Inspirational Career Quotes & Sayings

If you're offered a seat on a rocket ship, don't ask what seat! Just get on. — Sheryl Sandberg

The universe defies you to answer the following questions: What good is a high paying career if it leaves you continually stressed out and miserable? What good is owning a large stately house if the only time you spend in it is when you sleep in it? What good is having a lot of interesting possessions if you never have the free time to enjoy them? Above all, what good is having a family if you seldom see any of its members? — Ernie J Zelinski

First LEARN ... then
remove the 'L — Mohit Manke

Everyone suffers personal setbacks. If you're experiencing difficulty in your career or personal life, keep it in perspective - by persevering through your difficulties, you're building a stronger personality in you. Never give up!. — Auliq Ice

Joy in your Job is possible to the extent you're willing to choose it. — Todd Stocker

You are all seen by a God who is proud of those day to day things you do. Ministry doesn't always mean speaking at a pulpit often it comes dressed as everyday work. Don't ever doubt that what you do matters, don't believe that a inspirational speaker or pastor is more worthy then you, for ministry is a state of mind not a career path. God can and will use you in mighty ways through your day to day normal routine. — Rachel Hamilton

To learn anything other than the stuff you find in books, you need to be able to experiment, to make mistakes, to accept feedback, and to try again. It doesn't matter whether you are learning to ride a bike or starting a new career, the cycle of experiment, feedback, and new experiment is always there. — Charles Handy

It's easy to get sidetracked with thoughts that involve much money and precious things, but before you launch into that mode, reason well. — Auliq Ice

I'm not really a career person; I'm a gardener, basically. — John Lennon

I have always believed in the power of collaboration. Early on in my professional career, I realized that you can't develop all the competencies you need fast enough on your own. Furthermore, if you don't collaborate, your ideas will be limited to your own abilities. As a result, you will not be able to serve your clientele and thus can't achieve the anticipated impact. — Vishwas Chavan

As Tim followed me up the narrow stairwell, he playfully pinched my butt with every step, a pleasant (and painful
in a black-and-blue sort of way) reminder that all I had yearned for as a student twenty-five years before had come true, even if I hadn't taken the time to notice it until now: I was happy. At twenty years old, had I articulated what I thought I needed in life, I would have probably said a big house, a successful husband, and a great career. Yet all I really needed for true happiness was the homeless, unemployed bus driver right behind me, pinching my butt every step of the way. — Doreen Orion

I have observed an analogy between a force field equilibrium and resistance to change in organizations. Let us imagine change to be a coiled spring in a field of opposing forces, such that some forces support change and others resist it. By increasing supporting forces such as supervisory pressure, prospects of career growth and monetary benefits or decreasing the resisting forces such as group norms, social rewards and work avoidance, the situation can be directed towards the desired result - but for a short time only, and that too only to a certain extent. After a while the resisting forces push back with greater force as they are compressed even more tightly. Therefore, a better approach would be to decrease the resisting force in such a manner that there is no concomitant increase in the supporting forces. In this way, less energy will be needed to bring about and maintain change.
The result of the forces i mentioned above, is motive. — Arun Tiwari

The Heaven Inc. Board of Directors, whom one has to thank for the origin of most mainstream religion, are also the ones responsible for ending any god's career. Nietzsche knew that as the CEO, he could influence the outcome of world religion but he needed to come up with something big. Something inspirational. Something with pizazz. Something that would fire up the imagination of the other members. The board was newly elected. They were shy, passive, reflexive, and thoroughly stupid — Dylan Callens

Let yourself believe no means no and you give them the power to end your career. No dosen't mean no, it means not yet. — Maggie Stiefvater

Sir, your baseball career may be over. You need to find a new profession. Gatewood answered, I've heard that before. (He had always come back. He would prove them wrong again.) (From Love and Death at the Encierro) — Hal Graff

I am really very grateful for this Award. It is one of the first given to a woman, and to two women at that. When I first started getting work published, I used to have wistful thoughts at the way all important awards were given to men. Women, I used to think, could be as innovative, imaginative and productive as possible - and women were the ones mostly at work in the field of fantasy for children and young adults - but only let a man enter the field, and people instantly regarded what he had to say and what he did as more Important. He got respectful reviews as well as awards, even if what he was doing - which it often was - was imitating the women. But you have changed all that.
Thank you for being so enlightened.
Women, large-minded, formidable women, have played an almost exclusive part in helping my career. I have hardly ever dealt with a man - at least, when it came to publishing: — Diana Wynne Jones

