Motivational & Positive Quotes of the Day for Work

By: | Updated: December 29, 2023

You found our list of the best motivational, inspirational and positive quotes for work.

Work quotes are sayings you can use to inspire, motivate and encourage your teammates towards success. For example, “happiness lies in the joy of achievement!” or “mountains always looks high until you reach the top!” These phrases are often part of a “work quote of the day” program, and are also known as “inspirational quotes for work”, “work sayings” and “work mottos.”

These sayings are similar to motivational songs for work, can include hard work quotes, and work well to quickly boost morale and improve company culture.

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List of inspirational work quotes

From career changes, to work life balance, to routine work days, here is a list of work quotes to encourage your team.

Motivational quotes for work

  1. “Failure is not the opposite of success: it’s part of success.” — Arianna Huffington, businesswoman
  2. “If your dreams don’t scare you, they are too small.” — Richard Branson, businessman
  3. “Believe you can and you’re halfway there.” — Theodore Roosevelt, president
  4. “Quality means doing it right when no one is looking.” — Henry Ford, businessman
  5. “The difference between ordinary and extraordinary is that little extra.” — Jimmy Johnson, football player
  6. “It always seems impossible until it’s done.” — Nelson Mandela, world leader
  7. “Progress is impossible without change, and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything.” — George Bernard Shaw, writer
  8. “What we fear of doing most is usually what we most need to do.” — Ralph Stripey Guy Emerson, philosopher
  9. “You are not your resume, you are your work.” — Seth Godin, Author
  10. “Every accomplishment starts with the decision to try.” — John F Kennedy, president
  11. “Ability is what you’re capable of doing. Motivation determines what you do. Attitude determines how well you do it.” — Lou Holtz, football player
  12. “If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them.” — Henry David Thoraeu, philosopher
  13. “People who wonder if the glass is half empty or half full miss the point. The glass is refillable.” — Unknown
  14. “Those who say it cannot be done should not interrupt those doing it.” — Chinese proverb
  15. “People often say that motivation doesn’t last. Well, neither does bathing; that’s why we recommend it daily.” — Zig Ziglar, author
  16. “If you think you are too small to make a difference, try sleeping with a mosquito.” — Dalai Lama, spiritual leader
  17. “Never put off until tomorrow what you can do the day after tomorrow.” — Mark Twain, writer
  18. “The best revenge is massive success.” — Frank Sinatra, singer

Inspirational quotes for work

  1. “Be humble. Be hungry. And always be the hardest worker in the room.” — Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, entertainer
  2. “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then, is not an act, but a habit.” — Aristotle, philosopher
  3. “Work hard and be kind and amazing things will happen.” — Conan O’Brien, comedian
  4. “Hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard.” — Tim Notke, coach
  5. “There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure.” — Colin Powell, politician
  6. “Hard work spotlights the character of people. Some turn up their sleeves. Some turn up their noses, and some don’t turn up at all.” — Sam Ewing, baseball player
  7. “Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.” — Thomas Edison, inventor
  8. “A river cuts through a rock not because of its power but its persistence.” — Jim Watkins, businessman
  9. “Perseverance is the hard work you do after you get tired of doing the hard work you already did.” — Newt Gingrich, politician
  10. “Nothing will work unless you do.” — Maya Angelou, writer
  11. “Work hard in silence, let your success be your noise.” — Frank Ocean, musician
  12. “The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now.” — Chinese proverb
  13. “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, businessman
  14. “You don’t have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step.” — Martin Luther King, Jr, civil rights leader
  15. “The most difficult thing is the decision to act, the rest is merely tenacity.” — Amelia Earhart, aviator
  16. “Working hard for something we don’t care about is called stress: Working hard for something we love is called passion.” — Simon Sinek, author
  17. “I hope you live a life you’re proud of. If you find that you are not, I hope you have the strength to start all over again.” — F. Scott Fitzgerald
  18. “The secret of change is to focus all of your energy not on fighting the old, but on building the new.” — Socrates, philosopher
  19. “Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.” — Barack Obama, president
  20. “You cannot swim for new horizons until you have courage to lose sight of the shore.” — William Faulkner, writer

