Short Quotes, Sayings & Quips

Short takes about love, life, friendship and inspiration

Short quotes and sayings are an easy way to spice up social media posts, writing assignments, business presentations, and general conversation. Discover concise thoughts and statements about everything from love and romance to inspiration and success.

Short quotes, well said

The poet Kahlil Gibran once said, “The obvious is that which is never seen until someone expresses it simply.” In that spirit, we present these short quotes from famous authors, artists, politicians, philosophers, and celebrities.

Love and romance quotes short

Don’t let words fail the true expression of your heart. These short quotes about love, relationships, and romance can be used in Valentine’s messages, wedding anniversaries, birthdays and love notes. Add a special touch to your message of love!

Love is like the wind, you can’t see it but you can feel it.
Nicholas Sparks

It is not a lack of love, but a lack of friendship that makes unhappy marriages.
Friedrich Nietzsche

If you judge people, you have no time to love them.
Mother Teresa

All you need is love. But a little chocolate now and then doesn’t hurt.
Charles M. Schulz

Not all of us can do great things. But we can do small things with great love.
Mother Teresa

If I had a flower for every time I thought of you… I could walk through my garden forever.
Alfred Tennyson

A wise girl kisses but doesn’t love, listens but doesn’t believe, and leaves before she is left.
Marilyn Monroe

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Sayings about love

Give a little love to a child, and you get a great deal back.
John Ruskin

An eye for an eye will only make the whole world blind.
Mahatma Gandhi

All you need is love.
John Lennon

Yet it is only love which sets us free.
Maya Angelou

It’s far better to be unhappy alone than unhappy with someone — so far.
Marilyn Monroe

We love the things we love for what they are.
Robert Frost

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Death ends a life, not a relationship.
Mitch Albom

A gift consists not in what is done or given, but in the intention of the giver or doer.
Seneca

Where there is love there is life.
Mahatma Gandhi

Nobody has ever measured, not even poets, how much the heart can hold.
Zelda Fitzgerald

Some people care too much. I think it’s called love.
A.A. Milne

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Short quotes about living

These statements about everyday life speak to the common experiences we all share. Good for a smile or a knowing nod.

It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live.
J.K. Rowling

Don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened.
Dr. Seuss

To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all.
Oscar Wilde

Life is what happens to us while we are making other plans.
Allen Saunders

The art of achievement is the art of making life—your life—a masterpiece.
Wilferd Peterson

We read to know we’re not alone.
William Nicholson

It matters not what someone is born, but what they grow to be.
J.K. Rowling

Living an experience, a particular fate, is accepting it fully.
Albert Camus

A day without laughter is a day wasted.
Nicolas Chamfort

You only pass through this life once, you don’t come back for an encore.
Elvis Presley

Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep moving.
Albert Einstein

Speak the truth, do not become angered, and give when asked, even be it a little.
Buddha

Sayings and thoughts about living

Reality continues to ruin my life. Bill Watterson

To the well-organized mind, death is but the next great adventure.
J.K. Rowling

Without music, life would be a mistake.
Friedrich Nietzsche

Life is not a football game to be watched.
W. Clement Stone

The ability to influence people without irritating them is the most profitable skill you can learn.
Napoleon Hill

A room without books is like a body without a soul.
Marcus Tullius Cicero

Worrying is like paying a debt you don’t owe.
Mark Twain

The best of all the preachers are the men who live their creeds.
Edgar A. Guest

Tact is the ability to describe others as they see themselves.
Abraham Lincoln

Experience has been a stern but excellent teacher.
Og Mandino

I love deadlines. I love the whooshing noise they make as they go by.
Douglas Adams

As I grow older, I pay less attention to what men say. I just watch what they do.
Andrew Carnegie

I have always imagined that Paradise will be a kind of library.
Jorge Luis Borges

Great takes on a life

Fill up your life with a few good laughs every day.
M. K. Soni

Without work, all life goes rotten, but when work is soulless, life stifles and dies.
Albert Camus

Life isn’t about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself.
George Bernard Shaw

All kids develop at different rates and at different stages.
Jacquie McTaggart

To die will be an awfully big adventure.
J.M. Barrie

Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new.
Albert Einstein

It’s no use going back to yesterday because I was a different person then.
Lewis Carroll

Books are an uniquely portable magic.
Stephen King

Never tell the truth to people who are not worthy of it.
Mark Twain

Check out more short quotes about life and living here

If you don’t know where you’re going, any road’ll take you there.
George Harrison

A clever person solves a problem. A wise person avoids it.
Albert Einstein

May you live every day of your life.
Jonathan Swift

When someone shows you who they are, believe them; the first time.
Maya Angelou

Cute short quotes

Sometimes a quote is best when it doesn’t take itself too seriously. This collection of quips stays light on its feet and packs a gentle punch!

