100 Hard Work Quotes To Bring Out The Best In Yourself

By Maxime Lagacé

Maxime is the founder and chief editor of WisdomQuotes. He has been collecting quotes since 2004. His goal? To help you develop a calm, powerful, and peaceful mind. Learn more about him on his about page.

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Here are 100 of the best “hard work quotes” I could find. The goal? Simply to motivate you and help you achieve more today. You’ll discover quotes by Emerson, Steve Jobs, Seneca, and more. Enjoy!

hard work quotes without labor nothing prospers sophocles wisdom

Without labor nothing prospers. Sophocles

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The ones who say you can’t are too afraid you will. Nike

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The world belongs to the energetic. Ralph Waldo Emerson

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Do not whine… Do not complain. Work harder. Spend more time alone. Joan Didion

hard work quotes take one idea make that one idea your life swami vivekananda wisdom

Take up one idea, make that one idea your life. Think of it, dream of it, live on that idea. Let the brain, muscles, nerves, every part of your body be full of that idea, and just leave every other idea alone. This is the way to success. Swami Vivekananda

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It’s not about money or connections – it’s the willingness to outwork and outlearn everyone. Mark Cuban

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Hard work betrays none. Hachiman Hikigaya

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There is no time for cut-and-dried monotony. There is time for work. And time for love. That leaves no other time. Coco Chanel

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What comes easy won’t last. What lasts won’t come easy. Unknown

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Nothing in life that’s worth anything is easy. Barack Obama

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Without hustle, talent will only carry you so far. Gary Vaynerchuk

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Success at anything will always come down to this: Focus and effort, and we control both. Dwayne Johnson (The Rock)

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The wiser you get, the less you take yourself seriously, the more work looks like play. Maxime Lagacé

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There is no such thing as work-life balance. Everything worth fighting for unbalances your life. Alain de Botton

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Work hard, be kind, and amazing things will happen. Conan O’Brien

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A few thoughts on hard work…

When I was young, I thought success was solely attributed to talent.

Then, I discovered that by working hard I could in fact become “talented.”

I was observing the bests of the bests and they were all obsessed with one thing: working harder than yesterday.

I then decided to follow their paths and always give 100% to what I was doing.

However, as I was growing up, I discovered another important thing.

What was it?

It’s the fact that what you work on is way more important than how hard you work.

Indeed, you can be the hardest working person in a room, but if you work on something useless you’re wasting your time.

Thus, I use today what we call the Pareto principle. It states that 80% of your results will come from 20% of your efforts.

In other words, I try to focus almost exclusively on the tasks that will have the greatest impact.

Most other things are distractions.

The Best Hard Work Quotes

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hard work quotes purpose life find give whole heart soul buddha wisdom woman nature

Your purpose in life is to find your purpose and give your whole heart and soul to it. Buddha

Make each day your masterpiece. John Wooden

All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them. Walt Disney

Life without endeavor is like entering a jewel mine and coming out with empty hands. Japanese proverb

There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure. Colin Powell

Destiny is for losers. It’s just a stupid excuse to wait for things to happen instead of making them happen. Blair Waldorf

Men die of boredom, psychological conflict and disease. They do not die of hard work. David Ogilvy

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No matter how hard you work, someone else is working harder. Elon Musk

Talent means nothing. 50% of my success comes from luck. 50% comes from never giving up. Maxime Lagacé

To achieve what 1% of the world’s population has, you must be willing to do what only 1% dares to do. Manoj Arora

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Without ambition one starts nothing. Without work one finishes nothing. The prize will not be sent to you. You have to win it. Ralph Waldo Emerson

When you live for a strong purpose, then hard work isn’t an option. It’s a necessity. Steve Pavlina

To learn you must be willing to change. To change you must be willing to suffer. To suffer you must be willing to work. Maxime Lagacé

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It’s not whether you get knocked down; it’s whether you get up. Vince Lombardi

This is the real secret of life – to be completely engaged with what you are doing in the here and now. And instead of calling it work, realize it is play. Alan Watts

Inspiration is the windfall from hard work and focus. Helen Hanson

The fight is won or lost far away from witnesses – behind the lines, in the gym, and out there on the road, long before I dance under those lights. Muhammad Ali