Not knowing what to do with your life is a painful thing. — Innocent Mwatsikesimbe

Only by honoring the greater truths (the macrocosmic truth) may we begin to honor our subjective truths (our microcosmic truth). This is a recognition of the greater mystery of life and a deep honoring of being a child of that great mystery. In that profound recognition rests the awareness that the same macrocosmic mystery is within us, and it manifests and takes its course in many ways. When we simply recognize this fundamental aspect of the nature of existence, we can begin to understand its presence in our lives. And then finding ourselves moving away from the career or relationship we thought we'd be in for the rest of our life is less of a shock or a "something must be wrong" and more of a deep, humble sigh of "alright, okay, here we go, and so it is." This is the way life moves. We do not hold the reins, and to feign so creates only pain. Evolution necessitates change. — Tehya Sky

There are three types of people who choose a career in HR: sadistic assholes who were probably all tattletales in school, empathetic (and soon-to-be-disillusioned) idealists who think they can make a difference in the lives of others, and those of us who stick around because it gives you the best view of all the most entertaining train wrecks happening in the rest of the company. — Jenny Lawson

In life there is but one career path that will fulfill. The path itself of joy. Make your heart sing. Anything else is a waste of life. — Julieanne O'Connor

Perhaps it was all just another game that I can't win, I thought. Heartbreak, a meaningful career, a dead-end ambition. I can't win. I think it was at that moment that I was released. — M.K. Williams

Pitting your dream against someone else's is a fantastic way to get discouraged and depressed. — Jon Acuff

For some young artists, it can take a bit of time to discover which tools (which medium, or genre, or career pathway) will truly suit them best. For me, although many different art forms attract me, the tools that I find most natural and comfortable are language and oil paint; I've also learned that as someone with a limited number of spoons it's best to keep my toolbox clean and simple. My husband, by contrast, thrives with a toolbox absolutely crowded to bursting, working with language, voice, musical instruments, puppets, masks animated on a theater stage, computer and video imagery, and half a dozen other things besides, no one of these tools more important than the others, and all somehow working together. For other artists, the tools at hand might be needles and thread; or a jeweller's torch; or a rack of cooking spices; or the time to shape a young child's day ...
To me, it's all art, inside the studio and out. At least it is if we approach our lives that way. — Terri Windling

One of the unexpected and wonderfully fair things I have learned in my career is that if Hollywood were filled just with perfect-looking people, then soap operas would be the most-watched things in the world. But they're not. Looks are great, but they're not compelling enough. I've noticed that successful actors with long careers are usually talented actors with charismatic screen presences, and all of them exude one thing: confidence. — Mindy Kaling

Relax. You will become an adult. You will figure out your career. You will find someone who loves you. You have a whole lifetime; time takes time. The only way to fail at life is to abstain. — Johanna De Silentio

We cannot change what we are not aware of, and once we are aware, we cannot help but change. — Sheryl Sandberg

What I remember most clearly is how it felt. I'd just finished painting a red fire engine-like the one I often walked past near my grandparents' house. Suddenly the teachers, whose names I've long forgotten, closed in on my desk. They seemed unusually impressed, and my still dripping fire engine was immediately and ceremoniously pinned up. I don't know what they might have said, but their unexpected attention and having something I'd made given a place of honor on the wall created an overwhelming and totally unfamiliar sense of pride inside me. I loved that feeling, and I wanted to feel it again and again. That desire, I suppose, was the beginning of my career.
I have no idea where my fire engine painting ended up, but I never forgot the basic layout. Several decades later, it served as the inspiration for this sketch for an illustration in a book called Why the chicken crossed the Road. — David Macaulay