Truly how wonderful the mind of a child is.
Yoda

So many books, so little time.
Frank Zappa

You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough.
Mae West

If you don’t stand for something you will fall for anything.
Gordon A. Eadie

We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.
Oscar Wilde

Some day you will be old enough to start reading fairy tales again.
C.S. Lewis

A woman is like a tea bag; you never know how strong it is until it’s in hot water.
Eleanor Roosevelt

Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you’ll land among the stars.
Les Brown

I solemnly swear that I am up to no good.
J.K. Rowling

Tears are the body’s raindrops of emotion.
Robert M. Hensel

My thoughts are stars I cannot fathom into constellations.
John Green

If you can’t explain it to a six-year-old, you don’t understand it yourself.
Albert Einstein

Sometimes the questions are complicated and the answers are simple.
Dr. Seuss

Read even more cute short quotes here

You can never get a cup of tea large enough or a book long enough to suit me.
C.S. Lewis

If you’re gonna be two-faced at least make one of them pretty.
Marilyn Monroe

I’m a slow walker, but I never walk back.
Abraham Lincoln

Never memorize something that you can look up.
Albert Einstein

All the world is made of faith, and trust, and pixie dust.
J.M. Barrie

Funny quotes and humorous takes

In a twist of the famous adage, Mark Twain said: “Humor is the good-natured side of a truth.” These truthful statements are good for a chuckle or two.

Be yourself; everyone else is already taken.
Oscar Wilde

I am free of all prejudice. I hate everyone equally.
W.C. Fields

The man who does not read has no advantage over the man who cannot read.
Mark Twain

Always forgive your enemies; nothing annoys them so much.
Oscar Wilde

Go to heaven for the climate and hell for the company.
Benjamin Franklin Wade

The difference between genius and stupidity is: genius has its limits.
Alexandre Dumas-fils

I have never let my schooling interfere with my education.
Mark Twain

Never rest on your laurels. Nothing wilts faster than a laurel sat upon.
Mary Kay

If you can make a woman laugh, you can make her do anything.
Marilyn Monroe

Some people never go crazy. What truly horrible lives they must lead.
Charles Bukowski

Only a mediocre person is always at his best.
W. Somerset Maugham

The reason I talk to myself is because I’m the only one whose answers I accept.
George Carlin

I love mankind … it’s people I can’t stand!!
Charles M. Schulz

See more humorous and funny short quotes here

′Classic′ – a book which people praise and don’t read.
Mark Twain

Creativity is knowing how to hide your sources.
C.E.M. Joad

Those who believe in telekinetics, raise my hand.
Kurt Vonnegut

I don’t want to go to heaven. None of my friends are there.
Oscar Wilde

There are no good girls gone wrong – just bad girls found out.
Mae West

I would challenge you to a battle of wits, but I see you are unarmed!
William Shakespeare

Deep and meaningful short quotes

These short statements dive deep and leave us pondering. What is the meaning of life? Who will I become? Why do we exist? Find the answers below!

