75 Inspirational Advice Quotes

In our journey through life, we often seek words of wisdom to guide us, uplift us, and provide clarity during challenging times. Inspirational quotes have the power to offer just that—they encapsulate profound insights and advice in just a few words. Whether it's a push to pursue our dreams, a reminder to be kind, or encouragement to overcome obstacles, the right quote can resonate deeply and inspire meaningful action. In this collection of the top 75 inspirational advice quotes, you'll find a wealth of guidance from diverse voices, each offering unique perspectives on navigating life's ups and downs. Dive in and let these words of wisdom spark hope, motivation, and a fresh perspective on everyday challenges.

1. “Don't try to solve serious matters in the middle of the night.” - Philip K. Dick

2. “No one asked you to be happy. Get to work.” - Colette

3. “It don't do you no nevermind to tell nobody nothing.” - Thomas McGuane

4. “I realize that advice is worth what it costs--that is, nothing.” - Douglas MacArthur

5. “The Director's Role: You are the obstetrician. You are not the parent of this child we call the play. You are present at its birth for clinical reasons, like a doctor or midwife. Your job most of the time is simply to do no harm.When something does go wrong, however, your awareness that something is awry--and your clinical intervention to correct it--can determine whether the child will thrive or suffer, live or die.” - Frank Hauser

6. “If you are going to worry, don't do it. If you do it, don't worry.” - Michael Nolan

7. “Never have children, only grandchildren.” - Gore Vidal

8. “Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen nineteen and six , result happiness.Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pounds ought and six, result misery” - Charles Dickens

9. “Never lend your car to anyone to whom you have given birth.” - Erma Bombeck

10. “Opening up to the wrong person is like putting ammo in their hands.” - Lisa Kleypas

11. “In the meantime: (1) be direct; (2) remember that, being smarter than men, women respond to courtesy and kindness; (3) if you want to know what kind of a wife someone will make, observe her around her father and mother; (4) as to who gets out of the elevator first, I just can't help you.” - David Mamet

12. “Title: What Can a Thoughtful Man Hope for Mankind on Earth, Given the Experience of the Past Million Years? Only verse: Nothing.” - Kurt Vonnegut

13. “Don't go looking for boys in the darkThey will say pretty things thenleave you with scars.Do go looking for boys in the parkFor that is where the true gentlemen are.” - Anna Godbersen

14. “It's the story of my life. You see, the quality of any advice anybody has to offer has to be judged against the quality of life they actually lead. Now, as you look through this document you'll see that I've underlined all the major decisions I ever made to make the stand out. They're all indexed and cross-referenced. See? All I can suggest is that if you take decisions that are exactly opposite to the sort of decisions that I've taken, then maybe you won't finish up at the end of your life" --she paused, and filled her lungs for a good should--"in a smelly old cave like this!” - Douglas Adams

15. “You come to me for advice, but you can't cope with anything you don't recognize. Hmmm. So we'll have to tell you something you already know but make it sound like news, eh Well, business as usual , I suppose.” - Douglas Adams

16. “For the advice in a joke is sometimes more useful than the most serious teaching.” - Balthasar Gracian

17. “You can think clearly only with your clothes on.” - Margaret Atwood

18. “You will find, that when you have someone to love, that the face is less important than the brain, and the body is less important than the heart.” - Adrian Tan

19. “Gran, for the gods' love, it's talk like yours that starts riots!" I said keeping my voice down. "Will you just put a stopper in it?"She looked at me and sighed. "Girl, do you ever take a breath and wonder if folk don't put out bait for you? To see if you'll bite? You'll never get a man if you don't relax."My dear old Gran. It's a wonder her children aren't every one of them as mad as priests, if she mangles their wits as she mangles mine."Granny, "I told her, "this is dead serious. I can't relax, no more than any Dog. I'm not shopping for a man. That's the last thing I need.” - Tamora Pierce

20. “The urge to move is natural and understandable. As will be the case throughout your life, no matter how long or brief, the choice is, in the end, yours. Simply bear in mind that most every choice will have consequences, and in this instance those consequences would likely be quite grave.” - Ron Currie Jr.

