Inspirational Quotes About Hard Work

Success isn't always easy, and the road to achieving it can be bumpy. Even some of the world's most successful and famous people, including JK Rowling, Steve Jobs, and Oprah Winfrey, lost their jobs and overcame challenges before they became someone whose name almost everyone would recognize.

When work is challenging, it can be helpful to read advice and quotes on how to succeed. Failing can also be a motivator that helps guide future success.

But to overcome challenges, you need the motivation to keep trying.

Enjoy these quotes about working hard and learning from your failures and successes from creators, achievers, entrepreneurs, authors, heroes, and others who provide inspiration to boost your effort at work.

Quotes About Hard Work

"Instead of letting your hardships and failures discourage or exhaust you, let them inspire you. Let them make you even hungrier to succeed." —Michelle Obama

"No matter how hard you work, someone else is working harder." —Elon Musk

"A dream doesn't become reality through magic; it takes sweat, determination, and hard work." —Colin Powell

"I have had lots of luck in my career but there has also been a lot of hard work." —Maria Sharapova

"It's kind of fun to do the impossible." —Walt Disney

"If you love your work, you’ll be out there every day trying to do it the best you possibly can, and pretty soon everybody around will catch the passion from you – like a fever." —Sam Walton

"From my dad I learned to be good to people, to always be honest and straightforward. I learned hard work and perseverance." —Luke Bryan

“Believe you can and you're halfway there.” —Theodore Roosevelt

"It always seems impossible until it's done." —Nelson Mandela

“Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it.” —Steve Jobs

“Quality is much better than quantity. One home run is much better than two doubles.” —Steve Jobs

"Always aim high, work hard, and care deeply about what you believe in. And, when you stumble, keep faith. And, when you're knocked down, get right back up and never listen to anyone who says you can't or shouldn't go on." —Hillary Clinton

“You have to trust in something —your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down.” —Steve Jobs

“Hard work spotlights the character of people: some turn up their sleeves, some turn up their noses, and some don't turn up at all.” —Sam Ewing

“If you live long enough, you'll make mistakes. But if you learn from them, you'll be a better person. It's how you handle adversity, not how it affects you. The main thing is never quit, never quit, never quit.” —Bill Clinton

“To succeed, work hard, never give up and above all, cherish a magnificent obsession." —Walt Disney

“If you give people tools, and they use their natural abilities and their curiosity, they will develop things in ways that will surprise you very much beyond what you might have expected.” —Bill Gates

“It's fine to celebrate success, but it is more important to heed the lessons of failure.” —Bill Gates

"I'm a greater believer in luck, and I find the harder I work the more I have of it.” —Thomas Jefferson

"Perseverance is the hard work you do after you get tired of doing the hard work you already did.” —Newt Gingrich

"I know you've heard it a thousand times before. But it's true - hard work pays off. If you want to be good, you have to practice, practice, practice. If you don't love something, then don't do it." —Ray Bradbury

"I know the price of success: dedication, hard work and an unremitting devotion to the things you want to see happen." —Frank Lloyd Wright

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

“Success is walking from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm.” —Winston Churchill

“It's hard to beat a person who never gives up.” —Babe Ruth

“The future rewards those who press on. I don't have time to feel sorry for myself. I don't have time to complain. I'm going to press on.” —Barack Obama

“Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we've been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.” —Barack Obama

“The reason a lot of people do not recognize opportunity is because it usually goes around wearing overalls looking like hard work.” —Thomas A. Edison

“The price of success is hard work, dedication to the job at hand, and the determination that whether we win or lose, we have applied the best of ourselves to the task at hand.” —Vince Lombardi

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

“Nothing ever comes to one, that is worth having, except as a result of hard work.” —Booker T. Washington

“When I was young, I observed that nine out of ten things I did were failures. So I did ten times more work.” —George Bernard Shaw

“Opportunities are usually disguised as hard work, so most people don't recognize them." —Ann Landers

“For every two minutes of glamour, there are eight hours of hard work.” —Jessica Savitch

“Without hard work, nothing grows but weeds.” —Gordon B. Hinckley

“I've got a theory that if you give 100 percent all of the time, somehow things will work out in the end.” —Larry Bird

“What you do today can improve all your tomorrows.” —Ralph Marston

More Inspirational Quotes

If you find these quotes helpful and inspiring you may also like these inspirational work quotes that are perfect for newsletters, presentations, and websites.

In addition, for those of you who are job searching, here are several quotes about finding a new job.