366 Top Inspirational Quotes for 2024

For eight years now, the first thing I’ve published each year is a compendium of 365 inspirational quotes (366 quotes in leap years, like 2024!). 

I’ve been honored to hear from quite a few readers afterward who said that these lists have helped them in very difficult times, and inspired them to move forward. Other readers have worked hard to track me down–making sure I plan to continue the tradition, and to suggest quotes for the next edition. 

(Actually, let’s make that easier. You can find me here!)

Without further delay, here’s the 2024 edition. Have a happy new year! 

Monday, January 1, 2024

“Life becomes easier when you learn to accept the apology you never got.”
—R. Brault

Tuesday, January 2, 2024

“If you don’t fall, how are you going to know what getting up is like?”
—Stephen Curry

Wednesday, January 3, 2024

“You are in danger of living a life so comfortable and soft that you will die without ever realizing your true potential.”
—David Goggins

Thursday, January 4, 2024

“This life is yours. Take the power to choose what you want to do and do it well. Take the power to love what you want in life and love it honestly. Take the power to walk in the forest and be a part of nature. Take the power to control your own life. No one else can do it for you. Take the power to make your life happy.”
—Susan Polis Schutz

Friday, January 5, 2024

“Take the opportunity to learn from your mistakes: find the cause of your problem and eliminate it. Don’t try to be perfect; just be an excellent example of being human.”
—Tony Robbins

Saturday, January 6, 2024

“Anti-social behavior is a trait of intelligence in a world full of conformists.”
—Nikola Tesla

Sunday, January 7, 2024

“The beauty of love is that in giving it away, you are left with more than you had before.”
—David Simon

Monday, January 8, 2024

“Basically, the first half of life is writing the text, and the second half is writing the commentary on that text.”
—Richard Rohr

Tuesday, January 9, 2024

“If a guy doesn’t like a funny girl, something is wrong with him.”
—Bill Hader

Wednesday, January 10, 2024

“If you work hard, you have a better chance of producing something that you’re proud of. If you don’t, you won’t. It’s really simple.”
—Bryan Cranston

Thursday, January 11, 2024

“Before you can make a dream come true, you must first have one.”
—Ronald McNair

Friday, January 12, 2024

“If I had more time, I would have written a shorter letter.”
—Mark Twain

Saturday, January 13, 2024

“How does the medicine taste?”
—Elon Musk, blocking X users who had complained about his plan to remove the block function.

Sunday, January 14, 2024

“I practice my saxophone three hours a day. I’m not saying I’m particularly special, but if you do something three hours a day for forty years, you get pretty good at it.”
—Kenny G

Monday, January 15, 2024

“Jazz is smooth and cool. Jazz is rage. Jazz flows like water. Jazz never seems to begin or end. Jazz isn’t methodical, but jazz isn’t messy either. Jazz is a conversation, a give and take. Jazz is the connection and communication between musicians. Jazz is abandon.”
—Nat Wolff

Tuesday, January 16, 2024

“You don’t have to be a genius or a visionary or even a college graduate to be successful. You just need a framework and a dream.”
—Michael Dell

Wednesday, January 17, 2024

“The crisis of today is the joke of tomorrow.”
—H.G. Wells

Thursday, January 18, 2024

“Every man dies. Not every man really lives.”
—William Wallace

Friday, January 19, 2024

“You pray for the hungry. Then you feed them. That’s how prayer works.”
—Pope Francis

Saturday, January 20, 2024

“Do you really want to look back on your life and see how wonderful it could have been had you not been afraid to live it?”
—Caroline Myss

Sunday, January 21, 2024

“Everyone you meet in life is fighting a battle you know nothing about.”
—Various

Monday, January 22, 2024

“People seldom do what they believe in. They do what is convenient, and then repent.”
—Bob Dylan

Tuesday, January 23, 2024

“Sometimes you can only find heaven by slowly backing away from hell.”
—Carrie Fisher

Wednesday, January 24, 2024

“Do not bring people in your life who weigh you down. And trust your instincts … good relationships feel good. They feel right. They don’t hurt. They’re not painful. That’s not just with somebody you want to marry, but it’s with the friends that you choose. It’s with the people you surround yourselves with.”
—Michelle Obama

Thursday, January 25, 2024

“[T]he world is more malleable than you think and it’s waiting for you to hammer it into shape.”
—Bono

Friday, January 26, 2024

“Life is one fool thing after another, whereas love is two fool things after each other.”
—Oscar Wilde

Saturday, January 27, 2024

“Have no fear of perfection. You’ll never reach it.”
—Salvador Dali

Sunday, January 28, 2024

“In the hands of a great poet, words have ways of affecting us in ways we don’t understand.”
—Kenneth Branagh

Monday, January 29, 2024

“Before I came to Sesame Street, I didn’t feel like what I was doing was very important. Big Bird helped me find my purpose.”
—Carol Spinney

Tuesday, January 30, 2024

“Your mind will give back to you exactly what you put into it.”
—James Joyce

Wednesday, January 31, 2024

“Sometimes your mistakes are you biggest virtues. You learn so much from the mistake. Those things that you think are the worst thing that’s happening to you can somehow turn around and be the greatest opportunity.”
—Nicole Kidman

Thursday, February 1, 2024

“If you want one thing too much it’s likely to be a disappointment. The healthy way is to learn to like the everyday things, like soft beds and buttermilk–and feisty gentlemen.”
—Larry McMurtry, Lonesome Dove

Friday, February 2, 2024

“Man is free at the instant he wants to be.”
—Various

Saturday, February 3, 2024

“Don’t even call them fans. I don’t like that. They’re literally just a part of my life; they’re a part of my family. I don’t think of them as on a lower level than me. I don’t think I’m anything but equal to all of them. So, yeah, they’re basically all of my siblings.”
—Billie Eilish

Sunday, February 4, 2024

“With everything that has happened to you, you can either feel sorry for yourself or treat what has happened as a gift. Everything is either an opportunity to grow or an obstacle to keep you from growing. You get to choose.”
—Wayne Dyer

Monday, February 5, 2024

“There is only one boss: the customer. And he can fire everybody in the company, from the chairman on down, simply by spending his money somewhere else.”
—Sam Walton

Tuesday, February 6, 2024

“Next time you see someone and think they’re just an alcoholic or drug addict, stop. Just consider giving a bit of compassion and respect. That would be my final message.”
—Victoria Mary Clarke, widow of Shane MacGowan

Wednesday, February 7, 2024

“I love what I do, and when you love what you do, you want to be the best at it.”
—Jay-Z

Thursday, February 8, 2024

“When I first moved to New York, someone who thought they knew more than I did said: ‘You have to always look like you know where you’re going when you get out of the subway.'”
—Maya Rudolph

Friday, February 9, 2024

“Instead of looking at the past, I put myself ahead 20 years and try to look at what I need to do now in order to get there then.”
—Diana Ross

Saturday, February 10, 2024

“The minute you start caring about what other people think, is the minute you stop being yourself.”
—Meryl Streep

Sunday, February 11, 2024

“Nobody will believe you, and people will think you’re scum.”
—George Stephanopoulos, to a rival political operative who was considering spreading a rumor about then-presidential candidate Bill Clinton in 1992