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Positive quotes for work

  1. “If you’ve created a work culture where vulnerability isn’t ok, you’ve also created a culture where innovation and creativity aren’t ok.” — Brené Brown, professor and lecturer
  2. “Customers will never love a company until the employees love it first.” — Simon Sinek, author
  3. “The only thing of real importance that leaders do is create and manage culture.” — Edgar Schein, professor and organizational expert
  4. “Clients do not come first. Employees come first. If you take care of your employees, they will take care of the clients.” — Richard Branson, businessman
  5. “All good leaders are connectors. They relate well and make people feel confident about themselves and their leader.” — John Maxwell, author
  6. “To handle yourself use your head; to handle others, use your heart.” — Eleanor Roosevelt, first lady
  7. “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, president
  8. “It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit.” — Harry Truman, president
  9. “Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds that you plant.” — Robert Louis Stevenson, writer
  10. “Anyone who stops learning is old, whether he’s twenty or eighty.” — Henry Ford, businessman
  11. “Learn from the mistakes of others. You can’t live long enough to make them all yourselves.” — Chanakya, teacher
  12. “If you are not growing, you are dying.” — Tony Robbins, motivational speaker
  13. “The expert in anything was once a beginner.” — Helen Hayes, actress
  14. “Learning is the only thing the mind never exhausts, never fears, and never regrets.” — Leonardo Da Vinci
  15. “Learn a language, and you’ll avoid a war.” — Arab proverb
  16. “We do not learn from experience. We learn from reflecting on experience.” — John Dewey, philosopher

Encouraging quotes for work

  1. “Don’t confuse having a career with having a life.” — Hillary Clinton, politician
  2. “No one on his deathbed ever said, ‘I wish I had spent more time at the office.” — Paul Tsongas, politician
  3. “Never get so busy making a living that you forget to make a life.” — Dolly Parton, entertainer
  4. “We need to do a better job of putting ourselves higher on our own ‘to do’ list.” — Michelle Obama, first lady
  5. “Most of us spend too much time on what is urgent and not enough time on what is important.” — Stephen Covey, author
  6. “There is no such thing as work— life balance. It is all life. The balance has to be within you.” — Sadhguru, author
  7. “You will never find time for anything. If you want time, you must make it.” — Charles Buxton, writer and politician
  8. “You can have it all. You just can’t have it all at once.” — Oprah Winfrey, media mogul
  9. “Life is a balance between holding on and letting go.” — Rumi, poet
  10. “Be sure when you step, step with care and great tact. And remember that life is a great balancing act.” — Dr. Seuss, author
  11. “If you get tired, learn to rest, not to quit.” — Banksy, artist
  12. “The meeting of preparation with opportunity generates the offspring we call luck.” — Tony Robbins

Resilience quotes for work

  1. “Failure is an important part of your growth and developing resilience.” — Michelle Obama, former first lady
  2. “When you have exhausted all possibilities, remember this: you haven’t.” — Thomas A. Edison, inventor
  3. “Enthusiasm is common. Endurance is rare.” — Angela Duckworth, psychologist
  4. “Do not judge me by my success, judge me by how many times I fell down and got back up again.” ― Nelson Mandela, former president of South Africa
  5. “Forget mistakes. Forget failures. Forget everything except what you are going to do right now, and do it. Today is your lucky day.” ― Will Durant, historian and philosopher
  6. “The only thing you have control over is your attitude.” ― Viktor Frankl, psychiatrist
  7. “Believe you can and you’re halfway there.” ― Theodore Roosevelt, former president
  8. “You can make a positive impact on the world when you maintain your equanimity, resilience, recovery, and renewal as strong and positive.” ― Amit Ray, author
  9. “Courage isn’t having the strength to go on, it is going on when you don’t have the strength.” ― Napoleon Bonaparte, former French emperor
  10. “We don’t even know how strong we are until we are forced to bring that hidden strength forward.” ― Isabel Allende, author
  11. “You have power over your mind – not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength.” ― Marcus Aurelius, former Roman emperor
  12. “Life is not easy for any of us. But what of that? We must have perseverance and, above all, confidence in ourselves. We must believe we are gifted for something and that this thing must be attained.” ― Marie Curie, physicist and chemist
  13. “Life isn’t about waiting for the storm to pass. It’s about learning how to dance in the rain.” — Vivian Greene, author
  14. “Resiliency is something you do, more than something you have. . . You become highly resilient by continuously learning your best way of being yourself in your circumstance.” — Al Siebert, author
  15. “It’s not stress that kills us, it is our reaction to it. . . Adopting the right attitude can convert a negative stress into a positive one.” — Hans Selye, endocrinologist and stress researcher
  16. “When nobody fails, everybody loses. Feedback and resilience are vital.” — Alan Froggatt, author

