A growth mindset means our capabilities are dynamic rather than set in stone. Through learning and perseverance, we can improve our abilities. The concept originated with Stanford University Professor of Psychology Carol S. Dweck, Ph.D. In her book, Mindset: The New Psychology of Success, she explains two theories of intelligence referred to as mindsets. The first, fixed mindset, believes that intellectual abilities are fixed. The second, a growth mindset, is a belief that we can develop and improve our abilities. In this mindset, people gain the capacity to view effort in terms of learning and growth, and obstacles as opportunities.
Whether navigating personal challenges, professional roadblocks or committing to lifelong learning, a growth mindset can help you adapt your mindset to continuously improve and view setbacks as opportunities. The growth mindset quotes below might offer the inspiration and push you need to shift your perspective towards learning, achievement and success.
Motivational Growth Mindset Quotes
Staying committed to growth, especially when facing setbacks, is challenging. These famous growth mindset quotes offer inspiration to help you stay motivated. Like Oprah says below, “You control a lot by your thoughts.” Think positively and productively. Continue to grow.
- “In the fixed mindset, everything is about the outcome. If you fail—or if you’re not the best—it’s all been wasted. The growth mindset allows people to value what they’re doing regardless of the outcome. They’re tackling problems, charting new courses, working on important issues.” —Carol Dweck, Mindset: The New Psychology of Success
- “Only you can master your mind, which is what it takes to live a bold life filled with accomplishments most people consider beyond their capability.” —David Goggins, Can’t Hurt Me: Master Your Mind and Defy the Odds
- “You control a lot by your thoughts… When I started to figure that out… I was like, what else can I do? What else can I manifest? Because I have seen it work. I have seen it happen over and over again.” —Oprah Winfrey
- “It’s not always the people who start out the smartest who end up the smartest.” —Carol Dweck, Mindset: The New Psychology of Success
- “In a growth mindset, your flaws are just a TO-DO list of things to improve.” —Derek Sivers
- “Success isn’t about the end result, it’s about what you learn along the way.” —Vera Wang
- “Watch the turtle. He only moves forward by sticking his neck out.” —Louis V. Gerstner
- “We all have the ability to manifest everything we want. It’s simply about knowing how to tap into your power within.” —Natasha Graziano
- “I only hope we never lose sight of one thing—that it was all started with a mouse.” —Walt Disney
- “Our thoughts make us what we are.” —Dale Carnegie, How to Stop Worrying and Start Living: Time-Tested Methods for Conquering Worry
- “Thankfully, persistence is a great substitute for talent. —Steve Martin, Born Standing Up: A Comic’s Life
Related: Motivational Quotes to Inspire You to Be Successful
Words of Wisdom: Powerful Growth Mindset Quotes
A growth mindset means boldly moving forward, even when the path gets tough. Sayings like “when one door closes, another opens” help us picture failure as an opportunity for new opportunities. The growth mindset quotes below emphasize that, above all else, it’s essential to keep moving forward.
- “Without effort, your talent is nothing more than your unmet potential.” ―Angela Duckworth, Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance
- “One can choose to go back toward safety or forward toward growth. Growth must be chosen again and again; fear must be overcome again and again.” ―Abraham Maslow, The Psychology of Science: A Reconnaissance
- “‘Fail early, fail often, succeed sooner.’ It’s the motto of Silicon Valley, but it should be universally endorsed. The sooner we find out what we don’t know, the sooner we start learning and succeeding.” —Carol Dweck
- “I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.” —Michael Jordan
- “If someone doesn’t face the challenges they need to move forward, and someone with less talent is constantly facing what’s real and doing something about it, they’re going to move forward faster and further.” —Steve Anderson
- “Any successful person you know, even though it seems like everything just happened for them, it usually was preceded by a bunch of failure. Or at least a significant amount. But the great ones aren’t the ones that don’t fail, they’re the ones that learn from their failure, and they keep going. And they’re persistent, and they’re tenacious.” —John Legend
- “There is no such thing as failure. Failure is just life trying to move us in another direction.” —Oprah Winfrey
- “Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.” —Thomas Edison
- “Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently.” —Henry Ford
- “I hated every minute of training, but I said, ‘Don’t quit. Suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion.'” —Muhammad Ali
- “You can if you think you can.” —Norman Vincent Peale, You Can If You Think You Can
- “I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times.” —Bruce Lee
Related: Growth Mindset Examples to Advance Your Life
Unique Mindset Quotes for Entrepreneurs & Leaders
According to a “Growth Mindset in the Workplace” Report by TalentLMS, 80% of senior executives agree that employee growth mindsets contribute to revenue growth. Additionally, 64% reported higher productivity and performance. The entrepreneur mindset quotes below reflect the growth mindset needed to lead a team, tackle new challenges and continue to grow, even through failures.
