Inspirational Quotes
Aim for the moon. If you miss, let's hope you weren't a NASA scientist.
ALL QUOTES POPULAR BROWSE BY AUTHOR BROWSE BY SOURCE BROWSE BY TOPIC BROWSE BY SUBJECT
Inspirational Quotes
Pep talks from Lady Gaga, Patrick Henry, Dumbledore, and more. Click on any inspirational quote below to see it in context and find out where it falls on Shmoop's pretentious scale. We'll give you details on who said it, when they said it, and in some cases, why on earth they thought it was okay to say it.
""
"'Cause it's a Wednesday night, baby, and I'm alive."Source: Girls | Speaker: Hannah Horvath
"Adrian!"Source: Rocky | Speaker: Rocky Balboa
"Allons-y!"Source: Doctor Who | Speaker: Tenth Doctor
"And that's the way it is."Source: CBS Evening News | Speaker: Walter Cronkite
"And they brought us whole binders full of women."Source: 2012 Presidential Debate | Speaker: Mitt Romney
"And unto the uttermost part of the earth."Source: Acts of the Apostles | Speaker: Jesus of Nazareth
"Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee."Source: The Book of Isaiah | Author: The Prophet Isaiah
"Ask not what your country can do for you—ask what you can do for your country."Source: Inauguration Address, January 20, 1961 | Speaker: John F. Kennedy
"Be curious."Source: Birthday Party Speech | Speaker: Stephen Hawking
"Because when we love, we always strive to become better than we are."Source: The Alchemist | Author: Paulo Coelho
"Carpe… Hear it? Carpe… carpe diem. Seize the day, boys. Make your lives extraordinary."Source: Dead Poets Society | Speaker: John Keating
"Clear eyes, full hearts, can't lose."Source: Friday Night Lights | Speaker: Coach Eric Taylor
"Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest."Source: Matthew 11:28 | Speaker: Jesus
"Coming together is a beginning; keeping together is progress; working together is success."Source: Henry Ford's Marketing Team | Speaker: Henry Ford
"Do you believe in miracles?"Source: 1980 Winter Olympics | Speaker: Al Michaels
"Don't cha wish your girlfriend was hot like me?"Source: "Don't Cha" | Speaker: The Pussycat Dolls
"Don't just fly, soar."Source: Dumbo | Speaker: Timothy Mouse
"Don't stop believin'."Source: Don't Stop Believin' | Speaker: Journey
"Early to bed and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise."Source: Poor Richard's Almanack | Author: Benjamin Franklin
"Earn this. Earn it."Source: Saving Private Ryan | Speaker: Captain James Miller
"Education is the most powerful weapon we can use to change the world."Source: 2003 Speech | Speaker: Nelson Mandela
"Even a mistake may turn out to be the one thing necessary to a worthwhile achievement."Source: Henry Ford's Marketing Team | Speaker: Henry Ford
"Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us."Source: The Great Gatsby | Author: F. Scott Fitzgerald
"Genius is one percent inspiration, ninety-nine percent perspiration."Source: Not verified | Speaker: Thomas Edison
"Get busy living or get busy dying."Source: The Shawshank Redemption | Speaker: Andy Dufresne and "Red" Redding
"Give me liberty, or give me death!"Source: Virginia Convention in Richmond on March 20, 1775 | Speaker: Patrick Henry
"Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you."Source: Matthew 7:6 | Speaker: Jesus
"Good morning, Vietnam!"Source: Good Morning, Vietnam | Speaker: Adrian Cronauer
"Happiness can be found in the darkest of times."Source: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban | Speaker: Albus Dumbledore
"Happiness is not something ready-made. It comes from your own actions."Source: Unknown | Speaker: Dalai Lama
"Have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become."Source: Stanford Commencement Speech (2005) | Speaker: Steve Jobs
