Everyone needs a little inspiration now and then. To start your week off on the right foot (and hoof), we are going to bring you a new motivational quote every Monday. 

Feel free to share your favorite inspirational quote with us in the comments below. We may end up featuring it in a future Motivational Monday!

Motivating yourself and those around you is often the difference between victory and defeat or success and failure. And sometime people can sum up motivation in just a few simple words. Our popular book, Kick Starters For Life, gives you 1,407 examples.



Motivational Monday: December 9, 2024

"Leadership is the capacity to translate vision into reality."

—Warren Bennis

Previous Motivational Monday Quotes

Date Posted

"The growth and development of people is the highest calling of leadership."

— Harvey S. Firestone

12-2-24

"No one is useless in this world who lightens the burdens of another."

— Charles Dickens

11-25-24

"In every adversity there lies the seed of an equivalent advantage. In every defeat is a lesson showing you how to win the victory next time."

- Robert Collier

11-18-24

"Wisdom is the reward you get for a lifetime of listening when you would rather have talked."

- Mark Twain

11-11-24

"Don't blame the distractions. Improve your focus."

— Nicholaos Gouvounoitis

11-4-24

"Leadership is not about being in charge. It is about taking care of those in your charge."

— Simon Sinek

10-28-24

"You don't inspire your teammates by showing how amazing you are. You inspire them by showing them how amazing they are."

— Robyn Benincasa

10-21-24

"Successful people don't have different problems. They have different solutions."

— Sabastian Enges

10-14-24

"To build a strong team, you must see someone else's strength as a complement to your weakness and not a threat to your position or authority."

— Christine Cain

10-7-24

"The bend in the road is not the end of the road unless you fail to make the turn."

— Helen keller

9-30-24

"Concentration and mental toughness are the margins of victory."

— Bill Russell

9-23-24

"There are many ways of going forward, but only one way of standing still."

— Franklin D. Roosevelt

9-16-24

"The only way to do great work is to love what you do."

— Steve Jobs

9-9-24

“Progress always involves risks. You can't steal second base and keep your foot on first."

— Frederick B. Wilcox

9-2-24

"Efforts and courage are not enough without purpose and direction."

— John F. Kennedy

8-26-24

"Every morning you have two choices: Continue to sleep with your dreams or wake up and chase them."

— Carmelo Anthony

8-19-24

"Excellence is never an accident. It is always the result of high intention, sincere effort, and intelligent execution.”

— Aristotle

8-12-24

"If everyone would strive to be the captain of their team as opposed to being the MVP, there would be lot better teams."

— Derek Jones

8-5-24

"We judge ourselves by our motives and others by their behavior."

— Stephan R. Covey

7-29-24

"Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the assessment that something else is more important than fear."

— Franklin D. Roosevelt

7-22-24

"Leadership is a matter of having people look at you and gain confidence, seeing how you react. If you're in control, they are in control."

— Tom Landry

7-15-24

“Competition happens at the bottom. The people at the top are collaborating.”

— Unknown

7-8-24

"Confidence doesn't come out of nowhere. It's a result of something... hours and days and weeks and years of constant work and dedication."

— Roger Staubach

7-1-24

"A man is great not because he hasn't failed; a man is great because failure hasn't stopped him."

— Confucius

6-24-24

"Your profession is not what brings home your weekly paycheck, your profession is what you're here on earth to do, with such passion and such intensity that it becomes spiritual in calling."

— Vincent Van Gogh

6-17-24

“Leaders are tested only when people don’t want to follow.”

— Time Magazine 2015

6-10-24

"A culture is strong when people work with each other, for each other. A culture is weak when people work against each other, for themselves."

— Simon Sinek

6-3-24

"If you accept the call to leadership, then you must be willing to be misunderstood, criticized, opposed, accused and even rejected."

— Braque Talley

5-27-24

"Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing you will be successful."

— Herman Cain

5-20-24

"A smooth sea never made a skilled sailor."

— Franklin Roosevelt

5-13-24

"In estimating the greatness of a man’s lifework, it is fair to take into consideration the difficulties under which the man has accomplished it."