21. “There's no time for hatred, only questions. Where is love? Where is happiness? What is life? Where is peace?” - Jeff Buckley

22. “I'm very wary about giving advice. I think it's very dangerous to give advice to people, except if you know them very well.” - Omar Sharif

23. “Talk is free but the wise man chooses when to spend his words.” - Neil Gaiman

24. “Never make the first move." - Loor (The Rivers of Zadaa)” - D.J. MacHale

25. “Give every man thy ear, but few thy voice; Take each man's censure, but reserve thy judgment. But not express'd in fancy; rich, not gaudy; For the apparel oft proclaims the man, And they in France of the best rank and station Are of a most select and generous chief in that.” - William Shakespeare

26. “Come friends, it's not too late to seek a newer world.” - Alfred Lord Tennyson

27. “It costs nothing to ask wise advice from a good friend.” - George Clason

28. “I still encourage anyone who feels at all compelled to write to do so. I just try to warn people who hope to get published that publication is not all it is cracked up to be. But writing is. Writing has so much to give, so much to teach, so many surprises. That thing you had to force yourself to do---the actual act of writing---turns out to be the best part. It's like discovering that while you thought you needed the tea ceremony for the caffeine, what you really needed was the tea ceremony. The act of writing turns out to be its own reward.” - Anne Lamott

29. “But how?" my students ask. "How do you actually do it?" You sit down, I say. You try to sit down at approximately the same time every day. This is how you train your unconscious to kick in for you creatively. So you sit down at, say, nine every morning, or ten every night. You put a piece of paper in the typewriter, or you turn on the computer and bring up the right file, and then you stare at it for an hour or so. You begin rocking, just a little at first, and then like a huge autistic child. You look at the ceiling, and over at the clock, yawn, and stare at the paper again. Then, with your fingers poised on the keyboard, you squint at an image that is forming in your mind -- a scene, a locale, a character, whatever -- and you try to quiet your mind so you can hear what that landscape or character has to say above the other voices in your mind.” - Anne Lamott

30. “Writer's block is just a symptom of feeling like you have nothing to say, combined with the rather weird idea that you should feel the need to say something. Why? If you have something to say, then say it. If not, enjoy the silence while it lasts. The noise will return soon enough.” - Hugh MacLeod

31. “Light tomorrow with today.” - George Barnard Moore

32. “Baby," she says in a harsh whisper, "in this world, lots of people will try to grind you down. They need you to be small so they can be big. You let them think whatever they want, but you make sure you get yours. You get yours.” - Holly Black

33. “When you have faults, do not fear to abandon them.” - Confucius

34. “Sometimes rising above is the only way to stop the hate from spreading. It's not what anyone expects, and it does make them stop and think.” - Madelyn Alt

35. “It hurts when you lose a friend to death, it hurts even more when you lose a friend still living.” - CJ Tulli

36. “Failure is when you give up. A real winner is someone that doesn't give up, even when it feels like they are losing.” - Joshua Hartzell

37. “I know now that what makes a fool is an inability to take even his own good advice.” - William Faulkner

38. “Follow your heart, Ithilnin," Albirich repeated. "Time is precious. Don't waste it living someone else's life.” - Jess C. Scott

39. “If you forget your lines, you had better mumble with conviction.” - Connie Brockway

40. “Give me a strong back, over a soft heart.” - Connie Brockway

41. “أني لاجد نصيحة أثمن من أن اقول ليعد كل منا الى فطرته.. ليعد الى بكارته وعذريته التي لم تدنسها لفلفات المنطق ومراوغات العقل” - مصطفى محمود

42. “Better to have you curse me for giving you too much freedom, than have you blame me for bad decisions that may or may not have come as a result of my advice.” - Tori Carrington

43. “If you cannot see yourself fairly or accurately represented in the community where you live... and nothing there makes you feel awake or alive, I suggest you start doing some research on some other communities” - Kelly Cutrone

