Being motivated seems to be something that we all long for but it is not always an easy thing to achieve. Our desire to be happy and to find our life’s purpose often leaves us wandering down different paths trying to achieve happiness.
Sometimes the best place to find what we are looking for is inside a good book. It makes us feel like we’re not alone in our quest for motivation and self-esteem, but flipping through self-help books for inspiration can be challenging.
Let’s face it, choosing a self-help book can be difficult. They just aren’t as compelling as the latest novel on the shelf. Fortunately, it is not necessary! If it’s a little motivation you’re looking for , I’ve put together a few self-help quotes from some of the best-selling personal development books to help you achieve your big dreams and goals.
Table of Contents
48 self-help phrases
There are a number of amazing personal development books out there and in many of them there are some great gems of wisdom. Below you will find the phrases that I have considered the most inspiring.
1. “If you’re insecure, guess what? The rest of the world is too. Don’t overestimate the competition and underestimate yourself. You are better than you think.”
Timothy Ferriss – “The 4-Hour Workweek”
2. “When we cannot change the situation we are facing, the challenge is to change ourselves.”
Viktor E Frankl – “Man’s Search for Meaning”
3. “Time is not precious at all because it is an illusion. What you perceive as precious is not time but the only point that is out of time: The Now. That is really precious. The more you focus on past and future time, the more you will miss the Now, the most precious thing there is.”
Eckhart Tolle – “The Power of Now”
4. “Winners are not afraid of losing but losers are. Failure is part of the process of success. People who avoid failure also avoid success.”
Robert Kiyosaki – “Rich Dad Poor Dad”
5. “What would you do if you weren’t afraid?”
Spencer Johnson – “Who Moved My Cheese?”
6. “How you start your day is how you live your day. How you live your day is how you live your life.”
Louise L. Hay – “You can heal your life”
7. “It is not what you have or who you are or where you are or what you are doing that makes you happy or unhappy. It’s what you think about it.”
Dale Carnegie – “How to Win Friends and Influence People”
8. “What you do every day matters more than what you do once in a while.”
Gretchen Rubin – “Goal: Happiness”
9. “80% of the obstacles that are preventing you from achieving your goals are internal.”
Brian Tracy – “Swallow That Toad”
10. “All men have fears but the brave abandon their fears and advance, sometimes to death but always to victory.”
Dale Carnegie – “How to Win Friends and Influence People”
11. “Sow a thought, reap an action; Sow an action, reap a habit. Sow a habit, reap a character; sow a character, reap a destiny.”
Stephen R. Covey – “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People”
12. “Those who believe they can move mountains, do. Those who think they can’t, can’t. Belief activates the power to do so.”
David J. Schwartz – “The Magic of Thinking Big”
13. “A person’s success in life can usually be measured by the number of uncomfortable conversations he or she is willing to have.”
Timothy Ferriss – “The 4-Hour Workweek”
14. “It is not what happens to us, but our response to what happens to us that hurts us.”
Stephen Covey – “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People”
15. “We are products of our past, but we don’t have to be prisoners of it.”
Rick Warren – “The Purpose Driven Life: What Am I Here On Earth For?”
16. “Knowing others is intelligence, knowing yourself is true wisdom. Mastering others is strength, mastering oneself is true power.”
Lao Tzu – “Tao Te Ching”
17. “The admission of ignorance is often the first step in our education.”
Stephen R. Covey – “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People”
18. “When defeat comes, accept it as a sign that your plans are unsound, rebuild those plans, and set sail once more for your coveted goal.”
Napoleon Hill – “Think and Grow Rich”
19. “It is only because of problems that we grow mentally and spiritually.”
M. Scott Peck – “The Road Less Travelled”
20. “I will suppress all hatred, envy, jealousy, selfishness and cynicism, developing in me love towards all humanity because I know that a negative attitude towards others can never bring me success.”
Napoleon Hill – “Think and Grow Rich”
21. “Any action is often better than no action, especially if you have been stuck in an unhappy situation for a long time. If it’s a mistake, at least you learn something, in which case it’s no longer a mistake. If you stay stuck, you won’t learn anything.”
Eckhart Tolle – “The Power of Now”
22. “Be grateful for what you have now. When you start thinking about all the good things you can be thankful for, you will be surprised at the endless thoughts that come to you about things you can be thankful for.”
Rhonda Byrne – “The Secret”
23. “Hellen Keller became deaf, dumb and blind after she was born. Despite her terrible misfortune, she has written her name in indelible letters on the pages of the history of the great. Her whole life has been the demonstration that no one is defeated until they accept defeat as a reality.”
Napoleon Hill – “Think and Grow Rich”
24. “Think you are weak, think you lack what it takes, think you are going to lose, think you are second class: think this way and you are doomed to mediocrity.”
