Maybe you're struggling with a bout of insecurity or fear of the unknown. Maybe that dream you've been holding onto suddenly feels too big and way out of reach. Or maybe your inner reserve of positive, can-do energy has been drained. Take heart: You're not alone. Motivation, like just about everything in life, has its ebbs and flows.
To give you a surge and get you back up and moving forward, we've collected 40+ quotes from folks who know a lot about motivational ebbs and flows: authors. Their works span a variety of genres, from classic literature to career success, and offer a diversity of perspectives. We're sure you'll find at least a few wise and uplifting words that speak directly to you and will soon have your motivation flowing.
1. "All endings are also beginnings. We just don't know it at the time." -,
2. "The only person you need to be better than is the one you were yesterday," -,
3. "The lust for comfort kills the passions of the soul." -,
4. "As long as the heart beats, as long as body and soul keep together, I cannot admit that any creature endowed with a will has need to despair of life." -,
5. "How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world." -,
6. "Only you can master your mind, which is what it takes to live a bold life filled with accomplishments most people consider beyond their capability." -,
7. "Live boldly. Push yourself. Don't settle." -,
8. "Everything is possible. The impossible just takes longer." -,
9. "I call people rich when they’re able to meet the requirements of their imagination." -,
10. "It is never too late to be wise." -,
11. "I dream. Sometimes I think that’s the only right thing to do." -,
12. "Do not stop thinking of life as an adventure. You have no security unless you can live bravely, excitingly, imaginatively; unless you can choose a challenge instead of competence." -,
13. "Anything worth dying for is certainly worth living for." -
14. "The goal isn't to live forever, the goal is to create something that will." -,
15. "Yelling doesn't make a thing any more possible." -,
16. "I know not all that may be coming, but be it what it will, I’ll go to it laughing." -,
17. "If a man has his eyes bound, you can encourage him as much as you like to stare through the bandage, but he'll never see anything." -,
18. "If you don’t imagine, nothing ever happens at all." -,
19. "The only limits for tomorrow are the doubts we have today." -,
20. "When you are imagining, you might as well imagine something worth while." -,
21. "Never say 'no' to adventures." -,
22. "There will be little rubs and disappointments everywhere, and we are all apt to expect too much; but then, if one scheme of happiness fails, human nature turns to another; if the first calculation is wrong, we make a second better: we find comfort somewhere." -,
23. "Celebrate the fight and the proud run. Coming close can be confirmation you are on the right path." -,
24. "But when your sword breaks, you draw your dagger." -,
25. "Reality told us we would fail. But again and again, we fought. We persevered. We rose." -,
26. "If you’re serious about changing your life, you’ll find a way. If you’re not, you’ll find an excuse." -,
27. "We cast a shadow on something wherever we stand, and it is no good moving from place to place to save things; because the shadow always follows. Choose a place where you won’t do harm—yes, choose a place where you won’t do very much harm, and stand in it for all you are worth, facing the sunshine." -,
28. "Persist, pivot, or concede. It’s up to us, our choice every time." -,
29. "We can't help the way we're born. We can't help what we are, only what life we choose to make for ourselves." -,
30. "There's no point in being unhappy about things you can't change, and no point being unhappy about things you can." -,
31. "It's important to be able to distinguish the difference between a problem and an inconvenience." -,
32. "You don’t have to be the victim of your environment. You can also be the architect of it." -,
33. "Be roses that grow in the concrete." -,
34. "And so I made the decision to change. It might seem like change was impossible, given my nature and my age, but I understood exactly what there was to lose...The point wasn’t whether or not I liked it. The point was it had to be done." -,
35. "Random wandering will not move you forward." -,
36. "Not all those who wander are lost." -,
37. "You are where you are and what you are because of yourself, nothing else." -,
38. "When I face the desolate impossibility of writing five hundred pages, a sick sense of failure falls on me, and I know I can never do it. Then gradually, I write one page and then another." -,
39. "If we wait until we're ready, we'll be waiting the rest of our lives." -,
40. "It's so important that you learn how to silence fear because it's the only thing that's stopping you from achieving your dreams and being the person you want to be." -,
41. "You are your best thing." -,