Motivational quotes for work are short lines that help you do good work, lift your team and remember why the work matters, especially on the days it feels like a grind. Work is not just how you pay the bills. Done well, it is one of the ways you serve people and honor God. This list has 42 motivational quotes for work from Elbert Hubbard, Steve Jobs, Peter Drucker, Elon Musk, Scripture and original quotes from A2S founder Joel Brown. Every sourced line is traced to a real source. For the grit side of the same idea, read these hard work quotes for success that lasts.

Motivational Quotes for Work: Doing Work Worth Doing

1. “The reward of a thing well done, is to have done it.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

2. “Work to me is a sacred thing.” – Margaret Bourke-White

3. “The highest reward that God gives us for good work, is the ability to do better work.” – Elbert Hubbard

4. “One machine can do the work of fifty ordinary men. No machine can do the work of one extraordinary man.” – Elbert Hubbard

5. “Above all, don’t be satisfied to do only fairly well what ought to be done very well. Someone is going to do it better than anyone else; why not you?” – Clarence Monroe Bookman

6. “Our greatest weariness comes from work not done.” – Eric Hoffer

7. “Do one hour of deep work every workday, no phone and no tabs. That’s about 250 focused hours a year. Focus is the raise nobody has to approve.” – Joel Brown

8. “It is the first of all problems for a man to find out what kind of work he is to do in this universe.” – Thomas Carlyle

9. “Your inbox is someone else’s to-do list for you. Do your most important work first, then answer everyone else.” – Joel Brown

10. “Honest labour bears a lovely face.” – Thomas Dekker

11. “Beautiful objects are wrought by study through effort, but ugly things are reaped automatically without toil.” – Democritus

12. “Life without industry is guilt, and industry without art is brutality.” – John Ruskin

13. “All who have meant good work with their whole hearts, have done good work, although they may die before they have the time to sign it.” – Robert Louis Stevenson

Teamwork Quotes: Winning Together at Work

Nobody builds anything great alone. These lines are for leaders, teams and anyone who shares the load. For more from one of the great team competitors, read these Michael Jordan quotes.

14. “It isn’t individuals who count. It’s the way a team plays as a whole that determines its offensive power or its defensive strength.” – Babe Ruth

15. “Average people work when they feel like it. Professionals work, then the feeling catches up. Your results know which one you are.” – Joel Brown

16. “‘Men work together,’ I told him from the heart, / ‘Whether they work together or apart.’” – Robert Frost

17. “Want to be the person they can’t replace? Be the one who finishes what they start and says so before anyone asks. Reliability is rare. That’s why it pays.” – Joel Brown

18. “If you want work well done, select a busy man” – Elbert Hubbard

19. “Influence isn’t random. It starts with the people closest to you believing your life matches your words. Win that circle first. Everything else compounds.” – Joel Brown

20. “SpaceX’s got 5,000 people. I get a lot of attention, but they are really doing the work.” – Elon Musk

21. “A man should never be appointed into a managerial position if his vision focuses on people’s weaknesses rather than on their strengths.” – Peter Drucker

22. “Motivation is a battle for the heart, not just an appeal to the mind.” – Patrick Dixon

Career Quotes: Building Something That Lasts

23. “You’ve got to start with the customer experience and work backwards to the technology” – Steve Jobs

24. “Nobody retires wishing they’d played it safer at work. They regret the idea they never pitched and the business they never started.” – Joel Brown

25. “Diligence is the mother of good fortune, and idleness — its opposite — never brought a man to the goal of any of his best wishes.” – Miguel de Cervantes

26. “Show up early. Do the hard task first. Keep your word. Make your boss’s job easier. Leave it better than you found it. That’s how careers get built.” – Joel Brown

27. “The finest eloquence is that which gets things done; the worst is that which delays them.” – David Lloyd George

28. “Hasten slowly, and without losing heart, put your work twenty times upon the anvil.” – Nicolas Boileau-Despréaux

29. “The more I want to get something done, the less I call it work.” – Richard Bach

30. “No thoroughly occupied man was ever yet very miserable.” – Letitia Elizabeth Landon

31. “The labour we delight in physics pain.” – William Shakespeare

32. “Hustle culture sold you a fantasy. The real game is making hard decisions with incomplete information and still sleeping somehow.” – Joel Brown

33. “There are 3 seasons in a business:
Building: nobody cares yet. Keep going.
Proving: a few people care. Don’t get drunk on it.
Stewarding: it works, and now your character is the product.
Know the season you’re in.” – Joel Brown

34. “I say: Take no thought of the harvest, / But only of proper sowing.” – T. S. Eliot

Faith at Work Quotes: Scripture for the Workday

35. “Commit thy works unto the LORD, and thy thoughts shall be established.” – Proverbs 16:3

36. “You don’t hate work. You hate work that doesn’t move you toward anything. Attach today’s task to a bigger why and watch how it changes.” – Joel Brown

37. “Two are better than one; because they have a good reward for their labour.” – Ecclesiastes 4:9

38. “Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend.” – Proverbs 27:17

39. “and establish thou the work of our hands upon us; yea, the work of our hands establish thou it.” – Psalm 90:17

40. “The work nobody claps for right now is building the person everyone will ask about later.” – Joel Brown

41. “The thoughts of the diligent tend only to plenteousness” – Proverbs 21:5

42. “forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.” – 1 Corinthians 15:58

Share one of these with your team this week, then live it before you post it. Which of these motivational quotes for work is going on your desk?

