147 Best Mottos To Live By To Create Your Dream Life

Ever feel like you’re aimlessly moving through life without a sense of purpose or direction? If so, having a personal life motto can help. So, today I’m sharing some of the best mottos to live by to give you motivation and inspiration in this life journey.

Having a good life motto that represents your dreams, personal beliefs and goals is a powerful tool to help you create a better future for yourself and those you love. 

Whenever in doubt your personal life motto will help you take the right path and find inner peace.

What Is A Life Motto?

Life mottos are short phrases or statements that help guide you. It shows what you stand for representing your core values and beliefs. 

You can create your own motto that can be relevant in many life situations – good and bad. Think of it as a guiding principle to motivate you, make decisions and live life with purpose and meaning.

Mottos can be similar to affirmations or quotes, but the key differentiator is using a motto to represent you – in your specific phase of life.

As you read through these inspirational mottos to live by…

• Write down the mottos that mean something to you 
• Next, think about what they mean to you and how you might apply them to your life
• Then attempt to choose ONE perfect life motto to live by for the next few months
  • If you have a hard time choosing just one motto, go with two – one for work and one for personal

How Can You Live By One Life Motto?

My biggest recommendation to live by a good motto that represents your future is to use it in your daily life.

• Write the motto in your journal every morning and reflect on how you lived this motto today
• When making tough decisions think about your personal motto to help you decide
• Use your life motto when working on goals
• Print your life motto out and frame it

147 Best Mottos To Live By

1. Live each day as if it were your last.
2. Prepare for the worst, hope for the best, and expect nothing.
3. Actions speak louder than words.
4. Remember your why.
5. Live life to the fullest.
6. Great things come to those who wait.
7. If the cap fits, wear it.
8. Adventure awaits.
9. Dance like nobody’s watching.
10. If you love something, set it free. If it comes back, it’s yours. If it doesn’t, it never was.
11. Life is a marathon, not a sprint.
12. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking.
13. Progress, not perfection.
14. One thing at a time.
15. Carpe Diem – Seize the Day.
16. Live in the moment.
17. Honesty is the best policy
18. Live life on your terms.
19. Embrace the unknown.
20. Expect the unexpected.
21. Choose your battles.
22. Think outside the box.
23. Everything happens for a reason.
24. Do one thing every day that scares you.
25. Happy wife, happy life.
26. Speak your truth.
27. Don’t lose yourself in the chaos.
28. Be comfortable in your own skin.
29. Keep calm and carry on.
30. Laughter is the best medicine.

Life Mottos About Positive Thinking

31. There is always something to be grateful for.
32. Never stop believing that good things are coming.
33. Positivity is a choice.
34. What you aren’t changing, you’re choosing.
35. Make every day count.
36. Find joy in the little things.
37. Be happy with what you have while working for what you want. 
38. Don’t sweat the small stuff.
39. Be thankful for the present moment, it’s all that you are guaranteed.
40. Appreciate the small stuff.
41. Don’t worry, be happy.
42. Less is more.
43. Do what you love, love what you do.
44. Live your best life.
45. I can do hard things.
46. Trust the process.
47. Make today count.
48. Be the best version of yourself.
49. Trust your gut.
50. Don’t look back.
51. Enjoy the journey.
52. Variety is the spice of life.
53. Endings are also beginnings.
54. Follow your heart.
55. Have an attitude of gratitude.
56. Stop and smell the roses.

Success and Perseverance Life Mottos

Take inspiration from these mottos that successful people use to keep moving forward, no matter how difficult it may seem.

57. Two steps forward one step back.
58. Keep your eyes on the prize.
59. The best view comes after the hardest climb.
60. When life gives you lemons, make lemonade.
61. Talk does not cook rice. – Chinese Proverb
62. Forget the mistake. Remember the lesson.
63. If the plan doesn’t work, change the plan, not the goal.
64. Don’t be busy: be productive.
65. Sometimes you win. Sometimes you learn.
66. Fake it til you make it.
67. Do one thing that scares you every day.
68. Rome wasn’t built in a day.
69. Step out of your comfort zone.
70. Doing the right thing is not always easy.
71. One day at a time.
72. Vision without action is a daydream. – Japanese proverb
73. Focus on your strengths.
74. If there’s a will there’s a way.
75. Work hard. Play hard.
76. No pain. No Gain.
77. One day or day one. You decide.

