If personal growth is the boat you sail to success, then inspiration is the tide and wind that will accelerate your journey.
Although there are many ways to define success, you will only find true happiness and fulfilment when you focus on growing and evolving your soul,
Focus, too, is key, as life has many wonderful facets to offer and it is easy to get distracted.
Some of the best inspiration comes from those who have already become successful.
Below you find some inspiring personal growth quotes and a short intro to the legends behind them to keep your “boat” sailing pretty and navigate it to success.
20 Legendary Personal Growth Quotes
1. Viktor E. Frankl
When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves.
Viktor Frankl was an Austrian neurologist, psychologist, and survivor of the Holocaust. He achieved his personal success with his best-selling book, Man’s Search for Meaning. He taught us strive to find meaning in things that make life worth living,
2. The 14th Dalai Lama
In our struggle for freedom, truth is the only weapon we possess.
Lhamo Thondup, the 14th Dalai Lama, is a Tibetan Buddhist monk of the Gelug school. He’s known worldwide for his wisdom and personal growth quotes. Meanwhile, he has authored many life-changing books. His major teachings are tolerance, compassion, and contentment.
3. Eckhart Tolle
Life will give you whatever experience is most helpful for the evolution of your consciousness.
Eckhart Tolle is a spiritual teacher who had a spiritual awakening after battling severe depression. He decided to become a spiritual teacher and inform others of this awakening through his books, like The Power of Now and A New Earth.
His primary teaching is that you have access to complete bliss in the everlasting moment of now.
4. Mark Manson
Who you are is defined by what you’re willing to struggle for. This is the most simple and basic component of life: our struggles determine our successes.
To be happy we need something to solve. Happiness is, therefore, a form of action.
Mark Manson is an author of two books, The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck and Models.
He teaches the importance of removing our desires of the superficial and focusing on what really matters in life. He teaches about how to step into happiness.
5. James Clear
If you want to make a masterpiece, you have to be willing to create a little garbage along the way.
Becoming the type of person you want to become – someone who lives by a stronger standard, someone who believes in themselves, someone who can be counted on by the people that matter to them – is about the daily process you follow and not the ultimate product you achieve.
James is an author of both Transform Your Habits and Master Creativity. He specializes in studying successful people and the habits that make them successful, and has a variety of personal growth quotes that shed light on the path to success.
6. Srikumar Rao
Life is a university and you never graduate. Accept that whatever happens to you, no matter how terrible, is there to teach you. Your job is to learn and do what you have to.
Dr. Srikumar Rao is the founder of the revolutionary Creativity and Personal Mastery course, which he used to teach at some of the best business schools in the world including Columbia, Haas, Kellogg, University of California at Berkeley, and London Business School. The course covered his pioneering work in discovering the connection between self-awareness and happiness, as well as work-life success. At Mindvalley he teaches extreme resilience with his Quest for Personal Mastery.
7. Katrina Mayer
Believe in your dreams. They were given to you for a reason.
She is the author of Wholarian Vision and The Mustard Seed Way. She left her high-paying executive position to become an author and keynote speaker.
Katrina teaches that small changes in your life that can make a big difference, especially regarding your perspective.
8. Steve Maraboli
As I look back on my life, I realize that every time I thought I was being rejected from something good, I was actually being redirected to something better.
Steve is the author of many books and is known for his speeches and presence on social media. Steve teaches mainly on the subjects of self-empowerment and self-help.
9. Mandy Hale
You don’t always need to plan. Sometimes you just need to breathe, trust, let go, and see what happens.
Mandy’s personal growth quotes aim to empower single women to live the best life they can. She is the author of Beautiful Uncertainty and The Single Woman.
10. Tony Gaskins
If you don’t build your dream, someone will hire you to help build theirs.
This author and speaker made his success in his early twenties. He began with teachings on love and relationships and later expanded to entrepreneurship and business.
11. Stephen Cove
I am not a product of my circumstances. I am a product of my decisions.
Stephen Covey is a professor, and the author of the famous, 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. He emphasizes the importance of good habits and explains how they lead to success.
12. Zig Ziglar
Of course motivation is not permanent. But then, neither is bathing; but it is something you should do on a regular basis. You can have everything in life you want if you will just help enough other people get what they want.
Zig Ziglar is an author of many books and is a powerful speaker. His personal growth quotes express teachings in business, personal efficiency, and effectiveness.
13. Anthony Robbins
… how true it is that most people overestimate what they can accomplish in a year — and underestimate what they can achieve in a decade!
Anthony (A.K.A. Tony) Robbins is a powerful motivational speaker and life coach, best known for his book Awaken the Giant Within.
He helps people overcome their psychological obstacles and realize their value. As well, he empowers people to take control of their lives.
14. Jane Goodall
What you do makes a difference, and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make.
Jane is well known for her extensive research on chimpanzees and her contributions to conservation and ecological activism. She founded the Jane Goodall Institute, recognized for it’s community-centered conservation and development programs.
15. Robin Sharma
The swiftest way to triple your success is to double your investment in personal development.
Robin Sharma authored The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari series. He speaks on leadership and personal growth.
16. Bernice Johnson Reagon
Life’s challenges are not supposed to paralyze you, they’re supposed to help you discover who you are.
Bernice is the founder of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee Freedom Singers, and is a social rights activist. Her movement used the power of song and music to raise awareness, change, and influence social issues.
17. Allan Rufus
Your inner strength is your outer foundation.
Allan is the author of The Masters Sacred Knowledge. He believes you can grow and learn in astonishing ways, every day.
18. Russell Simmons
What holds most people back isn’t the quality of their ideas, but their lack of faith in themselves. You have to live your life as if you are already where you want to be.
Russell is the co-founder of the music label Def Jam. He is also known for his activism toward animal cruelty.
19. Bo Bennett
Those who improve with age embrace the power of personal growth and personal achievement and begin to replace youth with wisdom, innocence with understanding, and lack of purpose with self-actualization.
Bo has authored many books, including Logically Fallacious. On his Social Psychology Network, he uses psychology to positively influence the lives of others.
20. Vishen Lakhiani
Epic things start with small humble steps. Pay respect to your beginnings. And if you’re just starting out, know that it’s ok to be sucky. To be small. To be messy and chaotic. Just make sure to never stop dreaming.
Vishen Lakhiani is the founder of Mindvalley, the education company behind many of the world’s top apps, festivals, events, courses, and more in the field of human transformation and personal growth.
