63 Powerful Hard Work Quotes That'll Change Your Life

If you're wondering why you should read a bunch of "hard work quotes," here's what you need to know.

To put it simply, hard work is the action of putting in efforts— day in and day out— to achieve a certain goal. But, because we are humans, it is all too easy to forget why we are sitting at home and working while others are out having fun.

This collection of hard work quotes has been specially curated for those days when you've lost sight of your goals and need a gentle nudge to get you back on track.

63 Hard Work Quotes That Will Rewire You To Think Like A Winner

This list of hard work quotes contains a wealth of wisdom shared by philosophers, leaders, teachers, and others who have already faced the toughest curveballs that life has to offer.

Take inspiration from these hard work quotes because they sum up what you've always known: You're much tougher than you think.

1. Thomas Jefferson

I'm a greater believer in luck, and I find the harder I work, the more I have of it.

2. Stephen King

Talent is cheaper than table salt. What separates the talented individual from the successful one is a lot of hard work.

3. Pelé

Success is no accident. It is hard work, perseverance, learning, studying, sacrifice, and most of all, love of what you are doing or learning to do.

4. Colin Powell

There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, learning from failure.

5. Margaret Thatcher

Disciplining yourself to do what you know is right and important, although difficult, is the high road to pride, self-esteem, and personal satisfaction.

6. Thomas Edison

The three great essentials to achieve anything worthwhile are Hard work, Stick-to-itiveness, and Common sense.

7. Mastin Kipp

Unless you're in mortal danger, fear is a compass showing you where to go.

8. Unknown Latin Quote

I will either find a way, or I will make one.

9. Barack Obama

The best way to not feel hopeless is to get up and do something. Don't wait for good things to happen to you. If you go out and make some good things happen, you will fill the world with hope; you will fill yourself with hope.

10. Steve Wozniak

If you love what you do and are willing to do what it takes, it's within your reach. And it'll be worth every minute you spend alone at night, thinking and thinking about what it is you want to design or build. It'll be worth it, I promise.

11. LeBron James

Ask me to play, I'll play, ask me to shoot, I'll shoot. Ask me to pass, I'll pass, Ask me to steal, block out, sacrifice, lead, dominate, anything. But it's not just what you ask of me. It's what I ask of myself.

12. Vince Lombardi

Son, the only place where success comes before work is the dictionary.

13. Chris Bailey

Attention is the most important ingredient we have to living a good, productive life.

14. James Clear

Standardize before you optimize. You can't improve a habit that doesn't exist.

15. Martin Luther King, Jr.

If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven played music, or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, here lived a great street sweeper who did his job well.

16. Angela Duckworth

I won't just have a job; I'll have a calling. I'll challenge myself every day. When I get knocked down, I'll get back up. I may not be the smartest person in the room, but I'll strive to be the grittiest.

17. Malcolm Gladwell

Once a musician has enough ability to get into a top music school, the thing that distinguishes one performer from another is how hard he or she works. That's it. And what's more, the people at the very top don't work just harder or even much harder than everyone else. They work much, much harder.

18. Magnus Carlsen

Self-confidence is very important. If you don't think you can win, you will take cowardly decisions in the crucial moments out of sheer respect for your opponent. You see the opportunity but also greater limitations than you should. I have always believed in what I do on the chessboard, even when I had no objective reason to. It is better to overestimate your prospects than underestimate them.

19. Simon Biles

Work hard in silence; let your success be the noise.

20. Ellen Johnson Sirleaf

The size of your dreams must always exceed your current capacity to achieve them. If your dreams do not scare you, they are not big enough.

21. William Shedd

A ship is safe in harbor, but that's not what ships are for.

22. Calvin Coolidge

Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan 'Press On' has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.

23. Edna Mode

I never look back, darling. It distracts from the now.

24. Steve Furtick

The reason we struggle with insecurity is because we compare our behind-the-scenes with everyone else's highlight reel.

25. Ernest Hemingway

The coward dies a thousand deaths, the brave but one.

26. Theodore Roosevelt

We must all either wear out or rust out, every one of us. My choice is to wear out.

27. John Wooden

Success is peace of mind, which is a direct result of self-satisfaction in knowing you made the effort to do your best to become the best that you are capable of becoming.

28. Napoleon Bonaparte

Space I can recover. Time, never.

29. Leo Tolstoy

Time and patience are the strongest warriors.

30. Napoleon Hill

Desire is the starting point of all achievement, not a hope, not a wish, but a keen pulsating desire which transcends everything.

