80 Hard Work Quotes To Bring Out The Best In Yourself

By Maxime Lagacé

Maxime is the founder of WisdomQuotes. He has been collecting quotes since 2004. His goal? To help you develop a calm and peaceful mind. Learn more about him on his about page.

hard work quotes bring out best wisdom

Here are 80 of the best hard work quotes.

I’ve never been the most talented in the room.

I’ve never been the smartest in the room.

BUT,

I’ve always been one of the hardest workers.

And that made all the difference.

I was able to

  • Obtain my undergraduate degree in software engineering
  • Be one of the best in most sports I was competing (golf, hockey, trail running, etc.)
  • Made 100,000$+ from my website (WisdomQuotes)
  • And more

Believe me, you don’t need “talent”.

In this modern world, you need hard work/a purpose/an obsession.

And then you’ll make your mark.

I guarantee you.

And I hope you’ll enjoy these great quotes about hard work.

hard work quotes full heart foundational elements life andrew huberman wisdom

Hard work and full heart. The foundational elements of a life well lived. Andrew Huberman (Source)

Without labor nothing prospers. Sophocles

The ones who say you can’t are too afraid you will. Nike

Do not whine… Do not complain. Work harder. Spend more time alone. Joan Didion

Take up one idea, make that one idea your life. Think of it, dream of it, live on that idea. Let the brain, muscles, nerves, every part of your body be full of that idea, and just leave every other idea alone. This is the way to success. Swami Vivekananda

It’s not about money or connections – it’s the willingness to outwork and outlearn everyone. Mark Cuban

What comes easy won’t last. What lasts won’t come easy. Unknown

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hard work quotes world belongs energetic emerson wisdom

The world belongs to the energetic. Ralph Waldo Emerson

Without hustle, talent will only carry you so far. Gary Vaynerchuk

The wiser you get, the less you take yourself seriously, the more work looks like play. Maxime Lagacé

Nothing in life that’s worth anything is easy. Barack Obama

Your purpose in life is to find your purpose and give your whole heart and soul to it. Buddha

All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them. Walt Disney

Life without endeavor is like entering a jewel mine and coming out with empty hands. Japanese proverb

There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure. Colin Powell

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Hard work betrays none. Hachiman Hikigaya

Men die of boredom, psychological conflict and disease. They do not die of hard work. David Ogilvy

Talent means nothing. 50% of my success comes from luck. 50% comes from never giving up. Maxime Lagacé

To achieve what 1% of the world’s population has, you must be willing to do what only 1% dares to do. Manoj Arora

No matter how hard you work, someone else is working harder. Elon Musk

To learn you must be willing to change. To change you must be willing to suffer. To suffer you must be willing to work. Maxime Lagacé

This is the real secret of life – to be completely engaged with what you are doing in the here and now. And instead of calling it work, realize it is play. Alan Watts

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hard work quotes success anything come down focus effort dwayne johnson wisdom

Success at anything will always come down to this: Focus and effort, and we control both. Dwayne Johnson (The Rock)

The fight is won or lost far away from witnesses – behind the lines, in the gym, and out there on the road, long before I dance under those lights. Muhammad Ali

The heights by great men reached and kept were not attained in sudden flight but, they while their companions slept, they were toiling upwards in the night. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

The difference between the impossible and the possible lies in a person’s determination. Tommy Lasorda

Always make a total effort, even when the odds are against you. Arnold Palmer

Hard work always pays off. Christiano Ronaldo (Source)

I’m a greater believer in luck, and I find the harder I work the more I have of it. Thomas Jefferson

It’s hard to beat a person who never gives up. Babe Ruth

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There is no such thing as work-life balance. Everything worth fighting for unbalances your life. Alain de Botton

No one ever drowned in sweat. U.S. Marine Corps

I really try to work as much as possible, to the edge of sanity basically. Elon Musk

One must work and dare if one really wants to live. Vincent van Gogh

The only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking, and don’t settle. Steve Jobs (Apple)

When he worked, he really worked. But when he played, he really played. Dr. Seuss

Things may come to those who wait, but only the things left by those who hustle. Abraham Lincoln

It’s only a crazy dream until you do it. Serena Williams

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More Quotes About Hard Work

hard work quotes be kind amazing things happen conan obrien wisdom

Work hard, be kind, and amazing things will happen. Conan O’Brien

I never viewed myself as particularly talented. Where I excel is ridiculous, sickening, work ethic. You know, while the other guy’s sleeping, I’m working. Will Smith

Choose a job you love and you will never have to work a day in your life. Confucius

At dawn, when you have trouble getting out of bed, tell yourself: “I have to go to work — as a human being. What do I have to complain of, if I’m going to do what I was born for — the things I was brought into the world to do? Or is this what I was created for? To huddle under the blankets and stay warm? Marcus Aurelius

I would rather risk wearing out than rusting out. Theodore Roosevelt

If people knew how hard I worked to achieve my mastery, it wouldn’t seem so wonderful after all. Michelangelo

To succeed, work hard, never give up and above all, cherish a magnificent obsession. Walt Disney

