59 Priorities Quotes To Inspire

In the hustle and bustle of daily life, it's easy to lose sight of what truly matters. Whether it’s managing a hectic work schedule, balancing family time, or finding a moment of peace for yourself, establishing clear priorities can often feel overwhelming. To help you navigate these challenges and emphasize what’s truly important, we’ve curated a collection of the top 59 priorities quotes. These insights from thought leaders, authors, and influential figures aim to inspire you to refocus, reenergize, and realign your life’s priorities. Let these quotes serve as a gentle reminder of the importance of keeping what matters most front and center.

1. “Wear the old coat and buy the new book.” - Austin Phelps

2. “Things which matter most must never be at the mercy of things which matter least.” - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

3. “Physics isn't the most important thing. Love is.” - Richard P. Feynman

4. “Action expresses priorities.” - Mahatma Gandhi

5. “A morning-glory at my window satisfies me more than the metaphysics of books.” - Walt Whitman

6. “Let my assure you, Brethren, that some day you will have a personal Priesthood interview with the Savior, Himself. If you are interested, I will tell you the order in which He will ask you to account for your earthly responsibilities.First, He will request an accountability report about your relationship with your wife. Have you actively been engaged in making her happy and ensuring that her needs have been met as an individual?Second, He will want an accountability report about each of your children individually. He will not attempt to have this for simply a family stewardship but will request information about your relationship to each and every child.Third, He will want to know what you personally have done with the talents you were given in the pre-existence.Fourth, He will want a summary of your activity in your church assignments. He will not be necessarily interested in what assignments you have had, for in his eyes the home teacher and a mission president are probably equals, but He will request a summary of how you have been of service to your fellowmen in your Church assignments.Fifth, He will have no interest in how you earned your living, but if you were honest in all your dealings.Sixth, He will ask for an accountability on what you have done to contribute in a positive manner to your community, state, country, and the world.” - David O. McKay

7. “You can't talk about fucking in America, people say you're dirty. But if you talk about killing somebody, that's cool.” - Richard Pryor

8. “I do not understand people who will lustily throw $40,000 at the shiny red automobile of their choice, but well up with tears and become outraged when they are asked to pay $5 for a damaged videotape. Either they are fucked up and their priorities are fucked up or I am fucked up and my priorities are fucked up. Because I am me, I think it is them.” - Don Borchert

9. “Most of us spend too much time on what is urgent and not enough time on what is important.” - Stephen R. Covey

10. “It is not a daily increase, but a daily decrease. Hack away at the inessentials.” - Bruce Lee

11. “I do know that when I am 60, I should be attempting to achieve different personal goals than those which had priority at age 20.” - Warren Buffett

12. “We must try again to be alive to what the people of our country really long for in our national life: forgiveness and grace, maturity and wisdom....Our political leaders will know our priorities only if we tell them, again and again, and if those priorities begin to show up in the polls.” - Peggy Noonan

13. “The only thing a cat worries about is what's happening right now. As we tell the kittens, you can only wash one paw at a time.” - Lloyd Alexander

14. “Perpetual devotion to what a man calls his business, is only to be sustained by perpetual neglect of many other things.” - Robert Louis Stevenson

15. “The life you have left is a gift. Cherish it. Enjoy it now, to the fullest. Do what matters, now.” - Leo Babauta

16. “I flopped on the overstuffed kitchen couch and watched him go. I wondered what would happen to all his films and photographs in the upstairs closet - the documentaries on homelessness and drug addiction, the funny short subjects, the half-finished romantic comedy, the boxes of slice-of-life photographs that spoke volumes about the human condition. I wondered how you stop caring about what you've ached over, sweated over. (Thwonk)” - Joan Bauer

17. “That second man has his own way of looking at things; asks himself which debt must I pay first, the debt to the rich, or the debt to the poor? the debt of money, or the debt of thought to mankind, of genius to nature? For you, O broker! there is no other principle but arithmetic. For me, commerce is of trivial import; love, faith, truth of character, the aspiration of man, these are sacred; nor can I detach one duty, like you, from all other duties, and concentrate my forces mechanically on the payment of moneys. Let me live onward; you shall find that, though slower, the progress of my character will liquidate all these debts without injustice to higher claims. If a man should dedicate himself to the payment of notes, would not this be injustice? Does he owe no debt but money? And are all claims on him to be postponed to a landlord's or a banker's?” - Ralph Waldo Emerson

