40 Inspirational Quotes for Students

Everyone needs inspiration sometimes, especially students, who juggle a variety of challenges in and out of school. Students often find inspiration in quotes from people who know what they’re going through and why education is worth the effort.

Inspirational quotes for students provide powerful insights about learning, hard work, and perseverance. You can find them in celebrity interviews, movies, podcasts, historical speeches, and books about psychology or education, and they’re perfect for classroom posters, daily writing prompts, and classroom presentation slides.

Whether you’re seeking inspiration for your own studies or supporting the students in your classroom, these 40 quotes from leaders, experts, and celebrities offer a variety of options and perspectives.

With QuillBot’s free art generator, you can quickly and easily display these quotes on custom classroom posters. Simply type a prompt with the quote, author, and design you want to display.

Inspirational quote design from QuillBot’s art generator

Quotes about learning and education

The quotes below will inspire students to consider why education matters and how true learning happens.

• “Wisdom isn’t about accumulating more facts; it’s about understanding big truths in a deeper way.” —Melinda French Gates, U.S. philanthropist and former Microsoft product developer
• “We are born makers. We move what we’re learning from our heads to our hearts through our hands.” —Brené Brown, business professor, leadership researcher, author, and podcaster
• “Sometimes the most brilliant and intelligent minds do not shine in standardized tests because they do not have standardized minds.” —Diane Ravitch, education historian, former U.S. Assistant Secretary of Education
• “Knowing how to think empowers you far beyond those who only know what to think.” —Neil DeGrasse Tyson, U.S. astrophysicist and writer
• “A well-educated mind will always have more questions than answers.” —Helen Keller, author and disability rights advocate
• “Education is our passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to the people who prepare for it today.” —Malcolm X, U.S. civil rights and social justice leader
• “The joy of learning is as indispensable to study as breathing is to running.” —Simone Weil, 20th century French philosopher.

Inspirational quotes about growth

Use quotes like these to remind students that personal growth is one of the most important goals of an education and something that everyone can experience.

• “You never know which people, places, and experiences are going to shift your perspective until after you’ve left them behind and had some time to look back.” —Quinta Brunson, Emmy Award winner and Abbott Elementary creator
• “Often when you think you’re at the end of something, you’re at the beginning of something else.” —Fred Rogers, host of Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood
• “When we are no longer challenged to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves.” —Viktor Frankl, psychologist
• “We do not have to accept things the way they are. We can nudge, adapt, revise, evolve, improve . . . and change the world.” —Bill Nye, science writer and creator/host of Bill Nye the Science Guy
• “Remember that if you really want to motivate yourself, love is more powerful than fear.” —Kristin Neff, educational psychology professor and self-compassion speaker/podcaster
• “No matter what your ability is, effort is what ignites that ability and turns it into accomplishment.” —Carol Dweck, psychologist who coined the term “growth mindset”
• “It’s not the moments of achievement or recognition that stick with you. It’s the getting there.” —Kristen Bell, film and television actress, during a 2020 commencement speech

Inspirational quotes about perseverance

These quotes come from successful people who have firsthand experience with overcoming challenges or detailed expertise in perseverance.

• “Sometimes the bravest and most important thing you can do is just show up.” —Brené Brown
• “You don’t have to be great to start, but you have to start to be great.” —Zig Ziglar, motivational speaker
• “The way I see it, if you want the rainbow, you gotta put up with the rain.” —Dolly Parton, singer, songwriter, and philanthropist
• “Others may question your credentials, your papers, your degrees. Others may look for all kinds of ways to diminish your worth. But what is inside you no one can take from you or tarnish.” —Chris Gardner, homelessness survivor, business leader, and author of The Pursuit of Happyness
• “You don’t have to be a hundred percent better tomorrow. You don’t have to accomplish all of your goals tomorrow. Just take a small step every single day. Break it down piece by piece.” —Dr. Marvin Rolle, former NFL football player, Rhodes Scholar, and neurosurgeon
• “It’s not whether you get knocked down; it’s whether you get up.” —Vince Lombardi, former head coach of the Wisconsin Green Bay packers
• “The best moments in our lives are not the passive, receptive, relaxing times—although such moments can be enjoyable, if we have worked hard to attain them. The best moments usually occur if a person’s body or mind is stretched to its limits in a voluntary effort to accomplish something difficult or worthwhile.” —Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, psychologist and motivation expert

Inspirational quote design from QuillBot’s art generator

Quotes about being yourself

Students can also feel inspired by reminders to be true to themselves, especially if they’re dealing with major life decisions or other growing pains.

• “Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life.” —Steve Jobs
• “What we know matters, but who we are matters more.” —Brené Brown
• “Embrace what makes you unique, even if it makes others uncomfortable. I didn’t have to become perfect because I’ve learned throughout my journey that perfection is the enemy of greatness.” —Janelle Monáe, singer/songwriter
• “Every action you take is a vote for the type of person you wish to become.” —James Clear, author of Atomic Habits
• “The most sophisticated people I’ve ever known had just one thing in common. They were all in touch with their inner children.” —Jim Henson, creator of Sesame Street and the Muppets characters
• “You rarely have time for everything you want in this life, so you need to make choices. And hopefully your choices can come from a deep sense of who you are.” —Fred Rogers
• “You and you alone are the only person who can live the life that can write the story that you were meant to tell.” —Kerry Washington, actress
• “Never let anyone put you in a box and tell you what you can do. Make sure you paint your own picture and go your own path, and continue to think outside the box.” —Earvin “Magic” Johnson, basketball star

Quotes for students about success

These inspiring quotes for students are powerful reminders that success is about more than money and traditional forms of achievement.