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a good motivational quote for work?

Elbert Hubbard’s “The highest reward that God gives us for good work, is the ability to do better work” (1927) is a strong choice. So is Clarence Bookman’s “Someone is going to do it better than anyone else; why not you?” from 1914.

What is a short teamwork quote for the office?

Robert Frost’s “Men work together… whether they work together or apart,” from The Tuft of Flowers, is short and true. Ecclesiastes 4:9, “Two are better than one,” is another.

Did Steve Jobs say, “The only way to do great work is to love what you do”?

Yes. He said it in his commencement address at Stanford University on 12 June 2005. It is not repeated here because it already appears on our hard work and Steve Jobs quote pages.

How can I use these quotes at work?

Pick one for the week, put it at the top of your team meeting notes or your Monday message, and ask people what it means for the work in front of them. One line people discuss beats ten they scroll past.

Quotes about change are short lines that help you face what is shifting in your life, let go of what is finished, and grow into what comes next. Change is coming either way. The only question is whether you fight it or let God use it to build you. This list has 40 verified quotes about change, from James Baldwin and John F. Kennedy to Octavia Butler, Scripture and a few of my own. Every line is traced to a book, speech, letter or interview, and the famous fakes were left off. If you are standing at the start of a new season, pair this page with these new year quotes on fresh starts.

Quotes About Change: Embracing What Comes Next

1. “Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or the present are certain to miss the future.” – John F. Kennedy

2. “Progress is impossible without change, and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything.” – George Bernard Shaw

3. “Change is not merely necessary to life; it is life.” – Alvin Toffler

4. “Change based on principle is progress. Constant change without principle becomes chaos.” – Dwight D. Eisenhower

5. “He who rejects change is the architect of decay. The only human institution which rejects progress is the cemetery.” – Harold Wilson

6. “If we want things to stay as they are, things will have to change.” – Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa

7. “Change begets change. Nothing propagates so fast.” – Charles Dickens

8. “Is any man afraid of change? Why what can take place without change?” – Marcus Aurelius

9. “Five years from now, the change you’re scared of today will be your normal. The only question is whether you chose it or it chose you.” – Joel Brown

10. “There is a certain relief in change, even though it be from bad to worse! As I have often found in travelling in a stagecoach, that it is often a comfort to shift one’s position, and be bruised in a new place.” – Washington Irving

11. “The only way to make sense out of change is to plunge into it, move with it, and join the dance.” – Alan Watts

12. “Some people wait to feel ready, then change. Others change, then feel ready. Only one of them ever starts.” – Joel Brown

13. “Only in growth, reform, and change, paradoxically enough, is true security to be found.” – Anne Morrow Lindbergh

Personal Change Quotes: It Starts With You

14. “Not everything that is faced can be changed; but nothing can be changed until it is faced.” – James Baldwin

15. “‘How do I know it’s time to change?’ When staying the same starts costing you more than changing would.” – Joel Brown

16. “If we could change ourselves, the tendencies in the world would also change.” – Mahatma Gandhi

17. “Get 1% better at something every day and you won’t recognize yourself in a year. Change rarely feels big while it’s happening. It just adds up quietly.” – Joel Brown

18. “The change is from inner to outer. — We start by dissolving our attitude not by altering outer conditions.” – Bruce Lee

19. “People don’t realize how a man’s whole life can be changed by one book.” – Malcolm X

20. “Change is the immediate responsibility of each of us, wherever and however we are standing, in whatever arena we choose.” – Audre Lorde

21. “People who want a cure, provided they can have it without pain, are like those who favour progress, provided they can have it without change.” – Anthony de Mello

22. “People love the idea of being transformed until the process actually starts removing things they like.” – Joel Brown

23. “The longer you avoid the decision, the more of your life gets built around avoiding it.” – Joel Brown

24. “Most men will research the perfect life and still refuse the simple obedience that would build it.” – Joel Brown

Growth and Change Quotes: Becoming Who You Were Made to Be

Change is not the goal. Growth is. These lines are about who you become on the other side. For the mindset that keeps you hopeful while it happens, read these positive thinking quotes.