Life Mottos To Support Your Mental Health

When going through hard times, bad days and difficult situations these life mottos will remind you to stay the course and not give up.

78. The pain you feel today is the strength you will feel tomorrow.
79. The grass is greenest where you water it.
80. Self-care is not selfish.
81. We suffer more often in imagination than in reality. – Seneca
82. Don’t compare yourself to others
83. Embrace your imperfections.
84. Stars can’t shine without darkness.
85. Don’t give up.
86. Don’t set yourself on fire to keep other people warm.
87. This too shall pass.
88. Tomorrow is another day.
89. Believe in yourself.
90. Never give up the fight.
91. It’s okay not to be okay.
92. The most important relationship you have is with yourself. – Diane Von Furstenberg
93. You can do anything, but not everything.
94. Be your authentic self
95. You are more capable than you think.
96. We are all a work in progress.
97. No one can make you feel inferior without your consent. – Eleanor Roosevelt
98. There’s always hope.
99. Love yourself first.

Kindness Mottos To Live By

No matter what situation we’re currently in there’s always room to be a little kinder in our daily lives.

100. In a world where you can be anything, be kind.
101. A little kindness goes a long way.
102. Kindness costs nothing.
103. Let kindness become as instinctive as breathing.
104. Treat people with kindness.
105. Be kind to everyone, because you never know what someone else is going through.
106. It doesn’t take a grand gesture to be kind.
107. Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.
108. Treat yourself as you would treat a good friend.
109. Love conquers all.
110. Pay it forward.
111. Always be kinder than you need to be.
112. Three things in human life are important: the first is to be kind; the second is to be kind; and the third is to be kind. – Henry James
113. Be the reason someone smiles today.
114. Never dim someone else’s light so you can shine.
115. Treat people the way you would like to be treated.
116. No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted. – Aesop

Famous Mottos to Live By 

117. Keep your face in the sunshine and you will never see the shadow – Helen Keller
118. Be the change you wish to see in the world – Mahatma Gandhi
119. It always seems impossible until it’s done. – Nelson Mandela
120. Life is what happens when you’re busy making other plans. – John Lennon
121. Quality means doing it right when no one is looking. – Henry Ford
122. Life begins at the end of your comfort zone – Neale Donald Walsch
123. Success is walking from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm. – Winston Churchill
124. Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you react to it. – Charles R. Swindoll
125. Live to fight another day – Demosthenes
126. Where there’s a will, there’s a way. – Unknown
127. Be the person your dog thinks you are. – J.W. Stephens
128. Everything in moderation, including moderation. – Oscar Wilde
129. Be as you wish to seem. – Socrates
130.  People aren’t against you. They are for themselves. – Lao Tzu
131. We are what we repeatedly do. – Aristotle
132. I think, therefore I am. – René Descartes
133. Live the life you love; love the life you live. – Bob Marley
134. Preparation for tomorrow is hard work today. – Bruce Lee
135. You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take – Wayne Gretzky

Inspirational Quotes You Can Use As Life Mottos

136. “Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.” – Mahatma Gandhi
137. Love all, trust a few, do wrong to none. – William Shakespeare
138. The secret of life is to fall seven times and to get up eight times. – Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist
139. Dreams don’t work unless you do. – John Calvin Maxwell
140. The best way to cheer yourself up is to try to cheer someone else up. – Mark Twain
141. People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel. – Maya Angelou.
142. Do or do not. There is no try. – Yoda, from Star Wars
143. Stop trying to fit into places you’ve outgrown. – Mel Robbins
144. We are what we repeatedly do. – Aristotle
145. Believe you can and you’re halfway there. – Theodore Roosevelt
146. Nothing worth having comes easy. – Theodore Roosevelt
147. A little progress each day adds up to big results. – Satya Nani

Is There A Particular Motto You Like To Live By?

Share in the comments below to inspire others.

Related Resources To Help You Create A Motto To Live By:

• 107 Quotes To Appreciate The Little Things In Life
• 25 Ways To Live A Life Of Abundance
• 60 Self-Reflection Questions & Journal Prompts
• How To Set Your Top Priorities In Life: 12 Examples

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