175 Inspirational Quotes for Work (Motivation to Work Hard and Smart)

We are once again at the start of a workweek.

So I thought this would be a good time to share 175 of the most inspirational work quotes.

Quotes that will motivate you, help you to focus and work smarter and also reduce the stress and pressure you may feel at work (or in school).

These quotes have helped me many times to re-ignite my own motivation on a rough or bad day and to find a calmer and less stressed focus so I could keep working consistently towards my own goals and dreams.

I hope they will help you to do the same.

 

Motivational Quotes for Work

Two people working on a laptop and laughing about something.

“Concentrate all your thoughts upon the work in hand. The sun’s rays do not burn until brought to a focus. “
Alexander Graham Bell

“Either you run the day or the day runs you.”
Jim Rohn

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

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

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

“You’ve got to get up every morning with determination if you’re going to go to bed with satisfaction.”
George Lorimer

Work Quote by Robert Louis Stevenson

“Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds that you plant.”
Robert Louis Stevenson

“Just one small positive thought in the morning can change your whole day.”
Dalai Lama

“One of the best pieces of advice I ever got was from a horse master. He told me to go slow to go fast. I think that applies to everything in life. We live as though there aren’t enough hours in the day but if we do each thing calmly and carefully we will get it done quicker and with much less stress.”
Viggo Mortensen

Work Quote by Henry Ford

“Whether you think you can, or you think you can’t – you’re right.”
Henry Ford

“Time is an equal opportunity employer. Each human being has exactly the same number of hours and minutes every day. Rich people can’t buy more hours. Scientists can’t invent new minutes. And you can’t save time to spend it on another day. Even so, time is amazingly fair and forgiving. No matter how much time you’ve wasted in the past, you still have an entire tomorrow.”
Denis Waitley

“Don’t wish it were easier. Wish you were better.”
Jim Rohn

“Do the hard jobs first. The easy jobs will take care of themselves.”
Dale Carnegie

“Developing a good work ethic is key. Apply yourself at whatever you do, whether you’re a janitor or taking your first summer job because that work ethic will be reflected in everything you do in life.”
Tyler Perry

Work Quote by Franklin D. Roosevelt

“Happiness is not in the mere possession of money; it lies in the joy of achievement, in the thrill of creative effort.”
Franklin D. Roosevelt

“Success means doing the best we can with what we have. Success is the doing, not the getting; in the trying, not the triumph. Success is a personal standard, reaching for the highest that is in us, becoming all that we can be.”
Zig Ziglar

“The future depends on what you do today.”
Mahatma Gandhi

“Do more than is required. What is the distance between someone who achieves their goals consistently and those who spend their lives and careers merely following? The extra mile.”
Gary Ryan Blair

“The man who moves a mountain begins by carrying away small stones.”
Confucius

Work Quote by Abraham Lincoln

“Things may come to those who wait, but only the things left by those who hustle.”
Abraham Lincoln

“Start by doing what’s necessary, then what’s possible; and suddenly you are doing the impossible.”
Saint Francis

“People rarely succeed unless they have fun in what they are doing.”
Dale Carnegie

“To think too long about doing a thing often becomes its undoing.”
Eva Young

“Don’t be afraid to give your best to what seemingly are small jobs. Every time you conquer one it makes you that much stronger. If you do the little jobs well, the big ones will tend to take care of themselves.”
William Patten

Work Quote by Patrick Suskind

“Talent means nothing, while experience, acquired in humility and with hard work, means everything.”
Patrick Suskind

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

“Don’t wait. The time will never be just right.”
Napoleon Hill

“Success seems to be connected with action. Successful people keep moving. They make mistakes, but they don’t quit.”
Conrad Hilton

Work Quote by Martin Luther King, Jr.

“You don’t have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step.”
Martin Luther King, Jr.

“Dreams can come true, but there is a secret. They’re realized through the magic of persistence, determination, commitment, passion, practice, focus and hard work. They happen a step at a time, manifested over years, not weeks.”
Elbert Hubbard

”This is the real secret of life — to be completely engaged with what you are doing in the here and now. And instead of calling it work, realize it is play.”
Alan Wilson Watts

“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

“Nothing in the world can take the place of perseverance. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful people with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost legendary. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Perseverance and determination alone are omnipotent.”
Calvin Coolidge

Work Quote by Albert Einstein

“Try not to become a person of success, but rather try to become a person of value.”
Albert Einstein

Hard Work Quotes (and Quotes about Working Smarter)

“The secret of getting ahead is getting started. The secret of getting started is breaking your complex overwhelming tasks into small manageable tasks, and then starting on the first one.”
Mark Twain

