Breathe new life into your day with these powerful and inspiring short life quotes.
Life is a precious gift that should be cherished and celebrated every day. However, it’s also a rollercoaster of emotions, challenges and experiences, making it difficult to sometimes navigate through the ups and downs.
But amidst the chaos, there are words of wisdom through life quotes to inspire and guide you towards a more fulfilling existence.
From famous philosophers to modern-day influencers and everyone in-between, these 211 quotes about life will serve as a reminder to live in the moment, embrace change and never give up!
So whether you’re stuck in a rut, need to boost your spirits or just need a little motivation to keep going, make sure to save these life quotes for whenever you need a little pep talk and spring in your step!
211 powerful and inspiring short life quotes
1. “Climb the mountain, not so the world can see you, but so you can see the world.” – David McCullough Jr.
2. “Don’t live the same year 75 times and call it a life.” – Robin Sharma
3. “It’s your road and yours alone. Others may walk it with you, but no one can walk it for you.” – Rumi
4. “My mission in life is not merely to survive, but to thrive; and to do so with some passion, some compassion, some humour and some style.” – Maya Angelou
5. “Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the things you did do.” – Mark Twain
6. “A comfort zone is a beautiful place but nothing ever grows there.” – Gina Milicia
7. “If the whole staircase feels overwhelming, try to focus on the next few steps.” – unknown
8. “Life is a balance of holding on and letting go.” – Rumi
9. “I hope you live a life your proud of, and if you’re not, I hope you have the strength to start all over again.” – F. S. Fitzgerald
10. “Courage is nothing more than taking one more step than you think you can.” – Holly Lisle
11. “The greatest tragedy of life is not death, but what we let inside of us die whilst we’re still alive.” – Norman Cousins
12. “If you wish to move mountains tomorrow you must start by lifting stones today.” – African proverb
13. “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you might miss it.” – Ferris Bueller
14. “Fill your life with experiences, not things. Have stories to tell, not stuff to show.” – unknown
15. “And then there is the most dangerous risk of all – the risk of spending your life not doing what you want on the bet you can buy yourself the freedom to do it later.” – Randy Komisar
16. “Life’s tragedy is that we get old too soon and wise too late.” – Benjamin Franklin
17. “Don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened.” – Dr. Seuss
18. “If you spend your whole life waiting for the storm, you’ll never enjoy the sunshine.” – Morris West
19. “The best way to predict your future is to create it.” – Abraham Lincoln
20. “If you love life, don’t waste time, for time is what life is made up of.” – Bruce Lee
21. “In the end, we only regret the chances we didn’t take.” – Lewis Carroll
22. “The only person you are destined to become is the person you decide to be.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
23. “I have a simple philosophy: fill what’s empty. Empty what’s full. Scratch where it itches.” – Alive Roosevelt Longworth
24. “He who is not courageous enough to take risks will accomplish nothing in life.” – Muhammad Ali
25. “A diamond is a chunk of coal that did well under pressure.” – unknown
26. “If everything was perfect, you would never learn and you would never grow.” – Beyonce
27. “You’ve got to get up every morning with determination if you’re going to go to bed with satisfaction.” – George Lorimer
28. “You don’t always need a plan. Sometimes you just need to breathe, trust, let go, and see what happens.” – Mandy Hale
29. “If you want something you never had, you have to do something you’ve never done.” – unknown
30. “Be a first rate version of yourself, instead of a second-rate version of somebody else.” – Judy Garland
Life Quotes
1. “You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough.” – Mae West
2. “Life isn’t about finding yourself, life is about creating yourself.” – George Bernard Shaw
3. “To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all.” – Oscar Wilde
4. “The happiest people don’t have everything, they just make the best of what they have.” – unknown
5. “Life is what happens when you’re busy making other plans.” – John Lennon
6. “If it doesn’t add to your life, it doesn’t belong in your life.” – unknown
