Feeling Like Things Aren’t Going Your Way?

31 Quotes to make your day a little bit brighter

Did you ever have one of those days? When it seems like nothing is going right? Maybe you lost the client or got chewed out by the boss or just feel overwhelmed.

One of the ways I bounce back, or try to, is by reading the words people smarter than me. Some of whom have overcome immense obstacles. Far greater than anything I’ve faced in my life.

Here are 31 of my favorite quotes—a whole month of inspiration. I hope at least one of these quotes will be just what you need to read today.

Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm. — Winston Churchill

Lots of people want to ride with you in the limo, but what you want is someone who will take the bus with you when the limo breaks down. — Oprah Winfrey

I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work. — Thomas Edison

It is not enough to be busy. . . The question is: what are we busy about? — Henry David Thoreau

Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you too, can become great. — Mark Twain

It’s never too late—in fiction or in life—to revise. — Nancy Thayer

Only a man who knows what it is like to be defeated can reach down to the bottom of his soul and come up with the extra ounce of power it takes to win when the match is even. — Muhammad Ali

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

Life’s a bitch. You’ve got to go out and kick ass. — Maya Angelou

The secret of successful managing is to keep the five guys who hate you away from the four guys who haven’t made up their minds. — Charles “Casey” Stengel

I’ve never been poor, only broke. Being poor is a frame of mind. Being broke is only a temporary situation. — Mike Todd

I’ve missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games; 26 times, I’ve been trusted to take the game-winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed. — Michael Jordan

Never confuse a single defeat with a final defeat. — F. Scott Fitzgerald

Never think that you’re not good enough yourself. A man should never think that. People will take you very much at your own reckoning. — Anthony Trollope

You miss 100 percent of the shots you never take. — Wayne Gretzky

I have noticed that even pole who claim everything is predestined, and that we can do nothing to change it, look before they cross the road. — Stephen Hawking

There are two things to aim at in life: first, to get what you want, and, after that, to enjoy it. Only the wisest of mankind achieve the second. — Logan Pearsall Smith

When you have got an elephant by the hind legs and he is trying to run away, it’s bet to let him run. — Abraham Lincoln

Nothing is a waste of time if you use the experience wisely. — Auguste Rodin

It does not matter how slowly you go so long as you do not stop.— Confucius

Always have a vivid imagination, for you never know when you might need it. — J.K. Rowling

Whether you think you can or whether you think you can’t, you’re right. — Henry Ford

If you don’t get everything you want, think of the things you don’t get that you don’t want. — Oscar Wilde

The world breaks everyone and afterward may are stronger at the broken places. — Ernest Hemingway

When in doubt, do something — Harry Chapin

You should examine yourself daily. If you find faults, you should correct them. When you find none, you should try even harder. — Xi Zhi

I am a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work the more I have of it. — Thomas Jefferson

If you see ten troubles coming down the road, you can be sure that nine will run into the ditch before they reach you. — Calvin Coolidge

Nothing is impossible, the word itself says I’m possible. — Audrey Hepburn

The greater danger for most of us lied not in setting our aim too high and falling short, but in setting our aim too low, and achieving our mark. — Michelangelo

Throw me to the wolves and I will return leading the pack. — Unknown

Bonus: the 2 quotes that hang over the desk in my office.

You must be the change you wish to see in the world. — Mahatma Gandhi

Don’t try to win over the haters; you’re not the jackass whisperer.  — Scott Stratten