Let’s face it, being a teenager can suck sometimes.
In our modern day and age, it has become even harder to grow up and get through the teenage years for many reasons, such as the growing pressure of social media, the stress surrounding the pandemic, and the political unrest across the world to name a few.
On top of that, there are also general issues that teens have to deal with on a daily basis, like puberty problems, social anxiety, peer pressure, and more.
It can be hard to find the right words to say at times if you are a parent to a teenager. If you are a teenager yourself, it can be difficult to know where to even begin to look when it comes to finding positives in the world.
Motivational quotes can be a lifesaver when it comes to finding the right words or the appropriate message to guide us through the tougher times in life, and that’s why we have put together this list of 120 inspirational quotes that teens may be able to find some solace, comfort, and motivation in during this difficult period.
These quotes come from people from all walks of life, from authors to philosophers, musicians to politicians, scientists, and more.
These quotes also relate to a range of topics that are likely to be relatable to teenagers, such as youth empowerment, motivation to study and learn, and how to pick yourself back up again when life pushes you down.
With this in mind, let’s get started with the quotes!
1. “If you are always trying to be normal, you’ll never know how amazing you can be.”- Maya Angelou
2. “Look up at the stars and not down at your feet. Try to make sense of what you see, and wonder about what makes the universe exist. Be curious.”- Stephen Hawking
3. “Even on your worst days, you are always worth love and respect. Don’t ever settle for anything less.”- Hannah Irelan
4. “It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are.”- E.E. Cummings
5. “The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.”- Eleanor Roosevelt.
6. “ We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.”- Aristotle.
7. “ I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.”- Thomas A. Edison.
8. “When everything seems to be going against you, remember…the airplane takes off against the wind, not with it.”- Henry Ford.
9. “Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don’t matter and those who matter don’t mind.”- Dr. Seuss.
10. “Always be a first-rate version of yourself, instead of being a second-rate version of someone else.”- Judy Garland.
11. “Tough times never last, but tough people do.”- Robert H. Schuller.
12. “If you’re making mistakes, it means you’re out there doing something.”- Neil Gaiman.
13. “May your choices reflect your hopes, not your fears.”- Nelson Mandela.
14. “Happiness and confidence are the prettiest things you can wear.”- Taylor Swift
15. “ Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.”- Winston Churchill.
16. “The world is kind to young people who are driven and curious.”- David Perell
17. “Let not your mind run on what you lack as much as on what you have already.”- Marcus Aurelius.
18. “Resilience means you experience, you feel, you fail, you hurt. You fall. But, you keep going.”- Yasmin Mogahed.
19. “There is no sadder sight than a young pessimist.”- Mark Twain.
20. “Stop relying on praise from others to feel good about yourself.” Thibaut.
21. “Love yourself. Forgive yourself. Be true to yourself. Because how you treat yourself sets the standard for how others treat you.”- Steve Maraboli
22. “It’s easy to stand in the crowd but it takes courage to stand alone.”- Mahatma Gandhi.
23. “Every day, you have the power to choose our better history- by opening your hearts and minds, by speaking up for what you know is right.” Michelle Obama.
24. “ Never dull your shine for somebody else.”- Tyra Banks
25. “The difference between and losing is most often not quitting.” Walt Disney
26. “It is the ability to resist failure or use failure that often leads to greater success.”- JK Rowling.
27. “Young people willing to push super hard to make something happen are among the most powerful forces in the world.”- Sam Altman.
28. “ I have come to love myself for who I am, for who I was, and for who I hope to become.”- RM of BTS.
29. “No matter what anybody tells you, words and ideas can change the world.”- Robin Williams
30. “The world always needs new heroes.”- Jordan Peterson.
31. “Believe you can and you’re halfway there.”- Theodore Roosevelt.
32. “ You have to be authentic, you have to be true, and you have to believe in your heart.”- Howard Schultz.
33. “We should all celebrate our individuality and not be embarrassed or ashamed of it.”- Johnny Depp.
34. “Everyone you admire was once a beginner.”- Jack Butcher.
35. “Never bend your head. Always hold it high. Look the world straight in the eye.”- Hellen Keller.
36. “Do nothing for prestige or status or money or approval alone.” – Maria Popova.
37. “Knowledge will bring you the opportunity to make a difference.”- Claire Fagin.
38. “Discipline is the bridge between goals and accomplishment.”- Jim Rohn.
