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This week I have some exciting news to share with you – I’m writing to you from a 2 ½ week on-location shoot in Denver, Colorado! Yes, that’s right! I booked a HUGE role in a TV movie!
So I decided to change things up a bit with this week’s tip; today it’s about motivation, mindset and never giving up! Doing all of the “actor stuff” is really only 50% of the work – you’ve got to bring your A-game, to feel and act inspired and actually get stuff done….. even when you don’t totally feel like it.
I’ve pulled together 110 inspirational and motivational quotes that I think are especially helpful for artists. The quotes are on:
Motivation, Following Your Dreams, Overcoming Failure, Perseverance, Strength and Courage
I am beyond thrilled about this movie. This wasn’t easy, but SO WORTH IT! I hope these quotes give you that booster shot of determination, strength and can-do attitude! Never give up and keep following your dreams!
Motivation
Famous Quotes for Inspiration and Motivation
“If you want to achieve greatness, stop asking for permission.” – Eddie Colla
“Amateurs sit and wait for inspiration, the rest of us just get up and go to work.” – Stephen King
“There are no shortcuts to any place worth going.” – Beverly Sills
“Don’t wait. The time will never be just right.” – Napoleon Hill
“Spend eighty percent of your time focusing on the opportunities of tomorrow rather than the problems of yesterday.” – Brian Tracy
“You don’t have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step.” – Martin Luther King, Jr.
“If you are not willing to risk the usual, you will have to settle for the ordinary.” – Jim Rohn
“Things work out best for those who make the best of how things work out.” – John Wooden
“I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% of how I react to it.” – Charles Swindoll
“Inaction breeds doubt and fear. Action breeds confidence and courage. If you want to conquer fear, do not sit home and think about it. Go out and get busy.” – Dale Carnegie
“If you take responsibility for yourself you will develop a hunger to accomplish your dreams.” – Les Brown
“You have power over your mind – not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength.” – Marcus Aurelius
“Try a thing you haven’t done three times. Once, to get over the fear of doing it. Twice, to learn how to do it. And a third time to figure out whether you like it or not.” – Virgil Thomson
“I like criticism. It makes you strong.” – LeBron James
“Do what you feel in your heart to be right, for you’ll be criticized anyway. You’ll be damned if you do and damned if you don’t.” – Eleanor Roosevelt
“Be miserable. Or motivate yourself. Whatever has to be done, it’s always your choice.” – Wayne Dyer
“Choosing to be positive and having a grateful attitude is going to determine how you’re going to live your life.” – Joel Osteen
“Don’t brood. Get on with living and loving. You don’t have forever.” – Leo Buscaglia
“What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
“Make up your mind that no matter what comes your way, no matter how difficult, no matter how unfair, you will do more than simply survive. You will thrive in spite of it.” – Joel Osteen
“At the end of the day, you are in control of your own happiness. Life is going to happen whether you overthink it, over-stress it or not. Just experience life and be happy along the way. You can’t control everything in your life, but you can control your happiness.” – Holly Holm
“Live in the moment, unless it sucks. Then just keep going!” – Hunter
Follow Your Dreams
Never Give Up on Your Dreams Quotes
“Never say never, because limits, like fears, are often just an illusion.” – Michael Jordan
“No matter where you’re from, your dreams are valid.” – Lupita Nyong’o
“Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great.” – Mark Twain
“Never give up on a dream just because of the time it will take to accomplish it. The time will pass anyway.”’ – Earl Nightingale
“When a person really desires something, all the universe conspires to help that person to realize his dream.” – Paulo Coelho
“20 years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” – Mark Twain
“The only thing that will stop you from fulfilling your dreams is you.” – Tom Bradley
“Believe in yourself, and the rest will fall into place. Have faith in your own abilities, work hard, and there is nothing you cannot accomplish.” – Brad Henry
“When I’m old and dying, I plan to look back on my life and say, ‘Wow, that was an adventure,’ not, ‘Wow, I sure felt safe.’” – Tom Preston-Werner
“Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world.” – Harriet Tubman
“So many of our dreams at first seem impossible, then they seem improbable, and then, when we summon the will, they soon become inevitable.” – Christopher Reeve
“What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.” – Oliver Wendell Holmes
“If you always put limit on everything you do, physical or anything else. It will spread into your work and into your life. There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them.” – Bruce Lee
“Your dream doesn’t have an expiration date. Take a deep breath and try again.” – Unknown
“My mission in life is not merely to survive, but to thrive; and to do so with some passion, some compassion, some humor, and some style.” – Maya Angelou
“If one dream should fall and break into a thousand pieces, never be afraid to pick one of those pieces up and begin again.” – Flavia Weedn
