175 Quotes About Working Hard to Achieve Your Goals
Whether you are taking your first step toward a new goal or have been pursuing your goals for years, you won’t get far without hard work. There are no shortcuts to success.
As a coach, I know it’s not always easy to find the motivation to put in the reps every day, but I’ve found that the insights of some of the world’s most successful people can make it a lot easier.
As such, I’ve compiled 175 inspirational quotes from people like Elon Musk, Maya Angelou, Serena Williams, Theodore Roosevelt, Walt Disney, and Steve Jobs that are sure to keep you focused on achieving your goals:
Theodore Roosevelt
“Nothing worth having comes easy.”
“Far and away the best prize that life has to offer is the chance to work hard at work worth doing.”
“Nothing in the world is worth having or worth doing unless it means effort, pain, difficulty… I have never in my life envied a human being who led an easy life. I have envied a great many people who led difficult lives and led them well.”
Walt Disney
“The difference between winning and losing is most often not quitting.”
“People often ask me if I know the secret of success and if I could tell others how to make their dreams come true. My answer is, you do it by working.”
“I like the impossible because there’s less competition.”
Henry David Thoreau
“Cultivate the habit of early rising. It is unwise to keep the head long on a level with the feet.”
“The biggest happiness is when at the end of the year you feel better than at the beginning.”
“Go confidently in the direction of your dreams! Live the life you’ve imagined.”
“Never look back unless you are planning to go that way.”
“What you get by achieving your goals is not as important as what you become by achieving your goals.”
Steve Jobs
“I’m convinced that about half of what separates successful entrepreneurs from the non-successful ones is pure perseverance.”
“I’m as proud of many of the things we haven’t done as the things we have done. Innovation is saying no to a thousand things.”
“Average people allow time to impose its will on them; exceptional people impose their will on their time.”
“The people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do.”
“Great things in business are never done by one person; they’re done by a team of people.”
Muhammad Ali
"I am the greatest. I said that even before I knew I was."
"Don't count the days. Make the days count."
"Impossible is temporary. Impossible is nothing."
"The fight is won or lost far away from the witnesses, behind the lines, in the gym, and out there on the road, long before I dance under those lights."
"I don't count the sit-ups. I only start counting when it starts hurting because they're the only ones that count. That's what makes you a champion."
Mat Fraser
“I’m going to do today what some people aren’t willing to, so that tomorrow I can do what they can’t.”
Thomas Jefferson
"Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal; nothing on earth can help the man with the wrong mental attitude."
"Do you want to know who you are? Don't ask. Act! Action will delineate and define you."
"Determine never to be idle. No person will have occasion to complain of the want of time who never loses any. It is wonderful how much may be done if we are always doing."
"Only aim to do your duty, and mankind will give you credit where you fail."
"Walking is the best possible exercise. Habituate yourself to walk very far."
Elon Musk
"If something is important enough, even if the odds are against you, you should still do it."
"The first step is to establish that something is possible; then probability will occur."
“It's OK to have your eggs in one basket as long as you control what happens to that basket."
"You want to have a future where you're expecting things to be better, not one where you're expecting things to be worse."
"I wouldn't say I have a lack of fear. In fact, I'd like my fear emotion to be less because it's very distracting and fries my nervous system."
Michael Phelps
“When I feel tired, I just think about how great I will feel once I finally reach my goal.”
“I felt I had unfinished business. I didn’t want to have that ‘what if’ moment 20 years down the road, where I think back and wonder ‘why didn’t I swim one more Olympics?’”
“If you’re not serious about training, conditioning, and practice. You’re not serious about being your best.”
"I think goals should never be easy, they should force you to work, even if they are uncomfortable at the time.”
“Things won’t go perfect. It’s all about how you adapt from those things and learn from mistakes.”
Andrew Carnegie
"As I grow older, I pay less attention to what men say. I just watch what they do.”
"There is little success where there is little laughter."
"And while the law of competition may be sometimes hard for the individual, it is best for the race, because it ensures the survival of the fittest."
"People who are unable to motivate themselves must be content with mediocrity, no matter how impressive their other talents."
"Surplus wealth is a sacred trust which its possessor is bound to administer in his lifetime for the good of the community."
Stephen King
“Get busy living or get busy dying.”
“Books are a uniquely portable magic.”
“If you don't have time to read, you don't have the time (or the tools) to write. Simple as that.”
“Books are the perfect entertainment: no commercials, no batteries, hours of enjoyment for each dollar spent. What I wonder is why everybody doesn't carry a book around for those inevitable dead spots in life.”
“The road to hell is paved with adverbs.”
Albert Einstein
“Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep moving.”
“Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new.”
“Logic will get you from A to Z; imagination will get you everywhere.”
“If you can't explain it to a six-year-old, you don't understand it yourself.”
“I speak to everyone in the same way, whether he is the garbage man or the president of the university.”
Maya Angelou
“Nothing will work unless you do.”
“All great achievements require time.”
“We may encounter many defeats but we must not be defeated.”
“I believe that every person is born with talent.”
“I know for sure that love saves me and that it is here to save us all.”
