One word words of encouragement

  • Great job!
  • That’s great!
  • Bravo!
  • Way to go!
  • Amazing!
  • Superb!
  • Brilliant!
  • Perfect!
  • Perfectly done.
  • You’re a genius.
  • Great!
  • Outstanding!
  • Really great!
  • Excellent work!
  • You’ve mastered it!
  • Super job!
  • You’ve done so well!
  • You’re a natural!
  • You’re a star!
  • Tremendous!
  • I’m impressed!
  • You’ve got this!
  • You make it look easy!
  • You rock!
  • Keep up the good work!
  • I knew you could do it!
  • I couldn’t have done it better myself.
  • That’s the way to do it!
  • I appreciate your help!

Encouraging phrases for kids

Words of Encouragement for Kids

  • I’m so proud of you.
  • You’ve done so well.
  • I knew you could do it!
  • You’ve done yourself proud.
  • You’re getting better every day.
  • How did you get so good at that?
  • Good girl / boy.
  • You must have been practicing.
  • Who taught you that?
  • How did you learn to do that?
  • I’m so impressed!
  • I didn’t know you could do that!

Encouraging phrases for students

If they’re doing well, and you want them to carry on:

  • Well done!
  • Great work!
  • Good job!
  • Keep up the good work!
  • You’ve really got this!
  • I’m really impressed with your progress.
  • You’ve been doing excellent work.
  • You’ve come such a long way!

If they’re struggling but you don’t want them to feel demotivated:

  • Hang in there.
  • Don’t give up.
  • Keep going.
  • You can do it!
  • This is really hard, but you’re doing really well.
  • It’s really great that you’re still trying.
  • Keep working on it, you’re improving.
  • Keep going, you’re almost there.
  • You’re getting better and better.
  • You’re on track!
  • You’ve done really well so far, don’t give up now!
  • Everyone was a beginner once, but it’s the people who keep going who become experts.
  • Every accomplishment starts with the decision to try – you’ve already done half the work just by keeping on trying.
  • Mistakes are proof you’re trying.
  • A little progress each day adds up to big results.
  • Remember where you were last month, and last year. Look at how far you’ve come.

If they haven’t started something yet, and you want to encourage them to try:

  • Give it a try!
  • Go for it!
  • It’s worth a shot!
  • You can do this!
  • What are you waiting for?
  • What do you have to lose?
  • Believe in yourself because I believe in you.
  • You won’t know until you try.
  • The first step is always the hardest.
  • If you make mistakes, all the better – that’s how you learn!
  • This is only your first try. No one gets it right first time, but you have to start to get better.
  • It may not be perfect this time, but next time it will be better.
  • No one’s perfect so I never expect perfection.
  • No one’s judging you.

Words of encouragement for a Friend

To show they have your support:

  • I’m here for you.
  • I’ve got your back.
  • Whatever happens, I’ll support you.
  • I’m behind you 100%.
  • You can always count on me.
  • Call me whenever you need anything.
  • Count on my support.
  • Lean on me if you need to.
  • You’re doing a great job at life – keep going.
  • I’m still cheering for you.

To encourage them to do something they’re scared to do:

  • Follow your dreams.
  • I believe in you.
  • Reach for the stars.
  • The sky is the limit.
  • If anyone can do it, you can.
  • You’re the only person who knows exactly what your potential is.
  • You’ve already proved yourself.
  • No one can hold you back more than yourself.
  • You’ll never know until you try.
  • You’ve got this.
  • Believe in yourself, because I believe in you.
  • You inspire me.
  • Look how far you’ve already come. Imagine looking back in a few years and seeing how far you’ll have gone by then.
  • Take it one day at a time. Small achievements every day will lead to one big achievement in a little while.

Encouraging phrases for Work

To thank your co-workers for their hard work:

  • You inspire me.
  • If everyone worked like you we’d all be millionaires by now!
  • I don’t know what we’d do without you.
  • You’re a gem!
  • You’re a diamond!
  • I couldn’t have asked for a better co-worker.
  • I’ve seen how hard you’ve been working, and I wanted to let you know that I appreciate it.
  • You make this company a better place.

To raise moral during a difficult period:

  • This is a tough time, but we can’t give up now.
  • It’s been really hard recently, but your hard work will pay off.
  • We’re working towards something that will really make a difference. Focus on that.
  • You’re all doing so well. I couldn’t ask for better co-workers.
  • We’re almost where we need to be and that’s thanks to you.
  • We couldn’t have come this far without each and every one of you, and we can’t give up now.
  • We’re on track for success, we just have to keep going.

Encouraging phrases for employees

If they’re already doing well:

  • This team only works because each element of the team works. Well done to each and every one of you.
  • I couldn’t be more impressed with the work you’ve been doing.
  • I couldn’t have chosen better people to work with.
  • Look how far you’ve come in such a short space of time. Well done.
  • I want to thank you for the hard work you’ve been putting in recently.
  • Your hard work is really paying off!
  • You’ve been making a really significant contribution to the work we’ve been doing here.
  • You’ve done me proud with the work you’ve been doing.

If they need to do better:

  • If we make a few improvements, we could really make a difference.
  • We’re not far from success, so if each person gives a little bit more, we’ll get there.
  • We’ve come so far, but we still have a long way to go so I really need each one of you to give it your all.
  • I’m so impressed by your dedication, and we’re on the right path, but we need to improve in a few areas.
  • Let’s talk about what I can do to help you work better.
  • We’re almost there but we need to tweak a few details to make the most of what we’ve got.
  • You’re doing really well but I think you could do even better.
  • Show us what you’ve got. Prove to yourself that you can do it.
  • I think you’ve got more to give.
  • We’ve been underestimating you, and for that, I apologise. But you need to give us more.

25 Ways to Say “Keep Up The Good Work” 💪 & Meaning 🤓

How to Encourage Someone to do something?

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Do you often feel discouraged or overwhelmed by life? Like how everything seems to go wrong and you need words of encouragement to get by?

When we were young, we have been taught that life is fun and should be lived to the fullest – one that must be filled with happiness. But as we grow old, we learn that life is not always easy. It becomes a battlefield we have to endure to survive.

Some days, things do not happen the way you want them to be. They fall apart, and you start to worry. Worse, you feel discouraged and lonely, thinking that there is no other way to straighten things up.

It is okay not to feel okay.

Psychologists even believe that experiencing challenges and feeling negative emotions sometimes help to keep your mind, body, and soul healthy. The balance between your positive and negative emotions is what makes you human.

You need to feel weak for you to be strong. Your failures, while they do not define you as a person, determine your success.

But how do you get back on track?

Simple: you need to have support and encouragement. You need to be surrounded by people and things that can serve as your pillars in overcoming whatever life throws at you.

While it is essential to keep yourself together (on your own), it doesn’t harm actually to get the back-up you need to start anew. Your friends, family, colleagues, and some words of encouragement are all you need to pull through.

This post is a list of uplifting words that may help you encourage yourself, your friend, or even the people in your workplace. We have gathered 161 words of encouragement that can brighten up your day and bring you positivity.

These words, even if just words, can be powerful. Encouraging means instilling courage – a brave act that is sometimes more compelling and effective than motivation.

Words of encouragement can help you think straight and get back on your feet. They are not just for you to ponder on, but for you to use as well whenever a friend is in need. They work for everyone – anytime, anywhere.

First, we give you words of support and strength that may uplift your spirit and give you the courage you need. They are words of inspiration and encouragement from people who have experienced their own struggles and eventually turned the tides.

As Mahatma Gandhi has put it, strength is not measured by physical capacity. It is determined by the number of times you fall, backed up with the bravery to stand, and finally change the game.

Let’s get to these motivational quotes you can share with a friend….

Words of Encouragement and Strength

  1. “Sometimes, you face difficulties not because you’re doing something wrong, but because you’re doing something right.”
  2. “No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.” – Eleanor Roosevelt
  3. “Whenever you find yourself doubting how far you can go, just remember how far you have come.
  4. “Strength does not come from winning. Your struggles develop your strengths. When you go through hardships and decide not to surrender, that is strength.”– Arnold Schwarzenegger
  5. “Sometimes you don’t realize your own strength until you come face to face with your greatest weakness.Susan Gale
  1. “At any given moment you have the power to say: This is not how the story is going to end.” – Christine Mason Miller
  2. “Instead of giving yourself a reason why you can’t, give yourself a reason why you can.”
  3. “Practice like you’ve never won. Perform like you’ve never lost.” – Bernard F. Asuncion
  4.  “Don’t let how you feel make you forget what you deserve.”
  5. “Do not be ashamed of a scar. It simply means you were stronger than whatever tried to hurt you.”
  6. “It’s through adversity that you find the strength you never knew you had.”– Christie Brinkley
  7. “Next to trying and winning, the best thing is trying and failing.”– L.M. Montgomery
  8. “Even if happiness forgets you a little bit, never completely forget about it.”– Jacques Prevert
  9. “Courage isn’t having the strength to go on. It is going on when you don’t have strength.”– Napoleon Bonaparte
  10.  “The greatest glory in living lies not in never failing, but in rising every time we fail.”  – Nelson Mandela
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  1. “You have the audacity to live a bold life.”
  2. “Where there is no struggle, there is no strength.”– Oprah Winfrey
  3. “Strength doesn’t come from what you can do. It comes from overcoming the things you once thought you couldn’t.”– Rikki Rogers
  4. “Soon, when all is well, you’re going to look back on this period of your life and be so glad that you never gave up.”
  5. Hey, little fighter, soon things will be brighter.
  6. You just can’t beat the person who never gives up.”– Babe Ruth
  7. When the world says ‘Give up!’, Hope whispers, ‘Try one more time.’
  8. This, too, shall pass.
  9. “Strength does not come from physical capacity. It comes from an indomitable will.”– Mahatma Gandhi
  10. Everyone has inside them a piece of good news. The good news is you don’t know how great you can be! How much you can love! What you can accomplish! And what your potential is.”– Anne Frank

Everyone has inside them a piece of good news. The good news is you don’t know how great you can be! How much you can love! What you can accomplish! And what your potential is.– Anne Frank

  1. Everything you need to accomplish your goals is already in you.
  2. Sometimes when you are in a dark place you think you have been buried, but actually you have been planted.
  3. It always seems impossible until it is done.”– Nelson Mandela
  4. Soon, when all is well, you’re going to look back on this period of your life and be so glad that you never gave up.”– Brittany Bergunder
  5. Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.”– Confucius
  6. Life is very interesting. In the end, some of your greatest pains become your greatest strengths.”– Drew Barrymore
  7. Never apologize for being sensitive or emotional. Let this be a sign that you’ve got a big heart and aren’t afraid to let others see it. Showing your emotions is a sign of strength.
  8. You’re allowed to scream, you’re allowed to cry, but do not give up.
  9. “Sometimes, you have to get knocked down lower than you have ever been to stand back up taller than you ever were.”

Sometimes, you have to get knocked down lower than you have ever been to stand back up taller than you ever were.”

Some people say that you will never know how strong you are until being strong is the only choice you have. Perhaps this is true.

We only realize that we are strong when we stumble upon challenges in life, and there is no other way to overcome these challenges except to become strong and face them with all might.

But should this strength end in you? If you were able to triumph over your failures, would it not be nice to have your friends experience the same thing?

