60 Inspirational Quotes for Work to Lead You to the Top

If you’re having a hard time adjusting to the million things you must do at the office, read these quotes for work we’ve compiled!

Work is necessary for us to reach our goals. However, the amount of work some people face gets too much at times.

We feel like we’re wasting precious hours of our days without seeing any concrete results.

But, we must remember that success doesn’t happen instantly, and it will take time before our effort actually produces the results we want.

So, to keep you inspired while working, make sure you read these quotes we’ve compiled! We’re positive you’ll gain a more positive perspective when it comes to having the right mindset and work ethic.

Let’s begin.

And don’t forget to check out these success quotes.

Best Quotes for Work

1. “The only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle.” – Steve Jobs

2. “Things may come to those who wait, but only the things left by those who hustle.” – Abraham Lincoln

3. “Don’t be afraid to give your best to what seemingly are small jobs. Every time you conquer one it makes you that much stronger. If you do the little jobs well, the big ones will tend to take care of themselves.” – William Patten

4. “You will never change your life until you change something you do daily. The secret of your success is found in your daily routine.” – John C. Maxwell

5. “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

6. “Without ambition, one starts nothing. Without work, one finishes nothing. The prize will not be sent to you. You have to win it.“ – Ralph Waldo Emerson

Inspirational Quotes for Work

7. “The individual who says it is not possible should move out of the way of those doing it.” – Tricia Cunningham

8. “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.” – Ella Fitzgerald

9. “Define success on your own terms, achieve it by your own rules, and build a life you’re proud to live.” – Anne Sweeney

10. “Start by doing what’s necessary, then what’s possible; and suddenly you are doing the impossible.” – St. Francis

11. “People rarely succeed unless they have fun in what they are doing.” – Dale Carnegie

12. “Most of the important things in the world have been accomplished by people who have kept on trying when there seemed to be no hope at all.” – Dale Carnegie

Encouraging Work Quotes

13. “Talent means nothing, while experience—acquired in humility and with hard work—means everything.” – Patrick Suskind

14. “If I create from the heart, nearly everything works; if from the head, almost nothing.” – Marc Chagall

15. “If you are not where you want to be, do not quit. Instead, reinvent yourself and change your habits.” – Eric Thomas

16. “Don’t be afraid of hard work. Nothing worthwhile comes easily. Don’t let others discourage you or tell you that you can’t do it. In my day I was told women didn’t go into chemistry. I saw no reason why we couldn’t.” – Gertrude B. Elion

17. “Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.” – Thomas Edison

Also read: Encouraging Quotes, Positive Quotes

Short Work Quotes

18. “The more I want to get something done, the less I call it work.” – Richard Bach

19. “Either you run the day or the day runs you.” – Jim Rohn

20. “Do the hard jobs first. The easy jobs will take care of themselves.” – Dale Carnegie

21. “It does not matter how slowly you go, so long as you do not stop.” – Confucius

22. “Always deliver more than expected.” – Larry Page

23. “If you have time to whine, then you have time to find a solution.” – Dee Dee Artner

24. “You are not your resume, you are your work.” – Seth Godin

Also read: Short Quotes

Quotes for Work to Motivate You to Give Your All

25. “Work harder on you than everyone else and you will become unusually successful.” – Dani Johnson

26. “Those who say it cannot be done should not interrupt those doing it.” – Chinese Proverb

27. “Developing a good work ethic is key. Apply yourself at whatever you do, whether you’re a janitor or taking your first summer job because that work ethic will be reflected in everything you do in life.” – Tyler Perry

28. “Motivation is a fire from within. If someone else tries to light that fire under you, chances are it will burn very briefly.” – Stephen R. Covey

29. “Do more than is required. What is the distance between someone who achieves their goals consistently and those who spend their lives and careers merely following? The extra mile.” – Gary Ryan Blair

30. “Whatever you do, do it with all your might. Work at it, early and late, in season and out of season, not leaving a stone unturned, and never deferring for a single hour, which can be done just as well as now.” – Margaret Fuller

Also read: Inspirational Quotes

Quotes for Work to Help You Concentrate on Your Goals

31. “Concentrate all your thoughts upon the work in hand. The sun’s rays do not burn until brought to a focus.” – Alexander Graham Bell

32. “Plenty of men can do good work for a spurt and with an immediate promotion in mind, but for promotion, you want a man in whom good work has become a habit.” – Henry L. Doherty

33. “By recording your dreams and goals on paper, you set in motion the process of becoming the person you most want to be. Put your future in good hands—your own.” – Mark Victor Hansen

34. “I don’t focus on what I’m up against. I focus on my goals and I try to ignore the rest.” – Venus Williams

35. “One of the best pieces of advice I ever got was from a horse master. He told me to go slow to go fast. I think that applies to everything in life. We live as though there aren’t enough hours in the day but if we do each thing calmly and carefully we will get it done quicker and with much less stress.” – Viggo Mortensen

Quotes for Work to Make You a Better Team Player and Leader

36. “Coming together is a beginning, keeping together is progress, working together is success.” – Henry Ford

37. “If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more, and become more, you are a leader.” – John Quincy Adams