25. “In a higher world it is otherwise; but here below to live is to change, and to be perfect is to have changed often.” – John Henry Newman

26. “All changes, even the most longed for, have their melancholy; for what we leave behind us is a part of ourselves; we must die to one life before we can enter another.” – Anatole France

27. “Change always involves a dark night when everything falls apart. Yet if this period of dissolution is used to create new meaning, then chaos ends and new order emerges.” – Margaret Wheatley

28. “A caterpillar doesn’t get wings by trying harder to be a caterpillar. Sometimes growth means letting the old version of you fall apart.” – Joel Brown

29. “Great change begins with small steps taken at home.” – Amy Goodman

30. “All that you touch / You Change. / All that you Change / Changes you. / The only lasting truth / Is Change. / God / Is Change.” – Octavia E. Butler

31. “Growth is the only evidence of life.” – John Henry Newman

32. “The season you’re in is changing you, even when it feels like nothing is changing. Roots grow underground first.” – Joel Brown

33. “Growth is an erratic forward movement: two steps forward, one step back. Remember that and be very gentle with yourself.” – Julia Cameron

34. “That men may rise on stepping-stones / Of their dead selves to higher things.” – Alfred, Lord Tennyson

Faith and Change Quotes: What God Makes New

35. “God, give us grace to accept with serenity the things that cannot be changed, courage to change the things which should be changed, and the wisdom to distinguish the one from the other.” – Reinhold Niebuhr

36. “You’re not afraid of change. You’re afraid of losing who you were before you meet who you’re becoming. That gap is where faith lives.” – Joel Brown

37. “For I am the LORD, I change not” – Malachi 3:6

38. “A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you” – Ezekiel 36:26

39. “Before you ask God to change your situation, ask Him what the situation is trying to change in you. Sometimes you’re the miracle He’s working on.” – Joel Brown

40. “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.” – Hebrews 13:8

You do not need to change everything this week. Change one thing you have been avoiding and watch how much else moves with it. Which of these quotes about change are you taking with you today?

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a good quote about change?

One of the strongest sourced lines is James Baldwin’s “Not everything that is faced can be changed; but nothing can be changed until it is faced.” It ran in The New York Times Book Review in 1962. John F. Kennedy’s “Change is the law of life” from his 1963 Frankfurt speech is another.

Did Gandhi say, “Be the change you wish to see in the world”?

Not in those words. The short version is a later paraphrase. The closest line Gandhi actually wrote comes from Indian Opinion in 1913: “If we could change ourselves, the tendencies in the world would also change.” That verified line is the one on this list.

Did Charles Darwin say it is not the strongest species that survives, but the most adaptable to change?

No. Wikiquote lists it as misattributed. The wording traces to a 1963 paraphrase of Darwin by management professor Leon C. Megginson, not to anything Darwin wrote.

Who said you cannot step into the same river twice?

The idea comes from the Greek philosopher Heraclitus, but only fragments of his writing survive. It reaches us through Plato’s Cratylus (402a): “You could not step twice into the same river.” The popular modern wordings are paraphrases.

New Year quotes get pasted onto midnight posts and vision boards, and plenty of them were never said by the person in the caption. I wanted a list I could stand behind: 61 New Year quotes, including lines you can actually find in a poem, an essay or the Bible, with the wording checked against a source, not a meme, plus a few of my own.

You’ll find a few of my own New Year quotes first, then Tennyson ringing out the old, Chesterton on why a new year needs a new soul, Anne of Green Gables on a day with no mistakes in it yet, and a few verses about mercies that are new every morning. The point is not to collect every slogan about January. It’s to keep the lines that still mean something when the year gets ordinary. The ones about fresh starts, New Year’s resolutions you might actually keep, and a new year of growth that does not depend on a perfect first week.

New Year Quotes: From Joel Brown

1. “A year from now you’ll wish you had started today. Not with a perfect plan. Just with the first ugly step.” – Joel Brown
Source: Joel Brown, original

2. “I regret to inform you that January 1st won’t change you. It’s just a Friday with fireworks. Your habits on January 2nd will.” – Joel Brown
Source: Joel Brown, original

3. “Read 10 pages a day in 2027. That’s 3,650 pages, roughly 12 to 15 books. One year of 20-minute mornings can rewire how you think.” – Joel Brown
Source: Joel Brown, original

4. “Some people want a new year. Others want a new them. The calendar can only give you one of those.” – Joel Brown
Source: Joel Brown, original

5. “Stop setting resolutions. Decide who you’re going to be, then ask what that person does on a Tuesday. Goals fade. Identity sticks.” – Joel Brown
Source: Joel Brown, original

6. “‘Why do my resolutions always fail by February?’ Because you added 10 changes to a life with no room for one. Remove something before you add something.” – Joel Brown
Source: Joel Brown, original

7. “If last year broke your heart, this year doesn’t have to repeat it. You’re walking in with scars, not a sentence. Scars mean you healed.” – Joel Brown
Source: Joel Brown, original

8. “Want 2027 to be your best year? Keep one promise to yourself every single day, even a tiny one. Confidence is just a stack of kept promises.” – Joel Brown
Source: Joel Brown, original

9. “A new year is a blank page, not a new book. Same author. Same story so far. But you get to decide what the next chapter is about.” – Joel Brown
Source: Joel Brown, original

10. “This year I’ll pray more and panic less. Build more and scroll less. Listen more and argue less. Give more and need less. That’s the whole plan.” – Joel Brown
Source: Joel Brown, original

New Year Quotes: Ring Out the Old

11. “Ring out wild bells to the wild sky, The flying cloud, the frosty light: The year is dying in the night; Ring out, wild bells, and let him die.” – Alfred, Lord Tennyson
Source: In Memoriam A.H.H., canto CVI, “Ring Out, Wild Bells,” Project Gutenberg ebook 70950

