158 INSPIRING QUOTES - Books that can change your life

Have you ever had one of those “A-HA moments”? You know, the famous “moment of truth” that hits you without warning and comes with a list of questions and obsessive considerations. In general, it’s a little voice inside your head that emerges from nowhere. It whispers to you that you are missing out on something essential and that it may be time to reach for the stars. Whispering to you, it begs you to reorganise your priorities in life and finally dare to live your dreams. What I am offering in this article are 158 inspiring quotes that could bring about this awakening and lead you to achieve your dreams.

For the majority among us, turning our dreams into reality can be very complicated. While some people can throw themselves into exciting projects and take their dreams all the way to completion, most of us seem to be treading water. We are scared to take a chance. We procrastinate, have doubts and we don’t know where to start. So how can we stop falling into the category of people who give up? This selection of “inspiring quotes to live your dreams” will, I hope, offer some help.

Firstly, because these words can be a genuine source of motivation. They may be the spark you need to take action instead of making all the usual excuses when it comes to turning your projects into concrete reality. These thoughts can also inspire some answers: How to identify your dreams, the real ones, your own dreams, the ones that get you excited. How to overcome the “normal” and legitimate fears that beg you to give up. How to overcome them and prevent paralysis.

Through these quotes, authors, artists, entrepreneurs, athletes, peacemakers and other personalities share their experiences, their points of view, their poetry. There are many different angles from which to look at things when it comes to achieving your dreams. And who knows, perhaps hidden among these quotes is the light bulb moment you needed to finally take your place among the people who decide to follow their dreams!

1. Inspiring quotes to dare to dream and believe in your dreams

Believe in your dreams, in your potential

“If you can dream it, you can do it.” Walt Disney
“Believe in your dreams and they may come true. Believe in yourself and they surely will.” Martin Luther King
“You become what you believe, not what you think or what you want.” Oprah Winfrey
“The first step is you have to say that you can.” Will Smith
“Believe in your dreams no matter how impossible they seem.” Walt Disney
“The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.” Eleanor Roosevelt
“When you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it. Paulo Coelho
“Anything is possible if you dream, dare, work and never give up.” Xavier Dolan
“People can’t do somethin’ themselves, they wanna tell you you can’t do it. If you want somethin’, go get it.” Will Smith, in the film “The Pursuit of Happyness”.
“Surround yourself with the dreamers and the doers, the believers and the thinkers, but most of all, surround yourself with those who see the greatness within you, even when you don’t see it yourself.” Edmund Lee

Dare to dream!

“The world was built by people who dared to dream what seemed impossible.” David Laroche
“Dare to dream, dare to try, dare to fail, dare to succeed. Go ahead. I dare you!” Kingsey Ward
“When you say “yes” to your dreams, you inspire those you love to give their own dreams a chance.” David Laroche
“Know. Think. Dream. Everything is here.” Victor Hugo
“When I went to school, they asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I wrote down ‘happy’. They told me I didn’t understand the assignment, and I told them they didn’t understand life.” John Lennon
“Have the courage to offer yourself your dreams.” David Laroche
“I wish you never-ending dreams and the crazy need to realize one of them.” Jacques Brel
“Every morning, I write my dreams in pencil inside my head. Every evening I erase them.” Virginie Grimaldi
“It is not because things are difficult that we do not dare; it is because we do not dare that things are difficult.” Seneca

Dream big – the sky’s the limit!

“I decided that I was going to live every day as if it was the last of my life. I was going to tick off each and every one of the tasks in my endless list.” Yuval Abramovitz
“Wisdom is to have dreams big enough not to lose sight when we pursue them.” Oscar Wilde
“When you dare to dream big, your nervous system will take pleasure in it and become solution oriented.” David Laroche
“You are the master of your life, and whatever your prison, you hold the keys.” Hervé Desbois
“You are your only limit.” Anonymous
“Choose a love and work to make it true.” Richard Bach
“Dream as if you’ll live forever, live as if you’ll die today.” James Dean
“There are no limitations to the mind except those that we acknowledge.” Napoleon Hill
“You can’t stop people trying to put limits on your dreams, but you can stop that from becoming a reality. Your dreams depend on you. I encourage you to be curious, to seek out the things you love, and to always work hard once you find the thing you like.” Kobe Bryant
“Dream of big things. This will allow you to at least do small ones.” Jules Renard

