150 Quotes to Inspire the Entrepreneur in You

By summit crew Business October 26, 2022

The journey of an entrepreneur is of hard work, patience, and challenge, but it comes with great rewards. We want to inspire you to pursue your goals and achieve your dreams and we are here to help. We have curated a list of 150 quotes that are sure to inspire the entrepreneur in you. Whether you desire inspiration for success, leadership or failure, these quotes will motivate you to be a leader and innovator in your field.

What are you waiting for? Your inventory of inspiration and motivation is waiting for you down below.

Table of Contents

25 Leadership Quotes

A business can not be successful without a good leader. Effective leaders set the tone for the company, how you choose to lead can greatly impact the success of your company. Read these 25 quotes to learn how to be the best leader you can be. Find the leader in you.

If people like you, they’ll listen to you, but if they trust you, they’ll do business with you. –Zig Ziglar
Do not go where the path may lead you, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail. –Ralph Waldo Emerson
If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader. –John Quincy Adams
Leadership is an action, not a position. –Donald McGannon
Whatever you do, be different—that was the advice my mother gave me, and I can’t think of better advice for an entrepreneur. If you’re different, you will stand out. –Anita Roddick
Good business leaders create a vision, articulate the vision, passionately own the vision, and relentlessly drive it to completion. –Jack Welch
Fight for the things that you care about, but do it in a way that will lead others to join you. –Ruth Bader Ginsburg
People buy into the leader before they buy into the vision. –John C. Maxwell
The fastest way to change yourself is to hang out with people who are already the way you want to be. –Reid Hoffman
Leadership is an action, not a position. –Donald McGannon
My job is not to be easy on people. My job is to take these great people we have and to push them and make them even better. –Steve Jobs
The fastest way to change yourself is to hang out with people who are already the way you want to be. –Reid Hoffman
Successful people do what unsuccessful people are not willing to do. Don’t wish it were easier; wish you were better. -Jim Rohn
The leader is one who, out of the clutter, brings simplicity… Out of discord, harmony… And out of the difficult, opportunity. –Albert Einstein
A person who is quietly confident makes the best leader. –Fred Wilson
The ones who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones that do. –Steve Jobs
The ability to learn is the most important quality a leader can have. –Sheryl Sandberg
Communication is the most important skill any leader can possess. –Richard Branson
There are no road signs to help navigate. And in fact, no one has yet determined which side of the road we’re supposed to be on. –Steve Case
Whenever you do a thing, act as if all the world were watching. –Thomas Jefferson
What you do has far greater impact than what you say. –Stephen Covey
A man must be big enough to admit his mistakes, smart enough to profit from them, and strong enough to correct them. –John C. Maxwell
Great leaders are not defined by the absence of weakness, but rather by the presence of clear strengths. –John Zenger
Leadership is a potent combination of strategy and character. But if you must be without one, be without the strategy. –Norman Schwarzkopf
The quality of a leader is reflected in the standards they set for themselves. –Ray Kroc

25 Quotes to Measure Success

Every entrepreneur, business professional, and individual strives to be successful, but what is success and how do you achieve it? Success can mean so many different things to so many different people, but you define your own success. Allow these 25 inspirational quotes from entrepreneurs and world leaders to guide you on your journey of success.

Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning. –Bill Gates
It is better to fail in originality than to succeed in imitation. –Herman Melville
Success seems to be connected with action. Successful people keep moving. They make mistakes, but they don’t quit. –Conrad Hilton
Successful people do what unsuccessful people are not willing to do. Don’t wish it were easier; wish you were better. –Jim Rohn
Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful. –Albert Schweitzer
It is better to fail in originality than to succeed in imitation. –Herman Melville
Success is no accident. It is hard work, perseverance, learning, studying, sacrifice and most of all, love of what you are doing or learning to do. –Pele
Don’t worry about being successful but work toward being significant and success will naturally follow. –Oprah Winfrey
Eighty percent of success is showing up. –Woody Allen
The best revenge is massive success. –Frank Sinatra
Efforts and courage are not enough without purpose and direction. –John F. Kennedy
I’m convinced that about half of what separates the successful entrepreneurs from the non-successful ones is pure perseverance. –Steve Jobs
Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing. –Benjamin Franklin
There is only one way to avoid criticism: do nothing, say nothing, and be nothing. –Aristotle
There is no finish line. There are only mile markers. –Michael Ventura
Success is often achieved by those who don’t know that failure is inevitable. –Coco Chanel
Success usually comes to those who are too busy to be looking for it. –Henry David Thoreau
There is little success where there is little laughter. –Andrew Carnegie
It’s fine to celebrate success, but it is more important to heed the lessons of failure. –Bill Gates
It’s a common misconception that money is every entrepreneur’s metric for success. It’s not, and nor should it be. –Richard Branson
Success seems to be connected with action. Successful people keep moving. They make mistakes, but they don’t quit. –Conrad Hilton
Strive not to be a success, but rather to be of value. –Albert Einstein
Success is not what you have, but who you are. –Bo Bennet
I owe my success to having listened respectfully to the very best advice, and then going away and doing the exact opposite.- G. K. Chesterton
One important key to success is self-confidence. An important key to self-confidence is preparation. –Arthur Ashe

25 Quotes on Risk Taking

Your biggest enemy is yourself. Your fears, doubts, and worries hinder you from reaching your full potential. To conquer your fears you must be uncomfortable, nervous and willing to take risks. Here are 25 quotes to encourage you to take risks in your life. You don’t know what you’re capable of until you try.

There is nothing impossible to him who will try. –Alexander the Great
If you don’t go after what you want, you’ll never have it. If you don’t ask, the answer is always no. If you don’t step forward, you’re always in the same place. –Nora Roberts
Fearlessness is like a muscle. I know from my own life that the more I exercise it the more natural it becomes to not let my fears run me. –Ariana Huffington
The only thing worse than starting something and failing… is not starting something. –Seth Godin
What we fear doing most is usually what we most need to do. –Tim Ferriss
The biggest risk is not taking any risk … In a world that’s changing really quickly, the only strategy that is guaranteed to fail is not taking risks. –Mark Zuckerberg
If you are not willing to risk the usual, you will have to settle for the ordinary. –Jim Rohn
Everything you’ve ever wanted is on the other side of fear. –George Addair
Too many of us are not living our dreams because we are living our fears. –Les Brown
You may be disappointed if you fail, but you are doomed if you don’t try. –Beverly Sill
Dream big and dare to fail. –Norman Vaughan
Courage is grace under pressure. –Ernest Hemingway
Don’t let the fear of striking out hold you back. –Babe Ruth
Any time is a good time to start a company. –Ron Conway
The secret of getting ahead is getting started. -Mark Twain
You will never be completely ready. Start from wherever you are. –C.J. Hayden
In every success story, you will find someone who has made a courageous decision. –Peter F. Drucker
Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far it is possible to go. -T.S. Eliot
The dangers of life are infinite, and among them is safety.— Goethe
Test fast, fail fast, adjust fast. — Tom Peters
As ever, the accountant in me saw the risk, the entrepreneur saw the possibility. So I split the difference and kept moving forward. –Phil Knight
It’s important to be willing to make mistakes. The worst thing that can happen is you become memorable. –Sara Blakely
A ship in the harbor is safe, but that is not what ships are built for. –John A. Shedd
The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing. –Walt Disney
Limitations live only in our minds. But if we use our imaginations, our possibilities become limitless. –Jamie Paolinetti

25 Quotes for the Hard Worker

Your success is determined by you, but it does not come easy. Long hours and restless nights are all apart of making your dream a reality. Read these 15 quotes to encourage you to continue to persevere when you lose motivation.