“Happiness is the real sense of fulfillment that comes from hard work.”
Joseph Barbara

“If I had eight hours to chop down a tree, I’d spend six hours sharpening my ax.”
Abraham Lincoln

“Nothing is less productive than to make more efficient what should not be done at all.”
Peter Drucker

“Let me tell you the secret that has led me to my goals: my strength lies solely in my tenacity.”
Louis Pasteur

“In a moment of decision, the best thing you can do is the right thing to do, the next best thing is the wrong thing, and the worst thing you can do is nothing.”
Theodore Roosevelt

“Luck is a matter of preparation meeting opportunity.”
Seneca

Work Quote by Bruce Lee

“It is not a daily increase, but a daily decrease. Hack away at the inessentials.”
Bruce Lee

“Don’t be afraid of hard work. Nothing worthwhile comes easily. Don’t let others discourage you or tell you that you can’t do it. In my day I was told women didn’t go into chemistry. I saw no reason why we couldn’t.”
Gertrude B. Elion

“If you want to make an easy job seem mighty hard, just keep putting off doing it.”
Olin Miller

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

“I am not a product of my circumstances. I am a product of my decisions.”
Stephen Covey

“Plenty of men can do good work for a spurt and with immediate promotion in mind, but for promotion you want a man in whom good work has become a habit.”
Henry L. Doherty

Work Quote by Chanakya

“Learn from the mistakes of others. You can’t live long enough to make them all yourselves.”
Chanakya

“Attitude is a choice. Happiness is a choice. Optimism is a choice. Kindness is a choice. Giving is a choice. Respect is a choice. Whatever choice you make makes you. Choose wisely.”
Roy T. Bennett

“Amateurs sit and wait for inspiration, the rest of us just get up and go to work.”
Stephen King

“There are no shortcuts to any place worth going.”
Beverly Sills

“I would visualize things coming to me. It would just make me feel better. Visualization works if you work hard. That’s the thing. You can’t just visualize and go eat a sandwich.”
Jim Carrey

“If you don’t pay appropriate attention to what has your attention, it will take more of your attention than it deserves.”
David Allen

“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

Work Quote by Ernest Hemingway

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

“Think of many things; do one.”
Portuguese proverb

“Much of the stress that people feel doesn’t come from having too much to do. It comes from not finishing what they started.”
David Allen

“Our greatest fear should not be of failure but of succeeding at things in life that don’t really matter.”
Francis Chan

“The price of success is hard work, dedication to the job at hand, and the determination that whether we win or lose, we have applied the best of ourselves to the task at hand.”
Vince Lombardi

Work Quote by Haile Gebrselassie

“Once you have commitment, you need the discipline and hard work to get you there.”
Haile Gebrselassie

“Thirty years ago my older brother, who was ten years old at the time, was trying to get a report written on birds that he’d had three months to write, which was due the next day.
We were out at our family cabin in Bolinas, and he was at the kitchen table close to tears, surrounded by binder paper and pencils and unopened books about birds, immobilized by the hugeness of the task ahead.
Then my father sat down beside him put his arm around my brother’s shoulder, and said, “Bird by bird, buddy. Just take it bird by bird. “
Anne Lamott

“Whatever you do, do it with all your might. Work at it, early and late, in season and out of season, not leaving a stone unturned, and never deferring for a single hour that which can be done just as well as now.”
Margaret Fuller

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

Work Quote by Roger Staubach

“There is no traffic jam along the extra mile.”
Roger Staubach

“Your ability to discipline yourself to set clear goals, and then to work toward them every day, will do more to guarantee your success than any other single factor.”
Brian Tracy

“Follow effective actions with quiet reflection. From the quiet reflection will come even more effective action.”
Peter Drucker

Uplifting Quotes for a Rough or Stressful Day at Work

”Spend eighty percent of your time focusing on the opportunities of tomorrow rather than the problems of yesterday.”
Brian Tracy

“When you get into a tight place and everything goes against you, till it seems as though you could not hang on a minute longer, never give up then, for that is just the place and time that the tide will turn.”
Harriet Beecher Stowe

“You can’t change how people treat you or what they say about you. All you can do is change how you react to it.”
Mahatma Gandhi

“Most of the important things in the world have been accomplished by people who have kept on trying when there seemed to be no hope at all.”
Dale Carnegie

“Failure is the condiment that gives success its flavor.”
Truman Capote

Work Quote by Richard Branson

Do not be embarrassed by your failures, learn from them and start again.
Richard Branson

“I have always believed, and I still believe, that whatever good or bad fortune may come our way we can always give it meaning and transform it into something of value.”
Hermann Hesse