— F.B. Meyer

5-6-24

"There's a lot of humiliation on the playground. Before you finally establish your reputation, you have to suffer a lot. I was humiliated so many times that I got used to it. But it was one of those things. You either subjected yourself to the humiliation or left the park."

— Al McGuire, Hall of Fame Basketball Coach

4-29-24

"MOTIVATION might change your day, but DISCIPLINE will change your life."

— Billy Cox

4-22-24

“You have not lived today until you have done something for someone who can never repay you.”

— John Bunyan

4-15-24

“I believe in a business boarding up early. If you make a mistake, you put the boards in the window of the store and say, ‘Hey, I made a mistake.’ Let me take two shots in the arm and a punch on the nose and let me get on to the next thing. I don't believe in worrying over failures. I worry about successes. This is opposite from most people. Most people zero in on their failures. I try to keep all my attention on a pyramid type philosophy rather than the averaging-down philosophy.”

— Al McGuire, Hall of Fame NCAA Basketball Coach, Marquette University

4-8-24

“Money is only a tool. It will take you wherever you wish, but it will not replace you as the driver.”

— Ayn Rand

4-1-24

"A goal properly set is halfway reached."

— Zig Ziglar

3-25-24

"Constantly working below your skill level can be demoralizing, but working at the top of your game is motivating."

— John Seiffer

3-18-24

"Knowledge not shared is knowledge wasted…"

— Saidi Mkomwa

3-11-24

"Winning is fun... Sure. But winning is not the point. Wanting to win is the point. Not giving up is the point. Never letting up is the point. Never being satisfied with what you've done is the point."

— Pat Summitt

3-4-24

"If you want to be successful, it's just this simple. Know what you are doing. Love what you are doing. And believe in what you are doing."

— Will Rogers

2-26-24

"A comfort zone is a beautiful place, but nothing ever grows there."

— Gina Milicia

2-19-24

"1. God is first, others second, I am third. 2. Establish a Goal. 3. Set up a plan to reach that goal. 4. Play fairly, play hard, but play to win. 5. Win humbly--Lose graciously. 6. Place team success above personal glory. 7. Be dedicated. I pledge to upload this creed."

— Bart Starr's Creed

2-12-24

"Our greatest fear should not be of failure but of succeeding at things in life that don't really matter."

— Francis Chan

2-5-24

"Continuous improvement is better than delayed perfection."

— Mark Twain

1-29-24

“Consistency in voice and expectations gives you a chance to go from average, to good, to really good, to maybe even great.”

— Luke Fickell

1-22-24

“Surround yourself with people that push you to do and be better. No drama or negativity. Just higher goals and higher motivation. Good times and positive energy. No jealousy or hate. Simply bringing out the absolute best in each other.”

— Warren Buffett

1-15-24

"The ultimate goal of farming is not the growing of crops, but the cultivation and perfection of human beings."

— Masanobu Fukuoka

1-8-24

"Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn."

— Benjamin Franklin

1-1-24

"If we chase perfection, we can catch excellence."

— Vince Lombardi

12-25-23

"Adversity is an opportunity for heroism."

— Marv Levy

12-18-23

"Success isn't owned. It's leased, and rent is due every day."

— J.J Watt

12-11-23

“Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things.”

— Peter Drucker

12-4-23

“Leadership is not a license to do less. Leadership is a responsibility to do more.”

— Simon Sinek

11-27-23

"It is better to fail in originality than to succeed in imitation."

— Herman Melville

11-20-23

"Rule No. 1: Don’t do business with assholes.

Rule No. 2: If you’re currently doing business with assholes, see rule No. 1."

— Joseph C. Niebler Sr., attorney

11-13-23

“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

11-6-23

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

— Chanakya

10-30-23

“You will never 'find' time for anything. If you want time, you must make it.”

— Charles Buxton

10-23-23

"Change is inevitable. Change will always happen, but you have to apply direction to change, and that's when it's progress."

— Doug Baldwin

10-16-23

“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

10-9-23

“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 which has been opened for us.”

— Helen Keller

10-2-23

“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. The slogan 'Press On!' has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.”

