Need Workspiration? 40 Quotes To Keep You Motivated At Work

No matter how much you enjoy your work, there are always days when you simply feel too tired or demotivated to push on. Guess what… it happens! When you feel like taking a vacation is too taxing (not to mention expensive) in itself, turn to the power of words instead.

From overcoming adversity to simply just getting through the day, below are quotes to keep you motivated at work!

Quotes For Motivation At Work

On building confidence

Adversity and difficulty are part of any employee’s work life. But when they become too much, they can cause you to lose some of your self-confidence. Eventually, this could lead to setbacks in your performance.

These job quotes from great figures such as Thomas Edison and Eleanor Roosevelt will serve to boost your employee’s confidence and push them forwards.

“A person who never made a mistake never tried anything new.”

– Albert Einstein, influential physicist

“It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is the most adaptable to change.”

– Charles Darwin, scientist

“Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do.”

– Steve Jobs, former Apple CEO

“No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.”

– Eleanor Roosevelt, former First lady of the United States

“You become what you believe.”

– Oprah Winfrey, talk show host and philanthropist

“A man is but the product of his thoughts. What he thinks, he becomes.”

– Mahatma Gandhi, Leader of the Indian independence movement

“If you're presenting yourself with confidence, you can pull off pretty much anything.”

– Katy Perry, singer

“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

“Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement. Nothing can be done without hope and confidence.”

– Helen Keller, author and educator

“I always did something that I was a little not ready to do. I think that’s how you grow. When there's that moment of, 'Wow, I'm not so sure that I can do this,' and you push through those moments, that’s when you have a breakthrough. Sometimes, that's a sign that something really good is about to happen. You're about to grow and learn a lot about yourself.”

– Marissa Mayer, CEO, Yahoo

On developing perseverance

Perseverance is all about being able to endure in the face of challenges. For instance, you may find yourself at the end of the line with little to no motivation to continue on. In such a situation, sometimes, pep talks are simply not enough.

Instead, you can draw inspiration from how some great athletes, one of America’s founding fathers, and even a cartoon character pushed through amid adversity.

“Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time.”

– Thomas Edison, inventor of the light bulb

“Hey there, Mr. Grumpy Gills. When life gets you down do you wanna know what you’ve gotta do? Just keep swimming. Just keep swimming. Just keep swimming, swimming, swimming. What do we do? We swim, swim.”

– Dory, Finding Nemo

“I am a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work the more I have of it.”

– Thomas Jefferson, founding father of America

“The difference between ordinary and extraordinary is that little extra.”

– Jimmy Johnson, football legend

“The road to Easy Street goes through the sewer.”

– John Madden, football coach and legend

“I’ve missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.”

– Michael Jordan, basketball legend

“The successful warrior is the average man, with laser-like focus.”

– Bruce Lee, martial artist and actor

“Perseverance is failing 19 times and succeeding on the 20th.”

– Julie Andrews, actress, singer, and author

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

– Confucius, philosopher and politician

“Life is very interesting. In the end, some of your greatest pains become your greatest strengths.”

– Drew Barrymore, actress and producer

On setting goals

At one point, you may lose your sense of purpose in your work and have little to no interest in carrying on. This can happen for a multitude of reasons, such as becoming distracted with personal matters and changing passion, therefore you easily lose sight of your goals.

As an employee, how do you reignite your motivation so you can achieve your goals more efficiently? The following quotes about passion for work and goal-setting are one way to do just that.

“Do you want to know who you are? Don’t ask. Act! Action will delineate and define you.”

– Thomas Jefferson, founding father of America

“If you hear a voice within you say ‘you cannot paint’ then by all means paint and that voice will be silenced.”

– Vincent Van Gogh, artist

“The greater danger for most of us isn’t that our aim is too high and miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it.”

– Michelangelo, artist

“Don’t say you don’t have enough time. You have exactly the same number of hours per day that were given to Helen Keller, Pasteur, Michelangelo, Mother Teresa, Leonardo da Vinci, Thomas Jefferson, and Albert Einstein.”

– H. Jackson Brown Jr, Author

“Intelligence is the ability to adapt to change.”

– Stephen Hawking, scientist

“Those who don’t believe in magic will never find it.”

– Roald Dahl, Author

“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, Author

“Venture outside your comfort zone. The rewards are worth it.”

– Rapunzel, Tangled

“If you focus on what you left behind, you will never be able to see what lies ahead.”

– Gusteau, Ratatouille

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

– Steve Jobs, inventor and entrepreneur

On managing stress

How you handle stress can have a lot of effect on your motivation at work. So, it’s important to not just know how to eliminate stress. But also, prevent yourself from experiencing too much of it early on.

While you can’t totally control, let alone eliminate, the factors causing you stress at work, some quotes like the ones below will help you get through it.

“We need to do a better job of putting ourselves higher on our own ‘to-do’ list.”

– Michelle Obama, attorney and author

“Balance in work is not better time management, but better boundary management. Balance means making choices and enjoying those choices.”

– Betsy Jacobson, business consultant

“I'm far from perfect. I'm still learning. I overworked myself, and I paid the price. I consider the breakdown a breakthrough. I needed to hit rock bottom. I needed to understand the cost of pushing so hard; fighting so hard against the system.”

– Mariah Carey, singer and songwriter

“Work, love, and play are the great balance wheels of man's being.”

– Orison Swett Marden, author

“It is better to rise from life as from a banquet—neither thirsty nor drunken.”

– Aristotle, philosopher

“There is more to life than increasing its speed.”

– Mahatma Gandhi, political and spiritual leader

“You never know how strong you are until being strong is your only choice.”

– Bob Marley, musician

“The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.”

– Martin Luther King, Jr., civil rights activist

“You simply have to put one foot in front of the other and keep going. Put blinders on and plow right ahead.”

– George Lucas, director and entrepreneur

“What’s comin’ will come, an’ we’ll meet it when it does.”

– Rubeus Hagrid, Harry Potter

Need More Inspiration?

Indeed, a simple passage of text can make all the difference. Did the above work quotes for motivation change the way you look at your job?

Find more inspiration on Career Advice.

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