2. Inspiring quotes to create the life of your dreams

Make your life a dream

“Make the dream devour your life before life devours your dream”. Philippe Chatel
“Love the life you have while you create the life of your dreams. Don’t think you have to choose one over the other.” Hal Elrod
“If you don’t make the time to work on creating the life you want, you’re eventually going to be forced to spend a LOT of time dealing with a life you don’t want.” Kevin Ngo
“Choosing your life means asking whether you must realise your dreams or submit to daily life.” Sonia Lahsaini
“Make of your life a dream, and of a dream a reality.” Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
“Dreaming of life is not living life. You have the right to hang onto a piece of your dream to carry you forward, but never stray far from reality.” Michel Quoist
“There are two ways to lead your life, dream it or do it.” René Char
“No person has the right to rain on your dreams.” Martin Luther King
“You are the master of your life, and whatever your prison, you hold the keys.” Hervé Desbois
“Think big, start small, and scale quickly.” John P. Strelecky

Dreams to achieve success

“The ability to convert ideas to things is the secret of outward success.” Henry Ward Beecher
“All men who have achieved great things have been great dreamers.” Orison Swett Marden
“Big things are accomplished by those who have big ideas and live their life with the goal of realising their dreams.” Ernest Holmes
“A person should set his goals as early as he can and devote all his energy and talent to getting there. With enough effort, he may achieve it.” Walt Disney
“Those who dream by day are cognizant of many things which escape those who only dream by night.” Edgar Allan Poe
“The size of your success is measured by the strength of your desire; the size of your dream; and how you handle disappointment along the way.” Robert Kiyosaki
“Carpe Diem, seize the day boys, make your lives extraordinary.” N.H. Kleinbaum
“Cherish your visions and your dreams as they are the children of your soul, the blueprints of your ultimate achievements.” Napoleon Hill

Happiness on the path to achieving your dreams

“Happiness is a child’s dream fulfilled in maturity.” Sigmund Freud
“Curiosity is the key to living a successful and happy life.” Walt Disney
“A dream without a star is a forgotten dream.” Paul Eluard
“Those times when you get up early and you work hard; those times when you stay up late and you work hard; and those times when you don’t feel like working, you’re too tired, you don’t want to push yourself, but you do it anyway; that is actually the dream. That’s the dream. It’s not the destination, it’s the journey.” Kobe Bryant
“The world of dreams is the most wonderful country of all.” Charles Nodier
“Every dream cradled in hope is happiness in perspective.” Jean-Napoléon Verdier
“Without a dream, it is impossible to know happiness.” Alexandre Lowen
“The biggest adventure you can take is to live the life of your dreams.” Oprah Winfrey

From dream to reality!

“A person who does not allow reality to get in the way of their dreams is a wise person.” Christiane Singer
“Separating dreams from life means giving up on changing things” Charlotte Erlih
“We dream of an ideal, we pray to it, call it, watch it, and then the day arrives when we begin to see it and we discover the fear of living, of not being equal to our own dreams, or that of marrying them to a reality for which we become responsible.” Marc Levy
“All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them.” Walt Disney
“My dream rises like a cake in the oven. I believe it is ready to become reality.” Mathias Malzieu
“Everything you can imagine is real.” Pablo Picasso

3. Inspiring quotes to help you live your dreams despite doubts and adversity

Living your dreams – the possible and the impossible…

“The first step is to establish that something is possible then probability will occur.” Elon Musk
“Whatever the mind can conceive and believe, the mind can achieve.” Napoleon Hill
“The impossible exists only until we find a way to make it possible.” Mike Horn
“People who say it cannot be done should not interrupt those who are doing it.” Anonymous
“I don’t do things to get results. I do things to become the person who is capable of getting those results.” David Laroche
“Motivation is when your dreams put on work clothes.” Benjamin Franklin
“Everything seems impossible to those who have never tried.” Jean-Louis Etienne
“I love those who yearn for the impossible.” Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe
To dream an impossible dream […] To follow the star
No matter my odds
No matter the time
Or my despair” Jacques Brel
“What we call impossible are things we don’t really want to do.” Mike Horn
“You see things; and you say, ‘Why? But I dream things that never were; and I say, ‘Why not?’ George Bernard Shaw

