110+ Meaningful Quotes That Will Change How You Think

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Master certified coach Katie Stolp shares powerful words of wisdom

Co-authored by Katie Stolp and Dev Murphy, MA

Last Updated: September 2, 2026 Fact Checked

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• About Life
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• About Adversity
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• About Love
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• About Existence
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• Motivational
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• Short

|Show more |Show less

Looking for some words of wisdom and insight to encourage you? Look no further. We've partnered with professional life coaches to compile a guide of motivational and deep quotes about life, love, and existence that are sure to alter the way you see things—and fill you with inspiration and hope. We've also included aesthetic graphics of some of the most encouraging quotes that you can share on social media to inspire others! Keep reading to find your new favorite quote.

Deep & Inspiring Quotes

Master certified coach Katie Stolp offers these words of wisdom to inspire and enlighten you:

• "You’re always winning or learning. Facing adversity is how we evolve ourselves."
• "When we’re unhappy, we’re always focused on what we can’t control; when we're happy, we’re focused on what we can control."
• "Purpose comes through exploration and taking small steps over time. Remember that there’s no correct timeline. You can forge your own unique path. Believe that."
• "The greatest success isn’t just about reaching a goal, it’s who you become along the way."
• "Let yourself dream."

Steps

Section 1 of 6:

Deep Quotes about Life

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1. 
   "Who am I? And what do I want?" These are the questions life coach Taylor Rochestie encourages everyone to ask themselves. "I'm on the pursuit of success through happiness, not on the pursuit of happiness through success," he adds, explaining that a lot of people erroneously view happiness as the end goal, rather than something you should cultivate throughout life. "People that are successful are focused on progress. And they're focused on the journey and not the outcome." Here are some other inspirational quotes about life and purpose to help you stay motivated:

   • "A big question that a lot of people have never asked themselves is, Who am I? And what do I want? And it's one thing to answer that in a social setting, and it's a totally different thing to ask that to the person you see in the mirror." –Taylor Rochestie
   • "Stop comparing yourself to other people and other situations. And if you're going to compare, you should compare yourself to who you were and who you want to be." –Taylor Rochestie
   • "An unexamined life is not worth living." –Socrates
   • "Knowing others is intelligence; knowing yourself is true wisdom. Mastering others is strength; mastering yourself is true power." –Laozi
   • "In my walks, every man I meet is my superior in some way, and in that I learn from him." –Emerson
   • "Even if I knew that tomorrow the world would go to pieces, I would still plant my apple tree." –Martin Luther
   • "Change your thoughts and you change your world." –Norman Vincent Peale
   • "Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing." –Benjamin Franklin
   • "Dreaming, after all, is a form of planning." –Gloria Steinem
   • "Maybe you are searching among the branches, for what only appears in the roots." –Rumi
   • "I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand." –Confucius
   • "By three methods we may learn wisdom: first, by reflection, which is noblest; second, by imitation, which is easiest; and third by experience, which is the bitterest." –Confucius

   Meet the wikiHow Experts

   Katie Stolp is a master certified coach and the founder of Think Power, based in Austin, Texas.

   Taylor Rochestie is a life coach, a professional basketball player, an author, and a speaker.

   Madeline Mann is a career coach and job search strategist based in Los Angeles, CA.
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Section 2 of 6:

Deep Quotes about Adversity

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1. 
   "You’re always winning or learning." That quote comes from Stolp, who adds, "Facing adversity is how we evolve ourselves." Whether you're struggling through a tough time and need motivation to continue, or you're going through a painful situation and need inspiration to keep your head above water, we've got you. Keep reading for inspirational quotes about adversity, including a few more words of wisdom from Stolp herself:

   • "When we’re unhappy, we’re always focused on what we can’t control; when we're happy, we’re focused on what we can control." –Katie Stolp
   • "If you want to feel happier, start focusing on what’s in your control." –Katie Stolp
   • "Adversity gives us our best chance to define who we are." –Taylor Rochestie
   • "Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can." –Arthur Ashe
   • "Believe you can and you’re halfway there." –Theodore Roosevelt
   • "I've missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I've lost almost 300 games. 26 times I've been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I've failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.” –Michael Jordan
   • "If you hear a voice within you say 'you cannot paint,' then by all means paint and that voice will be silenced. –Vincent Van Gogh
   • "Everything you’ve ever wanted is on the other side of fear." –George Addair
   • "Fall seven times and stand up eight." –Japanese Proverb
   • "When one door of happiness closes, another opens, but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one that has been opened for us." –Helen Keller
   • "Dream big and dare to fail." –Norman Vaughan
   • "It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop." –Confucius
   • "The battles that count aren't the ones for gold medals. The struggles within yourself–the invisible battles inside all of us–that's where it's at." –Jesse Owens
   • "Happiness is not something readymade. It comes from your own actions." –Dalai Lama
   • "You can’t fall if you don’t climb. But there’s no joy in living your whole life on the ground." –Unknown
   • "Too many of us are not living our dreams because we are living our fears." –Les Brown
   • "Challenges are what make life interesting and overcoming them is what makes life meaningful." –Joshua J. Marine
   • "I didn’t fail the test. I just found 100 ways to do it wrong." –Benjamin Franklin
   • "A person who never made a mistake never tried anything new." – Albert Einstein
   • "Limitations live only in our minds. But if we use our imaginations, our possibilities become limitless." –Jamie Paolinetti
   • "Remember that not getting what you want is sometimes a wonderful stroke of luck." –Dalai Lama

Section 3 of 6:

Deep Quotes about Love

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1. 
   "Love is a verb." This short quote comes from dating coach Chantal Heide. "It is what you do," she adds. Keep reading for more words of wisdom surrounding one of the universe's greatest gifts: love.

   • "I do love nothing in the world so well as you. Is not that strange?" –William Shakespeare
   • "The best thing to hold onto in life is each other." –Audrey Hepburn
   • "Grow old along with me! The best is yet to be." –Robert Browning
   • “If you live to be a hundred, I want to live to be a hundred minus one day so I never have to live without you." –A. A. Milne
   • “To love and be loved is to feel the sun from both sides.” –David Viscott
   • “Love is composed of a single soul inhabiting two bodies.” –Aristotle
   • “Love is the whole thing. We are only pieces.” –Rumi
   • "He’s more myself than I am. Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same." –Emily Brontë
   • “Love is friendship that has caught fire.” –Ann Landers
   • “Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength; loving someone deeply gives you courage.” –Lao Tzu
   • “We loved with a love that was more than love.” –Edgar Allan Poe
   • "Love grows by giving.” –Elbert Hubbard
   • "Where there is love there is life.” –Mahatma Gandhi
   • "Love does not dominate; it cultivates.” –Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
   • "There is always some madness in love.” –Friedrich Nietzsche
   • "If I loved you less, I might be able to talk about it more." –Jane Austen
   • Find more romantic quotes at "200+ I Love You More than Quotes and Phrases."
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Section 4 of 6:

Deep Quotes about Existence

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1. 
   "Life's most persistent and urgent question is, 'What are you doing for others?'" That's Martin Luther King, Jr. If you're in a reflective mood and looking for answers from some of the wisest and most contemplative figures in history, keep reading:

   • "It isn’t normal to know what we want. It is a rare and difficult psychological achievement." –Abraham Maslow
   • "I take my fundamental cue from John Coltrane that says there must be a priority of integrity, honesty, decency, and mastery of craft." –Cornel West
   • "It's not my responsibility to be beautiful. I'm not alive for that purpose. My existence is not about how desirable you find me." –Warsan Shire
   • "The two most important days in your life are the day you are born... and the day you find out why." –Mark Twain
   • "We must believe that we are gifted for something, and that this thing, at whatever cost, must be attained." –Marie Curie
   • "Death is not the greatest loss in life. The greatest loss is what dies inside us while we live." –Norman Cousins
   • "Too many people spend money they earn to buy things they don’t want to impress people that they don’t like." –Will Rogers
   • "You cannot do kindness too soon, for you never know how soon it will be too late." –Ralph Waldo Emerson
   • "Life isn't about getting and having, it's about giving and being." –Kevin Kruse
   • "Meaning is about making a difference, not having an audience." –Adam Grant
   • "I don’t see why we have to say 'I will die,' because I can already see myself in you, in other people, and in future generations." –Thich Nhat Hanh
   • "The only person you are destined to become is the person you decide to be." –Ralph Waldo Emerson
   • "Life is about making an impact, not making an income. --Kevin Kruse
   • "I took a deep breath and listened to the old brag of my heart. I am, I am, I am." –Sylvia Plath
   • "When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be." –Lao Tzu
   • "It's enough for me to be sure that you and I exist at this moment." –Gabriel García Márquez
   • "To be, or not to be: that is the question." –William Shakespeare
   • "This is my simple religion. There is no need for temples; no need for complicated philosophy. Our own brain, our own heart is our temple; the philosophy is kindness." –Dalai Lama