Monday, February 12, 2024

“You don’t overcome challenges by making them smaller but by making yourself bigger.”
—John C. Maxwell

Tuesday, February 13, 2024

“Dirty toilets, muddy shoes and flooded tents won’t stop the party at Burning Man.”
—Burning Man attendee and correspondent, Ashley Harrell

Wednesday, February 14, 2024

“You never know what worse luck your bad luck has saved you from.”
—Cormac McCarthy

Thursday, February 15, 2024

“The rung of a ladder was never meant to rest upon, but only to hold a man’s foot long enough to enable him to put the other somewhat higher.”
—Thomas Huxley

Friday, February 16, 2024

“When you have the ability to learn, you have the ability to continue to grow. … The clients won’t give you a better price for your products simply because you have a higher degree, but your knowledge of the business will help maintain the competitiveness of your company.”
—Zhou Qunfei, CEO, Lens Technology

Saturday, February 17, 2024

“What is harder than rock, or softer than water? Yet soft water hollows out hard rock. Persevere.”
—Ovid

Sunday, February 18, 2024

“An innovation will get traction only if it helps people get something that they’re already doing in their lives done better.”
—Clayton Christensen

Monday, February 19, 2024

“Wanting to be a good actor is not good enough. You must want to be a great actor. You just have to have that.”
—Gary Oldman

Tuesday, February 20, 2024

“Do as much homework as you can. Learn everybody’s job and don’t just settle.”
—Michael B. Jordan

Wednesday, February 21, 2024

“The meaning of life is to find your gift. The purpose of life is to give it away.”
—Pablo Picasso

Thursday, February 22, 2024

“If everyone is thinking alike, then somebody isn’t thinking.”
—General George S. Patton

Friday, February 23, 2024

“To bring about change, you must not be afraid to take the first step. We will fail when we fail to try.”
—Rosa Parks

Saturday, February 24, 2024

“Opportunities multiply as they are seized.”
—Sun Tzu

Sunday, February 25, 2024

“Give me a stock clerk with a goal, and I will give you a man who will make history. Give me a man without a goal, and I will give you a stock clerk.”
—James Cash Penny

Monday, February 26, 2024

“There can be no greater gift than that of giving one’s time and energy to help others without expecting anything in return.”
—Nelson Mandela

Tuesday, February 27, 2024

“It took me a long time not to judge myself through someone else’s eyes.”
—Sally Field

Wednesday, February 28, 2024

“We are less bored than our ancestors were, but we are more afraid of boredom.”
—Bertrand Russell

Thursday, February 29, 2024

“To understand the heart and mind of a person, look not at what he has already achieved, but at what he aspires to do.”
—Kahlil Gibran

Friday, March 1, 2024

“I always prefer to believe the best of everybody, it saves so much trouble.”
—Rudyard Kipling

Saturday, March 2, 2024

“Their story is absolutely staggering to think about right now. It was their life’s work to make laws like this available to everyone.”
—Descendant of E.B. and Paul Raushenbush, attorneys and married couple who successfully created the entire idea of unemployment insurance in the U.S.

Sunday, March 3, 2024

“I’m not the next Usain Bolt or Michael Phelps … I’m the first Simone Biles.”
—Simone Biles

Monday, March 4, 2024

“Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all the others.”
—Marcus Tullius Cicero

Tuesday, March 5, 2024

“Everyone’s like, ‘overnight sensation.’ It’s not overnight. It’s years of hard work.”
—Margot Robbie

Wednesday, March 6, 2024

“Unlike almost every other area of life, effort is not rewarded. The more you try, the less you are likely to succeed.”
—Sleep coach Camilla Stoddart

Thursday, March 7, 2024

“When you find an idea that you just can’t stop thinking about, that’s probably a good one to pursue.”
—Josh James

Friday, March 8, 2024

“Economics is like the Dutch language. I’m told it makes sense, but I have my doubts.”
—John Oliver

Saturday, March 9, 2024

“It’s always better to be at the bottom of a ladder you want to climb than at the top of the one you don’t.”
—Martin Freeman

Sunday, March 10, 2024

“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 course correct along the way.”
—Tim Ferriss

Monday, March 11, 2024

“I’ll tell you what bravery really is. Bravery is just determination to do a job that you know has to be done.”
—Audie Murphy

Tuesday, March 12, 2024

“It’s always better to shock people and change people’s expectations than to give them exactly what they think you can do.”
—Jonah Hill

Wednesday, March 13, 2024

“The life you have led doesn’t need to be the only life you have.”
—Anna Quindlen

Thursday, March 14, 2024

“I think adults sometimes don’t think about how children are feeling about the adult problems.”
—Beverly Cleary

Friday, March 15, 2024

“An easy way to get people to like you is to make them laugh.”
—Isla Fisher

Saturday, March 16, 2024

“Ultimately, you just have one life. You never know unless you try. And you never get anywhere unless you ask.”
—Kate Winslet

Sunday, March 17, 2024

“Whatever you do, do it completely. Don’t do it half-arsed. Do it more than anybody else would.”
—Christian Bale

Monday, March 18, 2024

“The thing about smart people is that they seem like crazy people to dumb people.”
—Stephen Hawking

Tuesday, March 19, 2024

“You do this because you like it, you think what you’re making is beautiful. And if you think it’s beautiful, maybe they think it’s beautiful.”
—Lou Reed

Wednesday, March 20, 2024

“Let me tell you the secret that has led me to my goals: My strength lies solely in my tenacity.”
—Louis Pasteur

Thursday, March 21, 2024

“Your days are numbered. Use them to throw open the windows of your soul to the sun. If you do not, the sun will soon set, and you with it.”
—Marcus Aurelius

Friday, March 22, 2024

“Winning is not everything, but wanting to win is.”
—Vince Lombardi

Saturday, March 23, 2024

“Cutting negative people from my life does not mean I hate them, it simply means I respect me.”
—Marilyn Monroe

Sunday, March 24, 2024

“Positive thinking will let you do everything better than negative thinking will.”
—Zig Ziglar

Monday, March 25, 2024

“Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power.”
—Abraham Lincoln

Tuesday, March 26, 2024

“From a small seed a mighty trunk may grow.”
—Aeschylus

Wednesday, March 27, 2024

“It’s easy to fool the eye but it’s hard to fool the heart.”
—Al Pacino

Thursday, March 28, 2024

“You were born with everything you need to answer the call of your soul.”
—Marie Forleo

Friday, March 29, 2024

“Overriding all other rules: Don’t be a jerk.”
—Bill Murphy Jr.