39. “The only person you should try to be better than is the person you were yesterday.”- Matty Mullins.
40. “Don’t hope for a life without problems. There’s no such thing. Instead, hope for a life full of good problems.”- Mark Manson.
41. “It isn’t where you come from. It’s where you’re going that counts.”- Ella Fitzgerald.
42. “Ignore those who tell you which way to go without first understanding where you are.”- James Pierce.
43. “When you become a teenager, you step onto a bridge. You may already be on it. The opposite shore is adulthood. Childhood lies behind. The bridge is made of wood. As you cross, it burns behind you.”- Gail Carson Levine.
44. “Beautiful people are not always good, but good people are always beautiful.”- Imam Ali.
45. “No matter what you’re going through, there’s a light at the end of the tunnel.”- Demi Lovato.
46. “If we are not regularly deeply embarrassed by who we are, the journey to self-knowledge hasn’t begun.”- Alain de Botton.
47. “Life is a sculpture that you cast as you make mistakes and learn from them.”- RM of BTS.
48. “Never apologize for being sensitive or emotional. Let this be a sign that you’ve got a big heart and aren’t afraid to let others see it. Showing your emotions is a sign of strength.”- Brigitte Nicole.
49. “Keep true to the dreams of your youth.”- Friedrich Schiller.
50. “It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop.”- Confucius.
51. “The person seeking to learn wins what the person seeking to impress loses.”- Angela Jiang.
52. “You need to remember that love does not mean one person gives all and another person receives all.” -Abirami P. Kurukkal
53. “Don’t listen to the person who has the answers; listen to the person who has the questions.”- Albert Einstein
54. “Resilience is knowing that you are the only one that has the power and the responsibility to pick yourself up.”- Mary Holloway
55. “You’ll stop caring what people think about you when you realize how seldom they do.”- David Foster Wallace
56. “One of the cruelties of teenage hood is that you’ll never know what your parents were really like at your age, and they’ll never accurately remember.” – Una LaMarche.
57. “There is nothing quite so tragic as a young cynic because it means the person has gone from knowing nothing to believing nothing.”- Maya Angelou
58. “The oak fought the wind and was broken, the willow bent when it must and survived.”- Robert Jordan.
59. “You can’t stop people from saying bad things about you. All you can do is make them liars.” – Thomas Sowell
60. “Some people want it to happen, some wish it would happen, others make it happen.” – Michael Jordan
61. “Everything will be ok in the end. If it’s not ok, it’s not the end.”- John Lennon.
62. “We must not allow other people’s limited perceptions to define us.”- Virginia Satir.
63. “The ones who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones that do.” – Steve Jobs
64. “When you have a dream, you’ve got to grab it and never let go.” -Carol Burnett
65. “Don’t be afraid of failure. This is the way to succeed.” – LeBron James
66. “Youth comes but once in a lifetime.”- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
67. “The darkest night is often the bridge to the brightest tomorrow.”- Jonathan Lockwood Huie.
68. “You can do anything you set your mind to.” – Eminem
69. “Judge nothing, you will be happy. Forgive everything, you will be happier. Love everything, you will be happiest.” —Sri Chinmoy
70. “You can often change your circumstances by changing your attitude.” – Eleanor Roosevelt
71. “Ask yourself what makes you come alive, and go do that, because what the world needs is people who have come alive.”- Howard Thurman
72. “You always pass failure on the way to success.”- Mickey Rooney
73. “The world is a very malleable place. If you know what you want, and you go for it with maximum energy and drive and passion, the world will often reconfigure itself around you much more quickly and easily than you would think.”- Marc Andreessen
74. “Successful and unsuccessful people do not vary greatly in their abilities. They vary in their desires to reach their potential.”- John C. Maxwell
75. “I believe anyone can conquer fear by doing the things he fears to do, provided he keeps doing them until he gets a record of successful experience behind him.” – Eleanor Roosevelt.
76. “Don’t be afraid to speak up for yourself. Keep fighting for your dreams!” —Gabby Douglas
77. “Act as if what you do makes a difference. It does.”- William James.