A League of Their Own
“It’s supposed to be hard. If it wasn’t hard everyone would do it. The hard is what makes it great.”
Michelle Obama
“Don’t ever make decisions based on fear. Make decisions based on hope and possibility. Make decisions based on what should happen, not what shouldn’t.”
“Let us not forget: I didn’t just wake up First Lady… I mean, I went to law school, I practiced law, I worked for the city, I ran a nonprofit, (and) I was an executive at a hospital. I’ve been in the world. I’ve worked in every sector, and you don’t do that without coming up against some stuff. You know, having your feelings hurt, having people say things about you that aren’t true… Life hits you, so over the course of living, you learn how to protect yourself in it. You learn to take in what you need and get rid of the stuff that’s clearly not true.”
“Whether you come from a council estate or a country estate, your success will be determined by your own confidence and fortitude.”
“When someone is cruel or acts like a bully, you don’t stoop to their level. No, our motto is, when they go low, we go high.”
“Success is only meaningful and enjoyable if it feels like your own.”
Mark Zuckerberg
“Move fast and break things. Unless you are breaking stuff, you are not moving fast enough.”
“The biggest risk is not taking any risk… In a world that is changing really quickly, the only strategy that is guaranteed to fail is not taking risks.”
“I think a simple rule of business is, if you do the things that are easier first, then you can actually make a lot of progress.”
“In terms of doing work and in terms of learning and evolving as a person, you just grow more when you get more people’s perspectives… I really try and live the mission of the company and… keep everything else in my life extremely simple.”
“Facebook was not originally created to be a company. It was built to accomplish a social mission – to make the world more open and connected.”
Colin Powell
“All work is honorable. Always do your best because someone is watching.”
“Dig up all the information you can, then go with your instincts.”
“Don’t be buffaloed by experts and elites. Experts often possess more data than judgment. Elites can become so inbred that they produce hemophiliacs who bleed to death as soon as they are nicked by the real world.”
“Perpetual optimism is a force multiplier.”
“Leadership is solving problems. The day soldiers stop bringing you their problems is the day you have stopped leading them.”
Henry Ford
“Whether you think you can, or you think you can't--you're right.”
“You can't build a reputation on what you are going to do.”
“If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.”
“The only real mistake is the one from which we learn nothing.”
“Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off your goals.”
Mark Twain
"Character is the architect of achievements."
"The lack of money is the root of all evil."
"The man with a new idea is a crank until the idea succeeds."
"A full belly is little worth where the mind is starved."
"Always respect your superiors; if you have any."
Oprah Winfrey
“Luck is a matter of preparation meeting opportunity.”
“Opportunity may knock only once but temptation leans on the doorbell.”
“The biggest adventure you can ever take is to live the life of your dreams.”
“So go ahead. Fall down. The world looks different from the ground.”
It doesn’t matter who you are, where you come from. The ability to triumph begins with you – always.
Serena Williams
“Hold serve, Hold serve, Hold serve. Focus, Focus, Focus. Be confident, Be confident, Be confident. Hold serve. Hold, Hold, Hold. Move Up, Attack, Kill. Smile. Hold!!!”
“Victory is very, very sweet. It tastes better than any dessert you've ever had.”
“A champion is not defined by their wins but how they recover when they fall.”
“Joy is the whole game, not just the end game.”
“The world knows me as someone who puts so much time and hard work into my game and through it all I’ve realized you have to find the joys that make the journey worth it.”
Abraham Lincoln
“Folks are usually about as happy as they make their minds up to be.”
“Whatever you are, be a good one.”
“I'm a success today because I had a friend who believed in me and I didn't have the heart to let him down.”
“My concern is not whether God is on our side; my greatest concern is to be on God's side, for God is always right.”
“Those who deny freedom to others, deserve it not for themselves.”
Pat Summitt
“Here's how I'm going to beat you. I'm going to outwork you. That's it. That's all there is to it.”
“The willingness to experiment with change may be the most essential ingredient to success at anything.”
“Attitude is a choice. Think positive thoughts daily. Believe in yourself.”
“Value those colleagues who tell you the truth, not just what you want to hear.”
“Teamwork is what makes common people capable of uncommon results.”
Babe Ruth
“Don't let the fear of striking out hold you back.”
“You just can't beat the person who never gives up.”
“Every strike brings me closer to the next home run.”
“I swing big, with everything I've got. I hit big or I miss big. I like to live as big as I can.”
“Love the game of baseball and baseball will love you.”
Newt Gingrich
“Perseverance is the hard work you do after you get tired of doing the hard work you already did.”
“I'm not a natural leader. I'm too intellectual; I'm too abstract; I think too much.”
“Politics and war are remarkably similar situations.”
“You can't trust anybody with power.”
“We tried to have diplomas without learning, we tried to have jobs without work, we tried to have houses without savings, we tried to have government without responsibility.”
Michael Jordan
"I can accept failure, everyone fails at something. But I can't accept not trying."
"My attitude is that if you push me towards something that you think is a weakness, then I will turn that perceived weakness into a strength."
"The minute you get away from fundamentals–whether it's proper technique, work ethic, or mental preparation–the bottom can fall out of your game, your schoolwork, your job, whatever you're doing."
