120 Encouraging Quotes From Books To Lift Your Spirits

Books have saved me more times than I can count. 

And it’s not always the nonfiction stuff.

It’s also the romance novels, the poems, and even the random little lines tucked into a novel that hit me right in the heart. 

I’m always recommending books to friends because I know how a single quote can make a rough day feel a little easier. 

Here, I want to share some of those quotes with you.

These are the quotes I love, quotes that have stuck with me, and quotes I hope will carry you through your own tough days.

1. “The world breaks everyone, and afterward, some are strong at the broken places.” – A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway

2. “Even the darkest night will end and the sun will rise.” – Les Misérables by Victor Hugo

3. “You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose.” – Oh, the Places You’ll Go! by Dr. Seuss

4. “Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgment that something else is more important than fear.” – The Princess Bride by William Goldman

5. “We are all fools in love.” – Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

6. “What is the point of being alive if you don’t at least try to do something remarkable?” – The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

7. “You don’t have to live forever, you just have to live.” – Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt

8. “Happiness can be found even in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the light.” – Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling

9. “It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live.” – Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling

10. “There is some good in this world, and it’s worth fighting for.” – The Two Towers by J.R.R. Tolkien

11. “The only way out of the labyrinth of suffering is to forgive.” – Looking for Alaska by John Green

12. “Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.” – Theodore Roosevelt: An Autobiography by Theodore Roosevelt

13. “The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.” – You Can If You Think You Can by W. Clement Stone

14. “No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.” – The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank

15. “It’s the possibility of having a dream come true that makes life interesting.” – The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho

16. “So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.” – The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

17. “Life appears to me too short to be spent in nursing animosity or registering wrongs.” – Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë

18. “You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view.” – To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

19. “The moment you doubt whether you can fly, you cease for ever to be able to do it.” – Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie

20. “All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.” – The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien

21. “You may not control all the events that happen to you, but you can decide not to be reduced by them.” – The Art of Happiness by Dalai Lama

22. “Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson: Essays by Ralph Waldo Emerson

23. “There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.” – I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou

24. “Fear doesn’t shut you down; it wakes you up.” – Divergent by Veronica Roth

25. “You can’t stay in your corner of the Forest waiting for others to come to you. You have to go to them sometimes.” – Winnie the Pooh by A.A. Milne

26. “It is our choices…that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities.” – Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling

27. “You cannot swim for new horizons until you have courage to lose sight of the shore.” – William Faulkner: Selected Letters by William Faulkner

28. “To love or have loved, that is enough. Ask nothing further.” – Les Misérables by Victor Hugo

29. “Happiness is not something ready-made. It comes from your own actions.” – Dalai Lama’s Book of Wisdom by Dalai Lama

30. “It matters not what someone is born, but what they grow to be.” – Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling

31. “Even miracles take a little time.” – Cinderella by Charles Perrault

32. “You have to write the book that wants to be written. And if the book will be too difficult for grown-ups, then you write it for children.” – Madeleine L’Engle: A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle

33. “Sometimes the smallest things take up the most room in your heart.” – Winnie the Pooh by A.A. Milne

34. “One day you’ll be old enough to start reading fairy tales again.” – The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis

35. “Life is never fair, and perhaps it is a good thing for most of us that it is not.” – Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery

36. “It is never too late to be what you might have been.” – Middlemarch by George Eliot

37. “The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.” – Gandhi: An Autobiography by Mahatma Gandhi

38. “You can’t live your life for other people. You’ve got to do what’s right for you, even if it hurts some people you love.” – The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks

39. “You have within you right now, everything you need to deal with whatever the world can throw at you.” – Brian Tracy: Maximum Achievement by Brian Tracy

40. “Happiness is found when you stop comparing yourself to other people.” – The Art of Happiness by Dalai Lama

41. “You must do the thing you think you cannot do.” – The Courage to Create by Rollo May

42. “You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream.” – Les Brown: Live Your Dreams by Les Brown

43. “Fall seven times and stand up eight.” – Japanese Proverb in The Book of Five Rings by Miyamoto Musashi

44. “Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice.” – Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson

45. “Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have imagined.” – Self-Reliance by Ralph Waldo Emerson

46. “What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson: Essays by Ralph Waldo Emerson

