Top 151 Motivational or Inspirational Quotes for Employees

1. The magic formula that successful businesses have discovered is to treat customers like guests and employees like people. – Tom Peters

2. Everyone talks about building a relationship with your customer. I think you build one with your employees first. – Angela Ahrendts

3.  “Every experience in your life is being orchestrated to teach you something you need to know to move forward.” – Brian Tracy

4. “When we give ourselves permission to fail, we, at the same time, give ourselves permission to excel.” – Eloise Ristad

5. “You must remain focused on your journey to greatness.” – Les Brown

6. “The best preparation for good work tomorrow is to do good work” – Elbert Hubbard

7. “Every worthwhile accomplishment, big or little, has its stages of drudgery and triumph: a beginning, a struggle and a victory.” – Mahatma Gandhi

8. “Review your goals twice every day in order to be focused on achieving them.” – Les Brown

9. “If you fail to plan, then you plan to fail.” – Harvey Mackay

10. “The results you achieve will be in direct proportion to the effort you apply.” – Denis Waitley 

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

12. “You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough.” – Mae West

13. “The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.” – Eleanor Roosevelt

14. “Accept responsibility for your life. Know that it is you who will get you where you want to go, no one else.” – Les Brown

15. “You have to fight to reach your dream, you have to sacrifice and work hard for it.” – Lionel Messi

16. “Dedication, determination and desire is what it takes.” – Jackie Joyner-Kersee

17. “Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new.” – Albert Einstein

18. “Commitment leads to action. Action brings your dream closer.” – Marcia Wieder

19. “The world is divided into people who do things, and people who get the credit. Try, if you can, to belong to the first class. There’s far less competition.” – Dwight Morrow

20. “A life spent in making mistakes is not only more honourable but more useful than a life spent doing nothing.” – George Bernard Shaw 

21. “Becoming is better than being.” — Carol Dweck

22.  “I know not all that may be coming, but be it what it will, I’ll go to it laughing.” — Herman Melville

23. “The sun himself is weak when he first rises, and gathers strength and courage as the day gets on.” — Charles Dickens

24. “Oh yes, the past can hurt. But you can either run from it, or learn from it.” — Rafiki

25. “If I had nine hours to chop down a tree, I’d spend the first six sharpening my axe.” —Abraham Lincoln

26. “The mind is its own place, and in itself can make a heaven of hell, a hell of heaven.” —   John Milton

27. “Intelligence is the ability to adapt to change.” — Stephen Hawking

28. “Leaders can let you fail and yet not let you be a failure.” — Stanley McChrystal

29. “It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit.” – President Harry S Truman

30. “A dream is just a dream. A goal is a dream with a plan and a deadline.” – Harvey Mackay 

31. “Whatever you can do – or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it.” – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

32. “A dwarf standing on the shoulders of a giant may see farther than the giant himself.” –Didacus Stella

33. “The most important thing in life is not to capitalise on your successes – any fool can do that. The really important thing is to profit from your mistakes.” – William Bolitho

34. “If you live long enough, you’ll make mistakes. But if you learn from them, you’ll be a better person. It’s how you handle adversity, not how it affects you. The main thing is never quit, never quit, never quit.” – Bill Clinton

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

36. “A creative man is motivated by the desire to achieve, not by the desire to beat others.” –Ayn Rand

37.  “The question isn’t who’s going to let me; it’s who is going to stop me?”— Ayn Rand

38.  “Kid, there are heroes and there are legends. Heroes get remembered, but legends never die. Follow your heart, kid, and you’ll never go wrong.” — Babe Ruth

39. “Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence wins championships.” — Michael Jordan

40.  “Fight till the last gasp.” — William Shakespeare 

41. “Do or do not. There is no try.” — Yoda

42. “Always be a first-rate version of yourself, instead of a second-rate version of somebody else.” — Judy Garland

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

44. “Man is only truly great when he acts from the passions; never irresistible but when he appeals to the imagination.” — Benjamin Disraeli

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

46. “We must believe that we are gifted for something and that this thing must be attained.” — Marie Curie

