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“And still, I rise.”
Short, yet very powerful, this quote is from Maya Angelou, one of the most iconic authors and activists of all time. In fact, many of the influential quotes you will find online (and even offline) are from Angelou.
Quotes aren’t just a bunch of words combined together to impress. They come from people who have succeeded in life, or worked their way through remarkable experiences.
Short quotes are no different from the lengthy ones. They possess the same level of profundity and enlightenment, and in some ways their brevity makes them even more powerful, as they are easier to remember.
In this article, we share with you 97 of the best short quotes of all time. We have quotes about happiness and love, sayings about life and struggles, messages about relationships, and a lot more. These quotes can literally change the way you look at life.
Let’s start with some inspirational, short quotes about life.
(Side note: Want to use these quotes to make a lasting change to your life? Then check out and recite these 57 affirmations for success).
What You Will Learn
Short Inspirational Quotes About Life
“Only a life lived for others is a life lived worthwhile.” – Albert Einstein
“There is more to life than increasing its speed.” – Mahatma Gandhi
“Because I have loved life, I shall have no sorrow to die.” – Amelia Burr
“Life is a process. We are a process. The universe is a process.” – Anne Wilson Schaef
“I can't change the direction of the wind, but I can adjust my sails to always reach my destination.” – Jimmy Dean
“The good life is inspired by love and guided by knowledge.” – Bertrand Russell
“Dream as if you’ll live forever, live as if you’ll die today.” – James Dean
“It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop.” – Confucius
“I don’t need it to be easy, I need it to be worth it.” – Lil Wayne
“Life becomes easier when you learn to accept the apology you never got.” – R. Brault
“Broken crayons still color.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
“Leave no stone unturned.” – Euripides
“It is more fitting for a man to laugh at life than to lament over it.” – Seneca
“Never bend your head. Always hold it high. Look the world straight in the face.” – Helen Keller
“Time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time.” – Marthe Troly-Curtin
Life can be tough, but it is not impossible. It may cause you stress and worries, yet at the same time it will always be a wonderful experience.
We hope that these quotes will help you stay motivated to be strong and keep getting stronger. You are destined for a meaningful life.
Next, we have a set of short quotes about love.
Short Quotes About Love
“If you judge people you have no time to love them.” – Mother Teresa
“One word frees us of all the weight and pain of life: That word is love.” – Sophocles
“Love is great when you find someone to give it to.” – Unknown
“I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear.” – Martin Luther King, Jr.
“Where there is love there is life.” – Mahatma Gandhi
“'Tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all.” – Alfred Lord Tennyson
“Love is an act of endless forgiveness, a tender look which becomes a habit.” – Peter Ustinov
“The greatest happiness of life is the conviction that we are loved.” – Victor Hugo
“Hate comes from intimidation, love comes from appreciation.” – Tyga
“Love makes your soul crawl out from its hiding place.” – Zora Neale Hurston
“Life without love is like a tree without blossoms or fruit.” – Khalil Gibran
“Love’s greatest gift is its ability to make everything it touches sacred.” – Barbara de Angelis
“You yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe deserve your love and affection.” – Buddha
“Loving yourself isn’t vanity. It’s sanity.” – Katrina Mayer
“Better to have lost and loved than never to have loved at all.” – Ernest Hemingway
The Beatles didn’t sing “All You Need is Love” for nothing. They wanted to teach people that love can make the world go round, and that everything is possible if we just learn how to love ourselves and others.
Our third set of quotes is for those whose motto in life is to “never say never.” Strive and work hard, and you’ll be surprised at how victory can come to you easily.
Short Success Quotes
“Nothing will work unless you do.” – Maya Angelou
“The ones who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones that do.” – Steve Jobs
“Die with memories, not dreams.” – Unknown
“The road to success and the road to failure are almost exactly the same.” – Colin R. Davis
“Whatever you do, do it well.” – Walt Disney
“Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.” – Winston Churchill
“Tough times never last but tough people do.” – Robert H. Schuller
“Whatever you do, do with all your might.” – Marcus Tullius Cicero
“Try Again. Fail again. Fail better.” – Samuel Beckett
“Action is the foundational key to all success.” – Pablo Picasso
“Impossible is for the unwilling.” – John Keats
“The successful warrior is the average man, with laser-like focus.” – Bruce Lee
“Don't let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do.” – John R. Wooden
“Success is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm.” – Winston Churchill
“Growth begins when we start to accept our own weakness.” – Jean Vanier
Success is so much sweeter when you’ve worked hard to arrive at it. With the proper combination of grit, resilience, and introspection, there is no reason for failure.
Use these motivational quotes about success to reach your highest potential. Keep pushing—otherwise, you will never know what waits for you at the finish.
Next, we have a list of simple, short happiness quotes that can change the way you perceive life and all it has to offer.