Saturday, March 30, 2024

“I don’t look to jump over seven-foot bars. I look for one-foot bars that I can step over.”
—Warren Buffett

Sunday, March 31, 2024

“The achievement of one goal should be the starting point of another.”
—Alexander Graham Bell

Monday, April 1, 2024

“Sometimes your sole purpose in life is to serve as a warning to others.”
—Various

Tuesday, April 2, 2024

“Reality is created by the mind; we can change our reality by changing our mind.”
—Plato

Wednesday, April 3, 2024

“It’s hard work making movies. It’s like being a doctor: You work long hours, very hard hours, and it’s emotional, tense work. If you don’t really love it, then it ain’t worth it.”
—George Lucas

Thursday, April 4, 2024

“Beauty begins the moment you decide to be yourself.”
—Coco Chanel

Friday, April 5, 2024

“It’s not too late for a new beginning.”
—Eleanor Brownn

Saturday, April 6, 2024

“There’s no substitute for a great love who says, ‘No matter what’s wrong with you, you’re welcome at this table.'”
—Tom Hanks

Sunday, April 7, 2024

“You can’t master your future if you’re still a slave to your past.”
—Rihanna

Monday, April 8, 2024

“Probably the best punch of the whole fight was never landed. Muhammad Ali, as I was going down, stumbling and trying to hold myself, he saw me stumbling. Ordinarily, you finish your fighter off. I would have. He got ready to throw the right hand and he didn’t do it. That’s what made him, in my mind, the greatest fighter I ever fought.”
—George Foreman

Tuesday, April 9, 2024

“Never let anyone try and make you into something that you’re not. Remember what it is that you want, and always stay strong in that.”
—Abigail Breslin

Wednesday, April 10, 2024

“My soul is that of a drummer… I didn’t do it to become rich and famous. I did it because it was the love of my life.”
—Ringo Starr

Thursday, April 11, 2024

“What we do is more important than what we say or what we say we believe.”
—bell hooks

Friday, April 12, 2024

“Remember when we all used to be into nostalgia? Gosh, I miss those days.”
—Bill Murphy Jr.

Saturday, April 13, 2024

“To see we must forget the name of the thing we are looking at.”
—Claude Monet

Sunday, April 14, 2024

“Sometimes your joy is the source of your smile, but sometimes your smile can be the source of your joy.”
—Thich Nhat Hanh

Monday, April 15, 2024

“It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.”
—Charles Darwin

Tuesday, April 16, 2024

“I don’t know what the future may hold, but I know who holds the future.”
—Ralph Abernathy

Wednesday, April 17, 2024

“The early bird gets the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese.”
—Steven Wright

Thursday, April 18, 2024

“Live your life as an Exclamation rather than an Explanation.”
—Isaac Newton

Friday, April 19, 2024

“It is not very often that an opportunity comes knocking. But when it does, you’d better be bathed and dressed and ready to answer its call.”
—Jyoti Arora

Saturday, April 20, 2024

“If you want to change who you are, you have to change what you do.”
—Jude Law

Sunday, April 21, 2024

“Don’t write what you think people want to read. Find your voice and write about what’s in your heart.”
—Quentin Tarantino

Monday, April 22, 2024

“I’m trying not to think about it. I don’t think it’s helpful to think about. … If my life ended now, I would almost certainly have done net harm to the world. It’s hard to spin that.”
—Sam Bankman-Fried, on the idea of serving life in prison

Tuesday, April 23, 2024

“The mark of greatness is when everything before you is obsolete, and everything after you bears your mark.”
—Dave Chappelle

Wednesday, April 24, 2024

“Learn to embrace your own unique beauty, celebrate your unique gifts with confidence. Your imperfections are actually a gift.”
—Kerry Washington

Thursday, April 25, 2024

“Some people really need it. That they need to feel pain. That getting better is not really something they’re interested in doing. When we tell people to ‘move on’ and ‘get past things,’ it may be a kind of tyranny.”
—Jennifer Senior

Friday, April 26, 2024

“It seems to me that to be peaceful and content, you don’t have to know precisely what you want. It may even be better if you don’t. But I think you do need to be very clear what you DON’T want, and steadfast in the not-doing of those things.”
—Sandra Boynton

Saturday, April 27, 2024

“You would be amazed what the ordinary guy knows.”
—Matt Drudge

Sunday, April 28, 2024

“The true secret of happiness lies in taking a genuine interest in all the details of daily life.”
—William Morris

Monday, April 29, 2024

“I’ve been absolutely terrified every moment of my life–and I’ve never let it keep me from doing a single thing I wanted to do.”
—Georgia O’Keeffe

Tuesday, April 30, 2024

“You can, you should, and if you’re brave enough to start, you will.”
—Stephen King

Wednesday, May 1, 2024

“The world promises you comfort, but you were not made for comfort. You were made for greatness.”
—Pope Benedict XVI

Thursday, May 2, 2024

“I didn’t like the idea of being foolish, but I learned pretty soon that it was essential to fail and be foolish.”
—Daniel Day-Lewis

Friday, May 3, 2024

“Welcome, IBM. Seriously.”
—1981 Apple ad, as IBM introduced its first personal computer

Saturday, May 4, 2024

“If you constantly think of illness, you eventually become ill; if you believe yourself to be beautiful, you become so.”
—Shakti Gawain

Sunday, May 5, 2024

“Better to die fighting for freedom than be a prisoner all the days of your life.”
—Bob Marley

Monday, May 6, 2024

“I’m always making a comeback but nobody ever tells me where I’ve been.”
—Billie Holiday

Tuesday, May 7, 2024

“If you think you are too small to make a difference, try sleeping with a mosquito.”
—Dalai Lama

Wednesday, May 8, 2024

“YOU. DO. NOT. GIVE. A. NUMBER. Instead, start with something like, ‘While we all work for money, there are multiple factors that I am considering as I evaluate opportunities.'”
—Anonymous recruiter, on how to handle the “salary requirements” interview question

Thursday, May 9, 2024

“I don’t like to gamble, but if there’s one thing I’m willing to bet on, it’s myself.”
—Beyoncé

Friday, May 10, 2024

“I care about decency and humanity and kindness. Kindness today is an act of rebellion.”
—Pink

Saturday, May 11, 2024

“Failure is a badge of honor. It means you risked failure. And if you don’t risk failure, you’re never going to do anything that’s different from what you’ve already done or what somebody else has done.”
—Charlie Kaufman

Sunday, May 12, 2024

“Don’t aspire to make a living, aspire to make a difference.”
—Denzel Washington

Monday, May 13, 2024

“I made a resolve then that I was going to amount to something if I could. And no hours, nor amount of labor, nor amount of money would deter me from giving the best that there was in me. And I have done that ever since, and I win by it. I know.”
—Harland Sanders

Tuesday, May 14, 2024

“A friend is someone who gives you total freedom to be yourself.”
—Jim Morrison

Wednesday, May 15, 2024

“No meetings or phone calls unless I’m picking up a check. Everything is email.”
—Mark Cuban

Thursday, May 16, 2024

“Waking up in truth is so much better than living in a lie.”
—Idris Elba

Friday, May 17, 2024

“Forget about style; worry about results.”
—Bobby Orr

Saturday, May 18, 2024

“Give me a place to stand, and a lever long enough, and I will move the world.”
—Archimedes

Sunday, May 19, 2024

“There are lots of bad reasons to start a company. But there’s only one good, legitimate reason, and I think you know what it is: It’s to change the world.”
—Phil Libin

