106 Inspirational and Motivational Quotes for Kids

Sometimes, it’s hard to find the right words when your child is going through a difficult time and needs some inspiration. Positive quotes about friendship, struggling, and creativity can help your child find comfort.

Bookmark this list so that when your child needs some motivation, you can share some of the best inspirational quotes from famous figures like athletes, authors, actors, and activists, as well as characters from their favorite movies and books. 

These good thoughts and motivational kid quotes can help your kid learn and find their way when they feel stuck, or bring further appreciation for special moments in their life.

Related: 75 Phrases and Words of Encouragement for Kids of All Ages

Quotes About Friendship and Kindness 

1. “Walking with a friend in the dark is better than walking alone in the light”. - Hellen Keller
2. “There are no strangers here; Only friends you haven’t yet met.” - William Butler Yeats
3. “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” - Maya Angelou
4. “May people will walk in and out of your life, but only true friends will leave footprints in your heart.” - Eleanor Roosevelt
5. “Friendship is the hardest thing in the world to explain. It’s not something you learn in school. But if you haven’t learned the meaning of friendship, you really haven’t learned anything.” - Muhammad Ali
6. “Togetherness, for me, means teamwork.” - Walt Disney
7. “Be kind whenever possible. It is always possible.” - Dalai Lama
8. “If you see someone without a smile, give them one of yours.” - Dolly Parton
9. “Try to be a rainbow in someone’s cloud.” - Maya Angelou
10. “Never look down on anybody unless you’re helping them up.” - Jesse Jackson
11. “You can always, always give something, even if it is only kindness!” - Anne Frank
12. “Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless.” - Mother Teresa
13. “My best friend is the one who brings out the best in me.” - Henry Ford
14. “Be silly. Be honest. Be kind”. - Ralph Waldo Emerson
15. “When everything seems to be going against you, remember that the airplane takes off against the wind, not with it.” - Henry Ford
16. “People who work together will win, whether it be against complex football defenses, or the problems of modern society.” - Vince Lombardi
17. “Individual commitment to a group effort — that is what makes a team work, a company work, a society work, a civilization work.” - Vince Lombardi
18. “A single rose can be my garden ... a single friend, my world.” - Leo Buscaglia
19. “Friendship is the only cement that will ever hold the world together.” - Woodrow T. Wilson
20. “Happiness is the new rich. Inner peace is the new success. Health is the new wealth. Kindness is the new cool.” - Syed Balkhi
21. “The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little.” - Franklin D. Roosevelt
22. “Kindness is the language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see.” - Mark Twain
23. “Good friends, good books, and a sleepy conscience: this is the ideal life.” - Mark Twain
24. “Remember that the most valuable antiques are dear old friends.” - H. Jackson Brown, Jr.
25. “Kindness and politeness are not overrated at all.” - Tommy Lee Jones
26. “If you go out to be a friend, you’ll find them everywhere.” - Zig Ziglar
27. “You can tell more about a person by what he says about others than you can by what others say about him.” - Audrey Hepburn
28. “A friend is one of the best things you can have, and one of the best things you can be.” - Winnie the Pooh

Quotes for Overcoming Challenges 

29. “Yesterday is history. Tomorrow is a mystery. Today is a gift. That’s why we call it ‘The Present.’” - Eleanor Roosevelt
30. “Just because something doesn’t do what you planned doesn’t mean it’s useless.” - Thomas Alva Edison
31. “It is hard to fail, but it worse to never to have tried to succeed.” - Theodore Roosevelt
32. “It always seems impossible until it’s done.” - Nelson Mandela
33. “Never let the fear of striking out stop you from playing the game.” - Babe Ruth
34. “The future rewards those who press on. I don’t have time to feel sorry for myself. I don’t have time to complain. I’m going to press on.” - Barack Obama
35. “You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.” - Wayne Gretzky
36. “I’ve failed over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.” - Michael Jordan
37. Our greatest glory is not in never failing, but in rising up every time we fail." - Ralph Waldo Emerson
38. “Success is never final, failure is never fatal, and it’s courage that counts.” - John Wooden
39. “You must be the change you wish to see in the world.” - Mahatma Gandhi
40. “The future depends on what we do in the present.” - Mahatma Gandhi
41. “The only real mistake is the one from which we learn nothing.” - Henry Ford
42. “Never give up on what you really want to do. The person with big dreams is more powerful than the one with all the facts.” - H. Jackson Brown, Jr.
43. “Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any one thing.” - Abraham Lincoln
44. "“The best way to predict your future is to create it.” - Abraham Lincoln
45. “If you don’t like how things are, change it!” - Jim Rohn
46. “You don’t have to be great to start, but you have to start to be great.” - Zig Ziglar
47. “Your attitude, not your aptitude, will determine your altitude.” - Zig Ziglar
48. “If you can dream it, you can achieve it.” - Zig Ziglar
49. “Roads were made for journeys, not destinations.” Confucius
50. “Without feelings of respect, what is there to distinguish men from beasts?” - Confucius
51. “Wherever you go, go with all your heart.” - Confucius
52. “The most important thing in life is to stop saying I wish and start saying I will.” - Charles Dickens
53. “If we did the things we are really capable of doing, we would literally astound ourselves.” - Thomas Alva Edison
54. “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” - Thomas Alva Edison
55. “Our greatest weakness lies in giving up.” - Thomas Alva Edison
56. “When you have exhausted all possibilities, remember this: you haven’t.” - Thomas Alva Edison
57. “Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.” - Thomas Alva Edison
58. “Nothing is impossible, the word itself says "‘I’m possible’!” - Audrey Hepburn
59. “When life gets you down, you know what you gotta do? Just keep swimming, just keep swimming.” - Dory, in Finding Nemo
60. “Do or do not. There is no try.” - Yoda, in Star Wars Episode V, The Empire Strikes Back