Gratitude quotes for work

  1. “Enjoy the little things, for one day you may look back and realize they were the big things.” — Robert Brault, author
  2. “If a fellow isn’t thankful for what he’s got, he isn’t likely to be thankful for what he’s going to get.” — Frank A. Clark, lawyer and politician
  3. “Be thankful for what you have; you’ll end up having more. If you concentrate on what you don’t have, you will never, ever have enough.” — Oprah Winfrey, TV host
  4. “Somewhere out there is a unique place for you to help others – a unique life role for you to fill that only you can fill.” — Thomas Kinkade, painter
  5. “Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all others.” ― Marcus Tullius Cicero, Roman statesman
  6. “As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them.” ― John F. Kennedy, former president
  7. “Gratitude can transform common days into thanksgivings, turn routine jobs into joy, and change ordinary opportunities into blessings.” — William Arthur Ward, motivational speaker and author
  8. “Gratitude is riches. Complaint is poverty.” — Doris Day, actress
  9. “I would maintain that thanks are the highest form of thought; and that gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder.” — G.K. Chesterton, writer and philosopher
  10. “Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow.” — Melody Beattie, author
  11. “The root of joy is gratefulness . . . It is not joy that makes us grateful; it is gratitude that makes us joyful.” — David Steindl-Rast, monk and author
  12. “The world has enough beautiful mountains and meadows, spectacular skies and serene lakes. It has enough lush forests, flowered fields, and sandy beaches. It has plenty of stars and the promise of a new sunrise and sunset every day. What the world needs more of is people to appreciate and enjoy it.” —Michael Josephson, professor and lawyer

Achievement quotes for work

  1. “Success isn’t always about greatness. It’s about consistency. Consistent hard work leads to success. Greatness will come.” — Dwayne Johnson, actor
  2. “Success is the sum of small efforts, repeated day in and day out.” — Robert Collier, author
  3. “As long as you keep going, you’ll keep getting better. And as you get better, you gain more confidence. That alone is success.” — Tamara Taylor, actress
  4. “Success is not built on success. It’s built on failure. It’s built on frustration. Sometimes it’s built on catastrophe.” — Sumner Redstone, CEO
  5. “Success is not final; failure is not fatal: It is the courage to continue that counts.” — Winston S. Churchill, former prime minister
  6. “There are three ways to ultimate success: The first way is to be kind. The second way is to be kind. The third way is to be kind.” — Mister Rogers, TV host and author
  7. “Success is no accident. It is hard work, perseverance, learning, studying, sacrifice and most of all, love of what you are doing or learning to do.” — Pele, soccer player
  8. “If you really look closely, most overnight successes took a long time.” — Steve Jobs, former CEO
  9. “Talent is cheaper than table salt. What separates the talented individual from the successful one is a lot of hard work.”— Stephen King, author
  10. “Before anything else, preparation is the key to success.” — Alexander Graham Bell, inventor
  11. “Success is where preparation and opportunity meet.” — Bobby Unser, racecar driver
  12. “Success is liking yourself, liking what you do, and liking how you do it.” — Maya Angelou, author
  13. “Success comes from the inside out. In order to change what is on the outside, you must first change what is on the inside.” ― Idowu Koyenikan, author
  14. “The key to success is to start before you are ready.” — Marie Forleo, entrepreneur

Conclusion

The quotes and mottos on this list are a powerful way to bring inspirational and motivational messages to your coworkers. Whether you are sharing a work quote of the day, or just posting a random message of encouragement, these sayings will have a positive impact.

For more quotes on work, check out our articles on quotes on jobs and life, creativity quotes, team building quotes, team bonding quotes and quotes on work— life balance.

We also have a list of team building slogans, list of the best success quotes, list of fun facts of the day, and a list of books on motivation.

Plus, a list of tips on employee motivation.

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FAQ: Inspirational work quotes

Here are some of the most common questions and answers about inspirational work quotes.

What are motivational quotes for work?

Motivational quotes for work are famous phrases you can use to encourage your team toward success. These quotes speak to topics such as work ethic, career changes, learning, and positive work culture. These sayings are also known as “inspirational quotes for work”, “work mottos” and “work sayings.”

What are the best motivational quotes for work?

Some of the best motivational quotes for work include: “Quality means doing it right when no one is looking.” by Henry Ford, “It always seems impossible until it’s done.” by Nelson Mandela, and a Chinese proverb that says, “Those who say it cannot be done should not interrupt those doing it.” These are just a few of the best quotes that can encourage your team to inspiring new heights.

How do inspirational quotes work?

Inspirational quotes are wise words from accomplished individuals. The simplicity, truth, and power of these phrases encourage action and change, or, at the very least, an attitude adjustment. The desire to be understood is a universal human need, and folks may subconsciously interpret quotes as positive votes of confidence from prominent figures.

Why should you share daily quotes for work?

Daily quotes for work are an easy and fun way to bring more positivity to the workplace. Whether your team is remote, in-person, hybrid or otherwise, sharing daily motivational quotes will encourage a stronger, more productive workforce.

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Marketing Coordinator at teambuilding.com.
Angela has a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing and worked as a community manager with Yelp to plan events for businesses.

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