Monday, May 20, 2024

“I’m a big believer in the power of inexperience. It was the greatest asset I had when I started TFA. If I had known at the outset how hard it was going to be, I might never have started.”
—Wendy Kopp

Tuesday, May 21, 2024

“This is the house Twain built … with his wife’s money.”
—Museum guide at the Mark Twain House in Hartford, Connecticut

Wednesday, May 22, 2024

“If you do every job like you’re going to do it for the rest of your life, that’s when you get noticed.”
—Mary Barra, CEO, GM

Thursday, May 23, 2024

“Sometimes you just have to put on lip gloss and pretend to be psyched.”
—Mindy Kaling

Friday, May 24, 2024

“Fail fast. Fail often… The most talented people in the world have bad ideas. That’s a good thing to learn.”
—Rashida Jones

Saturday, May 25, 2024

“Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly, and applying the wrong remedies.”
—Groucho Marx

Sunday, May 26, 2024

“The Eskimos had 52 names for snow because it was important to them: there ought to be as many for love.”
—Margaret Atwood

Monday, May 27, 2024

“When you meet somebody for the first time, you’re not meeting them. You’re meeting their representative.”
—Chris Rock

Tuesday, May 28, 2024

“The world can be better if there’s love, tolerance and humility.”
—Irena Sendler

Wednesday, May 29, 2024

“The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don’t have any.”
—Alice Walker

Thursday, May 30, 2024

“May I never be complete. May I never be content. May I never be perfect.”
—Chuck Palahniuk

Friday, May 31, 2024

“Who sows virtue reaps honor.”
—Leonardo da Vinci

Saturday, June 1, 2024

“Before you speak, run this through your head: Is what I’m about to say true? Is it helpful? Is it inspiring? Is it necessary? Is it kind? If you cannot answer yes to these questions –then don’t say it, don’t tweet it, don’t write it.”
—Beret Guidera

Sunday, June 2, 2024

“There are times in all of our lives when a reliance on gut or intuition just seems more appropriate–when a particular course of action just feels right. And, interestingly, I’ve discovered it’s in facing life’s most important decisions that intuition seems the most indispensable.”
—Tim Cook

Monday, June 3, 2024

“An intelligent investor gets satisfaction from the thought that his operations are exactly opposite to those of the crowd.”
—Benjamin Graham

Tuesday, June 4, 2024

“In those first early morning hours … children are just essentially half-asleep. They’re not absorbing information. So why are we putting them in the classroom?”
—Matthew Walker, professor of neuroscience at the University of California, Berkeley

Wednesday, June 5, 2024

“The question isn’t who is going to let me; it’s who is going to stop me.”
—Ayn Rand

Thursday, June 6, 2024

“If you believe in what you’re saying, if you believe in what you’re doing, you’ll be more effective, more passionate, and more authentic in everything you do.”
—Seth Goldman

Friday, June 7, 2024

“If people knew how hard I worked to achieve my mastery, it wouldn’t seem so wonderful after all.”
—Michelangelo

Saturday, June 8, 2024

“Normal is not something to aspire to, it’s something to get away from.”
—Jodie Foster

Sunday, June 9, 2024

“It’s a good place when all you have is hope and not expectations.”
—Danny Boyle

Monday, June 10, 2024

“[T]here’s no point in actively trying to ‘quote unquote’ defeat your enemies. Trash takes itself out every single time.”
—Taylor Swift

Tuesday, June 11, 2024

“A wise man can play the part of a clown, but a clown can’t play the part of a wise man.”
—Malcolm X

Wednesday, June 12, 2024

“I am happy because I’m grateful. I choose to be grateful. That gratitude allows me to be happy.”
—Will Arnett

Thursday, June 13, 2024

“Your messaging should convey, ‘Here’s why you would be so lucky if you got me,’ instead of ‘I really wanted it,’ which we all tend to do.”
—Barbara Corcoran

Friday, June 14, 2024

“When you’re an outsider or a misfit, if you play it smart, your motto should be, ‘I’ll show ’em. I will show you.'”
—Wendy Williams

Saturday, June 15, 2024

“Only eyes washed by tears can see clearly.”
—Louis Mann

Sunday, June 16, 2024

“Promise me you’ll always remember: You’re braver than you believe, and stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think.”
—A. A. Milne

Monday, June 17, 2024

“At the end of the day, don’t forget that you’re a person, don’t forget you’re a mother, don’t forget you’re a wife, don’t forget you’re a daughter.”
—Indra Nooyi, former CEO PepsiCo

Tuesday, June 18, 2024

“I think the girl who is able to earn her own living and pay her own way should be as happy as anybody on earth. The sense of independence and security is very sweet.”
—Susan B. Anthony

Wednesday, June 19, 2024

“Never burn bridges. Today’s junior jerk, tomorrow’s senior partner.”
—Sigourney Weaver

Thursday, June 20, 2024

“I felt that one had better die fighting against injustice than to die like a dog or rat in a trap. I had already determined to sell my life as dearly as possible if attacked. I felt if I could take one lyncher with me, this would even up the score a little bit.”
—Ida B. Wells

Friday, June 21, 2024

“Trust me, if we weren’t under the umbrella of capitalism, I wouldn’t want to work, either …”
—Zaid Khan, whose TikTok video is credited with starting the “quiet quitting” movement

Saturday, June 22, 2024

“If you know exactly what you want to be, you need to spend as much time as possible with people who are actually that already.”
—Gary Vaynerchuk

Sunday, June 23, 2024

“We live in the kind of society where, in almost all cases, hard work is rewarded.”
—Neil deGrasse Tyson

Monday, June 24, 2024

“I think of doing a series as very hard work. But then I’ve talked to coal miners, and that’s really hard work.”
—William Shatner

Tuesday, June 25, 2024

“When the whole world is silent, even one voice becomes powerful.”
—Malala Yousafzai

Wednesday, June 26, 2024

“I’ve missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I’ve been trusted to take the game-winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.”
—Michael Jordan

Thursday, June 27, 2024

“We are all ordinary. We are all boring. We are all spectacular. We are all shy. We are all bold. We are all heroes. We are all helpless. It just depends on the day.”
—Brad Meltzer

Friday, June 28, 2024

“I’m not afraid of storms, for I’m learning how to sail my ship.”
—Mary Louise Alcott

Saturday, June 29, 2024

“I really believe that if the political leaders of the world could see their planet from a distance of, let’s say, 100,000 miles, their outlook would be fundamentally changed. The all-important border would be invisible, that noisy argument suddenly silenced.”
—Michael Collins, astronaut

Sunday, June 30, 2024

“I say that the most liberating thing about beauty is realizing that you are the beholder.”
—Salma Hayek

Monday, July 1, 2024

“Our brains make associations with the sights, sounds, and smells of places, and when we do an activity in the same place regularly, it makes it easier to ‘get in the zone’ each time we go back to that same spot.”
—Laura Mae Martin, Google’s in-house productivity coach

Tuesday, July 2, 2024

“Everyone has a plan ’till they get punched in the mouth.”
—Mike Tyson

Wednesday, July 3, 2024

“Be your own leader, be your own self, step out of my shadows and be your own person.”
—Snoop Dogg