7. “There is only two ways to live life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.” – Albert Einstein
8. “We need, above all things, to slow down and get ourselves to amble through life instead of to rush through it.” – Alan Watts
9. “The biggest adventure you can take is to live the life of your dreams.” – Oprah Winfrey
10. “When one has a grateful heart, life is so beautiful.” – Roy T. Bennett
11. “Life isn’t about waiting for the storm to pass. It’s about learning how to dance in the rain.” Vivian Greene
12. “The only impossible journey is the one you never begin.” – Tony Robbins
13. “Make each day your masterpiece. Life is now. Life is not later on.” – John Wooden
14. “I have found that if you love life, life will love you back.” – Arthur Rubinstein
15. “If you can’t do great things, do small things in a great way.” – Napoleon Hill
16. “You can’t do anything about the length of your life, but you can do something about its width and depth.” – Even Esar
17. “One day your life will flash before your eyes. Make sure it’s worth watching.” – Gerard Way
18. “The two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why.” – Mark Twain
19. “As you grow older, you will discover you have two hands, one for helping yourself, the other for helping others.” – Audrey Hepburn
20. “Do not dwell on the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment.” – Buddha
21. “Do not pray for an easy life, pray for the strength to endure a difficult one.” – Bruce Lee
22. “The most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched. They must be felt with the heart.” – Helen Keller
23. “You can’t go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are and change the ending.” – C.S. Lewis
24. “Don’t count the days, make the days count.” – Muhammad Ali
25. “You are the artist of your own life. Don’t hand the paintbrush to anyone else.” – unknown
26. “Sometimes the smallest step in the right direction ends up being the biggest step of your life.” – Naeem Callaway
27. “Don’t miss out on something that could be great just because it could also be difficult.” – unknown
Quotes about life
1. “Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep moving.” – Albert Einstein
2. “It’s the possibility of having a dream come true that makes life interesting.” – Paulo Coelho
3. “If life were predictable it would cease to be life, and be without flavour.” – Eleanor Roosevelt
4. “Life comes from the earth and returns to the earth.” – Zhuangzi
5. “When I hear somebody sigh, “Life is hard,” I am always tempted to ask, “Compared to what?” – Sydney J. Harris
6. “Organise your life around your dreams and watch them come true.” – unknown
7. “Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.” – Maya Angelou
8. “Enjoy the little things in life, for one day you’ll look back and realise they were the big things.” – unknown
9. “Keep your head high, keep your chin up, and most importantly, keep smiling, because life’s a beautiful thing and there’s so much to smile about.” – Marilyn Monroe
10. “Find ecstasy in life, the mere sense of living is joy enough.” – Emily Dickinson
11. “We must be willing to let go of the life we planned so as to have the life that is waiting for us.” – Joseph Campbell
12. “Nothing in life is to be feared, it is only to be understood. Now is the time to understand more, so that we may fear less.” – Marie Curie
13. “Life is now in session. Are you present?” – John C. Maxwell
14. How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives.” – Annie Dillard
15. “All of life is peaks and valleys. Don’t let the peaks get too high and the valleys too low.” – John Wooden
16. “In the end, it’s not the years in your life that count, it’s the life in your years.” – Abraham Lincoln
17. “The life you have led doesn’t need to be the only life you have.” – Anna Quindlen
18. “Life is a succession of lessons which must be lived to be understood.” – Helen Keller
19. “Life is ten percent what happens to you and ninety percent how you respond to it.” – Charles Swindoll
20. “Never take life too seriously. Nobody gets out alive anyway.” – unknown
21. “You only pass through this life once, you don’t come back for an encore.” – Elvis Presley
22. “You’ll meet two kinds of people in your life: ones who build you up and ones who tear you down. But in the end, you’ll thank them both.” – unknown
23. “Life doesn’t require that we be the best, only that we try out best.” – H. Jackson Brown Jr.
