When it feels like the world is against you, let the wise words of these positive and inspiring quotes lift your spirits
100 Inspirational Quotes That Will Motivate and Inspire You
Inspirational quotes about life
1. “People often say that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and I say that the most liberating thing about beauty is realizing you are the beholder.” —Salma Hayek, Reader’s Digest, August 2013
2. “Each day comes bearing its gifts. Untie the ribbon.” —Ann Ruth Schabacker, Reader’s Digest, Sept. 1982
3. “Living is the art of getting used to what we didn’t expect.” —Eleanor C. Wood, Reader’s Digest, July 1970
4. “The only way to have a life is to commit to it like crazy.” —Angelina Jolie, Reader’s Digest, May 2002
5. “Believe in yourself. Stay in your own lane. There’s only one you.” —Queen Latifah, Reader’s Digest, Oct. 2008
6. “Experience is not what happens to you; it is what you do with what happens to you.” —Aldous Huxley, Reader’s Digest, March 1956
7. “Love doesn’t make the world go round. Love is what makes the ride worthwhile.” —Franklin P. Jones, Reader’s Digest, Sept. 1977
8. “Kindness is one thing you can’t give away. It always comes back.” —George Skolsky, Reader’s Digest, April 1954
9. “Great opportunities to help others seldom come, but small ones surround us every day.” —Sally Koch, Reader’s Digest, Jan. 1995
10. “Try to be a rainbow in someone else’s cloud.” —Maya Angelou, Reader’s Digest, April 2019
11. “There is only one certainty in life and that is that nothing is certain.” —G.K. Chesterton, Reader’s Digest, June 1926
12. “The most sincere compliment we can pay is attention.” —Walter Anderson, Reader’s Digest, Oct. 1987
13. “The most important trip you may take in life is meeting people halfway.” —Henry Boye, Reader’s Digest, Jan. 1997
14. “Everyone is an explorer. How could you possibly live your life looking at a door and not opening it?” —Robert D. Ballard, Reader’s Digest, May 1998
15. “To feel that one has a place in life solves half the problem of contentment.” —George E. Woodberry, Reader’s Digest, Jan. 1983
16. “I would rather live in a world where my life is surrounded by mystery than live in a world so small that my mind could comprehend it.” —Harry Emerson Fosdick, Reader’s Digest, July 1970
17. “My father gave me the best advice of my life. He said, ‘Whatever you do, don’t wake up at 65 years old and think about what you should have done with your life.’” —George Clooney, Reader’s Digest, July 2006
18. “A life of unremitting caution, without the carefree—or even, occasionally, the careless—may turn out to be half a life.” —Anna Quindlen, Reader’s Digest, Jan. 2007
19. “Having a young child explain something exciting he has seen is the finest example of communication you will ever hear or see.” —Bob Talbert, Reader’s Digest, July 1970
20. “I still close my eyes and go home—I can always draw from that.” —Dolly Parton, Reader’s Digest, Oct. 2008
21. “Words of comfort, skillfully administered, are the oldest therapy known to man.” —Louis Nizer, Reader’s Digest, Jan. 1978
22. “It is our choices that show what we really are, far more than our abilities.” —J.K. Rowling, Reader’s Digest, Jan. 200005
23. “Keep your love of nature, for that is the true way to understand art more and more.” —Vincent Van Gogh, Reader’s Digest, May 1998
24. “We are not at our best perched at the summit; we are climbers, at our best when the way is steep.” —John W. Gardner, Reader’s Digest, July 1970
25. “I’ve learned that people will forget what you’ve said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” —Maya Angelou, Reader’s Digest, Aug. 2013
26. “Just because you’re nervous doesn’t mean you have to look nervous. Nobody can look inside you. Project what you want to project.” —Valerie Jarrett, Reader’s Digest, Aug. 2013
27. “The secret of the man who is universally interesting is that he is universally interested.” —William Dean Howells, Reader’s Digest, Jan. 1974
28. “Friends are the family we choose.” —Jennifer Aniston, Reader’s Digest, Dec. 2002
29. “Never ignore a gut feeling, but never believe that it’s enough.” —Robert Heller, Reader’s Digest, Aug. 2013
Uplifting quotes about happiness
30. “The older you get the more you realize that kindness is synonymous with happiness.” —Lionel Barrymore, Reader’s Digest, April 1953
31. “To be without some of the things you want is an indispensable part of happiness.” —Bertrand Russell, Reader’s Digest, Dec. 1950
32. “The only failure is not knowing how to be happy.” —Celine Dion, Reader’s Digest, Jan. 2001