“When we long for life without difficulties, remind us that oaks grow strong in contrary winds and diamonds are made under pressure.”
Peter Marshall

“It ain’t as bad as you think. It will look better in the morning.”
Colin Powell

“The truth is that our finest moments are most likely to occur when we are feeling deeply uncomfortable, unhappy, or unfulfilled. For it is only in such moments, propelled by our discomfort, that we are likely to step out of our ruts and start searching for different ways or truer answers.”
M. Scott Peck

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

“There are two primary choices in life: to accept conditions as they exist, or accept the responsibility for changing them.”
Denis Waitley

“As long as they are well-intentioned, mistakes are not a matter for shame, but for learning.”
Margaret Heffernan

“Show me a person who has never made a mistake and I’ll show you someone who has never achieved much.”
Joan Collins

Work Quote by Arnold Schwarzenegger

“Strength does not come from winning. Your struggles develop your strengths. When you go through hardships and decide not to surrender, that is strength.”
Arnold Schwarzenegger

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

“One of the symptoms of an approaching nervous breakdown is the belief that one’s work is terribly important.”
Bertrand Russell

“When one door of happiness closes, another opens, but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one that has been opened for us.”
Helen Keller

“I’ve learned that no matter what happens, or how bad it seems today, life does go on, and it will be better tomorrow.”
Maya Angelou

Work Quote by Harry Golden

“The only thing that overcomes hard luck is hard work.”
Harry Golden

“The best way to not feel hopeless is to get up and do something. Don’t wait for good things to happen to you. If you go out and make some good things happen, you will fill the world with hope, you will fill yourself with hope.”
Barrack Obama

“We can easily manage if we will only take, each day, the burden appointed to it. But the load will be too heavy for us if we carry yesterday’s burden over again today, and then add the burden of the morrow before we are required to bear it.”
John Newton

Wise and Insightful Quotes About Work

In this section of the post you’ll find timeless thoughts that will make you think.

To help you see things from a new perspective. Find opportunities where you may now see only obstacles. And give you new motivation to go after your most important dreams.

“Develop success from failures. Discouragement and failure are two of the surest stepping stones to success.”
Dale Carnegie

“I learned this, at least, by my experiment; that if one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.”
Henry David Thoreau

A quote for work by Jim Rohn.

“If you don’t design your own life plan, chances are you’ll fall into someone else’s plan and guess what they have planned for you? Not much.”
Jim Rohn

“Stay afraid, but do it anyway. What’s important is the action. You don’t have to wait to be confident. Just do it and eventually the confidence will follow.”
Carrie Fisher

“The key is not to prioritize what’s on your schedule, but to schedule your priorities.”
Stephen Covey

“The only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle.”
Steve Jobs

“You may encounter many defeats, but you must not be defeated. In fact, it may be necessary to encounter the defeats, so you can know who you are, what you can rise from, how you can still come out of it.”
Maya Angelou

A quote for work by David M. Burns.

“Aim for success, not perfection. Never give up your right to be wrong, because then you will lose the ability to learn new things and move forward with your life. Remember that fear always lurks behind perfectionism.”
David M. Burns

“Don’t think about what can happen in a month. Don’t think about what can happen in a year. Just focus on the 24 hours in front of you and do what you can to get closer to where you want to be.”
Eric Thomas

“If you are working on something exciting that you really care about, you don’t have to be pushed. The vision pulls you.”
Steve Jobs

“You cannot change your destination overnight, but you can change your direction overnight.”
Jim Rohn

“If you believe it’ll work out, you’ll see opportunities. If you don’t believe it’ll work out, you’ll see obstacles.”
Wayne Dyer

“You get to decide where your time goes. You can either spend it moving forward, or you can spend it putting out fires. You decide. And if you don’t decide, others will decide for you.”
Tony Morgan

A quote for work by Caterina Fake.

“So often people are working hard at the wrong thing. Working on the right thing is probably more important than working hard.”
Caterina Fake

“You don’t have to be great to start, but you have to start to be great.”
Zig Ziglar

“People talk about confidence without ever bringing up hard work. That’s a mistake. I know I sound like some dour older spinster on Downton Abbey who has never felt a man’s touch and whose heart has turned to stone, but I don’t understand how you could have self-confidence if you don’t do the work… Because confidence is like respect; you have to earn it.”
Mindy Kaling

“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.”
Michael Jordan

“If the decisions you make about where you invest your blood, sweat, and tears are not consistent with the person you aspire to be, you’ll never become that person.”
Clayton M. Christensen

“Remember to look up at the stars and not down at your feet. Try to make sense of what you see and wonder about what makes the universe exist. Be curious. And however difficult life may seem, there is always something you can do and succeed at. It matters that you don’t just give up.”
Stephen Hawking

“Out of clutter, find simplicity. From discord, find harmony. In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity.”
Albert Einstein

A quote for work by T. Harv Eker.

