30 of the Most Inspirational Leadership Quotes No one can deny the power of a good quote.
By Travis Bradberry Edited by Dan Bova
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
No one can deny the power of a good quote. Here are 38 to motivate and inspire you to be your best.
Don't go it alone
"I alone cannot change the world, but I can cast a stone across the water to create many ripples." -- Mother Teresa
Make connections
"I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel." -- Maya Angelou
Believe in yourself
"Whether you think you can or you think you can't, you're right." -- Henry Ford
Perfection is not attainable
"Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection we can catch excellence." -- Vince Lombardi
Related: 15 Secrets of Really Persuasive People
Take stock
"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
Be flexible
"I can't change the direction of the wind, but I can adjust my sails to always reach my destination." -- Jimmy Dean
Nothing is impossible
"Nothing is impossible, the word itself says 'I'm possible'!" -- Audrey Hepburn
Use your heart
"To handle yourself, use your head; to handle others, use your heart." -- Eleanor Roosevelt
Live your dreams
"Too many of us are not living our dreams because we are living our fears." -- Les Brown
Shutterstock.comTry your best
"Do or do not. There is no try." -- Yoda
What’s money?
"What's money? A man is a success if he gets up in the morning and goes to bed at night and in between does what he wants to do." --Bob Dylan
Think big
"Whatever the mind of man can conceive and believe, it can achieve." -- Napoleon Hill
Explore. Dream. Discover.
"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do, so throw off the bowlines, sail away from safe harbor, catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover." -- Mark Twain
Don't be afraid to fail
"I've missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I've lost almost 300 games. Twenty-six 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
Strive not to be a success
"Strive not to be a success, but rather to be of value." -- Albert Einstein
Shutterstock.comYou decide your destiny
"I am not a product of my circumstances. I am a product of my decisions." -- Stephen Covey
Find your power
"The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don't have any." -- Alice Walker
ShutterstockBe tenacious
"The most difficult thing is the decision to act, the rest is merely tenacity." -- Amelia Earhart
Related: Are You Emotionally Intelligent? Here's How to Know for Sure.
ShutterstockFind the light
"It is during our darkest moments that we must focus to see the light." -- Aristotle Onassis
Shutterstock.comIt starts with one seed
"Don't judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds that you plant." -- Robert Louis Stevenson
Don't give into doubts
"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
Build your own dreams
"Build your own dreams, or someone else will hire you to build theirs." -- Farrah Gray
Shutterstock.com/FocalPointLuck may not look like what you think
"Remember that not getting what you want is sometimes a wonderful stroke of luck." -- Dalai Lama
Embrace mistakes
"A person who never made a mistake never tried anything new." -- Albert Einstein
ShutterstockStretch yourself to achieve your goals
"I have been impressed with the urgency of doing. Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Being willing is not enough; we must do." -- Leonardo da Vinci
Look for opportunities in unexpected places
"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 that has been opened for us." -- Helen Keller
Seek happiness
"When I was 5 years old, my mother always told me that happiness was the key to life. When I went to school, they asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I wrote down 'happy.' They told me I didn't understand the assignment, and I told them they didn't understand life." -- John Lennon
Related: 13 Habits of Exceptionally Likable People
You are the author of your fate
"The only person you are destined to become is the person you decide to be." -- Ralph Waldo Emerson
Face your fears
"We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light." -- Plato
Nothing will work unless you do
"Nothing will work unless you do." -- Maya Angelou