If you don't understand something clearly that you are being taught ... speak up.
If you feel something is confusing or you are unsure of exactly what to do ... ask about it.
If you need clarification or something repeated to make sure you got it ... request it.
If you feel lost, forgot something, or feel like you are falling behind ... bring it up.
Nodding your head, saying "yeah, yeah" and pretending to know things you don't is right up there with one of the worst things you can do when you hire some one to help you and your career. — Loren Weisman

One reason product management is such an appealing career is you get to sit at the intersection of technology, business, and design. — Gayle Laakmann McDowell

Don't go through life with a closed mind. Allow innovations and creativity to flow. We should always challenge ourselves to excel in more ways than one. Be open to ideas or suggestions on how to improve. And, the chances of reaching your goals will increase enormously. — Amaka Imani Nkosazana

Sam came to a fork in the road. One sign said 'SLAMMED DOORS, Path of Discouragement. Continue doing what you're doing.' The other sign said 'OPEN DOORS, Path of Change. Do something different.' And so he was presented with a choice. It was a "no-brainer" to choose the path of "OPEN DOORS." But the question became, 'What to do different? — Julieanne O'Connor

Many people fail in their career, business and relationship, and others get stuck because of their inability to make quality decisions. — Nkem Paul

Your career is your own responsibility. Your employer is not your mother. — Jurgen Appelo

You're not behind in life. There's no schedule or timetable that we all must follow. It's all made up. Wherever you are right now is exactly where you need to be. Seven billion people can't do everything in exactly the same scheduled order. We are all different with a variety of needs and goals. Some get married early, some get married late, while others don't get married at all. What is early? What is late? Compared with whom? Compared with what? Some want children, others don't. Some want a career; others enjoy taking care of a house and children. Your life is not on anyone else's schedule. Don't beat yourself up for where you are right now. It's YOUR timeline, not anyone else's, and nothing is off schedule. — Emily Maroutian

Your career will include thousands of opportunities to transform yourself. Many will disrupt all that you have built. Each is an opportunity to choose to be vulnerable, to let go, to be reborn. — Bill Jensen

Remember, the mind likes to window shop. It fancies the life in this boutique, then wants to try on the boots in another. But the soul invests all of itself. It's not as casual or as distracted by fashion, sales, promises or ease of acquisition. It's not interested in possibility. It pitches toward destiny. That's why you will never know a sense of ease, even when you come up with answers, unless you choose to listen to the answer that will take away all questions. — Tama Kieves

When times get tough and your path gets rough, just hold on. You'll get there soon enough. — Innocent Mwatsikesimbe

The only thing I really want out of my career is to change the course of just one person's life for the better. If I can do that, then I know I'll be happy — B.L. Berry

But, Erin. If you are trying to make a writing career for yourself, you will get rejected again and again and again. You must keep going. You must learn not to take no for an answer. — Jennifer Echols

We all have dreams; things we want to achieve, to have or to own, to be or to see. — Innocent Mwatsikesimbe

I was always acting primarily with shareholder interests in mind.
It's also true I've always had a fairly moralistic attitude to business, and would not do anything that I considered improper.
As a consequence, I have occasionally pursued issues during my career that other people might have avoided. — Chris Corrigan

I surround myself with inspirational quotations. This easy-to-follow piece of advice has played a huge role in my being able to get past my own fears and insecurities throughout my entrepreneurial career. — Blake Mycoskie

Perfecting is a journey ... There is no destination called perfection. — Ashok Kallarakkal

No matter what you do for a living or who you think you work for, you only work for one person, YOURSELF!. It makes no difference if you work part time, have a salaried position, are a top executive of a corporation or run your own business. You are selling your existence at a set price. Your career goal in life should be based on doing work that you're passionate about, while saving your time and increasing your profit.
This is your life. You have the same existence in this life as any world leader, corporate executive or celebrity. You have your own free will to make decisions to get you exactly where you want to go. There are opportunities around every corner. Go find them! — John Geiger

The worst days of those who enjoy what they do are better than the best days of those who don't. — Jim Rohn

Take the path less traveled and learn from your mistakes. Don't just let life happen around you; control your future. Learn to ask questions, set small goals, and dream of big ones. Absorb any criticism and let it fuel you. Convince others that you are worthy of your dream, and show them that you are willing to put up a damn good fight for it. — Matthew T. Cross