12. “Ring out the old, ring in the new, Ring, happy bells, across the snow: The year is going, let him go; Ring out the false, ring in the true.” – Alfred, Lord Tennyson
Source: In Memoriam A.H.H., canto CVI, “Ring Out, Wild Bells,” Project Gutenberg ebook 70950

13. “Ring out the grief that saps the mind, For those that here we see no more; Ring out the feud of rich and poor, Ring in redress to all mankind.” – Alfred, Lord Tennyson
Source: In Memoriam A.H.H., canto CVI, “Ring Out, Wild Bells,” Project Gutenberg ebook 70950

14. “Ring in the valiant man and free, The larger heart, the kindlier hand; Ring out the darkness of the land, Ring in the Christ that is to be.” – Alfred, Lord Tennyson
Source: In Memoriam A.H.H., canto CVI, “Ring Out, Wild Bells,” Project Gutenberg ebook 70950

15. “But the birth of a New Year is of an interest too wide to be pretermitted by king or cobbler. No one ever regarded the First of January with indifference. It is that from which all date their time, and count upon what is left. It is the nativity of our common Adam.” – Charles Lamb
Source: “New Year's Eve,” in The Works of Charles and Mary Lamb, Volume 2, Project Gutenberg ebook 10343

16. “Of all sounds of all bells–(bells, the music nighest bordering upon heaven)–most solemn and touching is the peal which rings out the Old Year.” – Charles Lamb
Source: “New Year's Eve,” in The Works of Charles and Mary Lamb, Volume 2, Project Gutenberg ebook 10343

17. “Should auld acquaintance be forgot, And never brought to mind? Should auld acquaintance be forgot, And auld lang syne!” – Robert Burns
Source: “Auld Lang Syne,” in Poems and Songs of Robert Burns, Project Gutenberg ebook 1279

18. “For auld lang syne, my dear, For auld lang syne. We’ll tak a cup o’ kindness yet, For auld lang syne.” – Robert Burns
Source: “Auld Lang Syne,” in Poems and Songs of Robert Burns, Project Gutenberg ebook 1279

New Year Quotes: Fresh Starts and New Beginnings

19. “Write it on your heart that every day is the best day in the year. No man has learned anything rightly, until he knows that every day is Doomsday.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
Source: “Works and Days,” in Society and Solitude, Project Gutenberg ebook 69258

20. “Marilla, isn’t it nice to think that tomorrow is a new day with no mistakes in it yet?” – L. M. Montgomery
Source: Anne of Green Gables, Chapter 21, Project Gutenberg ebook 45

21. “Look not mournfully into the Past. It comes not back again. Wisely improve the Present. It is thine. Go forth to meet the shadowy Future, without fear, and with a manly heart.” – Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Source: Hyperion, Project Gutenberg ebook 5436

22. “Not enjoyment, and not sorrow, Is our destined end or way; But to act, that each to-morrow Find us farther than to-day.” – Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Source: “A Psalm of Life,” in Voices of the Night, Wikisource

23. “Trust no Future, howe'er pleasant! Let the dead Past bury its dead! Act,—act in the living Present! Heart within, and God o'erhead!” – Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Source: “A Psalm of Life,” in Voices of the Night, Wikisource

24. “Let us, then, be up and doing, With a heart for any fate; Still achieving, still pursuing, Learn to labor and to wait.” – Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Source: “A Psalm of Life,” in Voices of the Night, Wikisource

25. “The object of a New Year is not that we should have a new year. It is that we should have a new soul and a new nose; new feet, a new backbone, new ears, and new eyes.” – G. K. Chesterton
Source: “New Year's Day,” in A Chesterton Calendar, Project Gutenberg ebook 45811 (from the Daily News)

26. “There was never any more inception than there is now, Nor any more youth or age than there is now, And will never be any more perfection than there is now, Nor any more heaven or hell than there is now.” – Walt Whitman
Source: “Song of Myself,” in Leaves of Grass, Project Gutenberg ebook 1322

27. “Afoot and light-hearted I take to the open road, Healthy, free, the world before me, The long brown path before me leading wherever I choose.” – Walt Whitman
Source: “Song of the Open Road,” in Leaves of Grass, Project Gutenberg ebook 1322

28. “Morning is when I am awake and there is a dawn in me.” – Henry David Thoreau
Source: Walden, “Where I Lived, and What I Lived For,” Project Gutenberg ebook 205

29. “Only that day dawns to which we are awake. There is more day to dawn. The sun is but a morning star.” – Henry David Thoreau
Source: Walden, “Conclusion,” Project Gutenberg ebook 205

New Year Quotes: Resolutions and a Better Self

30. “Unless a particular man made New Year resolutions, he would make no resolutions. Unless a man starts afresh about things, he will certainly do nothing effective.” – G. K. Chesterton
Source: “New Year's Day,” in A Chesterton Calendar, Project Gutenberg ebook 45811 (from the Daily News)

31. “I learned this, at least, by my experiment; that if one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.” – Henry David Thoreau
Source: Walden, “Conclusion,” Project Gutenberg ebook 205