78. “A self that goes on changing is a self that goes on living.” Virginia Woolf
79. “Don’t let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do.” John Wooden
80. “There’s something inside that’s ready to bloom if you can just care enough, and I know you can.” – Maxime Lagacé
81. “To succeed in life, you need three things: a wishbone, a backbone, and a funny bone.” – Reba McEntire
82. “Before following the crowd, ask yourself if their average result is acceptable to you.”- James Pierce
83. “Take care not to listen to anyone who tells you what you can and can’t be in life.”- Meg Medina
84. “Don’t take advice from someone who’s never played the part.” – Preethi Kasireddy
85. “Note to self: self-love isn’t selfish.” —Dua Lipa
86. “Use your youth so that you may have comfort to remember it when it has forsaken you, and not sigh and grieve at the account thereof.” – Walter Raleigh.
87. “At some point, you have to break from what your parents expect of you and do what’s right for you. And if you don’t, you haven’t lived your life.”- Neil Strauss
88. “All our dreams can come true if we have the courage to pursue them.”- Walt Disney
89. “The older I get, the more I understand that it’s okay to live a life others don’t understand.” – Jenna Woginrich
90. “Count your rainbows, not your thunderstorms.” —Janice Thompson
91. “Never tell a young person that anything cannot be done.” – G. M. Trevelyan
92. I’ve found meaning and success by going right when others went left, and down when others went up.”- Maxime Lagacé
93. “However difficult life may seem, there is always something you can do and succeed at.”- Stephen Hawking
94. “Promote what you love instead of bashing what you hate.” – Ed Latimore
95. “Your actions are a consequence of your thoughts. Your thoughts are a consequence of what you consume. And in the modern age, what you consume is largely a consequence of how you select and refine your social media feed. Choose better inputs. Get better outputs.”- James Clear
96. “A good friend is a connection to life – a tie to the past, a road to the future, the key to sanity in a totally insane world.”- Lois Wyse
97. “A person can achieve everything by being simple and humble.” – The Vedas.
98. “Make happiness a priority and be gentle with yourself in the process.” —Bronnie Ware
99. “Hard days are the best because that’s when champions are made. If you push through the hard days, then you can get through anything.”– Gabby Douglas
100. “Allow yourself the uncomfortable luxury of changing your mind.” Maria Popova
101. “Nothing but heaven itself is better than a friend who is really a friend.”- Plautus
102. “Daily silence and solitude is what you need to stop caring what they think.” – Maxime Lagacé
103. “No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.” —Eleanor Roosevelt
104. “Stop waiting for something or someone to come and make you happy. Meditate daily. Breathe. Come on. You’re okay. You have friends. Love them. Respect them. Go out and play. Learn to be alone.” -Jenifer Lewis
105. “Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, ambition inspired, and success achieved.”- Helen Keller
106. “When people try to tell you who you are, don’t believe them.” – Maria Popova
107. “Know yourself. Accept yourself for who you are, right where you are. And then create some boundaries in your routine that aren’t serving you today in order to get closer to the life and work you truly desire.” – Mel Robbins.
108. “Always admit when you’re wrong. You’ll save thousands in therapy… and a few friendships too.”- Harvey Fierstein
109. “The human capacity for burden is like bamboo- far more flexible than you’d ever believe at first glance.”- Jodi Picoult
110. “You can’t cross the sea merely by standing and staring at the water.” —Rabindranath Tagore
111. “No other version, no matter how perfect it is, would ever feel better than being your true self.” —Edmond Mbiaka
112. “If you want to test your memory, try to recall what you were worrying about one year ago today.” —E. Joseph Cossman
113. “Keep climbing and never level off, no matter what your speed or angle of attack is.” —Tyrell Rhodes
114. “Don’t be a victim of negative self-talk. Remember: You Are Listening.” —Bob Proctor
115. “Remember there’s no such thing as a small act of kindness. Every act creates a ripple with no logical end.” —Scott Adams
116. “Don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened.” – Dr. Seuss
117. “The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time.” —Thomas A. Edison
118. “Being ignorant is not so much a shame, as being unwilling to learn.” – Benjamin Franklin
119. “It is what we make out of what we have given, not what we are given, that separates one person from another.” – Nelson Mandela.
120. “How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.” – Anne Frank, ‘Anne Frank’s Tales From The Secret Annex’
Final Thoughts
So there you have 120 motivational quotes that are sure to help inspire and motivate any teenager!
We have included a wide range of quotes from different sources that relate to a variety of issues facing the youth of today so that no matter how you as a teen or your teenage child is feeling, you are sure to find the quote that will be the most fitting.