A sign of a hard worker is one who works without complaint. Sarah Price

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Hard work beats talent when talent fails to work hard. Kevin Durant

The heights by great men reached and kept were not attained in sudden flight but, they while their companions slept, they were toiling upwards in the night. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Hard work never killed a man. Scottish proverb

The difference between the impossible and the possible lies in a person’s determination. Tommy Lasorda

Everything you want is on the far side of hard work. Tim Kennedy

Always make a total effort, even when the odds are against you. Arnold Palmer

Hard work always pays off. Christiano Ronaldo (Source)

Part 2. Hard Work Quotes That Are…

The Most Famous Hard Work Quotes

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Searching for a famous hard work quote? Check out those ones by Thomas Edison, Mark Twain, Elon Musk, Steve Jobs, etc.
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I’m a greater believer in luck, and I find the harder I work the more I have of it. Thomas Jefferson

It’s hard to beat a person who never gives up. Babe Ruth

No one ever drowned in sweat. U.S. Marine Corps

I really try to work as much as possible, to the edge of sanity basically. Elon Musk

One must work and dare if one really wants to live. Vincent van Gogh

hard work quotes believe you can halfway there theodore roosevelt wisdom nature

Believe you can and you’re halfway there. Theodore Roosevelt

Talent is cheaper than table salt. What separates the talented individual from the successful one is a lot of hard work. Stephen King

The only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking, and don’t settle. Steve Jobs (Apple)

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When he worked, he really worked. But when he played, he really played. Dr. Seuss

My father taught me to work; he did not teach me to love it. Abraham Lincoln

Things may come to those who wait, but only the things left by those who hustle. Abraham Lincoln

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It’s only a crazy dream until you do it. Serena Williams

I never viewed myself as particularly talented. Where I excel is ridiculous, sickening, work ethic. You know, while the other guy’s sleeping, I’m working. Will Smith

Choose a job you love and you will never have to work a day in your life. Confucius

There is no substitute for hard work. Thomas Edison

Being busy does not always mean real work. The object of all work is production or accomplishment and to either of these ends there must be forethought, system, planning, intelligence, and honest purpose, as well as perspiration. Seeming to do is not doing. Thomas Edison

At dawn, when you have trouble getting out of bed, tell yourself: “I have to go to work — as a human being. What do I have to complain of, if I’m going to do what I was born for — the things I was brought into the world to do? Or is this what I was created for? To huddle under the blankets and stay warm? Marcus Aurelius

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I would rather risk wearing out than rusting out. Theodore Roosevelt

There’s no talent here, this is hard work. This is an obsession. Conor McGregor (MMA Champion)

If people knew how hard I worked to achieve my mastery, it wouldn’t seem so wonderful after all. Michelangelo

I’m a designer, and I work very hard at that. People sometimes want to put down fashion by saying it’s frivolous or superficial, but it’s not that way at all. It’s actually very hard work. Donatella Versace

To succeed, work hard, never give up and above all, cherish a magnificent obsession. Walt Disney

Short Hard Work Quotes

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One-liners, short hard work quotes, sayings, thoughts, and captions for your bio, social status, self-talk, motto, mantra, signs, posters, wallpapers, and backgrounds.
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No struggle, no progress, no success. Maxime Lagacé

Wake up determined. Go to bed satisfied. Dwayne Johnson (The Rock)

Go and get your things. Dreams mean work. Paulo Coelho

God sells us all things at the price of labor. Leonardo da Vinci

Work without love is slavery. Mother Teresa

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Never slow down for the world, one day it will catch-up with you. Nike

Earned. Not given. Nike

Amateurs are busy and tense. Professionals are calm and focused. Maxime Lagacé

Hard work buys experience, smart work buys time. Jack Butcher

Work hard in silence; let success make the noise. Frank Ocean

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Work incessantly, but be not attached to it. Swami Vivekananda

Be thankful for what you have. Work hard for what you don’t have. Unknown

Hard work does pay off. Michael Phelps

Hard work teaches us that it takes more than hard work. Jack Butcher

Look in the mirror – that’s your competition. Unknown

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Sometimes there’s not a better way. Sometimes there’s only the hard way. Mary E. Pearson

You can outwork 95% of people by just showing up every day. Jack Butcher (Source)

