Think Positive Always

100 quotes to help you develop habits that can change your Life

A practical collection of habit quotes and action tips to help you start small, stay consistent, and build routines that shape a better life.

Habits are those unconscious habits which create an invisible pattern that influences every moment of each day. They determine who you will be in the mirror, how you will feel physically, the type of work you have done, and ultimately how you will develop and sustain the relationships you have maintained throughout the course of many years.

At first you may not even recognize them because they are so subtle, yet by themselves they can form the story of your entire life.

These 100 quotes bring together real insights from philosophers, writers, athletes, entrepreneurs, and everyday observers of human nature. Use these quotes as the beginning of something: a new habit, a slight alteration or finding another way to get back on track after slipping up.

Look at the theme section, choose a quote that you resonate with and use that quote as motivation to make one adjustment today.

How to Use These Habit Quotes

Create a “one-minute ritual”: read a quote, select a quote that resonated with you, and take some small action today that demonstrates this quote in your life before you go to sleep.

Use a habit journal: select a quote, copy the quote into your habit tracking journal, write down two sentences describing how you plan to apply this quote to your life over the next 24 hours.

Turn 2–3 quotes into reminder cards for your phone wallpaper, sticky note, or desk card. This creates reminders throughout the day.

Pick a theme: pick a topic that interests you, for instance, consistency, discipline, or identity, and use each of the ten quotes related to this subject as a guide for each of the ten mornings of the week.

Starting Small & Beginning

The biggest steps in changing your life usually begin with the smallest action. The most difficult point in developing a new habit isn’t the hundredth time you do it—It’s the first time. There’s no momentum at this point, and there are certainly no people around to encourage or cheer you on.

Action Tip: Develop a “Two-Minute Habit” today. Read one page. Take a two-minute walk. Write one sentence. Drink one glass of water.

1. “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” — Lao Tzu 2. “Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can.” — Arthur Ashe 3. “Don’t belittle these initial accomplishments, for God delights in beginning a work.” — The Bible, Zechariah 4:10 4. “The art of greatness lies not in being greater than others, but in being less than you are.” — Vincent van Gogh 5. “A small blow can fell a giant oak.” — Benjamin Franklin 6. “One year from now, you may be wishing you’d begun today.” — Karen Lamb 7. “You needn’t be great to start. But you must start to be great.” — Zig Ziglar 8. “To succeed, you must first try. And fail.” — Mark Twain 9. “It is far better to have a small goal, but achieve it with excellence, than to have a grand goal, but achieve it poorly.” — Peter Marshall 10. “Do something small. That is better than planning big things.” — J.R.R. Tolkien

Consistency & Persistence

The hardest part after beginning is repetition rather than intensity. Repeating something again and again allows enough time for things to be accomplished through your efforts.

Action Tip: Determine what is considered a minimum viable version of a habit that you can perform on your worst days (example: one push-up, one paragraph, one minute of meditation).

1. “We are what we repeatedly do. Therefore, excellence is not an act, but rather a habit.” — Will Durant, paraphrasing Aristotle 2. “Success is merely the accumulation of little actions, carried out day after day.” — Robert Collier 3. “The biggest factor influencing your success is not what you do sometimes, it is what you do regularly.” — Tony Robbins 4. “Many great deeds are performed not by force, but by persistence.” — Samuel Johnson 5. “By persistence, the snail arrived at the ark.” — Charles Spurgeon 6. “Intense performance over time cannot compare to sustained consistency.” — Bruce Lee 7. “First, forget about inspiration. Habit is much more dependable. Habit will help carry you along whether you are inspired or not.” — Octavia Butler 8. “Drops of water fill a vessel gradually.” — The Dhammapada 9. “Any job well done requires both determination and patience.” — Benjamin Franklin 10. “To accomplish anything easily, first learn to do it thoroughly.” — Samuel Johnson

Self-Discipline & Control Over Yourself

Discipline isn’t about punishing yourself. It’s about deciding on what habits you are going to do that will have your future self glad they did them, rather than sorry. Habitual behavior that may be challenging for you today but beneficial tomorrow can look very different in terms of ease. Similarly, habitual behaviors that look easy for you today but become a burden tomorrow can also look quite different as well.

Action tip: Identify one place (or area) where you want to develop a specific and clearly defined rule, and not just a hope (for example, "no use of my cell phone until after 9am" or "write at least 200 words before I check email").