“Whenever you feel uncomfortable, instead of retreating back into your old comfort zone, pat yourself on the back and say, “I must be growing,” and continue moving forward.”
T. Harv Eker

“Always work hard and have fun in what you do because I think that’s when you’re more successful. You have to choose to do it.”
Simone Biles

“You’ve done it before and you can do it now. See the positive possibilities. Redirect the substantial energy of your frustration and turn it into positive, effective, unstoppable determination.”
Ralph Marston

“Self-reflection is a much kinder teacher than regret is. Prioritize yourself by making a habit of it.”
Andrena Sawyer

“Take up one idea. Make that one idea your life, think of it, dream of it, live on that idea. Let the brain, muscles, nerves, every part of your body, be full of that idea, and just leave every other idea alone. This is the way to success.”
Swami Vivekananda

A quote for work by James Clear.

“Genes can’t make you successful if you’re not doing the work. Yes, it’s possible that the ripped trainer at the gym has better genes, but if you haven’t put in the same reps, it’s impossible to say if you have been dealt a better or worse genetic hand. Until you work as hard as those you admire, don’t explain away their success as luck.”
James Clear

“Always do your best. Your best is going to change from moment to moment; it will be different when you are healthy as opposed to sick. Under any circumstance, simply do your best, and you will avoid self-judgment, self-abuse and regret.”
Don Miguel Ruiz

Quotes about Work Ethic and Success

One of the least flashy things that’s almost always needed to reach one’s goals is consistency. To be able to keep working, to keep moving forward day after day.

So here’s a couple of handfuls of quotes to motivate and help you to keep doing just that.

“Success isn’t always about greatness. It’s about consistency. Consistent hard work leads to success. Greatness will come.”
Dwayne Johnson

“Ability is what you’re capable of doing. Motivation determines what you do. Attitude determines how well you do it.”
Lou Holtz

“Success is the sum of small efforts repeated day in and day out.”
Robert Collier

A quote for work by Amelia Earhart.

“The most difficult thing is the decision to act, the rest is merely tenacity.”
Amelia Earhart

“Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal. Nothing on earth can help the man with the wrong attitude.”
Thomas Jefferson

“You can’t build a reputation on what you are going to do.”
Henry Ford

“Work hard, be kind, and amazing things will happen.”
Conan O’Brien

“Working hard for something we don’t care about is called stress: Working hard for something we love is called passion.”
Simon Sinek

A quote for work by David Frost.

“Don’t aim for success if you want it, just do what you love and believe in and it will come naturally.”
David Frost

“Study while others are sleeping; work while others are loafing; prepare while others are playing; and dream while others are wishing.”
William Arthur Ward

“With ordinary talent and extraordinary perseverance, all things are attainable.”
Thomas Fowell Buxton

“Success seems to be largely a matter of hanging on after others have let go.”
William Feather

“You were born to win, but to be a winner, you must plan to win, prepare to win, and expect to win.”
Zig Ziglar

A quote for work by Jim Rohn.

“If you are not willing to risk the unusual, you will have to settle for the ordinary.”
Jim Rohn

“Great things are done by a series of small things brought together”
Vincent Van Gogh

“The elevator to success is out of order. You’ll have to use the stairs… one step at a time.”
Joe Girard

“Whatever your life’s work is, do it well. A man should do his job so well that the living, the dead, and the unborn could do it no better.”
Martin Luther King, Jr.

“Be conscious of your attitude. Work extra hard at keeping your attitude positive in all kinds of weather, through all the challenges of life.”
Catherine Pulsifer

“The most important step a man can take. It’s not the first one, is it? It’s the next one. Always the next step.”
Brandon Sanderson

A quote for work by Vidal Sassoon.

“The only place where success comes before work is in the dictionary.”
Vidal Sassoon

“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act. But a habit.”
Aristotle

“You build on failure. You use it as a stepping stone. Close the door on the past. You don’t try to forget the mistakes, but you don’t dwell on it. You don’t let it have any of your energy, or any of your time, or any of your space.”
Johnny Cash

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

“Don’t ever confuse the two, your life and your work. The second is only part of the first.”
Anna Quindlen

A quote for work by Cory Booker.