Thursday, July 4, 2024

“You can’t be afraid of what people are going to say, because you’re never going to make everyone happy.”
—Selena Gomez

Friday, July 5, 2024

“Trust is hard to come by. That’s why my circle is small and tight. I’m kind of funny about making new friends.”
—Eminem

Saturday, July 6, 2024

“I feel blessed to have as many comebacks as I can.”
—Paula Abdul

Sunday, July 7, 2024

“If you are lucky enough to be successful, you have a responsibility to give back.”
—Lori Greiner

Monday, July 8, 2024

“I’m no good at anything but comedy, which I think I’m good at. I’m absolutely no good at networking; I’m terrible at acting; I’m terrible at dealing with executives; I’m terrible at collaborating. And I say whatever I want to say. But I think I’m good enough at comedy that I can survive. And I don’t really have an ambition for money.”
—Norm Macdonald

Tuesday, July 9, 2024

“If you see a bandwagon, it’s too late.”
—James Goldsmith

Wednesday, July 10, 2024

“My only goal is to stay focused on my craft and make sure my life is as sharp as it can be to attack any character that is given to me.”
—Michael K. Williams

Thursday, July 11, 2024

“God doesn’t require us to succeed; he only requires that you try.”
—Mother Teresa

Friday, July 12, 2024

“Fifty percent of my preparation is my mental game. It is easy to brush off because it is time-consuming. I definitely think more people should up their mental game if they have big goals.”
—Master’s world record holder Sue McDonald

Saturday, July 13, 2024

“If you feel safe in the area you’re working in, you’re not working in the right area. Always go a little further into the water than you feel you’re capable of being in. Go a little bit out of your depth. And when you don’t feel that your feet are quite touching the bottom, you’re just about in the right place to do something exciting.”
—David Bowie

Sunday, July 14, 2024

“It’s beautiful when you watch something good happen to somebody when it’s well deserved.”
—Jennifer Lawrence

Monday, July 15, 2024

“If you obey all the rules you miss all the fun.”
—Katharine Hepburn

Tuesday, July 16, 2024

“When you are not willing to fully receive, you are training the universe not to give to you! It’s simple: if you aren’t willing to receive your share, it will go to someone else who is.”
—T. Harv Eker

Wednesday, July 17, 2024

“You can’t achieve anything in life without a small amount of sacrifice.”
—Shakira 

Thursday, July 18, 2024

“Take wrong turns. Talk to strangers. Open unmarked doors. And if you see a group of people in a field, go find out what they are doing. Do things without always knowing how they’ll turn out.”
—Randall Munroe

Friday, July 19, 2024

“When sitting in meditation, say, ‘That’s not my business!’ with every thought that comes by.”
—Ajahn Chah

Saturday, July 20, 2024

“I don’t associate with people who blame the world for their problems. You are your problem. You are also your solution.”
—Melissa McCarthy

Sunday, July 21, 2024

“Strive for progress, not perfection.”
—Various

Monday, July 22, 2024

“I don’t mean to be a broken record, but it’s like nails on a chalkboard to hear some of the anachronistic phrases that some people still use.”
—Bill Murphy Jr.

Tuesday, July 23, 2024

“Once you’ve accepted your flaws, no one can use them against you.”
—George R. R. Martin

Wednesday, July 24, 2024

“If you don’t take the time to get really clear about exactly what it is you’re trying to accomplish, then you’re forever doomed to spend your life achieving the goals of those who do.”
—Steve Pavlina

Thursday, July 25, 2024

“My pain may be the reason for somebody’s laugh. But my laugh must never be the reason for somebody’s pain.”
—Charlie Chaplin

Friday, July 26, 2024

“If you hear the dogs, keep going. If you see the torches in the woods, keep going. If there’s shouting after you, keep going. Don’t ever stop. Keep going. If you want a taste of freedom, keep going.”
—Harriet Tubman

Saturday, July 27, 2024

“Ignore your mistakes. The number one thing to worry about is: Am I doing what I’m good at?”
—Max Levchin

Sunday, July 28, 2024

“Whatever you do, always give 100 percent. Unless you’re donating blood.”
—Bill Murray

Monday, July 29, 2024

“Failure: Is it a limitation? Bad timing? It’s a lot of things. It’s something you can’t be afraid of, because you’ll stop growing. The next step beyond failure could be your biggest success in life.”
—Debbie Allen

Tuesday, July 30, 2024

“You are on the eve of a complete victory. You can’t go wrong. The world is behind you.”
—Josephine Baker

Wednesday, July 31, 2024

“No failure means no risk, which means nothing new”
—Richard Branson

Thursday, August 1, 2024

“You have chosen the wrong path if it’s not fun. And you are probably not taking enough risk if it’s not hard and rocky sometimes.”
—Marc Benioff

Friday, August 2, 2024

“No matter what people tell you, words and ideas can change the world.”
—Robin Williams

Saturday, August 3, 2024

“The lessons aren’t about wealth or fame or working harder and harder. The clearest message that we get from this 75-year study is this: Good relationships keep us happier and healthier. Period.”
—Robert Waldinger, a Harvard psychiatrist who ran the Harvard Grant Study for years

Sunday, August 4, 2024

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

Monday, August 5, 2024

“If it wasn’t hard, everyone would do it. It’s the hard that makes it great.”
—Tom Hanks

Tuesday, August 6, 2024

“Get into what your kids are into. How miserable would it be to always be anti-popular stuff like ‘ughhhh you seriously like Taylor Swift?'”
—Joel Willis, founder of Channel3 and The Dad

Wednesday, August 7, 2024

“Rather than being a bug, forgetting may be a functional feature of the brain, allowing it to interact dynamically with the environment … Forgetting some memories can be beneficial.”
—Tomás Ryan of the Trinity College Institute of Neuroscience in Dublin

Thursday, August 8, 2024

“You’ve got to be pretty confident that you’re good. If I do a show and for whatever reason no one laughs, I’ll be like, ‘Wow, those people are weird’.”
—Aziz Ansari

Friday, August 9, 2024

“The essence of strategy is choosing what not to do.”
—Michael Porter

Saturday, August 10, 2024

“Far better is it to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs–even though checkered by failure–than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in a gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat.”
—Theodore Roosevelt

Sunday, August 11, 2024

“Don’t count the days, make the days count.”
—Muhammad Ali

Monday, August 12, 2024

“Memory is original events combined with every other time you’ve remembered that event. This is why therapy’s helpful.”
—Child psychologist and TED speaker Becky Kennedy

Tuesday, August 13, 2024

“Being calm and clear-headed–this is a primer for any kind of effective communication.”
—Gillian O’Shea Brown, a psychotherapist who specializes in complex relational trauma and teaches at New York University.

