Achievement Quotes, Sayings
Unleash the power of impactful and inspiring achievement quotes to celebrate any of life’s accomplishments.
Whether it’s a graduation, career milestone, personal triumph, or well-deserved retirement, the right words can add depth, meaning, and lasting impact.
Just select a quote from our curated list below and make your congratulations truly shine. Ready to ditch the generic and embrace the extraordinary? Let’s get quoting!
10 best achievement quotes
1. The only limit to the height of your achievements is the reach of your dreams and your willingness to work hard for them.
Michelle Obama
2. Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, magic, and power in it.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
3. Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly.
Robert F. Kennedy
4. Large portions of life’s disappointments are individuals who did not understand that they were so near achievement when they surrendered.
Thomas A. Edison
5. Sometimes, carrying on, just carrying on, is the superhuman achievement.
Albert Camus
6. You just can’t beat the person who never gives up.
Babe Ruth
7. Only those who attempt the absurd can achieve the impossible.
Albert Einstein
8. You can, you should, and if you’re brave enough to start, you will.
Stephen King
9. Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement. Nothing can be done without hope and confidence.
Helen Keller
10. If you can dream it, you can do it.
Walt Disney
Achievement quotes for success
1. You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.
Wayne Gretzky
2. Success is walking from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm.
Winston Churchill
3. If you really look closely, most overnight successes took a long time.
Steve Jobs
4. There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure.
Colin Powell
5. Success is the sum of small efforts, repeated day in and day out.
Robert Collier
6. Any unforeseen challenges that crop up are only there to test your resolve on your way to ultimate success in reaching your goal.
Byron Pulsifer
7. Our goals can only be reached through a vehicle of a plan, in which we must fervently believe, and upon which we must vigorously act. There is no other route to success.
Stephen A. Brennan
About goals
8. Goals are dreams with deadlines.
Diana Scharf
9. If you’re bored with life — you don’t get up every morning with a burning desire to do things — you don’t have enough goals.
Lou Holtz
10. What you get by achieving your goals is not as important as what you become by achieving your goals.
Henry David Thoreau
11. Discipline is the bridge between goals and accomplishment.
Jim Rohn
12. When it is obvious that the goals cannot be reached, don’t adjust the goals, adjust the action steps.
Confucius
13. Without goals, and plans to reach them, you are like a ship that has set sail with no destination.
Fitzhugh Dodson
14. Setting goals is the first step in turning the invisible into the visible.
Tony Robbins
15. The trouble with not having a goal is that you can spend your life running up and down the field and never score.
Bill Copeland
About obstacles
16. I have a motto on my bedroom wall: ‘Obstacles are what you see when you take your eye off the goal.‘ Giving up is not my style. I just want to do something that’s worthwhile.
Chris Burke
17. When defeat comes, accept it as a signal that your plans are not sound, rebuild those plans, and set sail once more toward your coveted goal.
Napoleon Hill
18. Nothing stops the man who desires to achieve. Every obstacle is simply a course to develop his achievement muscle. It’s a strengthening of his powers of accomplishment.
Thomas Carlyle
Achievement quotes for students
1. Believe in yourself. You are braver than you think, more talented than you know, and capable of more than you imagine.
Roy T. Bennett
2. It doesn’t matter where you are coming from. All that matters is where you are going.
Brian Tracy
3. Who you are tomorrow begins with what you do today.
Tim Fargo
4. One part at a time, one day at a time, we can accomplish any goal we set for ourselves.
Karen Casey
5. To accomplish great things, we must not only act, but also dream; not only plan, but also believe.
Anatole France
6. Know what you want to do, hold the thought firmly, and do every day what should be done, and every sunset will see you that much nearer to your goal.
Elbert Hubbard
7. By recording your dreams and goals on paper, you set in motion the process of becoming the person you most want to be. Put your future in good hands — your own.
Mark Victor Hansen
8. You can’t hit a home run unless you step up to the plate. — You can’t catch a fish unless you put your line in the water. — You can’t reach your goals if you don’t try.
Kathy Seligman
Achievement quotes for work
1. Obstacles can’t stop you. Problems can’t stop you. Most of all, other people can’t stop you. Only you can stop you.
Jeffrey Gitomer
2. The rung of a ladder was never meant to rest upon, but only to hold a man’s foot long enough to enable him to put the other somewhat higher.
Thomas Henry Huxley
3. We do not develop anything with one giant step. No matter who you are, or what you do, each one of us had had to take a lot of individual steps to accomplish a task, a job, a career, or even a hobby.
