17 Inspiring Quotes to Help You Live a Life of Purpose

UPDATED: September 22, 2023
PUBLISHED: June 22, 2017

Having a purpose makes it impossible to merely exist. When you have a definite reason for living, a “why” behind every action, your passions and talents will drive you toward a happy, fulfilling destination.

Related: Your Purpose Lies at the Intersection of These 3 Things

We are all here for a reason, so get some inspiration to find yours from these 17 inspiring quotes about living your life on purpose.

17 Inspiring Quotes to Help You Live a Life of Purpose

1. “It’s not enough to have lived. We should be determined to live for something.” ―Winston S. Churchill


17 Inspiring Quotes to Help You Live a Life of Purpose

2. “The path to our destination is not always a straight one. We go down the wrong road, we get lost, we turn back. Maybe it doesn’t matter which road we embark on. Maybe what matters is that we embark.” ―Barbara Hall


17 Inspiring Quotes to Help You Live a Life of Purpose

3. “People take different roads seeking fulfillment and happiness. Just because they’re not on your road doesn’t mean they’ve gotten lost.” ―Dalai Lama


17 Inspiring Quotes to Help You Live a Life of Purpose

4. “The heart of human excellence often begins to beat when you discover a pursuit that absorbs you, frees you, challenges you, or gives you a sense of meaning, joy, or passion.” ―Terry Orlick


17 Inspiring Quotes to Help You Live a Life of Purpose

5. “Definiteness of purpose is the starting point of all achievement.” ―W. Clement Stone


17 Inspiring Quotes to Help You Live a Life of Purpose

6. “To begin to think with purpose, is to enter the ranks of those strong ones who only recognize failure as one of the pathways to attainment.” ―James Allen


17 Inspiring Quotes to Help You Live a Life of Purpose

7. “The mystery of human existence lies not in just staying alive, but in finding something to live for.” ―Fyodor Dostoyevsky


17 Inspiring Quotes to Help You Live a Life of Purpose

8. “The soul which has no fixed purpose in life is lost; to be everywhere, is to be nowhere.” ―Michel de Montaigne


17 Inspiring Quotes to Help You Live a Life of Purpose

9. “If you can tune into your purpose and really align with it, setting goals so that your vision is an expression of that purpose, then life flows much more easily.” ―Jack Canfield


17 Inspiring Quotes to Help You Live a Life of Purpose

10. “The person without a purpose is like a ship without a rudder.” ―Thomas Carlyle


17 Inspiring Quotes to Help You Live a Life of Purpose

11. “Efforts and courage are not enough without purpose and direction.” ―John F. Kennedy


17 Inspiring Quotes to Help You Live a Life of Purpose

12. “True happiness… is not attained through self-gratification, but through fidelity to a worthy purpose.” ―Helen Keller


17 Inspiring Quotes to Help You Live a Life of Purpose

13. “The best way to lengthen out our days is to walk steadily and with a purpose.” ―Charles Dickens


17 Inspiring Quotes to Help You Live a Life of Purpose

14. “Singleness of purpose is one of the chief essentials for success in life, no matter what may be one’s aim.” ―John D. Rockefeller


17 Inspiring Quotes to Help You Live a Life of Purpose

15. “Musicians must make music, artists must paint, poets must write if they are ultimately to be at peace with themselves. What humans can be, they must be.” ―Abraham Maslow


17 Inspiring Quotes to Help You Live a Life of Purpose

16. “Everyone has been made for some particular work and the desire for that work has been put in every heart.” ―Jalaluddin Rumi


17 Inspiring Quotes to Help You Live a Life of Purpose

17. “You must first be who you really are, then do what you need to do, in order to have what you want.” ―Margaret Young

Related: Answer 6 Questions to Reveal Your Life Purpose

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SUCCESS is your guide for personal and professional development through inspiration, motivation and training.