— Calvin Coolidge

9-25-23

"When everything seems to be going against you, remember that the airplane takes off against the wind, not with it."

— Henry Ford

9-18-23

“We find comfort among those who agree with us – growth among those who don’t.”

— Frank A. Clark

9-11-23

“Accept that some days you’re the pigeon, and some days you’re the statue.”

— Roger C. Anderson

9-4-23

“Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning.”

— Bill Gates

8-28-23

“Ability is what you are capable of doing. Motivation determines what you do. Attitude determines how well you do it.”

— Lou Holtz

8-21-23

“Focus on the journey, not the destination. Joy is found not in finishing an activity but in doing it.”

— Greg Anderson

8-14-23

“You fail all the time, but you aren’t a failure until you start blaming someone else.”

— NFL Coach Bum Phillips

8-7-23

“The simple step of a courageous individual is not to take part in the lie. One word of truth outweighs the world.”

— Aleksandr I. Solzhenitsyn

7-31-23

"You can't live a perfect day without doing something for someone who will never be able to repay you."

— John Wooden

7-24-23

"Surround yourself with people that push you to do and be better. No drama or negativity. Just higher goals and higher motivation. Good times and positive energy. No jealousy or hate. Simply bringing out the absolute best in each other."

— Warren Buffett

7-17-23

“I believe in the dignity of labor, whether with head or hand; that the world owes no man a living but that it owes every man an opportunity to make a living.”

— John D. Rockefeller

7-10-23

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

— Henry Ford

6-26-23

"The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing."

— Socrates

6-26-23

"It's not what happens to you, but how you react to it that matters."

— Epictetus

6-19-23

"No matter what, people grow. If you chose not to grow, you're staying in a small box with a small mindset. People who win go outside of that box. It's very simple when you look at it."

— Kevin Hart

6-12-23

"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

6-5-23

"Friends are as companions on a journey, who ought to aid each other to persevere in the road to a happier life."

— Pythagoras

5-29-23

“Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.”

— Thomas A. Edison

5-22-23

“The final forming of a person’s character lies in their own hands.”

— Anne Frank

5-15-23

"The mystery of human existence lies not in just staying alive, but in finding something to live for."

— Fyodor Dosoevsky

5-8-23

"Invention, it must be humbly admitted, does not consist in creating out of the void but out of chaos."

— Mary Shelly

5-1-23

"If it were necessary either to do wrong or to suffer it, I should choose to suffer rather than do it."

— Gorgias, Philosopher

4-24-23

"We make a living by what we get, we make a life by what we give."

— Winston Churchill

4-17-23

“You may not realize it when it happens, but a kick in the teeth may be the best thing in the world for you.”

— Walt Disney

4-10-23

“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then, is not an act, but a habit.”

— Aristotle

4-3-23

“If there was nothing wrong in the world there wouldn’t be anything for us to do.”

— George Bernard Shaw

3-27-23

“If you fell down yesterday, stand up today.”

— H.G. Wells

3-20-23

“Inspiration does exist, but it must find you working.”

— Pablo Picasso

3-13-23

“Mondays are the start of the work week which offer new beginnings 52 times a year!“

— David Dweck

3-6-23

"Don't let yesterday take up too much of today."

— Will Rogers

2-27-23

""You will have bad times, but they will always wake you up to the stuff you weren’t paying attention to." -Good Will Hunting

— Robin Williams

2-20-23

"No matter what anybody tells you, words and ideas can change the world." —Dead Poets Society

— Robin Williams

2-13-23

"I choose to be better than the obvious. I obviously choose to be better, day by day."

— Brent Smith

2-6-23

“If you don’t like the road you’re walking, start paving another one.”

— Dolly Parton

1-30-23

“I learned a long time ago that there is something worse than missing the goal, and that’s not pulling the trigger.”

— Mia Hamm

1-23-23

“If you get tired, learn to rest not quit.”

— Banksy

1-16-23

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

— Vince Lombardi

1-9-23

“Opportunities don't happen, you create them.”

— Chris Grosser

1-2-23