Everything you can imagine is real.
Pablo Picasso

The fool doth think he is wise, but the wise man knows himself to be a fool.
William Shakespeare

That which does not kill us makes us stronger.
Friedrich Nietzsche

Not all those who wander are lost.
J.R.R. Tolkien

The best thinking has been done in solitude. The worst has been done in turmoil.
Thomas Edison

There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.
Maya Angelou

In life, all good things come hard, but wisdom is the hardest to come by.
Lucille Ball

We don’t see things as they are, we see them as we are.
Anaïs Nin

I’m not upset that you lied to me, I’m upset that from now on I can’t believe you.
Friedrich Nietzsche

Knowledge is only potential power.
Napoleon Hill

Thoughtful sayings

Be where you are; otherwise, you will miss your life.
Buddha

There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed.
Ernest Hemingway

Common sense and nature will do a lot to make the pilgrimage of life not too difficult.
W. Somerset Maugham

It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are.
E.E. Cummings

We design our lives through the power of choices.
Richard Bach

But better to get hurt by the truth than comforted with a lie.
Khaled Hosseini

Our minds are the steering mechanisms of our lives.
Earl Nightingale

We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be.
Kurt Vonnegut

Be flexible so you can change with change.
Bruce Lee

When you are through changing, you are through.
Bruce Barton

The truth is rarely pure and never simple.
Oscar Wilde

We tend to get what we expect.
Norman Vincent Peale

Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom.
Aristotle

Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.
Ernest Hemingway

Self-reflection quotations

The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing.
Socrates

I became insane, with long intervals of horrible sanity.
Edgar Allan Poe

Ability is of little account without opportunity.
Lucille Ball

All that we see or seem is but a dream within a dream.
Edgar Allan Poe

Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored.
Aldous Huxley

A man is but what he knows.
Francis Bacon

In the depth of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer.
Albert Camus

We write to taste life twice, in the moment and in retrospect.
Anais Nin

Check out these additional short deep quotes and sayings

Criticism is easy; achievement is difficult.
Winston Churchill

Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind.
Albert Einstein

Man is the only creature who refuses to be what he is.
Albert Camus

The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves.
William Shakespeare

Positive sayings to lift your spirits

At times, we just need a pat on the back and the thought that it all will be alright in the end. These short sayings will put a positive spin on your outlook on life.

The more I help others to succeed, the more I succeed.
Ray Kroc

If you tell the truth, you don’t have to remember anything.
Mark Twain

I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.
Thomas A. Edison

It is never too late to be what you might have been.
George Eliot

A man’s true wealth is the good he does in the world.
Kahlil Gibran

The time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time.
Marthe Troly-Curtin

Enjoy all you have while pursuing all you want.
Jim Rohn

For every minute you are angry you lose sixty seconds of happiness.
Ralph Waldo Emerson

If Home is where the heart is then may your Home be blessed…
John McLeod

The more you praise and celebrate your life, the more there is in life to celebrate.
Oprah Winfrey

I like the dreams of the future better than the history of the past.
Thomas Jefferson

Optimistic sayings

Logic will get you from A to Z; imagination will get you everywhere.
Albert Einstein

As my knowledge of things grew I felt more and more the delight of the world I was in.
Helen Keller

No one is useless in this world who lightens the burden of it to anyone else.
Charles Dickens

It doesn’t matter where you are coming from. All that matters is where you are going.
Brian Tracy

There is no friend as loyal as a book.
Ernest Hemingway

Never talk defeat. Use words like hope, belief, faith, victory.
Norman Vincent Peale

Of all the senses, sight must be the most delightful.
Helen Keller

Your worth consists in what you are and not in what you have.
Thomas Edison

Happy is the man who can make a living by his hobby.
George Bernard Shaw

Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new.
Albert Einstein

All human beings react positively to praise.
Jacquie McTaggart

Take calculated risks. Act boldly and thoughtfully. Be an agile company.
Ray Kroc

Don’t find fault, find a remedy; anybody can complain.
Henry Ford

You can never be overdressed or overeducated.
Oscar Wilde

Always do your best. What you plant now, you will harvest later.
Og Mandino

I believe that nothing in life is unimportant every moment can be a beginning.
John McLeod

I enjoy every day because I choose to.
Tony Clark

Wit beyond measure is man’s greatest treasure.
J.K. Rowling

Good Short Quotes

Pessimism never won any battle.
Dwight Eisenhower

Quality is never an accident. It is always the result of intelligent effort.
John Ruskin

Check out more short positive quotations here

In the long run, the sharpest weapon of all is a kind and gentle spirit.
Anne Frank

Happiness is not something ready-made. It comes from your own actions.
Dalai Lama XIV

Do not look for approval except for the consciousness of doing your best.
Andrew Carnegie

The key to success is to develop a winning edge.
Brian Tracy

Peace begins with a smile.
Mother Teresa

Cheer up, keep your spirits high, things are bound to get better!
Anne Frank

You’ll never achieve real success unless you like what you’re doing.
Dale Carnegie

Whatever you are, be a good one.
Abraham Lincoln

Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a harder battle.
Plato

Inspirational statements

Find motivation in these words; empower yourself to succeed. These short quotes will inspire you to greatness!