Indeed, words have the power to encourage anyone who is need – not only you but even your friends.

Whether a person is going through a major problem in his life or merely losing confidence in himself, sincere yet straightforward and uplifting words of encouragement will undoubtedly improve anyone’s perspective in life.

  1. “When you feel like giving up, remember why you held on for so long in the first place.”
  2.  “God gave you this life because he knew you were strong enough to live it.”
  3.  “Just because you are soft doesn’t mean you are not a force. Honey and wildfire are both the color gold.” – Victoria Erickson
  4.  “Stop beating yourself up. You are a work in progress.”
  5.  “Hardships often prepare ordinary people for an extraordinary destiny.”  – C.S. Lewis
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  1. “There’s much more ahead of you. You’ll get through this.”
  2. “If you’re not making mistakes, then you’re not making decisions.” – Katherine Hepburn
  3. “Everything will be OK in the end, if it’s not OK, it’s not the end.”
  4.  “Doing the best at this moment puts you in the best place for the next moment.” – Oprah
  5. “You’re in a storm right now. I’ll hold your umbrella.”
  6.  “It will pass, we can ride it out together.”
  7.  “Promise that you’ll always remember: You’re braver than you believe and stronger than you seem and smarter than you think.”
  8. “Just because something isn’t happening for you right now, it doesn’t mean it never will.”
  9. “The greatest accomplishment is not in never falling, but in rising again after you fall.”— Vince Lombardi

“The greatest accomplishment is not in never falling, but in rising again after you fall.”— Vince Lombardi

  1.  “Be gentle with yourself. You’re doing the best you can!”
  2. “Your spirit has the energy, strength, and stamina of 10,000 horses.”
  3.  “Always remember that your present situation is not your final destination. The best is yet to come.”
  4.  “Take a deep breath, it’s just a bad day not a bad life.”
  5. “It has been tough, but people are still cheering for you.”
  6. “For every failure, there’s an alternative course of action. You just have to find it. When you come to a roadblock, take a detour.” – Mary Kay Ash
  7. “Never dwell on one obstacle for too long. Tomorrow is another day.”
  8. You are stronger than you know. More capable than you ever dreamed. And you are loved more than you could possibly imagine.
  9. We may encounter many defeats but we must not be defeated.”– Maya Angelou

We may encounter many defeats but we must not be defeated.”– Maya Angelou

  1. Don’t be discouraged. It’s often the last key in the bunch that opens the lock.
  2. “People may doubt what you say, but they will believe what you do.”– Lewis Cass
  3. Your life is your message to the world. Make it inspiring.
  4. Defeat is simply a signal to press onward.”– Helen Keller
  5. Every day may not be a good day, but there is good in every day.
  6. Winning is coming in fourth, exhausted and encouraged – because last time you came in fifth.”– Denis Waitley

Winning is coming in fourth, exhausted and encouraged – because last time you came in fifth.”– Denis Waitley

  1. You have a greater potential than anyone who has ever lived before you! But you’ll never “make it” by sitting on your duff and telling the world how great you’re going to be, starting tomorrow.”– Og Mandino
  2. It doesn’t matter who you are, where you come from. The ability to triumph begins with you. Always.”– Oprah Winfrey
  3. Between you and every goal that you wish to achieve, there is a series of obstacles, and the bigger the goal, the bigger the obstacles. Your decision to be, have and do something out of the ordinary entails facing difficulties and challenges that are out of the ordinary as well. Sometimes your greatest asset is simply your ability to stay with it longer than anyone else.”– Brian Tracy
  4. And you ask ‘What if I fall?’ Oh but my darling, what if you fly?”– Erin Hanson
  5. “Someday, you will become filled with so much happiness that it heals every part of you.”
  6. Accept the challenges so that you can feel the exhilaration of victory.”– George Patton

Accept the challenges so that you can feel the exhilaration of victory.”– George Patton

Just like how your friends supported you when you needed them, return the favor and be their foundation in their most desperate times.

Sometimes, silence is all that they need. But more often than not, they just need a friend who will tell them the words they need to hear.

Additionally, your words of inspiration and strength need not be limited to your friends and family. With such power to encourage, you can even spread positive vibes in your workplace (or to a friend struggling over his work or business).

Sure, work can be daunting at times. When we don’t live up to other people’s expectations (or our own expectations), we tend to get sad and disappointed.

This is why we likewise need positive messages for work that may help us persevere more to achieve our goals.

Words of Encouragement for Work

  1.  “In the middle of every difficulty lies opportunity.”– Albert Einstein
  2. “Believe you can and you are halfway there.”– Theodore Roosevelt
  3. “Refuse failure. No matter how difficult the obstacles, find a way to around them.”– JJ Goldwag
  4. “Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds that you plant.”– Robert Louis Stevenson
  5. “Challenging work only comes to those who can handle the pressure.”
  6. “Sometimes people seem to be doing better than you. They may seem to be way ahead of you in hitting some goals that you may not be close to achieving, but never be bothered by it. Just keep on working hard and carrying on with the steady pace that works best for you.”– Chikamso Efobi
  7. “Real courage is when you know you’re licked before you begin, but you begin anyway and see it through no matter what.” – Harper Lee
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  1.  “Greatness is sifted through the grind, therefore don’t despise the hard work now for surely it will be worth it in the end.”– Sanjo Jendayi
  2.  “When you are inspired in your work, everything seems to fall into place.”– Wayne Dyer
  3. “Success only comes to those who dare to attempt.”– Mallika Tripathi
  4.  “Positive thinking is like fuel to the car. It will keep you energized throughout your work.”– Abder-Rahman Ali
  5.  “You will never plow a field if you only turn it over in your mind.” – Irish Proverb
  6. “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

“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

  1.  “Believe in yourself. Never bend your head. Hold it high. Look the world straight in the eye.”– Helen Keller
  2.  “As long as they are well-intentioned, mistakes are not a matter for shame, but for learning.”– Margaret Heffernan
  3. “It’s not what happens to you that determines how far you will go in life; it is how you handle what happens to you.”– Zig Ziglar
  4. “Happiness is the real sense of fulfillment that comes from hard work.”– Joseph Barbara
  5. “A dream doesn’t become reality through magic; it takes sweat, determination and hard work.”– Colin Powell
  6. “Some people want it to happen, some wish it would happen, others make it happen.”– Michael Jordan
  7. Strive not to be a success but rather to be of value.”– Albert Einstein
  8. Happiness is an attitude. We either make ourselves miserable, or happy and strong. The amount of work is the same.”– Carlos Castaneda

Happiness is an attitude. We either make ourselves miserable, or happy and strong. The amount of work is the same.”– Carlos Castaneda

  1. Instead of wondering when your next vacation is, you ought to set up a life you don’t need to escape from.”– Seth Godin
  2. It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.”– Charles Darwin
  3. Those who say it can not be done, should not interrupt those doing it.”– Chinese Proverb
  4. You are not your resume, you are your work.”– Seth Godin
  5. Don’t say you don’t have enough time. You have exactly the same number of hours per day that were given to Helen Keller, Pasteur, Michelangelo, Mother Teresa, Leonardo da Vinci, Thomas Jefferson, and Albert Einstein.”– H. Jackson Brown, Jr.

Don’t say you don’t have enough time. You have exactly the same number of hours per day that were given to Helen Keller, Pasteur, Michelangelo, Mother Teresa, Leonardo da Vinci, Thomas Jefferson, and Albert Einstein.”– H. Jackson Brown, Jr.

  1. Whether you think you can or whether you think you can’t, you’re right!”– Henry Ford
  2. When writing the story of your life, don’t let anyone else hold the pen.”– Harley Davidson
  3. A professional is someone who can do his best work when he doesn’t feel like it.”– Alistair Cook
  4. Your limitation — it’s only your imagination.
  5. Great things never come from comfort zones.
  6. When you change your thoughts, you change your world.”– Norman Vincent Peale
  7. “There are no shortcuts to any place worth going.”– Beverly Sills

“There are no shortcuts to any place worth going.”– Beverly Sills

Be the person to bring strength during difficult times. Use the words listed above to prompt zeal and confidence in the hearts of your workmates and friends.

Finally, before we conclude this post, we would like to share with you some spiritual words of encouragement. These inspirational messages are spiritual quotes from the Bible, which you or your friends may use in times of distress and helplessness.

There are times when you only need spiritual uplifting words of encouragement and healing. You may or may not believe in the Bible, but you may want to consider the power of the following biblical passages.

Words of Encouragement from the Bible

  1. “Don’t be afraid, for I am with you. Don’t be discouraged, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you. I will hold you up with my victorious right hand.”– Isaiah 41:10
  2. “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.”– Matthew 6:34
  3. “He gives power to the weak, and to those who have no might He increases strength.”– Isaiah 40:29
  4. “No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.”– 1 Corinthians 10:13
  5. “Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the LORD your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.”– Deuteronomy 31:6
  6. “For God did not give us a spirit of timidity of cowardice, of craven and cringing and fawning fear, but He has given us a spirit of power and of love and of calm and well-balanced mind and discipline and self-control.”– 2 Timothy 1:7
  7. “Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.” – 1 Corinthians 15:58
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  1. “That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”– 2 Corinthians 12:10
  2.  “Rejoice in our confident hope. Be patient in trouble, and keep on praying.” – Romans 12:12
  3. “Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day.”– 2 Corinthians 4:16
  4. “For the Lord will be your confidence, and will keep your foot from being caught.”– Proverbs 3:26
  5. “Cast your burden on the LORD, and he will sustain you; he will never permit the righteous to be moved.” – Psalm 55:22
  6. “Our faith can move mountains.” – Matthew 17:20
  7.  “Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong.”– 1 Corinthians 16:13
  8.  “Rise up … take courage and do it.”– Ezra 10:4
  9. “And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.”– Galatians 6:9

“And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.”– Galatians 6:9

  1. “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.”– James 1:2-4
  2. “God promises to make something good out of the storms that bring devastation to your life.” – Romans 8:28
  3.  “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.”– Proverbs 3:5
  4. This is my comfort in my affliction, that your promise gives me life.”– Psalm 119:50
  5. But they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.”– Isaiah 40:31

But they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.”– Isaiah 40:31

  1. The Lord is my shepherd; I have all that I need.”– Psalm 23:1
  2. I look up to the mountains – does my help come from there? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth!”– Psalm 121:1-2
  3. If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.”– James 1:5
  4. Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.”– Philippians 4:6-7
  5. Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”– Matthew 11:28

Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”– Matthew 11:28

  1. What is the price of five sparrows – two copper coins? Yet God does not forget a single one of them. And the very hairs on your head are all numbered. So don’t be afraid; you are more valuable to God than a whole flock of sparrows.”– Luke 12:6-7
  2. Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you.”– 1 Peter 5:7
  3. Ask, and it will be given you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.”– Matthew 7:7
  4. I can do everything through him who gives me strength.”– Philippians 4:13
  5. Be strong, and let your heart take courage, all you who wait for the Lord!”– Psalm 31:24
  6. Jesus looked at them and said, ‘With man it is impossible, but not with God. For all things are possible with God.’”– Mark 10:27
  7. In my distress I called to the Lord, and he answered me.”– Psalm 120:1
  8. “With God all things are possible.”– Matthew 19:26
  9. The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.”– Lamentations 3:22-23

The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.”– Lamentations 3:22-23

More Words of Encouragement

  1. “A champion is defined not by their wins but by how they can recover when they fall.” – Serena Williams
  2. “It is never too late to be what you might have been.” – George Eliot
  3. “The only time you run out of chances is when you stop taking them.” – Alexander Pope
  4. “Trust yourself. You know more than you think you do.” – Dr. Benjamin Spock
  5. “Life isn’t finding shelter in the storm. It’s about learning to dance in the rain.” – Sherrilyn Kenyon
  6. “I can’t change the direction of the wind, but I can adjust my sails to always reach my destination.” – Jimmy Dean
  7. “You must do the things you think you cannot do.” – Eleanor Roosevelt
  8. “If opportunity doesn’t knock, build a door.” – Milton Berle
  9. “When the wrong people leave your life, the right things start happening.” – Zig Ziglar
  10. “Instead of letting your hardships and failures discourage or exhaust you, let them inspire you.” – Michelle Obama
  11. “A person who never made a mistake never tried anything new.” – Albert Einstein
  12. “So far you’ve survived 100% of your worst days. You’re doing great.”