"Here comes the sun. And I say, it's all right."Source: "Here Comes the Sun" | Author: George Harrison
"How many ears must one man have before he can hear people cry?"Source: Blowin' in the Wind | Speaker: Bob Dylan
"How sweet it is!"Source: Papa's Delicate Condition | Speaker: Jack Griffith
"How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world."Source: The Diary of Anne Frank | Author: Anne Frank
"Hurt no living thing."Source: Hurt No Living Thing | Author: Christina Rossetti
"I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly"Source: John 10:10 | Author: Unknown
"I am not afraid; I was born to do this."Source: Spoken as she left the town of Vancouleurs | Speaker: Joan of Arc
"I believe it is peace for our time."Source: Speech outside 10 Downing Street | Speaker: Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain
"I can't help falling in love with you."Source: Can't Help Falling in Love | Speaker: Elvis Presley
"I do not wish any reward but to know I have done the right thing."Source: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn | Author: Mark Twain
"I don't like work—no man does—but I like what is in the work—the chance to find yourself."Source: Heart of Darkness | Author: Joseph Conrad
"I don't think that there's anything worse than being ordinary."Source: American Beauty | Speaker: Angela Hayes
"I get by with a little help from my friends."Source: With a Little Help from My Friends | Speaker: The Beatles
"I got all the riches, baby, one man can claim"Source: My Girl | Speaker: The Temptations
"I got you, babe."Source: I Got You Babe | Speaker: Sonny Bono and Cher
"I have not yet begun to fight."Source: Spoken on September 23, 1779 | Speaker: Captain John Paul Jones
"I have work, and then I have a dinner thing. And then I am busy, trying to become who I am."Source: Girls | Speaker: Hannah Horvath
"I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country."Source: Spoken before his death | Speaker: Nathan Hale
"I said a hip, hop, the hippie, the hippie, to the hip hip-hop."Source: Rapper's Delight | Speaker: The Sugarhill Gang
"I saw you, Walt Whitman, childless, lonely old grubber, poking among the meats in the refrigerator and eyeing the grocery boys."Source: A Supermarket in California | Author: Allen Ginsberg
"I think I'll try defying gravity, and you can't pull me down."Source: Wicked (2003 Musical) | Speaker: Elphaba
"I think of myself as a man."Source: Guess Who's Coming to Dinner | Speaker: John Prentice
"I think to myself: what a wonderful world."Source: What a Wonderful World | Speaker: Louis Armstrong
"I took a deep breath and listened to the old brag of my heart: I am, I am, I am."Source: The Bell Jar | Author: Sylvia Plath
"I will always love you."Source: I Will Always Love You | Speaker: Dolly Parton (and Whitney Houston)
"I wouldn't give you two cents for all your fancy rules."Source: Mr. Smith Goes to Washington | Speaker: Jefferson Smith
"I'm no hero. I put my bra on one boob at a time like everyone else."Source: Bob's Burgers | Speaker: Tina Belcher
"I'm the king of the world!"Source: Titanic | Speaker: Jack Dawson
"I've failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed."Source: "Failure," a Nike TV Commercial | Speaker: Michael Jordan
"If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature."Source: The Second Epistle to the Corinthians | Author: Paul of Tarsus
"If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins"Source: 1 John 1:9 | Author: The Elder
"If you liked it, then you shoulda put a ring on it."Source: Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It) | Speaker: Beyoncé
"In spite of everything, I still believe people are really good at heart."Source: The Diary of Anne Frank | Author: Anne Frank
