I can’t believe that I have been doing this since the beginning of 2017, but here is this list of quotes that I have collected to help start off 2024 on an inspirational note.
The first year I did this, I was more focused on just Googling quotes, compiling them in a list, and sharing them. As the years have progressed, many of the quotes below are ones that I have either read in books from the past year (I read way more now than I did in 2017; yay me!) or just resonated with me in the past year.
The one that stood out most to me from the past year is this short poem I share below from Ralph Waldo Emerson on the idea of “What is Success.”
That poem above will guide me through the year.
If you are interested in checking out the old post, you can check out the past lists through the links below.
2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023
If you are looking to start a blog, podcast, media, etc., a challenge I have undertaken is simply choosing one of the quotes below and trying to connect it to a lesson, idea or story. It is a great practice to ignite some writing. I encourage you to create more this year!
So here are some of my favorite quotes from the past year that I hope help you start 2024 off in a positive direction!
Trying something over and over again grounds you in reality,
making you deeply aware of your inadequacies
and of what you can accomplish with more work and effort.”
Robert Greene, Mastery
“…if you have 50 percent to give, and you give 50 percent, then you gave 100 percent.
Forward is forward, and it’s vital that you take good care of how you think about yourself
and the progress you’re making. No matter how small.
You’re trying, and you’re making progress.”
Meghan Lawson
“The path to success is paved with small wins.
Even the grandest and most glorious victories
rest on a string of modest but constructive steps forward.”
Robert Sutton
“Hard work does not guarantee success,
but lack of hard work guarantees that there will be no success.”
Rocky Valvano, father of Jim Valvano
“Good thing I didn’t accomplish all my goals yet
because then what would I do tomorrow?”
Alexi Pappas, Bravey
“The key to happiness is
always having something to look forward to.”
Unknown Author
“He who cannot change the very fabric of his thought
will never be able to change reality,
and will never, therefore, make any progress.”
Anwar Sadat
“Let your energy impact the people you’re talking to,
as opposed to the other way around.”
Will Guidara
“We should work on changing ourselves before trying to improve others.
A great danger to good leadership is the temptation to try to change others without first making changes to yourself.”
John Maxwell
“If you don’t like the road you’re walking,
start paving another one!”
Dolly Parton
“The next time your world feels like it’s collapsing around you, grab your mental gearshift and ask yourself something similar.
Don’t worry about the big picture. Ask this:
What is the next thing I need to do?”
Trevor Moawad
“Happiness and misery consist in a progression towards better or worse;
it does not matter how high up or low down you are, it depends not on this,
but on the direction in which you are tending.”
Samuel Butler
“That which we manifest is before us; we are the creators of our own destiny.
Be it through intention or ignorance, our successes and our failures
have been brought on by none other than ourselves.”
Garth Stein, The Art of Racing in the Rain
“The beautiful thing about learning is that
no one can take it away from you.”
B.B. King
“Every single day, anything I could say, at any given point,
could be a sentence that students could remember for the rest of their lives.”
Taylor Teamann
“You have within you right now,
everything you need to deal with
whatever the world can throw at you.”
Marie Curie
“Resilience is not what happens to you.
It’s how you react to, respond to, and
recover from what happens to you.”
Jeffrey Gitomer
“The art of life is a constant readjustment to our surroundings.”
Kakuzo Okakaura
“Don’t be afraid of change.
You may lose something good,
but you may gain something even better.”
Anonymous
“The miracle isn’t that I finished.
The miracle is that I had the courage to start.”
John Bingham
“Run when you can, walk if you have to,
crawl if you must; just never give up.”
Dean Karnazes
“Breathe! Relax! And trust the course of your life.
Everything you’ve been through has prepared you for where you are right now.”
Iyanla Vanzant
“The difference between a successful person and others is not a lack of strength,
not a lack of knowledge,
but rather a lack in will.”
Vince Lombardi
“Don’t wait around for other people to be happy for you.
Any happiness you get you’ve got to make yourself.”
Alice Walker
“Oh yes, the past can hurt.
But you can either run from it
or learn from it.”
Rafiki, “The Lion King”
“Success is getting what you want.
Happiness is wanting what you get.”
Dale Carnegie
“A problem is a chance
for you to do your best.”
Duke Ellington
And since I end every one of these posts with a quote from Michael Scott, here you go 🙂
“Would I rather be a good boss and a bad friend or a good friend and a bad boss? Well, I have 400 friends on Facebook, so I think I know the answer.”
Michael Scott
I hope you have an incredible 2024! If you read through this entire post, please share one quote that you find inspiring in the comments below.
I would love to learn from you!