33. “Don’t waste a minute not being happy. If one window closes, run to the next window—or break down a door.” —Brooke Shields, Reader’s Digest, April 2006
34. “You are genuinely happy if you don’t know why.” —Joseph Mayer, Reader’s Digest, March 1956
35. “If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion.” —Dalai Lama, Reader’s Digest, Oct. 1994
36. “Happiness makes up in height for what it lacks in length.” —Robert Frost, Reader’s Digest, March 1959
37. “Memories are everyone’s second chance at happiness.” —Queen Elizabeth, Reader’s Digest, Oct. 1979
38. “The world is extremely interesting to a joyful soul.” —Alexandra Stoddard, Reader’s Digest, March 1997
39. “He who laughs most learns best.” —John Cleese, Reader’s Digest, May 2016
Inspiring quotes about fear and failure
40. “The greatest mistake you can make is to be continually fearing that you’ll make one.” —Elbert Hubbard, Reader’s Digest, Jan. 1953
41. “Never fear shadows. They simply mean there’s a light shining nearby.” —Ruth E. Renkel, Reader’s Digest, Feb. 1997
42. “A person without regrets is a nincompoop.” —Mia Farrow, Reader’s Digest, April 2006
43. “Worry is like sand in an oyster: A little produces a pearl, too much kills the animal.” —Marcelene Cox, Reader’s Digest, Dec. 1955
44. “It’s the rough side of the mountain that’s the easiest to climb; the smooth side doesn’t have anything for you to hang on to.” —Aretha Franklin, Reader’s Digest, May 2019
45. “When you get to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on. And swing!” —Leo Buscaglia, Reader’s Digest, Oct. 1987
46. “Success is falling nine times and getting up ten.” —Jon Bon Jovi, Reader’s Digest Quotable Quotes, 2013
47. “If your ship doesn’t come in, swim out to it!” —Jonathan Winters, Reader’s Digest, June 1990
48. “A dead end is just a good place to turn around.” —Naomi Judd, Reader’s Digest, Jan. 2004
49. “Success is how high you bounce when you hit bottom.” —Gen. George S. Patton, Reader’s Digest, Nov. 2018
50. “Even a small star shines in the darkness.” —Finnish proverb, Reader’s Digest, June 1990
51. “Failure is God’s way of saying, ‘Excuse me, you’re moving in the wrong direction.’” —Oprah Winfrey, Reader’s Digest, June 2004
52. “Vitality shows not only in the ability to persist but in the ability to start over.” —F. Scott Fitzgerald, Reader’s Digest, Sept. 1982
53. “A problem is a chance for you to do your best.” —Duke Ellington, Reader’s Digest, Oct. 1984
54. “If you don’t place your foot on the rope, you’ll never cross the chasm.” —Liz Smith, Reader’s Digest, Jan. 1992
55. “You can’t turn back the clock. But you can wind it up again.” —Bonnie Prudden, Reader’s Digest, Dec. 1980
56. “Even the worst haircut eventually grows out.” —Lisa Kogan, Reader’s Digest, Jan. 2007
57. “Worry never robs tomorrow of its sorrow; it only saps today of its strength.” —A.J. Cronin,Reader’s Digest 40th Anniversary Treasury, 1961
58. “Every exit is an entry somewhere else.” —Tom Stoppard, Reader’s Digest, July 2000
59. “My dad used to say, You wouldn’t worry so much about what people thought of you if you knew how seldom they did.” —Dr. Phil McGraw, Reader’s Digest, Dec. 2002
60. “If you can’t reach your destination by one road, try another.” —Elsa Schiaparelli, Reader’s Digest, Jan. 1961
61. “Without darkness, there are no dreams.” —Karla Kuban, Reader’s Digest, Dec. 1999
62. “Pay no attention to what the critics say. A statue has never been erected in honor of a critic.” —Jean Sibelius, Reader’s Digest, Oct. 1979
63. “Be bold. If you’re going to make an error, make it a doozy.” —Billie Jean King, Reader’s Digest, Jan. 2004
64. “No day in which you learn something is a complete loss.” —David Eddings, Reader’s Digest, May 1977
65. “Morale is when your hands and feet keep on working when your head says it can’t be done.” —Ben Morcell, Reader’s Digest, Jan. 1961
66. “Be open to learning new lessons, even if they contradict the lessons you learned yesterday.” —Ellen DeGeneres, Reader’s Digest, Jan. 2007
67. “The only thing worse than being talked about is not being talked about.” —Oscar Wilde, Reader’s Digest, Aug. 1940
68. “There’s power in looking silly and not caring that you do.” —Amy Poehler, Reader’s Digest, Aug. 2013
69. “Be yourself. No one can ever tell you that you’re doing it wrong.” —James Leo Herlihy, Reader’s Digest, Sept. 1982
70. “The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don’t have any.” —Alice Walker, Reader’s Digest, June 2019