47.  “Intelligence without ambition is a bird without wings.” — Salvador Dali

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

49. “Life’s like a movie, write your own ending. Keep believing, keep pretending.” — Jim Hensen

50. “Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds that you plant.” — RobertLouis Stevenson 

51.  “You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose. You’re on your own. And you know what you know. And YOU are the one who’ll decide where to go…” — Dr. Suess

52. “Sometimes the fall kills you. And sometimes, when you fall, you fly.” — Neil Gaiman

53. “In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock.” — Thomas Jefferson

54.  “Do what you do so well that they will want to see it again and again and bring their friend.” — Walt Disney

55. “Work is accomplished by those employees who have not yet reached their level of incompetence.” – Laurence J. Peter

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

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

58. “Always do your best. What you plant now, you will harvest later.” – Og Mandino

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

60. “Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement. Nothing can be done without hope and confidence.” – Helen Keller 

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

62. “Believe in yourself! Have faith in your abilities! Without a humble but reasonable confidence in your own powers you cannot be successful or happy.” – Norman Vincent Peale

63. “Quality is not an act, it is a habit.” – Aristotle

64. “It always seems impossible until it’s done.” – Nelson Mandela

65. “Accept the challenges so that you can feel the exhilaration of victory.” – George S. Patton

66. So many things are possible just as long as you don’t know they’re impossible. — Norton Juster

67. Everything should be made as simple as possible but not simpler.— Albert Einstein

68.  Innovation distinguishes from a leader and a follower. — Steve Jobs

69. “The moment you doubt whether you can fly, you cease forever to be able to do it.” — J.M. Barrie

70. “Everything you’ve ever wanted is on the other side of fear.” — George Addai 

71. “I can’t go back to yesterday because I was a different person then.” — Lewis Carroll

72. “The world you desire can be won. It exists.. it is real.. it is possible.. it’s yours.” — Ayn Rand

73. “There is only one way to avoid criticism. Do nothing. Be nothing. Say nothing.” — Aristotle

74. “It is not the spoon that bends, it is only yourself.” — Spoon Boy

75. “Quality is job one.” — Henry Ford

76. “Write it. Shoot it. Publish it. Crochet it, sauté it, whatever. MAKE.” — Joss Whedon

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

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

79.  “If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.” — John Quincy Adams

80.  “Speak softly and carry a big stick.” — Theodore Roosevelt 

81. “There’s a difference between interest and commitment. When you’re interested in doing something, you do it only when it’s convenient. When you’re committed to something, you accept no excuses; only results.” – Kenneth Blanchard

82. “Success is the sum of small efforts, repeated day in and day out.” – R. Collier

83. “A year from today you will wish you had started today.” – Karen Lamb

84. “It’s never crowded along the extra mile.” – Wayne Dyer

85. “Life is about making an impact, not making an income.” – Kevin Kruse

86. “You can never cross the ocean until you have the courage to lose sight of the shore.” – Christopher Columbus

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

88. “Don’t be afraid to go out on a limb. That’s where the fruit is.” – H. Jackson Browne

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

90. “A boat doesn’t go forward if each one is rowing their own way.” – Proverb 

91. “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

92. “A dream doesn’t become reality through magic; it takes sweat, determination and hard work.” – Colin Powell

93. “A single arrow is easily broken, but not ten in a bundle.” – Proverb

94. “A single leaf working alone provides no shade.” – Chuck Page

95. “All growth depends upon activity. There is no development physically or intellectually without effort, and effort means work.”– Calvin Coolidge

96. “Alone we can do so little. Together we can do so much” – Helen Keller

97. “Be a user of your own product. Make it better based on your own desires. But don’t trick yourself into thinking you are the user.” – Evan Williams

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

99. “Challenges are what make life interesting and overcoming them is what makes life meaningful.” –Joshua J. Marine

100. “Change is hard work.” – Billy Crystal 

101. “Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success.” – Henry Ford

