Staying motivated at work isn’t always easy. Tight deadlines, difficult projects, and long hours can drain even the most passionate professionals. That’s why motivational quotes for work remain so powerful—they help us reset our mindset, regain focus, and push forward when challenges appear.
Whether you’re leading a team, building a business, or simply trying to stay productive, the right words at the right time can spark action and restore confidence. Below, you’ll find a curated collection of the best motivational quotes for work, organized by purpose, so you can apply them in your daily routine.
Positive Reinforcement
Positive reinforcement is a concept in psychology that basically consists of rewarding good attitudes. Instead of focusing on the mistakes and trying to teach only by punishment, with positive reinforcement, you highlight the achievements and strengths of a person.
Have you ever felt that only your mistakes are remembered, and the good work you put up every day isn't recognized? This is discouraging and may affect your results negatively. That's where positive reinforcement comes in, along with the best motivational quotes for work.
A study made by the University of Warwick showed that happiness made people 12% more productive.
Motivational quotes are more than inspirational words. They work because they:
- Reframe negative thinking
- Boost resilience and confidence
- Encourage persistence through challenges
- Reinforce personal and professional goals
How to Use Motivational Quotes at Work
Motivational quotes are most effective when they’re used intentionally. Here’s how to integrate them into your daily workflow:
- Add them to email signatures or internal newsletters
- Display them in team chats or office walls
- Use them to open meetings or presentations
- Share them during onboarding or training sessions
When quotes become part of your culture, they continuously reinforce positivity and momentum.
60 Best Motivational Quotes for Work
Motivational Quotes for Team Work
1- "Coming together is a beginning, keeping together is progress, working together is success." (Henry Ford)
2- "We know from research that growth is actually contagious, so if you want to reach your goals, you've got to be around people that are going in the same direction you want to be going, and you will catch the success." (Henry Cloud)
3 - "As is our confidence, so is our capacity." (William Hazlitt)
4 - "If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more, and become more, you are a leader." (John Quincy Adams)
5 - "The power of imagination makes us infinite." (John Muir)
6 - "It’s not about ideas. It’s about making ideas happen." (Scott Belsky)
7 - "Yesterday is not ours to recover, but tomorrow is ours to win or lose." (Lyndon Johnson)
8 - "Progress is impossible without change, and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything." (George Bernard Shaw)
9 - "When you give joy to other people, you get more joy in return. You should give a good thought to happiness that you can give out." (Eleanor Roosevelt)
10 - "Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence win championships." (Michael Jordan)
11 - "Remember, teamwork begins by building trust. And the only way to do that is to overcome our need for invulnerability." (Patrick Lencioni)
12 - "Great companies are built in the office, with hard work put in by a team." (Emily Chang)
Motivational Quotes to Help to Focus
Best motivational quotes for work focus
13 - "The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing." (Walt Disney)
14 - "The best preparation for tomorrow is doing your best today." (H. Jackson Brown Jr.)
15 - "A year from now, you may wish you had started today." (Karen Lamb)
16 - "There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure." (Colin Powell)
17 - "You can do anything, but not everything. Prioritize better." (Unknown)
18 - "Setting goals is the first step in turning the invisible into visible." (Tony Robbins)
19 - "Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can." (Arthur Ashe)
20 - "Just one small positive thought in the morning can change your whole day." (Dalai Lama)
21 - "Keep your eyes on the stars, and your feet on the ground." (Theodore Roosevelt)
22 - "You’re so much stronger than your excuses" (Unknown)
23 - "Your ability to discipline yourself to set clear goals, and then to work toward them every day, will do more to guarantee your success than any other single factor." (Brian Tracy)
24 - "Forget past mistakes. Forget failures. Forget everything except what you’re going to do now and do it." (William Durant)
Motivational Quotes for Work to Become More Confident
25- "If you think you are too small to make a difference, try sleeping with a mosquito." (Dalai Lama)
26 - "Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere." (Albert Einstein)
27 - "The best way to predict your future is to create it." (Abraham Lincoln)
28 - "Go as far as you can see; when you get there, you’ll be able to see further." (Thomas Carlyle)
29 - "Every accomplishment starts with the decision to try." (John F. Kennedy)
30 - "You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take." (Wayne Gretzky)
31 - "The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step." (Lao Tzu)
32 - "To think too long about doing a thing often becomes its undoing." (Eva Young)
33 - "Believe you can and you’re halfway there." (Theodore Roosevelt)
34 - "Everything you want is on the other side of fear." (Jack Canfield)
35 - "Doubt kills more dreams than failure ever will." (Suzy Kassem)
36 - "Stop being afraid of what could go wrong, and start being excited about what could go right." (Tony Robbins)
37 - "No one can make you feel inferior without your consent." (Eleanor Roosevelt)
38 - "Experience tells you what to do. Confidence allows you to do it." (Stan Smith)
39 - "Self-confidence is the first requisite to great undertakings." (Samuel Johnson)
40 - "To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment." (Ralph Waldo Emerson)
41 - "You carry the passport to your own happiness." (Diane von Furstenberg)
Motivational Quotes to Persist in Your Work
Best motivational quotes for work persistence
42 - "Success is never final; failure is never fatal." (Conrad Hilton)
43 - "Failure is not the opposite of success: it’s part of success." (Arianna Huffington)
44 - "Perseverance is failing 19 times and succeeding the 20th." (Julie Andrews)
45 - "We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act, but a habit." (Aristotle)
46 - "It always seems impossible until it’s done." (Nelson Mandela)
47 - "Hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard." (Tim Notke)
48 - "It’s hard to beat a person who never gives up." (Babe Ruth)
49 - "Every champion was once a contender that didn’t give up." – Gabby Douglas
50 - "Success is the sum of small efforts repeated day in and day out." (Robert Collier)
51 - "Success is not the absence of failure; it's the persistence through failure." (Aisha Tyler)
52 - "Courage doesn’t always roar. Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying, ‘I will try again tomorrow.’" (Mary Anne Radmacher)
Motivational Quotes for Work to Overcome Obstacles
53 - "The best way out is always through." (Robert Frost)
54 - "If everything seems under control, you’re not going fast enough." (Mario Andretti)
55 - "Never confuse a single defeat with a final defeat." (F. Scott Fitzgerald)
56 - "If you are not where you want to be, do not quit. Instead, reinvent yourself and change your habits." (Eric Thomas)
57 - "Failure defeats losers, but it inspires winners." (Robert Kiyosaki)
58 - "Victory is always possible for the person who refuses to stop fighting." (Napoleon Hill)
59 - "Don’t limit your challenges. Challenge your limits." (Unknown)
60 - "For every two minutes of glamour, there are eight hours of hard work." (Jessica Savitch)