47. “Do not wait; the time will never be ‘just right.’ Start where you stand.” – Napoleon Hill: Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill

48. “It always seems impossible until it’s done.” – Nelson Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom by Nelson Mandela

49. “The only limit to our realization of tomorrow will be our doubts of today.” – Franklin D. Roosevelt: Public Papers by Franklin D. Roosevelt

50. “Be yourself; everyone else is already taken.” – Oscar Wilde: The Complete Works by Oscar Wilde

51. “You can’t go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are and change the ending.” – C.S. Lewis: The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis

52. “If you want to fly, give up everything that weighs you down.” – Toni Morrison: Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison

53. “Strength does not come from physical capacity. It comes from an indomitable will.” – Mahatma Gandhi: The Essential Gandhi by Mahatma Gandhi

54. “Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds that you plant.” – Robert Louis Stevenson: Letters by Robert Louis Stevenson

55. “Act as if what you do makes a difference. It does.” – William James: The Principles of Psychology by William James

56. “You have to fight through some bad days to earn the best days of your life.” – Les Brown: Live Your Dreams by Les Brown

57. “Be bold, be brave enough to be your true self.” – Queen Rania: The Secret to Success by Queen Rania of Jordan

58. “The man who moves a mountain begins by carrying away small stones.” – Confucius: Analects by Confucius

59. “You may encounter many defeats, but you must not be defeated.” – Maya Angelou: Letter to My Daughter by Maya Angelou

60. “Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.” – Vicki Corona: Inspirational Reflections by Vicki Corona

61. “When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves.” – Viktor E. Frankl: Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl

62. “A ship in harbor is safe, but that is not what ships are built for.” – John A. Shedd: Salt from My Attic by John A. Shedd

63. “You can’t wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club.” – Jack London: Letters by Jack London

64. “The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” – Lao Tzu: Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu

65. “It’s never too late to be what you might have been.” – George Eliot: Middlemarch by George Eliot

66. “In the middle of every difficulty lies opportunity.” – Albert Einstein: Ideas and Opinions by Albert Einstein

67. “Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can.” – Arthur Ashe: Days of Grace by Arthur Ashe

68. “Courage is grace under pressure.” – Ernest Hemingway: Ernest Hemingway on Writing by Ernest Hemingway

69. “You have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world.” – Harriet Tubman: Bound for the Promised Land by Harriet Tubman

70. “Success is not final, failure is not fatal: It is the courage to continue that counts.” – Winston Churchill: The Second World War by Winston Churchill

71. “To succeed in life, you need two things: ignorance and confidence.” – Mark Twain: Following the Equator by Mark Twain

72. “Don’t wait for the perfect moment. Take the moment and make it perfect.” – Zoey Sayward: Motivational Thoughts by Zoey Sayward

73. “The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph.” – Thomas Paine: The Crisis by Thomas Paine

74. “Dream big and dare to fail.” – Norman Vaughan: Do Something Bold by Norman Vaughan

75. “Keep your face always toward the sunshine—and shadows will fall behind you.” – Walt Whitman: Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman

76. “The best way to predict the future is to create it.” – Peter Drucker: Innovation and Entrepreneurship by Peter Drucker

77. “Your life does not get better by chance, it gets better by change.” – Jim Rohn: The Five Major Pieces to the Life Puzzle by Jim Rohn

78. “Small deeds done are better than great deeds planned.” – Peter Marshall: Strength for Service by Peter Marshall

79. “You can’t cross the sea merely by standing and staring at the water.” – Rabindranath Tagore: Gitanjali by Rabindranath Tagore

80. “What you get by achieving your goals is not as important as what you become by achieving your goals.” – Zig Ziglar: See You at the Top by Zig Ziglar

81. “The world is full of magical things patiently waiting for our wits to grow sharper.” – The Once and Future King by T.H. White

82. “You cannot protect yourself from sadness without protecting yourself from happiness.” – The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath

83. “It’s no use going back to yesterday, because I was a different person then.” – Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll

84. “You must understand that there is more than one path to the top of the mountain.” – Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert M. Pirsig

85. “Do not fear death so much, but rather the inadequate life.” – Mother Night by Kurt Vonnegut