31. Randy Pausch

It's not about the cards you're dealt, but how you play the hand.

32. Bruce Lee

Don't fear failure. Not failure, but low aim, is the crime. In great attempts, it is glorious even to fail.

33. Proverb

Obstacles do not block the path. They are the path.

34. Teddy Roosevelt

Do what you can, where you are, with what you have.

35. Jim Rohn

There are two types of pain you will go through in life: the pain of discipline and the pain of regret. Discipline weighs ounces, while regret weighs tons.

36. Amelia Earhart

The most difficult thing is the decision to act; the rest is merely tenacity.

37. Kobe Bryant

Everything negative, pressure, challenges – is all an opportunity for me to rise.

38. Steve Jobs

Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma – which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition.

39. Muhammad Ali

I hated every minute of training. But I said, "Don't quit. Suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion.

40. Ava DuVernay

Ignore the glass ceiling and do your work. If you're focusing on the glass ceiling, focusing on what you don't have, focusing on the limitations, then you will be limited.

41. Tim Ferris

Conditions are never perfect. 'Someday' is a disease that will take your dreams to the grave with you... If it's important to you and you want to do it 'eventually,' just do it and correct course along the way.

42. Drew Houston

If you have a dream, you can spend a lifetime studying, planning, and getting ready for it. What you should be doing is getting started.

43. Jack London

Don't loaf and invite inspiration; light out after it with a club, and if you don't get it, you will nonetheless get something that looks remarkably like it.

45. Plato

The beginning is the most important part of the work.

46. Ruth Bader Ginsburg

I spent no time fretting and found a way to do what I thought important to get done.

47. Peter Diamandis

Stuff goes wrong. Expect it, learn from it, fix it. That's how remarkable happens.

48. Don Zimmer

What you lack in talent can be made up with desire, hustle, and giving 110% all the time.

49. Mary Anne Radmacher

Courage doesn't always roar. Sometimes, it is a quiet voice at the end of the day saying, 'I will try again tomorrow.'

50. Baker Mayfield

It doesn't matter what cards you're dealt. It's what you do with those cards. Never complain. Just keep pushing forward. Find a positive in anything and just fight for it.

51. Walter Bagehot

The greatest pleasure in life is doing what people say you cannot do.

52. Apolo Ohno

We all naturally want to become successful… we also want to take shortcuts. And it's easy to do so, but you can never take away the effort of hard work and discipline, and sacrifice.

53. Mark Twain

To live a fulfilled life, we need to keep creating the 'what is next' of our lives. Without dreams and goals, there is no living, only merely existing, and that is not why we are here.

54. Elaine Welteroth

When your dreams are bigger than the places you find yourself in, sometimes you need to seek out your own reminders that there is more. And there is always more waiting for you on the other side of fear.

55. Mario Andretti

Desire is the key to motivation, but it is determination and commitment to an unrelenting pursuit of your goal – a commitment to excellence – that will enable you to attain the success you seek.

56. Dr. Seuss

You're off to great places; today is your day. Your mountain is waiting, so get on your way.

57. Vaibhav Shah

Whenever you see a successful person, you only see the public glories, never the private sacrifices to reach them.

58. Mark Victor Hansen

Don't wait until everything is just right. It will never be perfect. There will always be challenges, obstacles, and less-than-perfect conditions. So what? Get started now. With each step you take, you will grow stronger and stronger, more and more skilled, more and more self-confident, and more and more successful.

59. Dale Carnegie

Inaction breeds doubt and fear. Action breeds confidence and courage. If you want to conquer fear, do not sit home and think about it. Go out and get busy.

60. T. Harv Eker

Successful people have fear, successful people have doubts, and successful people have worries. They just don't let these feelings stop them.

61. Lisa M. Amos

Entrepreneurs average 3.8 failures before final success. What sets the successful ones apart is their amazing persistence.

62. Estee Lauder

I never dreamed about success; I worked for it.

63. Shonda Rhimes

Dreams do not come true just because you dream them. It's hard work that makes things happen. It's hard work that creates change.

Finally

When you read the above hard work quotes, the most important thing to remember is that the key to success with hard work is consistency. When it comes to success, discipline will always work in your favor, even if motivation does not.

So, take one of the above hard work quotes, write it down, and post it somewhere you can see it from your preferred workspace. Make these motivational quotes serve as a reminder that you can achieve great things, but only if you put in the effort every day.