18. “When we black people commit ourselves to living simply as a political action, as a way of breaking the stress caused by unrelenting hedonistic desire for material objects that are not needed for survival, or essential to well-being, we will not be talking about ebonics. We will be out in the streets demanding that the public schools have enough teachers so that all kids, cross color, can read and write in standard English and in Spanish too.” - bell hooks

19. “And the second [thing about the CBS EVENING NEWS that stands out in the mind of Michael J. Fox] was something Katie did later in the interview, as the drugs kicked in and the tremors segued into the jerkiness of dyskinesias. Somewhere in the contortions of making a point, my left arm detached the microphone clip from my jacket lapel. With no fuss and hardly a break in conversation or eye contact, she calmly leaned over and refastened it. Neither of us commented on it, but it was such an empathetic gesture, so far from anything patronizing or pitying, a simple kindness that allowed me the dignity to carry on making a point more important than the superficiality of my physical circumstance......One thing was abundantly clear though, whether or not she was able to forget how much she liked me: with that single act of consideration, she made it abundantly clear how much she loved her father.” - Michael J. Fox

20. “Good for you and be proud of yourself because you have your priorities in order. Be proud of yourself if you are responsible, reliable, persistent, and take your job and education seriously.” - Ana Monnar

21. “The will of God is not something you add to your life. It’s a course you choose. You either line yourself up with the Son of God…or you capitulate to the principle which governs the rest of the world.” - Elisabeth Elliot

22. “The Christian's whole desire, at its best and highest, is that Jesus Christ be praised. It is always a wretched bastardization of our goals when we want to win glory for ourselves instead of for him.” - D.A. Carson

23. “Desires dictate our priorities, priorities shape our choices, and choices determine our actions.” - Dallin H. Oaks

24. “Of course it was a terrible thing, and the world would be a much better place without someone in it who could do that, but did that mean we had to miss lunch?” - Jeff Lindsay

25. “The Principle of Priority states (a) you must know the difference between what is urgent and what is important, and (b) you must do what’s important first.” - Steven Pressfield

26. “... and people who have kids, people with husbands and jobs and mortgages, don't much want to hear about other people's paintings.” - Michele Young-Stone

27. “If you truly feel that self esteem and motivation have to happen first before you can make changes in your life, then we’ll probably be sharing walkers at a retirement home as we talk over what might have been.” - Shannon Alder

28. “Persistence. Perfection. Patience. Power. Prioritize your passion. It keeps you sane.” - Criss Jami

29. “The mark of a great man is one who knows when to set aside the important things in order to accomplish the vital ones.” - Brandon Sanderson

30. “Respect was one thing. Survival was another. It was important that I kept my priorities in the right order.” - Tahir Shah

31. “Refrain to-night;And that shall lend a kind of easinessTo the next abstinence, the next more easy;For use almost can change the stamp of nature,And either master the devil or throw him outWith wondrous potency.” - William Shakespeare

32. “The great opposition to reading is what I allow to fill my time instead of reading. To say we have no time to read is not really true; we simply have chosen to use our time for other things, or have allowed our time to be filled to the exclusion of reading. So don't add reading to your to-do list. Just stop doing the things that keep you from doing it. But read.” - James Emery White

33. “The most important thing in life is knowing the most important things in life.” - David F. Jakielo

34. “You need to make time for your family no matter what happens in your life” - Matthew Quick

35. “The problem in today’s economy is that people are typically starting a family at the very time they are also supposed to be doing their best work. They are trying to be productive at some of the most stressful times of their lives. What if companies took this unhappy collision of life events seriously? They could offer Gottman’s intervention as a benefit for every newly married, or newly pregnant, employee.” - John Medina

36. “Life is too short to try and glue together broken plates that were cheap in the first place.” - Cory Basil

37. “Sometimes you suffer for the things that are important to you.” - Marta Acosta

38. “I miss your smile… but I miss mine more.” - Laurel House

39. “At this age, all we need to do is to "WAIT" in our love life.Set your priorities, Endeavor your goals!” - Marielle Arias Cleofe

40. “Es ist [...] meine tiefe Überzeugung, dass die Freiheit das Allerwichtigste im Zusammenleben ist und erst Freiheit unserer Gesellschaft Kultur, Substanz und Inhalt verleiht.” - Joachim Gauck