Persevere on the road to achieving your dreams

“Persevere on the path to your dreams, even if the road seems hard. We all have a destiny to discover, to invent, to construct.” Jean-Louis Etienne
“But obstacles don’t have to stop you. If you run into a wall, don’t turn around and give up. Figure out how to climb it, go through it, or work around it.” Michael Jordan
“Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition.” Steve Jobs
“No dream will come true if you don’t wake up and get to work to realise it.” Maritza Parra
“Don’t stop dreaming just because you had a nightmare.” Jill Scott
“Never give up on a dream because of the time it will take to accomplish it. The time will pass anyway.” Earl Nightingale
“Our dreams are our own, and only we can know the effort required to keep them alive.” Paulo Coelho
“Even if I give you the strategies for “how”, if your “why” is not strong enough, you will give up.” David Laroche
“To give oneself trouble for small things is to reach the great ones over time.” Samuel Beckett

Overcome fear to achieve your dreams

“There is only one thing that makes a dream impossible to achieve: the fear of failure.” Paulo Coelho
“You start dying slowly if you become a slave of your habits, walking every day on the same paths […] If you do not risk what is safe for the uncertain.” Pablo Neruda
“If you really want something, and really work hard, and take advantage of opportunities, and never give up, you will find a way.. Follow your dreams.” Jane Goodall
“Afterwards, it’s too late, and believe me, too late comes very quickly.” Arie Desplechin
“Doubt destroys more dreams than failure.” Anonymous
“Your way of thinking will decide whether you succeed or fail.” Henry Ford
“The first step to getting what you want is having the courage to leave what you no longer want.” Anonymous
“I told my mother that when I grew up I wanted to work with whales. She laughed. I don’t know at what age you lose your dreams, but I hope I never get to it.” Virginie Grimaldi
“You can’t fear not having the chance to do something if you are doing it or have already done it.” John P. Strelecky

4. Inspiring quotes to take action and finally turn your dreams into reality!

Pursuing your dreams

“The so-called ‘comfort’ of familiarity overflowed into their emotions, as well as their physical lives. Fear of change had them pretending to others, and to their selves, that they were content. When deep within, they longed to laugh properly and have silliness in their life again.” Bronnie Ware
“Dream is not that which you see while sleeping. It is something that does not let you sleep.” A.P. Abdul Kalam
“Follow your dream.
If you stumble, don’t stop and lose sight of your goal
Press to the top.
For only on top can we see the whole view.” Amanda Bradley
“If you don’t build your dream someone will hire you to help build theirs.” Steve Jobs
“People should pursue what they are passionate about. That will make them happier than pretty much anything else.” Elon Musk
“It won’t be done in one day, but one day it will be done.” Anonymous
“If I don’t follow my dreams during the day, they will come back to haunt me during the night.” Yuval Abramovitz
“Too many people dreams with their eyes closed. You must dream with your eyes open.” Mike Horn
“Why is it that we spend so much of our time preparing for when we can do what we want, instead of just doing what we want right now?” John P. Strelecky
“Challenges are opportunities in disguise, pushing us to grow and overcome our limits.” John P. Strelecky
“The simplest dreams are the most fabulous ones.” Claude Bergame
“Success comes when your dreams become bigger than your excuses.” Anonymous

Action, now!

“The distance between dreams and reality is called action.” Anonymous
“It’s time to start living the life you imagined.” Henry James
“Some people want it to happen, some wish it would happen, others make it happen.” Michael Jordan
“Living is making your dream into a memory.” Sylvain Tesson
“The best way to realise your dreams is to wake up.” Paul Valéry
“The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.” Lao Tseu
“Whatever you dream you can do, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it. Begin it now.” “Boldness has genius, power and magic in it.” Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe
“The only real failure is the failure to try.” Anonymous
“Suddenly I don’t know any more. A little voice tells me that all I have to do is turn around, that everyone will understand and no-one will blame me. Perhaps, but what about me… What will I think of me?” Mike Horn
“We all have dreams, but we don’t all succeed in realising them. I think I know why. I have a feeling that you should know too.” Yuval Abramovitz
“The time has come to light the stars again.” Guillaume Apollinaire