So far you’ve survived 100% of your worst days. You’re doing great.”

  1. “Failure is success in progress.” – Albert Einstein
  2. “You don’t have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step.” – Martin Luther King Jr.
  3. Never give up, for that is just the place and time that the tide will turn.” – Harriet Beecher Stowe
  4. “Don’t worry about all of the steps. Begin.” –  Bob Goff
  5. “If you want something different, you are going to have to do something different.” – Jack Canfield
  6. “Believe in yourself and all that you are. Know that there is something inside you that is greater than any obstacle.” – Christian D. Larson
  7. “If you want to conquer fear, don’t sit at home and think about it. Go out and get busy.” – Dale Carnegie
  8. “I know from experience that you should never give up on yourself or others, no matter what.” – George Foreman
  9. “Be the change that you wish to see in the world.” — Mahatma Gandhi
  10. “Don’t wait. The time will never be just right.” — Napoleon Hill
  11. “No matter what you’re going through, there’s a light at the end of the tunnel.” — Demi Lovato
  12. “Try to be a rainbow in someone else’s cloud.” — Maya Angelou

Final Thoughts on Words of Encouragement

When life throws you rocks, throw back with words. You are more than what you were made for. Don’t allow yourself to fall and never get back on track. Live the life you deserve.

More important, spread positivity. Once you reclaim your grip, share your experiences to the world. Let your friends, family, workmates, and everyone know that they can be strong again, too.

Have you been in a really stressful situation lately? We’d love to hear about your experience. Feel free to share your story in the comment section below.

Can you relate to any of the quotes and affirmations stated above? We’d love to know which one.

Likewise, if you like any of the images in this post, why not share it through your favorite social media platform? That will be greatly appreciated.

Well, I hope you got value from these words of encouragement. Perhaps they will guide you on the path to helping you love life.

And if you want more positive words of encouragement, be sure to check out these blog posts:

  • 65 Words of Encouragement to Your Husband to Lift Him Up
  • 101 Words of Encouragement for Men to Help When They’re Struggling
  • 55 Good Luck Words of Encouragement for a Job Interview

Finally, if you want to use these quotes to make a lasting change to your life, then check out and recite these 57 affirmations for success.

words of encouragement | words of encouragement and strength | words of encouragement for a friend

Sometimes we just need a bit of support and help to feel and do better again.

So today I’d like to share a collection of the best words of encouragement that I’ve found over the years.

145 supportive, kind and encouraging quotes that will help to:

  • Lift you or a loved one up on a bad day (or a week when life is hard and you need to stay strong).
  • Encourage you to take a leap and chance into something better.
  • Kick-start your personal growth if you’re in a rut.
  • Direct your thoughts and emotions into a more positive, motivated and centered headspace once again.

That is the first part of this post.

In the second part I’ll share my own 5 favorite words of encouragement that help me when I’m having a tough day, week or month.

Words of Encouragement for a Bad Day (or Week)

145 Words of Encouragement

“What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.”
– Ralph Waldo Emerson

“Tough times never last, but tough people do.”
– Robert H. Schuller

“It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all, in which case you have failed by default.”
– J.K. Rowling

“Life is not easy for any of us. But what of that? We must have perseverance and, above all, confidence in ourselves. We must believe that we are gifted for something, and that this thing, at whatever cost, must be attained.”
– Marie Curie

“A life spent making mistakes is not only more honorable but more useful than a life spent in doing nothing.”
– George Bernard Shaw

“Make up your mind that no matter what comes your way, no matter how difficult, no matter how unfair, you will do more than simply survive. You will thrive in spite of it.”
– Joel Osteen

“A man may fail many times but he isn’t a failure until he begins to blame somebody else.”
– John Burroughs

“In the depth of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer.”
– Albert Camus

“Although no one can go back and make a brand new start, anyone can start from now and make a brand new ending.”
– Carl Bard

“Anyone can hide. Facing up to things, working through them, that’s what makes you strong.”
– Sarah Dessen

Word of Encouragement by Flavia Weedn

“If one dream should fall and break into a thousand pieces, never be afraid to pick one of those pieces up and begin again.”
– Flavia Weedn

“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

“When you’re feeling your worst, that’s when you get to know yourself the best.”
– Leslie Grossman

“The deeper that sorrow carves into your being, the more joy you can contain.
Is not the cup that holds your wine the very cup that was burned in the potter’s oven?
And is not the lute that soothes your spirit, the very wood that was hollowed with knives?
When you are joyous, look deep into your heart and you shall find it is only that which has given you sorrow that is giving you joy. When you are sorrowful look again in your heart, and you shall see in truth that you are weeping for that which has been your delight.”
– Kahlil Gibran

Word of Encouragement by Albert Einstein

“In the middle of every difficulty lies opportunity.”
— Albert Einstein

“Fall seven times, stand up eight.”
– Chinese Proverb

“Do what you feel in your heart to be right, for you’ll be criticized anyway. You’ll be damned if you do and damned if you don’t.”
– Eleanor Roosevelt

“I’ve missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 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

“Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.”
– Winston Churchill

Word of Encouragement by Henry Ford

“Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently.”
– Henry Ford

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better.
The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; because there is not effort without error and shortcomings; but who does actually strive to do the deed; who knows the great enthusiasm, the great devotion, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement and who at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly.
So that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.”
– Theodore Roosevelt

“Life’s real failure is when you do not realize how close you were to success when you gave up.”
– Unknown

“With the new day comes new strength and new thoughts.”
– Eleanor Roosevelt

“I love the man that can smile in trouble, that can gather strength from distress, and grow brave by reflection. ’Tis the business of little minds to shrink, but he whose heart is firm, and whose conscience approves his conduct, will pursue his principles unto death.”
– Thomas Paine

Word of Encouragement by Samuel Beckett

“Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try Again. Fail again. Fail better.”
– Samuel Beckett

“Strength does not come from winning. Your struggles develop your strengths. When you go through hardships and decide not to surrender, that is strength.”
– Arnold Schwarzenegger

“A hero is an ordinary individual who finds the strength to persevere and endure in spite of overwhelming obstacles.”
– Christopher Reeve

“You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, ‘I lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along.’”
– Eleanor Roosevelt

“Some of us think holding on makes us strong, but sometimes it is letting go.”’
– Hermann Hesse

“Remember that failure is an event, not a person.”
– Zig Ziglar

Word of Encouragement by Christine Mason Miller

“At any given moment you have the power to say: This is not how the story is going to end.”
– Christine Mason Miller 

“Courage doesn’t always roar. Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying, “I will try again tomorrow.”
– Mary Anne Radmacher

Words of Encouragement for Work or School

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

“Think of many things; do one.”
– Portuguese proverb

“Do not be embarrassed by your failures, learn from them and start again.”
– Richard Branson

Word of Encouragement by Stephen King

“Amateurs sit and wait for inspiration, the rest of us just get up and go to work.”
– Stephen King

“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

“You’ve got to get up every morning with determination if you’re going to go to bed with satisfaction.”
– George Lorimer

“If you want to make an easy job seem mighty hard, just keep putting off doing it.”
– Olin Miller

“In a moment of decision, the best thing you can do is the right thing to do, the next best thing is the wrong thing, and the worst thing you can do is nothing.”
– Theodore Roosevelt

“Follow effective actions with quiet reflection. From the quiet reflection will come even more effective action.”
– Peter Drucker

Word of Encouragement by Florence Nightingale

“I attribute my success to this: I never gave or took any excuse.”
– Florence Nightingale

“I can accept failure, everyone fails at something. But I can’t accept not trying.”
– Michael Jordan

“Nothing is less productive than to make more efficient what should not be done at all.”
– Peter Drucker

“If you don’t pay appropriate attention to what has your attention, it will take more of your attention than it deserves.”
– David Allen

“Success does not consist in never making mistakes but in never making the same one a second time.”
– George Bernard Shaw

“Try not to become a person of success, but rather try to become a person of value.”
– Albert Einstein

“The secret of success in life is for a man to be ready for his opportunity when it comes.”
– Benjamin Disraeli

“You don’t have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step.”
– Martin Luther King, Jr.

“Take time to deliberate; but when the time for action arrives, stop thinking and go in.”
– Napoleon Bonaparte

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

Word of Encouragement by Thomas Jefferson

“I find that the harder I work, the more luck I seem to have.”
– Thomas Jefferson

“Much of the stress that people feel doesn’t come from having too much to do. It comes from not finishing what they started.”
– David Allen

“Doing the best at this moment puts you in the best place for the next moment.”
– Oprah Winfrey

“You have to learn the rules of the game. And then you have to play better than anyone else.”
– Albert Einstein

“If I had eight hours to chop down a tree, I’d spend six hours sharpening my ax.”
– Abraham Lincoln

“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

“Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great.”
– Mark Twain

“The successful warrior is the average man, with laser-like focus.”
– Bruce Lee

“Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful.”
Herman Cain

Word of Encouragement by Charles F. Kettering

“Keep on going, and the chances are that you will stumble on something, perhaps when you are least expecting it. I never heard of anyone ever stumbling on something sitting down.”
– Charles F. Kettering

“Nothing in the world can take the place of perseverance. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful people with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost legendary. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Perseverance and determination alone are omnipotent.”
– Calvin Coolidge

Words of Encouragement for a Loved One

“You yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe, deserve your love and affection.”
– Buddha

“When you get into a tight place and everything goes against you, till it seems as though you could not hang on a minute longer, never give up then, for that is just the place and time that the tide will turn.”
– Harriet Beecher Stowe

“You have power over your mind – not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength.”
– Marcus Aurelius

“That man is richest whose pleasures are cheapest.”
– Henry David Thoreau

“You’re always with yourself, so you might as well enjoy the company.”
– Diane Von Furstenberg

“Some people believe holding on and hanging in there are signs of great strength. However, there are times when it takes much more strength to know when to let go and then do it.”
– Ann Landers

“Adversity is like a strong wind. It tears away from us all but the things that cannot be torn, so that we see ourselves as we really are.”
– Arthur Golden

Word of Encouragement by Napoleon Hill

“Every adversity, every failure, every heartache carries with it the seed of a greater or equal benefit.”
– Napoleon Hill