“Life is full of beauty. Notice it. Notice the bumble bee, the small child, and the smiling faces. Smell the rain, and feel the wind. Live your life to the fullest potential, and fight for your dreams.” – Ashley Smith
“All men dream: but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake in the day to find that it was vanity: but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act their dreams with open eyes, to make it possible.” – T.E. Lawrence
“You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream.” – C.S. Lewis
“The key to realizing a dream is to focus not on success but significance – and then even the small steps and little victories along your path will take on greater meaning.” – Oprah Winfrey
“If one advances confidently in the direction of one’s dreams, and endeavors to live the life which one has imagined, one will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.” – Henry David Thoreau
“Never limit yourself because of others’ limited imagination; never limit others because of your own limited imagination.” – Mae Jemison
There is no passion to be found playing small — in settling for a life that is less than the one you are capable of living.” – Nelson Mandel
Overcoming Failure
Inspiring Quotes for When You Feel Like You’ve Failed
“Remember that failure is an event, not a person.” – Zig Ziglar
“If you set your goals ridiculously high and it’s a failure, you will fail above everyone else’s success.” – James Cameron
“I made decisions that I regret, and I took them as learning experiences. I’m human, not perfect, like anybody else.” – Queen Latifah
“It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all, in which case you have failed by default.” – J.K. Rowling
“I can accept failure, everyone fails at something. But I can’t accept not trying.” – Michael Jordan
“You’ll always miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.” – Wayne Gretzky
“Part of being a man is learning to take responsibility for your successes and for your failures. You can’t go blaming others or being jealous. Seeing somebody else’s success as your failure is a cancerous way to live.” – Kevin Bacon
“Problems are not stop signs, they are guidelines.” – Robert Schuller
“A problem is a chance for you to do your best.” – Duke Ellington
“When you have exhausted all possibilities, remember this: you haven’t.” – Thomas Edison (Edison tried thousands of times before being successful at developing a lightbulb that worked!)
“An inventor fails 999 times, and if he succeeds once, he’s in. He treats his failures simply as practice shots.” – Charles F. Kettering
“Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently.” – Henry Ford
“Inside of a ring or out, ain’t nothing wrong with going down. It’s staying down that’s wrong.” – Muhammad Ali
“Failure will never overtake me if my determination to succeed is strong enough.” – Og Mandino
“Don’t be embarrassed by your failures, learn from them and start again.” – Richard Branson
“Failure isn’t fatal, but failure to change might be.” – John Wooden
“Most great people have attained their greatest success one step beyond their greatest failure.” – Napoleon Hill
“Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try Again. Fail again. Fail better.” – Samuel Beckett
“Life is just the same as learning to swim! Do not be afraid of making mistakes, for there is no other way of learning how to live!” – Alfred Adler
“I’ve come to believe that all my past failure and frustrations were actually laying the foundation for the understandings that have created the new level of living I now enjoy.” – Anthony Robbins
“Every adversity, every failure, every heartache carries with it the seed of a greater or equal benefit.” – Napoleon Hill
“Like success, failure is many things to many people. With positive mental attitude, failure is a learning experience, a rung on the ladder, and a plateau at which to get your thoughts in order to prepare to try again.” – W. Clement Stone
“A life spent making mistakes is not only more honorable but more useful than a life spent in doing nothing.” – George Bernard Shaw
“You build on failure. You use it as a steppingstone. Close the door on the past. You don’t try to forget the mistakes, but you don’t dwell on it. You don’t let it have any of your energy, or any of your time, or any of your space.” – Johnny Cash
“A man may fail many times but he isn’t a failure until he begins to blame somebody else.” – John Burroughs
“When written in Chinese the word “crisis” is composed of two characters – one represents danger and the other represents opportunity.” – John F. Kennedy
“All men make mistakes, but a good man yields when he knows his course is wrong, and repairs the wrong doing. The only crime is pride.” – Sophocles
“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; because there is not effort without error.” – Theodore Roosevelt
“When I was young, I observed that nine out of ten things I did were failures. So I did ten times more work.” – George Bernard Shaw
“Fall seven times, get up eight.” – Chinese Proverb
“Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.” – Winston Churchill
Perseverance
Never Give Up Quotes
“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
“Show me someone who has done something worthwhile, and I’ll show you someone who has overcome adversity.” – Lou Holtz
“All the adversity I’ve had in my life, all my troubles and obstacles, have strengthened me… You may not realize it when it happens, but a kick in the teeth may be the best thing in the world for you.” – Walt Disney
