188 Rare Quotes You’ve Probably Never Heard Before

Rare Quotes You've Probably Never Heard Before

Welcome to a collection of 188 rare quotes, each brimming with inspiration. These quotes may not be widely known, but their power and depth make them deserving of more attention. As you explore these rare inspirational quotes, you’ll find wisdom and motivation that could be just what you need in different moments of your life.

Each quote in this list offers a unique perspective, shedding light on various aspects of life, happiness, success, and perseverance. These quotes are gems that can uplift, challenge, and inspire you in unexpected ways. Whether you’re seeking a burst of inspiration or a fresh outlook on life, these lesser-known words of wisdom are poised to enrich your day.

188 Rare Quotes

  1. “I have learned over the years that when one’s mind is made up, this diminishes fear.” – Rosa Parks
  2. “Believe you can and you’re halfway there.” – Theodore Roosevelt
  3. “It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop.” – Confucius
  4. “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.” – Martin Luther King Jr.
  5. “The only limit to our realization of tomorrow will be our doubts of today.” – Franklin D. Roosevelt
  6. “Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.” – Theodore Roosevelt
  7. “The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don’t have any.” – Alice Walker
  8. “A person who never made a mistake never tried anything new.” – Albert Einstein
  9. “Dream big and dare to fail.” – Norman Vaughan
  10. “Our greatest fear should not be of failure but of succeeding at things in life that don’t really matter.” – Francis Chan
  11. “It’s not the years in your life that count. It’s the life in your years.” – Abraham Lincoln
  12. “Change your thoughts and you change your world.” – Norman Vincent Peale
  13. “What you do speaks so loudly that I cannot hear what you say.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
  14. “Strive not to be a success, but rather to be of value.” – Albert Einstein
  15. “When everything seems to be going against you, remember that the airplane takes off against the wind, not with it.” – Henry Ford
  16. “The most difficult thing is the decision to act, the rest is merely tenacity.” – Amelia Earhart
  17. “Life is what happens when you’re busy making other plans.” – John Lennon
  18. “Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds that you plant.” – Robert Louis Stevenson
  19. “Everything you can imagine is real.” – Pablo Picasso
  20. “Do not wait to strike till the iron is hot; but make it hot by striking.” – William Butler Yeats
  21. “The only place where success comes before work is in the dictionary.” – Vidal Sassoon
  22. “I would rather die of passion than of boredom.” – Vincent van Gogh
  23. “Build your own dreams, or someone else will hire you to build theirs.” – Farrah Gray
  24. “Education costs money. But then so does ignorance.” – Sir Claus Moser
  25. “I find that the harder I work, the more luck I seem to have.” – Thomas Jefferson
  26. “A dream doesn’t become reality through magic; it takes sweat, determination, and hard work.” – Colin Powell
  27. “In the end, it’s not the years in your life that count. It’s the life in your years.” – Abraham Lincoln
  28. “Your time is precious, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life.” – Steve Jobs
  29. “Winning isn’t everything, but wanting to win is.” – Vince Lombardi
  30. “Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up.” – Pablo Picasso
  31. “You can never cross the ocean until you have the courage to lose sight of the shore.” – Christopher Columbus
  32. “Whether you think you can or you think you can’t, you’re right.” – Henry Ford
  33. “Don’t be afraid to give up the good to go for the great.” – John D. Rockefeller
  34. “I have learned that to be with those I like is enough.” – Walt Whitman
  35. “The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched – they must be felt with the heart.” – Helen Keller
  36. “Success usually comes to those who are too busy to be looking for it.” – Henry David Thoreau
  37. “The only limit to our realization of tomorrow is our doubts of today.” – Franklin D. Roosevelt
  38. “Do one thing every day that scares you.” – Eleanor Roosevelt
  39. “All progress takes place outside the comfort zone.” – Michael John Bobak
  40. “Don’t let the fear of losing be greater than the excitement of winning.” – Robert Kiyosaki
  41. “If you really look closely, most overnight successes took a long time.” – Steve Jobs