Short Quotes About Happiness
“If you obey all the rules, you miss all the fun.” – Katherine Hepburn
“Learn to let go. That is the key to happiness.” – Buddha
“There is only one happiness in life—to love and to be loved.” – George Sand
“Happy he who learns to bear what he cannot change.” – Friedrich Schiller
“A happy soul is the best shield for a cruel world.” – Atticus
“Happiness is not something ready-made. It comes from your own actions.” – Dalai Lama
“Be happy. It’s one way of being wise.” – Colette
“Happy people plan actions, they don’t plan results.” – Dennis Waitley
“Don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened.” – Ludwig Jacobowski
“Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony.” – Mahatma Gandhi
“Let your tears water the seeds of your future happiness.” – Steve Maraboli
“To fall in love with yourself is the first secret to happiness.” – Robert Morley
“Happiness often sneaks in through a door you didn't know you left open.” – John Barrymore
“You do not find the happy life. You make it.” – Camilla Erying Kimball
“Stay close to anything that makes you glad you are alive.” – Hafez
Happiness is a feeling of satisfaction and contentment. It does not come from getting the things you want; rather, it comes from being focused on the journey and content with what you have.
It may be a challenge to find happiness at times, but the best things always take work. Focus on the good, let things flow and fall into their places, and you’ll eventually discover where happiness lies.
Moving on to our fifth set, we have quotes about finding meaning in life. What is your purpose? How do you determine what you are destined to do?
Quotes About Finding the Meaning of Life
“No one has ever become poor by giving.” – Anne Frank
“Be a lover of the world, it is the only way to survive in it.” – Janosch
“Embrace the glorious mess that you are.” – Elizabeth Gilbert
“You discarded most of the lies along the way but held on to the one that said life mattered.” – Stephen King
“Sometimes, the simple things are more fun and meaningful than all the banquets in the world.” – E.A. Bucchianeri
“Trust yourself. You know more than you think you do.” – Benjamin Spock
“Realize that if a door closed, it’s because what was behind it wasn’t meant for you.” – Mandy Hale
“The real difficulty is to overcome how you think about yourself.” – Maya Angelou
“The secret to life is meaningless unless you discover it yourself.” – W. Somerset Maugham
“It is never too late to be what you might have been.” – George Eliot
“Your purpose in life is to find your purpose and give your whole heart and soul to it.” – Buddha
“It’s not enough to have lived. We should be determined to live for something.” – Winston S. Churchill
“He who has a why to live for can bear almost anyhow.” – Friedrich Nietzsche
“Definiteness of purpose is the starting point of all achievement.” – W. Clement Stone
“The mystery of human existence lies not in just staying alive, but in finding something to live for.” – Fyodor Dostoyevsky
Many people are taken aback when they are asked about their purpose in life. If you are one of these people and you do not know what to do with your life, it’s time to take action.
There are a lot of things to be passionate about, and there are so many ways to discover your real purpose. No, it won’t be easy. In fact, you may need to exert a great deal of effort to find that purpose. But once you do find it, happiness and life satisfaction shall follow.
Last but definitely not least, we share with you relationship quotes that can help you keep your relationships with other people brimming with love and sincerity.
Relationship Quotes
“Treasure your relationships, not your possessions.” – Anthony J. D'Angelo
“They may forget what you said, but they will never forget how you made them feel.” – Carl W. Buechner
“I think it matters whether someone has a good heart.” – Elon Musk
“If civilization is to survive, we must cultivate the science of human relationships – the ability of all peoples, of all kinds, to live together, in the same world at peace.” – Franklin D. Roosevelt
“People are lonely because they build walls instead of bridges.” – Joseph F. Newton Men
“Truth is everybody is going to hurt you: you just gotta find the ones worth suffering for.” – Bob Marley
“Someone to tell it to is one of the fundamental needs of human beings.” – Miles Franklin
“Relationships based on obligation lack dignity.” – Wayne Dyer
“We can improve our relationships with others by leaps and bounds if we become encouragers instead of critics.” – Joyce Meyer
“Don't smother each other. No one can grow in the shade.” – Leo Buscaglia
“The most important ingredient we put into any relationship is not what we say or what we do, but what we are.” – Stephen R. Covey
“Life is partly what we make it, and partly what it is made by the friends we choose.” – Tennessee Williams
“What love we've given, we'll have forever. What love we fail to give, will be lost for all eternity.” – Leo Buscaglia
“True friendship comes when the silence between two people is comfortable.” – David Tyson Gentry
“When you stop expecting people to be perfect, you can like them for who they are.” – Donald Miller
Conclusion
Quotes are very powerful—they can be a great inspiration to help you live your life to the fullest, full of gratitude, strength, and happiness.
When times get rough and you feel like giving up, revisit this post and read the quotes we have shared above. We hope that they were able to inspire you to live a happier, more satisfactory life.
Did any of them resonate with you? If so, we’d love to know which ones. Feel free to share your thoughts and comments in the fields below.
And if you happened to like any of the images we featured, a share through your favorite social media platform would be greatly appreciated.
Finally, if you want to use these quotes to make a lasting change to your life, then check out and recite these 57 affirmations for success.
