Are you looking for motivation and inspiration? With so many great minds in our recorded history, you’re bound to run across at least one you’ll call one of the greatest quotes of all time. These are wise words that put life in perspective or inspire you to do great things.
The truly great words are those that resonate with people in a way that the world will never forget them. They’re the kind of wisdom that smacks you in the face and encourages you to be all you can be.
So if you need a quick reminder to be yourself, live life to the fullest, or follow your dreams, don’t be afraid to print out a great saying and tack it next to your desk or set it as your home screen background.
Here, we’ve compiled a list of 100 of the greatest quotes of all time, grouped by themes. You’ve likely heard some of them before, but that’s because they truly are great. So, if you’re looking for true inspiration, continue reading.
Quotes About Strength to Inspire You
“That which does not kill us makes us stronger.”
– Friedrich Nietzsche
“Remember no one can make you feel inferior without your consent.”
– Eleanor Roosevelt
“Your worth consists in what you are and not in what you have.”
– Thomas Edison
On Being Yourself
“Be yourself; everyone else is already taken.”
– Oscar Wilde
“This above all: to thine own self be true.”
– William Shakespeare
“Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don’t matter and those who matter don’t mind.”
– Bernard M. Baruch
“Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference.”
– Robert Frost
“We must not allow other people’s limited perceptions to define us.”
– Virginia Satir
“Be a first rate version of yourself, not a second rate version of someone else.”
– Judy Garland
“If I am not for myself, who is for me? And if I am only for myself, what am I? And if not now, when?”
– Rabbi Hillel
The above quote is from Ethics of the Fathers – learn more about it here.
“What you do speaks so loudly that I cannot hear what you say.”
– Ralph Waldo Emerson
Wisdom for Wise People
“The only true wisdom is knowing that you know nothing.”
– Socrates
“Wise men speak because they have something to say; fools because they have to say something.”
– Plato
“Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people.”
– Eleanor Roosevelt
Check out more inspiring quotes by Eleanor Roosevelt!
“There are two ways of spreading light: to be the candle or the mirror that reflects it.”
– Edith Wharton
“In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.”
– Benjamin Franklin
“Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect.”
– Mark Twain
“Music in the soul can be heard by the universe.”
– Lao Tzu
“If you tell the truth, you don’t have to remember anything.”
– Mark Twain
Inspiring Perspectives on Life
“If you look at what you have in life, you’ll always have more. If you look at what you don’t have in life, you’ll never have enough.”
– Oprah Winfrey
“You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough.”
– Mae West
“In three words I can sum up everything I’ve learned about life: It goes on.”
– Robert Frost
“As a well-spent day brings happy sleep, so a life well spent brings happy death.”
– Leonardo da Vinci
“To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all.”
– Oscar Wilde
Seizing the Opportunity
“If opportunity doesn’t knock, build a door.”
– Milton Berle
“Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.”
– Thomas Edison
“You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.”
– Wayne Gretzky
“The best way to predict the future is to invent it.”
– Alan Kay
About Failure – and Bouncing Back
“I haven’t failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.”
– Thomas Edison
“If you don’t make mistakes, you’re not working on hard enough problems.”
– Frank Wilczek
“Believe and act as if it were impossible to fail.”
– Charles Kettering
“The road to success and the road to failure are almost exactly the same.”
– Colin R. Davis
“A person who never made a mistake never tried anything new.”
– Albert Einstein
“Defeat is not bitter unless you swallow it.”
– Joe Clark
A Little Courage Goes a Long Way
“If you cannot do great things, do small things in a great way.”
– Napoleon Hill
“The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.”
– Franklin D. Roosevelt
“Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak. Courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen.”
– Winston Churchill
“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 shrinks or expands in proportion to one’s courage.”
– Anais Nin
“It takes courage to grow up and turn out to be who you really are.”
– E.E. Cummings
“A journey of a thousand leagues begins beneath one’s feet.”
– Lao Tzu
“The man who removes a mountain begins by carrying away small stones.”
– Chinese Proverbs
“Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.”
– Theodore Roosevelt
“Life has no limitations, except the ones you make.”
– Les Brown
“Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do.”
– John Wooden
“Though no one can go back and make a brand new start, anyone can start from now and make a brand new ending.”
– Carl Bard
“Life is like a camera. Just focus on what’s important, capture the good times, develop from the negatives, and if things don’t work out, just take another shot.”
– Unknown
“Others can stop you temporarily – you are the only one who can do it permanently.”
– Zig Ziglar
Inspiring Motivation Quotes
“Believe you can and you’re halfway there.”
