80+ Positive Quotes to Brighten Your Day (2024)

Want to Be More Positive? Here Are 10 Things Optimistic People Do

“Nothing is impossible, the word itself says ‘I’m possible.’”

—Audrey Hepburn

“I cannot express how important it is to believe that taking one tiny—and possibly very uncomfortable—step at a time can ultimately add up to a great distance.”

—Tig Notaro

“Here comes the sun. And I say, it’s all right."

—The Beatles, "Here Comes the Sun"

“Do your thing and don't care if they like it.”

—Tina Fey, Bossypants

“I’d rather regret the things I’ve done than the things I haven’t done."

—Lucille Ball

“Try to be a rainbow in someone else’s cloud.”

—Maya Angelou

“Real change, enduring change, happens one step at a time.”

—Ruth Bader Ginsberg

"A dead end is just a good place to turn around."

—Naomi Judd

"Choose to be optimistic, it feels better."

—Dali Lama

"Just say yes and you’ll figure it out afterwards."

—Tina Fey

"You can’t make a cloudy day a sunny day, but you can embrace it and decide it’s going to be a good day after all."

—Jane Lynch

"Find a group of people who challenge and inspire you, spend a lot of time with them, and it will change your life."

—Amy Poehler

"You can, you should, and if you’re brave enough to start, you will."

—Stephen King

"In your life expect some trouble. But when you worry, you make it double. But don't worry, be happy, be happy now."

—Bobby McFerrin

"You’re in the same boat with a lotta your friends. Waitin’ for the day your ship’ll come in, and the tide's gonna turn and it’s all gonna roll your way."

—Dolly Parton, "9 to 5"

"Keep your face always toward the sunshine, and shadows will fall behind you."

—Walt Whitman

"You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream."

– C.S. Lewis

"Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep moving."

– Albert Einstein

"It is never too late to be what you might have been."

– George Eliot

"Some people look for a beautiful place. Others make a place beautiful."

– Hazrat Inayat Khan

"We must be willing to let go of the life we planned so as to have the life that is waiting for us."

– Joseph Campbell

"Happiness is not by chance, but by choice."

– Jim Rohn

"If I cannot do great things, I can do small things in a great way."

– Martin Luther King, Jr.

"My mission in life is not merely to survive, but to thrive."

– Maya Angelou

"You are enough just as you are."

– Meghan Markle

"The bad news is time flies. The good news is you're the pilot."

– Michael Altshuler

"You make a life out of what you have, not what you're missing."

– Kate Morton, The Forgotten Garden

"There are years that ask questions and years that answer."

– Zora Neale Hurston, Their Eyes Were Watching God

"All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us."

– J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring

"At first people refuse to believe that a strange new thing can be done, then they begin to hope it can be done, then they see it can be done—then it is done and all the world wonders why it was not done centuries ago."

– Frances Hodgson Burnett, The Secret Garden

"Each of us is more than the worst thing we've ever done."

– Bryan Stevenson, Just Mercy

"That is one good thing about this world ... there are always sure to be more springs."

– L.M. Montgomery, Anne of Avonlea

"These things are good things."

– Dr. Seuss, The Cat in the Hat

"Pay attention to the present, you can improve upon it."

– Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist

"Be yourself; everyone else is already taken."

– Oscar Wilde

"Imperfection is beauty, madness is genius and it's better to be absolutely ridiculous than absolutely boring."

– Marilyn Monroe

"You cannot change what you are, only what you do."

– Philip Pullman, The Golden Compass

"Thou must gather thine own sunshine."

– Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Scarlet Letter

"It is not enough to have a good mind; the important thing is to use it well."

– Rene Descartes

"People begin to become successful the minute they decide to be."

– Harvey Mackay

"Walk to your goal firmly and with bold steps."

– Kahlil Gibran, The Prophet

"Every strike brings me closer to the next home run."

– Babe Ruth

"Concentrate all your thoughts upon the work in hand. The Sun's rays do not burn until brought to a focus."

– Alexander Graham Bell

"Lay plans for something big by starting with it when small."

– Lao Tzu

"No exact recipe for today. Gather all available ingredients and whip yourself up something delicious."

– Lin-Manuel Miranda, Gmorning/Gnight

"One's destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things."

– Henry Miller

"It's how you deal with failure that determines how you achieve success."

– David Feherty

"I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work."

– Thomas A. Edison

"It takes as much energy to wish as it does to plan."

– Eleanor Roosevelt

"Do anything, but let it produce joy."

– Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass

"Do your little bit of good where you are; it's those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world."

– Desmond Tutu

"No one is useless in this world who lightens the burdens of another."

– Charles Dickens

"As we work to create light for others, we naturally light our own way."

– Mary Anne Radmacher

"Dwell on the beauty of life. Watch the stars, and see yourself running with them."

– Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

"That's what I consider true generosity: You give your all, and yet you always feel as if it costs you nothing."

– Simone de Beauvoir

"You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose."

– Dr. Seuss, Oh, The Places You'll Go!

"You rarely win, but sometimes you do."

– Harper Lee, To Kill A Mockingbird

"I've got nothing to do today but smile."

– Simon and Garfunkel

"I believe great people do things before they are ready."

– Amy Poehler, Yes Please

"I have discovered in life that there are ways of getting almost anywhere you want to go, if you really want to go."

– Langston Hughes

"If you spend too much time thinking about a thing, you'll never get it done."

– Bruce Lee

"For me, becoming isn't about arriving somewhere or achieving a certain aim. I see it instead as forward motion, a means of evolving, a way to reach continuously toward a better self. The journey doesn't end."

– Michelle Obama, Becoming

"Anything is possible with sunshine and a little pink."

– Lilly Pulitzer

"Imagine this: What would happen if we were all brave enough to believe in our own ability, to be a little more ambitious? I think the world would change."

– Reese Witherspoon

"You are the one that possesses the keys to your being. You carry the passport to your own happiness."

– Diane von Furstenberg

"Take your victories, whatever they may be, cherish them, use them, but don't settle for them."

– Mia Hamm

"We do not need magic to change the world, we carry all the power we need inside ourselves already: We have the power to imagine better."

– J.K. Rowling

“Just believe in yourself. Even if you don’t, pretend that you do and, at some point, you will.”

– Venus Williams

"Believe you can and you're halfway there."

– Theodore Roosevelt

“You are imperfect, you are wired for struggle, but you are worthy of love and belonging.”

– Brené Brown

“If you see someone without a smile, give 'em yours!”

– Dolly Parton

“You get in life what you have the courage to ask for.”

– Oprah Winfrey

"Act as if what you do makes a difference. It does."

– William James

“For there is always light. If only we’re brave enough to see it. If only we’re brave enough to be it.”

– Amanda Gorman, The Hill We Climb

“You are your best thing.”

– Toni Morrison, Beloved

“There is no greater thing you can do with your life and your work than follow your passions–in a way that serves the world and you.”

– Sir Richard Branson

"When you have a dream, you've got to grab it and never let go."

—Carol Burnett

"You only get one chance at life and you have to grab it boldly."

—Bear Grylls

"The most wasted of days is one without laughter."

—e.e. cummings

"I dwell in possibility."

—Emily Dickinson

"Live, love, laugh, leave a legacy."

—Stephen Covey