Powerful and Inspiring Greatness Quotes

‘If we cannot see the possibility of greatness, how can we dream it?’ - Lydia Sweatt (October 13, 2016)

Greatness comes from the desire to do extraordinary things—to reach beyond the status quo and relentlessly chase your dreams. It all starts with setting and achieving goals, but when you aim higher than where you set your mark, you force yourself to get better, one victory at a time.

There is greatness inside all of us, but first we must choose to be great. With a finite amount of time to live your ideal life, the time to embrace your inner excellence is always now.

Get started today with these 19 powerful quotes—as a dose of inspiration to spark your journey.

1. “Never underestimate the power of dreams and the influence of the human spirit. We are all the same in this notion: The potential for greatness lives within each of us.” —Wilma Rudolph

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2. “To achieve greatness one should live as if they will never die.” —Francois de La Rochefoucauld

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3. “People do not decide to become extraordinary. They decide to accomplish extraordinary things.” —Edmund Hillary

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4. “Desire, burning desire, is basic to achieving anything beyond the ordinary.” —Joseph B. Wirthlin

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5. “Mediocrity will never do. You are capable of something better.” —Gordon B. Hinckley

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6. “Always dream and shoot higher than you know you can do. Don’t bother just to be better than your contemporaries or predecessors. Try to be better than yourself.” —William Faulkner

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7. “Always do your best. What you plant now, you will harvest later.” —Og Mandino

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8. “Be not afraid of greatness; some are born great, some achieve greatness, and others have greatness thrust upon them.” —William Shakespeare

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9. “You must expect great things of yourself before you can do them.” —Michael Jordan

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10. “Don’t limit yourself. Many people limit themselves to what they think they can do. You can go as far as your mind lets you. What you believe, remember, you can achieve.” —Mary Kay Ash

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11. “Great thoughts speak only to the thoughtful mind, but great actions speak to all mankind.” —Theodore Roosevelt

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12. “Greatness is not measured by what a man or woman accomplishes, but by the opposition he or she has overcome to reach his goals.” —Dorothy Height

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13. “Big dreams create the magic that stir men’s souls to greatness.” —Bill McCartney

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14. “If we cannot see the possibility of greatness, how can we dream it?” —Lee Strasberg

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15. “You were designed for accomplishment, engineered for success, and endowed with the seeds of greatness.” —Zig Ziglar

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16. “Whatever the mind of man can conceive and believe, it can achieve.” —Napoleon Hill

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17. “When you have had a taste of excellence, you cannot go back to mediocrity.” —Maximillian Degenerez

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18. “The secret of living a life of excellence is merely a matter of thinking thoughts of excellence. Really, it’s a matter of programming our minds with the kind of information that will set us free.” —Charles R. Swindoll

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19. “No man is truly great who is great only in his lifetime. The test of greatness is the page of history.” —William Hazlitt