1. “The key to success is having the ability to set goals and reach them.” — Jim Rohn 2. “The first and most glorious victory is the conquest of ourselves.” — Plato 3. “Tomorrow belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.” — Mahatma Gandhi 4. “Self-discipline is strength. Right thinking is mastery. Serenity is power.” — James Allen 5. “What is within your control is either done or not done.” — Aristotle 6. “Nobody can truly be free unless they control themselves.” — Epictetus 7. “The unself-controlled are slaves to their emotions, desires, and impulses.” — Stephen R. Covey 8. “Either way, we will all face difficulties; however, the difficulty comes from struggling against ourselves rather than against outside forces.” — Jim Rohn 9. “The liberation of the mind that occurs through discipline provides true freedom.” — Mortimer J. Adler 10. “As we reflect upon the lives of famous individuals, we discover that their first achievement was that they conquered themselves.” — Harry S. Truman

Habits Shape Your Identity

Every habit you create shows who you are developing as a person. Each time you repeat something, that’s like voting on your character.

Tip: Change “I’m simply not a disciplined person” into “I am learning to be someone I can keep my own small commitments.”

1. “Personality is merely developed through repetition.” — Plutarch 2. “Habits become patterns.” — Ovid 3. “Habits turn into character.” — Ovid 4. “Sow a thought and you’ll harvest an act; sow an act and you’ll harvest a habit; sow a habit and you’ll harvest a character; sow a character and you’ll harvest destiny.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson 5. “Our character is essentially composed of our habits. Since they are habitual, regular, usually subconscious behaviors, they frequently reveal our character.” — Stephen R. Covey 6. “First we establish habits, and then habits establish us.” — Rob Gilbert 7. “You are what you do, not what you claim to do.” — Carl Jung 8. “Good habits become ingrained as strongly as poor habits.” — Robert Puller 9. “You become what you continually do.” — Aristotle 10. “One nail drives out another nail; habit overcomes habit.” — Desiderius Erasmus

Systems, Routines & Environment

Willpower is a rare commodity that we have to use very wisely. The most effective way to create strong habits is to build an environment of systems, routines, and tools that make it easier to do the right thing.

Tip for Action: Create a visible reminder for a positive habit (e.g., a book on your pillow or a water bottle at your workspace), and remove one for a negative habit (e.g., turn off notifications, move a distracting application to your background).

1. “Goals are important, but systems are fundamental.” — James Clear 2. “Habit helps motivate people to stick with their plans.” — Jim Ryun 3. “The entire second half of a man’s life consists solely of the habits he formed in his first half.” — Fyodor Dostoevsky 4. “First we build our habits, then our habits build us.” — John Dryden 5. “We design our instruments, and our instruments ultimately design us.” — Marshall McLuhan 6. “Routine indicates ambition in an intelligent person.” — W.H. Auden 7. “It’s easier to avoid poor habits than to eliminate them.” — Benjamin Franklin 8. “Poor habits are similar to comfortable beds: easy to enter; difficult to leave.” — Anonymous author (author unknown) 9. “Individuals who exhibit excellent habits are simply those who possess exceptional habits.” — Brian Tracy 10. “The ordinary acts that occur consistently lead to extraordinary outcomes.” — Anonymous author (author unknown)

Motivation, Value, and Purpose

A habit is going to stick with you longer if it has a connection beyond a list of things you have to do—a personal value, someone you care about, or your future self.

Action Tip: Write a single sentence connecting an action (habit) to one of your values. Example: “I run because I want the energy to take better care of my loved ones.”

1. “The reason why people exist is not in order to endure pain, but in order to realize their own potentialities.” — Friedrich Nietzsche 2. “People do not determine their own destinies; they determine their own habits; their habits determine their destinies.” — F.M. Alexander 3. “To win is not as significant as preparing yourself to win.” — Bobby Knight 4. “Success is merely establishing several simple disciplines that you practice daily.” — Jim Rohn 5. “What happens in your life determines your fate.” — Mahatma Gandhi (paraphrased) 6. “Without purpose or focus, mere effort and bravery mean absolutely nothing.” — John F. Kennedy 7. “If one does not know where he is headed, no winds will serve him.” — Seneca 8. “What is most significant about achieving your objectives is not what you gain in terms of results, but what you develop in terms of self-awareness by achieving them.” — Zig Ziglar 9. “Thoughts color the soul.” — Marcus Aurelius 10. “Nothing else matters except that you do it.” — Maya Angelou

Mistakes, Slips, and New Beginnings

It takes time for habits to develop. There are going to be times when you miss a few days or go back to an old way of doing things. And at some points, there may be questions about if it’s even worth starting again. That doesn’t mean you can’t make mistakes; what matters most is becoming someone who can get back up.