Catherine Pulsifer
4. Focused, hard work is the real key to success. Keep your eyes on the goal, and just keep taking the next step towards completing it. If you aren’t sure which way to do something, do it both ways and see which works better.
John Carmack
5. You never change your life until you step out of your comfort zone; change begins at the end of your comfort zone.
Roy T. Bennett
6. Whenever you want to achieve something, keep your eyes open, concentrate and make sure you know exactly what it is you want. No one can hit their target with their eyes closed.
Paulo Coelho
For leadership
7. If you want to be happy, set a goal that commands your thoughts, liberates your energy and inspires your hopes.
Andrew Carnegie
8. People with goals succeed because they know where they’re going.
Earl Nightingale
9. I don’t care how much power, brilliance or energy you have, if you don’t harness it and focus it on a specific target, and hold it there, you’re never going to accomplish as much as your ability warrants.
Zig Ziglar
Achievement quotes for sports
1. Set realistic goals, keep re-evaluating, and be consistent.
Venus Williams
2. Things work out best for those who make the best of how things work out.
John Wooden
3. 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.
Pelé
4. Success isn’t always about greatness. It’s about consistency. Consistent hard work leads to success. Greatness will come.
Dwayne The Rock Johnson
5. You need lofty goals. Then cement it with a great work ethic.
Jerry West
6. Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can.
Arthur Ashe
7. There will be obstacles. — There will be doubters. — There will be mistakes.
But with hard work, there are no limits.
Michael Phelps
8. Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do.
John Wooden
For teams
9. You need to have unbound enthusiasm for what you’re building. Energy is contagious, so your team and everyone you interact with feels it.
Tyler Haney
10. The truth is that teamwork is at the heart of great achievement.
John C. Maxwell
Achievement quotes for life
1. One of the secrets of life is to make stepping stones out of stumbling blocks.
Jack Penn
2. There is no short cut to achievement. Life requires thorough preparation — veneer isn’t worth anything.
George Washington Carver
3. You should set goals beyond your reach so you always have something to live for.
Ted Turner
4. Life is not easy for any of us. But what of that? We must have perseverance and above all confidence in ourselves. We must believe that we are gifted for something and that this thing must be attained.
Marie Curie
5. If a goal is worth having, it’s worth blocking out the time in your day-to-day life necessary to achieve it.
Jill Koenig
6. Many people fail in life, not for lack of ability or brains or even courage but simply because they have never organized their energies around a goal.
Elbert Hubbard
7. To be what we are, and to become what we are capable of becoming, is the only end of life.
Robert Louis Stevenson
8. Never throughout history has a man who lived a life of ease left a name worth remembering.
Theodore Roosevelt
9. Without some goals and some efforts to reach it, no man can live.
John Dewey
Short achievement quotes
1. The roughest roads often lead to the top.
Christina Aguilera
2. Don’t mistake activity with achievement.
John Wooden
3. Achievement has no color.
Abraham Lincoln
4. You must do the things you think you cannot do.
Eleanor Roosevelt
5. Begin with the end in mind.
Stephen Covey
6. If you can’t do great things, do small things in a great way.
Napoleon Hill
7. Success is the progressive realization of a worthy goal or ideal.
Earl Nightingale
8. A dream becomes a goal when action is taken toward its achievement.
Bo Bennett
Famous achievement quotes
1. Without continual growth and progress, such words as improvement, achievement, and success have no meaning.
Benjamin Franklin
2. My most brilliant achievement was my ability to be able to persuade my wife to marry me.
Winston Churchill
3. It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit.
Harry S. Truman
4. Happiness is not in the mere possession of money; it lies in the joy of achievement, in the thrill of creative effort.
Franklin D. Roosevelt
5. The greatest moments in life are not concerned with selfish achievements, but rather with the things we do for others.
Walt Disney
6. You don’t have to be a fantastic hero to do certain things — to compete. You can be just an ordinary chap, sufficiently motivated to reach challenging goals.
Edmund Hillary
7. Look at a day when you are supremely satisfied at the end. It’s not a day when you lounge around doing nothing; it’s a day you’ve had everything to do and you’ve done it.
Margaret Thatcher
8. Simplicity is the final achievement. After one has played a vast quantity of notes and more notes, it is simplicity that emerges as the crowning reward of art.
