100 Inspirational Quotes on Purpose to Ignite Your Passion and Drive

"The purpose of life is not to be happy. It is to be useful, to be honorable, to be compassionate, to have it make some difference that you have lived and lived well."

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

"The meaning of life is to find your gift. The purpose of life is to give it away!"

- Pablo Picasso

"You are here to enable the divine purpose of the Universe to unfold. That is how important you are."

- Eckart Tolle

"Your calling isn’t something that somebody can tell you about. It’s what you feel. It is the thing that gives you juice. The thing that you are supposed to do. And nobody can tell you what that is. You know it inside yourself."

- Oprah Winfrey

"Be brave enough to live the life of your dreams according to your vision and purpose instead of the expectations and opinions of others."

- Roy Bennett

"Leadership is the capacity to influence others through inspiration, motivated by passion, generated by vision, produced by a conviction, ignited by a purpose."

- Myles Munroe

"What you get by achieving your goals is not as important as what you become by achieving your goals."

- Zig Ziglar

"To live is to choose. But to choose well, you must know who you are and what you stand for, where you want to go and why you want to get there."

- Kofi Annan

"The purpose of life is not to be happy—but to matter, to be productive, to be useful, to have it make some difference that you lived at all."

- Leo Rosten

"The person without a purpose is like a ship without a rudder."

- Thomas Carlyle

"Don’t aim at success. The more you aim at it and make it a target, the more you are going to miss it. For success, like happiness, cannot be pursued; it must ensue, and it only does so as the unintended side effect of one’s personal dedication to a cause greater than oneself or as the by-product of one’s surrender to a person other than oneself. Happiness must happen, and the same holds for success: you have to let it happen by not caring about it. I want you to listen to what your conscience commands you to do and go on to carry it out to the best of your knowledge. Then you will live to see that in the long-run—in the long-run, I say!—success will follow you precisely because you had forgotten to think about it"

- Viktor Frankl

"Service is the rent we pay for being. It is the very purpose of life, and not something you do in your spare time."

- Marian Wright Edelman

"The way you get meaning into your life is to devote yourself to loving others, devote yourself to your community around you, and devote yourself to creating something that gives you purpose and meaning."

- Mitch Albom

"Your real job in life is to figure out what it is you are called to do."

- Oprah Winfrey

"The two most important days in life are the day you born and the day you discover the reason why."

- Mark Twain

"Life is never made unbearable by circumstances, but only by lack of meaning and purpose."

- Viktor Frankl

"The purpose of human life is to serve, and to show compassion and the will to help others."

- Albert Schweitzer

"Our prime purpose in this life is to help others. And if you can't help them, at least don't hurt them."

- Dalai Lama

"He who has a why to live can bear almost any how."

- Friedrich Nietzsche

"There is not greater gift you can receive than to honor your calling. It’s why you were born. And how you become most truly alive."

- Oprah Winfrey

"Definiteness of purpose is the starting point of all achievement."

- W. Clement Stone

"You weren't born just to live a life and to die; you were born to accomplish something specifically. Matter of fact, success is making it to the end of your purpose; that is success... Success is not just existing. Success is making it to the end of why you were born."

- Myles Munroe

"We all have a purpose in life, and when you find yours you will recognize it."

- Catherine Pulsifer

"Learn to get in touch with the silence within yourself, and know that everything in life has purpose. There are no mistakes, no coincidences, all events are blessings given to us to learn from."

- Elisabeth Kubler-Ross

"The climb might be tough and challenging,but the view is worth it. There is a purpose for that pain; you just can't always see it right away."

- Victoria Arlen

"Keep on beginning and failing. Each time you fail, start all over again, and you will grow stronger until you have accomplished a purpose - not the one you began with perhaps, but one you'll be glad to remember."

- Anne Sullivan

"When you're surrounded by people who share a passionate commitment around a common purpose, anything is possible."

- Howard Schultz

"There is surely nothing other than the single purpose of the present moment. A man's whole life is a succession of moment after moment. If one fully understands the present moment, there will be nothing else to do, and nothing else to pursue. Live being true to the single purpose of the moment."