24. “Don’t waste your time in anger, regrets, worries and grudges. Life is too short to be unhappy.” – Roy T. Bennett
25. “Life is a book and there are a thousand pages I have not yet read.” – Cassandra Clare
26. “I have discovered in life that there are ways of getting almost anywhere you want to go, if you really want to go.” – Langston Hughes
Inspirational quotes on life
1. “Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.” – Mahatma Gandhi
2. “What is the point of being alive if you don’t atleast try to do something remarkable?” – John Green
3. “Many of life’s failures are people who did not realise how close they were to success when they gave up.” – Thomas A. Edison
4. “Not how long, but how well you have lived is the main thing.” – Seneca
5. “The art of life is to know how to enjoy a little and to endure very much.” – William Hazlitt
6. “When things change inside you, things change around you.” – unknown
7. “Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.” – Confucius
8. “Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
9. “Worry does not empty tomorrow of its sorrow. It empties today of its strength.” – Corrie Ten Boom
10. “The more you praise and celebrate your life, the more there is in life to celebrate.” – Oprah Winfrey
11. “Success is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm.” – Winston Churchill
12. “Dream as if you’ll live forever, live as if you’ll die today.” – James Dean
13. “It is never too late to be what you might have been.” – George Eliot
14. “Never allow waiting to become a habit, live your dreams and take risks. Life is happening now.” – Brian Weiner
15. “Life itself is a privilege, but to live life to the fullest – well, that is a choice.” – Andy Andrews
16. “The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.” – Eleanor Roosevelt
17. “It doesn’t matter how slow you go as long as you don’t stop.” – unknown
18. “Without ambition one starts nothing. Without work one finishes nothing. The prize will not be sent to you. You have to win it.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
19. “I believe every human has a finite number of heartbeats. I don’t intend to waste any of mine.” – Neil Armstrong
20. “Success isn’t about how your life looks to other. It’s about how it feels to you.” – Michelle Obama
21. “Open your eyes, look within. Are you satisfied with the life you’re living.” – Bob Marley
22. “Sometimes the biggest accomplishment in life is to find yourself.” – Luisa Fernanda Cicero
23. “I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life and that is why I succeed.” – Michael Jordan
24. “We should all start to live before we get too old.” – Marilyn Monroe
Deep and powerful life quotes
1. “If you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.” – Wayne Dyer
2. “We are here to add to what we can to life, not to get what we can from life.” – William Osler
3. “You have succeeded in life when all you really want is only what you really need.” – Vernon Howard
4. “Deciding what not to do is just as important as deciding what to do.” – Charles Spurgeon
5. “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
6. “You can do anything, but not everything.” – unknown
7. “Very little is needed to make a happy life; it is all within yourself, in your way of thinking.” – Marcus Aurelius
8. “Sometimes you make choices in life and sometimes choices make you.” – Gayle Forman
9. “In three words I can sum up everything I’ve learned in life: it goes on.” – Robert Frost
10. “The only person you should try to be better than is the person you were yesterday.” – Matty Mullins
11. “Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life.” – Steve Jobs
12. “Tough times never last, but tough people do.” – Robert H. Schuller
13. “I can be changed by what happens to me, but I refuse to be reduced by it.” – Maya Angelou
14. “There is a crack in everything, that’s how the light gets in.” – Leonard Cohen
15. “Waiting to be someone else is a waste of the person you are.” – Kurt Cobain
16. “If you love life, don’t waste time, for time is what life is made up of.” – Bruce Lee
17. “I don’t have to chase extraordinary moments to find happiness – it’s right in front of me if I’m paying attention and practicing gratitude.” – Brene Brown
18. “You should be as alive as you can until you’re totally dead.” – Dylan Moran
19. “The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” – Lao Tzu
20. “Too many of us are not living our dreams because we are too busy living our fears.” – Les Brown
21. “Life is very interesting … in the end, some of our greatest pains, become you greatest strengths.” – Drew Barrymore
22. “Be nice to people on the way up, because you may meet them on the way down.” – Jimmy Durante
23. “What you do makes a difference, and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make.” – Jane Goodall
24. “Courage doesn’t always roar. Sometimes courage is a quiet voice at the end of the day saying, “I will try again tomorrow.” – Mary Anne Radmacher
25. “If you don’t risk anything, you risk even more.” – Erica Jong
26. “When I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent left, and I could say, ‘I used everything you gave me’.” – Erma Bombeck
27. “There are years that ask questions and years that answer.” – Zora Neale Hurston
28. “Not everything that is faced can be changed but nothing can be changed until it is faced.” – James Baldwin
29. “If I wait for someone else to validate my existence, it will mean that I’m short-changing myself.” – Zanele Muholi
30. “Your life isn’t yours if you always care about what someone else thinks.” – unknown