You'll earn more money doing something you love, rather than just doing something because it pays you a high salary. — Auliq Ice

When we graduate from childhood into adulthood, we're thrown into this confusing, Cthulhu-like miasma of life, filled with social and career problems, all with branching choices and no correct answers. — Felicia Day

What is the purpose of my writing about the various experiences of my life? It is not for publicity, but with the hope that the reader, especially my descendants, may plan a career to which they are naturally best adapted. Most children are born with a gift or talent which can be noticed in early childhood and should be encouraged and directed in the right way. Solomon said, 'Train up a child in the way he should go; and when he is old, he will not depart from it.' Train does not mean compel, or to compare him with other children, but to encourage him in that for which he has a natural tendency. The boy who will become proficient in a lawful trade or profession, other things being favorable, will be a value to society and remunerative to himself and others. — Ernest Albert Law

Don't make your career be your life. let it be your passion. Let it bring you pleasure. But don't let it become your identity. You are so much more valuable than that. — Celine Dion

Deacon Jones has been the most inspirational person in my football career. — Jack Youngblood

You perception of a person, place, or thing may not be accurate. Just because it looks good does not mean it is good and vice versa. Always be aware of your surroundings. Pay attention to the people, places, and things around you. Don't allow your misperception to put you in an uncomfortable situation. — Amaka Imani Nkosazana

Fortune does favor the bold and you'll never know what you're capable of if you don't try. — Sheryl Sandberg

So, you've failed many times at many things. That's okay! Learn, grow, and move forward. With the right attitude and mindset, you can learn a lot from failure. Pay attention and keep on striving! You've got this! — Stephanie Lahart

Assume any career move you make won't go smoothly. They won't. But don't look back. — Andy Grove

If you put your best foot forward and if you overcome your fears, you will surely be able to attain the heights of success — Anamika Mishra

No one creates a perfect resume on their first try. — Matthew T. Cross

For Fang, getting out of bed in the morning is a career move. — Phyllis Diller

After his failed political career, Lincoln often pondered the question of the purpose of the meaning of life. In 1850 [ten years before he was elected President], Lincoln told Herdon [his law partner] How hard, oh how hard it is to die and leave one's country no better than if one had never lived. — Ronald C. White Jr.

Don't work for fools. It's not worth it. Getting paid less to work for people you like and believe in is much better for you (and your career) in the long run. — Adam Savage

Tomorrow is yesterday's excuse for today; now has no excuses. — George Alexiou

It's not going to be easy. It's the earth. What creates power in your life is when you perfect your mind, your career, and your associations with others. — Frederick Lenz

But the superheroes showed me how to overcome the Bomb. Superhero stories woke me up to my own potential. They gave me the basis of a code of ethics I still live by. They inspired my creativity, brought me money, and made it possible for me to turn doing what I loved into a career. They helped me grasp and understand the geometry of higher dimensions and alerted me to the fact that everything is real, especially our fictions. By offering role models whose heroism and transcendent qualities would once have been haloed and clothed in floaty robes, they nurtured in me a sense of the cosmic and ineffable that the turgid, dogmatically stupid "dad" religions could never match. I had no need for faith. My gods were real, made of paper and light, and they rolled up into my pocket like a superstring dimension. — Grant Morrison

Any man who keeps working is not a failure. He may not be a great writer, but if he applies the old-fashioned virtues of hard, constant labor, he'll eventually make some kind of career for himself as writer.
[1967 interview] — Ray Bradbury

Throughout your career people will try to distract you. Some will scream at you, others will say things behind your back, and a few feral animals will literally try to throw their stiletto heel in in your lane and trip you. Keep your eyes straight ahead and just run your race. — Sharyn Alfonsi

SLAMMED DOORS, Path of Discouragement. OPEN DOORS, Path of change. Do something different. — Julieanne O'Connor

Your present interests are not a solid basis of a career decisions. So, stop following your passion and Do What Is Valuable.! — Moutasem Algharati

Do what you love but do what it takes to do what you love. — Todd Stocker

If in life you choose something that is your second choice, whether it be clothes, a relationship, or a career, then don't choose it. Wait until you can have your first choice. Never settle for second best. — Steven Aitchison