“With the new day comes new strength and new thoughts.” – Eleanor Roosevelt
“When everything seems to be going against you, remember that the airplane takes off against the wind, not with it.” – Henry Ford
“Most of us, swimming against the tides of trouble the world knows nothing about, need only a bit of praise or encouragement – and we will make the goal.” – Jerome Fleishman
“Life is not easy for any of us. But what of that? We must have perseverance and, above all, confidence in ourselves. We must believe that we are gifted for something, and that this thing, at whatever cost, must be attained.” – Marie Curie
“In times of great stress or adversity, it’s always best to keep busy, to plow your anger and your energy into something positive.” – Lee Iacocca
“Sometimes our light goes out, but is blown again into instant flame by an encounter with another human being.” – Albert Schweitzer
“It ain’t as bad as you think. It will look better in the morning.” – Colin Powell
“Nothing in the world can take the place of perseverance. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful people with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost legendary. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Perseverance and determination alone are omnipotent.” – Calvin Coolidge
“At any given moment you have the power to say: This is not how the story is going to end.” – Christine Mason Miller
When life closes a door, open it again – it’s a door, they work that way. – Hunter
Strength
Own Your Power Quotes
“Life is very interesting. In the end, some of your greatest pains become your greatest strengths.” – Drew Barrymore
“Strength does not come from physical capacity. It comes from an indomitable will.” – Mahatma Gandhi
“Our strength grows out of our weaknesses.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
“I am not afraid of storms, for I am learning how to sail my ship.” – Louisa May Alcott
“Strength does not come from winning. Your struggles develop your strengths. When you go through hardships and decide not to surrender, that is strength.” – Arnold Schwarzenegger
“We can easily manage if we will only take, each day, the burden appointed to it. But the load will be too heavy for us if we carry yesterday’s burden over again today, and then add the burden of the morrow before we are required to bear it.” – John Newton
“You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, ‘I lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along.” – Eleanor Roosevelt
“Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing.” – Helen Keller
“The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.” – Mahatma Gandhi
“We acquire the strength we have overcome.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
Courage
Quotes for Cultivating Courage
“If you don’t like something change it; if you can’t change it, change the way you think about it.” – Mary Engelbreit
“You may encounter many defeats, but you must not be defeated. In fact, it may be necessary to encounter the defeats, so you can know who you are, what you can rise from, how you can still come out of it.” – Maya Angelou
“A hero is an ordinary individual who finds the strength to persevere and endure in spite of overwhelming obstacles.” – Christopher Reeve
“Courage isn’t having the strength to go on – it is going on when you don’t have strength.” – Napoléon Bonaparte
“To dare is to lose one’s footing momentarily. To not dare is to lose oneself.” – Soren Kierkegaard
“Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage.” – Lao Tzu
“I don’t really want to become normal, average, standard. I want merely to gain in strength, in the courage to live out my life more fully, enjoy more, experience more. I want to develop even more original and more unconventional traits.” – Anaïs Nin
“The greatest test of courage on the earth is to bear defeat without losing heart.” – R. G. Ingersoll
“Everything you want is on the other side of fear.” – Jack Canfield
“It takes more courage to reveal insecurities than to hide them, more strength to relate to people than to dominate them, more ‘manhood’ to abide by thought-out principles rather than blind reflex. Toughness is in the soul and spirit, not in muscles and an immature mind.” – Alex Karras
“The most beautiful people we have known are those who have known defeat, known suffering, known struggle, known loss, and have found their way out of the depths. These persons have an appreciation, a sensitivity and an understanding of life that fills them with compassions, gentleness, and a deep loving concern.” – Elizabeth Kubler-Ross
“When things go wrong as they sometimes will…. When the road you’re trudging seems all uphill…. When the funds are low and the debts are high…. And you want to smile but you have to sigh…. When care is pressing you down a bit…. Rest if you must, but just don’t you quit. * Success is failure turned inside out…. The silver tint on the clouds of doubt…. And you can never tell how close you are…. It may be near when it seems afar…. So, stick to the fight when you’re hardest hit…. It’s when things go wrong that you mustn’t quit. – Edgar A. Guest
“Courage doesn’t always roar. Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying, “I will try again tomorrow.” – Mary Anne Radmach
* Please Note: I am not an agent, manager, or casting director. I do not procure work for actors. All information, workshops and coaching are for educational purposes only and are not a guarantee or promise of employment. Thank you for being here!
