26 inspirational career development quotes that are worth keeping

Sometimes a single insight changes everything. These career development quotes illuminate the path forward when professional growth seems impossible.

1. “Begin somewhere. You cannot build a reputation on what you intend to do.”—Liz Smith
2. “Opportunities don’t happen, you create them.”—Chris Grosser
3. “If it scares you, it might be a good thing to try.”—Seth Godin
4. “Don’t limit yourself. Many people limit themselves to what they think they can do. You can go as far as your mind lets you. What you believe you can achieve.”—Mary Kay Ash
5. “Getting fired is nature’s way of telling you that you had the wrong job in the first place.”—Hal Lancaster
6. “In a chronically leaking boat, energy devoted to changing vessels is more productive than energy devoted to patching leaks.”—Warren Buffett
7. “Without leaps of imagination or dreaming, we lose the excitement of possibilities. Dreaming, after all, is a form of planning.”—Gloria Steinem
8. “Man cannot discover new oceans unless he has the courage to lose sight of the shore.”—Andre Gide
9. “It is never too late to be what you might have been.”—George Eliot
10. “A man can succeed at almost anything for which he has unlimited enthusiasm.”—Charles Schwab
11. “You don’t learn to walk by following rules. You learn by doing and falling over.”—Sir Richard Branson
12. “The man who removes a mountain begins by carrying away small stones.”—Chinese Proverb
13. “So many of our dreams at first seem impossible, then they seem improbable, and then, when we summon the will, they soon become inevitable.”—Christopher Reeve
14. “No one can discover you until you do. Exploit your talents, skills, and strengths and make the world sit up and take notice.”—Rob Liano
15. “I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.”—Nelson Mandela
16. “The important thing is not being afraid to take a chance. Remember, the greatest failure is to not try. Once you find something you love to do, be the best at doing it.”—Debbi Fields
17. “Start by doing what is necessary, then what is possible, and suddenly you are doing the impossible.”—Francis of Assisi
18. “There is only one way to avoid criticism: Do nothing, say nothing, and be nothing.”—Elbert Hubbard
19. “Good timber does not grow with ease; the stronger the wind, the stronger the trees.”— J. Willard Marriott
20. Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.”— Winston Churchill
21. “There is one quality that 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
22. “The meeting of preparation with opportunity generates the offspring we call luck.”— Anthony Robbins
23. “You can’t just sit there and wait for people to give you that golden dream. You’ve got to get out there and make it happen for yourself.”— Diana Ross
24. “The last of the human freedoms: to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.”— Viktor Frankl
25. “The past exists only in our memories, the future only in our plans. The present is our only reality.”— Robert Pirsig
26. “Make an effort to understand who you are and then have the courage to just be yourself.”— Claudia Sesterheim