- “I have learned that the greatest force in the world, besides love, is contribution. As my mentors have taught me—the secret to living is giving.” —Ricky Mendez
- “I don’t pose as an authority on anything at all. I follow the opinions of the ordinary people I meet, and take pride in the close-knit teamwork with my organization.” —Walt Disney
- “You have been assigned this mountain so that you can show others it can be moved.” —Mel Robbins, The 5 Second Rule: Transform Your Life, Work, and Confidence with Everyday Courage
- “Have passion for what you do; believe in yourself and your product and your customer; persevere; delegate; listen. Have fun. Today, I add: ‘Do good.’” —Richard Branson, Screw Business as Usual
- “A growth mindset isn’t just a leadership trait. It’s a business strategy. The leaders who risk, reflect and rise are the ones who redefine what’s possible.” —Tom LeNoble
- “Knowledge, understanding and wisdom will not seek you out. You must go out and acquire it. The best way to do that is to remain curious.” —John C. Maxwell
- “Through it all, I’ve come to realize that the path to success is anything but straightforward; it’s riddled with twists and turns, setbacks and triumphs.” —Amy Somerville
- “Why waste time proving over and over how great you are, when you could be getting better?” —Carol Dweck, Mindset: The New Psychology of Success
- “When something doesn’t go exactly to plan, money is tight or a business is struggling – see it as a challenge rather than a failure. Look outside the box and try and find a solution – you’ll be surprised how many great opportunities and possibilities arise when things look bad. You’ve just got to open your mind and not be afraid of sticking your neck out!” —Richard Branson
- “To be great, you have to have some combination of irrational confidence and realism that says, yeah, everything’s a mess right now, but it’s going to be okay. Oh, and persistence.” —Steve Ballmer
- “We may encounter many defeats, but we must not be defeated. It may even be necessary to encounter the defeat, so that we can know who we are. So that we can see, ‘Oh, that happened, and I rose.” —Maya Angelou
Related: How to Change Your Mindset for Success: A Step-by-Step Guide
Inspiring Growth Mindset Sayings for Employees
A growth mindset helps employees overcome challenges and feel fulfilled in their day-to-day work. These growth mindset quotes for employees can serve as powerful reminders that growth is ongoing. Effort and attitude play a major role in success.
- “Resilience is a practice, it’s a muscle, something you have to work at.” —Anne Grady
- “If you don’t like something, change it. If you can’t change it, change your attitude.” —Maya Angelou
- “Failures are only failures when we don’t learn from them, because when we learn from them, they become lessons.” —Jay Shetty
- “Whatever you want in life is not going to be given. Everything is earned.” —Mo Brossette
- “The fundamentals: Something many people know, but few people practice.” —James Clear
- “The only real mistake is the one from which we learn nothing.” —Henry Ford
- “Never get bored or cynical. Yesterday is a thing of the past.” —Walt Disney
- “[No] matter what your ability is, effort is what ignites that ability and turns it into accomplishment.” —Carol Dweck, Mindset: The New Psychology of Success
- “The thing that was revelatory to me was not that effort matters—everybody knows that effort matters… What was revelatory to me was how much it matters.” —Angela Duckworth
- Don’t just take criticism well when it’s given—seek it out. Honest feedback from others is a wonderful way to grow. We might not always like what we hear, but it’s often valuable. —Carol Dweck
- “Every failure is a step to success.” —William Whewell, Lectures on the History of Moral Philosophy in England, Volume 1
- “All our dreams can come true—if we have the courage to pursue them.” —Walt Disney
Related: How to Cultivate a Growth Mindset
Positive Quotes to Drive a Deep Growth Mindset
Persistence can fuel a deep growth mindset. These words of wisdom mindset quotes below remind us that greatness comes through hard work and always learning. Never give up.
- “A self-care plan is just as important as your marketing plan, as your business plan, any plans that you have in your business. It’s equal to that. And that’s a mindset shift. There’s a lot of people [that say] I don’t have time for that. Well, check in with me to see where your results are in a year.” —Dena Patton
- “All big things come from small beginnings. The seed of every habit is a single, tiny decision. But as that decision is repeated, a habit sprouts and grows stronger. Roots entrench themselves and branches grow. The task of breaking a bad habit is like uprooting a powerful oak within us. And the task of building a good habit is like cultivating a delicate flower one day at a time.” —James Clear, Atomic Habits
- “No matter how much experience you have, there’s always something new you can learn and room for improvement.” —Roy T. Bennett, The Light in the Heart
- “Genius is 1% inspiration, 99% perspiration.” —Thomas Edison
- “Greatness is many, many individual feats, and each of them is doable.” ―Angela Duckworth, Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance
- “You don’t have to be great to start, but you have to start to be great.” —Zig Zigler
- “Shifting from a fixed mindset to a growth mindset is no easy feat. It will require a plan and enabling multiple business leadership styles to be successful, but successfully incorporating a growth mindset can make your organization one in which employees flourish and find satisfaction at work.” —Julie McCracken
- “To be prepared against surprise is to be trained. To be prepared for surprise is to be educated.” —James Carse, Finite and Infinite Games: A Vision of Life as Play and Possibility
- “Becoming is better than being.” —Carol Dweck, Mindset: The New Psychology of Success
- I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” —Thomas Edison
- “There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work and learning from failure.” —Colin Powell
Inspirational Growth Mindset Mottos for Daily Improvement
When you’re reading inspirational quotes from great minds, you can’t help but feel inspired. While reviewing, adapt to match your particular situation. For example, here are a few personal insights, written by SUCCESS® team members. Use them to inspire you to come up with your own personal growth mottos and continue to push the limits of your mindset.
- “Never give up on something you love.”
- “Don’t look back. Yesterday has already passed. It’s what you’re doing now that matters most.”
- “Start today. It’s never too late to change your mindset.”
- “When you look in the mirror, remind the person you see: you can grow. You can change. You can achieve.”
- “Stop considering the risks if you do what you’re afraid of. What happens if you don’t?”
- “Where you are today is OK. Accepting that can help you grow.”
- “I’ve achieved success before—and I can do it again, even if it looks different this time.”
Believe in the Power of Your Own Potential
A growth mindset empowers you to keep learning, even from your failures. There are always going to be setbacks. Facing challenges like opportunities to grow can be transformative, both personally and professionally.
The growth mindset quotes above remind us to remain curious and maintain a positive attitude. We’re all capable of more than we think.
This article was updated in July 2025. Photo by Vulp/Shutterstock