32. “We must learn to reawaken and keep ourselves awake, not by mechanical aids, but by an infinite expectation of the dawn, which does not forsake us in our soundest sleep.” – Henry David Thoreau
Source: Walden, “Where I Lived, and What I Lived For,” Project Gutenberg ebook 205

33. “I know of no more encouraging fact than the unquestionable ability of man to elevate his life by a conscious endeavor.” – Henry David Thoreau
Source: Walden, “Where I Lived, and What I Lived For,” Project Gutenberg ebook 205

34. “If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them.” – Henry David Thoreau
Source: Walden, “Conclusion,” Project Gutenberg ebook 205

35. “Henceforth I ask not good-fortune, I myself am good-fortune, Henceforth I whimper no more, postpone no more, need nothing, Done with indoor complaints, libraries, querulous criticisms, Strong and content I travel the open road.” – Walt Whitman
Source: “Song of the Open Road,” in Leaves of Grass, Project Gutenberg ebook 1322

36. “Not I, not any one else can travel that road for you, You must travel it for yourself.” – Walt Whitman
Source: “Song of the Open Road,” in Leaves of Grass, Project Gutenberg ebook 1322

37. “Reset fast. Bad day. Bad week. Bad year. Start again like a man.” – Joel Brown
Source: Joel Brown, X, 18 Sep 2026, PT

38. “Your next chapter doesn’t need the approval of people who were only comfortable with the old you.” – Joel Brown
Source: Joel Brown, X, 22 Jul 2026, PT

39. “Every new chapter in life is a learning lesson. Be a sponge, soak up knowledge, and trust that God is guiding you.” – Joel Brown
Source: Joel Brown, X, 4 Jul 2024, PT

New Year Quotes: Scripture and a New Heart

40. “Remember ye not the former things, neither consider the things of old. Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert.” – Isaiah 43:18-19, King James Version
Source: Isaiah 43:18-19 KJV, Bible Gateway

41. “It is of the LORD’s mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.” – Lamentations 3:22-23, King James Version
Source: Lamentations 3:22-23 KJV, Bible Gateway

42. “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” – 2 Corinthians 5:17, King James Version
Source: 2 Corinthians 5:17 KJV, Bible Gateway

43. “And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful.” – Revelation 21:5, King James Version
Source: Revelation 21:5 KJV, Bible Gateway

44. “Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.” – Philippians 3:13-14, King James Version
Source: Philippians 3:13-14 KJV, Bible Gateway

45. “Thou crownest the year with thy goodness; and thy paths drop fatness.” – Psalm 65:11, King James Version
Source: Psalm 65:11 KJV, Bible Gateway

46. “So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.” – Psalm 90:12, King James Version
Source: Psalm 90:12 KJV, Bible Gateway

47. “This is the day which the LORD hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.” – Psalm 118:24, King James Version
Source: Psalm 118:24 KJV, Bible Gateway

48. “To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:” – Ecclesiastes 3:1, King James Version
Source: Ecclesiastes 3:1 KJV, Bible Gateway

49. “But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.” – Isaiah 40:31, King James Version
Source: Isaiah 40:31 KJV, Bible Gateway

50. “For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.” – 2 Corinthians 4:16, King James Version
Source: 2 Corinthians 4:16 KJV, Bible Gateway

New Year Quotes: Hope for the Year Ahead

51. “That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; And be renewed in the spirit of your mind; And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.” – Ephesians 4:22-24, King James Version
Source: Ephesians 4:22-24 KJV, Bible Gateway

52. “Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:” – Philippians 1:6, King James Version
Source: Philippians 1:6 KJV, Bible Gateway

53. “Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.” – Psalm 51:10, King James Version
Source: Psalm 51:10 KJV, Bible Gateway

54. “Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the LORD thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest.” – Joshua 1:9, King James Version
Source: Joshua 1:9 KJV, Bible Gateway

55. “And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” – Romans 12:2, King James Version
Source: Romans 12:2 KJV, Bible Gateway

56. “The LORD bless thee, and keep thee: The LORD make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee: The LORD lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace.” – Numbers 6:24-26, King James Version
Source: Numbers 6:24-26 KJV, Bible Gateway

57. “A man’s heart deviseth his way: but the LORD directeth his steps.” – Proverbs 16:9, King James Version
Source: Proverbs 16:9 KJV, Bible Gateway

58. “Commit thy way unto the LORD; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass.” – Psalm 37:5, King James Version
Source: Psalm 37:5 KJV, Bible Gateway

59. “Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.” – Hebrews 12:1-2, King James Version
Source: Hebrews 12:1-2 KJV, Bible Gateway

60. “Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.” – Isaiah 41:10, King James Version
Source: Isaiah 41:10 KJV, Bible Gateway

61. “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” – Matthew 6:33, King James Version
Source: Matthew 6:33 KJV, Bible Gateway

FAQ: New Year Quotes

What are the best New Year quotes?

The best New Year quotes are the ones that still hold after the first week of January, and that you can find in a real book or speech. This list keeps 61 of them, including Tennyson’s “Ring out the old, ring in the new,” Chesterton on why a new year needs a new soul, and Lamentations 3:23: “They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.”

