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130 Motivational Quotes For Students For A Bright Future

130 Motivational Quotes For Students For A Bright Future

Below you’ll find a collection of motivational quotes for students to lift your spirits, remind you of your limitless potential, and nudge you when that snooze button is calling your name.

Top 10 Motivational Quotes For Students

1. “From your parents, you learn love and laughter and how to put one foot before the other. But when books are opened, you discover you have wings.” — Helen Hayes

A smiling woman holding a book representing the top motivational quote for students

2. “The more that you read, the more things you will know, the more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.” — Dr. Seuss

3. “Learning is the only thing the mind never exhausts, never fears, and never regrets.” — Leonardo da Vinci

4. “An investment in knowledge pays the best interest.” — Benjamin Franklin

5. “Knowledge will bring you the opportunity to make a difference.” ― Claire Fagin

6. “There is divine beauty in learning… To learn means to accept the postulate that life did not begin at my birth. Others have been here before me, and I walk in their footsteps.” — Elie Wiesel

7. “He who opens a school door, closes a prison.” — Victor Hugo

8. “That’s the thing about books. They let you travel without moving your feet.” — Jhumpa Lahiri

9. “The road to freedom — here and everywhere on earth — begins in the classroom.” — Hubert Humphrey

10. “Your education is a dress rehearsal for a life that is yours to lead.” — Nora Ephron

Quotes Of The Day For Students

1. “I do not know anyone who has got to the top without hard work. That is the recipe. It will not always get you to the top, but it should get you pretty near.” — Margaret Thatcher

2. “It will not happen cutting corners, taking shortcuts, or looking for the easy way! There’s only hard work, late nights, early mornings, practice, repetition, study, and discipline.” — nimo_wehearit

3. “Take a limitation and turn it into an opportunity. Take an opportunity and turn it into an adventure by dreaming BIG!” ― Jo Franz

4. “Books are dangerous. The best ones should be labeled with “This could change your life.” — Helen Exley

5. “If you don’t build your dreams, someone will hire you to help build theirs.” — Tony Gaskin

6. “You cannot dream of becoming something you do not know about. You have to learn to dream big. Education exposes you to what the world has to offer, to the possibilities open to you.” — Sonia Sotomayor

7. “If you have to put someone on a pedestal, put teachers. They are society’s heroes.” — Guy Kawasaki

8. “Study hard, no matter if it seems impossible, no matter if it takes time, no matter if you have to be up all night, just remember that the feeling of success is the best thing in the entire world.” — khangal_wehearit

9. “Education means emancipation. It means light and liberty. It means the uplifting of the soul of man into the glorious light of truth, the light by which men can only be made free.” — Frederick Douglass

10. “Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty. Anyone who keeps learning stays young.” — Henry Ford

Encouraging Quotes For Students 

1. “Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.” — Mahatma Gandhi

A joyful young man with glasses representing an encouraging motivational quote for students

2. “You are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think.” — A.A. Milne

3. “You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose.” — Dr. Seuss

4. “To accomplish great things, we must not only act, but also dream, not only plan but also believe.” — Anatole France

5. “Develop a passion for learning. If you do, you will never cease to grow.” — Anthony J. D’Angelo

6. “If you hear a voice within you say ‘you cannot paint,’ then by all means paint, and the voice will be silenced.” — Vincent Van Gogh

7. “Don’t limit yourself. Many people limit themselves to what they think they can do. You can go as far as your mind lets you. What you believe, remember, you can achieve.” — Mary Kay Ash

8. “Education is something we have to keep pursuing day after day.” — Premier Brian Gallant

9. “A person who never made a mistake never tried anything new.” — Albert Einstein

10. “Do not make your goal to be the best. The best is a label. It’s something someone else decides for you. ‘Better’ is more personal.” — Baryshnikov