David J. Schwartz – “The magic of thinking big”
25. “Everyone in the world is looking for happiness, and there is a sure way to find it. That is controlling your thoughts. Happiness does not depend on external conditions. It depends on the internal conditions.”
Dale Carnegie – “How to Win Friends and Influence People”
26. “We all have something we must do. Your genius will shine and happiness will fill your life, the moment you discover your higher purpose and direct all your energies towards it.”
Robin Sharma – “The monk who sold his Ferrari”
27. “There is a difference between wanting something and being ready to receive it. Nobody is ready for something until they believe they can acquire it. The state of mind must be a belief, not a mere hope or wish. Open-mindedness is essential to belief.”
Napoleon Hill – “Think and Grow Rich”
28. “There is a truth deep within you that has been waiting for you to discover it and the truth is this: you deserve all the things that life has to offer.”
Rhonda Byrne – “The Secret”
29. “Focus on being productive instead of just being busy.”
Timothy Ferriss – “The 4-Hour Workweek”
30. “Until you value yourself, you will not value your time. Until you value your time, you won’t do anything with it.”
M. Scott Peck – “The Road Less Travelled”
31. “You’re the average of the five people you hang out with the most, so don’t underestimate the effects of your pessimistic, unambitious, or disorganized friends. If someone isn’t making you stronger, they’re making you weaker.”
Timothy Ferriss – “The 4-Hour Workweek”
32. “Whoever has truly loved, can never lose completely. Love is capricious and temperamental. Its nature is ephemeral and transitory. He comes when he pleases, and leaves without warning. Accept and enjoy while it remains, but don’t worry about its departure. Worry will never bring it back.”
Napoleon Hill – “Think and Grow Rich”
33. “If I really want to improve the situation, I can work on the only thing I have control over: myself.”
Stephen R. Covey – “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People”
34. “Keep your thoughts and energies directed forward toward the things you can do to improve your life, and let the rest take its course.”
Brian Tracy – “Swallow That Toad”
35. “What you fear is never as terrible as you imagine. The fear that you let grow in your mind is much worse than the real situation.”
Spencer Johnson – “Who Moved My Cheese?”
36. “Look at things not as they are, but as they can become. Visualization adds value to everything. A great thinker always visualizes what can be done in the future. He is not stuck with the present.”
David J. Schwartz – “The magic of thinking big”
37. “The way to happiness: keep your heart free from hate and your mind free from worry. Live simply; Wait a second; gives a lot Fill your heart with love; spread joy. Forget yourself, think of others. Try this for a week and you will be surprised.”
Norman Vincent Peale – “The power of positive thinking”
38. “Learn to use your emotions to think, but don’t think with your emotions.”
Robert T. Kiyosaki – “Rich Dad Poor Dad”
39. “One of the best ways to make yourself happy is to make others happy. One of the best ways to make others happy is to be happy with yourself.”
Gretchen Rubin – “Goal: Happiness”
40. “To enjoy life, you don’t need extravagant nonsense, but you do need to control your time and realize that most things are not as serious as you think they are.”
Timothy Ferriss – “The 4-Hour Workweek”
41. “What stops most people is not the quality of their ideas, but their lack of belief in themselves. You have to live your life as if you are already where you want to be.”
Russell Simmons – Do it!
42. “Don’t take anything personally. Nothing others do is for you. What others say and do is a projection of your own reality, your own dream. When you are immune to the opinions of others, you will not be the victim of unnecessary suffering.”
Miguel Ruiz – “The four agreements”
43. “The personal history of those who succeed shows us, over and over again, that the quality of life is not determined by what happens to us, but by what we do in the face of what happens to us.”
Anthony Robbins – “Unlimited Power”
44. “What we call our destiny is truly our character and that character can be modified. The knowledge that we are responsible for our actions and attitudes should not discourage us, because it also means that we are free to change this destiny.”
Anaïs Nin – “The Diary of Anaïs Nin”
45. “Our only limitations are the ones we set in our own minds.”
Napoleon Hill – “Think and Grow Rich”
46. “Successful people are those who are willing to delay gratification and make sacrifices in the short term in order to enjoy much greater rewards in the long run. Unsuccessful people, on the other hand, think more about short-term pleasure and immediate gratification and less about the long-term future.”
Brian Tracy – “Swallow That Toad”
47. “There is only one thing that makes a dream impossible to achieve: the fear of failure.”
Paulo Coelho – “The Alchemist”
48. “Neville recommends at the end of each day, before going to bed, we review the events of the day. If an event or moment has not been as we expected, relive it in your mind as you would like it to have been. When you recreate those events just the way you want, you are clearing that day’s frequency and sending out a new signal with its corresponding frequency for tomorrow. You have intentionally created new images for your future. It is never too late to change those images.”
Rhonda Byrne “The Secret”
I hope you have enjoyed these amazing self-help phrases. Be sure to share them with your friends and family to spread some inspiration into their lives too.