What is a famous Bible verse for the New Year?

Isaiah 43:18-19 is often read at the turn of the year: “Remember ye not the former things, neither consider the things of old. Behold, I will do a new thing.” Lamentations 3:22-23, 2 Corinthians 5:17, and Psalm 65:11 (“Thou crownest the year with thy goodness”) belong with it.

What is a good New Year quote about fresh starts?

Anne of Green Gables puts it simply: “Marilla, isn’t it nice to think that tomorrow is a new day with no mistakes in it yet?” Longfellow, in Hyperion, writes: “Look not mournfully into the Past. It comes not back again. Wisely improve the Present.”

What did Tennyson write about the New Year?

The New Year passage in In Memoriam is the lyric often called “Ring Out, Wild Bells.” The lines people remember first are “Ring out the old, ring in the new” and “Ring out the false, ring in the true,” from canto CVI.

Thanksgiving quotes get passed around the table and in the group chat, and a lot of them are mushy, shortened, or pinned to a Pilgrim who never wrote them. I wanted a list I could stand behind: 56 Thanksgiving quotes you can actually find in a proclamation, a poem, a hymn or the Bible, with the wording checked against a source, not a meme.

You’ll find Washington and Lincoln, a real 1621 harvest account from Mourt’s Relation, Psalm 100 and 1 Thessalonians 5, and a few lines that still work after the dishes are done. The point is not to collect everything ever said about gratitude. It’s to keep the lines that still mean something when you read them slowly. The ones about faith, family, the harvest, and the Christmas quotes you’ll want again in a few weeks.

Thanksgiving Quotes: The Day and the Harvest

1. “Our harvest being gotten in, our governor sent four men on fowling, that so we might after a special manner rejoice together after we had gathered the fruit of our labors. They four in one day killed as much fowl as, with a little help beside, served the company almost a week.” – Edward Winslow
Source: Mourt's Relation (A Journal of the Pilgrims at Plymouth), 1621 harvest account, Project Gutenberg ebook 66359

2. “At which time, amongst other recreations, we exercised our arms, many of the Indians coming amongst us, and among the rest their greatest king Massasoit, with some ninety men, whom for three days we entertained and feasted, and they went out and killed five deer, which they brought to the plantation and bestowed on our governor, and upon the captain and others.” – Edward Winslow
Source: Mourt's Relation (A Journal of the Pilgrims at Plymouth), 1621 harvest account, Project Gutenberg ebook 66359

3. “And although it be not always so plentiful as it was at this time with us, yet by the goodness of God, we are so far from want that we often wish you partakers of our plenty.” – Edward Winslow
Source: Mourt's Relation (A Journal of the Pilgrims at Plymouth), 1621 harvest account, Project Gutenberg ebook 66359

4. “They began now to gather in the small harvest they had, and to prepare their houses for the winter, being well recovered in health and strength, and plentifully provisioned.” – William Bradford
Source: Of Plymouth Plantation, as printed in Bradford's History of the Plymouth Settlement, 1608-1650, Project Gutenberg ebook 69871

5. “As well as wild fowl, they got abundance of wild turkeys, besides venison, etc. Each person had about a peck of meal a week, or now, since harvest, Indian corn in that proportion; and afterwards many wrote at length about their plenty to their friends in England, not feigned but true reports.” – William Bradford
Source: Of Plymouth Plantation, as printed in Bradford's History of the Plymouth Settlement, 1608-1650, Project Gutenberg ebook 69871

6. “Come, ye thankful people, come, Raise the song of harvest home; All is safely gathered in, Ere the winter storms begin; God, our Maker, doth provide For our wants to be supplied; Come to God's own temple, come, Raise the song of harvest home.” – Henry Alford
Source: “Come, Ye Thankful People, Come,” 1844, Wikisource

Thanksgiving Quotes: Gratitude as a Practice

7. “The thankful receiver bears a plentiful harvest.” – William Blake
Source: The Marriage of Heaven and Hell, “Proverbs of Hell,” Project Gutenberg ebook 45315

8. “O Lord, that lends me life, Lend me a heart replete with thankfulness!” – William Shakespeare
Source: Henry VI, Part 2, Act 1, Scene 1, Project Gutenberg ebook 100

9. “As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words but to live by them.” – John F. Kennedy
Source: Proclamation 3560—Thanksgiving Day, 1963, The American Presidency Project

10. “This should be a day of giving as well as a day of thanks.” – Ronald Reagan
Source: Proclamation 4883—Thanksgiving Day, 1981, Ronald Reagan Presidential Library

11. “In this spirit, Thanksgiving has become a day when Americans extend a helping hand to the less fortunate. Long before there was a government welfare program, this spirit of voluntary giving was ingrained in the American character. Americans have always understood that, truly, one must give in order to receive.” – Ronald Reagan
Source: Proclamation 4883—Thanksgiving Day, 1981, Ronald Reagan Presidential Library