102. “Criticism is the best sign you’re onto something.” – Micheal Lopp

103. “Do the things you like to be happier, stronger & more successful. Only so is hard work replaced by dedication.”– Rossana Condoleo

104. “Don’t Let Yesterday Take Up Too Much Of Today.” – Will Rogers

105. “Embrace the pain to inherit the gain.” – Habeeb Akande

106. “Everything has beauty, but not everyone can see.” — Confucius

107. “Everything yields to diligence.”– Thomas Jefferson

108. “Fall seven times and stand up eight.” – Japanese Proverb

109. “Goodness and hard work are rewarded with respect.”– Luther Campbell

110. “Hard work without talent is a shame, but talent without hard work is a tragedy.”– Robert Hall 

111. “Accept the challenges so that you can feel the exhilaration of victory.” – George S. Patton

112. “In order to succeed, we must first believe that we can.” – Nikos Kazantzakis

113. “If you can dream it, you can do it.” – Walt Disney

114.  “Don’t go around saying the world owes you a living. The world owes you nothing. It was here first.” ― Mark Twain

115. “It’s life. You don’t figure it out. You just climb up on the beast and ride.” ― Rebecca Wells

116. “There’s zero correlation between being the best talker and having the best ideas.” —Susan Cain

117. “Unless someone like you care a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better, it’s not.” — Dr. Suess

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

119. “Ignorance and fear are but matters of the mind—and the mind is adaptable.” — Daniel Kish

120. “Those who don’t believe in magic will never find it.” — Roald Dahl 

121.  “Imitation is suicide.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson

122. “Genius is born—not paid.” — Oscar Wilde

123. “Very often, a change of self is needed more than a change of scene.” — A.C. Benson

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

125.  “It is by going down into the abyss that we recover the treasures of life. Where you stumble, there lies your treasure.” — Joseph Campbell

126. “It’s easy to solve a problem that everyone sees, but it’s hard to solve a problem that almost no one sees.” — Tony Fadell

127. “Learning never exhausts the mind.” — Leonardo Da Vinci

128. “The power of imagination makes us infinite.” — John Muir

129. “I attribute my success to this: I never gave or took any excuse.” – Florence Nightingale

130. “I do not care about happiness simply because I believe that joy is something worth fighting for.”– Criss Jami 

131. “I don’t have a blue-collar job. It’s more of a green collar, because of all the yellow sweat stains mixing in.”– Jarod Kintz

132. “I have learned over the years that when one’s mind is made up, this diminishes fear.” — Rosa Parks

133. “If everyone is moving forward together, then success takes care of itself.” – Henry Ford

134. “If two men on the same job agree all the time, one is useless. If they disagree all the time, both are useless” – Darryl F. Zanuck

135. “If You Are Working On Something That You Really Care About, You Don’t Have To Be Pushed. The Vision Pulls You.”- Steve Jobs

136. “If you can laugh together, you can work together” – Robert Orben

137. “If you don’t burn out at the end of each day, you’re a bum.”– George Lois

138. “If you hear a voice within you say “you cannot paint,” then by all means paint and that voice will be silenced.” – Vincent Van Gogh

139. “If you try and lose then it isn’t your fault. But if you don’t try and we lose, then it’s all your fault.” – Orson Scott Card

140. “In union there is strength.” – Aesop  

141. “With the new day comes new strength and new thoughts.” – Eleanor Roosevelt

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

143. “The will to win, the desire to succeed, the urge to reach your full potential… these are the keys that will unlock the door to personal excellence.” – Confucius

144. “Good, better, best. Never let it rest. ‘Til your good is better and your better is best.” – St. Jerome

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

146. “Your talent is God’s gift to you. What you do with it is your gift back to God.” – Leo Buscaglia

147. “Keep your eyes on the stars, and your feet on the ground.” – Theodore Roosevelt

148. The past cannot be changed. The future is yet in your power. – Unknown

149. “You can’t cross the sea merely by standing and staring at the water.” – Rabindranath Tagore

150. “You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream.” – Les Brown

151. “Never, never, never give up.” – Winston Churchill