100 Inspirational Short Phrases in English

As we go through life, there are times when we need a little bit of encouragement to keep moving forward. Be it during difficult moments or when chasing our dreams, it can be helpful to have a few inspirational short phrases in our arsenal. Here, we have compiled 100 such phrases to inspire and motivate you.

The Importance of Self-Discovery

1. “Find yourself and be that.”
2. “You are the author of your life. Don’t let anyone else hold the pen.”
3. “You have everything within you to become the best version of yourself.”
4. “Don’t wait for opportunities, create them.”

Pushing Through Adversity

5. “When life gives you lemons, make lemonade.”
6. “Fall seven times, stand up eight.”
7. “Smooth seas never made a skilled sailor.”
8. “Don’t be afraid to fail, be afraid not to try.”

The Pursuit of Success

9. “Success is not final, failure is not fatal: It is the courage to continue that counts.” - Winston Churchill
10. “What you get by achieving your goals is not as important as what you become by achieving your goals.” - Zig Ziglar
11. “Believe you can and you’re halfway there.” - Theodore Roosevelt
12. “The only way to do great work is to love what you do.” - Steve Jobs

Finding Happiness

13. “Happiness is not something ready-made. It comes from your own actions.” - Dalai Lama
14. “The best way to predict the future is to create it.” - Abraham Lincoln
15. “Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a battle you know nothing about.”
16. “The happiest people don’t have the best of everything, they just make the best of everything.”

Love and Relationships

17. “To be brave is to love someone unconditionally, without expecting anything in return.” - Margaret Mitchell
18. “The greatest happiness you can have is knowing that you do not necessarily require happiness.” - William Saroyan
19. “You know you’re in love when you can’t fall asleep because reality is finally better than your dreams.” - Dr. Seuss

Staying Focused

20. “You can’t have a million-dollar dream with a minimum-wage work ethic.”
21. “The road to success is dotted with many tempting parking spaces.”
22. “Don’t wish it were easier, wish you were better.”

Living in the Present

23. "Yesterday is gone. Tomorrow has not yet come. We have only today. Let us begin." - Mother Teresa
24. “The only way to live is to accept each moment as an unrepeatable miracle.” - Tara Brach
25. “If you want to be happy, be.” - Leo Tolstoy

Overcoming Fear

26. “Fear is nothing more than a state of mind.” - Napoleon Hill
27. “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” - Franklin D. Roosevelt
28. “Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear - not absence of fear.” - Mark Twain

The Importance of Gratitude

29. “Gratitude turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos into order, confusion into clarity.” - Melody Beattie
30. “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
31. “Gratitude is the fairest blossom which springs from the soul.” - Henry Ward Beecher

Being Creative

32. “Creativity is intelligence having fun.” - Albert Einstein
33. “The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources.” - Albert Einstein
34. “Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up.” - Pablo Picasso

Living with Purpose

35. “The meaning of life is to find your gift. The purpose of life is to give it away.” - Pablo Picasso
36. “You can’t fall if you don’t climb. But there’s no joy in living your whole life on the ground.” - Unknown
37. “The purpose of our lives is to be happy.” - Dalai Lama

Persistence Pays Off

38. “I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life and that is why I succeed.” - Michael Jordan
39. “Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.” - Calvin Coolidge
40. “Never give up on a dream just because of the time it will take to accomplish it. The time will pass anyway.” - Earl Nightingale

Embracing Change

41. “Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future.” - John F. Kennedy
42. “The secret of change is to focus all of your energy, not on fighting the old, but on building the new.” - Socrates
43. “Change your thoughts and you change your world.” - Norman Vincent Peale

Self-Care and Mindfulness

44. “The first step in self-care is removing the word “should” from your vocabulary.” - Dr. Libby
45. “Wherever you are, be all there.” - Jim Elliot
46. “You must love yourself before you love another. By accepting yourself and fully being what you are, your simple presence can make others happy.” - Unknown

Finding Balance

47. “Happiness is not a matter of intensity but of balance, order, rhythm and harmony.” - Thomas Merton
48. “The key to balance is to identify the activities and self-care tools that energize, restore and renew you, and to engage in them regularly, even if you feel you’re too busy or too stressed.” - Renee Trudeau
49. “You will never feel truly satisfied by work until you are satisfied by life.” - Heather Schuck

Courageous Living

50. “Live as brave men, and if fortune is adverse, front its blows with brave hearts.” - Marcus Tullius Cicero
51. “Be yourself; everyone else is already taken.” - Oscar Wilde
52. “I have learned over the years that when one’s mind is made up, this diminishes fear; knowing what must be done does away with fear.” - Rosa Parks