86. “To live will be an awfully big adventure.” – Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie

87. “If you want to change the world, start off by making your bed.” – Make Your Bed by William H. McRaven

88. “Life is either a daring adventure or nothing at all.” – Helen Keller: The Story of My Life by Helen Keller

89. “The most wasted of all days is one without laughter.” – Nicholas Chamfort: Maxims by Nicolas Chamfort

90. “It’s important to remember we all stumble, and it’s what we do after we fall that defines us.” – Wonder by R.J. Palacio

91. “You can’t live your life for other people. You’ve got to do what’s right for you.” – Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert

92. “We are all apprentices in a craft where no one ever becomes a master.” – The Letters of Ernest Hemingway by Ernest Hemingway

93. “The universe is not outside of you. Look inside yourself; everything that you want, you already are.” – The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle

94. “It is our choices that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities.” – Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling

95. “You may not control all the events that happen to you, but you can decide not to be reduced by them.” – The Art of Happiness by Dalai Lama

96. “We delight in the beauty of the butterfly, but rarely admit the changes it has gone through to achieve that beauty.” – Maya Angelou: Letter to My Daughter by Maya Angelou

97. “You don’t have to be perfect to be amazing.” – The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

98. “Even if we’re apart, we’re still connected by the stars.” – The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

99. “It is never too late to be what you might have been.” – Middlemarch by George Eliot

100. “To love oneself is the beginning of a lifelong romance.” – An Autobiography by Oscar Wilde

101. “Courage doesn’t always roar. Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying, ‘I will try again tomorrow.’” – Mary Anne Radmacher: Courage by Mary Anne Radmacher

102. “You can’t stay in your corner of the Forest waiting for others to come to you. You have to go to them sometimes.” – Winnie the Pooh by A.A. Milne

103. “What you do makes a difference, and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make.” – Jane Goodall: Reason for Hope by Jane Goodall

104. “No one is useless in this world who lightens the burdens of another.” – Charles Dickens: Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens

105. “The secret of getting ahead is getting started.” – Mark Twain: Pudd’nhead Wilson by Mark Twain

106. “You may live to be a hundred if you give up all the things that make you want to live to be a hundred.” – Woody Allen: Without Feathers by Woody Allen

107. “All endings are also beginnings. We just don’t know it at the time.” – Mitch Albom: The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom

108. “What we achieve inwardly will change outer reality.” – Plutarch: Moralia by Plutarch

109. “Your task is not to foresee the future, but to enable it.” – Antoine de Saint-Exupéry: Citadelle by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

110. “Don’t be satisfied with stories, how things have gone with others. Unfold your own myth.” – Rumi: The Essential Rumi by Rumi

111. “Everything you can imagine is real.” – Pablo Picasso: Quotes and Writings by Pablo Picasso

112. “Keep love in your heart. A life without it is like a sunless garden when the flowers are dead.” – Oscar Wilde: The Complete Works by Oscar Wilde

113. “We do not remember days, we remember moments.” – Cesare Pavese: The Moon and the Bonfires by Cesare Pavese

114. “Sometimes you will never know the value of a moment until it becomes a memory.” – Dr. Seuss: Theodor Seuss Geisel Works by Dr. Seuss

115. “You can, you should, and if you’re brave enough to start, you will.” – Stephen King: On Writing by Stephen King

116. “Be not afraid of life. Believe that life is worth living, and your belief will help create the fact.” – William James: Pragmatism by William James

117. “Life isn’t about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself.” – George Bernard Shaw: Maxims by George Bernard Shaw

118. “Do not be afraid; our fate cannot be taken from us; it is a gift.” – Dante Alighieri: The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri

119. “The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.” – Dr. Seuss: I Can Read With My Eyes Shut! by Dr. Seuss

120. “It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are.” – E.E. Cummings: Selected Poems by E.E. Cummings

So, there you have it—some of the quotes that have carried me through storms, sleepless nights, and all the messy bits in between. 

I hope at least one of these lines speaks to you, inspires you, or gives you that little boost you didn’t even know you needed. 

And the best part is that you can come back to them anytime, bookmark them, or even share them with someone who might need a pick-me-up today. 

Keep these words close—they’re small reminders that even when life gets tough, we’re never really alone.

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