Turn your dreams into goals

“What you get by achieving your goals is not as important as what you become by achieving your goals.” Zig Ziglar
“A goal is a dream with a deadline.” Napoleon Hill
“The very substance of the ambitious is merely the shadow of a dream.” William Shakespeare
“I learned this, at least, by my experiment; that if one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavours to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.” Henry David Thoreau
“You can accomplish more than you think you can. Most of your limitations are in your mind.” Ernie Zelinski
“Choose a star. Never let it out of your sight. “It will take you far, without tiredness or pain.” Alexandra David-Neel
“Ambition is a dream with an injection engine.” Elvis Presley
“Always remember to fall asleep with a dream and wake up with a purpose.” Anonymous
“When your desires are strong enough, you will appear to possess superhuman powers to achieve.” Napoleon Hill

5. Inspiring quotes about the importance of having dreams

Live your dreams and you won’t have regrets

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbour. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover. Mark Twain
“One day you will wake up and there won’t be any more time to do the things you’ve always wanted. Do it now.” Paulo Coelho
“To live well is to prepare to die with no regrets.” Laurent Gounel
“A successful life is an adolescent dream realised at a mature age.” Alfred de Vigny
“A man is not old until regrets take the place of dreams.” Seneca
“If I started my life over again, I would try to make my dreams even bigger; because life is infinitely more beautiful and bigger that I ever believed, even in dream.” Georges Bernanos
“The goal of a dream is not just to be realised, but to realise us.” David Laroche
“We would like to live without getting old, but in fact, we get old without living.” Eilhard Mitscherlich
“Take ownership of your life. Shift your priorities. You are going to die! Understand this, and get excited about the gift of today. You are alive right now.” Bronnie Ware

Live your dreams to add meaning to your life

“Dreams allow us to rise up, to give meaning to our lives and to turn the difficulties of the past into a resource to acheive our ambitions.” David Laroche
“If a person has no dreams, they no longer have any reason to live. Dreaming is necessary, although in the dream reality should be glimpsed. For me this is a principle of life.” Ayrton Senna
“It’s the possibility of having a dream come true that makes life interesting.” Paulo Coelho
“Dreams nourish the soul just as food nourishes the body. The pleasure of the search and of adventure feeds our dreams.” Paulo Coelho
“Yesterday is but today’s memory, and tomorrow is today’s dream.” Khalil Gibran
“The heart never forgets, never gives up, the territory marked off for those who came before.”
“The ideal: a precise dream.” Jules Renard
“Do not consider yourself deprived because your dreams were not fulfilled; the truly deprived have never dreamed.” Mari Von Ebner-Eschenbach
“Our dreams prove that to imagine – to dream about things that have not happened – is among mankind’s deepest needs.” Milan Kundera
“Give me a dream to live, because reality is killing me.” Jim Morrison
“A life without a dream is like a puppet without strings.” François Gervais

6. Inspiring quotes to create a better world by making your dreams come true

The big personalities who turned their dreams into accomplishments, a body of work

“I dream my painting and then I paint my dream.” Vincent Van Gogh
“I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.” Martin Luther King (I have a dream speech)
“Marcus Aurelius had a dream. That dream was called Rome.” From the film Gladiator
“We have to learn to live in harmony and peace with each other and with nature. That is not just a dream, but a necessity.” The Dalai-Lama Tenzin Gyatso
“I dreamed of a world of sunshine in the brotherhood of my blue-eyed brothers.” Leopold Sedar Senghor
“Some days I dreamed of an eraser to erase human filth.” Louis Aragon
“I have a dream that one day little black boys and girls will be holding hands with little white boys and girls.” Martin Luther King
“Alibaba is not just a job. It is a dream. It is a cause. Jack Ma (founder of Alibaba)
“Imagine there’s no countries. It isn’t hard to do. Nothing to kill or die for. And no religion too. Imagine all the people living life in peace. You may say I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one. I hope some day you’ll join us. And the world will live as one.” John Lennon
“Deep in every heart slumbers a dream, and the couturier knows it: every woman is a princess.” Christian Dior
“I think everybody should get rich and famous and everything they ever dreamed of so they can see that that’s not the answer.” Jim Carrey

Live your dreams to inspire others

“The athlete dreams his dream, the champion lives it.” Anonymous
“A dream you dream together is reality.” John Lennon
“This book belongs to all the women and girls who, when they hear the word “dream” see a verb and not a noun.” Lori Nelson Spielman
“The dreams of one generation become the reality of the next ones.” Mihaly Karolyi

What about you? What inspiring quotes have encouraged you to live your dreams? Share your experience and stories about how they had an impact on your life in the comments.

158 inspiring quotes to live your dreams