Entrepreneurs and content creators, even successful ones, are only human.
Sometimes, our motivational wells dry up. We get burned out, run-down, and weary.
The problem? Entrepreneurs have to keep hustling even when our energy is gone and our batteries are dead. Nobody is going to run your business for you. Nobody is going to swoop in and say, “Hey, you need a break.”
Beyond the perks of working toward our dreams on our own terms, life can get tough. We don’t have to clock into a 9-5, but sometimes our work hours take over our personal lives because there are no clear boundaries.
If anything, we have to hustle even more than the average person – and we can’t stop.
When you’re running low on fuel, just reading the wise words of some fellow hustlers can boost your spirits and give you the will to carry on.
These quotes for hustle inspiration were carefully chosen because they speak to that inner strength we all have. I scoured the internet, my favorite books, and even hustle quotes on Tumblr to find the best ones.
To help you find the ones that speak to you, I’ve broken them down into categories. I suggest copying and pasting your favorite hustle quotes into a document and printing them out. Stick them above your desk and read them when the going gets tough.
Remember: You can do this.
Click to Get There: Hustle & Motivational Quotes Categories
Hustle Quotes to Inspire You to Dream
Good Hustle Quotes to Motivate You to Keep Going
Hustle with Faith: Quotes for Tough Times
Hustle Quotes and Sayings to Live By
Hustle Quotes for Her: Motivation for Female Entrepreneurs and Lady Bosses
Motivational Sales Quotes to Push You Toward Success
The Best Hustle Quotes to Remember as You Forge into the Future
107 Hustle Quotes to Inspire You to Dream
Aren’t all entrepreneurs truly dreamers at heart? Here are some inspiring quotes that will encourage you not only to dream big, but to do something about it.
1. “All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them.” – Walt Disney
Making your dreams a reality takes courage. If you want to see success, don’t just dream – act.
2. “Whether you think you can or think you can’t, you’re right.” – Henry Ford
The mind is powerful. Succeeding is as much about your attitude as your aptitude.
3. “Life is either a daring adventure or nothing.” – Helen Keller
Helen Keller was both blind and deaf, yet she managed to become a skilled and successful writer, speaker, and activist. Every day she faced darkness and silence, but she pushed through. Now that’s daring.
4. “Everything you’ve ever wanted is on the other side of fear.” – George Adair
If you can push through your fear, great things may be waiting for you on the other side.
5. “The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.” – Eleanor Roosevelt
It’s one thing to dream; it’s another thing to believe in your dreams.
6. “Only I can change my life. No one can do it for me.” – Carol Burnett
This hustle quote is all about understanding that your life is in your hands.
7. “Keep your eyes on the stars, and your feet on the ground.” – Theodore Roosevelt
Stay grounded, but let your mind fly free with the possibilities for what could be.
8. “People who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do.” – Rob Siltanen
This motivational quote appears at the end of a famous Apple ad featuring legendary thinkers, dreamers, inventors, and leaders. It’s hard to watch it without getting inspired.
9. “Setting goals is the first step in turning the invisible into the visible.” – Tony Robbins
Setting goals and working toward them is the only way to make your dreams concrete.
10. “If I cannot do great things, I can do small things in a great way.” – Martin Luther King, Jr.
Martin Luther King, Jr. was one of the most inspiring speakers and activists of the 20th century. For even more motivational quotes, listen to his famous “I Have a Dream” speech.
11. “It is not true that people stop pursuing dreams because they grow old. They grow old because they stop pursuing dreams.” – Gabriel García Márquez
In this hustle quote, Author Gabriel García Márquez is saying that dreams give us life, color, and youthful vigor. When you give up on your dreams, you lose all that.
12. “Determine that the thing can and shall be done, and then we shall find the way.” – Abraham Lincoln
Don’t second-guess yourself. Decide you can do it, and then make it happen.
13. “You can’t use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have.” – Maya Angelou
According to Maya Angelou, creativity is a well that never dries up. It’s fuel for dreaming!
14. “There is only one thing that makes a dream impossible to achieve: the fear of failure.” – Paulo Coelho
Don’t let a fear of failure block your road to success.