Section 5 of 6:

Motivational Deep Quotes

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1. 
   "What's the best that can happen?" This is career coach Madeline Mann's personal mantra. "Keeping that mindset in place can open up a lot of opportunities where other people see obstacles," she adds. Keep reading for more encouraging quotes from wise figures like Mann:

   • "Purpose comes through exploration and taking small steps over time. Remember that there’s no correct timeline. You can forge your own unique path. Believe that." –Katie Stolp
   • "The greatest success isn’t just about reaching a goal, it’s who you become along the way." –Katie Stolp
   • "You don’t have to become something you’re not to be better than you were." –Sidney Poitier
   • "What's the best that can happen?" –Madeline Mann
   • "Two roads diverged in a wood, and I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference." –Robert Frost
   • "Ask and it will be given to you; search, and you will find; knock and the door will be opened for you." –Jesus
   • "When I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent left and could say, 'I used everything you gave me.'" –Erma Bombeck
   • "Few things can help an individual more than to place responsibility on him, and to let him know that you trust him." –Booker T. Washington
   • "Certain things catch your eye, but pursue only those that capture the heart." – Ancient Indian Proverb
   • "We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light." –Plato
   • "Teach thy tongue to say, 'I do not know,' and thou shalt progress." –Maimonides
   • "First, have a definite, clear practical ideal; a goal, an objective. Second, have the necessary means to achieve your ends; wisdom, money, materials, and methods. Third, adjust all your means to that end." –Aristotle
   • "I have been impressed with the urgency of doing. Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Being willing is not enough; we must do." –Leonardo da Vinci
   • "What’s money? A man is a success if he gets up in the morning and goes to bed at night and in between does what he wants to do." –Bob Dylan
   • "A truly rich man is one whose children run into his arms when his hands are empty." –Unknown
   • "It is not what you do for your children, but what you have taught them to do for themselves, that will make them successful human beings." –Ann Landers
   • "If you want your children to turn out well, spend twice as much time with them, and half as much money." –Abigail Van Buren
   • "If you look at what you have in life, you'll always have more. If you look at what you don't have in life, you'll never have enough." –Oprah Winfrey
   • "Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter." –Martin Luther King, Jr.
   • "It's your place in the world; it's your life. Go on and do all you can with it, and make it the life you want to live." –Mae Jemison
   • "When everything seems to be going against you, remember that the airplane takes off against the wind, not with it." –Henry Ford
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Section 6 of 6:

Short Deep Quotes

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1. 
   "Every day has potential." Another inspirational zinger from Rochestie—and a perfect quote to caption your next Instagram selfie or post about your latest achievement. Keep reading for more brief but impactful words of wisdom:

   • "Let yourself dream." –Katie Stolp
   • "Nothing is impossible, the word itself says, 'I'm possible!'" –Audrey Hepburn
   • "What you seek is what you'll find." –Taylor Rochestie
   • "Life is what we make it, always has been, always will be." –Grandma Moses
   • "The only way to do great work is to love what you do." –Steve Jobs
   • "If you can dream it, you can achieve it." –Zig Ziglar
   • "Liberty means responsibility. That is why most people dread it." –George Bernard Shaw
   • "It is never too late to be what you might have been." –George Eliot
   • "There are no traffic jams along the extra mile." –Roger Staubach
   • "I would rather die of passion than of boredom." –Vincent van Gogh
   • "You become what you believe." –Oprah Winfrey
   • "You can’t use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have." –Maya Angelou
   • "Do what you can, where you are, with what you have." –Teddy Roosevelt
   • "If you do what you’ve always done, you’ll get what you’ve always gotten." –Tony Robbins
   • "There is only one way to avoid criticism: do nothing, say nothing, and be nothing." –Aristotle
   • "Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have imagined." –Henry David Thoreau
   • "How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world." –Anne Frank
   • "If the wind will not serve, take to the oars." –Latin Proverb
   • "If you want to lift yourself up, lift up someone else." –Booker T. Washington
   • "Build your own dreams, or someone else will hire you to build theirs." –Farrah Gray
   • "Education costs money. But then so does ignorance." –Sir Claus Moser
   • "I have learned over the years that when one's mind is made up, this diminishes fear." –Rosa Parks
   • "You may be disappointed if you fail, but you are doomed if you don't try." –Beverly Sills
   • "No one can make you feel inferior without your consent." –Eleanor Roosevelt
   • "It’s not the years in your life that count. It’s the life in your years." –Abraham Lincoln
   • "Not all who wander are lost." –J. R. R. Tolkien

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