71. “Real courage is when you know you’re licked before you begin, but you begin anyway and see it through no matter what.” —Harper Lee, Reader’s Digest, Oct. 1989
Positive quotes about time
72. “Time you enjoy wasting was not wasted.” —John Lennon, Reader’s Digest Quotable Quotes, 2013
73. “What’s wrong with being sentimental? Sentimental means you like stuff.” —Paul McCartney, Reader’s Digest, Dec. 2005
74. “The best thing about the future is that it comes only one day at a time.” —Dean Acheson, Reader’s Digest, April 1976
75. “They always say time changes things, but you actually have to change them yourself.” —Andy Warhol, Reader’s Digest, April 2020
76. “If you would know strength and patience, welcome the company of trees.” —Hal Borland, Reader’s Digest, Jan. 1983
77. “Age is not the enemy. Stagnation is the enemy. Complacency is the enemy. Stasis is the enemy.” —Twyla Tharp, Reader’s Digest, May 2020
78. “Procrastination means you know what you need to do and you don’t do it. If you don’t know what to do, you aren’t procrastinating. You are thinking.” —Lynn Lively, Reader’s Digest, Dec. 1999
79. “Joy is one of the only emotions you can’t contrive.” —Bono, Reader’s Digest, Dec. 2005
80. “The aging process has you firmly in its grasp if you never get the urge to throw a snowball.” —Doug Larson, Reader’s Digest, Dec. 20
81. “Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.” —Elmer G. Leterman, Reader’s Digest, Feb. 1958
82. “Be like the sun and the meadow, which are not in the least concerned about the coming winter.” —George Bernard Shaw, Reader’s Digest, Sept. 1982
83. “I don’t want to get to the end of my life and find that I have just lived the length of it. I want to have lived the width of it as well.” —Diane Ackerman, Reader’s Digest, Sept. 2011
84. “What I do today is important because I am exchanging a day of my life for it.” —Hugh Mulligan, Reader’s Digest, Oct. 1981
85. “Quiet minds cannot be perplexed or frightened, but go on in fortune or misfortune at their own private pace, like a clock during a thunderstorm.” —Robert Louis Stevenson, Reader’s Digest, Nov. 1941
Encouraging quotes about success
86. “Success is often the result of taking a misstep in the right direction.” —Al Bernstein, Reader’s Digest, April 1976
87. “Don’t say you can’t until you prove you can’t.” —Les Paul, Reader’s Digest, June 1957
88. “It’s a whole lot more satisfying to reach for the stars, even if you end up landing only on the moon.” —Kermit the Frog, Reader’s Digest, Jan. 2007
89. “The sky isn’t the limit—the sky has no limit.” —Sarah Barker, Reader’s Digest, April 2020
90. “Speak your mind, even if your voice shakes.” —Maggie Kuhn, Reader’s Digest, May 2016
91. “All glory comes from daring to begin.” —Eugene F. Ware, Reader’s Digest, Jan. 1978
92. “If your world doesn’t allow you to dream, move to one where you can.” —Billy Idol, Reader’s Digest, Dec. 2002
93. “Faith is taking the first step. Even when you don’t see the whole staircase.” —Martin Luther King Jr., Reader’s Digest, Sept. 2014
94. “I’d rather regret the risks that didn’t work out than the chances I didn’t take at all.” —Simone Biles, Reader’s Digest, July/Aug. 2020
95. “In the face of uncertainty, there is nothing wrong with hope.” —Bernie Siegel, Reader’s Digest, July 1990
96. “Anything’s possible if you’ve got enough nerve.” —J.K. Rowling, Reader’s Digest, Nov. 2003
97. “Action is the antidote to despair.” —Joan Baez, Reader’s Digest, May 1997
98. “The best bridge between despair and hope is a good night’s sleep.” —Harry Ruby, Reader’s Digest, June 1952
99. “Be thankful for what you have—you’ll end up having more.” —Oprah Winfrey, Reader’s Digest, Dec. 2019/Jan. 2020
100. “The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new lands, but in seeing with new eyes.” —Marcel Proust, Reader’s Digest, Feb. 1981
If you enjoyed reading and sharing these inspirational quotes, we have a list of life-changing quotes you’ll never forget.
Why trust us
At Reader’s Digest, we’ve been sharing our favorite quotes for over 100 years. The sayings and quips that appear in the magazine’s “Quotable Quotes” (formerly “Remarkable Remarks”) are curated from interviews and essays originally published in the magazine, reprints from trusted titles and other verified sources. For this piece on inspirational quotes, writer Linda Roman ensured that all information is accurate. Read more about our team, our contributors and our editorial policies.
Additional reporting by Lucie Turkel and Greg Daugherty.