"I've missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I've lost almost 300 games. Twenty-six times, I've been trusted to take the game-winning shot and missed. I've failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed."
"Heart is what separates the good from the great."
My High School Sports Coach
“Champions aren’t made on the podium. (They’re made here!)”
Larry Bird
“Push yourself again and again. Don't give an inch until the final buzzer sounds.”
“First master the fundamentals.”
“Practice habits were crucial to my development in basketball…There are many times when you are better off practicing than playing; but most people just don't understand that.”
“When I was young, I never wanted to leave the court until I got things exactly correct. My dream was to become a pro.”
“The more you win, the better you're gonna get. It grows on itself.”
Rita Moreno
"Retirement is just not in my DNA."
“Bigger than life is not difficult for me. I am bigger than life.”
"This is my idea of heaven, coming home and watching the news."
“People tell me I look good these days. I look good because I feel good. I know people who are older than I am who are twenty-five... It's all about attitude. To me, age is just a number.”
"It is through art that we will prevail and we will endure. It lives on after us and defines us as people."
Jim Rohn
“Don’t wish it was easier, wish you were better. Don’t wish for less problems, wish for more skills. Don’t wish for less challenge, wish for more wisdom.”
“If you are not willing to risk the unusual, you will have to settle for the ordinary.”
“Start from wherever you are and with whatever you’ve got.”
“Formal education will make you a living; self-education will make you a fortune.”
“Either you run the day or the day runs you.”
Earl Nightingale
“When you judge others, you do not define them, you define yourself.”
“Never give up on a dream just because of the time it will take to accomplish it. The time will pass anyway.”
“Wherever there is danger, there lurks opportunity; wherever there is opportunity, there lurks danger. The two are inseparable.”
“You are now, and you do become, what you think about.”
“Success is the progressive realization of a worthy goal or ideal.”
Seth Godin
“Instead of wondering when your next vacation is, maybe you should set up a life you don't need to escape from.”
“How dare you settle for less when the world has made it so easy for you to be remarkable?”
“Change almost never fails because it's too early. It almost always fails because it's too late.”
“Soon is not as good as now.”
“An artist is someone who uses bravery, insight, creativity, and boldness to challenge the status quo. And an artist takes it personally.”
Anthony Bourdain
"Luck is not a business model."
"I'm not afraid to look like an idiot."
"Without experimentation, a willingness to ask questions and try new things, we shall surely become static, repetitive, and moribund."
"Your body is not a temple, it's an amusement park. Enjoy the ride."
"As you move through this life and this world, you change things slightly; you leave marks behind, however small. And in return, life--and travel--leaves marks on you. Most of the time, those marks--on your body or on your heart--are beautiful. Often, though, they hurt."
Pablo Picasso
“Learn the rules like a pro, so you can break them like an artist.”
“Only put off until tomorrow what you are willing to die having left undone.”
“The chief enemy of creativity is good sense.”
“Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up.”
“I am always doing that which I can not do, in order that I may learn how to do it.”
Arianna Huffington
“Fearlessness is not the absence of fear. It's the mastery of fear. It's about getting up one more time than we fall down.”
“We think, mistakenly, that success is the result of the amount of time we put in at work, instead of the quality of time we put in.”
“If you take care of your mind, you take care of the world.”
“Today we often use deadlines—real and imaginary—to imprison ourselves.”
“Just change the channel. You are in control of the clicker. Don’t replay the bad, scary movie.”
Thomas Edison
“Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.”
“We often miss opportunity because it's dressed in overalls and looks like work.”
“Five percent of the people think; ten percent of the people think they think; and the other eighty-five percent would rather die than think.”
“Genius is one percent inspiration, ninety-nine percent perspiration.”
“If we all did the things we are really capable of doing, we would literally astound ourselves.”
Paulo Coelho
“And, when you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.”
“It's the possibility of having a dream come true that makes life interesting.”
“Don't waste your time with explanations: people only hear what they want to hear.”
“When I had nothing to lose, I had everything. When I stopped being who I am, I found myself.”
“The secret of life, though, is to fall seven times and to get up eight times.”
Bill Copeland
“The trouble with not having a goal is that you can spend your life running up and down the field and never score.”
“Life is a free circus. All you have to do is pay attention.”
“How strange to use "You only live once" as an excuse to throw it away.”
“Try to be like the turtle - at ease in your own shell.”
“The man who rows the boat seldom has time to rock it.”
Emily Sander
“Small wins add up faster than you think.”
Which five are the best quotes to use to get the momentum going for your own goals?
Take a few minutes to pick - and then write them down or put them on your phone. You can then come back to them whenever you need help staying focused on your goals.
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About The Author
Emily Sander is an ICF-certified leadership coach with more than 15 years of experience in the business world and the author of Hacking Executive Leadership. She’s been featured in several print publications, online articles, and podcasts, including CEO Today Magazine, Leading to Fulfillment, and Leadership Powered by Common Sense.
Emily has a passion for helping business leaders reach their full potential. Go here to read her story from seasoned executive to knowledgeable coach. If you want to send Emily a quick message, then visit her contact page here.