28 Powerful Quotes to Inspire Greatness

UPDATED: August 21, 2024
PUBLISHED: October 13, 2016
triumphant man looks out over a city skyline inspiring greatness

Greatness comes from the desire to do extraordinary things—to reach beyond the status quo and relentlessly chase your dreams. It all starts with setting and achieving goals, but when you aim higher than where you set your mark, you force yourself to get better, one victory at a time.

There is greatness inside all of us, but first, we must choose to be great. With a finite amount of time to live your ideal life, the time to embrace your inner excellence is always now.

Get started today with these 28 powerful quotes—as a dose of inspiration to spark your journey.

Use the greatness within

  • “Never underestimate the power of dreams and the influence of the human spirit. We are all the same in this notion: The potential for greatness lives within each of us.”—Wilma Rudolph

Live life to the fullest

“To achieve greatness one should live as if they will never die.”—Francois de La Rochefoucauld
  • “To achieve greatness one should live as if they will never die.”—Francois de La Rochefoucauld
  • “Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.”—Mahatma Gandhi 

Make the decision

  • “People do not decide to become extraordinary. They decide to accomplish extraordinary things.”—Edmund Hillary
  • “Greatness is not a function of circumstance. Greatness, it turns out, is largely a matter of conscious choice, and discipline.”—Jim Collins

Find your passion

“Desire, burning desire, is basic to achieving anything beyond the ordinary.”—Joseph B. Wirthlin
  • “Desire, burning desire, is basic to achieving anything beyond the ordinary.”—Joseph B. Wirthlin
  • “Passion is energy. Feel the power that comes from focusing on what excites you.”—Oprah Winfrey

Use your full capabilities

  • “Mediocrity will never do. You are capable of something better.”—Gordon B. Hinckley
  • “Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And 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. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it.”—Steve Jobs

Aim for the stars

  • “Always dream and shoot higher than you know you can do. Don’t bother just to be better than your contemporaries or predecessors. Try to be better than yourself.”—William Faulkner

Do your best

“Always do your best. What you plant now, you will harvest later.”—Og Mandino
  • “Always do your best. What you plant now, you will harvest later.”—Og Mandino
  • “Success is not final, failure is not fatal: It is the courage to continue that counts.”—Winston Churchill

Don’t fear greatness

  • “Be not afraid of greatness. Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and others have greatness thrust upon them.”—William Shakespeare

Have high expectations

  • “You must expect great things of yourself before you can do them.”—Michael Jordan
  • “High expectations are the key to everything.”—Sam Walton

Do without limits

  • “Don’t limit yourself. Many people limit themselves to what they think they can do. You can go as far as your mind lets you. What you believe, remember, you can achieve.”—Mary Kay Ash
“Believe in yourself and all that you are. Know that there is something inside you that is greater than any obstacle.”—Christian D. Larson
  • “Believe in yourself and all that you are. Know that there is something inside you that is greater than any obstacle.”—Christian D. Larson

Take action

  • “Great thoughts speak only to the thoughtful mind, but great actions speak to all mankind.”—Theodore Roosevelt
  • “”Great things are not done by impulse, but by a series of small things brought together.”—Vincent van Gogh

Look at what you’ve overcome

Dream big

“Big dreams create the magic that stir men’s souls to greatness.”—Bill McCartney
  • Big dreams create the magic that stir men’s souls to greatness.”—Bill McCartney

Visualize

Know your worth

  • “You were designed for accomplishment, engineered for success, and endowed with the seeds of greatness.”—Zig Ziglar

Set your mind to it 

  • “Whatever the mind of man can conceive and believe, it can achieve.”—Napoleon Hill

Go a step further 

“When you have had a taste of excellence, you cannot go back to mediocrity.”—Maximillian Degenerez
  • “When you have had a taste of excellence, you cannot go back to mediocrity.”—Maximillian Degenerez
  • “Greatness is not in where we stand, but in what direction we are moving. We must sail sometimes with the wind and sometimes against it—but sail we must and not drift, nor lie at anchor.”—Oliver Wendell Holmes

Choose excellence

  • “The secret of living a life of excellence is merely a matter of thinking thoughts of excellence. Really, it’s a matter of programming our minds with the kind of information that will set us free.”—Charles R. Swindoll

Make a lasting impact

  • “No man is truly great who is great only in his lifetime. The test of greatness is the page of history.”—William Hazlitt

This article was updated May 2024. Photo by rangizzz/Shutterstock.com

Lydia Sweatt

Lydia Sweatt is a freelance writer, bookworm, and bass guitar enthusiast. When she goes outside, a bicycle goes with her.

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