“Love recognizes no barriers. It jumps hurdles, leaps fences, penetrates walls to arrive at its destination full of hope.”
– Maya Angelou

“It takes courage to love, but pain through love is the purifying fire which those who love generously know. We all know people who are so much afraid of pain that they shut themselves up like clams in a shell and, giving out nothing, receive nothing and therefore shrink until life is a mere living death.”
– Eleanor Roosevelt

“The unhappy derive comfort from the misfortunes of others.”
– Aesop

“Never idealize others. They will never live up to your expectations. Don’t over-analyze your relationships. Stop playing games. A growing relationship can only be nurtured by genuineness. “
– Leo F. Buscaglia

Word of Encouragement by Drew Barrymore

“Life is very interesting. In the end, some of your greatest pains become your greatest strengths.”
– Drew Barrymore

“Love yourself first and everything else falls into line. You really have to love yourself to get anything done in this world.”
– Lucille Ball

“A healthy self-love means we have no compulsion to justify to ourselves or others why we take vacations, why we sleep late, why we buy new shoes, why we spoil ourselves from time to time. We feel comfortable doing things which add quality and beauty to life.”
– Andrew Matthews

“I found in my research that the biggest reason people aren’t more self-compassionate is that they are afraid they’ll become self-indulgent. They believe self-criticism is what keeps them in line. Most people have gotten it wrong because our culture says being hard on yourself is the way to be.”
– Kristen Neff

“Don’t wait. The time will never be just right.”
– Napoleon Hill

“Happiness is a state of activity.”
– Aristotle

Word of Encouragement by Gilbert K. Chesterton

“The way to love anything is to realize that it may be lost.”
– Gilbert K. Chesterton

“All the adversity I’ve had in my life, all my troubles and obstacles, have strengthened me… You may not realize it when it happens, but a kick in the teeth may be the best thing in the world for you.”
– Walt Disney

“Whenever you’re in conflict with someone, there is one factor that can make the difference between damaging your relationship and deepening it. That factor is attitude.”
– William James

“You can make more friends in two months by becoming interested in other people than you can in two years by trying to get other people interested in you.”
– Dale Carnegie

“If you would be loved, love, and be loveable.”
– Benjamin Franklin

“Since you get more joy out of giving joy to others, you should put a good deal of thought into the happiness that you are able to give.”
– Eleanor Roosevelt

“What you do not want done to yourself, do not do to others.”
– Confucius

“When you hold resentment toward another, you are bound to that person or condition by an emotional link that is stronger than steel. Forgiveness is the only way to dissolve that link and get free.”
– Catherine Ponder

Word of Encouragement by Barbara De Angelis

“If you aren’t good at loving yourself, you will have a difficult time loving anyone, since you’ll resent the time and energy you give another person that you aren’t even giving to yourself.”
– Barbara De Angelis

“Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it.”
– Rumi

“When the Japanese mend broken objects, they aggrandize the damage by filling the cracks with gold. They believe that when something’s suffered damage and has a history it becomes more beautiful.”
– Barbara Bloom

“Love is not only something you feel, it is something you do.”
– David Wilkerson

“Every person has to love at least one bad partner in their lives to be truly thankful for the right one.”
– Unknown

“You know it’s love when all you want is that person to be happy, even if you’re not part of their happiness.”
– Julia Roberts

Word of Encouragement by Alfred Lord Tennyson

“’Tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all.”
– Alfred Lord Tennyson

“Just because it didn’t last forever, doesn’t mean it wasn’t worth your while.”
– Unknown

“The pleasure which we most rarely experience gives us greatest delight.”
– Epictetus

“The most beautiful people we have known are those who have known defeat, known suffering, known struggle, known loss, and have found their way out of the depths. These persons have an appreciation, a sensitivity and an understanding of life that fills them with compassions, gentleness, and a deep loving concern. Beautiful people do not just happen.”
– Elizabeth Kubler-Ross

“Don’t brood. Get on with living and loving. You don’t have forever.”
– Leo Buscaglia

Words of Encouragement for a Happy Life

“When you arise in the morning, think of what a precious privilege it is to be alive – to breathe, to think, to enjoy, to love.”
– Marcus Aurelius

Word of Encouragement by Dalai Lama

“Happiness is not something ready-made. It comes from your own actions.”
– Dalai Lama

“Thousands of candles can be lighted from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared.”
– Buddha

“Maxim for life: You get treated in life the way you teach people to treat you.”
– Wayne Dyer

“If you want happiness for an hour — take a nap.’
If you want happiness for a day — go fishing.
If you want happiness for a year — inherit a fortune.
If you want happiness for a lifetime — help someone else.”
– Chinese Proverb

“To dare is to lose one’s footing momentarily. To not dare is to lose oneself.”
– Soren Kierkegaard

“It isn’t what you have, or who you are, or where you are, or what you are doing that makes you happy or unhappy. It is what you think about.”
– Dale Carnegie

“When a resolute young fellow steps up to the great bully, the world, and takes him boldly by the beard, he is often surprised to find it comes off in his hand, and that it was only tied on to scare away the timid adventurers.”
– Ralph Waldo Emerson

“If you always put limit on everything you do, physical or anything else. It will spread into your work and into your life. There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them.”
– Bruce Lee

“There is only one way to happiness and that is to cease worrying about things which are beyond the power of our will.”
– Epictetus

“The foolish man seeks happiness in the distance, the wise grows it under his feet.”
– James Oppenheim

Word of Encouragement by Wayne Gretzky

“You’ll always miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.”
– Wayne Gretzky

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

“The best years of your life are the ones in which you decide your problems are your own. You do not blame them on your mother, the ecology, or the president. You realize that you control your own destiny.”
– Albert Ellis

“Be miserable. Or motivate yourself. Whatever has to be done, it’s always your choice.”
– Wayne Dyer

“It’s been my experience that you can nearly always enjoy things if you make up your mind firmly that you will.”
– L.M. Montgomery

“Plenty of people miss their share of happiness, not because they never found it, but because they didn’t stop to enjoy it.”
– William Feather

“I, not events, have the power to make me happy or unhappy today. I can choose which it shall be. Yesterday is dead, tomorrow hasn’t arrived yet. I have just one day, today, and I’m going to be happy in it.”
– Groucho Marx

“There are more things to alarm us than to harm us, and we suffer more often in apprehension than reality.”
– Seneca

Word of Encouragement

“If you are too busy to laugh, you are too busy.”
– Proverb

“We tend to forget that happiness doesn’t come as a result of getting something we don’t have, but rather of recognizing and appreciating what we do have.”
– Frederick Keonig

“Aim for success, not perfection. Never give up your right to be wrong, because then you will lose the ability to learn new things and move forward with your life. Remember that fear always lurks behind perfectionism.”
– David M. Burns

“To be kind to all, to like many and love a few, to be needed and wanted by those we love, is certainly the nearest we can come to happiness.”
– Mary Stuart

“No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted.”
– Aesop

“Try a thing you haven’t done three times. Once, to get over the fear of doing it. Twice, to learn how to do it. And a third time to figure out whether you like it or not.”
– Virgil Thomson

“Never say never, because limits, like fears, are often just an illusion.”
– Michael Jordan

“Time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time.”
– Marthe Troly-Curtin

“The first recipe for happiness is: avoid too lengthy meditation on the past.”
– Andre Maurois

“You can’t really be strong until you can see a funny side to things.”
– Ken Kesey

“Success isn’t permanent and failure isn’t fatal.”
– Mike Ditka

Word of Encouragement by Zig Ziglar

“Your attitude, not your aptitude, will determine your altitude.”
– Zig Ziglar

“Loving people live in a loving world. Hostile people live in a hostile world. Same world.”
– Wayne Dyer

“Worry never robs tomorrow of its sorrow. It only saps today of its joy.”
– Leo Buscaglia

”Spend eighty percent of your time focusing on the opportunities of tomorrow rather than the problems of yesterday.”
– Brian Tracy

“Happiness is not in the mere possession of money; it lies in the joy of achievement, in the thrill of creative effort.”
– Franklin D. Roosevelt

“The only real failure in life is not to be true to the best one knows.”
– Buddha

“I’ve come to believe that all my past failure and frustrations were actually laying the foundation for the understandings that have created the new level of living I now enjoy.”
– Anthony Robbins

“Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world.”
– Harriet Tubman

Word of Encouragement by Jack Canfield

“Everything you want is on the other side of fear.”
– Jack Canfield

“There came a time when the risk to remain tight in the bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.”
– Anaïs Nin

“The happiest people in the world are those who feel absolutely terrific about themselves, and this is the natural outgrowth of accepting total responsibility for every part of their life.”
– Brian Tracy

“The best way to succeed in this world is to act on the advice you give to others.”
– Unknown

“When things go wrong as they sometimes will,
When the road you’re trudging seems all uphill,
When the funds are low and the debts are high,
And you want to smile but you have to sigh,
When care is pressing you down a bit
Rest if you must, but don’t you quit.
Success is failure turned inside out,
The silver tint on the clouds of doubt,
And you can never tell how close you are,
It may be near when it seems afar.
So, stick to the fight when you’re hardest hit
It’s when things go wrong that you mustn’t quit.”
– Edgar A. Guest

“A year from now you may wish you had started today.”
– Karen Lamb

Word of Encouragement by Joseph Campbell

“Follow your bliss and don’t be afraid, and doors will open where you didn’t know they were going to be.”
– Joseph Campbell

“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 the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”
– Mark Twain

“To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children… to leave the world a better place… to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded.”
– Ralph Waldo Emerson

My Own 5 Favorite Words of Encouragement

1. Be realistic about your expectations to make your dream a reality.

When I feel disappointed or discouraged about how things are going with one of my goals or dreams then one thing that helps me and encourages me to keep going instead of giving up is this:

To tap into realistic expectations.

How do I do that?

Well, first I take a couple deep breaths to just calm down and center my mind.

Then I remind myself to not listen to:

  • Advertising and voices close to me or further away in the world that promises me quick and super-easy results.
  • The words and thoughts of perfectionism that sometimes bubble up within and outside of myself and that tell me that I must not make any mistakes or have any setbacks or failures.

And I remind myself to listen to people who have gone where I want to go. That’s where I find the realistic words of encouragement and reasonable expectations.

By listening to what they have to say in person or via books, podcasts, videos or websites I won’t get an exact step-by-step guide towards my goal.

But I’ll get a realistic and pretty accurate guidance on my journey.

Because I’ll get it from the people who already know what works and what does not (or works less well). And can tell me how I may sometimes stumble and fall and how much time my journey may realistically take.

2. It’s healthy and helpful to sometimes just let it out.

When I don’t feel like giving it one more shot or the path forward towards my goal simply seems insurmountable then one thing that truly helps is to just open up about it.

So I talk about it with my wife, a parent or a friend.

Sometimes I just vent and figure things out for myself as he or she listens.

At other times we discuss the issue at hand and he or she helps me to find a more grounded perspective again and to plan for how to move forward.

This renews my energy and motivation to keep going. And often helps me to find a smarter and better path towards where I want to go.

3. Remind yourself daily WHY you are doing what you are doing.

This is so easy to forget as you go through your daily life. And so you may lose your motivation and get off track.

Here’s one thing that helps me when I get stuck in such a place:

Find your top 3 reasons why you are doing what you are doing.