  42. “The only place where dreams are impossible is in your own mind.” – Emilee Rivera
  43. “Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can.” – Arthur Ashe
  44. “Fall seven times and stand up eight.” – Japanese Proverb
  45. “Everything you want is on the other side of fear.” – Jack Canfield
  46. “Happiness is not something readymade. It comes from your own actions.” – Dalai Lama
  47. “The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing.” – Walt Disney
  48. “The pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity. The optimist sees opportunity in every difficulty.” – Winston Churchill
  49. “Don’t watch the clock; do what it does. Keep going.” – Sam Levenson
  50. “You don’t have to be great to start, but you have to start to be great.” – Zig Ziglar
  51. “A clear vision, backed by definite plans, gives you a tremendous feeling of confidence and personal power.” – Brian Tracy
  52. “There are no limits to what you can accomplish, except the limits you place on your own thinking.” – Brian Tracy
  53. “The best way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing.” – Walt Disney
  54. “The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.” – Eleanor Roosevelt
  55. “It’s not whether you get knocked down, it’s whether you get up.” – Vince Lombardi
  56. “People who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.” – Rob Siltanen
  57. “We may encounter many defeats but we must not be defeated.” – Maya Angelou
  58. “Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Wishing is not enough; we must do.” – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
  59. “Security is mostly a superstition. Life is either a daring adventure or nothing.” – Helen Keller
  60. “Success is getting what you want, happiness is wanting what you get.” – W.P. Kinsella
  61. “Believe you can and you’re halfway there.” – Theodore Roosevelt
  62. “To handle yourself, use your head; to handle others, use your heart.” – Eleanor Roosevelt
  63. “Too many of us are not living our dreams because we are living our fears.” – Les Brown
  64. “I am not a product of my circumstances. I am a product of my decisions.” – Stephen R. Covey
  65. “Only put off until tomorrow what you are willing to die having left undone.” – Pablo Picasso
  66. “If you want to achieve greatness stop asking for permission.” – Anonymous
  67. “Things work out best for those who make the best of how things work out.” – John Wooden
  68. “To live a creative life, we must lose our fear of being wrong.” – Joseph Chilton Pearce
  69. “If you are not willing to risk the usual you will have to settle for the ordinary.” – Jim Rohn
  70. “Trust because you are willing to accept the risk, not because it’s safe or certain.” – Anonymous
  71. “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
  72. “All our dreams can come true if we have the courage to pursue them.” – Walt Disney
  73. “Good things come to people who wait, but better things come to those who go out and get them.” – Anonymous
  74. “If you do what you always did, you will get what you always got.” – Anonymous
  75. “Success is walking from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm.” – Winston Churchill
  76. “Just when the caterpillar thought the world was ending, he turned into a butterfly.” – Proverb
  77. “Successful entrepreneurs are givers and not takers of positive energy.” – Anonymous
  78. “Whenever you see a successful person you only see the public glories, never the private sacrifices to reach them.” – Vaibhav Shah
  79. “Opportunities don’t happen, you create them.” – Chris Grosser
  80. “Try not to become a person of success, but rather try to become a person of value.” – Albert Einstein
  81. “Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people.” – Eleanor Roosevelt
  82. “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” – Thomas A. Edison
  83. “If you don’t value your time, neither will others. Stop giving away your time and talents – start charging for it.” – Kim Garst
  84. “A successful man is one who can lay a firm foundation with the bricks others have thrown at him.” – David Brinkley
  85. “No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.” – Eleanor Roosevelt
  86. “Don’t count the days, make the days count.” – Muhammad Ali
  87. “I didn’t come this far, to only come this far.” – Unknown
  88. “The harder you work for something, the greater you’ll feel when you achieve it.” – Unknown
  89. “Dream bigger. Do bigger.” – Unknown