Quotes to Cheer Kids Up

60. “Why fit in when you were born to stand out?” - Dr. Seuss
61. “No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.” - Eleanor Roosevelt
62. “No one is perfect — that’s why pencils have erasers.” - Wolfgang Riebe
63. “When one door of happiness closes, another opens.” - Helen Keller
64. “No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted.” - Aesop
65. “Tough times never last but tough people do.” - Robert H. Schuller
66. “Change the world by being yourself.” - Amy Pohler
67. “Happiness can be found, even in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the light.” - J.K. Rowling
68. “With the new day comes new strength and new thoughts.” - Eleanor Roosevelt
69. “You’re braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think.” A. A. Milne
70. “Learn from yesterday. Live for today. Hope for tomorrow.” - Albert Einstein
71. “A person’s a person, no matter how small.” - Dr. Seuss
72. “If you’re going through hell, keep going.” - Winston Churchill
73. “Life is a journey, not a destination.” - Ralph Waldo Emerson
74. “Out of the mountain of despair, a stone of hope." - Martin Luther King Jr.
75. “Darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that.” - Martin Luther King Jr.
76. “It’s the beauty within us that makes it possible for us to recognize the beauty around us. The question is not what you look at but what you see.” - Henry David Thoreau
77. “It’s not what happens to you, but how you react to it that matters.” - Epictetus
78. “Don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened.” - Dr. Seuss
79. “Being different isn’t a bad thing. It means you’re brave enough to be yourself.” - Luna Lovegood
80. “The pain of parting is nothing to the joy of meeting again.” - Charles Dickens
81. “The most important thing is to enjoy your life — to be happy — that’s all that matters.” - Audrey Hepburn
82. “Always be the leading lady in your own life.” - Audrey Hepburn
83. “The beauty of a woman is not in a facial mode but the true beauty in a woman is reflected in her soul.” - Audrey Hepburn
84. “Promise me you’ll always remember you’re braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think.” - Winnie the Pooh
85. “How lucky I am to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard.” - Winnie the Pooh

Quotes About Creativity and Learning 

86. “The true sign of intelligence is not knowledge but imagination.” - Albert Einstein
87. “The more that you read, the more things you will know.” - Dr. Seuss
88. “Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better.” - Maya Angelou
89. “Do one thing every day that scares you.” - Eleanor Roosevelt
90. “Great things often start off small.” - Roald Dahl
91. “All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them.” - Walt Disney
92. “Those who don’t believe in magic will never find it.” - Roald Dahl
93. “We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.” - Albert Einstein
94. “You’ll miss the best things if you keep your eyes shut.” - Dr. Seuss
95. “If my mind can conceive it, if my heart can believe it, then I can achieve it.” - Muhammad Ali
96. “Education is the key to unlocking the world, a passport to freedom.” - Oprah Winfrey
97. “Let us remember: One book, one pen, one child and one teacher can change the world.” - Malala Yousafzai
98. “The pleasure which we most rarely experience gives us greatest delight.” - Epictetus
99. “The man who does not read has no advantage over the man who cannot read.” - Mark Twain
100. “Wit beyond measure is a man’s greatest treasure.” - Luna Lovegood
101. “Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it.” - Confucius
102. “Imagination is more important than knowledge.” - Confucius
103. “Genius is one percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration.” - Thomas Alva Edison
104. “Art is the most intense mode of individualism that the world has known.” - Oscar Wilde
105. “Anyone who lives within their means suffers from a lack of imagination.” - Oscar Wilde
106. “I don’t take my life seriously, but I do take what I do -- in my life — seriously.” - Audrey Hepburn

Looking for more ways to encourage your kids? Check out our Best Tips for Developing Healthy Self-Esteem in Your Child.