Skip to main content

106 Inspirational and Motivational Quotes for Kids

These famous motivational quotes for kids are positive words of encouragement that will make your kids feel happy and inspired.
106 Inspirational and Motivational Quotes for Kids
Updated: December 15, 2022

Sometimes, it’s hard to find the right words when your child is going through a difficult time and needs some inspiration. Positive quotes about friendship, struggling, and creativity can help your child find comfort.

Bookmark this list so that when your child needs some motivation, you can share some of the best inspirational quotes from famous figures like athletes, authors, actors, and activists, as well as characters from their favorite movies and books. 

These good thoughts and motivational kid quotes can help your kid learn and find their way when they feel stuck, or bring further appreciation for special moments in their life.

Related: 75 Phrases and Words of Encouragement for Kids of All Ages

Quotes About Friendship and Kindness 

  1. “Walking with a friend in the dark is better than walking alone in the light”. - Hellen Keller
  2. “There are no strangers here; Only friends you haven’t yet met.” - William Butler Yeats
  3. “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” - Maya Angelou
  4. “May people will walk in and out of your life, but only true friends will leave footprints in your heart.” - Eleanor Roosevelt
  5. “Friendship is the hardest thing in the world to explain. It’s not something you learn in school. But if you haven’t learned the meaning of friendship, you really haven’t learned anything.” - Muhammad Ali
  6. “Togetherness, for me, means teamwork.” - Walt Disney
  7. “Be kind whenever possible. It is always possible.” - Dalai Lama
  8. “If you see someone without a smile, give them one of yours.” - Dolly Parton
  9. “Try to be a rainbow in someone’s cloud.” - Maya Angelou
  10. “Never look down on anybody unless you’re helping them up.” - Jesse Jackson
  11. “You can always, always give something, even if it is only kindness!” - Anne Frank
  12. “Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless.” - Mother Teresa
  13. “My best friend is the one who brings out the best in me.” - Henry Ford
  14. “Be silly. Be honest. Be kind”. - Ralph Waldo Emerson
  15. “When everything seems to be going against you, remember that the airplane takes off against the wind, not with it.” - Henry Ford
  16. “People who work together will win, whether it be against complex football defenses, or the problems of modern society.” - Vince Lombardi
  17. “Individual commitment to a group effort — that is what makes a team work, a company work, a society work, a civilization work.” - Vince Lombardi
  18. “A single rose can be my garden ... a single friend, my world.” - Leo Buscaglia
  19. “Friendship is the only cement that will ever hold the world together.” - Woodrow T. Wilson
  20. “Happiness is the new rich. Inner peace is the new success. Health is the new wealth. Kindness is the new cool.” - Syed Balkhi
  21. “The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little.” - Franklin D. Roosevelt
  22. “Kindness is the language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see.” - Mark Twain
  23. “Good friends, good books, and a sleepy conscience: this is the ideal life.” - Mark Twain
  24. “Remember that the most valuable antiques are dear old friends.” - H. Jackson Brown, Jr.
  25. “Kindness and politeness are not overrated at all.” - Tommy Lee Jones
  26. “If you go out to be a friend, you’ll find them everywhere.” - Zig Ziglar
  27. “You can tell more about a person by what he says about others than you can by what others say about him.” - Audrey Hepburn
  28. “A friend is one of the best things you can have, and one of the best things you can be.” - Winnie the Pooh

Quotes for Overcoming Challenges 

Quotes For Overcoming Challenges
  1. “Yesterday is history. Tomorrow is a mystery. Today is a gift. That’s why we call it ‘The Present.’” - Eleanor Roosevelt
  2. “Just because something doesn’t do what you planned doesn’t mean it’s useless.” - Thomas Alva Edison
  3. “It is hard to fail, but it worse to never to have tried to succeed.” - Theodore Roosevelt
  4. “It always seems impossible until it’s done.” - Nelson Mandela
  5. “Never let the fear of striking out stop you from playing the game.” - Babe Ruth
  6. “The future rewards those who press on. I don’t have time to feel sorry for myself. I don’t have time to complain. I’m going to press on.” - Barack Obama
  7. “You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.” - Wayne Gretzky
  8. “I’ve failed over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.” - Michael Jordan
  9. Our greatest glory is not in never failing, but in rising up every time we fail." - Ralph Waldo Emerson
  10. “Success is never final, failure is never fatal, and it’s courage that counts.” - John Wooden
  11. “You must be the change you wish to see in the world.” - Mahatma Gandhi
  12. “The future depends on what we do in the present.” - Mahatma Gandhi
  13. “The only real mistake is the one from which we learn nothing.” - Henry Ford
  14. “Never give up on what you really want to do. The person with big dreams is more powerful than the one with all the facts.” - H. Jackson Brown, Jr.
  15. “Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any one thing.” - Abraham Lincoln
  16. "“The best way to predict your future is to create it.” - Abraham Lincoln
  17. “If you don’t like how things are, change it!” - Jim Rohn
  18. “You don’t have to be great to start, but you have to start to be great.” - Zig Ziglar
  19. “Your attitude, not your aptitude, will determine your altitude.” - Zig Ziglar
  20. “If you can dream it, you can achieve it.” - Zig Ziglar
  21. “Roads were made for journeys, not destinations.” Confucius
  22. “Without feelings of respect, what is there to distinguish men from beasts?” - Confucius
  23. “Wherever you go, go with all your heart.” - Confucius
  24. “The most important thing in life is to stop saying I wish and start saying I will.” - Charles Dickens
  25. “If we did the things we are really capable of doing, we would literally astound ourselves.” - Thomas Alva Edison
  26. “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” - Thomas Alva Edison
  27. “Our greatest weakness lies in giving up.” - Thomas Alva Edison
  28. “When you have exhausted all possibilities, remember this: you haven’t.” - Thomas Alva Edison
  29. “Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.” - Thomas Alva Edison
  30. “Nothing is impossible, the word itself says "‘I’m possible’!” - Audrey Hepburn
  31. “When life gets you down, you know what you gotta do? Just keep swimming, just keep swimming.” - Dory, in Finding Nemo
  32. “Do or do not. There is no try.” - Yoda, in Star Wars Episode V, The Empire Strikes Back