15. “You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream.” – C.S. Lewis
Writer C.S. Lewis knew that you’re never too old to pick yourself up and start over.
Good Hustle Quotes to Motivate You to Keep Going
Is today one of those tough days where everything seems to go awry? You need some good hustle quotes and sayings to remind you to keep going – you’ll get through this.
16. “It always seems impossible until it’s done.” – Nelson Mandela
The impossible is possible. The key is to begin.
17. “Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can.” – Arthur Ashe
There are always excuses not to start your business, build your new brand, start blogging, or whatever else you want to do. You can say you don’t have the time, the money, or the skills. You might argue that your current full-time gig demands all your attention.
Recognize these arguments for what they are – excuses – and instead take a page from Arthur Ashe: Start where you are, use what you have, and do what you can.
18. “Failure after long perseverance is much grander than never to have a striving good enough to be called a failure.” – George Eliot
You have two options:
You can try your hardest and potentially fail equally as hard.
Or, you can give your goals a half-hearted attempt. You can shrug and say it’s too difficult, and not even make an effort.
George Eliot, the female author of Middlemarch, argues that the first of these options is braver, grander, and more worthwhile. What do you think?
19. “The secret to getting ahead is getting started.” – Mark Twain
How can you accomplish your dreams if you don’t even start? Once you begin, half of the hard work is finished.
20. “Never give up, for that is just the place and time that the tide will turn.” – Harriet Beecher Stow
If you give up now, you’ll miss any chance of catching that turning tide. Isn’t the possibility alone worth it?
21. “Today’s accomplishments were yesterday’s impossibilities.” – Robert H. Schuller
What could you have accomplished if you started yesterday? Good news: There’s always tomorrow.
22. “You don’t have to be great to start, but you have to start to be great.” – Zig Ziglar
Greatness doesn’t just happen. Great people have the guts to dive in and get their hands dirty. Here’s the clincher: When they started, they weren’t great… yet.
23. “It’s always too early to quit.” – Norman Vincent Peale
Norman Vincent Peale was a minister, public speaker, and the author of The Power of Positive Thinking. He helped bring the positive thinking concept into the light. Take it from him: It’s always too early to quit!
24. “Permanence, perseverance and persistence in spite of all obstacles, discouragements, and impossibilities: It is this, that in all things distinguishes the strong soul from the weak.” – Thomas Carlyle
The strongest people persist despite the roadblocks and obstacles they encounter along their journeys. Do you have what it takes?
25. “March on. Do not tarry. To go forward is to move toward perfection. March on, and fear not the thorns, or the sharp stones on life’s path.” – Khalil Gibran
You’ll never actually reach perfection in life, but Khalil Gibran argues that you’ll get as close as you’ll ever come as long as you keep going. As he says, march on.
26. “Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Wishing is not enough; we must do.” – Johann Von Goethe
Do you see a theme running through these hustle quotes and sayings? You can’t just wish, dream, and hope – to make it in business, marketing, life, you name it, you have to act, too.
27. “Believe you can and you’re halfway there.” – Theodore Roosevelt
Believing in yourself is half the battle, according to Theodore Roosevelt.
28. “Press forward. Do not stop, do not linger in your journey, but strive for the mark set before you.” – George Whitefield
Keep striving for “the mark set before you”, whatever it may be. You’ll only reach it if you continue on.
29. “It’s not whether you get knocked down, it’s whether you get up.” – Vince Lombardi
Vince Lombardi led the Green Bay Packers to no less than 5 NFL championships during his tenure with them as head coach in the 1950s. Needless to say, he knew a thing or two about winning.
30. “It does not matter how slowly you go so long as you do not stop.” – Confucius
This ancient Chinese philosopher coined many wise sayings we still use today. This one is especially motivating.
31. “Just don’t give up trying to do what you really want to do. Where there is love and inspiration, I don’t think you can go wrong.” – Ella Fitzgerald
In plain language, in the words of jazz singer Ella Fitzgerald, “Just don’t give up trying”.