44. “No one knows, at sight a masterpiece.And give up verse, my boy,There's nothing in it.Likewise a friend of Bloughram's once advised me:Don't kick against the pricks,Accept opinion. The Nineties tried your gameAnd died, there's nothing in it.” - Ezra Pound

45. “As you grow up, always tell the truth, do no harm to others, and don't think you are the most important being on earth. Rich or poor, you then can look anyone in the eye and say, 'I'm probably no better than you, but I'm certainly your equal.” - Harper Lee

46. “Good advice I always hated, but lookin back it made me greater.” - Nicki Minaj

47. “You need to understand that truth is stranger than fiction. Listen: people are willing to swallow any old tripe as long as you say it without flinching. They want to be told stuff. And they don't want to doubt you either. It's too hard.” - Craig Silvey

48. “Here are the two states in which you may exist: person who writes, or person who does not. If you write: you are a writer. If you do not write: you are not. Aspiring is a meaningless null state that romanticizes Not Writing. It’s as ludicrous as saying, “I aspire to pick up that piece of paper that fell on the floor.” Either pick it up or don’t. I don’t want to hear about how your diaper’s full. Take it off or stop talking about it.” - Chuck Wendig

49. “Adventure, my dear, is as much a state of mind as anything else. One can travel the world and never find the excitement to be found within arm's reach.Remain true to yourself, but understand happiness may not always be found in the plans we have laid out for ourselves, but rather in the unforeseen turns life takes us. Do not close your mind, or your heart, to the unexpected twists of life. It is those unexpected paths that could well lead to the greatest adventures of all.” - Victoria Alexander

50. “Perhaps you should put your head down.” I knew this was the thing to do, although I’ve never fainted and I don’t intend to.” - Franny Billingsley

51. “Never say a humorous thing to a man who does not possess humor. He will always use it in evidence against you.” - Herbert Beerbohm Tree

52. “A living being either creates or destroys...some choice.” - Mike Redican

53. “Knowledge in the head and virtue in the heart, time devoted to study or business, instead of show and pleasure, are the way to be useful and consequently happy.” - John Adams

54. “Don't let a thief into your house three times. The first time was enough. The second time was a chance. The third time means you're stupid.” - C. JoyBell C.

55. “Don't let anyone take your power by influencing what you do.... sure ask for advice when you are still deciding, but once you are sure what you want to go for, don't let anyone deflect you. It is YOUR choice to make and to follow through.” - jay woodman

56. “I have always hesitated to give advice, for how can one advise another how to act unless one knows that other as well as one knows himself? Heaven knows. I know little enough of myself: I know nothing of others. We can only guess at the thoughts and emotions of our neighbours. Each one of us is a prisoner in a solitary tower and he communicates with the other prisoners, who form mankind, by conventional signs that have not quite the same meaning for them as for himself.” - W. Somerset Maugham

57. “You can't love someone just by looking at them. That is lust. Not saying love can't come fast, but it doesn't come first.” - Teresa Mummert

58. “If you don't mind a word of advice, one never asks a lady to set her own price. If you have to ask, the answer will always be more than you can afford.” - Eloisa James

59. “For God's sake, have some self-respect and do not run off at the mouth if your brain is out to lunch.” - Anton Chekhov

60. “There are all sorts of books offering advice on how to deal with life-threatening situations, but where's the advice on dealing with embarrassing ones?” - Ellen DeGeneres

61. “We spend January 1st walking through our lives, room by room, drawing up a list of work to be done, cracks to be patched. Maybe this year, to balance the list, we ought to walk through the rooms of our lives...not looking for flaws, but for potential.” - Ellen Goodman

62. “Life is about the people we meet, and the experiences we have along the way.” - Joanne Clancy

63. “Don't waste inspiration” - Salman Khan

64. “This is one more piece of advice I have for you: don't get impatient. Even if things are so tangled up you can't do anything, don't get desperate or blow a fuse and start yanking on one particular thread before it's ready to come undone. You have to realize it's going to be along process and that you'll work on things slowly, one at a time.” - Haruki Murakami

65. “Teamwork is the secret that make common people achieve uncommon result.” - Ifeanyi Enoch Onuoha

66. “The fulfilling life, the distinctive life, the relevant life is an achievement. To do whatever you do for no reason other than you love it and believe in its importance.” - David McCullough Jr.