Positive Thinking

53. “The pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity. The optimist sees opportunity in every difficulty.” - Winston Churchill
54. “Positive thinking will let you do everything better than negative thinking will.” - Zig Ziglar
55. “The positive thinker sees the invisible, feels the intangible, and achieves the impossible.” - Winston Churchill

Believing in Yourself

56. “Believe in love. Believe in magic. Hell, believe in Santa Claus. Believe in yourself. Believe in your dreams. If you don’t, who will?” - Jon Bon Jovi
57. “You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream.” - C.S. Lewis
58. “Believe you can and you’re halfway there.” - Theodore Roosevelt

Working Hard

59. “The only way to do great work is to love what you do.” - Steve Jobs
60. “If you want to achieve greatness, stop asking for permission.” - Unknown
61. “There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure.” - Colin Powell

Embracing Failure

62. “Success is stumbling from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm.” - Winston Churchill
63. “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” - Thomas Edison
64. “You don’t learn to walk by following rules. You learn by doing, and by falling over.” - Richard Branson

Willpower and Determination

65. “With a strong enough will, we can overcome anything.” - John Wooden
66. “The only limit to our realization of tomorrow will be our doubts of today.” - Franklin D. Roosevelt
67. “It does not matter how slowly you go, as long as you do not stop.” - Confucius

Learning and Growing

68. “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” - Nelson Mandela
69. “The future belongs to those who learn more skills and combine them in creative ways.” - Robert Greene
70. “The beautiful thing about learning is that nobody can take it away from you.” - B.B. King

Time Management

71. “Time is a created thing. To say ‘I don’t have time,’ is like saying, ‘I don’t want to.’” - Lao Tzu
72. “Your time is limited, don’t waste it living someone else’s life.” - Steve Jobs
73. “The bad news is time flies. The good news is you’re the pilot.” - Michael Altshuler

Giving Back

74. “The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.” - Mahatma Gandhi
75. “We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.” - Winston Churchill
76. “It’s not about what we have, but what we give.” - Unknown

Overcoming Self-Doubt

77. “Believe in yourself and all that you are. Know that there is something inside you that is greater than any obstacle.” - Christian D. Larson
78. “Don’t let yesterday take up too much of today.” - Will Rogers
79. “Don’t let the fear of striking out hold you back.” - Babe Ruth

Living in the Moment

80. “The most important thing is to enjoy your life - to be happy - it’s all that matters.” - Audrey Hepburn
81. “Life is too short to waste your time on people who don’t respect, appreciate, and value you.” - Roy T. Bennett
82. “The present moment is filled with joy and happiness. If you are attentive, you will see it.” - Thich Nhat Hanh

Being Authentic

83. “To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.” - Ralph Waldo Emerson
84. “Authenticity is the daily practice of letting go of who we think we’re supposed to be and embracing who we are.” - Brené Brown
85. “You were born an original, don’t die a copy.” - John Mason

Embracing Success

86. “Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful.” - Albert Schweitzer
87. “Success is not final, failure is not fatal: It is the courage to continue that counts.” - Winston Churchill
88. “The biggest challenge in life is being yourself. Everyone else is already taken.” - Oscar Wilde

Being Brave

89. “Don’t be pushed by your problems. Be led by your dreams.” - Ralph Waldo Emerson
90. “If you are going through hell, keep going.” - Winston Churchill
91. “Be brave enough to live life creatively. The creative place where no one else has ever been.” - Alan Alda

Being Humble

92. “True humility is not thinking less of yourself; it is thinking of yourself less.” - C.S. Lewis
93. “The humblest tasks get beautified if loving hands do them.” - Louisa May Alcott
94. “It is not enough to be busy. The question is: What are we busy about?” - Henry David Thoreau

Encouraging Others

95. “In a world where you can be anything, be kind.” - Unknown
96. “Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around.” - Leo Buscaglia
97. “Be the change you wish to see in the world.” - Mahatma Gandhi

Loving Yourself

98. “Love yourself first and everything else falls into line. You really have to love yourself to get anything done in this world.” - Lucille Ball
99. “And now that you don’t have to be perfect, you can be good.” - John Steinbeck
100. “To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.” - Ralph Waldo Emerson

These short phrases carry a lot of powerful messages that can inspire and motivate us in various aspects of life. Remember, it’s important to consistently work towards being the best version of ourselves, and sometimes that means finding a little bit of inspiration along the way.