Frederic Chopin
From celebrities
9. Stay focused, go after your dreams and keep moving toward your goals.
LL Cool J
10. If something is important enough, even if the odds are against you, you should still do it.
Elon Musk
11. Decide whether or not the goal is worth the risks involved. If it is, stop worrying.
Amelia Earhart
12. Winners are losers who got up and gave it one more try.
Dennis DeYoung
13. I can’t change the direction of the wind, but I can adjust my sails to always reach my destination.
Jimmy Dean
14. Show me a person who has never made a mistake and I’ll show you someone who has never achieved much.
Joan Collins
From famous authors
15. Never give up, for that is just the place and time that the tide will turn.
Harriet Beecher Stowe
16. If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them.
Henry David Thoreau
17. We aim above the mark to hit the mark.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Inspirational achievement quotes
1. If my mind can conceive it,
My heart can believe it,
I know I can achieve it!
Jesse Jackson
2. The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.
Eleanor Roosevelt
3. Believe in yourself! Have faith in your abilities! Without a humble but reasonable confidence in your own powers you cannot be successful or happy.
Norman Vincent Peale
4. Aim for the moon. If you miss, you may hit a star.
W. Clement Stone
5. Press forward. Do not stop, do not linger in your journey, but strive for the mark set before you.
George Whitefield
6. Don’t watch the clock; do what it does. Keep going.
Sam Levenson
7. All our dreams can come true if we have the courage to pursue them.
Walt Disney
8. If there is no struggle, there is no progress.
Frederick Douglass
9. Where there is a will, there is a way. If there is a chance in a million that you can do something, anything, to keep what you want from ending, do it. Pry the door open or, if need be, wedge your foot in that door and keep it open.
Pauline Kael
Motivational sayings
10. Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any other.
Abraham Lincoln
11. One way to keep momentum going is to have constantly greater goals.
Michael Korda
12. Don’t let others tell you what you can’t do. Don’t let the limitations of others limit your vision. If you can remove your self-doubt and believe in yourself, you can achieve what you never thought possible.
Roy T. Bennett
13. Big achievements come one small advantage at a time, one step at a time, one day at time.
Jim Rohn
14. Why should you continue going after your dreams? Because seeing the look on the faces of the people who said you couldn’t… will be priceless.
Kevin Ngo
15. Do not wait; the time will never be ‘just right.’ Start where you stand, and work with whatever tools you may have at your command, and better tools will be found as you go along.
Napoleon Hill
Achievement attitude quotes
1. The question isn’t who’s going to let me; it’s who is going to stop me.
Ayn Rand
2. Nothing is impossible, the word itself says ‘I’m possible’!
Audrey Hepburn
3. When your desires are strong enough, you will appear to possess superhuman powers to achieve.
Napoleon Hill
4. There is only one thing that makes a dream impossible to achieve: the fear of failure.
Paulo Coelho
About passion
5. Every achievement is servitude. It compels us to higher achievement.
Albert Camus
6. When you know what you want and you want it bad enough, you’ll find a way to get it.
Jim Rohn
7. The starting point of all achievement is desire.
Napoleon Hill
8. What the mind can conceive and believe, and the heart desire, you can achieve.
Norman Vincent Peale
Make achievements shine with the perfect quote
Celebrate life’s milestones and achievements with impactful words. These inspiring quotes are perfect for every occasion — from graduations to career advancements, personal fitness triumphs, and well-deserved retirements.
Three steps to say it right:
1. Express heartfelt congratulations: Choose a quote that resonates with the specific achievement and adds a personal touch to your message.
2. Spice up greetings: Inject quotes into greeting cards, social media posts, or handwritten notes to make them truly memorable.
3. Amplify social media engagement: Use quotes as Instagram captions to add meaning and context to your celebratory posts.
We’ve got you covered! Find the perfect quote for:
- Graduation: Mark this momentous occasion with words of wisdom and encouragement for the future.
- Education: Motivate the love of learning and celebrate academic achievements.
- Internships: Welcome young professionals into their careers with inspiring messages.
- Promotions: Recognize career growth and acknowledge dedication and hard work.
- New jobs: Celebrate new beginnings and exciting career paths.
- Retirement: Express gratitude for an accomplished career and wish them a relaxing future.
- Weight loss: Honor their commitment to personal goals and celebrate their success.
- Health goals: Recognize their dedication to improving their well-being and achieving health milestones.
- Fitness: Highlight their passion for fitness and congratulate them on reaching their goals.
- Sports: Applaud their athletic achievements and sportsmanship.
Let these quotes add shine to every achievement!
Additional tips:
- For an even more personal touch, tailor the quote to the individual’s specific accomplishment or interests.
- Consider the recipient’s personality and choose a quote that resonates with their style.
- Don’t hesitate to add a personal message or anecdote alongside the quote.
Thank you for reading these inspirational achievement quotes. For more inspiration, check out these quote lists:
By Greg Johnson | Published 2/14/2024