"It matters not what someone is born, but what they grow to be."Source: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire | Author: J.K. Rowling
"It takes a great deal of bravery to stand up to our enemies, but just as much to stand up to our friends."Source: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone | Author: J.K. Rowling
"It's a really big show tonight!"Source: The Ed Sullivan Show | Speaker: Ed Sullivan
"It's not the men in your life that counts. It's the life in your men."Source: I'm No Angel | Speaker: Tira
"Just don't give up trying to do what you really want to do. Where there is love and inspiration, I don't think you can go wrong."Source: Unknown | Speaker: Ella Fitzgerald
"Just keep swimming."Source: Finding Nemo | Speaker: Dory
"Kids, you tried your best, and you failed miserably. The lesson is: never try."Source: The Simpsons | Speaker: Homer Simpson
"Ladies and gentlemen…The Beatles!"Source: The Ed Sullivan Show | Speaker: Ed Sullivan
"Let's get physical."Source: Physical | Speaker: Olivia Newton-John
"Life finds a way."Source: Jurassic Park | Speaker: Dr. Ian Malcolm
"Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get."Source: Forrest Gump | Speaker: Forrest Gump
"Life moves pretty fast."Source: Ferris Bueller's Day Off | Speaker: Ferris Bueller
"Logic is no doubt unshakable, but it can't withstand a person who wants to live."Source: The Trial | Author: Franz Kafka
"Look! Up in the sky! It's a bird! It's a plane! It's Superman!"Source: Adventures of Superman | Speaker: Men and Women
"Made it, Ma! Top of the world!"Source: White Heat | Speaker: Cody Jarrett
"Maybe Christmas, perhaps...means a little bit more!"Source: How the Grinch Stole Christmas | Author: Dr. Seuss
"My advice is, never do tomorrow what you can do today. Procrastination is the thief of time."Source: David Copperfield | Author: Charles Dickens
"Never forget what you are. The rest of the world will not. Wear it like armor, and it can never be used to hurt you."Source: Game of Thrones | Speaker: Tyrion Lannister
"Nostalgia. It's delicate, but potent."Source: Mad Men | Speaker: Don Draper
"Nothing is hopeless; we must hope for everything."Source: A Wrinkle in Time | Author: Madeleine L'Engle
"Nothing's gonna change my world."Source: "Across the Universe" | Author: The Beatles
"Oh, the things you can find if you don't stay behind!"Source: On Beyond Zebra! | Author: Dr. Seuss
"Present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God"Source: Romans 12:1 | Author: Paul of Tarsus
"Real courage is [...] when you know you're licked before you begin, but you begin anyway and see it through no matter what."Source: To Kill a Mockingbird | Author: Harper Lee
"Seize the moment. 'Cause tomorrow you might be dead."Source: Buffy the Vampire Slayer | Speaker: Buffy Summers
"Shake it off."Source: Shake It Off | Speaker: Taylor Swift
"She had not known the weight until she felt the freedom!"Source: The Scarlet Letter | Author: Nathaniel Hawthorne
"Should auld acquaintance be forgot, and never brought to mind?"Source: Auld Lang Syne | Speaker: Robert Burns
"Sing us a song, you're the piano man."Source: Piano Man | Speaker: Billy Joel
"Somebody stop me!"Source: The Mask | Speaker: The Mask
"Sometimes there's so much beauty in the world, I feel like I can't take it."Source: American Beauty | Speaker: Ricky Fitts
"Struggle is a never-ending process. Freedom is never really won. You earn it and win it in every generation."Source: My Life with Martin Luther King Jr. | Author: Coretta Scott King
"Suit up!"Source: How I Met Your Mother | Speaker: Barney Stinson
"That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind."Source: First Moon Landing | Speaker: Neil Armstrong
"The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice."Source: March from Selma, 1965 | Speaker: Martin Luther King, Jr.