Hustle with Faith: Quotes for Tough Times
There isn’t much you can’t do when you hustle with faith. These quotes are great reminders to keep believing and achieving.
32. “Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement. Nothing can be done without hope and confidence.” – Helen Keller
Having faith is also about having optimism that you WILL achieve what you set out to do.
33. “Your talent is God’s gift to you. What you do with it is your gift back to God.” – Leo Buscaglia
When you look at your talents as gifts from above, then using them to their highest potential becomes even more important.
34. “Believe in yourself! Have faith in your abilities! Without a humble but reasonable confidence in your own powers you cannot be successful or happy.” – Norman Vincent Peale
Without faith in yourself, too, you can’t be successful OR happy, according to Norman Vincent Peale.
35. “Challenges are what make life interesting and overcoming them is what makes life meaningful.” – Joshua J. Marine
Don’t look at challenges as negative events. Instead, look at them as opportunities to grow, learn, and improve your life.
36. “Most of the important things in the world have been accomplished by people who have kept on trying when there seemed to be no hope at all.” – Dale Carnegie
Without hope, has anything in the history of the world been achieved?
37. “We may encounter many defeats but we must not be defeated.” – Maya Angelou
Defeats are going to happen all throughout your life. Maya Angelou is saying there’s a big difference between encountering those defeats and moving past them, versus letting them defeat you and stop you in your tracks.
38. “You don’t have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step.” – Martin Luther King, Jr.
You’re not going to be able to see every bend in the road or step along the path. You can’t predict what will happen as you work toward your goals. The important thing is to keep moving one foot in front of the other, having faith you’re moving in the right direction.
39. “They can conquer who believe they can.” – Virgil
Virgil was an ancient Roman poet who composed one of the greatest epics of all time, the Aeneid. It chronicles the life of a Trojan named Aeneus, who founded Rome – one of the greatest conquering civilizations of all time.
40. “Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
Sometimes the path you need to take is the one that’s never been walked before, by anyone. Don’t be afraid to wander off the beaten trail and make your own way.
41. “Don’t be pushed around by the fears in your mind. Be led by the dreams in your heart.” – Roy T. Bennett
Your fears will only restrict you and hold you back. Your dreams, however, will push you forward.
42. “The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph.” – Thomas Paine
If the going is hard right now, consider how amazing an accomplishment it will be to come out the other side.
43. “Learning is the beginning of wealth. Learning is the beginning of health. Learning is the beginning of spirituality. Searching and learning is where the miracle process all begins.” – Jim Rohn
Learning is the beginning of everything! Be open to learning, and have faith in the process.
44. “Be patient with yourself. Self-growth is tender; it’s holy ground. There’s no greater investment.” – Stephen Covey
Have you invested in yourself? Do you have faith in the self-growth process?
45. “Live your beliefs and you can turn the world around.” – Henry David Thoreau
Having enough faith in your beliefs to live them is pretty dang powerful, isn’t it?
Hustle Quotes and Sayings to Live By
These are the hustle quotes you should adopt as your mantras. Print them out, write them on post-it notes, or say them to yourself in the mirror each morning. They’ll guide you to your best self and your best life.
46. “I would rather be a superb meteor, every atom of me in magnificent glow, than a sleepy and permanent planet.” – Jack London
Jack London was the author of The Call of the Wild and other classic stories. Let this beautiful quote inspire you to live big and bold, no matter how fleeting the glow might be.
47. “The only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it.” – Steve Jobs
Do you love what you do? This motivational quote from Apple founder Steve Jobs might inspire you to keep searching until you strike gold.
48. “We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.” – Oscar Wilde
If you can see the stars while lying in the gutter, your visionary mind may just take you somewhere, someday.
49. “Creativity is intelligence having fun.” – Albert Einstein
Take it from Einstein: When your intelligence has fun, all kinds of weird, wonderful, and wacky things can happen.
50. “I attribute my success to this: I never gave or took any excuse.” – Florence Nightingale
Repeat after me: Excuses are roadblocks.
51. “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.” – Aristotle
If “we are what we repeatedly do”, what have you done today to cultivate a habit of excellence?