No struggle, no progress, no success. Maxime Lagacé

Wake up determined. Go to bed satisfied. Dwayne Johnson (The Rock)


hard work quotes beats talent fails kevin durant wisdom

Hard work beats talent when talent fails to work hard. Kevin Durant

God sells us all things at the price of labor. Leonardo da Vinci

Never slow down for the world, one day it will catch-up with you. Nike

Earned. Not given. Nike

Amateurs are busy and tense. Professionals are calm and focused. Maxime Lagacé

Hard work buys experience, smart work buys time. Jack Butcher

Work hard in silence; let success make the noise. Frank Ocean

Work incessantly, but be not attached to it. Swami Vivekananda

Hard work teaches us that it takes more than hard work. Jack Butcher

hard work quotes everything want side tim kennedy wisdom

Everything you want is on the far side of hard work. Tim Kennedy

Look in the mirror – that’s your competition. Unknown

Sometimes there’s not a better way. Sometimes there’s only the hard way. Mary E. Pearson

Start with a cry, end with a smile. Michael Bassey Johnson

Work hard now, suffer and keep it up. Rewards are at the edge. Maxime Lagacé

The question isn’t who is going to let me, it’s who is going to stop me. Ayn Rand

Hard work compounds like interest, and the earlier you do it, the more time you have for the benefits to pay off. Sam Altman

A good idea is about ten percent and implementation and hard work, and luck is 90 percent. Guy Kawasaki

Those who aim at great deeds must also suffer greatly. Plutarch

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hard work quotes talent here obsession conoc mcgregor wisdom

There’s no talent here, this is hard work. This is an obsession. Conor McGregor (MMA Champion)

Do your job —whatever it is — well, because how you do anything is how you do everything. Ryan Holiday (Source)

In order to master a field, you must love the subject and feel a profound connection to it. Your interest must transcend the field itself and border on the religious. Robert Greene

When you find the right thing to do, and people to work with, invest deeply into that, and stick with it for decades. Naval Ravikant

I have always maintained that excepting fools, men did not suffer much in intellect, only in zeal and hard work. Charles Darwin

Winners embrace hard work. They love the discipline of it, the trade-off they’re making to win. Losers, on the other hand, see it as punishment. And that’s the difference. Lou Holtz

You can’t get there by bus, only by hard work and risk and by not quite knowing what you’re doing. What you’ll discover will be wonderful. What you’ll discover will be yourself. Alan Alda

The man who can drive himself further once the effort gets painful is the man who will win. Roger Bannister (Ran the first sub-4-minute mile)

Baby steps are better than no steps at all. Keep going. You’ll get there. Unknown

hard work quotes outwork people showing up jack butcher wisdom

You can outwork 95% of people by just showing up every day. Jack Butcher (Source)

My success was due to good luck, hard work, and support and advice from friends and mentors. But most importantly, it depended on me to keep trying after I had failed. Mark Warner

Have a healthy disregard for the impossible and actually build new solutions. Larry Page (Google)

Going all-in on something will make you feel alive and ultimately, satisfied. Maxime Lagacé

Everybody wants to be famous, but nobody wants to do the work. I live by that. You grind hard so you can play hard. At the end of the day, you put all the work in, and eventually it’ll pay off. It could be in a year, it could be in 30 years. Eventually, your hard work will pay off. Kevin Hart

Inspiration usually comes during work rather than before it. Madeleine L’Engle

We did not come to fear the future. We came here to shape it. Barack Obama

Key Takeaways

  • The world belongs to hard-working people. Be one of them.
  • Don’t lose energy complaining. Keep it for what’s truly worth it.
  • It’s not about “talent”. It’s about your willingness to work harder than others.
  • What gives meaning and purpose to your life?
    • Love
    • Friendship
    • Working hard on something important to you
  • You don’t control results. But you control your focus, your attitude, and your effort.

A few thoughts on hard work…

When I was young, I thought success was solely attributed to talent.

Then, I discovered that by working hard I could in fact become “talented.”

I was observing the bests and they were all obsessed with one thing:

working harder than yesterday.

I then decided to follow their paths and always give 100% to what I was doing.

However, as I was growing up, I discovered something crucial:

What you work on is way more important than how hard you work.

Indeed, you can be the hardest working person in a room, but if you work on something useless you’re wasting your time.

Thus, I use today what we call the Pareto principle.

It states that 80% of your results will come from 20% of your efforts.

In other words, I try to focus almost exclusively on the tasks that will have the greatest impact.

And see the rest as distractions.

Hard work is more effective this way.

Further Readings

Hope you enjoyed these inspiring hard work quotes. If you did, please share them with a friend today!

Do you work hard or smart? What’s your favorite hard work quote? And remember: words can transform your life, if you find the right ones.

 

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Author Bio

maxime lagace

Maxime Lagacé started collecting quotes in 2004 after he lost his girlfriend in a car accident.

In search of meaning, he dived in the self-improvement world, psychology and trail running.

Books, blogs, quotes and nature became his guide.

He started journaling, reflecting, writing his thoughts, feelings and quotes.

His goal was to understand his pain, his depression, his fears, his lack of motivation and inspiration.

He finished his software engineering degree in 2007 at the École de Technologie Supérieure de Montréal.

A few years later, he started his first website to share his love of quotes.

Maxime is a father of two, husband, and INFJ.

Other notable interests of Maxime are health (mental and physical), meditation, bananas, SEO, human potential, and education.

You can find him on X, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, LinkedIn, YouTube.

Last update

August 21, 2023

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