The last 10% it takes to launch something takes as much energy as the first 90%. –Rob Kalin
Opportunities don’t happen. You create them. –Chris Grosser
I find that the harder I work, the more luck I seem to have. –Thomas Jefferson
Anything that is measured and watched, improves. –Bob Parsons
I never dreamed about success, I worked for it. –Estee Lauder
Always deliver more than expected. –Larry Page
I never dreamed about success, I worked for it. –Estee Lauder
A dream does not become reality through magic; it takes sweat, determination, and hard work. –Colin Powell
Stay hungry, stay foolish. –Steve Jobs
The way I see it, if you want the rainbow, you gotta put up with the rain. –Dolly Parton
If Plan A doesn’t work, the alphabet has 25 more letters. –Claire Cook
Today I will do what others won’t, so tomorrow I can accomplish what others can’t. –Jerry Rice
If opportunity doesn’t knock, build a door. –Milton Berle
Motivation will almost always beat mere talent. –Norman Ralph Augustine
Ability is what you’re capable of doing. Motivation determines what you do. Attitude determines how well you do it. –Lou Holtz
Timing, perseverance, and 10 years of trying will eventually make you look like an overnight success. –Biz Stone
I had to make my own living and my own opportunity! But I made it! Don’t sit down and wait for the opportunities to come. Get up and make them. –Madame C.J. Walker
Don’t be afraid to give up the good to go for the great. –John D. Rockefeller
The important thing is not being afraid to take a chance. Remember, the greatest failure is to not try. Once you find something you love to do, be the best at doing it. –Debbi Fields
Ideas are easy. Implementation is hard. –Guy Kawasaki
So often people are working hard at the wrong thing. Working on the right thing is probably more important than working hard. –Caterina Fake
Make the most of yourself by fanning the tiny, inner sparks of possibility into flames of achievement. –Golda Meir
The only place where success comes before work is in the dictionary. –Vidal Sassoon
Someone is sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago. –Warren Buffett
Ambition is the path to success. Persistence is the vehicle you arrive in. –Bill Bradley

15 Quotes to Ignite Your Passion

Do what you love, it will make the road to success much easier. When you love what you do, the hard work and struggles are much more bearable. These 15 quotes will encourage you to discover your passion and pursue it endlessly.

Be undeniably good. No marketing effort or social media buzzword can be a substitute for that. –Anthony Volodkin
If you really want to do something, you’ll find a way. If you don’t, you’ll find an excuse. -Jim Rohn
Pleasure in the job puts perfection in the work. –Aristotle
Choose a job you love and you will never have to work a day in your life. –Confucious
If you are working on something that you really care about, you don’t have to be pushed. The vision pulls you. –Steve Jobs
The more I want to get something done the less I call it work. –Richard Bach
If something is important enough, even if the odds are against you, you should still do it. –Elon Musk
The more you dream, the farther you get. –Michael Phelps
You can’t use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have. –Maya Angelou
If you want to be happy, set a goal that commands your thoughts, liberates your energy, and inspires your hopes. –Andrew Carnegie
To be successful, you have to have your heart in your business, and your business in your heart. –Thomas Watson Sr.
Desire is the key to motivation, but it’s determination and commitment to an unrelenting pursuit of your goal—a commitment to excellence—that will enable you to attain the success you seek. –Mario Andretti
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. –Steve Jobs
When you find an idea that you just can’t stop thinking about, that’s probably a good one to pursue. –Josh James
Pursue your passion, and everything else will fall into place. This is not being romantic. This is the highest order of pragmatism. –Gabby Giffords

15 Quotes on the Importance of Failure

Failure is not the end, it is only the beginning. Failing gives you the opportunity to learn and grow. Take every failure as a lesson and use it towards your success. The journey is not over. Discover 15 quotes that will inspire you to continue even when you fail.