Quotes to Cheer Kids Up

​​​​​​​Quotes to Cheer Kids Up
  1. “Why fit in when you were born to stand out?” - Dr. Seuss
  2. “No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.” - Eleanor Roosevelt
  3. “No one is perfect — that’s why pencils have erasers.” - Wolfgang Riebe
  4. “When one door of happiness closes, another opens.” - Helen Keller
  5. “No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted.” - Aesop
  6. “Tough times never last but tough people do.” - Robert H. Schuller
  7. “Change the world by being yourself.” - Amy Pohler
  8. “Happiness can be found, even in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the light.” - J.K. Rowling
  9. “With the new day comes new strength and new thoughts.” - Eleanor Roosevelt
  10. “You’re braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think.” A. A. Milne
  11. “Learn from yesterday. Live for today. Hope for tomorrow.” - Albert Einstein
  12. “A person’s a person, no matter how small.” - Dr. Seuss
  13. “If you’re going through hell, keep going.” - Winston Churchill
  14. “Life is a journey, not a destination.” - Ralph Waldo Emerson
  15. “Out of the mountain of despair, a stone of hope." - Martin Luther King Jr.
  16. “Darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that.” - Martin Luther King Jr.
  17. “It’s the beauty within us that makes it possible for us to recognize the beauty around us. The question is not what you look at but what you see.” - Henry David Thoreau
  18. “It’s not what happens to you, but how you react to it that matters.” - Epictetus
  19. “Don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened.” - Dr. Seuss
  20. “Being different isn’t a bad thing. It means you’re brave enough to be yourself.” - Luna Lovegood
  21. “The pain of parting is nothing to the joy of meeting again.” - Charles Dickens
  22. “The most important thing is to enjoy your life — to be happy — that’s all that matters.” - Audrey Hepburn
  23. “Always be the leading lady in your own life.” - Audrey Hepburn
  24. “The beauty of a woman is not in a facial mode but the true beauty in a woman is reflected in her soul.” - Audrey Hepburn
  25. “Promise me you’ll always remember you’re braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think.” - Winnie the Pooh
  26. “How lucky I am to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard.” - Winnie the Pooh

Quotes About Creativity and Learning 

Quotes About Creativity and Learning
  1. “The true sign of intelligence is not knowledge but imagination.” - Albert Einstein
  2. “The more that you read, the more things you will know.” - Dr. Seuss
  3. “Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better.” - Maya Angelou
  4. “Do one thing every day that scares you.” - Eleanor Roosevelt
  5. “Great things often start off small.” - Roald Dahl
  6. “All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them.” - Walt Disney
  7. “Those who don’t believe in magic will never find it.” - Roald Dahl
  8. “We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.” - Albert Einstein
  9. “You’ll miss the best things if you keep your eyes shut.” - Dr. Seuss
  10. “If my mind can conceive it, if my heart can believe it, then I can achieve it.” - Muhammad Ali
  11. “Education is the key to unlocking the world, a passport to freedom.” - Oprah Winfrey
  12. “Let us remember: One book, one pen, one child and one teacher can change the world.” - Malala Yousafzai
  13. “The pleasure which we most rarely experience gives us greatest delight.” - Epictetus
  14. “The man who does not read has no advantage over the man who cannot read.” - Mark Twain
  15. “Wit beyond measure is a man’s greatest treasure.” - Luna Lovegood
  16. “Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it.” - Confucius
  17. “Imagination is more important than knowledge.” - Confucius
  18. “Genius is one percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration.” - Thomas Alva Edison
  19. “Art is the most intense mode of individualism that the world has known.” - Oscar Wilde
  20. “Anyone who lives within their means suffers from a lack of imagination.” - Oscar Wilde
  21. “I don’t take my life seriously, but I do take what I do -- in my life — seriously.” - Audrey Hepburn

Looking for more ways to encourage your kids? Check out our Best Tips for Developing Healthy Self-Esteem in Your Child

Stephanie Sokol

About Stephanie

Stephanie is a mom living in the Chicago area with over 10 years’ experience in… Read more

Join the Family

Your partner in parenting from baby name inspiration to college planning.

Subscribe