  90. “Little things make big days.” – Unknown
  91. “It’s going to be hard, but hard does not mean impossible.” – Unknown
  92. “Sometimes later becomes never. Do it now.” – Unknown
  93. “Stay focused, go after your dreams and keep moving toward your goals.” – LL Cool J
  94. “Little things can make a big difference.” – Unknown
  95. “Your limitation—it’s only your imagination.” – Unknown
  96. “Push yourself, because no one else is going to do it for you.” – Unknown
  97. “Sometimes we’re tested not to show our weaknesses, but to discover our strengths.” – Unknown
  98. “The key to success is to focus on goals, not obstacles.” – Unknown
  99. “Dream it. Believe it. Build it.” – Unknown
  100. “If you can dream it, you can do it.” – Walt Disney
  101. “You don’t have to be extreme, just consistent.” – Unknown
  102. “Don’t stop when you’re tired. Stop when you’re done.” – Unknown
  103. “Wake up with determination. Go to bed with satisfaction.” – Unknown
  104. “Do something today that your future self will thank you for.” – Unknown
  105. “It’s going to be hard, but hard doesn’t mean impossible.” – Unknown
  106. “Don’t wait for opportunity. Create it.” – Unknown
  107. “Sometimes later becomes never.” – Unknown
  108. “Great things never come from comfort zones.” – Unknown
  109. “Dream it. Wish it. Do it.” – Unknown
  110. “Stay focused, go after your dreams and keep moving toward your goals.” – Unknown
  111. “The best way to predict your future is to create it.” – Abraham Lincoln
  112. “What you get by achieving your goals is not as important as what you become by achieving your goals.” – Zig Ziglar
  113. “Quality is not an act, it is a habit.” – Aristotle
  114. “The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing.” – Socrates
  115. “Start by doing what’s necessary, then do what’s possible; and suddenly you are doing the impossible.” – Francis of Assisi
  116. “It always seems impossible until it’s done.” – Nelson Mandela
  117. “The best preparation for tomorrow is doing your best today.” – H. Jackson Brown Jr.
  118. “What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
  119. “The only way to discover the limits of the possible is to go beyond them into the impossible.” – Arthur C. Clarke
  120. “Keep your face always toward the sunshine—and shadows will fall behind you.” – Walt Whitman
  121. “Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have imagined.” – Henry David Thoreau
  122. “What we think, we become.” – Buddha
  123. “Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.” – Confucius
  124. “All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them.” – Walt Disney
  125. “You must be the change you wish to see in the world.” – Mahatma Gandhi
  126. “To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
  127. “Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time.” – Thomas A. Edison
  128. “I can’t change the direction of the wind, but I can adjust my sails to always reach my destination.” – Jimmy Dean
  129. “Life is 10% what happens to me and 90% of how I react to it.” – Charles R. Swindoll
  130. “Your time is limited, don’t waste it living someone else’s life.” – Steve Jobs
  131. “Your life does not get better by chance, it gets better by change.” – Jim Rohn
  132. “Don’t count the days, make the days count.” – Muhammad Ali
  133. “There are no limits, only plateaus. And you must not stay there. You must go beyond them.” – Master Oogway
  134. “Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it.” – Confucius
  135. “It is never too late to be what you might have been.” – George Eliot
  136. “I can, therefore I am.” – Simone Weil
  137. “Act as if what you do makes a difference. It does.” – William James
  138. “The only real mistake is the one from which we learn nothing.” – Henry Ford
  139. “Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
  140. “It is better to be alone than in bad company.” – George Washington
  141. “The difference between ordinary and extraordinary is that little extra.” – Jimmy Johnson
  142. “The only place success comes before work is in the dictionary.” – Vidal Sassoon
  143. “The only person you should try to be better than is the person you were yesterday.” – Unknown
  144. “Believe and act as if it were impossible to fail.” – Charles Kettering
  145. “The purpose of our lives is to be happy.” – Dalai Lama
  146. “The only way to have a friend is to be one.” – Wilferd Peterson
  147. “How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.” – Anne Frank