See also: 170 Self-Improvement Quotes To Make Your Life Better

Inspirational Quotes For Students

1. “The beautiful thing about learning is that no one can take it away from you.” — B.B. King

2. “There are no shortcuts to any place worth going.” — Beverly Stills

3. “If you work hard enough and assert yourself, and use your mind and imagination, you can shape the world to your desires.” — Malcolm Gladwell

4. “You don’t have to be great to start, but you have to start to be great.” — Zig Ziglar

5. “Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss you’ll land among the stars.” — Les Brown

6. “He who asks a question is a fool for five minutes; he who does not ask a question remains a fool forever.” — Chinese proverb

7. “Just believe in yourself. Even if you don’t pretend that you do and, at some point, you will.” — Venus Williams

8. “The mind is not a vessel to be filled but a fire to be ignited.” — Plutarch

9. “Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better.” — Maya Angelou

10. “Learn as if you were not reaching your goal and as though you were scared of missing it.” ― Confucius

Short Motivational Quotes For Students

1. “Today a reader. Tomorrow a leader.” — Unknown

2. “You can always be better.” — Tiger Woods

3. “The expert in anything was once a beginner.” — Helen Hayes

4. “Learning is never done without errors and defeat.” — Vladimir Lenin

5. “Teachers can open the door, but you must enter it yourself.” — Chinese proverb

6. “I find that the harder I work, the more luck I seem to have.” — Thomas Jefferson

7. “Genius is 10% inspiration, 90% perspiration.” — Thomas Edison

8. “Follow your passion. It will lead you to your purpose.” — Oprah Winfrey

9. “Study the past if you want to intuit the future.” — Confucius

10. “Set tough goals and do not stop until you get there.” — Bo Jackson

See also: 170 Genius Goal Achievement Quotes To Help You Succeed

Positive Quotes For Students

1. “Who questions much, shall learn much, and retain much.” — Francis Bacon

2. “The best way to predict your future is to create it.” — Abraham Lincoln

3. “Wisdom…. comes not from age, but from education and learning.” — Anton Chekhov

4. “If you don’t go after what you want, you’ll never have it. If you don’t ask, the answer is always no. If you don’t step forward, you’re always in the same place.” — Nora Roberts

5. “The reading of all good books is like a conversation with the finest (people) of the past centuries.” — Descartes

6. “Turning your passion into your job is easier than finding a job that matches your passion.” — Seth Godin

7. “That which we persist in doing becomes easier for us to do; not that the nature of the thing itself is changed, but that our power to do is increased.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson

8. “A book is like a garden that can be carried in your pocket.” — Chinese Proverb

9. “You can’t use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have.” — Maya Angelou

10. “A little progress each day adds up to big results.” — Satya Nani

A joyful redhead with a book atop her head representing a positive inspiring quote for students

See also: 120 Ultimate Best Quotes About Progress To Fuel Your Growth

Educational Quotes For Students

1. “Education is the most powerful weapon you can use to change the world.” — B.B. King

2. “The whole purpose of education is to turn mirrors into windows.” — Sydney J. Harris

3. “Instruction ends in the schoolroom, but education ends only with life.” — Frederick W. Robertson

4. “The only person who is educated is the one who has learned how to learn …and change.” — Carl Rogers

5. “Education is the passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to those who prepare for it today.” — Malcolm X

6. “Education is the key to unlock the golden door of freedom.” — George Washington Carver

7. “A good education is a foundation for a better future.” — Elizabeth Warren

8. “If you think education is expensive, try ignorance.” — Andy McIntyre

9. “Education is not to reform students or amuse them or to make them expert technicians. It is to unsettle their minds, widen their horizons, inflame their intellects, teach them to think straight, if possible.” — Robert M. Hutchins

10. “The essence of knowledge is, having it, to apply it; not having it, to confess your ignorance.” — Confucius

Success Quotes For Students

1. “There is no secret to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure.” — General Colin Powell