12. “For the beauty of the earth, For the glory of the skies, For the love which from our birth Over and around us lies; Lord of all, to thee we raise This our hymn of grateful praise.” – Folliott S. Pierpoint
Source: “For the Beauty of the Earth,” 1864, Wikisource

13. “You can’t be grateful and entitled at the same time.
You have to pick one.
Only one of them makes you happy.” – Joel Brown
Source: Joel Brown originals sent 2026-11-13

14. “Write down 3 things you’re thankful for every night.
That’s 1,095 reasons in a year.
It’s hard to stay bitter with that much evidence.” – Joel Brown
Source: Joel Brown originals sent 2026-11-13

15. “Gratitude works like a pair of glasses.
Your life doesn’t change when you put them on.
You just finally see what was already there.” – Joel Brown
Source: Joel Brown originals sent 2026-11-13

Thanksgiving Quotes: Scripture and Giving Thanks

16. “In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.” – 1 Thessalonians 5:18, King James Version
Source: 1 Thessalonians 5:18 KJV, Bible Gateway

17. “Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name.” – Psalm 100:4, King James Version
Source: Psalm 100:4 KJV, Bible Gateway

18. “Make a joyful noise unto the LORD, all ye lands. Serve the LORD with gladness: come before his presence with singing.” – Psalm 100:1-2, King James Version
Source: Psalm 100:1-2 KJV, Bible Gateway

19. “O give thanks unto the LORD, for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever.” – Psalm 107:1, King James Version
Source: Psalm 107:1 KJV, Bible Gateway

20. “Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving, and make a joyful noise unto him with psalms.” – Psalm 95:2, King James Version
Source: Psalm 95:2 KJV, Bible Gateway

21. “Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits:” – Psalm 103:2, King James Version
Source: Psalm 103:2 KJV, Bible Gateway

22. “Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.” – Philippians 4:6, King James Version
Source: Philippians 4:6 KJV, Bible Gateway

23. “And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful.” – Colossians 3:15, King James Version
Source: Colossians 3:15 KJV, Bible Gateway

24. “And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him.” – Colossians 3:17, King James Version
Source: Colossians 3:17 KJV, Bible Gateway

25. “Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ;” – Ephesians 5:20, King James Version
Source: Ephesians 5:20 KJV, Bible Gateway

26. “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.” – James 1:17, King James Version
Source: James 1:17 KJV, Bible Gateway

27. “By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name.” – Hebrews 13:15, King James Version
Source: Hebrews 13:15 KJV, Bible Gateway

28. “I will praise the name of God with a song, and will magnify him with thanksgiving.” – Psalm 69:30, King James Version
Source: Psalm 69:30 KJV, Bible Gateway

29. “It is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord, and to sing praises unto thy name, O most High:” – Psalm 92:1, King James Version
Source: Psalm 92:1 KJV, Bible Gateway

30. “O give thanks unto the LORD; call upon his name: make known his deeds among the people.” – Psalm 105:1, King James Version
Source: Psalm 105:1 KJV, Bible Gateway

31. “Continue in prayer, and watch in the same with thanksgiving;” – Colossians 4:2, King James Version
Source: Colossians 4:2 KJV, Bible Gateway

32. “When thou hast eaten and art full, then thou shalt bless the LORD thy God for the good land which he hath given thee.” – Deuteronomy 8:10, King James Version
Source: Deuteronomy 8:10 KJV, Bible Gateway

33. “The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusted in him, and I am helped: therefore my heart greatly rejoiceth; and with my song will I praise him.” – Psalm 28:7, King James Version
Source: Psalm 28:7 KJV, Bible Gateway

34. “I will offer to thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving, and will call upon the name of the LORD.” – Psalm 116:17, King James Version
Source: Psalm 116:17 KJV, Bible Gateway

35. “For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving:” – 1 Timothy 4:4, King James Version
Source: 1 Timothy 4:4 KJV, Bible Gateway

36. “And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, and with a loud voice glorified God, And fell down on his face at his feet, giving him thanks: and he was a Samaritan.” – Luke 17:15-16, King James Version
Source: Luke 17:15-16 KJV, Bible Gateway

37. “That I may publish with the voice of thanksgiving, and tell of all thy wondrous works.” – Psalm 26:7, King James Version
Source: Psalm 26:7 KJV, Bible Gateway

38. “I will bless the LORD at all times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth.” – Psalm 34:1, King James Version
Source: Psalm 34:1 KJV, Bible Gateway

39. “Offer unto God thanksgiving; and pay thy vows unto the most High:” – Psalm 50:14, King James Version
Source: Psalm 50:14 KJV, Bible Gateway

40. “Blessed be the Lord, who daily loadeth us with benefits, even the God of our salvation.” – Psalm 68:19, King James Version
Source: Psalm 68:19 KJV, Bible Gateway

41. “Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!” – Psalm 107:8, King James Version
Source: Psalm 107:8 KJV, Bible Gateway

42. “But I will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving; I will pay that that I have vowed. Salvation is of the LORD.” – Jonah 2:9, King James Version
Source: Jonah 2:9 KJV, Bible Gateway