38. “Find a group of people who challenge and inspire you, spend a lot of time with them, and it will change your life.” – Amy Poehler

39. “A professional is someone who can do his best work when he doesn’t feel like it.” – Alistair Cook

40. “There is no such thing as a self-made man. You will reach your goals only with the help of others.” – George Shinn

Quotes for Work That Will Lead You to Success

41. “Success is the sum of small efforts repeated day in and day out.” – Robert Collier

42. “Don’t aim for success if you want it, just do what you love and believe in and it will come naturally.” – David Frost

43. “Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal. Nothing on earth can help the man with the wrong attitude.” – Thomas Jefferson

44. “I would visualize things coming to me. It would just make me feel better. Visualization works if you work hard. That’s the thing. You can’t just visualize and go eat a sandwich.” – Jim Carrey

45. “Success isn’t always about greatness. It’s about consistency. Consistent hard work leads to success. Greatness will come.” – Dwayne Johnson

46. “If you work just for money, you’ll never make it. But if you love what you’re doing and you always put the customer first, success will be yours.” – Ray Kroc

Positive Quotes for Work

47. “When something is important enough, you do it even if the odds are not in your favor.” – Elon Musk

48. “Whatever the mind of man can conceive and believe, it can achieve. Thoughts are things! And powerful things at that—when mixed with definiteness of purpose, and burning desire—can be translated into riches.” – Napoleon Hill

49. “Dreams can come true, but there is a secret. They’re realized through the magic of persistence, determination, commitment, passion, practice, focus, and hard work. They happen a step at a time, manifested over years, not weeks.” – Elbert Hubbard

50. “This is the real secret of life—to be completely engaged with what you are doing in the here and now. And instead of calling it work, realize it is play.” – Alan Wilson Watts

51. “Time is an equal opportunity employer. Each human being has exactly the same number of hours and minutes every day. Rich people can’t buy more hours. Scientists can’t invent new minutes. And you can’t save time to spend it on another day. Even so, time is amazingly fair and forgiving. No matter how much time you’ve wasted in the past, you still have an entire tomorrow.” – Denis Waitley

Quotes for Work That You Need to Read Today

52. “Don’t lament so much about how your career is going to turn out. You don’t have a career. You have a life.” – Cheryl Strayed

53. “Instead of wondering when your next vacation is, you ought to set up a life you don’t need to escape from.” – Seth Godin

54. “The secret of getting ahead is getting started. The secret of getting started is breaking your complex overwhelming tasks into small manageable tasks, and then starting on the first one.” – Mark Twain

55. “The price of success is hard work, dedication to the job at hand, and the determination that whether we win or lose, we have applied the best of ourselves to the task at hand.” – Vince Lombardi

More Quotes for Work That’ll Make You Giggle

56. “If plan A doesn’t work, the alphabet has 25 more letters—204 if you’re in Japan.” – Claire Cook

57. “We have a strategic plan. It’s called doing things.” – Herb Kelleher

58. “People often say that motivation doesn’t last. Well, neither does bathing—that’s why we recommend it daily.” – Zig Ziglar

59. “If you must have motivation, think of your paycheck on Friday.” – Noel Coward

60. “Follow your passion, stay true to yourself, and never follow someone else’s path unless you’re in the woods and you’re lost and you see a path then, by all means, you should follow that.” – Ellen Degeneres

Do You Think It’s Important to Stay Inspired While Working?

Few are lucky to pursue careers in the arts where everything is ever-changing. Most can get stuck in the mundane routine of corporate work. This leads to demotivation and a lack of drive and passion for what they need to do to succeed.

That’s why it’s important to always find something that inspires you in your workplace. It doesn’t have to be big things like a possible promotion. Something as simple as meeting your colleagues or finishing a task that’s been on your to-do list can give you enough drive and encouragement!

Through the quotes for work we’ve compiled, we hope you were able to see that the little things—every little bit of progress—count for something, too! There will always be something to look forward to at work, as long as you have a good mindset and work ethic. It also helps if you’re doing something you love!

So, never settle for the mundane, ordinary, and routine. Always strive to find something that will give you small bouts of happiness throughout the day. Whenever you need something to push you forward, feel free to reread the quotes in this collection!

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Karen Danao

Hi, I’m Karen, a content curator and writer for Quote Ambition; I’m also a marketing and advertising professional. Beyond the keyboard and the screen, I’m someone who’s out to enjoy every bit that life has to offer!

Poetry, philosophy, history, and movies are all topics I love writing about! However, my true passion is in traveling, photography, and finding common ground to which everyone from different cultures can relate.

With the many places I’ve been to, I found that love, inspiration, and happiness are some things that bring people together. No matter how different we are on the outside, I’m a true believer that our emotions don’t lie; if you dig deep into our psyche, we’re all the same inside.

This belief was further amplified when I joined Quote Ambition. Through the quotes I’ve read, collected, organized, and written about, I found that humans are resilient, creative, and compassionate.

We take from each others’ hearts and courage, and it’s through our individual experiences that we learn how to rise above our challenges and pain. In so many ways, Quote Ambition is a platform that allows people from all over the world to gain the inspiration they need anytime, anywhere!

You can find me on MuckRack and LinkedIn.