2. “The price of success is hard work, dedication to the job at hand, and the determination that whether we win or lose, we have applied the best of ourselves to the task at hand.” — Vince Lombardi

3. “There is no elevator to success. You have to take the stairs.” — Zig Ziglar

4. “Success is the sum of small efforts, repeated.” — R. Collier

5. “Successful people begin where failures leave off. Never settle for ‘just getting the job done.’ Excel!” — Tom Hopkins

6. “The most successful people are those who are good at plan B.” — James Yorke

7. “Try not to become a man of success. Rather become a man of value.” — Albert Einstein

8. “Self-belief and hard work will always earn you success.” — Virat Kohli

9. “Striving for success without hard work is like trying to harvest where you haven’t planted.” — David Bly

10. “The dictionary is the only place that success comes before work. Work is the key to success, and hard work can help you accomplish anything.” — Vince Lombardi

A male student in a classroom setting, writing in his notebook

See also: 220 Best Proverbs About Success To Give You Inspiration

Quotes For Elementary Students

1. “Reach high, for stars lie hidden in your soul. Dream deep, for every dream precedes the goal.” — Pamela Vaull Starr

2. “Reading is like breathing in, writing is like breathing out.” — Pam Allyn

3. “If knowledge is power, then learning is a superpower.” — Jim Kwik

4. “Time to rise. Time for school! Open your eyes.” — Tammie Jones

5. “Let us remember: One book, one pen, one child, and one teacher can change the world.” — Malala Yousafzai

6. “To learn to read is to light a fire; every syllable that is spelled out is a spark.” — Victor Hugo, Les Miserables

7. “The dearest ones of time, the strongest friends of the soul: books.” — Emily Dickinson

8. “Keep reading. It’s one of the most marvelous adventures that anyone can have.” — Lloyd Alexander

9. “The whole world opened up to me when I learned to read.” — Mary McLeod Bethune

10. “I had searched for magic my whole life. No place on this earth had the beauty I longed for. It was in the book where I found it.” — Lauren Levine

Quotes For Middle Schoolers

1. “My advice is, never do tomorrow what you can do today. Procrastination is the thief of time.” — Charles Dickens

2. “If people do not believe that mathematics is simple, it’s only because they do not realize how complicated life is.” — John Von Neumann

3. “Don’t just read the easy stuff. You may be entertained by it, but you will never grow from it.” — Jim Rohn

4. “There is more treasure in books than in all the pirate’s loot on Treasure Island.” — Walt Disney

5. “Wise people learn when they can; fools learn when they must.” — Arthur Wellesley

6. “Middle school is kind of like Middle-earth… Word to the wise: pick your traveling companions well. Ones with the courage and moral fiber to persevere… This way, when you pass through the congested hallways rife with pernicious diversion, you achieve your desired destination — or at least your next class.” — Kimberly Dana

7. “If you are going to get anywhere in life, you have to read a lot of books.” — Roald Dahl

8. “There are no traffic jams on the extra mile.” — Zig Ziglar

9. “If you are willing to learn, no one can help you. If you are determined to learn, no one can stop you.” — Unknown

10. “The man who does not read books has no advantage over the one who cannot read them.” — Mark Twain

See also: 120 Reading Quotes For Kids That’ll Impress Adults Too

Quotes For High School Students

1. “The purpose of education is to replace an empty mind with an open one.” — Malcolm Forbes

A young smiling woman holding a book representing a quote of motivation for students in high school

2. “Learning never exhausts the mind.” — Leonardo Da Vinci

3. “We don’t stop going to school when we graduate.” — Carol Burnett

4. “Dreams are lovely. But they are just dreams. Fleeting, ephemeral, pretty. But dreams do not come true just because you dream them. It’s hard work that makes things happen. It’s hard work that creates change.” — Shonda Rhimes

5. “The purpose of learning is growth, and our minds, unlike our bodies, can continue growing as we continue to live.” — Mortimer Adler