Maybe it’s to:

  • Keep your family supported, safe and healthy.
  • Live healthier and longer so you can watch your kids grow up or simply be able to experience more of life.
  • Travel and see the world and meet the people in it.

Whatever your answers may be, write them down.

I prefer to do it on a piece of paper. Or as a daily reminder on my smart phone. If I add the reasons to a paper note then I put it where I cannot avoid seeing it every day. Like the bottom of my computer screen.

Having such a reminder helps me to stay on track and to keep moving forward even on days when I feel unmotivated, lazy or low.

4. Tell yourself: just for today!

Here’s a little tip that I learned from Brian Tracy more than 10 years ago.

I tell myself: Just for today I will XX!

Replace that XX with what you will do just for today. Such as going out running, eating a healthy and reasonably sized dinner or working on your essay for school.

I get two good benefits from doing this:

  • The step or task feels lighter and my inner resistance to get it done lessens. Because now I’m just focusing on doing it today. And not also on the times I’ve done it in the past or the times I’m likely to do in the coming days, weeks and months.
  • If I am creating a new habit then I’m reminded that I do not have to do this by using willpower for the rest of my life. After I have strung together 30 days or so of doing it – running, flossing or eating a healthy dinner – then the habit will have become pretty automatic and it’s just another normal part of my life.

5. It’s always darkest before the dawn.

Finally, one thought and word of encouragement that has helped me many times when things have been truly tough.

It has kept me from giving up and on track until things have turned around.

Because I have found it to be true.

When things have been at the lowest point in my life not matter if that was with my physical fitness, my dating life when I was single, my business or just my motivation and drive in life something has always happened.

Oftentimes simply because being at such a low point has forced me to make a change in how I go about things.

When you’re at such a point then don’t have much choice and you say to yourself: “enough is enough”. And then you are open to bigger changes and new perspectives.

But maybe also because life seems to have a sort of balance. If I just keep on going and keep on taking action.

Instead of doing nothing and just giving up.

Because if I keep on moving forward – step by small or sometimes tiny step – something positive always happens.

This way of thinking helps me to keep going when I don’t feel like it.

And it brings me some comfort even when things look pretty dark. 

We all need words of encouragement. Here you will find words that offer inspiration and comfort. Words that will give you confidence and optimism. Let them be ones that give you thoughts of support and reassurance. Share them with others who could use some encouraging words!

Words by famous people are great to share with others if they are going through hard times. We all need uplifting, encouraging words to help us cope with challenges.

 Click the links below to skip to:

Famous Words of Encouragement

Words of Encouragement for Hard Times

Inspirational Words of Encouragement

Words of Encouragement and Strength

Published by: Ben Gillison and Catherine Pulsifer

    Positive Words of Encouragement

    Let these positive words give you encouraging thoughts for your day! Keeping your attitude positive (looking for the good in every situation) can be an encouragement in itself!

    You have the power within you to do whatever you choose. You have the power within you to be and achieve anything. Tony Newton, ‎Napoleon Hill, The Law of Attraction book series

  1. You have the power within you to do whatever you choose. You have the power within you to be and achieve anything. Tony Newton, ‎Napoleon Hill, The Law of Attraction book series
    Power Quotes
  2. Thoughts and feelings tend to become less bothersome and go away on their own once we start giving them less attention. Giulia Suro Learning to Thrive
    Positive Life Quotes

    Barbara Lucas quote to encourage

  3. We want to add beliefs that build us up, encourage us and support us. We want beliefs that are ‘the wind beneath our wings’, causing us to soar and to be all we can be.
    Barbara Lucas, Put Hand to Plow
    Words of Encouragement for Kids
  4. Much of the difference you make tomorrow will start with what you do today. Ernie J Zelinski
    Make A Difference
    Encouragement for your day, today!
  5. Happiness is your responsibility. If you depend or wait for other people to make you happy you will always be disappointed. Byron Pulsifer, Responsibility for Happiness
    Happy
  6. It never gets better, you just get better at it. Peter Dunne, The 50 Things
    Words of Encouragment for Men
  7. I have been a reader of biographies for many years, and I have yet to find a successful person whose life was free from problems and difficulties. Warren W. Wiersbe, The Bumps Are What You Climb On
    Life Quotes

    encouraging quote by Dan Allender

  8. Everyone has a story. Put another way, everyone’s life is a story. Dan B. Allender, To Be Told
    Poems about Life
  9. Choose well your words. They will go marching down the years in the lives you touch. Wilfred Peterson
    Appreciation Poems
    Words of encouragement to remind us to think before we speak.

    motivating and encouraging quote by  Andrew Alexander

  10. Being motivated is more than simply doing the things we have to do. It’s also about identifying and cutting out the things we should stop. Andrew Alexander, Deconstructing Motivation
    Motivational Quotes
  11. We all have the ability to replace a negative thought with a positive one. You must be aware of what you are thinking about! Yvonne Haughton, Good Night Insomnia
    Negativity
  12. Encourage continued communication sometimes all it takes is a nod of your head or a brief word, or listening sounds.Clive Harman, How to Communicate Effectively
    Good Day
  13. We can become quiet and by doing so the door to Silence opens.Robert Sardello, Silence
    Silence
  14. Don’t work 70 hours a week just to get paid. Spend time up front determining your purpose. Andrew Tye, 33 Professional Development Tips
    Purpose
  15. Comfort comes of knowing you’ve done the right thing, no matter what people think. Richard Daly, God�s Little Book of Comfort
    Motivational Quotes for Students
  16. There is always a simple, down-to-earth word that says the same thing as the showoff fad word or vague abstraction. Kenneth Roman; Joel Raphaelson, Writing That Works
    Simplicity  
  17. So, before you even get out of bed, give silent thanks for another day on this earth. Sumit Gautam, Ways to start your day positively
    Thanksgiving

    encouragement to believe in your abilities

  18. Whenever you find yourself doubting how far you can go,
    just remember how far you have come.
    Author Unknown
    Motivational Poems
  19. . . . choose to confide in friends with sunny dispositions who will encourage you to be more positive. Zayne Parker, Anxiety: Mastery
    Friend

    Helping others, encouraging others, are often acts of kindness 
that have more meaning that you may realize.  Catherine Pulsifer

  20. Helping others, encouraging others, are often acts of kindness that have more meaning than you may realize. Catherine Pulsifer
    Helping Others
  21. . . . keep your mind open to opportunities. The means of achieving your desire may not come as you have imagined them to be. Justin Albert, Positive Thinking
    Positive Thinking 

    You and I need to be the decision makers in our own lives and careers.
 It is also our responsibility to allow and encourage others to do the same.
   Jay Rifenbary

  22. You and I need to be the decision makers in our own lives and careers. It is also our responsibility to allow and encourage others to do the same. Jay Rifenbary, No Excuse!
    Decision
  23. Imagine if every young child will be helped to discover their interest at a young age and encouraged to pursue it, how different our world will be. Sunday Adelaja, Money, Riches, Wealth
    Children

    Famous Words of Encouragement

    Let the thoughts of these famous people be an encouragement to you and to others. Reading about the experiences of others is often encouraging.

    There are gonna be some days, where you don't know if you can take another step. There are gonna be some days where you don't know where the next step is taking you to. The first step is you gotta stand up! Chris Gardener

  24. There are gonna be some days, where you don’t know if you can take another step. There are gonna be some days where you don’t know where the next step is taking you to. The first step is you gotta stand up!Chris Gardener
    Keep Going Quotes

    famous quote to encourage by Eric Thomas

  25. “Don’t make a habit out of choosing what feels good over what’s actually good for you.” Eric Thomas
    Quote of the Day
  26. Encouragement is like a pebble thrown into water.David Jeremiah, The Joy of Encouragement
    Thought of The Day
  27. When they say the sky’s the limit to me that’s really true. Michael Jackson
    Optimistic

    words to encourage you by Maya Angelou

  28. Try to be a rainbow in someone’s cloud. Maya Angelou, Letter to My Daughter
    Inspirational Quotes
    Maya Angelou short phrase is encouraging us to take action to brighten someone’s day!
  29. Words do inspire. Barack Obama
    Inspiring Others
  30. Just like taking a nice warm shower cleanses our bodies, we need to detoxify and cleanse our minds as often and as consistently as we can. Dane Krauss, The Meditation Guidebook For Beginners
    Daily Inspiration
  31. Control what you can control. That’s the trick. Anthony Robbins, ‎Tony Robbins, ‎Peter Mallouk, Unshakeable
    Control
  32. We are fighting for our health, we are fighting to protect our families. Some of us are fighting to protect our livelihoods and businesses. Some of us are fighting to protect our dreams. What are you fighting for? Chris Gardener
    Fight
  33. Winning is coming in fourth, exhausted and encouraged – because last time you came in fifth. Denis Waitley
    Famous Quotes

    ... if we deliberately seek encouragement (motivation)  on a daily basis, it will become a habit and enable us to get ahead and stay ahead in life. Zig Ziglar

  34. … if we deliberately seek encouragement (motivation) on a daily basis, it will become a habit and enable us to get ahead and stay ahead in life.Zig Ziglar, Over the Top
    Daily Motivation  
  35. Either write something worth reading, or do something worth reading.Benjamin Franklin
    Short Graduation Quotes
    Have confidence in your abilities! Applies not only for graduates but for each one of us.
  36. You are heaven’s Halley’s comet; we have one shot at seeing you shine. Max Lucado
    Cool Quotes

    You have a greater potential than anyone who has ever lived before you! 
But you'll never make it by sitting on your duff  . . . Og Mandino

  37. You have a greater potential than anyone who has ever lived before you! But you’ll never “make it” by sitting on your duff and telling the world how great you’re going to be, starting tomorrow. Og Mandino, The Choice
    Funny Quotes
  38. We all need people who will give us feedback. That’s how we improve. Bill Gates
    Personal Development

    Always do what 
is right. It will gratify half of mankind and astound the other.  Mark Twain

  39. Always do what is right. It will gratify half of mankind and astound the other. Mark Twain
    Funny Quotes about Life
    Funny words from Mark Twain, but also encouragement that is full of wisdom.
  40. If you accept the expectations of others, especially negative ones, then you never will change the outcome. Michael Jordan
    Positive Quotes
  41. But it is better to follow even the shadow of the best than to remain content with the worst. Henry vanDyke
    Best Quotes

    You could be the world's best garbage man, the world's best model; it don't matter what you do if you're the best. Muhammad Ali

  42. You could be the world’s best garbage man, the world’s best model; it don’t matter what you do if you’re the best. Muhammad Ali
    Best Motivational Quotes
    Encouraging you to be the best no matter what your job!
  43. It is only our daily bread that we are encouraged to ask for. The present is the only time in which any duty can be done or any grace received. C. S. Lewis
    Time
  44. Competitive spirit is still at a premium. The more you win, the better you play, the more money you make, so they all have that in mind. Wayne Gretzky
    Mindset

    You can do no more than 
you believe you can. You can be no more than you believe you are. Norman Vincent Peale

  45. You can do no more than you believe you can. You can be no more than you believe you are. Norman Vincent Peale
    Believe in Yourself  
  46. Never use a long word where a short one will do. George Orwell
    Communication
  47. When things go wrong, don’t go with them. Elvis Presley
    Cute Quotes
    Funny but also encouraging!