It doesn't help anyone to judge their happiness or career by looking at where others may or may not be. Dad said it best: 'All the time you're looking left and right at other people, you're neglecting what's in front of you.If you focus on looking straight ahead, you can take the odd glance at the future.' He's got a way of saying things sometimes that just puts everything into perspective. — James Corden

In a sense, discouragement does not have to exist. Allow it to be rather the encouragement to honestly reconsider all the options, then, as necessary, shine on. — Criss Jami

I hadn't gone to one dance in my entire high school
career. I was six foot tall and a hundred and twenty
pounds. When I danced, I looked like a praying mantis
on fire. — Justin Halpern

I hope you find true meaning, contentment, and passion in your life. I hope you navigate the difficult times and come out with greater strength and resolve. I hope you find whatever balance you seek with your eyes wide open. And I hope that you - yes, you - have the ambition to lean in to your career and run the world. Because the world needs you to change it. — Sheryl Sandberg

Elon came to the conclusion early in his career that life is short that if you really embrace this, it leaves you with the obvious conclusion that you should be working as hard as you can. — Ashlee Vance

Maybe I'll never be able to figure out what I'm passionate about. But when I choose something, it has to be something that when I wake up it's the first thing I think about, and it's also the last thing I think about before I go to sleep. I read about other people and how much they love their jobs - like, how they just want to do it all the time and it doesn't feel like work because they love it so much. I want that to happen to me. — Maria Malonzo

Frank Halford was a master at the school and remembers Adams as "very tall even then, and popular. He wrote an end-of-term play when Doctor Who had just started on television. He called it 'Doctor Which.' " Many years later, Adams did write scripts for Doctor Who. He describes Halford as an inspirational teacher who is still a support. "He once gave me ten out of ten for a story, which was the only time he did throughout his long school career. And even now, when I have a dark night of the soul as a writer and think that I can't do this anymore, the thing that I reach for is not the fact that I have had best-sellers or huge advances. It is the fact that Frank Halford once gave me ten out of ten, and at some fundamental level I must be able to do it. — Douglas Adams

Before it is science and career, before it is livelihood, before even it is family or love, freedom is sound sleep and safety to notice the play of morning sun. — Richard Rhodes

Earn your confidence, nurture it, then help to build it in others. — Alex Malley

When you are conscious you have all the relationships you choose to have. When you choose to be healthy and prosperous you are clear about what your body requires and the direction your career is headed. — Frank Natale

Whatever you proclaim as your identity here in the material realm is also your drag. You are not your religion. You are not your skin color. You are not your gender, your politics, your career, or your marital status. You are none of the superficial things that this world deems important. The real you is the energy force that created the entire universe! — RuPaul

What you do is less important than the difference you make. — Tiffany Dufu

When defeat comes, accept it as a signal that your plans are not sound, rebuild those plans, and set sail once more toward your coveted goal. — Napoleon Hill

Just make as much money as you can, but try your best not to rob or get robbed, it will sweep all that you have and leave your hands empty. — Auliq Ice

On having a backup plan: Always a good plan anytime you want to follow your dream - I love writing, acting, and psychiatry - there are crazy people everywhere which means I can take my career anywhere my dream needs to go. — Samantha Steele

I've missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I've lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I've been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I've failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed. — Michael Jordan

It's not that I want to work for Williams-Sonoma, per se, it's just that you guys have the money and I don't. — FAXBoy

You Are Not Your Career.
Your ability to follow instructions is not the secret to your success.
You are hiding your best work, your best insight, and your best self from us every day.
We know how much you care, and it's a shame that the system works overtime to push you away from the people and the projects you care about.
The world does not owe you a living, but just when you needed it, it has opened the door
for you to make a difference.
It's too bad that so much time has been wasted, but it would be unforgivable to wait any longer.
You have the ability to contribute so much. We need you, now. — Seth Godin

Where there is less pain, there is also less pay. — Auliq Ice

I'd tell men and women in their midtwenties not to settle for a job or a profession or even a career. Seek a calling. Even if you don't know what that means, seek it. If you're following your calling, the fatigue will be easier to bear, the disappointments will be fuel, the highs will be like nothing you've ever felt. — Phil Knight