• “I’d rather regret the risk that didn’t work out than the chances I didn’t take at all.” —Simone Biles, Olympic gymnast
• “Keep your eyes on the stars, but remember to keep your feet on the ground.” —Theodore Roosevelt, 26th president of the US
• “Courage is indeed your greatest achievement. It is the greatest of all your virtues, for without courage, you cannot practice any other virtue with consistency.” —Maya Angelou, poet and author
• “Create the highest, grandest vision possible of your life because you will become what you believe.” —Oprah Winfrey
• “The problem, often not discovered until late in life, is that when you look for things in life like love, meaning, motivation, it implies they are sitting behind a tree or under a rock. The most successful people in life recognize that in life, they create their own love, they manufacture their own meaning, they generate their own motivation.” —Neil deGrasse Tyson

Inspirational quotes about reading and writing

Inspiring quotes about the written word can be powerful motivators in language arts classrooms and school libraries.

• “Books are a uniquely portable magic.” —Stephen King, author
• “I have forgotten the books I have read, and so I have the dinners I have eaten, but they both helped to make me.” —Ralph Waldo Emerson, 19th-century writer and poet
• “We read to know we’re not alone.” —William Nicholson, author of Shadowlands
• “Writing is perhaps the greatest of human inventions, binding together citizens of distant epochs. Books break the shackles of time. A book is proof that humans are capable of working magic.” —Carl Sagan, physicist
• “Good writing does not succeed or fail on the strength of its ability to persuade. It succeeds or fails on the strength of its ability to engage you, to make you think, to give you a glimpse into someone else’s head.” —Malcolm Gladwell, author of Outliers and Revenge of the Tipping Point
• “You think your pain and your heartbreak are unprecedented in the history of the world, but then you read. It was books that taught me that the things that tormented me most were the very things that connected me with all the people who were alive, who had ever been alive.” —James Baldwin, 19th-century writer

Frequently asked questions about inspirational quotes for students

Should I put a period before or after quotation marks?

Typically, a period goes before the ending quotation marks in American English.

The principal said the teacher was “an exemplar of the profession.”

She told me, “If I leave, I’m never coming back.”

However, in British English, the period only goes inside the quotation marks if the quotation itself is a full sentence. Otherwise, it goes outside. Additionally, British English typically uses single quotation marks instead of double.

The principal said the teacher was ‘an exemplar of the profession’.

She told me, ‘If I leave, I’m never coming back.’

Try QuillBot’s free Grammar Checker to make sure you’re using punctuation correctly.

How do you use quotes in an essay?

Correct use of quotes in an essay can lift it above the normal and attract higher grades. Quotes are vital in backing up your argument or illustrating your point. You should aim to integrate or embed your quotes in your writing.

Consider this comment on The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock by T. S. Eliot:

“Prufrock realizes when he sees ‘the eternal Footman hold his coat,’ that he is approaching death, and he is overwhelmed by a sense of failure and fear. Failure because his achievements are no more than a ‘moment of …greatness’ that has flickered out, and fear because he has ‘seen the eternal Footman …snicker,’ suggesting that what he faces in the afterlife is to be feared. This is confirmed in the last half line of the stanza, ‘in short I was afraid.”

Here, the quotations flow naturally as part of the point that is being made. There’s lots more to be said on the subject of paraphrasing and summarizing which is worth researching.

QuillBot’s Notepad is a great place to note your quotations as you research your essay, making them easy to locate and use. Additionally, QuillBot’s Word Counter tool can help you effectively track the word count of your quotes to ensure your writing doesn’t rely on too many quotations.

What are some examples of quotes for students from teachers?

Some examples of quotes for students from teachers include the following:

• “Be the kind of people that have enough passion to change the world. If we let ourselves be fire, thunder, or lightning, we could alter everything.” —Erin Gruwell, teacher and founder of the Freedom Writers Foundation
• “Find a mentor, someone you trust. Listen to that person. Watch that person. Ask that person questions.” —Missy Testerman, 2024 US National Teacher of the Year
• “Consider where you believe you can make the most meaningful contribution. Really get to know yourself. Explore new horizons, different horizons, and be true to yourself.” —Anne Johnstone, Australian school principal and Global Chair of the International Positive Education Network
• “Keep your passion and don’t lose your head. Go forward, do good work, and help make this a better world.” —Bill Nye, science educator and host/creator of Bill Nye the Science Guy

When you’re writing with inspirational quotes for students or motivational quotes for students, QuillBot’s free Grammar Checker can help you avoid errors.

What are some short motivational quotes for students?

Short motivational quotes for students include:

• “What we know matters, but who we are matters more.” —Brené Brown, business professor, leadership researcher, author, and podcaster
• “You don’t have to be great to start, but you have to start to be great.” —Zig Ziglar, motivational speaker
• “The beautiful thing about learning is that no one can take it away from you.” —B.B. King, world-famous blues guitarist and songwriter
• “Remember that if you really want to motivate yourself, love is more powerful than fear.” —Kristin Neff, educational psychologist and podcaster
• “If you dream it, you can do it.” —Walt Disney

Short quotes like these are perfect for DIY classroom decorations. With QuillBot’s image generator, making a custom classroom poster is easier than ever! Simply tell the AI what type of background and inspirational quote you want to display.