Wednesday, August 14, 2024

“You don’t become what you want, you become what you believe.”
—Oprah Winfrey

Thursday, August 15, 2024

“Whenever I’m stuck in traffic, I can’t help but wonder, ‘Where did the creator of The Jetsons go, and why hasn’t he done something about this?'”
—Jimmy Fallon

Friday, August 16, 2024

“My motto was always to keep swinging. Whether I was in a slump or feeling badly or having trouble off the field, the only thing to do was keep swinging.”
—Hank Aaron

Saturday, August 17, 2024

“If you don’t fall, how are you going to know what getting up is like?”
—Steph Curry

Sunday, August 18, 2024

“Never let anyone define you. You are the only person who defines you. No one can speak for you. Only you speak for you. You are your only voice.”
—Terry Crews

Monday, August 19, 2024

“The best protection any woman can have … is courage.”
—Elizabeth Cady Stanton

Tuesday, August 20, 2024

“The day I stop giving is the day I stop receiving. The day I stop learning is the day I stop growing. You miss 100 percent of the shots you don’t take.”
—Wayne Gretzky

Wednesday, August 21, 2024

“It’s not my duty as mayor to make sure you have a parking spot.”
—Miguel Anxo Fernandez Lores, mayor of Pontevedra, Spain, on making the city nearly car-free.

Thursday, August 22, 2024

“It’s tough to get out of bed to do roadwork at 5 a.m. when you’ve been sleeping in silk pajamas.”
—Marvin Hagler

Friday, August 23, 2024

“Do what you love!”
—My wife’s 95-year-old grandma, offering sage advice (but also reading the graphic on my T-shirt).

Saturday, August 24, 2024

“I wanted a perfect ending. Now I’ve learned, the hard way, that some poems don’t rhyme, and some stories don’t have a clear beginning, middle and end.”
—Gilda Radner

Sunday, August 25, 2024

“Expecting the world to treat you fairly because you are a good person is a little like expecting the bull not to attack you because you are a vegetarian.”
—Dennis Wholey

Monday, August 26, 2024

“Be so good they can’t ignore you.”
—Steve Martin

Tuesday, August 27, 2024

“Never be afraid to try something new. Remember, amateurs built the ark. Professionals built the Titanic.”
—Unknown

Wednesday, August 28, 2024

“Practice what you know, and it will help to make clear what now you do not know.”
—Rembrandt

Thursday, August 29, 2024

“I would rather people take me as straightforward and not have to wonder if I’m kidding or not. Because what I have to say, and what I’m interested in doing and communicating, is worthwhile enough that I don’t want to muck it up with people being confused about where I’m really coming from.”
—Charles Grodin

Friday, August 30, 2024

“It’s not always enough to be brave, I realized years later. You have to be brave and contribute something positive, too. Brave on its own is just a party trick.”
—B.J. Novak

Saturday, August 31, 2024

“The best advice I ever received was, ‘Get the hell out of the street!’ This advice came from a stranger after I stepped off a sidewalk without looking and was nearly run over by a city bus.”
—Unknown, from a college application essay

Sunday, September 1, 2024

“Sometimes you have to wander a bit, and do what you don’t want to in order to figure out what it is you’re supposed to do.”
—Larry David

Monday, September 2, 2024

“Attitude determines altitude.”
—Various

Tuesday, September 3, 2024

“Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”
—Martin Luther King Jr.

Wednesday, September 4, 2024

“Love is heaven and fear is hell. Where you place your attention is where you live.”
—Alan Cohen

Thursday, September 5, 2024

“Next time you think you are important, try ordering somebody else’s dog around.”
—Will Rogers

Friday, September 6, 2024

“One doesn’t discover new lands without consenting to lose sight, for a very long time, of the shore.”
—Andre Gide

Saturday, September 7, 2024

“Developing a good work ethic is key. Apply yourself at whatever you do, whether you’re a janitor or taking your first summer job, because that work ethic will be reflected in everything you do in life.”
—Tyler Perry

Sunday, September 8, 2024

“Troubles are often the tools by which God fashions us for better things.”
—Henry Ward Beecher

Monday, September 9, 2024

“Life is 10 percent what happens to me and 90 percent of how I react to it.”
—Charles Swindoll

Tuesday, September 10, 2024

“Faith is to believe what you do not see; the reward of this faith is to see what you believe.”
—Saint Augustine

Wednesday, September 11, 2024

“True terror is to wake up one morning and discover that your high school class is running the country.”
—Kurt Vonnegut

Thursday, September 12, 2024

“In the startup world, you’re either a genius or an idiot. You’re never just an ordinary guy trying to get through the day.”
—Marc Andreessen

Friday, September 13, 2024

“If you know you are going to fail, then fail gloriously.”
—Cate Blanchett

Saturday, September 14, 2024

“People always fall in love with the most perfect aspects of each other’s personalities. Who wouldn’t? Anybody can love the most wonderful parts of another person. But that’s not the clever trick. The really clever trick is this: Can you accept the flaws?”
—Elizabeth Gilbert

Sunday, September 15, 2024

“If football has taught me anything, it’s that you can overcome anything if (and only if) you love something enough”
—Lionel Messi

Monday, September 16, 2024

“Innovation is serendipity, so you don’t know what people will make.”
—Tim Berners-Lee

Tuesday, September 17, 2024

“What we fear doing most is usually what we most need to do.”
—Tim Ferriss

Wednesday, September 18, 2024

“Fear of looking stupid is the No. 1 killer of dreams. The worst part? The people who make you feel stupid are usually the ones least qualified to judge someone else’s life.”
—Anthony Moore

Thursday, September 19, 2024

“There’s some pressure on parents to make everything look easy. … [I]t may not be a bad thing to show your children that you are working hard to achieve your goals.”
—Laura Schulz, a professor of cognitive science at MIT

Friday, September 20, 2024

“The greater part of our misery or unhappiness is determined not by our circumstance but by our disposition.”
—Martha Washington

Saturday, September 21, 2024

“I think one day you’ll find that you’re the hero you’ve been looking for.”
—Jimmy Stewart

Sunday, September 22, 2024

“Victory has a hundred fathers and defeat is an orphan.”
—Various

Monday, September 23, 2024

“You can be the most intelligent person, and you can have so much potential, but if you don’t have a guide by which to channel that energy, then a lot of times, it’s futile.”
—LaKeith Stanfield

Tuesday, September 24, 2024

“Anyone with two tunics should share with him who has none.”
—John the Baptist

Wednesday, September 25, 2024

“To love means loving the unlovable. To forgive means pardoning the unpardonable. Faith means believing the unbelievable. Hope means hoping when everything seems hopeless.”
—Gilbert K. Chesterton

Thursday, September 26, 2024

“Success is a lot like a bright, white tuxedo. You feel terrific when you get it, but then you’re desperately afraid of getting it dirty, of spoiling it in any way.”
—Conan O’Brien

Friday, September 27, 2024

“The impossible exists only until we find a way to make it possible”
—Mike Horn

Saturday, September 28, 2024

“Understand well as I may, my comprehension can only be an infinitesimal fraction of all I want to understand.”
—Ada Lovelace

Sunday, September 29, 2024

“No amount of regret can change the past. No amount of anxiety can change the future. Any amount of gratitude will change the present.”
—Various

Monday, September 30, 2024

“People have confused playing devil’s advocate with being intelligent.”
—Cecily Strong

Tuesday, October 1, 2024

“Luck? I don’t know anything about luck. I’ve never banked on it, and I’m afraid of people who do. Luck to me is something else: hard work–and realizing what is opportunity and what isn’t.”
—Lucille Ball