  148. “I am thankful for all of those who said NO to me. It’s because of them I’m doing it myself.” – Albert Einstein
  149. “Our greatest fear should not be of failure but of succeeding at things in life that don’t really matter.” – Francis Chan
  150. “Success is not how high you have climbed, but how you make a positive difference to the world.” – Roy T. Bennett
  151. “Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.” – Maya Angelou
  152. “The only way to achieve the impossible is to believe it is possible.” – Charles Kingsleigh
  153. “If you want to lift yourself up, lift up someone else.” – Booker T. Washington
  154. “You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.” – Wayne Gretzky
  155. “Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life.” – Steve Jobs
  156. “Don’t watch the clock; do what it does. Keep going.” – Sam Levenson
  157. “Everything you’ve ever wanted is on the other side of fear.” – George Addair
  158. “Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful.” – Albert Schweitzer
  159. “To be successful, you must accept all challenges that come your way. You can’t just accept the ones you like.” – Mike Gafka
  160. New York City is a place where the impossible becomes possible.” – Lin-Manuel Miranda
  161. “Life is about making an impact, not making an income.” – Kevin Kruse
  162. “What’s the point of being alive if you don’t at least try to do something remarkable?” – John Green
  163. “Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life.” – Steve Jobs
  164. “Winning isn’t everything, but wanting to win is.” – Vince Lombardi
  165. “Every strike brings me closer to the next home run.” – Babe Ruth
  166. “Definiteness of purpose is the starting point of all achievement.” – W. Clement Stone
  167. “We become what we think about.” – Earl Nightingale
  168. “Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one’s courage.” – Anais Nin
  169. “The only way to do great work is to love what you do.” – Steve Jobs
  170. “If you are not willing to risk the usual, you will have to settle for the ordinary.” – Jim Rohn
  171. “The mind is everything. What you think you become.” – Buddha
  172. “The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now.” – Chinese Proverb
  173. “An unexamined life is not worth living.” – Socrates
  174. “Eighty percent of success is showing up.” – Woody Allen
  175. “Your time is limited, don’t waste it living someone else’s life.” – Steve Jobs
  176. “I am not a product of my circumstances. I am a product of my decisions.” – Stephen Covey
  177. “Either you run the day, or the day runs you.” – Jim Rohn
  178. “Whether you think you can or you think you can’t, you’re right.” – Henry Ford
  179. “The two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why.” – Mark Twain
  180. “Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it.” – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
  181. “The best revenge is massive success.” – Frank Sinatra
  182. “People often say that motivation doesn’t last. Well, neither does bathing – that’s why we recommend it daily.” – Zig Ziglar
  183. “The key to immortality is first living a life worth remembering.” – Bruce Lee
  184. “If you hear a voice within you say ‘you cannot paint,’ then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced.” – Vincent Van Gogh
  185. “There is only one way to avoid criticism: do nothing, say nothing, and be nothing.” – Aristotle
  186. “Ask and it will be given to you; search, and you will find; knock and the door will be opened for you.” – Jesus
  187. “The only person you are destined to become is the person you decide to be.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
  188. “Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you’ve imagined.” – Henry David Thoreau

A Note from the Author

Thank you for taking the time to read through this list of rare quotes. I hope you found them as inspiring as I do. If you are looking for more inspiration, consider subscribing to the SEFFSAID inspirational newsletter. And if you think others might appreciate these words of wisdom, please share this article with them. I look forward to having you visit again!

All the best,

Seff Bray

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Seff Bray

Seff Bray is an accomplished author and the passionate founder of seffsaid.com, a website renowned for its uplifting and inspiring content. With a lifelong interest in personal development and growth, Seff has dedicated himself to empowering others through his writing.