy’.  They told me I didn’t understand the assignment, and I told them they didn’t understand life.” – John Lennon

16.  “Watch your thoughts; they become words. Watch your words; they become actions. Watch your actions; they become habits. Watch your habits; they become character. Watch your character; it becomes your destiny.” – Lao-Tze

17.  “It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you’ll do things differently.” – Warren Buffett

18.  “When one door closes, another opens; but we often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door that we do not see the one that has opened for us.”  – Alexander Graham Bell

19.  “The hardest thing in this world is to live in it. Be Brave. Live.” – Buffy the Vampire Slayer

20. “If you don’t design your own life plan, chances are you’ll fall into someone else’s plan. And guess what they have planned for you? Not much.” – Jim Rohn

21.  “A ship in harbor is safe, but that is not what ships are built for.” – John A. Shedd

22.  “Living is easy with eyes closed, misunderstanding all you see.” – the Beatles

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

24. “The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don’t have any.” – Alice Walker

25.  “Number one reason people fail in life is because they listen to their friends, family, and neighbors.” – Napoleon Hill

Life is a Highway

Ride it all night long! I hope these life quotes offered motivation, inspiration, or a fresh perspective.

It’s your life, make the best of it!