Personal growth quotes to inspire your next move
Written by Elizabeth Exline
Reviewed by Hinrich Eylers, PhD, PE, MBA, Vice Provost for Academic Operations and Doctoral Studies.
“Courage is not simply one of the virtues but the form of every virtue at the testing point, which means at the point of highest reality.”
The author and apologist C.S. Lewis wrote that in The Screwtape Letters. It’s a good quote, an even better book and an appropriate introduction to a blog about personal growth quotes. As Lewis captures so succinctly, courage isn’t just another virtue like patience or integrity. It is the fire by which every virtue is declared and internalized. Courage is what allows us to grow because it empowers us to live by our convictions.
For those seeking growth, courage is a prerequisite. Encouragement helps too. Here, we strive to offer the latter through the words of thinkers and writers who capture the essence of the human condition.
But first, what are personal growth quotes?
In the age of therapized language, it can be easy to assume personal growth quotes are affirmations. They’re not. Affirmations are declarations personalized to an individual. They’re usually short, first-person statements that speak to what someone is or wants to be, like (to riff on Lewis’ quote above), “I am brave” or “I am strong.”
The goal of such statements is as personalized as the individual using it. Maybe someone is looking to cultivate a certain quality in herself. Maybe she just wants to remember the quality exists within her.
Personal growth quotes, on the other hand, are almost universally applicable. They manage to contain some nugget of wisdom that resonates with many people, all in the space of a few words.
Can personal growth quotes change your life?
Beware anyone who promises a quote can change your life. Maybe it can. Maybe it can’t. You get to decide how much weight to give another person’s words. The real purpose of personal growth quotes is to inspire thoughtful reflection. Is the quote true? Does it contain some relevance to your life or situation? Does it nudge you to think differently?
Maybe that’s the real purpose of personal growth quotes: to evolve one’s thinking. A good quote can shift the prism of understanding, causing you to consider a different perspective or perhaps connect other thoughts together. Sometimes, they can even change a person’s mind.
Rodney Luster, PhD
Chair, Center for Leadership and Entrepreneurial Research
“Motivational quotes can provide people with an emotional regulation strategy,” says Dr. Rodney Luster, chair of the Center for Leadership and Entrepreneurial Research at University of Phoenix. “I have used quotes on my desktop for many years to help me reframe my mindset, to emotionally regulate and to motivate me in various ways.”
(If you’re wondering which quote currently holds pride of place on Luster’s desktop, it’s this one, attributed to Bruce Lee: “Do not pray for an easy life, pray for the strength to endure a difficult one.”)
Scientists have also tried to discern just how effective such quotes are. A study published in 2024 found that motivational quotes helped improve certain habits like smoking cessation and taking medication. However, overexposure and other factors like intrinsic motivation and the contextual relevance of the quotes can mitigate the overall impact.
Anecdotally, Luster has seen patients in his clinical practice benefit from a well-timed and well-chosen quote. “I can think of several patients who needed something to motivate them, or a phrase or quote they found that helped elevate their progression in therapy,” he says. “Once someone finds motivation, its close cousin is optimism, and something like a quote can provide directional potentials, even pouring into our self-agency and locus of control.”
Quotes to consider
Of course, not every good thing has to change the course of destiny. Sometimes, a good quote is enough on its own to act as a sort of way finder toward your next idea, decision or move. To borrow not a quote but a cliché: It’s about the journey, not the destination.
Herewith, a roundup of personal growth quotes to get you thinking.
Quotes for perseverance
“Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms — to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.”
― Viktor E. Frankl, Man’s Search for Meaning
“Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.”
― Winston Churchill, 1941 speech at Harrow School
“Do not whine. ... Do not complain. Work harder. Spend more time alone.”
― Joan Didion, Blue Nights
“To live is to suffer, to survive is to find some meaning in the suffering.”
― Friedrich Nietzsche, Ecce Homo
Quotes for confidence
“Education breeds confidence. Confidence breeds hope. Hope breeds peace.”
― Confucius
“The most common form of despair is not being who you are.”
― Søren Kierkegaard, The Sickness Unto Death
“You can never be overdressed or overeducated.”
― Oscar Wilde, adapted from The Importance of Being Earnest
Quotes for leadership
“The nation will find it very hard to look up to the leaders who are keeping their ears to the ground.”
― Sir Winston Churchill, 1941 speech in the House of Commons
“Hitch your wagon to a star.”
― Ralph Waldo Emerson, Society and Solitude
“I shut my eyes in order to see.”
― attributed to Paul Gauguin
“Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other.”
― attributed to John F. Kennedy
“Be not afraid of greatness: some are born great, some achieve greatness and some have greatness thrust upon them.’’
― William Shakespeare, Twelfth Night
“Reach high, for stars lie hidden in you. Dream deep, for every dream precedes the goal.’’
― attributed to Rabindranath Tagore
Quotes for change
“I could tell you my adventures — beginning from this morning, but it’s no use going back to yesterday, because I was a different person then.”
― Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland
“To be ignorant of what occurred before you were born is to remain forever a child.”
― Cicero, Orator
“No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it’s not the same river and he’s not the same man.”
― attributed to Heraclitus
“The only person you are destined to become is the person you decide to be.”
― Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Self-Reliance”
“Do man’s visions last?/Do man’s illusions?/Take things as they come/All things pass.”
― Lao-Tzu, “All Things Pass”
Personal growth: Quotes are just the beginning
If these or other personal growth quotes have inspired a curiosity to learn more, explore individual courses, degree programs and certificates at University of Phoenix. Offering career-relevant skills in online formats, UOPX makes higher education more accessible than ever.
Request more information about these and other opportunities.
The Screwtape Letters by CS Lewis © copyright 1942 CS Lewis Pte Ltd. Extract used with permission.
Bruce Lee quote used with permission granted by Bruce Lee, LLC – www.brucelee.com
© Didion Dunne Literary Trust
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Elizabeth Exline has been telling stories ever since she won a writing contest in third grade. She's covered design and architecture, travel, lifestyle content and a host of other topics for national, regional, local and brand publications. Additionally, she's worked in content development for Marriott International and manuscript development for a variety of authors.
ABOUT THE REVIEWER
Dr. Eylers is the University of Phoenix vice provost for Academic Operations and Doctoral Studies. Prior to joining the University in 2009, Dr. Eylers spent 15 years in environmental engineering consulting, sustainability consulting, teaching and business and technology program management. He was amongst the first to be licensed as a professional environmental engineer in Arizona.
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