Wednesday, October 2, 2024

“Being polite and grateful will make people more inclined to help you. And if people are willing to help you, you may accidentally get something you want.”
—Jason Sudeikis

Thursday, October 3, 2024

“I would rather five people knew my work and thought it was good work than five million knew me and were indifferent.”
—Colin Firth

Friday, October 4, 2024

“The one thing you’re most reluctant to tell. That’s where the comedy is.”
—Mike Birbiglia

Saturday, October 5, 2024

“The moment anyone tries to demean or degrade you in any way, you have to know how great you are. Nobody would bother to beat you down if you were not a threat.”
—Cicely Tyson

Sunday, October 6, 2024

“If you’re going through hell, keep going.”
—Winston Churchill

Monday, October 7, 2024

“I would like to show the world today as an ant sees it, and tomorrow as the moon sees it.”
—Hannah Hoch

Tuesday, October 8, 2024

“I am not a product of my circumstances. I am a product of my decisions.”
—Stephen Covey

Wednesday, October 9, 2024

“Take a stand for what’s right. Raise a ruckus and make a change. You may not always be popular, but you’ll be part of something larger and bigger and greater than yourself. Besides, making history is extremely cool.”
—Samuel L. Jackson

Thursday, October 10, 2024

“I demand pretty aggressive goal setting and a commitment to measured progress toward those goals because I don’t like surprises. I don’t even like good surprises.”
—Abigail Johnson, CEO of Fidelity Investments

Friday, October 11, 2024

“I attribute my success to this: I never gave or took any excuse.”
—Florence Nightingale

Saturday, October 12, 2024

“I do not know anyone who has gotten to the top without hard work. That is the recipe. It will not always get you to the top, but should get you pretty near.”
—Margaret Thatcher

Sunday, October 13, 2024

“Grant me courage to serve others; For in service there is true life.”
—Cesar Chavez

Monday, October 14, 2024

“They say no matter how hard you work, there’s always someone, somewhere working harder than you. Guess what.. I’m that someone”
—Kevin Garnett

Tuesday, October 15, 2024

“In life, winning and losing will both happen. What is never acceptable is quitting.”
—Magic Johnson

Wednesday, October 16, 2024

“There are moments that have a certain flavor of eternity”
—Marc Levy

Thursday, October 17, 2024

“We are attempting to build brand loyalty in a commodity market.”
—Thomas Plaskett, early creator of the frequent flyer program

Friday, October 18, 2024

“Boredom is a lack of crazy. It’s a lack of creativity. Invention. Innovation. If you’re bored, blame yourself.”
—Katelyn S. Irons

Saturday, October 19, 2024

“It’s starting to feel very, very real. It’s not a dream. It’s a program. It’s real hardware.”
—Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen, standing with his crewmates in front of the Orion capsule.

Sunday, October 20, 2024

“There’s no talent here, this is hard work. This is an obsession. Talent does not exist, we are all human beings. You could be anyone if you put in the time. You will reach the top, and that’s that. I am not talented, I am obsessed.”
—Conor McGregor

Monday, October 21, 2024

“A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.”
—Winston Churchill

Tuesday, October 22, 2024

“It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men.”
—Frederick Douglass

Wednesday, October 23, 2024

“Do not go gentle into that good night/Old age should burn and rave at close of day; Rage, rage against the dying of the light.”
—Dylan Thomas

Thursday, October 24, 2024

“I really think a champion is defined not by their wins but by how they can recover when they fall”
—Serena Williams

Friday, October 25, 2024

“In every good marriage, it helps sometimes to be a little deaf.”
—Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Saturday, October 26, 2024

“A successful man is one who can lay a firm foundation with the bricks others have thrown at him.”
—David Brinkley

Sunday, October 27, 2024

“Most people give up just when they are about to achieve success. They quit on the one-yard line. They give up at the last minute of the game, one foot from a winning touchdown.”
—H. Ross Perot

Monday, October 28, 2024

“There are two days in the year that we can not do anything, yesterday and tomorrow”
—Mahatma Gandhi

Tuesday, October 29, 2024

“The greatest crime in the world is not developing your potential. When you do what you do best, you are helping not only yourself but the world.”
—Roger Williams

Wednesday, October 30, 2024

“Talk sense to a fool and he calls you foolish.”
—Euripides

Thursday, October 31, 2024

“If I can give myself credit for anything, it’s that I do try to learn from the bad. I’ve never felt so sure that I’m in the right place doing what I’m supposed to be doing as I am right now.”
—Emma Roberts

Friday, November 1, 2024

“Hi Bill. You may never read this, but I wanted to thank you anyway. I was going to kill myself today. … Then, by chance, I opened your article of quotes for 2020. I read them all. Every one of them. Thank you.”
—A reader on January 1, 2020

Saturday, November 2, 2024

“Life is a daring adventure or it is nothing at all.”
—Helen Keller

Sunday, November 3, 2024

“Don’t live the same year 75 times and call it a life.”
—Robin Sharma

Monday, November 4, 2024

“God loves us beyond comprehension, and we cannot diminish God’s love for us.”
—Saint Peter

Tuesday, November 5, 2024

“Frankly, it’s time for a new generation of leaders.”
—Senator Mitt Romney, saying he wouldn’t run for reelection.

Wednesday, November 6, 2024

“Success is a journey, not a destination. The doing is often more important than the outcome.”
—Arthur Ashe

Thursday, November 7, 2024

“I strongly recommend that we execute our succession plan and name Tim Cook as CEO of Apple.”
—Steve Jobs, shortly before he died in 2011, thus setting the stage for Cook to take over

Friday, November 8, 2024

“Empty your mind, be formless. Shapeless, like water. If you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup. You put water into a bottle and it becomes the bottle. You put it in a teapot it becomes the teapot. Now, water can flow or it can crash. Be water, my friend.”
—Bruce Lee

Saturday, November 9, 2024

“If everybody loves you, something is wrong. Find at least one enemy to keep you alert.”
—Paulo Coelho

Sunday, November 10, 2024

“It’s your outlook on life that counts. If you take yourself lightly and don’t take yourself too seriously, pretty soon you can find the humor in our everyday lives. And sometimes it can be a lifesaver.”
—Betty White

Monday, November 11, 2024

“Sometimes all you need is 20 seconds of insane courage”
—Matt Damon

Tuesday, November 12, 2024

“It’s much easier to die than it is to live. You’ve got to struggle to live.”
—Edgar Harrell, last Marine survivor of the sinking of the USS Indianapolis in 1945

Wednesday, November 13, 2024

“Success, they taught me, is built on the foundation of courage, hard work and individual responsibility. Despite what some would have us believe, success is not built on resentment and fears.”
—Susana Martinez

Thursday, November 14, 2024

“Pioneers get slaughtered, and the settlers prosper.”
—Daymond John

Friday, November 15, 2024

“Keep your eyes wide open before marriage, half shut afterwards.”
—Ben Franklin

Saturday, November 16, 2024

“When we are no longer able to change a situation – we are challenged to change ourselves.”
—Viktor E. Frankl

Sunday, November 17, 2024

“I have nothing to add.”
—Common response of Charlie Munger, the investing sage who made a fortune even before he became Warren Buffett’s right-hand man at Berkshire Hathaway, who died this year at age 99, after Buffett would speak.

