Each quote below includes where it comes from. Translations of ancient writers vary, so the wording you see elsewhere may differ slightly; the source is listed so you can check it.
If you are using a quote in a speech, presentation or caption, a sourced quote is safer and more interesting. The misattributions section at the bottom covers the ones most worth avoiding.
From the ancient world
While we are postponing, life speeds by.— Seneca, Letters to Lucilius, Letter 1 (tr. R. M. Gummere)
Seneca's first letter to his friend Lucilius is about time: the one thing that is truly ours, and the easiest to waste through delay.
We suffer more often in imagination than in reality.— Seneca, Letters to Lucilius, Letter 13 (tr. R. M. Gummere)
Most of what we fear never happens, or happens differently. Seneca suggests checking whether a worry is about something present or something imagined.
Some things are in our control and others not.— Epictetus, Enchiridion, 1 (tr. Elizabeth Carter)
The opening line of Epictetus's handbook: put your effort into your own judgements and actions, not into what you cannot change.
A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.— Laozi, Tao Te Ching, ch. 64 (traditional translation)
The common English rendering of a line in the Tao Te Ching about how great things grow from small beginnings.
From the 18th to early 20th century
Procrastination is the thief of time.— Edward Young, Night Thoughts, 1742
Often credited to Dickens (who has a character quote it), the line was written by the poet Edward Young.
Lost time is never found again.— Benjamin Franklin, The Way to Wealth, 1758
Franklin's practical case against putting things off, from his essay on industry and thrift.
If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.— Henry David Thoreau, Walden, 1854, Conclusion
This is the original sentence behind the poster version, "Go confidently in the direction of your dreams."
Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.— Squire Bill Widener, quoted by Theodore Roosevelt, Theodore Roosevelt: An Autobiography, 1913
Roosevelt quoted this in his autobiography and credited it to Squire Bill Widener of Virginia. It is often attributed to Roosevelt himself.
It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles.— Theodore Roosevelt, "Citizenship in a Republic", speech in Paris, 23 April 1910
The opening of the famous "man in the arena" passage. The credit, Roosevelt says, belongs to the person actually doing the work.
Famous quotes that are commonly misattributed
These lines are everywhere, but the names attached to them are wrong or unsupported. They are listed here as a warning, not as quotes from these people.
"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit."
Usually credited to Aristotle. It is Will Durant's summary of Aristotle's ideas in The Story of Philosophy (1926), not a line Aristotle wrote.
"Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts."
Widely credited to Winston Churchill. The International Churchill Society says it cannot be attributed to him.
"If you are going through hell, keep going."
Also credited to Churchill. The International Churchill Society says the phrase does not appear in his written or spoken words.
"If you can dream it, you can do it."
Often credited to Walt Disney. The Walt Disney Archives says Walt never said it; it was written for the Horizons attraction at EPCOT.
"Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity."
Commonly credited to Seneca, but the attribution only appears in much later sources and is listed as disputed.
Quotes without a name are original to Motivational Quotes. Quotes with a name list their source; translations of older works vary.
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