- Yamamoto Tsunetomo

"I know in my heart that man is good. That what is right will always eventually triumph. And there's purpose and worth to each and every life."

- Ronald Reagan

"Choose your friends with caution; plan your future with purpose, and frame your life with faith."

- Thomas S. Monson

"As a leader, you must consistently drive effective communication. Meetings must be deliberate and intentional - your organizational rhythm should value purpose over habit and effectiveness over efficiency."

- Chris Fussell

"The secret of success is constancy to purpose."

- Benjamin Disraeli

"The purpose of life is to contribute in some way to make things better."

- Robert F. Kennedy

"Understanding purpose is one thing, but recognizing the importance of having purpose is another. Everybody has a unique purpose in their life, whether it be to help others, provide for family, or be free."

- Ben Gothard

"The greatest tragedy is not death, but life without purpose."

- Rick Warren

"Purpose is not a noun, it is a verb. It is about how we work. We experience purpose when we do something that’s greater than ourselves. We experience purpose when we push ourselves and grow. We experience purpose as part of a community."

- Aaron Hurst

"A difficult time can be more readily endured if we retain the conviction that our existence holds a purpose – a cause to pursue, a person to love, a goal to achieve."

- John Maxwell

"Winners are people with definite purpose in life."

- Denis Waitley

"There never has been and never will be another you. You have a purpose — a very special gift that only you can bring to the world."

- Marie Forleo

"When my intention changed so did everything in my life. I began to live in purpose and on purpose. I never thought about money or success again, but it kept coming my way."

- Tyler Perry

"Believe in your heart that you’re meant to live a life full of passion, purpose, magic and miracles."

- Roy T. Bennett

"The purpose of life, after all, is to live it, to taste experience to the utmost, to reach out eagerly and without fear for newer and richer experience."

- Eleanor Roosevelt

"Your life is your story, and the adventure ahead of you is the journey to fulfill your own purpose and potential."

- Kerry Washington

"People with a sense of purpose have learned to let life question them and have moved the focus of their attention and concern away from themselves to others. Purpose, then, is not a job or a role or a goal. It is the belief that our lives, our part in the whole of things, truly matters."

- Richard J. Leider

"Everyone has a purpose in life…a unique gift or special talent to give to others. And when we blend this unique talent with service to others, we experience the ecstasy and exultation of our own spirit, which is the ultimate goal of goals."

- Deepak Chopra

"Let yourself be silently drawn by the strange pull of what you really love. It will not lead you astray."

- Rumi

"Your dharma is your divine purpose on this planet, your soul’s essence, the unique vibration only you can carry out in the world."

- Sahara Rose

"Authentic freedom is actually the freedom of knowing who you are, why you are here, your purpose in life and where you are going when you leave here."

- Dr. Wayne Dyer

"Dig deep enough in every heart and you’ll find it: a longing for meaning, a quest for purpose. As surely as a child breathes, he will someday wonder, What is the purpose of my life?"

- Max Lucado

"Having a purpose is the difference between making a living and making a life."

- Tom Thiss

"Perhaps the single most important ingredient in all of life for achieving happiness and fulfillment: Purpose."

- Harvey Volson

"Purpose spurs passion, which fans the sparks that light the fires that fuel change."

- Richard Branson

"If there were no night, we would not appreciate the day, nor could we see the stars and the vastness of the heavens. We must partake of the bitter with the sweet. There is a divine purpose in the adversities we encounter every day. They prepare, they purge, they purify, and thus they bless."

- James E. Faust

"Achievement of your happiness is the only moral purpose of your life, and that happiness, not pain or mindless self-indulgence, is the proof of your moral integrity, since it is the proof and the result of your loyalty to the achievement of your values."

- Ayn Rand

"A hero is someone who has given his life to something bigger than himself or something other than himself."

- Joseph Campbell

"What we have done for ourselves alone dies with us; what we have done for others and the world remains and is immortal."