43. “Jesus gave thanks for five loaves and two fish before they multiplied.
Not after.
Thank God for what’s in your hands before it looks like enough.” – Joel Brown
Source: Joel Brown originals sent 2026-11-13

Thanksgiving Quotes: Family, Home and the Table

44. “Ah! on Thanksgiving day, when from East and from West, From North and from South come the pilgrim and guest, When the gray-haired New-Englander sees round his board The old broken links of affection restored, When the care-wearied man seeks his mother once more, And the worn matron smiles where the girl smiled before, What moistens the lip and what brightens the eye? What calls back the past, like the rich Pumpkin pie?” – John Greenleaf Whittier
Source: “The Pumpkin,” in The Complete Poetical Works of John Greenleaf Whittier, Project Gutenberg ebook 9570

45. “For the joy of human love, Brother, sister, parent, child, Friends on earth, and friends above, For all gentle thoughts and mild; Lord of all, to thee we raise This our hymn of grateful praise.” – Folliott S. Pierpoint
Source: “For the Beauty of the Earth,” 1864, Wikisource

46. “For the wonder of each hour, Of the day and of the night, Hill and vale, and tree and flower, Sun and moon, and stars of light; Lord of all, to thee we raise This our hymn of grateful praise.” – Folliott S. Pierpoint
Source: “For the Beauty of the Earth,” 1864, Wikisource

47. “Let never day nor night unhallowed pass, But still remember what the Lord hath done.” – William Shakespeare
Source: Henry VI, Part 2, Act 2, Scene 1, Project Gutenberg ebook 100

48. “The end goal is not the car. It is a table where your people are fed, a name your child is not ashamed of and a walk with God that stays steady when the money moves.” – Joel Brown
Source: Joel Brown, X, 4 Oct 2026, PT

49. “One day you’ll give anything for one more crowded Thanksgiving table.
The noise, the overcooked turkey, the uncle with opinions.
Sit at it like you know that now.” – Joel Brown
Source: Joel Brown originals sent 2026-11-13

Thanksgiving Quotes: Presidents and Public Thanksgiving

50. “Whereas it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favor.” – George Washington
Source: Thanksgiving Proclamation, 3 October 1789, The American Presidency Project

51. “I do recommend and assign Thursday, the 26th day of November next, to be devoted by the people of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being who is the beneficent author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be; that we may then all unite in rendering unto Him our sincere and humble thanks for His kind care and protection of the people of this country previous to their becoming a nation.” – George Washington
Source: Thanksgiving Proclamation, 3 October 1789, The American Presidency Project

52. “I, George Washington, President of the United States, do recommend to all religious societies and denominations, and to all persons whomsoever, within the United States to set apart and observe Thursday, the 19th day of February next, as a day of public thanksgiving and prayer, and on that day to meet together and render their sincere and hearty thanks to the Great Ruler of Nations for the manifold and signal mercies which distinguish our lot as a nation.” – George Washington
Source: Proclamation 6—Day of Public Thanksgiving, 1 January 1795, The American Presidency Project

53. “No people ought to feel greater obligations to celebrate the goodness of the Great Disposer of Events and of the Destiny of Nations than the people of the United States.” – James Madison
Source: Proclamation 20—Recommending a Day of Public Thanksgiving for Peace, 4 March 1815, The American Presidency Project

54. “No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy.” – Abraham Lincoln
Source: Proclamation 106—Thanksgiving Day, 1863, The American Presidency Project

55. “I do therefore invite my fellow-citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next as a day of thanksgiving and praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the heavens.” – Abraham Lincoln
Source: Proclamation 106—Thanksgiving Day, 1863, The American Presidency Project

56. “I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, do hereby appoint and set apart the last Thursday in November next as a day which I desire to be observed by all my fellow-citizens, wherever they may then be, as a day of thanksgiving and praise to Almighty God, the beneficent Creator and Ruler of the Universe.” – Abraham Lincoln
Source: Proclamation 118—Thanksgiving Day, 1864, The American Presidency Project

FAQ: Thanksgiving Quotes

What are the best Thanksgiving quotes?

The best ones are the lines you can actually source. This list keeps 56 of them, including Washington’s 1789 call to be grateful for God’s benefits, Lincoln’s 1863 proclamation, Edward Winslow’s 1621 harvest account, and 1 Thessalonians 5:18: “In every thing give thanks.”

What is a famous Bible verse for Thanksgiving?

A verse people come back to every year is 1 Thessalonians 5:18: “In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.” Psalm 100:4 is right beside it: “Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise.”

What did Abraham Lincoln say about Thanksgiving?

In his 1863 proclamation, Lincoln wrote that the country’s blessings “are the gracious gifts of the Most High God,” and he invited Americans “to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next as a day of thanksgiving and praise.” He repeated a last-Thursday observance in 1864.

Are the Pilgrim Thanksgiving quotes going around actually real?

Some are not. The short “William Bradford Thanksgiving Proclamation” dated 29 November 1623, with its “Pilgrim Rock” language, is a later fabrication, and it is not in this list. What you can source is Edward Winslow’s 1621 harvest account in Mourt’s Relation, and William Bradford’s history of the small harvest and the plenty that followed.