– Theodore Roosevelt
“Motivation is a fire from within. If someone else tries to light that fire under you, chances are it will burn very briefly.”
– Stephen R. Covey
“Either you run the day, or the day runs you.”
– Jim Rohn
“The greatest discovery of all time is that a person can change his future by merely changing his attitude.”
– Oprah Winfrey
“Change your thoughts and you change your world.”
– Norman Vincent
About Peace and Making the World a Better Place
“You must be the change you wish to see in the world.”
– Mahatma Gandhi
“How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.”
– Anne Frank
“The person who says it cannot be done should not interrupt the person who is doing it.”
– Chinese Proverb
“We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools.”
– Martin Luther King, Jr.
“Peace begins with a smile.”
– Mother Teresa
“Peace comes from within. Do not seek it without.”
– Muhammad Ali
“When you are totally at peace with yourself, nothing can shake you.”
– Deepam Chatterjee
“Always forgive your enemies; nothing annoys them so much.”
– Oscar Wilde
Beauty And Appreciation
“Everything has beauty, but not everyone can see.”
– Confucius
“Beauty, without expression, tires.”
– Ralph Waldo Emerson
“The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched. They must be felt with the heart.”
– Helen Keller
Happiness Quotes to Inspire and Strengthen
“Happiness is not something ready made. It comes from your own actions.”
– Dalai Lama
“Remember that happiness is a way of travel, not a destination.”
– Roy M. Goodman
“If you want to test your memory, try to recall what you were worrying about one year ago today.”
– E. Joseph Cossman
“Happiness is not a goal; it is a by-product.”
– Eleanor Roosevelt
Realizing Our Dreams
“Too many of us are not living our dreams because we are living our fears.”
– Les Brown
“Imagination is everything. It is the preview of life’s coming attractions.”
– Albert Einstein
“The only thing worse than being blind is having sight but no vision.”
– Helen Keller
“It is never too late to be what you might have been.”
– George Eliot
Quotes and Sayings on Anger and Hate
“For every minute you are angry you lose sixty seconds of happiness.”
– Ralph Waldo Emerson
“He who angers you conquers you.”
– Elizabeth Kenny
“Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”
– Martin Luther King, Jr.
Inspiration on Success and the Value of Hard Work
“The difference between ordinary and extraordinary is that little extra.”
– Jimmy Johnson
“Self-reverence, self-knowledge, self control — these three alone lead to power.”
– Alfred, Lord Tennyson
“Success is liking yourself, liking what you do, and liking how you do it.”
– Maya Angelou
“The secret of business is to know something that nobody else knows.”
– Aristotle Onassis
“Strive not to be a success, but rather to be of value.”
– Albert Einstein
“The real opportunity for success lies within the person and not in the job.”
– Zig Ziglar
“Never leave that till tomorrow which you can do today.”
– Benjamin Franklin
On Education and Learning
“Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty. Anyone who keeps learning stays young. The greatest thing in life is to keep your mind young.”
– Henry Ford
“Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.”
– Mahatma Gandhi
“It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.”
– Aristotle
“Education is like a double-edged sword. It may be turned to dangerous uses if it is not properly handled.”
– Wu Ting-Fang
Three Quotes About Family and Children That Show What’s Really Important
“A happy family is but an earlier heaven.”
– George Bernard Shaw
“Children are our most valuable resource.”
– Herbert Hoover
“We cannot always build the future of our youth, but we can build our youth for the future.”
– Franklin D. Roosevelt
The Value of Friendship
“A friend is someone who knows all about you and still loves you.”
– Elbert Hubbard
“Don’t walk in front of me, I may not follow. Don’t walk behind me, I may not lead. Walk beside me and be my friend.”
– Albert Camus
“It takes a great deal of courage to stand up to your enemies, but even more to stand up to your friends.”
– J. K. Rowling
“Walking with a friend in the dark is better than walking alone in the light.”
– Helen Keller
Kindness Lifts Us Up
“A mind is like a parachute. It doesn’t work if it isn’t open.”
– Frank Zappa
“If you want to lift yourself up, lift up someone else.”
– Booker T. Washington
“When you judge another, you do not define them; you define yourself.”
– Wayne Dyer
“I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”
– Maya Angelou
Romantic and Inspiring Love Quotes
“Love me when I least deserve it, because that’s when I really need it.”
– Swedish Proverb
“Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage.”
– Lao Tzu
“Love is, above all else, the gift of oneself.”
– Jean Anouilh
Obviously even these 100 greatest quotes of all time doesn’t even begin to cover all the great things wise people have said. Did we miss one of your favorites? Let us know which one you love most in the comment section.