    A sunny disposition is worth more than fortune. Andrew Carnegie

  48. A sunny disposition is worth more than fortune. Andrew Carnegie
    Graduation Quotes
    An encouraging message for the new graduate and for us all to remember.
  49. There are chords in the hearts of the most reckless which cannot be touched without emotion. Edgar Allan Poe
    Feeling
  50. The truth of who we are is how we live day to day. If you want to influence others, the most important thing you can do is be a living example of the principles, ideals, and faith that you advocate. Nick Vujicic, Be the Hands and Feet
    Influence

    Nothing in this world is impossible to a willing heart. Abraham Lincoln

  51. Nothing in this world is impossible to a willing heart. Abraham Lincoln
    Overcoming
  52. It is important to surround yourself with people who lift you up, encourage you, share your vision and inspire you.Les Brown
    Vision
    I would add that we should all be an encouraging influence on those around you.

    Words of Encouragement for Hard Times

    We all face hard times. Encouraging words can be an inspiration for us.

    The good times you savor. The great times you treasure, and the hard times are part of the character of your heart and soul.  Dr. Madeline Ann Lewis, Finding Your Best Inside

  53. The good times you savor. The great times you treasure, and the hard times are part of the character of your heart and soul. Dr. Madeline Ann Lewis, Finding Your Best Inside
    Life is Hard

    encouraging quotes and words for difficult times

  54. “Change can hurt, be uncomfortable, and be difficult in the beginning. Remember this English Proverb: Just when the caterpillar thought the world was over, it became a butterfly.” Lisa Rusczyk Ed.D., 50 Things to Know About Prayer
    Quotes about Change
  55. The power of God is actually inherent in His Word and it heals, delivers, comforts, saves, corrects, and encourages us.Joyce Meyer, The Everyday Life Bible
    God’s Plan
  56. Whatever your individual set of circumstances the ability to work from home gives you the potential to improve your overall work-life balance.Aarron Dann, How to work from home better
    Work From Home Quotes
  57. The beach of life can be anything and everything from tranquil, calm, sunny, peaceful, and magically wonderful to gray, overcast, turbulent, roller-coaster-y, or stormy. Barbara Legan, Trust + Love = Joy
    Beach Quotes
    Words of encouragement to remind us we all have ups and downs.
  58. Rarely is the better life achieved by following the same path.Dean Gualco, Making a Difference
    Life Changing
    Encouragement to change – we can’t have different results if we keep doing what we have always done!

    No matter the number of times you fail you must be determined to succeed. You must not lose hope. Don't stop in your storm. Tony Narams

  59. No matter the number of times you fail you must be determined to succeed. You must not lose hope. Don’t stop in your storm. Tony Narams, Top Secret: You Can Fly Like An Eagle
    Determination
  60. Reminding yourself of the blessings is an excellent way to bring balance into a stressful life that often feels filled with negativity. Kerri Connor, ‎Llewellyn, Ostara
    Balance Quotes
  61. We need to go from seeing anxiety as an uncontrollable juggernaut of destruction, to an inconvenient, uncomfortable, but ultimately manageable difficulty. John Crawford, Anxiety Relief
    Anxiety  
  62. Just remember, there are no quick fixes. But, by taking action just a little bit every day, you will build up a powerful reservoir of confidence, self-esteem, and discipline. Scott Allan, Rejection Reset
    Confidence

    Sometimes when you are in a dark place you think you have been buried, but actually you have been planted. Christine Caine

  63. Sometimes when you are in a dark place you think you have been buried, but actually you have been planted. Christine Caine
    Growth
  64. Times of sadness, sickness, loss, or deprivation will pass. Mo Gawdat, Solve For Happy
    Sad Quotes
  65. Your mind is like a magnet – it attracts into your life whatever you think about most. Paul and Tracey McManus, The 7 Great Prayers
    Attitude  
    Words of encouragement to keep your thoughts positive.

    Soon, when all is well, you're going to look back on this period of your life 
and be so glad that you never gave up. Brittany Burgunder

  66. Soon, when all is well, you’re going to look back on this period of your life and be so glad that you never gave up. Brittany Burgunder
    Moving Forward
    Words of encouragement that we can all relate to. How many times do we look back 6 months later and realize that the failures were stepping stones to moving forward.
  67. Nothing in life has happened to you. It’s happened for you. Every disappointment. Every wrong. Even every closed door has helped make you into who you are. Joel Osteen
    Support

    For any problem, no matter how big or complex it may be, there is a solution. Earl Nightingale

  68. For any problem, no matter how big or complex it may be, there is a solution. Earl Nightingale
    Inspirational Sayings
  69. No matter how tall the mountain is, it cannot block the sun.
    Chinese Proverbs
    Mountain

    You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is like an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty. Gandhi

  70. You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is like an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty. Gandhi
    Quotes to Live By
  71. A moment of weakness doesn�t make you helpless. Cyndie Spiegel, A Year of Positive Thinking
    Quotes about Strength and Courage

    Through difficult experiences, life sometimes becomes more meaningful. 
 Dalai Lama

  72. Through difficult experiences, life sometimes becomes more meaningful. Dalai Lama
    Meaningful Quotes

    Inspirational Words of Encouragement

    We can be inspired and encouraged by reading a quote that helps us see a situation in a different light.

    If you want something in life, you have to just reach out and take it!  Lucille Delgado Bridges, The Serpent and the Walking Stick 2

  73. If you want something in life, you have to just reach out and take it! Lucille Delgado Bridges, The Serpent and the Walking Stick 2
    Life is Too Short Quotes

    inspirational encouragement quotes

  74. Just remember to never doubt yourself, we are all capable of amazing things. Rob Cristophe, Bad Habits
    Amazing Quotes
  75. Don’t operate in your emotions! Don’t be discouraged but be of good cheer.Regina Flegler, Morning Blessings
    Good Morning Quotes
  76. Anything is possible, because nothing is absolutely certain.Keith Ferreira, Anything Is Possible
    Determination Quotes
  77. Encouragement to others is something everyone can give. Joel Osteen
    Giving
  78. We mustn�t let social pressures poison our potential.Brendon Burchard, The Motivation Manifesto
    Poems About Confidence
  79. Your dreams can take you much higher and much farther than anyone ever thought possible! Buzz Aldrin, No Dream Is Too High
    Dream

    Your motivations are your own. You must master them if you want to do great work. Brian Knapp

  80. Your motivations are your own. You must master them if you want to do great work. Brian Knapp, Creative Pursuit
    Motivational Quotes About Life
  81. “Graduates, you were born to be uncommon. Today I encourage you to leave your mark, I challenge you to shake up the world.” Marilyn Luscombe, President and CEO of NBCC
    College Graduation  
  82. What adrenaline is able to chemically and physiologically do for the body, encouragement is able to emotionally and psychologically do for the soul. Mark Chanski, Encouragement
    Inspirational Thoughts

    Winning lifts everyone it touches -it just makes the world a better place. Jack Welch

  83. Winning lifts everyone it touches -it just makes the world a better place. Jack Welch, Winning
    Winning
  84. Your destiny is the story of your life, and you get to tell the story your way. Scott Allan, Drive Your Destiny
    Destiny

    Everybody has problems, but everybody also has blessings in life. Robert W. Bly

  85. Everybody has problems, but everybody also has blessings in life. Robert W. Bly, Count Your Blessings
    Blessed
    Help yourself by refocusing your thoughts to count your blessings not your troubles.
  86. Relentless people move mountains. Relentless people make the impossible, possible. Relentless people achieve miracles. Wayne Allyn Root, The Power of Relentless
    Perseverance
  87. Choosing to act with compassion and love and lifting others up is shining your light. Neviesh Perry, To my Sisters
    Compassion

    Today is the oldest you have been, and the youngest you will ever be. 
Make the most of it! Nicky Gumbel

  88. Today is the oldest you have been, and the youngest you will ever be. Make the most of it! Nicky Gumbel
    Birthday Quotes
  89. Rediscover your inner child. Jump in a puddle, build a sandcastle, run up a hill, kick up some autumn leaves, throw a snowball.Julia Laflin, 100 Things to Pick You Up When You’re Feeling Down
    Live Life

    Set your goals high enough to inspire you and low enough to encourage you.

  90. Set your goals high enough to inspire you and low enough to encourage you. Author Unknown
    Goals
  91. People who fail often work as hard as those who succeed. The major difference is that successful people put their time into activities that give higher pay-back. Robyn Pearce, Getting a Grip on Time Management
    Failure

    Winning in life is more than outpacing out your opponents; it is maximizing your potential to the fullest of your ability.  Dr. Ignatius K Otchere-Asamoah

  92. Winning in life is more than outpacing out your opponents; it is maximizing your potential to the fullest of your ability. Dr. Ignatius K Otchere-Asamoah, Destined to Win
    Potential
  93. The only way you can find out where people are in the process of determining what feels right is to ask questions and listen carefully to their answers. Sidney C.Walker, How to Double Your Sales by Asking a Few More Questions
    Listening

    Focus on improving yourself and I guarantee that the quality of
 people you spend time with will dramatically improve. J. D. David

  94. Focus on improving yourself and I guarantee that the quality of people you spend time with will dramatically improve. J. D. David, How to Make Friends
    Quality
  95. Wherever you go, go with all your heart. Confucius
    Monday Motivation

    Words of Encouragement and Strength

    We sometimes need a bit of strength to get through the day or get through a situation. Let these words give you strength.

    Sometimes life makes you feel as if you're drowning. But you must Muster your strength, grab the oars And Row. Shauna L Bowling, Hearts and Rainbows

  96. Sometimes life makes you feel as if you’re drowning. But you must Muster your strength, grab the oars And Row. Shauna L Bowling, Hearts and Rainbows
    Persistence
  97. You can begin again anytime you want and forge a new life path. You can take the wheel and change the course of your life. Robyn L. Gobin, The self-care prescription
    New Beginning
  98. Don’t be afraid, for I am with you. Don’t be discouraged, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you. I will hold you up with my victorious right hand. Isaiah 41:10 (NLT)
    God

    encouraging quotes to give you strength

  99. Stop beating yourself up you are a work in progress. Author Unknown
    Short Inspirational Quotes
  100. Strength is in all of us�we just don’t realize it. Robert Rave, Waxed
    Encouraging Quotes
  101. The strongest people are not those who show strength in front of us but those who win battles we know nothing about. Author Unknown
    Strength and Courage
  102. I’m grateful for my faith. It carries me through when I see nothing else to help me through a situation. Aliya Saige, 100 Daily Blessings
    Faith

    You will not always be strong, but you can always be brave.
 Beau Taplin

  103. You will not always be strong, but you can always be brave.Beau Taplin
    Brave
  104. Change your words and you will change your feelings. Replace �I have to do it� with �I want to do it�.  Lucy Lane, The Little Book of HappinessMarcus Aurelius
    Being Strong

    When something bad happens, you have three choices: 
You can either let it define you, let it destroy you or let it strengthen you. Author Unknown

  105. When something bad happens, you have three choices: You can either let it define you, let it destroy you or let it strengthen you. Author Unknown
    Choices
  106. A sense of closeness to Jesus is perhaps the most important benefit to be found through the practice of being still in His Presence and making quiet reflection a priority.Sarah Young, Jesus Calling 50 Devotions for Encouragement
    Christian Poems

    When you lose everything, you get depressed if you don't step back 
and start appreciating what you do have.  Paul and Tracey McManus

  107. When you lose everything, you get depressed if you don’t step back and start appreciating what you do have. Paul and Tracey McManus, The 7 Great Prayers
    Appreciation
  108. “We do learn something about ourselves when we are up against the wall, and we do most certainly come out stronger.” Tina Sloan, Changing Shoes
    Words of Encouragement for Women

    Whatever our regret, we can learn to use its lessons and its gifts.
 Hamilton Beazley

  109. Whatever our regret, we can learn to use its lessons and its gifts.Hamilton Beazley, No Regrets
    Regret
  110. Hold up the mirror and see yourself the way you really are, rather than as we like to think we are.Alister McGrath
    Be Yourself
  111. People say that God doesn’t speak directly to us, but I know that if you want to hear what God is saying to you, all you have to do is ask. Jodi Arndt, Little Moments Big God
    Inspirational Poems
  112. We all need hope, to know that despair doesn�t have to be the end of the story, that God doesn�t want it to be the end of our story. Alison Young, Hope Beyond Despair
    Hope 
  113. All we can control is the moment we are in right now. Yolanda V Acree, Mindful Simplicity
    Anger

We hope you have found inspiration from these words of encouragement. Many times positive encouraging words or quotes will encourage us and help keep our focus on the good rather than the bad. Our attitude reflects positivity or negativity, the choice is always ours.