Life has no limitations, except the ones you make.
Les Brown

Be the change that you wish to see in the world.
Mahatma Gandhi

There is no man living who isn’t capable of doing more than he thinks he can do.
Henry Ford

As you know, life is an echo; we get what we give.
David DeNotaris

Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.
Winston S. Churchill

No one would have crossed the ocean if he could have gotten off the ship in the storm.
Charles Kettering

Folks are usually about as happy as they make their minds up to be.
Abraham Lincoln

Well done, is better than well said.
Benjamin Franklin

Best Short Quotes

The path to success is to take massive, determined action.
Anthony Robbins

One good thing about music, when it hits you, you feel no pain.
Bob Marley

Aggression unopposed becomes a contagious disease.
Jimmy Carter

Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.
Theodore Roosevelt

Perfection is not attainable. But if we chase perfection, we can catch excellence.
Vince Lombardi

Motivational quotations

It’s never too late to be who you might have been.
George Eliot

Try not to become a man of success. Rather become a man of value.
Albert Einstein

The time is always right to do what is right.
Martin Luther King Jr

Do one thing every day that scares you.
Eleanor Roosevelt

God put you on this earth because He loves you and He has a plan for you.
Nick Vujicic

Those who don’t believe in magic will never find it.
Roald Dahl

If it fails, admit it frankly and try another. But above all, try something.
Franklin Roosevelt

Find people who will make you better.
Michelle Obama

Common sense is instinct, and enough of it is genius.
Josh Billings

Well-behaved women seldom make history.
Laurel Thatcher Ulrich

I think there is something, more important than believing: Action!
W. Clement Stone

Peace begins with a smile.
Mother Teresa

Motivational short quotes

Now I look beyond what I can’t do and focus on what I CAN.
Robert M. Hensel

It’s not how much we give but how much love we put into giving.
Mother Teresa

Nothing is impossible, the word itself says ‘I’m possible’!
Audrey Hepburn

Do what you feel in your heart to be right – for you’ll be criticized anyway.
Eleanor Roosevelt

The noblest question in the world is What good may I do in it?
Benjamin Franklin

Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.
Martin Luther King Jr.

Inspiring sayings

It’s fun to do the impossible.
Walt Disney

Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself.
Leo Tolstoy

To reach a port, we must sail – sail, not tie at anchor – sail, not drift.
Franklin Roosevelt

Every man is potentially great, the difference lies in exploiting one’s inner potential.
M. K. Soni

It always seems impossible until it’s done.
Nelson Mandela

We are only as strong as we are united, as weak as we are divided.
J.K. Rowling

Questions provide the key to unlocking our unlimited potential.
Anthony Robbins

All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.
J.R.R. Tolkien

Friendship short quotes

They say that friends are the family you choose. These short quotes describe the friends and friendships we hold so dear to our hearts.

A friend is someone who knows all about you and still loves you.
Elbert Hubbard

Peace, commerce, and honest friendship with all nations – entangling alliances with none.
Thomas Jefferson

Good friends, good books, and a sleepy conscience: this is the ideal life.
Mark Twain

You’ll be richer in the end than a prince if you’re a friend.
Edgar A. Guest

Things change. And friends leave. Life doesn’t stop for anybody.
Stephen Chbosky

Friends should be like books, easy to find when you need them, but seldom used.
Ralph Waldo Emerson

Nothing is more honorable than a grateful heart.
Seneca

I would rather walk with a friend in the dark, than alone in the light.
Helen Keller

It’s the friends you can call up at 4 a.m. that matter.
Marlene Dietrich

Count your age by friends, not years. Count your life by smiles, not tears.
John Lennon

— Greg Johnson

Greg is a writer and co-founder of ListCaboodle.

Etcetera

Thank you for reading these short quotes and sayings.