6. “Learning without thinking is useless. Think without learning, dangerous.” — Confucius

7. “Being a student is easy. Learning requires actual work.” — William Crawford

8. “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

9. “Being kind is one of the hardest thing to be in high school because you’re so terrified of being cut down yourself that you’re always on your guard. But don’t be like that. Be kind and you will be truly different. A standout. Unique and happy.” ― Wendy Wunder

10. “No matter what people tell you, words and ideas can change the world.” — Robin Williams

Inspirational Quotes For College Students

1. “Every year, many, many stupid people graduate from college. And if they can do it, so can you.” — John Green

2. “One hour per day of study in your chosen field is all it takes. One hour per day of study will put you at the top of your field within three years. Within five years you’ll be a national authority. In seven years, you can be one of the best people in the world at what you do.” — Earl Nightingale

3. “It is clear the future holds great opportunities. It also holds pitfalls. The trick will be to avoid the pitfalls, seize the opportunities.” — Woody Allen

4. “There is no end to education. It is not that you read a book, pass an examination, and finish with education. The whole of life, from the moment you are born to the moment you die, is a process of learning.” — Jiddu Krishnamurti

5. “Productivity is never an accident. It is always the result of a commitment to excellence, intelligent planning, and focused effort.” — Paul J. Meyer

6. “Skill is only developed by hours and hours of work.” — Usain Bolt

7. “I’ve come to believe that each of us has a personal calling that’s as unique as a fingerprint — and that the best way to succeed is to discover what you love and then find a way to offer it to others in the form of service, working hard, and also allowing the energy of the universe to lead you.” ― Oprah Winfrey

8. “You are capable of more than you know. Choose a goal that seems right for you and strive to be the best, however hard the path. Aim high. Behave honorably. Prepare to be alone at times, and to endure failure. Persist! The world needs all you can give.” — E.O. Wilson

9. “Be the change you wish to see in the world.” — Mahatma Gandhi

10. “Study hard what interests you the most in the most undisciplined, irreverent and original manner possible.” — Richard Feynman

Motivational Quotes For Students Beyond Classroom

1. “Be patient with yourself. Self-growth is tender; it’s holy ground. There’s no greater investment.” — Stephen Covey

2. “You receive from the world what you give to the world.” — Oprah Winfrey

3. “Accept and acknowledge your own brilliance. Stop waiting for others to tell you how great you are! Believe it for yourself and about yourself.” — Iyanla Vanzant

4. “People may look different or be dressed differently or may have a different education or position. But they are all the same. They are all people to be loved. They are all hungry for love.” — Mother Teresa

5. “Be ashamed to die until you have won some victory for humanity.” — Horace Mann

6. “Don’t say you don’t have enough time. You have exactly the same number of hours per day that were given to Helen Keller, Pasteur, Michaelangelo, Mother Teresa, Leonardo da Vinci, Thomas Jefferson, and Albert Einstein.” — Jackson Brown Jr.

7. “Optimism is a happiness magnet. If you stay positive, good things and good people will be drawn to you.” — Mary Lou Retton

8. “If there is something you care about, make a commitment to do something now- starting with today. And choose to live a meaningful and purpose-driven life where you care about people and issues that are much greater than yourself.” — Evangeline Mitchell

9. “There are those who work all day, those who dream all day, and those who spend an hour dreaming before setting to work to fulfill those dreams. Go into the third category because there’s virtually no competition.” — Steven J. Ross

10. “If you have no confidence in self, you are twice defeated in the race of life.” — Marcus Garvey

See also: 80 Inspirational Confidence Affirmations To Empower You

Wrapping It Up

As you navigate the halls of knowledge, keep the wise words from these motivational quotes for students close to your heart. 

Use them as your compass in your personal and academic growth and remember, even on the most challenging of days, your potential knows no bounds!

130 Motivational Quotes For Students For A Bright Future