I failed my way to success. –Thomas Edison
Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up. –Thomas Edison
By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail. –Benjamin Franklin
Failure is success if we learn from it. –Malcolm Forbes
You have to see failure as the beginning and the middle, but never entertain it as an end. –Jessica Herrin
Failure Will Never Overtake Me If My Determination To Succeed Is Strong Enough. –Og Mandino
The Only Limit To Our Realization Of Tomorrow Will Be Our Doubts Of Today. –Franklin D. Roosevelt
The greater danger for most of us lies not in setting our aim too high and falling short, but in setting our aim too low and achieving our mark. –Michelangelo
Failure is not to be feared. It is from failure that most growth comes.-Dee Hock
I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work. –Thomas Edison
The road to success and the road to failure are almost exactly the same. –Colin R. Davis
Successful people have fear, successful people have doubts, and successful people have worries. They just don’t let these feelings stop them. –T. Harv Eker
Most great people have attained their greatest success just one step beyond their greatest failure. –Napoleon Hill
The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred with dust and sweat; who strives valiantly, who errs and may fall again and again because there is no effort without error or shortcoming. –Theodore Roosevelt
Don’t worry about failure; you only have to be right once. –Drew Houston

15 Quotes on Overcoming Adversity

Hardship is inevitable, there is no way to avoid it. As an entrepreneur, you are faced with constant obstacles and adversity. When you feel like giving up, here are 15 quotes to help you get over the hump. You’re closer to success than you know.

However difficult life may seem, there is always something you can do and succeed at. –Stephen Hawking
Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts. –Winston Churchill
The stars will never align, and the traffic lights of life will never all be green at the same time. The universe doesn’t conspire against you, but it doesn’t go out of its way to line up the pins either. Conditions are never perfect. ‘Someday’ is a disease that will take your dreams to the grave with you. Pro and con lists are just as bad. If it’s important to you and you want to do it ‘eventually,’ just do it and correct course along the way. –Tim Ferriss
Obstacles don’t have to stop you. If you run into a wall, don’t turn around and give up. Figure out how to climb it, go through it, or work around it. –Michael Jordan
If there is no struggle, there is no progress. –Frederick Douglass
In the middle of every difficulty lies opportunity. –Albert Einstein
For Every Reason It’s Not Possible, There Are Hundreds Of People Who Have Faced The Same Circumstances And Succeeded. -Jack Canfield
I became successful due to several reasons. I never gave up and I never let anyone or anything get in my way. I use the power of positive thinking to tackle obstacles and challenges so they don’t defeat me… –Lillian Vernon
Don’t wait until everything is just right. It will never be perfect. There will always be challenges, obstacles, and less than perfect conditions. So what? Get started now. With each step you take, you will grow stronger and stronger, more and more skilled, more and more self-confident, and more and more successful. –Mark Victor Hansen
When times are bad is when the real entrepreneurs emerge. –Robert Kiyosaki
When you reach an obstacle, turn it into an opportunity. You have the choice. You can overcome and be a winner, or you can allow it to overcome you and be a loser. The choice is yours and yours alone. Refuse to throw in the towel. Go that extra mile that failures refuse to travel. It is far better to be exhausted from success than to be rested from failure. –Mary Kay Ash
Tough times never last, but tough people do. –Robert H. Schuller
Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you too, can become great. -Mark Twain
Success is not final; failure is not fatal: It is the courage to continue that counts. -Winston S. Churchill
Nothing will ever be attempted if all possible objections must be first overcome. –Samuel Johnson

5 Quotes to Make You Believe in Yourself

You are only as capable as what you believe. Changing your mindset can change the outcome. Entrepreneurship is both a risk and a challenge, but the first step is believing in yourself. If you are ever doubting yourself, read these 5 quotes to lift your spirits and

Every time you state what you want or believe, you’re the first to hear it. It’s a message to both you and others about what you think is possible. Don’t put a ceiling on yourself. –Oprah Winfrey
Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement. Nothing can be done without hope and confidence. –Helen Keller
All our dreams can come true if we have the courage to pursue them. –Walt Disney
Your attitude, not your aptitude, will determine your altitude. –Zig Ziglar
If you can dream it, you can do it. –Walt Disney

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We hope that you enjoyed our list of 150 quotes to inspire the entrepreneur in you. Find a quote or two to motivate you, when the going gets tough.

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