Words can hurt or they can uplift. Are you using encouraging wordsin your thoughts to yourself?Are you using encouraging words when you speak to others? Support othersby choosing encouraging positive words. Be an encourager rather than a critic.

        More Quotes to inspire and encourage

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200 Inspirational words of encouragement and strength. Here are the best encouraging quotes to read from famous people that will inspire you. Sometimes you feel down and all alone because of situations that you didn’t expect to happen. Remember, problems are only temporary. Be strong and keep going forward. May these words of encouragement quotes help boost your positivity to make yourself and your life much better. Share these motivational words about life with your friends, family, and loved ones to inspire them as well.

Words of encouragement and strength in times of need

1. “The undertaking of a new action brings new strength.” – Richard L. Evans

2. “You’re allowed to scream, you’re allowed to cry, but do not give up.” – Anonymous

3. “If the world seems cold to you, kindle fires to warm it.” – Lucy Larcom

4. “Do not speak badly of yourself. For the warrior within hears your words and is lessened by them.” – David Gemmell

5. “Remember that life’s greatest lessons are usually learned at the worst times and from the worst mistakes.” – Anonymous

6. “Attract what you expect, reflect what you desire, become what you respect, mirror what you admire.” – Anonymous

7. “It is always the simple that produces the marvelous.” – Amelia Barr

8. “Associate with people who are likely to improve you.” – Seneca

9. “You may not be the smartest, richest or best looking person but you’re probably not the dumbest, ugliest or poorest either.” – Rob Liano

Words of encouragement and strength in times of need

10. “Know that you can start late, look different, be uncertain, and still succeed.” – Anonymous

11. “Someone is sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago.” – Warren Buffett

12. “Whatever our regret, we can learn to use its lessons and its gifts.” – Hamilton Beazley

13. “Pick your battles. You don’t have to show up to every argument you’re invited to.” – Mandy Hale

14. “We do learn something about ourselves when we are up against the wall, and we do most certainly come out stronger.” – Tina Sloan

Inspirational words of encouragement and strength

15. “When something bad happens, you have three choices: You can either let it define you, let it destroy you or let it strengthen you.” – Anonymous

16. “Change is inevitable, in good times and in bad.” – Anonymous

17. “I’m grateful for my faith. It carries me through when I see nothing else to help me through a situation.” – Aliya Saige

18. “You survived what you thought would kill you. Now straighten your crown and move forward like the queen you are.” – Anonymous

19. “Always remember that your present situation is not your final destination. The best is yet to come.” – Anonymous

Inspirational words of encouragement and strength

20. “Whenever you feel weak, remember the things that made you strong. Whenever you start to doubt yourself, remember those who believe in you.” – Anonymous

21. “You don’t always need a plan. Sometimes you just need to breathe, trust, let go, and see what happens.” – Anonymous

22. “Always be a first-rate version of yourself, instead of a second-rate version of somebody else.” – Judy Garland

23. “Never let the odds keep you from doing what you know in your heart you were meant to do.” – Anonymous

24. “How people treat you is their karma, how you react is yours.” – Wayne Dyer

Inspirational words of encouragement and strength

25. “From a small seed a mighty trunk may grow.” – Aeschylus

26. “Explain your anger, don’t express it, and you will immediately open the door to solutions instead of arguments.” – Anonymous

27. “Focus on improving yourself and I guarantee that the quality of people you spend time with will dramatically improve.” – J. D. David

28. “Choosing to act with compassion and love and lifting others up is shining your light.” – Neviesh Perry

29. “Your destiny is the story of your life, and you get to tell the story your way.” – Scott Allan

Inspirational words of encouragement and strength

30. “Anything’s possible if you’ve got enough nerve.” – J.K. Rowling

31. “You have to fight through some bad days to earn the best days of your life.” – Anonymous

32. “The temptation to quit will be greatest just before you are about to succeed.” – Anonymous

33. “When the wrong people leave your life, the right things start happening.” – Zig Ziglar

34. “Owning our story and loving ourselves through that process is the bravest thing that we’ll ever do.” – Brene Brown

35. “Just because the past didn’t turn out like you wanted it to, doesn’t mean your future can’t be better than you ever imagined.” – Anonymous

36. “I can’t think of any better representation of beauty than someone who is unafraid to be herself.” – Emma Stone

37. “If you accept the expectations of others, especially negative ones, then you never will change the outcome.” – Michael Jordan

38. “Turn your face to the sun and the shadows fall behind you.” – Anonymous

39. “It seems to me 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.” – George Eliot

40. “I have solved similar problems in the past and can do so again.” – Anonymous

41. “The difference between successful people and others is how long they spend time feeling sorry for themselves.” – Barbara Corcoran

42. “One of the most courageous decisions you’ll ever make is to finally let go of what is hurting your heart and soul.” – Brigitte Nicole

43. “Find out who you are and be that person. That’s what your soul was put on this Earth to be. Find that truth, live that truth and everything else will come.” – Ellen DeGeneres

44. “Your motivations are your own. You must master them if you want to do great work.” – Brian Knapp

45. “I think that little by little I’ll be able to solve my problems and survive.” – Frida Kahlo

46. “Through difficult experiences, life sometimes becomes more meaningful.” – Dalai Lama

47. “I arise full of eagerness and energy, knowing well what achievement lies ahead of me.” – Zane Grey

48. “Another person’s beauty is not the absence of your own.” – Anonymous

49. “Tough times never last, but tough people do.” – Robert H. Schuller

50. “Nurture your minds with great thoughts. To believe in the heroic makes heroes.” – Benjamin Disraeli

51. “Don’t waste words on people who deserve your silence. Sometimes the most powerful thing you can say is nothing at all.” – Anonymous

52. “It’s not who you are that holds you back, it’s who you think you’re not.” – Anonymous

53. “Only those who have learned the power of sincere and selfless contribution experience life’s deepest joy: true fulfillment.” – Tony Robbins

54. “Tomorrow is the most important thing in life. Comes into us at midnight very clean. It’s perfect when it arrives and it puts itself in our hands. It hopes we’ve learned something from yesterday.” – John Wayne

55. “Winning in life is more than outpacing out your opponents; it is maximizing your potential to the fullest of your ability.” – Dr. Ignatius

56. “I understood myself only after I destroyed myself. And only in the process of fixing myself, did I know who I really was.” – Sade Andria Zabala

57. “Like wildflowers, you must allow yourself to grow in all the places people thought you never would.” – Anonymous

58. “What makes the desert beautiful is that somewhere it hides a well.” – Antoine de Saint-Exupery

59. “The only way to discover the limits of the possible is to go beyond them into the impossible.” – Arthur C. Clarke

60. “You have power over your mind, not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength.” – Marcus Aurelius

61. “Keep your feet on the ground, but let your heart soar as high as it will. Refuse to be average or to surrender to the chill of your spiritual environment.” – Arthur Helps

62. “Temptation is not to be feared, but controlled.” – Deborah Brodie

63. “Do not sit still; start moving now. In the beginning, you may not go in the direction you want, but as long as you are moving, you are creating alternatives and possibilities.” – Rodolfo Costa

64. “Believe in yourself. Life shrinks or expands in proportion with one’s courage.” – Anonymous

65. “Nature never repeats herself, and the possibilities of one human soul will never be found in another.” – Elizabeth Cady Stanton

66. “If you always attach positive emotions to the things you want, and never attach negative emotions to the things you don’t, then that which you desire most will invariably come your way.” – Matt D. Miller

67. “Sometimes, it’s okay to take a step back and admit you’re being ridiculous.” – Anonymous

68. “I’ve come to understand that the most exciting thing about life is change.” – Mark Inglis

69. “The mountains that you are carrying, you were only supposed to climb.” – Najwa Zebian

70. “If you are persistent, you will get it. If you are consistent, you will keep it.” – Anonymous

71. “Healing doesn’t mean the damage never existed. It means the damage no longer controls our lives.” – Anonymous

72. “Winning lifts everyone it touches, and it makes the world a better place.” – Jack Welch

73. “I let my worries go so I can be here for the beauty that surrounds me now.” – Anonymous

74. “You need a little bit of insanity to do great things.” – Henry Rollins

75. “Come friends, it’s not too late to seek a newer world.” – Alfred Lord Tennyson

76. “I have always believed, and I still believe, that whatever good or bad fortune may come our way we can always give it meaning and transform it into something of value.” – Hermann Hesse

77. “Accept the things to which fate binds you, and love the people with whom fate brings you together, but do so with all your heart.” – Marcus Aurelius

78. “Stop letting people who do so little for you, control so much of your mind, feelings, and emotions.” – Anonymous

79. “You cannot expect victory and plan for defeat.” – Joel Osteen

80. “You will not always be strong, but you can always be brave.” – Beau Taplin

81. “Be so positive that negative people don’t want to be near you.” – Anonymous

82. “Perhaps our eyes need to be washed by our tears once in a while, so that we can see life with a clearer view again.” – Anonymous

83. “No matter how tall the mountain is, it cannot block the sun.” – Chinese Proverbs

84. “Without craftsmanship, inspiration is a mere reed shaken in the wind.” – Johannes Brahms

85. “Life is about striking the perfect balance and since nothing in life is perfect, we have to do the best with what we got.” – Anquanette Gaspard

86. “One word of encouragement can be enough to spark someone’s motivation to continue with a difficult challenge.” – Roy T. Bennett

87. “Your beliefs don’t make you a better person, your behavior does.” – Anonymous

88. “What you think, you create. What you feel, you attract. What you imagine, you become.” – Rhonda Byrne

89. “When you talk, you are only repeating what you already know. But if you listen, you may learn something new.” – Dalai Lama

90. “Your mind is a powerful thing. When you fill it with positive thoughts, your life will start to change.” – Anonymous

91. “Apologizing doesn’t always mean you’re wrong and the other person is right. It means you value your relationship more than your ego.” – Anonymous