Monday, November 18, 2024

“Business is built on relationships, relationships are built on trust, and the foundation of trust is honesty.”
—Various

Tuesday, November 19, 2024

“Normality is a paved road: It’s comfortable to walk, but no flowers grow on it.”
—Vincent Van Gogh

Wednesday, November 20, 2024

“All roads lead home in the end. You’ve got to keep that in mind always – in your work and in your life.”
—Chiwetel Ejiofor

Thursday, November 21, 2024

“It’s easy to do nothing, but your heart breaks a little more every time you do.”
—Mark Ruffalo

Friday, November 22, 2024

“I think happiness is overrated. Satisfied, at peace-those would be more realistic goals.”
—Brad Pitt

Saturday, November 23, 2024

“My mouth would have closed years ago if I’d had this tool.”
—Mr. Beast, upon realizing that YouTube videos with thumbnails involving a closed-mouth smile do better than ones with a laughing or surprised face.

Sunday, November 24, 2024

“Sent from my iPad.”
—Steve Jobs, at the end of a note he wrote to himself, thus creating the punchline to a 27-year joke.

Monday, November 25, 2024

“We must never be afraid to go too far, for success lies just beyond.”
—Marcel Proust

Tuesday, November 26, 2024

“Ignore all hatred and criticism. Live for what you create, and die protecting it.”
—Lady Gaga

Wednesday, November 27, 2024

“You know what the happiest animal on earth is? It’s a goldfish. You know why? It’s got a 10-second memory.”
—Ted Lasso

Thursday, November 28, 2024

“Be passionate and bold. Always keep learning. You stop doing useful things if you don’t learn.”
—Satya Nadella

Friday, November 29, 2024

“I don’t think something is a failure if you put your all into it. I’m a big fan of the saying, Nothing beats a failure but a try.”
—Regina King

Saturday, November 30, 2024

“I remind myself every morning: Nothing I say this day will teach me anything. So if I’m going to learn, I must do it by listening.”
—Larry King

Sunday, December 1, 2024

“If you’re ever if you’re ever thinking, Oh, but I’m a waste of space and I’m a burden, remember: that also describes the Grand Canyon. Why don’t you have friends and family take pictures of you from a safe distance? Revel in your majestic profile?”
—Maria Bamford

Monday, December 2, 2024

“The only way to win is to learn faster than anyone else.”
—Eric Ries

Tuesday, December 3, 2024

“Wanting to be someone else is a waste of who you are”
—Kurt Cobain

Wednesday, December 4, 2024

“One of the most important things for any leader is to never let anyone else define who you are. And you define who you are. I never think of myself as being a woman CEO of this company. I think of myself as a steward of a great institution.”
—Ginni Rometty, executive chairman of IBM

Thursday, December 5, 2024

“It’s a wonderful miracle. It’s a beautiful miracle.”
—Kevin Ford, a Burger King employee whose 27th-anniversary gifts (a goodie bag consisting of things like a plastic cup from Starbucks, some candy, and a movie ticket) went viral, sparking a GoFundMe, which has now netted him (as of this writing) more than $430,000.

Friday, December 6, 2024

“The greatest lesson that I learned in all of this is that you have to start. Start now, start here, and start small. Keep it Simple.”
—Jack Dorsey

Saturday, December 7, 2024

“Everybody wants to be famous, but nobody wants to do the work. I live by that. You grind hard so you can play hard. At the end of the day, you put all the work in, and eventually it’ll pay off. It could be in a year, it could be in 30 years. Eventually, your hard work will pay off.”
—Kevin Hart

Sunday, December 8, 2024

“The things that scare you only make you better and stronger.”
—Octavia Spencer

Monday, December 9, 2024

“Even when I was close to defeat I rose to my feet”
—Dr. Dre

Tuesday, December 10, 2024

“There is no element of genius without some form of madness.”
—Leonardo DiCaprio

Wednesday, December 11, 2024

“I have already lost touch with a couple of people I used to be.”
—Joan Didion

Thursday, December 12, 2024

“I feel like if it’s not scaring you, you’re doing it wrong.”
—Anna Kendrick

Friday, December 13, 2024

“Far too many people are looking for the right person, instead of trying to be the right person.”
—Gloria Steinem

Saturday, December 14, 2024

“I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”
—Maya Angelou

Sunday, December 15, 2024

“You’re not going to get very far in life on the basis of what you already know. You’re going to advance in life by what you’re going to learn.”
—Charlie Munger

Monday, December 16, 2024

“A pack of jackasses led by a lion is superior to a pack of lions led by a jackass.”
—George Washington

Tuesday, December 17, 2024

“There will come a time when you believe everything is finished. That will be the beginning.”
—Louis L’Amour

Wednesday, December 18, 2024

“Whatever you do, don’t wake up at 65 years old and think about what you should have done with your life.”
—George Clooney

Thursday, December 19, 2024

“I believe ambition is not a dirty word. It’s just believing in yourself and your abilities. Imagine this: What would happen if we were all brave enough to be a little bit more ambitious? I think the world would change.”
—Reese Witherspoon

Friday, December 20, 2024

“To those wondering about giving while living: Try it. You’ll like it.”
—Chuck Feeney, billionaire philanthropist who gave away his entire net worth

Saturday, December 21, 2024

“It’s a gift to exist, and with existence comes suffering. There’s no escaping that.”
—Stephen Colbert

Sunday, December 22, 2024

“Either America will destroy ignorance or ignorance will destroy the United States.”
—W. E. B. Du Bois

Monday, December 23, 2024

“When 99 percent of people doubt your idea, you’re either gravely wrong or about to make history.”
—Scott Belsky

Tuesday, December 24, 2024

“Every time you pick up your guitar to play, play as if it’s the last time.”
—Eric Clapton

Wednesday, December 25, 2024

“What happens next is up to you.”
—Chris Sacca

Thursday, December 26, 2024

“Good things come to obsessive compulsives who fixate.”
—Kieran Culkin

Friday, December 27, 2024

“All the breaks you need in life wait within your imagination, Imagination is the workshop of your mind, capable of turning mind energy into accomplishment and wealth.”
—Napoleon Hill

Saturday, December 28, 2024

“All good ideas start out as bad ideas. That’s why it takes so long.”
—Steven Spielberg

Sunday, December 29, 2024

“The first step is clearly defining what it is you’re after, because without knowing that, you’ll never get it.”
—Halle Berry 

Monday, December 30, 2024

“Life is not easy for any of us. But what of that? We must have perseverance and, above all, confidence in ourselves. We must believe we are gifted for something and that this thing must be attained.”
—Marie Curie

Tuesday, December 31, 2024

“It’s just cool to be involved in something that’s that big and joyous and meant to make people feel happy.”
—Andy Samberg

The extended deadline for the 2025 Inc. Best in Business Awards is this Friday, September 19, at 11:59 p.m. PT. Apply now.