Positivity and happiness quotes
1. “If you don’t like the road you’re walking, start paving another one.” – Dolly Parton
2. “Let no one come to you without leaving better and happier.” – Mother Teresa
3. “Always find opportunities to make someone smile, and to offer random acts of kindness in everyday life.” – Roy T. Bennett
4. “The happiness in your life depends on the quality of your thoughts.” – Marcus Aurelius
5. “Happiness is holding someone in your arms and knowing you hold the whole world.” – Orhan Pamuk
6. “Hope is the most exciting thing there is in life.” – Mandy Moore
7. “Life is meant to be lived, and curiosity must be kept alive. One must never, for whatever reason, turn his back on life.” – Eleanor Roosevelt
8. “Like the river, keep on flowing.” – Avjeet Das
9. “Life isn’t always beautiful, but it’s a beautiful ride.” – Gary Allan
10. “You’re only here for a short visit. Don’t hurry, don’t worry. And be sure to smell the flowers along the way.” – Walter Hagen
11. “Until you are happy with who you are, you will never be happy with what you have.” – Zig Ziglar
12. “Keep your eyes on the stars and your feet on the ground.” – Theodore Roosevelt
13. “Acknowledging the good that you already have in your life is the foundation for all abundance.” – Eckhart Tolle
14. “Happiness is not the belief that we don’t need to change; it’s the realisation that we can.” – Shawn Achor
15. “Laugh as much as you breathe and love as long as you live.” – Johnny Depp
16. “A happy soul is the best shield for a cruel world.” – Atticus
17. “Better an oops than a what if.” – Beau Taplin
18. “The world only exists in your eyes. You can make it as big or as small as you want.” – Fitzgerald F. Scott
19. “I tell you, in this world being a little crazy helps to keep you sane.” – Zsa Zsa Gabor
20. “I have learned to seek my happiness by limiting my desires, rather than in attempting to satisfy them.” – John Stuart Mill
21. “It’s never too late – never too late to start over, never too late to be happy.” – Jane Fonda
22. “Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember, you have the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world.” – Harriet Tubman
23. “Every day is different. Some days are better than others, but no matter how challenging the day, I get up and live it,” – unknown
24. “Every day may not be good, but there is something good in every day.” – unknown
Simple and short life quotes
1. “Everything you can imagine is real.” – Pablo Picasso
2. “Love the life you live. Live the life you love.” – Bob Marley
3. “The purpose of our lives is to be happy.” – Dalai Lama
4. “Get busy living or get busy dying.” – Stephen King
5. “Believe you can and you’re halfway there.” – Theodore Roosevelt
6. “Lead from the heart, not the head.” – Princess Diana
7. “Search for soul in everything.” – unknown
8. “If it costs you your peace, it’s too expensive.” – unknown
9. “I think being in love with life is a key to eternal youth.” – Doug Hutchison
10. “Life if really simple, but we insist on making it complicated.” – Confucius
11. “Where there is love there is life.” – Mahatma Gandhi
12. “Why fit in when you were born to stand out.” – Dr. Seuss
13. “Embrace the glorious mess that you are.” – Elizabeth Gilbert
14. “It always seems impossible until it’s done.” – Nelson Mandela
15. “The time is always right to do what is right.” – Martin Luther King Jr.
16. “A warm smile is the universal language of kindness.” – William Arthur Ward
17. “Love yourself first and everything else will fall into line.” – Lucille Ball
18. “You are your home.” – Erin Hanson
19. “There is beauty in simplicity.” – unknown
20. “Be happy for this moment. This moment is your life.” – Omar Khayyam
21. “Collect moments, not things.” – unknown
22. “Every moment is a new beginning.” – T. S. Eliot
23. “Because when you stop and look around, this life is pretty amazing.” – Dr. Seuss
24. “For fast-acting relief try slowing down.” – Lily Tomlin
25. “Tomorrow is now.” – Eleanor Roosevelt
26. “I live a beautiful life with fewer things – simple, yet full.” – Laura Buchanan
27. “The best things in life aren’t things.” – Art Buchwald
28. “Learn to live with less so that you can appreciate more.” – James Ryan
29. “The best way out is always through.” – Robert Frost
30. “Every exit is an entry somewhere else.” – Tom Stoppard
31. “Believe you can and you are half way there.” – Theodore Roosevelt
32. “Trust the timing of your life.” – unknown
33. “Nothing that lasts is accomplished quickly.” – Rachel Hollis
34. “Every day, you have the power to choose.” – Michelle Obama
35. “I don’t know where I’m going, but I’m on my way.” – Carl Sandburg
36. “What is yours will find you.” – unknown
37. “Keep calm and carry on.” – Winston Churchill
38. “Every moment is a fresh beginning.” – T.S. Eliot
39. “When you cease to dream you cease to live.” – Malcolm Forbes
40. “There are no mistakes, only opportunities.” – Tina Fey
41. “It’s okay if it doesn’t make sense yet.” – unknown
42. “Life has no limitations, except the ones you make.” – Les Brown
43. “If there is no struggle, there is no progress.” – Frederick Douglass
44. “Life does not have to be perfect to be wonderful.” – Annette Funicello
45. “No one is you and that is your superpower.” – unknown
46. “Nothing can dim the light that shines from within.” – Maya Angelou
47. “One day or day one. It’s your choice.” – unknown
48. “Difficult roads often lead to beautiful destinations.” – unknown
49. “The best is yet to come.” – unknown
50. “Wherever you are, be all there.” – Jim Elliot