“Real courage is holding on to a still voice in your head that says, ‘I must keep going.’ It’s that voice that says nothing is a failure if it is not final. That voice that says to you, ‘Get out of bed. Keep going. I will not quit.’”
Cory Booker

“Quality means doing it right when no one is looking.”
Henry Ford

“In essence, if we want to direct our lives, we must take control of our consistent actions. It’s not what we do once in a while that shapes our lives, but what we do consistently.”
Anthony Robbins

“Whenever you see a successful person you only see the public glories, never the private sacrifices to reach them.”
Vaibhav Shah

“Do you think miners stand around all day talking about how hard it is to mine for coal? They do not. They simply dig.”
Cheryl Strayed

“Courage doesn’t always roar. Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying, ‘I will try again tomorrow.’”
Mary Anne Radmacher

If you want more work ethic quotes then check out this post.

Short and Powerful Quotes for Work

Finally, a small collection of quotes that get right to the point. Short and punchy ones.

I find that these work extra well when I need a quick shakeup and reality check to get unstuck from inaction or overthinking.

“Hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard.”
Tim Notke

“The best way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing.”
Walt Disney

“The only difference between success and failure is the ability to take action.”
Alexander Graham

“Character consists of what you do on the third and fourth tries.”
James A. Michener

“Small disciplines repeated with consistency every day lead to great achievements gained slowly over time.”
John C. Maxwell

“If you can’t stop thinking about it, don’t stop working on it.”
Michael Jordan

“Don’t count the days, make the days count.”
Muhammad Ali

“The best revenge is massive success.”
Frank Sinatra

“Doubt kills more dreams than failure ever will.”
Suzy Kassem

“Build your own dreams or someone else will hire you to build theirs.”
Farrah Gray

“What you do today can improve all your tomorrows.”
Ralph Marston

“When someone tells me ‘no,’ it doesn’t mean I can’t do it, it simply means I can’t do it with them.”
Karen E. Quinones Miller

“If a mind thinks with a believing attitude, one can do amazing things.”
Norman Vincent Peale

“The more I want to get something done the less I call it work.”
Richard Bach

“The most effective way to do it is to do it.”
Amelia Earhart

“Even if you’re on the right track, you’ll get run over if you just sit there.”
Will Rogers

“Failure teaches. Failure builds character. Failure is, in a way, a friend.”
Rip Miller

“Talent wins games, but teamwork wins championships.”
Michael Jordan

“Even if I don’t reach all my goals, I’ve gone higher than I would have if I hadn’t set any.”
Danielle Fotopoulis

“Failure defeats losers, but it inspires winners.”
Robert Kiyosaki

“Perfection is not attainable. But if we chase perfection we can catch excellence.”
Vince Lombardi

“Impossible is just an opinion.”
Paulo Coelho

“Many of life’s failures are people who did not know how close they were when they gave up.”
Thomas Edison

“Your imagination is your preview of life’s coming attractions.”
Albert Einstein

“Someone’s sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago.”
Warren Buffett

“Through perseverance, many people win success out of what seemed destined to be certain failure.”
Benjamin Disraeli

“It’s hard to beat a person who never gives up.”
Babe Ruth

“Never confuse a single defeat with a final defeat.”
F. Scott Fitzgerald

“There is a direct correlation between an increased sphere of comfort and getting what you want.”
Tim Ferriss

“Light tomorrow with today.”
Elizabeth Barrett Browning

“It is never too late to be what you might have been.”
George Eliot

Want more motivation for your work week? Then have a look at this post with 22 tips for how to stay positive at work and also this one with 32 tips to help you to motivate yourself.

 

 

 

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About the Author

Henrik Edberg is the creator of the Positivity Blog and has written weekly articles here since 2006. He has a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Gothenburg and has been featured on Lifehacker, HuffPost and Paulo Coelho’s blog. Click here to learn more…

Comments on this entry are closed.

  • Thank you so much for this article.

  • Very useful quotes. Thanks for sharing the information with us.

  • “Do the hard jobs first. The easy jobs will take care of themselves.”
    Dale Carnegie

    I do not to agree. In some cases to do harder work you need more force and motivation. And by doing easy job first, will give u power for more.
    Also teachers in school tell to make on the test easy questions first.

  • Thanks for the motivation boost!

    “It ain’t as bad as you think. It will look better in the morning”
    – Colin Powell

    This quote says so much with just a few words.
    The brain loves to amplify negative situations with more negative thoughts, sleeping on a problem is one of the best ways to solve it, etc.

  • Really Helpfully to me Sir Very Nice Sharing i’m Bookmark Your Blog ..Keep Posting

  • Anna Abbott

    Very helpful and insightful, thanks for sharing! Good day!

  • deborah

    I just want to tell you how life changing your blog is and to thank you so much for creating it.

  • Great post, thank you so much for taking the time to share your knowledge and wisdom.