"The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen nor even touched, but just felt in the heart."Source: The Story of My Life | Author: Helen Keller
"The Dude abides."Source: The Big Lebowski | Speaker: Jeff "the Dude" Lebowski
"The future's so bright, I gotta wear shades"Source: The Future's So Bright, I Gotta Wear Shades | Speaker: Timbuk 3
"The gift of a good liar is making people believe you lack a talent for lying."Source: House of Cards | Speaker: Frank Underwood
"The God of hope fill you with all joy and peace"Source: The Epistle to the Romans | Author: Paul of Tarsus
"The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you'll go."Source: I Can Read with My Eyes Shut! | Author: Dr. Seuss
"The only freedom which deserves the name is that of pursuing our own good in our own way"Source: On Liberty | Author: John Stuart Mill
"The only thing we have to fear is fear itself."Source: FDR's Inauguration Speech | Speaker: Franklin Delano Roosevelt
"The pen is mightier than the sword."Source: Richelieu | Author: Edward Bulwer-Lytton
"The record shows I took the blows and did it my way."Source: "My Way" | Speaker: Frank Sinatra
"The revolution is not an apple that falls when it is ripe! You have to make it fall."Source: Libération | Speaker: Che Guevara
"The richest man in town."Source: It's a Wonderful Life | Speaker: Harry Bailey
"The trouble with poetry is that it encourages the writing of more poetry."Source: The Trouble with Poetry | Author: Billy Collins
"The true sign of intelligence is not knowledge but imagination."Source: Unknown | Speaker: Albert Einstein
"The words of the prophets are written on the subway walls."Source: The Sound of Silence | Speaker: Simon and Garfunkel
"They call me Mister Tibbs!"Source: In the Heat of the Night | Speaker: Detective Virgil Tibbs
"They may take our lives, but they'll never take our freedom!"Source: Braveheart | Speaker: William Wallace
"This is nothing!"Source: Wag the Dog | Speaker: Stanley Motss
"This is the people's war!"Source: Mrs. Miniver | Speaker: The Vicar
"Those who matter don't mind, and those who mind don't matter."Source: Dr. Seuss | Speaker: Dr. Seuss
"Time for the charm bomb to explode."Source: Bob's Burgers | Speaker: Tina Belcher
"Tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all."Source: In Memoriam | Author: Alfred, Lord Tennyson
"To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all."Source: The Soul of Man Under Socialism | Author: Oscar Wilde
"Today, I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth."Source: The Pride of the Yankees | Speaker: Lou Gehrig
"Wax on, wax off."Source: The Karate Kid | Speaker: Mr. Miyagi
"We are not makers of history; we are made by history."Source: Strength to Love | Author: Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
"We are the world."Source: We Are the World | Speaker: Every Famous Singer Ever
"We can never give up longing and wishing while we are thoroughly alive. There are certain things we feel to be beautiful and good, and we must hunger after them."Source: The Mill on the Floss | Author: George Eliot
"What's so funny 'bout peace, love, and understanding?"Source: "Peace, Love, and Understanding" | Speaker: Elvis Costello
"When the dawn comes, tonight will be a memory, too."Source: Cats (1981 Musical) | Speaker: Grizabella
"Whisper words of wisdom, let it be."Source: "Let It Be" | Speaker: The Beatles
"Whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."Source: John 3:16 | Speaker: Jesus
"Without faith it is impossible to please Him"Source: The Epistle to the Hebrews | Author: Anonymous
"Words can be like X-Rays if you use them properly – they'll go through anything."Source: Brave New World | Author: Aldous Huxley
"Yas queen!"Source: Broad City | Speaker: Ilana Wexler
"You are beautiful, no matter what they say."Source: Beautiful | Speaker: Christina Aguilera
"You can stand under my umbrella, ella, ella, eh, eh, eh."Source: Umbrella | Speaker: Rihanna
"You can't depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus."Source: A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court | Author: Mark Twain
"You don't have to live forever. You just have to live."Source: Tuck Everlasting | Speaker: The Narrator
"You look mahvelous!"Source: Saturday Night Live | Speaker: Fernando Lamas
"You must be the change you wish to see in the world."Source: Unknown | Author: Mahatma Gandhi
"You must do the thing you think you cannot do."Source: You Learn by Living: Eleven Keys for a More Fulfilling Life | Author: Eleanor Roosevelt
"You think I'm licked. You all think I'm licked. Well, I'm not licked."Source: Mr. Smith Goes to Washington | Speaker: Jefferson Smith
"You're off to Great Places! Today is your day! Your mountain is waiting, so...get on your way!"Source: Oh, the Places You'll Go! | Author: Dr. Seuss
"You're so money and you don't even know it."Source: Swingers | Speaker: Trent Walker
"You're the sanest man that ever walked into this courtroom."Source: Mr. Deeds Goes to Town | Speaker: Judge May