Action tip: Develop a simple “reset ritual” (a push-up, writing one line in your journal, taking a short walk) that you can use to begin again whenever you've missed a day.

1. _"Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall."_ – often attributed to Confucius 2. _"Fall seven times, stand up eight."_ – Japanese proverb 3. _"I haven't failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work."_ – Thomas Edison 4. _"A man who has made a mistake and does not correct it is making another mistake."_ – Confucius 5. _"Failure is only the opportunity to begin again more intelligently."_ – Henry Ford 6. _"Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts."_ – often attributed to Winston Churchill 7. _"It doesn't matter how slowly you go, as long as you don't stop."_ – Confucius 8. _"Every hit brings me closer to the next home run."_ – Babe Ruth 9. _"Difficulties strengthen the mind, just as work strengthens the body."_ – Seneca 10. _"Although the world is full of suffering, it is also full of overcoming."_ – Helen Keller

Practice = Learning + Improvement

Habits are drafts; you can revise them as you get to know yourself better. The process of practice will turn brute force into a natural flow.

Tip: Take one of your habits and enhance it by 10%—change the when, where, how long, or why in order to make the habit fit your reality.

1. "I am still learning." – Michelangelo 2. "An investment in knowledge pays the best interest." – Benjamin Franklin 3. "Practice is not what you do once that makes you good. It's what you do that makes you good." – Malcolm Gladwell 4. "We become what we repeatedly practice." – often attributed to an anonymous author 5. "Learning never exhausts the mind." – Leonardo da Vinci 6. "Mistakes are the gateways to discovery." – James Joyce 7. "He who learns but does not think is lost. He who thinks but does not learn is in great danger." – Confucius 8. "The more I practice, the luckier I get." – Gary Player 9. "Change is the end result of all true learning." – Leo Buscaglia 10. "Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever." – Mahatma Gandhi

Habits for Health, Energy, and Self-Care

Your habits are built upon your energy. Sleep, movement, food, and rest are not luxuries. These are the foundations which allow all other habits to exist.

Action Tip: Pick a "key" health habit - sleep, movement, or nutrition - and establish a simple rule for the coming week (for example, "no screens thirty minutes prior to going to bed", or "take a ten minute walk immediately following lunch").

1. "Take care of your body. That is where you'll spend the rest of your life." --Jim Rohn 2. "Early to bed and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise." --Benjamin Franklin 3. "Taking care of oneself physically is a duty....if not we cannot maintain a strong and clear mind." --Buddha 4. "You will have to find time for exercise, if you expect to have time for anything else." --Edward Stanley 5. "Happiness is just good health and a poor memory." --Albert Schweitzer 6. "Wealth is health." --Virgil 7. "Nearly everything works again if you unplug it for a few minutes, including you." --Anne Lamott 8. "Rest is not idleness." --John Lubbock 9. "Self-care is not selfish. Self-care is self-preservation." --Audre Lorde 10. "A peaceful mind provides inner strength and confidence, therefore it is extremely vital to maintain good health." --Dalai Lama

Long-term Vision and the Compound Effect

The biggest effects of your habits will never show up next week. Instead, they will slowly develop many months and years into the future as your future self lives with the compounding benefits of each of these small decisions made daily.

Action Tip: Write down one simple habit you plan to perform for one full year and write down today's date. Think about how much better you will feel when you've performed this 365 days in a row.

1. "All successful people men and women use their predisposition to think about themselves positively. When I say 'think' I mean concentrate. Concentrate on the job at hand. Half of the troubles of this world could probably be solved if people would put more emphasis on concentration. Concentration leads to success because it helps to bring out the best in a person. Therefore, concentrate!" --Zig Ziglar 2. "To get something you never had, you have to do something you never did." --Thomas Jefferson 3. "Anything less than perfection is unacceptable. Perfection means doing well no matter what you're doing." --Winston Churchill 4. "The best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago. The second-best time is now." --Chinese Proverb 5. "There are three types of people: those who learn from others mistakes, those who learn from their own mistakes, and those who don't learn at all. Which type are you?" --Robert Kiyosaki 6. "There is always time to work. There is never time to play." --Charles M. Schulz 7. "Motivation is what gets you started. Habit is what keeps you going." --Jim Ryun 8. "Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do." --John Wooden

There are plenty of quotes available. Pick one right now. Make the simplest version of it today. Your future self thanks you.