- Albert Pike

"We ourselves feel that what we are doing is just a drop in the ocean. But the ocean would be less because of that missing drop."

- Mother Teresa

"You have a masterpiece inside you, you know. One unlike any that has ever been created, or ever will be. If you go to your grave without painting your masterpiece, it will not get painted. No one else can paint it. Only you."

- Gordon Mackenzie

"Musicians must make music, artists must paint, poets must write if they are to ultimately be at peace with themselves. What human beings can be, they must be."

- Abraham Maslow

"It doesn’t interest me what you do for a living. I want to know what you ache for, and if you dream of meeting your heart’s longing."

- Oriah

"Where there is no vision, the people perish."

- Proverbs 29:18

"The mystery of human existence lies not in just staying alive, but in finding something to live for."

- Fyodor Dosoevsky

"Too many of us are not living our dreams because we are living our fears."

- Les Brown

"People don’t buy WHAT you do, they buy WHY you do it."

- Simon Sinek

"Why did you get out of bed this morning, and why should anyone care?"

- Simon Sinek

"I believe each of us has a mission in life, and that one cannot truly be living their most fulfilled life until they recognize this mission and dedicate their life to pursuing it."

- Blake Mycoskie

"Your purpose in life is to find your purpose and give your whole heart and soul to it."

- Gautama Buddha

"When you walk in purpose, you collide with destiny."

- Ralph Buchanan

"Purpose is the place where your deep gladness meets the world’s needs."

- Frederick Buechner

"To forget one’s purpose is the commonest form of stupidity."

- Friedrich Nietzsche

"I want to live my life in such a way that when I get out of bed in the morning, the devil says, "aw shit, he's up!""

- Steve Maraboli

"Be a lamp, or a lifeboat, or a ladder. Help someone's soul heal. Walk out of your house like a shepherd."

- Rumi

"All successful people men and women are big dreamers. They imagine what their future could be, ideal in every respect, and then they work every day toward their distant vision, that goal or purpose."

- Brian Tracy

"People take different roads seeking fulfillment and happiness. Just because they’re not on your road doesn’t mean they’ve gotten lost."

- Dalai Lama

"The soul which has no fixed purpose in life is lost; to be everywhere, is to be nowhere."

- Michel de Montaigne

"If you can tune into your purpose and really align with it, setting goals so that your vision is an expression of that purpose, then life flows much more easily."

- Jack Canfield

"The best way to lengthen out our days is to walk steadily and with a purpose."

- Charles Dickens

"If you have a strong purpose in life, you don't have to be pushed. Your passion will drive you there."

- Roy T. Bennett

"If you can’t figure out your purpose, figure out your passion. For your passion will lead you right into your purpose."

- Bishop T.D. Jakes

"You don’t decide what your purpose is in life, you discover it. Your purpose is your reason for living."

- Bob Proctor

"Pay attention to the things you are naturally drawn to. They are often connected to your path, passion, and purpose in life. Have the courage to follow them."

- Ruben Chavez

"At a very early age, I developed a belief that we’re all here to contribute something unique, that deep within each of us lies a special gift."

- Tony Robbins

"Your purpose becomes your inner motivator, turning on the ignition switch in your brain to transcend the noise in your life and focus on what matters most."

- Victor Strecher

"Discovering your purpose is the most significant thing you will do in your life, and you, your loved ones, and the world will be better off because you went on this journey."

- Mastin Kipp

"Everyone has a purpose in life and a unique talent to give to others. And when we blend this unique talent with service to others, we experience the ecstasy and exultation of own spirit, which is the ultimate goal of all goals."

- Kallam Anji Reddy

"The purpose of education is to make good human beings with skill and expertise... Enlightened human beings can be created by teachers."

- APJ Abdul Kalam

"Being busy does not always mean real work. The object of all work is production or accomplishment and to either of these ends there must be forethought, system, planning, intelligence, and honest purpose, as well as perspiration. Seeming to do is not doing."

