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15 quotes, newest first. New quotes join the top of the page as they are published, and every quote keeps its own page.

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Every quote on GKBook is traced to the book, speech, letter or interview it came from before it is published. A famous line that cannot be traced is kept because people search for it, but it is labelled "Attributed to", and a line that belongs to someone else is labelled "Often credited to" with the real origin beside it.

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The first pill opens the author's page with every quote of theirs on GKBook; the others open the categories the quote belongs to, such as Love Quotes or Wisdom Quotes.

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Motivational Quotes — 15 Famous Motivational Quotes

The journey of a thousand lî commenced with a single step.

Lao Tzu · Tao Te Ching chapter 64 in James Legge's translation; a li is a Chinese mile, hence the familiar "journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step".

Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed, is more important than any other one thing.

Abraham Lincoln · Advice to Isham Reavis, a young man who had asked to study law under him, in a letter of 5 November 1855.

Genius is 1 per cent inspiration and 99 per cent perspiration.

Thomas Edison · Quote Investigator finds Edison quoted with this ratio from 1901 and with "two per cent inspiration" as early as 1898; the familiar spelled-out form appeared in Harper's Monthly in 1932.

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

Steve Jobs · From his Stanford commencement address of 12 June 2005, given a year after his first cancer diagnosis.

Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.

Often credited to Winston Churchill · Churchill never said it; Quote Investigator traces the idea to a 1938 Budweiser beer advertisement ("success was never final and failure never fatal. It was courage that counted") and finds the Churchill credit only from the 1960s.

Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement; nothing can be done without hope.

Helen Keller · From her early essay Optimism; often quoted with "and confidence" added, which is not in the text.

The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid but he who conquers that fear.

Nelson Mandela · From the final part of his autobiography, on what prison taught him about courage.

You must do the thing you think you cannot do.

Eleanor Roosevelt

The impediment to action advances action. What stands in the way becomes the way.

Marcus Aurelius · Written in Greek as a private note to himself; this is the Gregory Hays translation, the form everyone now shares.

Our doubts are traitors, and make us lose the good we oft might win, by fearing to attempt.

William Shakespeare · Spoken by Lucio to Isabella in Act I, Scene iv.

We choose to go to the Moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard.

John F. Kennedy · Address on the nation's space effort at Rice University, Houston, 12 September 1962.

If you can't fly, run; if you can't run, walk; if you can't walk, crawl; but by all means keep moving.

Martin Luther King Jr. · Founders Day address at Spelman College, Atlanta, 10 April 1960.

Do what you can, with what you've got, where you are.

Theodore Roosevelt · In his autobiography Roosevelt credits the line to Squire Bill Widener of Widener's Valley, Virginia; it is usually quoted as "with what you have".

Never give in, never give in, never, never, never – in nothing, great or small, large or petty – never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense.

Winston Churchill · Speech to the boys of Harrow School, 29 October 1941; usually shortened online to "Never, never, never give up", which he did not say.

Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life.