92. “I believe that one defines oneself by reinvention. To not be like your parents. To not be like your friends. To be yourself. To cut yourself out of stone.” – Henry Rollins

93. “Remember, man does not live on bread alone: sometimes he needs a little buttering up.” – John C. Maxwell

94. “Do your little bit of good where you are; it’s those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world.” – Desmond Tutu

95. “Success depends upon previous preparation, and without such preparation, there is sure to be failure.” – Confucius

96. “Connecting with those you know that love, like and appreciate you restores the spirit and give you the energy to keep moving forward in this life.” – Deborah Day

97. “Nothing in life has happened to you. It’s happened for you. Every disappointment. Every wrong. Even every closed door has helped make you into who you are.” – Joel Osteen

98. “Renewal requires opening yourself up to new ways of thinking and feeling.” – Deborah Day

99. “Sometimes you face difficulties not because you’re doing something wrong, but because you’re doing something right.” – Joel Osteen

100. “Set your goals high enough to inspire you and low enough to encourage you.” – Anonymous

101. “At any given moment you have the power to say: This is not how the story is going to end.” – Christine Mason Miller

102. “For any problem, no matter how big or complex it may be, there is a solution.” – Earl Nightingale

103. “I believe every human has a finite number of heartbeats. I don’t intend to waste any of mine.” – Neil Armstrong

104. “It’s okay if you fall and loses your spark. Just make sure that when you get back up, you rise like a raging fire.” – Anonymous

105. “Do not be ashamed of a scar. It simply means you were stronger than whatever tried to hurt you.” – Anonymous

106. “You learn something out of everything, and you come to realize more than ever that we’re all here for a certain space of time, and, and then it’s going to be over, and you better make this count.” – Nancy Reagan

107. “People inspire you, or they drain you. Pick them wisely.” – Hans F. Hanson

108. “Keep doing good things. It will come back to you tenfold in unexpected ways.” – Anonymous

109. “Silence and smile are two powerful tools. Smile is the way to solve many problems and silence is the way to avoid many problems.” – Anonymous

110. “Always do what is right. It will gratify half of mankind and astound the other.” – Mark Twain

111. “Everything you want is out there waiting for you to ask. Everything you want also wants you. But you have to take action to get it.” – Jules Renard

112. “Not all storms come to disrupt your life, some to clear your path.” – Anonymous

113. “Soon, when all is well, you’re going to look back on this period of your life and be so glad that you never gave up.” – Brittany Burgunder

114. “It’s through adversity that you find the strength you never knew you had.” – Christie Brinkley

115. “When the sun is shining I can do anything; no mountain is too high, no trouble too difficult to overcome.” – Wilma Rudolph

116. “I believe that if one always looked at the skies, one would end up with wings.” – Gustave Flaubert

117. “Relentless people move mountains. Relentless people make the impossible, possible. Relentless people achieve miracles.” – Wayne Allyn Root

118. “The greatest wisdom is seeing through appearances.” – Buddha

119. “Sometimes the greatest adventure is simply a conversation.” – Amadeus Wolfe

120. “Your conscience is the measure of the honesty of your selfishness. Listen to it carefully.” – Richard Bach

121. “Sometimes your only available transportation is a leap of faith.” – Margaret Shepard

122. “I love people who gossip behind my back. That’s exactly where they belong. Behind my back.” – Anonymous

123. “You wake up every morning to fight the same demons that left you so tired the night before. That, my dear, is bravery.” – Anonymous

124. “Vitality shows in not only the ability to persist but the ability to start over.” – F. Scott Fitzgerald

125. “In the end, only three things matter: how much you loved, how gently you lived, and how gracefully you let go of things not meant for you.” – Anonymous

126. “We all are a little broken and that’s okay.” – Anonymous

127. “Your mind is like a magnet because it attracts into your life whatever you think about most.” – Paul and Tracey McManus

128. “The less respond to negative people, the more peaceful your life will become.” – Anonymous

129. “Sometimes, you have to get knocked down lower than you have ever been to stand back up taller than you ever were.” – Anonymous

130. “Thankfully, persistence is a great substitute for talent.” – Steve Martin

131. “Sometimes when you are in a dark place you think you have been buried, but actually you have been planted.” – Christine Caine

132. “We only realize that we are strong when we stumble upon challenges in life, and there is no other way to overcome these challenges except to become strong and face them with all might.” – Anonymous

133. “Your nature is not the problem. The problem is that you have become alienated from your nature, from your power source.” – Laurie Helgoe

134. “Every beginner possesses a great potential to be an expert in his or her chosen field.” – Lailah Gifty Akita

135. “You must do the things you think you cannot do.” – Eleanor Roosevelt

136. “Fear not the unknown. It is a sea of possibilities.” – Tom Althouse

137. “It is only our daily bread that we are encouraged to ask for. The present is the only time in which any duty can be done or any grace received.” – C.S. Lewis

138. “A sunny disposition is worth more than fortune.” – Andrew Carnegie

139. “No matter the number of times you fail you must be determined to succeed. You must not lose hope. Don’t stop in your storm.” – Tony Narams

140. “The tongue is the strongest muscle in the human body; use yours to lift someone up today.” – Terri Ann Armstrong

141. “Opportunity may knock only once but temptation leans on the door bell.” – Oprah Winfrey

142. “It is important to surround yourself with people who lift you up, encourage you, share your vision and inspire you.” – Les Brown

143. “The truth of who we are is how we live day to day. If you want to influence others, the most important thing you can do is be a living example of the principles, ideals, and faith that you advocate.” – Nick Vujicic

144. “Begin again as often as you need to in order to stay on track spiritually.” – Elizabeth Funderbirk

145. “Just remember, there are no quick fixes. But, by taking action just a little bit every day, you will build up a powerful reservoir of confidence, self-esteem, and discipline.” – Scott Allan

146. “Rarely is the better life achieved by following the same path.” – Dean Gualco

147. “Encouragement from any source is like a drop of rain upon a parched desert. Thanks to all the many others who rained on me when I needed it, and even when I foolishly thought I didn’t.” – Claire Gillian

148. “You could be the world’s best garbage man, the world’s best model; it don’t matter what you do if you’re the best.” – Muhammad Ali

149. “Every adversity brings new experiences and new lessons.” – Lailah Gifty Akita

150. “Sometimes the best goal you can set is just to get out of bed every day. If you can succeed at this, then other things become possible.” – Cynthia Patterson

151. “If you feel like giving up, give up on that feeling and give into the realization there are endless possibilities waiting to be discovered before you.” – Tom Althouse

152. “Whether a person is going through a major problem in his life or merely losing confidence in himself, sincere yet straightforward and uplifting words of encouragement will undoubtedly improve anyone’s perspective in life.” – Anonymous

153. “You have a greater potential than anyone who has ever lived before you. But you’ll never make it by sitting on your duff and telling the world how great you’re going to be.” – Og Mandino

154. “You need to be buried deep in the dirt before you can find your bloom.” – Roz Inga

155. “I told you growing starts from the inside first, honey, and in that way, you’ve been growing like wildfire.” – Phoebe Stone

156. “Indeed, words have the power to encourage anyone who is need, not only you but even your friends.” – Anonymous

157. “Only dead fish go with the flow. Create your own path in life.” – Anonymous

158. “The success and positive energy of others empower me to change.” – Anonymous

159. “Change can hurt, be uncomfortable, and be difficult in the beginning. Remember this English Proverb: Just when the caterpillar thought the world was over, it became a butterfly.” – Lisa Rusczyk

160. “Just pick a goal and stick to it. No big complicated secret.” – Richelle Goodrich

161. “I believe in living today. Not in yesterday, nor in tomorrow.” – Loretta Young

162. “The world is full of magical things patiently waiting for our wits to grow sharper.” – Bertrand Russell

163. “Whenever you find yourself doubting how far you can go, just remember how far you have come.” – N.R. Walker

164. “Don’t make a habit out of choosing what feels good over what’s actually good for you.” – Eric Thomas

165. “Don’t work 70 hours a week just to get paid. Spend time up front determining your purpose.” – Andrew Tye

166. “Gentleness towards self and others makes life a little lighter.” – Deborah Day

167. “We have it in our power to begin the world over again.” – Thomas Paine

168. “If you saturate your mind with positive thoughts, it will sustain you in any situation.” – Lailah Gifty Akita

169. “You are stronger than you know. More capable than you ever dreamed. And you are loved more than you could possibly imagine.” – Anonymous

170. “Cultivate an optimistic mind, use your imagination, always consider alternatives, and dare to believe that you can make possible what others think is impossible.” – Rodolfo Costa

171. “What lies behind you and what lies in front of you, pales in comparison to what lies inside of you.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

172. “The most authentic thing about us is our capacity to create, to overcome, to endure, to transform, to love and to be greater than our suffering.” – Ben Okri

173. “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

174. “The best preparation for tomorrow is doing your best today.” – H. Jackson Brown, Jr.

175. “Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection we can catch excellence.” – Vince Lombardi

176. “Everything will be okay in the end. If it’s not okay, then it’s not the end.” – Ed Sheeran

177. “It is during our darkest moments that we must focus to see the light.” – Aristotle Onassis

178. “Out of difficulties grow miracles.” – Jean de la Bruyere

179. “Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known.” – Sharon Begley

180. “Clouds come floating into my life, no longer to carry rain or usher storm, but to add color to my sunset sky.” – Rabindranath Tagore

181. “Keep your sunny side up, keep yourself beautiful, and indulge yourself.” – Betsey Johnson

182. “It is not the mountain we conquer, but ourselves.” – Edmund Hillary

183. “The happiest people in the world are those who feel absolutely terrific about themselves, and this is the natural outgrowth of accepting total responsibility for every part of their life.” – Brian Tracy

184. “The most effective way to do it, is to do it.” – Amelia Earhart

185. “What seems to us as bitter trials are often blessings in disguise.” – Oscar Wilde

186. “Everything you want is on the other side of fear.” – Jack Canfield

187. “The expert at anything was once a beginner.” – Helen Hayes

188. “The moment you accept responsibility for everything in your life is the moment you gain the power to change anything in your life.” – Hal Elrod

189. “Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world.” – Harriet Tubman

190. “Don’t let your dreams be dreams.” – Jack Johnson

191. “With our own shortcomings, we are in no position to judge anyone else. The best way to forget the faults of others is to remember our own.” – Nicky Gumbel

192. “I’ve come to believe that all my past failure and frustrations were actually laying the foundation for the understandings that have created the new level of living I now enjoy.” – Anthony Robbins

193. “Trust yourself. You know more than you think you do.” – Dr. Benjamin Spock

194. “Change your attitude and gain some altitude. Believe me, you’ll love it up here.” – Donald Trump

195. “Spend eighty percent of your time focusing on the opportunities of tomorrow rather than the problems of yesterday.” – Brian Tracy

196. “Encourage yourself, believe in yourself, and love yourself. Never doubt who you are.” – Stephanie Lahart

197. “There is no such thing in anyone’s life as an unimportant day.” – Alexander Woollcott

198. “Worry never robs tomorrow of its sorrow. It only saps today of its joy.” – Leo Buscaglia

199. “The only time you run out of chances is when you stop taking them.” – Alexander Pope

200. “Allow your dreams to shower your aspirations, and allow your hopes to be a source of encouragement.” – Shaa Zainol

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