- Thomas A. Edison

"I got a greater purpose. God put something in my heart to get across, and that's what I'm going to focus on, using my voice as an instrument and doing what needs to be done."

- Kendrick Lamar

"When you dance, your purpose is not to get to a certain place on the floor. It's to enjoy each step along the way."

- Wayne Dyer

"A mentor is someone with a willingness to help others, who has a capacity to inspire, a determination to work hard, a clear sense of vision, an inspiring purpose, a deep sense of integrity and an appreciation for joy."

- Kerry Kennedy

"There is one quality which one must possess to win, and that is definiteness of purpose, the knowledge of what one wants, and a burning desire to possess it."

- Napoleon Hill

"My purpose: to lift your spirit and to motivate you."

- Mavis Staples

"falls your lot to be a street sweeper, go out and sweep streets like Michelangelo painted pictures. Sweep streets like Handel and Beethoven composed music. Sweep streets like Shakespeare wrote poetry. Sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will have to pause and say, here lived a great street sweeper who swept his job well."

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"Only a life lived for others is a life worthwhile."

- Albert Einstein

"If you have a strong purpose in life, you don’t have to be pushed. Your passion will drive you there."

- Roy T. Bennett

"Work gives you meaning and purpose and life is empty without it."

- Stephen Hawking

"The whole purpose of education is to turn mirrors into windows."

- Sydney J. Harris

"True happiness... is not attained through self-gratification, but through fidelity to a worthy purpose."

- Helen Keller

"Efforts and courage are not enough without purpose and direction."

- John F. Kennedy

"I truly believe that everything that we do and everyone that we meet is put in our path for a purpose. There are no accidents; we're all teachers - if we're willing to pay attention to the lessons we learn, trust our positive instincts and not be afraid to take risks or wait for some miracle to come knocking at our door."

- Marla Gibbs

"The purpose of life is a life of purpose."

- Robert Byrne

"As far as we can discern, the sole purpose of human existence is to kindle a light in the darkness of mere being."

- Carl Jung

"Find a purpose to serve, not a lifestyle to live."

- Criss Jami

"The purpose of leadership is not to make the present bearable. The purpose of leadership is to make the future possible."

- Joan D. Chittiser

"There is no failure except failure to serve one’s purpose."

- Henry Ford

"The probability that we may fail in the struggle ought not to deter us from the support of a cause we believe to be just."

- Abraham Lincoln

"The indispensable first step to getting the things you want out of life is this: Decide what you want."

- Ben Stein

"I don’t know what your destiny will be, but one thing I know: the only ones among you who will be really happy are those who will have sought and found how to serve."

- Albert Schweitzer

"What power there is in our service when our actions line up with our mission, skills and joy."

- Mary Anne Radmacher

"Good luck is another name for tenacity of purpose."

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

"It's not enough to have lived. We should be determined to live for something."

- Winston S. Churchill

"If you can't figure out your purpose, figure out your passion. For your passion will lead you right into your purpose."

- Bishop T.D. Jakes

"The secret of success is constancy to purpose"

- Benjamin Disraeli

"Believe in your heart that you're meant to live a life full of passion, purpose, magic, and miracles."

- Roy T. Bennett

"Never underestimate your own strength. You were born for a purpose and blessed with the power to achieve it."

- Leon Brown

"God puts people in our lives on purpose so we can help them succeed and help them become all He created them to be. Most people will not reach their full potential without somebody else believing in them."

- Joel Osteen

"Purpose is what inspires you to get up in the morning."

- Betsy Smith

"A leader’s role is to raise people’s aspirations for what they can become and to release their energies so they will try to get there."

- David Gergen

"If you want to identify me, ask me not where I live, or what I like to eat, or how I comb my hair, but ask me what I am living for, in detail, ask me what I think is keeping me from living fully for the thing I want to live for."

- Thomas Merton

"Carve your name on hearts, not tombstones. A legacy is etched into the minds of others and the stories they share about you."

- Shannon L. Alder

"If we want greater clarity in our purpose or deeper and more meaningful spiritual lives, vulnerability is the path."

