73 Life Sayings and Quotes to Keep You Motivated

Life can be full of challenges.

It is often difficult to stand true to ourselves when the rest of the world seems to be against us because of the choices we make or the life we lead. 

We may have fought to excel when mediocrity was the norm.

We may have changed religions or did without, despite the fact that our families belonged to a certain faith community for generations. It may be that society disapproved of who we love.

It helps sometimes to know that there are other people who’ve gone through the same experiences as we have in being true to ourselves.

It is reassuring to realize that other people may also be facing the challenges of life that we encounter — a “been there, done that” kind of assurance.

This collection of quotes about life aims to tell us just that: that there are others who have been there before and had somehow managed to emerge on the other side, a little scratched, bruised and disheveled perhaps, but alive nonetheless.

This series features life quotes sayings, quotes about life and love, inspirational quotes on life, short quotes about life, quotes about life being hard, inspirational quotes about life and struggles, and inspirational quotes about life and happiness.

Let’s start with life quotes sayings from figures throughout history. Ancient philosophers from different cultures and historical figures have pondered upon life and gained insights as to why we are here and what we are meant to be.

Life Quotes Sayings

1. “When you were born, you cried and the world rejoiced. Live your life so that when you die, the world cries and you rejoice.”– Cherokee
2. “Everything flows and nothing abides, everything gives way and nothing stays fixed.”– Heraclitus
3. “We are all visitors to this time, this place. We are just passing through. Our purpose here is to learn, to grow, to love… And then we return home.” – Aboriginal saying

4. “Even the seasons form a great circle in their changing, and always come back to where they were. The life of a person is a circle from childhood to childhood, and so it is in everything where power moves.”– Black Elk
5. “Life is really simple but we insist on making it complicated.”– Chinese proverb
6. “The energy of the mind is the essence of life.”– Aristotle
7.  “As long as you live, keep learning how to live.”– Seneca
8. “Life is not separate from death. It only looks that way.”– Blackfoot
9. “Life is a series of natural and spontaneous changes. Don’t resist them – that only creates sorrow. Let reality be reality. Let things flow naturally forward in whatever way they like.”– Lao Tzu
10. “Life itself is the most wonderful fairytale.”– Hans Christian Andersen

Life itself is the most wonderful fairytale.”– Hans Christian Andersen

The wise constantly remind us that life and love are entwined. And when we allow love to blossom in our own lives, we see beauty everywhere.

We try to improve ourselves, using daily self improvement to forge better versions of ourselves. We are bestowed with an almost supernatural ability to discern the beauty and goodness that are within other people.

Life becomes bleak indeed if we have nobody to love or loves us in return.

The following series of quotes about life and love remind us how vital love is to the very core of life.

Quotes About Life and Love

11. “We are all a little weird and life’s a little weird, and when we find someone whose weirdness is compatible with ours, we join up with them and fall in mutual weirdness and call it love.”– Anonymous
12. “Love is life… And if you miss love, you miss life.”– Leo Buscaglia

13. “I have found that if you love life, life will love you back.”– Arthur Rubinstein
14. “A purpose of human life, no matter who is controlling it, is to love whoever is around to be loved.” – Kurt Vonnegut
15. “Looking back over a lifetime, you see that love was the answer to everything.”– Ray Bradbury
16. “The best and most beautiful things in this world cannot be seen or even heard, but must be felt with the heart.”– Helen Keller
17. “Where there is love there is life.”– Mahatma Gandhi
18. “We are shaped and fashioned by what we love.”– Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
19. “There is only one happiness in this life, to love and be loved.”– George Sand
20. “We are most alive when we’re in love.”– John Updike

We are most alive when we’re in love.”– John Updike

21. “The best thing to hold on in life is each other.”– Audrey Hepburn
22. “A flower cannot blossom without sunshine, and man cannot live without love.”– Max Muller

What inspires you? Sometimes, we become overwhelmed with the challenges of living our lives, working hard to make our dreams come true, or finding ourselves.

It can sometimes seem to be, “too much”.

For those times, here are some inspirational quotes on life to remind you that there is beauty and hope in being alive.

Inspirational Quotes on Life

23. “Dwell on the beauty of life. Watch the stars, and see yourself running with them.”– Marcus Aurelius
24.  “So keep your head high, keep your chin up, and most importantly, keep smiling, because life is a beautiful thing and there’s so much to smile about.” – Marilyn Monroe
25. “Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.” – Maya Angelou

26. “Let us endeavor so to live that when we come to die even the undertaker will be sorry.”– Mark Twain
27. “Many people die at 25 and aren’t buried until they are 75.”– Benjamin Franklin
28. “The key to immortality is first living a life worth remembering.”– Bruce Lee
29. “Wherever life plants you, bloom with grace.”– Anonymous
30. “You only live once, but if you do it right once is enough.”– Mae West
31. “Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, ‘What are you doing for others?’”– Martin Luther King, Jr.

Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, ‘What are you doing for others?’”– Martin Luther King, Jr.

32. “Be not afraid of life. Believe that life is worth living, and your belief will help create the fact.”– William James
33. “Live each day as if your life had just begun.”– Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Sometimes, just a few words drive the message home. A short pithy quote can drive home a powerful message a way that a longer, more explanatory quote just can't manage.

The following collection of short quotes about life presents an accurate picture, in ten words or less, of how we can live by being true to ourselves while giving our best to the rest of the world.

