We are so often hit with negativity—negative news, negative perspectives—from pessimistic people that it might seem next to impossible to continue on with a positive spirit. Instead of getting stuck in the negativity, turn to those habitually optimistic people who have figured out how to see the brighter side of life and remain positive no matter what… so you can learn to do the same.
Here are 65 quotes about positivity from well-known people who have faced failure and success, who despite certain odds and challenges stayed positive. Use their words to get you going on your own positive vibes.
Positive vibes quotes
- “All it takes is just a little change of perspective and you begin to see a whole new world.” —Bob Ross
- “Keep your face to the sunshine and you cannot see a shadow.” —Helen Keller
- “I always like to look on the optimistic side of life, but I am realistic enough to know that life is a complex matter.” —Walt Disney
- “Let us rise up and be thankful, for if we didn’t learn a lot today, at least we learned a little. And if we didn’t learn even a little, at least we didn’t get sick. And if we did get sick, at least we didn’t die. So let us all be thankful.” —Leo Buscaglia
- “Be healthy and take care of yourself, but be happy with the beautiful things that make you, you.” —Beyoncé
- “When the sun is shining I can do anything; no mountain is too high, no trouble too difficult to overcome.” —Wilma Rudolph
- “You’re off to great places! Today is your day! Your mountain is waiting. So… get on your way!” —Dr. Seuss
- “I don’t have to chase extraordinary moments to find happiness—it’s right in front of me if I’m paying attention and practicing gratitude.” —Brené Brown
- “I never lose sight of the fact that just being is fun.” —Katherine Hepburn
- “Try to be a rainbow in someone’s cloud.” —Maya Angelou
- “Optimism is a happiness magnet. If you stay positive, good things and good people will be drawn to you.” —Mary Lou Retton
- “Say something positive, and you’ll see something positive.” —Jim Thompson
Stay positive quotes
- “Choose to be optimistic, it feels better.” —Dalai Lama
- “Positive thinking will let you do everything better than negative thinking will.” —Zig Ziglar
- “Once you replace negative thoughts with positive ones, you’ll start having positive results.” —Willie Nelson
- “Perpetual optimism is a force multiplier.” —Colin Powell
- “Attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference.” —Winston Churchill
- “Don’t worry, be happy.” —Bobby McFerrin
- “Start each day with a positive thought and a grateful heart.” —Roy Bennett
- “If you can change your mind, you can change your life.” —William James
- “The positive thinker sees the invisible, feels the intangible, and achieves the impossible.” —Winston Churchill
- “Positive thinking is more than just a tagline. It changes the way we behave. And I firmly believe that when I am positive, it not only makes me better, but it also makes those around me better.” —Harvey Mackay
- “When you are enthusiastic about what you do, you feel this positive energy. It’s very simple.” —Paulo Coelho
- “Pessimism leads to weakness, optimism to power.” —William James
- “What we’ve got to do is keep hope alive. Because without it we’ll sink.” —John Lennon
- “Positive anything is better than negative nothing.” —Elbert Hubbard
- “Every day may not be good, but there is something good in every day.” —Alice Morse Earle
Positive motivational quotes
- “The only limit to your impact is your imagination and commitment.” —Tony Robbins
- “Yesterday is not ours to recover, but tomorrow is ours to win or lose.” —Lyndon B. Johnson
- “In order to carry a positive action we must develop here a positive vision.” —Dalai Lama
- “The thing that lies at the foundation of positive change, the way I see it, is service to a fellow human being.” —Lee Iacocca
- “In every day, there are 1,440 minutes. That means we have 1,440 daily opportunities to make a positive impact.” —Les Brown
- “I dwell in possibility.” —Emily Dickinson
- “Virtue consists not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.” —Oliver Goldsmith
- “The only way to achieve the impossible is to believe it is possible.” —Charles Kingsleigh (in Alice in Wonderland)
- “To live a fulfilled life, we need to keep creating the ‘what is next’ of our lives. Without dreams and goals there is no living, only merely existing, and that is not why we are here.” —Mark Twain
- “Whoever is happy will make others happy too.” —Anne Frank
- “Correction does much, but encouragement does more.” —Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
- “Surely, in the light of history, it is more intelligent to hope rather than to fear, to try rather than not to try. For one thing we know beyond all doubt: Nothing has ever been achieved by the person who says, ‘It can’t be done.’” —Eleanor Roosevelt
- “Self-approval and self-acceptance in the now are the keys to positive changes.” —Louise Hay
- “Believe in yourself and all that you are. Know that there is something inside you that is greater than any obstacle.” —Christian D. Larson
Positive life quotes
- “It is during our darkest moments that we must focus to see the light.” —Aristotle Onassis
- “Love the life you live. Live the life you love.” —Bob Marley
- “The most important thing is to enjoy your life—to be happy—it’s all that matters.” —Audrey Hepburn
- “The real self is not something one finds as much as it is something one makes.” —Sydney J. Harris
- “When I wake up, I expect things to be good. If they’re not, then I try to set about trying to make them as good as I can ’cause I know I’m gonna have to live that day anyway. So why not try to make the most of it if you can?” —Dolly Parton
- “You will have bad times, but they will always wake you up to the stuff you weren’t paying attention to.” —Robin Williams
- “The longer I live the more beautiful life becomes.” —Frank Lloyd Wright
- “The most wasted of all days is one without laughter.” —E.E. Cummings
- “You do not find the happy life. You make it.” —Camilla Eyring Kimball
- “Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony.” —Mahatma Gandhi
- “You can’t make positive choices for the rest of your life without an environment that makes those choices easy, natural, and enjoyable.” —Deepak Chopra
- “I’m a very positive thinker, and I think that is what helps me the most in difficult moments.” —Roger Federer
- “A positive attitude gives you power over your circumstances instead of your circumstances having power over you.” —Joyce Meyer
Positive inspirational quotes
- “Nothing can dim the light which shines from within.” —Maya Angelou
- “Extraordinary things are always hiding in places people never think to look.” —Jodi Picoult, My Sister’s Keeper
- “Somewhere inside all of us is the power to change the world.” —Roald Dahl, Matilda
- “The only limit to our realization of tomorrow will be our doubts of today.” —Franklin D. Roosevelt
- “When you think positive, good things happen.” —Matt Kemp
- “You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream.” —Les Brown
- “Believe you can and you’re halfway there.” —Theodore Roosevelt
- “The only disability in life is a bad attitude.” —Scott Hamilton
- “The way to happiness: Keep your heart free from hate, your mind from worry. Live simply, expect little, give much. Scatter sunshine, forget self, think of others.” —Norman Vincent Peale
- “The more you praise and celebrate your life, the more there is in life to celebrate.” —Oprah Winfrey
- “A positive attitude causes a chain reaction of positive thoughts, events, and outcomes. It is a catalyst, and it sparks extraordinary results.” —Wade Boggs
This article was updated May 2024. Photo by Ground Picture/Shutterstock.com