67. “Advice from a Romance Writer: Guys, make your woman feel pretty even on an 'off' day. Trust me, good things will come of it.” - Michelle M. Pillow

68. “To my babies, Merry Christmas. I'm sorry if these letters have caught you both by surprise. There is just so much more I have to say. I know you thought I was done giving advice, but I couldn't leave without reiterating a few things in writing. You may not relate to these things now, but someday you will. I wasn't able to be around forever, but I hope that my words can be. -Don't stop making basagna. Basagna is good. Wait until a day when there is no bad news, and bake a damn basagna. -Find a balance between head and heart. Hopefully you've found that Lake, and you can help Kel sort it out when he gets to that point. -Push your boundaries, that's what they're there for. -I'm stealing this snippet from your favorite band, Lake. "Always remember there is nothing worth sharing, like the love that let us share our name." -Don't take life too seriously. Punch it in the face when it needs a good hit. Laugh at it. -And Laugh a lot. Never go a day without laughing at least once. -Never judge others. You both know good and well how unexpected events can change who a person is. Always keep that in mind. You never know what someone else is experiencing within their own life. -Question everything. Your love, your religion, your passions. If you don't have questions, you'll never find answers. -Be accepting. Of everything. People's differences, their similarities, their choices, their personalities. Sometimes it takes a variety to make a good collection. The same goes for people. -Choose your battles, but don't choose very many. -Keep an open mind; it's the only way new things can get in. -And last but not least, not the tiniest bit least. Never regret. Thank you both for giving me the best years of my life. Especially the last one. Love, Mom” - Colleen Hoover

69. “My Dear Son,I am so very proud of you. Now, as you embark on a new journey, I'd like to share this one piece of advice. Always, always remember that - adversity is not a detour. It is part of the path.You will encounter obstacles. You will make mistakes. Be grateful for both. Your obstacles and mistakes will be your greatest teachers. And the only way to not make mistakes in this life is to do nothing, which is the biggest mistake of all. Your challenges, if you let them, will become your greatest allies. Mountains can crush or raise you, depending on which side of the mountain you choose to stand on. All history bears out that the great, those who have changed the world, have all suffered great challenges. And, more times than not it's precisely those challenges that, in God's time, lead to triumph.Abhor victimhood. Denounce entitlement. Neither are gifts, rather cages to damn the soul. Everyone who has walked this earth is a victim of injustice. Everyone.Most of all, do not be too quick to denounce your sufferings. The difficult road you are called to walk may, in fact be your only path to success.” - Richard Paul Evans

70. “Entrust your dreams and goals to people who will cheer you on and inspire you, who will tell you what you need to hear rather than what you want to hear so you can move forward and fast track.” - Rachael Bermingham

71. “No kid in the world, no woman in the world should ever raise a hand against a no-good daddy. That's already been taken care of: A Man Who Destroys His Own Home Shall Inherit the Wind.” - Dick Gregory

72. “Want a reliable road to emotional and spiritual suicide? Spend your life trying to fit in.” - Brandon Mull

73. “Live an active life among people who are doing worthwhile things, keep eyes and ears and mind and heart open to absorb truth, and then tell of the things you know, as if you know them. The world will listen, for the world loves nothing so much as real life.” - Dale Carnegie

74. “Life is about finding . . .what works best for you.” - John-Talmage Mathis

75. “I recalled my father-in-law's aphorism "To fool a judge, feign fascination, but to bamboozle the whole court, feign boredom..." & I pretended to extract a speck from my eye.” - David Mitchell