41. “Enttäuschung und Frustration werden [...] alle erleben, die sich wie im Märchen danach sehnen, Glück in einem Schlaraffenland zu finden ... Nur, dass unser Schlaraffenland nicht ein großer Berg von süßem Brei ist ... wir haben andere Fantasien und Bilder von Fülle und Erfülltheit in einem imaginären Schlaraffenland, das nur eben unglücklicherweise niemals dort ist, wo wir tatsächlich leben. Vielmehr leben wir mit der Hoffnung auf ein Glück, das uns das Schicksal irgenwann einmal gewähren müsse. [...] So können wir das Schlaraffenland je nach unserer eigenen Fasson ausgestalten - und wir tun es. Privat und auch gesellschaftlich.Doch sobald wir anfangen, uns mit diesem Glücksmodell anzufreunden, und gespannt darauf warten, wie im Lotto das große Los zu ziehen, werden wir auf einem Weg sein, wo das Glück ganz bestimmt nicht zu uns findet! Wir bleiben hungrig und ungesättigt. Denn geheimnisvollerweise ist das Glück dort, wo wir Bezogenheit leben - selbst in dem unspektatulärsten Tun des Alltags.” - Joachim Gauck

42. “It's all right. I'm not upset. After all, they were just things. When you've lost your mother and your father, you can't care so much about things, can you?” - Kazuo Ishiguro

43. “There are so many more important things to worry about than how you're perceived by strangers.” - Dennis Lehane

44. “Drummond appreciated his guest's initial silence, his respect for the ancient, sacred act of imbibing. Drink first, talk later.” - Jean Zimmerman

45. “The key is not to prioritize what's on your schedule, but to schedule your priorities.” - Stephen R. Covey

46. “I do not particularly like the word 'work.' Human beings are the only animals who have to work, and I think that is the most ridiculous thing in the world. Other animals make their livings by living, but people work like crazy, thinking that they have to in order to stay alive. The bigger the job, the greater the challenge, the more wonderful they think it is. It would be good to give up that way of thinking and live an easy, comfortable life with plenty of free time. I think that the way animals live in the tropics, stepping outside in the morning and evening to see if there is something to eat, and taking a long nap in the afternoon, must be a wonderful life. For human beings, a life of such simplicity would be possible if one worked to produce directly his daily necessities. In such a life, work is not work as people generally think of it, but simply doing what needs to be done.” - Masanobu Fukuoka

47. “And then there is the most dangerous risk of all -- the risk of spending your life not doing what you want on the bet you can buy yourself the freedom to do it later.” - Randy Komisar

48. “Address the solvable first, instructs the father by way of teaching his son crisis management. That way, he counsels, there is less distraction to tackle more daunting issues.” - Brian Herbert

49. “I‘m very aware that my personal life, my marriage, is the source of speculation and interest in the department and with the public. I can live with that. I’m also aware that my husband’s businesses, and his style of conducting his businesses, are also the source of speculation and interest. I have no particular problem with that. But I resent very much that my reputation and my husband’s character should be questioned this way. From the media, Commander, it’s to be expected, but not from my superior officer. Not from any member of the department I’ve served to the best of my ability. I want you to take note, Commander, that turning in my badge would be like cutting off my arm. But if it comes down to a choice between the job and my marriage, then I lose the arm.” - J.D. Robb

50. “Our minds are susceptible to the influence of external voices telling us what we require to be satisfied, voices that may drown out the faint sounds emitted by our souls and distract us from the careful, arduous task of accurately naming our priorities.” - Alain De Botton

51. “The essence of the charge made against the modern high-status ideal is that it is guilty of effecting a gigantic distortion of priorities, of elevating to the highest level of achievement a process of material accumulation that should instead be only one of many factors determining the direction of our lives under a more truthful, more broadly defined conception of ourselves.” - Alain De Botton

52. “When the urgent crowds out the important, people urgently accomplish nothing of value.” - Orrin Woodward

53. “I'm not at all contemptuous of comforts, but they have their place and it is not first.” - E.F. Schumacherm

54. “They will envy you for your success, your wealth, for your intelligence, for your looks, for your status - but rarely for your wisdom.” - Nassim Nicholas Taleb

55. “May our eyes focus rightly on Christ ... before the need to please others, before church, and before the busyness of Christian life. Those things will surely have their place, but they will be most valuable if put in their proper position.” - Traci LaRussa

56. “When you know who you are, you know what to do.” - Shelley Hendrix

57. “You have everything you need today to do what God has for you to do today.” - Shelley Hendrix

58. “Do not postpone what's important to you simply because others don't share your priorities” - Hemal Jhaveri

59. “I'm keenly aware of the Principle of Priority, which states (a) you must know the difference between what is urgent and what is important, and (b) you must do what's important first.” - Steven Pressfield