Short Quotes about Life

33. “Live for yourself.”– Anonymous
34. “Light tomorrow with today.”– Elizabeth Barrett Browning
35. “Beware the barrenness of a busy life.”– Socrates
36. “Live today, for tomorrow it will all be history.”– Anonymous
37. “Life is either a daring adventure or nothing at all.” – Helen Keller

38. “Love the life you live, and live the life you love.”– Bob Marley
39. “I don’t want to earn my living; I want to live.”– Oscar Wilde
40. “It is not the length of life, but depth of life.”– Ralph Waldo Emerson

It is not the length of life, but depth of life.”– Ralph Waldo Emerson

41. “Count each day as a separate life.”– Seneca
42. “Live each day as if it’s your last.”– Anonymous

We all have gone through hardships in life. Some of us are even enrolled in the school of hard knocks. We learn valuable lessons about ourselves and the world in general through the challenges we face.

These quotes about life being hard let us know that others have gone through difficult patches in their own lives, too.​

It may seem like the light at the end of the tunnel is still a far way off, but at least we know that we are not the only ones who have walked this route.

Quotes about Life Being Hard

43. “I am not afraid of storms, for I am learning how to sail my ship.”– Louisa May Alcott
44. “My momma always said life was like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re gonna get.”– Forrest Gump
45. “When I hear somebody saying ‘Life is hard,’ I am always tempted to ask ‘Compared to what?’”– Sydney J. Harris
46. “I ask not for a lighter burden but for broader shoulders.”– Jewish proverb
47. “The hardest thing to learn in life is which bridge to cross and which to burn.”– David Russell
48. “Life is not always fair. Sometimes you get a splinter sliding down a rainbow.” – Terri Guillemets

49. “Nothing comes cheaply so we shouldn’t be surprised when we meet the hard while going for the best. Hard times are not quit times.”– Terry Mark
50. “All things are difficult before they are easy.”– Chinese proverb
51. “Life is like walking through paradise with peas in your shoes.”– Charles Edward Jerningham
52. “To be tested is good. The challenged life may be the best therapist.”– Gail Sheehy

To be tested is good. The challenged life may be the best therapist.”– Gail Sheehy

Okay, real talk for a moment.

Just recently, I faced what I think was one of the biggest challenges in my personal life. I struggled to get back on my feet.

Nevertheless, I got motivation to go on from encouraging words given by those who have also faced adversity but came out on top. I am heartened to know that there is hope in what I went through.

I’m sharing with you some of the inspirational quotes about life and struggles that kept me going at my lowest moments. I hope that you’ll find hope in these words as well.

Inspirational Quotes about Life and Struggles

53. “You get in life what you have the courage to ask for.”– Oprah Winfrey
54. “Work hard. Dream big.”– Anonymous
55. “Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one’s courage.”– Anaïs Nin
56. “When everything seems to be going against you, remember that the airplane takes off against the wind, not with it.”– Henry Ford
57. “Rock bottom became the solid foundation on which I rebuilt my life.”– J.K. Rowling

58. “The gem cannot be polished without friction, nor man perfected without trials.”– Chinese proverb
59. “I’ve failed over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.”– Michael Jordan
60. “We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.”– Oscar Wilde

We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.”– Oscar Wilde

61. “We may encounter many defeats but we must not be defeated.”– Maya Angelou
62. “The only limits in life are the ones you make.”– Anonymous
63. “At the end of the day, we can endure much more than we think we can.”– Frida Kahlo

How do these quotes make you feel? Do they motivate you to keep going?

The next section is a collection of quotes that remind us of where we can find true happiness in this life.

Some people think that true happiness comes with material possessions we own. The relationships we keep with others.  Or the merits we achieve. However, the wise ones show that the source of happiness is a totally different one from what others know or understand.

They understand true habits that lead to happiness.

Here is a series of inspirational quotes about life and happiness from the experts themselves.

Inspirational Quotes about Life and Happiness

64. “Happiness is the meaning and the purpose of life, the whole aim and end of human existence.”– Aristotle
65. “Most people have never learned that one of the main aims of life is to enjoy it.”– Samuel Butler
66. “There is no way to happiness. Happiness is the way.”– Thich Nhat Hanh
67. “Life is better when you’re laughing.” – Anonymous

68. “Very little is needed for a happy life.”– Marcus Aurelius
69. “Be happy for this moment. This moment is your life.”– Omar Khayyam
70. “To fear love is to fear life, and those who fear life are already three parts dead.”– Bertrand Russell

To fear love is to fear life, and those who fear life are already three parts dead.”– Bertrand Russell

71. “Happiness is something that comes into our lives through doors we don’t even remember leaving open.”– Rose Lane
72. “Find ecstasy in life; the mere sense of living is joy enough.”– Emily Dickinson
73. “When I was five 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

Final Thoughts on Quotes About Life

Perhaps a quote or two from the collection resonated with you. Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments below.

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And if you want more inspirational quotes, be sure to check out these blog posts:

• 35 Inspirational Quotes About Living in the Moment
• 108 Never Give Up Quotes for When Life Gets Hard (2023)
• 55 Motivational Exercise Quotes to Inspire Your Next Workout

Finally, if you want to use these quotes to make a lasting change to your life, then watch this free video that details the 7-minute habit for planning your day to focus on what's truly important to you..