If you can’t outplay them, outwork them. Ben Hogan

Start with a cry, end with a smile. Michael Bassey Johnson

Work hard now, suffer and keep it up. Rewards are at the edge. Maxime Lagacé

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Inspirational Hard Work Quotes

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hard work quotes question who going let its stop ayn rand wisdom climbing woman

The question isn’t who is going to let me, it’s who is going to stop me. Ayn Rand

Hard work and full heart. The foundational elements of a life well lived. Andrew Huberman (Source)

Amateurs have hard work and speed. Professionals have hard work, speed and direction. Maxime Lagacé

Hard work compounds like interest, and the earlier you do it, the more time you have for the benefits to pay off. Sam Altman

A good idea is about ten percent and implementation and hard work, and luck is 90 percent. Guy Kawasaki

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Those who aim at great deeds must also suffer greatly. Plutarch

Study while others are sleeping; work while others are loafing; prepare while others are playing; and dream while others are wishing. William A. Ward

Do your job —whatever it is — well, because how you do anything is how you do everything. Ryan Holiday (Source)

In order to master a field, you must love the subject and feel a profound connection to it. Your interest must transcend the field itself and border on the religious. Robert Greene

Work hard, stay positive, and get up early. It’s the best part of the day. George Allen Sr

When you find the right thing to do, and people to work with, invest deeply into that, and stick with it for decades. Naval Ravikant

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Luck is a matter of preparation meeting opportunity. Seneca

Winners embrace hard work. They love the discipline of it, the trade-off they’re making to win. Losers, on the other hand, see it as punishment. And that’s the difference. Lou Holtz

You can’t get there by bus, only by hard work and risk and by not quite knowing what you’re doing. What you’ll discover will be wonderful. What you’ll discover will be yourself. Alan Alda

The man who can drive himself further once the effort gets painful is the man who will win. Roger Bannister (Ran the first sub-4-minute mile)

Baby steps are better than no steps at all. Keep going. You’ll get there. Unknown

When you feel like stopping think about why you started. Unknown

My success was due to good luck, hard work, and support and advice from friends and mentors. But most importantly, it depended on me to keep trying after I had failed. Mark Warner

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Have a healthy disregard for the impossible and actually build new solutions. Larry Page

Work while you have the light. You are responsible for the talent that has been entrusted to you. Henri-Frederic Amiel

Going all-in on something will make you feel alive and ultimately, satisfied. Maxime Lagacé

Everybody wants to be famous, but nobody wants to do the work. I live by that. You grind hard so you can play hard. At the end of the day, you put all the work in, and eventually it’ll pay off. It could be in a year, it could be in 30 years. Eventually, your hard work will pay off. Kevin Hart

Inspiration usually comes during work rather than before it. Madeleine L’Engle

Related3 Motivational Stories That Prove Hard Work Pays Off (tinypulse.com)

Hard Work Quotes: The Conclusion

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We did not come to fear the future. We came here to shape it. Barack Obama

Let’s recap:

  • The world belongs to hard-working people. Be one of them.
  • Don’t lose energy complaining. Keep it for what’s truly worth it.
  • It’s not about “talent”. It’s about your willingness to work harder than others.
  • What gives meaning and purpose to your life?
    • Love
    • Friendship
    • Working hard on something important to you
  • You don’t control your results, but you control your focus, your attitude, and your effort.

Further Readings

Hope you enjoyed these inspiring hard work quotes. If you did, please share them with a friend today!

Do you work hard or smart? What’s your favorite hard work quote? And remember: words can transform your life, if you find the right ones.

Author Bio

maxime lagace

Maxime Lagacé started collecting quotes in 2004 after he lost his girlfriend in a car accident.

In search of meaning, he dived in the self-improvement world, psychology and trail running.

Books, blogs, quotes and nature became his guide.

He started journaling, reflecting, writing his thoughts, feelings and quotes.

His goal was to understand his pain, his depression, his fears, his lack of motivation and inspiration.

He finished his software engineering degree in 2007 at the École de Technologie Supérieure de Montréal.

A few years later, he started his first website to share his love of quotes.

Maxime is a father of two, husband, and INFJ.

Other notable interests of Maxime are health (mental and physical), meditation, bananas, SEO, human potential, and education.

You can find him on Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Instagram, YouTube.

Last update

March 10, 2022

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