- Brené Brown

"What am I living for and what am I dying for are the same question."

- Margaret Atwood

"The greatest thing in this world is not so much where we stand as in what direction we are moving."

- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

"Great minds have purpose, others have wishes. Little minds are tamed and subdued by misfortunes; but great minds rise above them."

- Washington Irving

"You should not confuse your career with your life."

- Dave Barry

"Anybody can become angry - that is easy, but to be angry with the right person and to the right degree and at the right time and for the right purpose, and in the right way - that is not within everybody's power and is not easy."

- Aristotle

"Make your work to be in keeping with your purpose"

- Leonardo da Vinci

"It does not matter how long you are spending on the earth, how much money you have gathered or how much attention you have received. It is the amount of positive vibration you have radiated in life that matters."

- Amit Ray

"God’s definition of what matters is pretty straightforward. He measures our lives by how we love."

- Francis Chan

"The purpose of training is to tighten up the slack, toughen the body, and polish the spirit."

- Morihei Ueshiba

"Here is a test to find out whether your mission in life is complete. If you’re alive, it isn’t."

- Lauren Bacall

"I'm reflective only in the sense that I learn to move forward. I reflect with a purpose."

- Kobe Bryant

"The purpose of all wars, is peace."

- Saint Augustine

"The purpose of life is to be defeated by greater and greater things."

- Rainer Maria Rilke

"The purpose of art is washing the dust of daily life off our souls."

- Pablo Picasso

"To forget one's purpose is the commonest form of stupidity."

- Friedrich Nietzsche

"There is a divine purpose behind everything - and therefore a divine presence in everything."

- Neale Donald Walsch

"There's a lot of things we go through and we don't even know why... At the end of the day, God has a purpose and a plan for you, and that's kind of how I take that."

- Morgan Wallen

"You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream."

- C.S. Lewis

"The whole art of teaching is only the art of awakening the natural curiosity of young minds for the purpose of satisfying it afterwards."

- Anatole France

"Getting an audience is hard. Sustaining an audience is hard. It demands a consistency of thought, of purpose, and of action over a long period of time."

- Bruce Springsteen

"We create our own unhappiness. The purpose of suffering is to help us understand we are the ones who cause it."

- Willie Nelson

"Research is formalized curiosity. It is poking and prying with a purpose."

- Zora Neale Hurston

"Education's purpose is to replace an empty mind with an open one."

- Malcolm Forbes

"Music is sunshine. Like sunshine, music is a powerful force that can instantly and almost chemically change your entire mood. Music gives us new energy and a stronger sense of purpose."

- Michael Franti

"More men fail through lack of purpose than lack of talent."

- Billy Sunday

"Each of us is born for a purpose, and we want our lives to matter. I don’t think it’s unique to only some of us; it’s a longing of every human being."

- Garrett Graveson

"I believe we’re all put on this planet for a purpose, and we all have a different purpose."

- Ellen DeGeneres

"Passion provides purpose, but data drives decisions."

- Andy Dunn

"If by chance some day you're not feeling well and you should remember some silly thing I've said or done and it brings back a smile to your face or a chuckle to your heart, then my purpose as your clown has been fulfilled."

- Red Skelton

"I do not have much patience with a thing of beauty that must be explained to be understood. If it does need additional interpretation by someone other than the creator, then I question whether it has fulfilled its purpose."

- Charlie Chaplin

"Purpose-driven organizations bound by values are stronger than profit-driven organizations bound by rules."

- Alexander Den Heijer

"The propagandist's purpose is to make one set of people forget that certain other sets of people are human."

- Aldous Huxley

"The devil can cite Scripture for his purpose."

- William Shakespeare

"I went to a bookstore and asked the saleswoman, 'Where's the self-help section?' She said if she told me, it would defeat the purpose."

- George Carlin

"If you path is difficult, it is because your purpose is bigger than you thought."

- Anonymous

"Appreciate where you are in your journey, even if it's not where you want to be. Every season serves a purpose."

"Happy are those whose purpose has found them."