Positive quotes for work: 85 real quotes, sorted by moment
Upbeat quotes for the team channel, each with a copy button. Every one checked against its source.
Most lists of positive quotes for work are full of lines nobody can trace to the name under them. These 85 were checked one by one against a sourced Wikiquote entry that names the book, letter or speech they came from. They're sorted by the moment you need one: a Monday post, a team win, a tough week or the start of a meeting, then quotes about liking the work and the people you do it with. After that come ways to use them, six meeting openers and 30 positive sayings we wrote ourselves. None of them repeat our motivational quotes for work, so use both.
Short positive quotes for work
Twelve words or fewer, so they fit a channel topic, a slide title or a sticky note on the monitor.
Positive quotes for work, sorted by moment
Four moments when a team channel could use a good line, with quotes picked to fit each one.
For a Monday post
Optimism with its feet on the ground, for the first message of the week.
For a team win
For the launch that shipped, the deal that closed and the people who got it there.
For a tough week
Uplifting quotes for work that don't pretend the week was easy.
To open a meeting
Light ones, mostly about laughter, to read before the agenda starts.
Happy workplace quotes: the work and the people
A happy workplace comes from two things: work worth doing and people worth doing it with. Quotes for each.
Happiness at work quotes
On liking the work itself: curiosity, effort and the good kind of tired.
On kindness to coworkers
Happy workplaces are mostly made of small favors. For a thank-you note or a new manager's first week.
How to use positive quotes at work
Add one sentence of your own and a quote becomes a note from you. Here are four spots where that works, each with an example.
- In the Monday channel post. One quote, then one line about the week ahead. Skip the image of a sunrise. The line after the quote is what people read.“Hale's motto for the week: look up and not down, look forward and not back. Forward this week means the pricing page ships Thursday. Shout if you're blocked.”
- As a meeting opener. Read the quote, ask one question, take one answer from anyone who wants to give one. Two minutes, then the agenda. The six openers below are ready to use.“Feynman wrote that the highest forms of understanding are laughter and compassion. Quick one before we start: what made you laugh at work this week?”
- In a thank-you note. Put the quote first and the specific thing the person did right after it. The quote sets the tone; the detail is the thanks.“Emerson wrote that the only way to have a friend is to be one. You were one on Tuesday, when you took my 7am call so I could get my kid to school. Thank you.”
- In a tough-week check-in. Name the hard thing plainly, then share the quote. A positive quote after an honest sentence reads as support. On its own, it can read as spin.“This week was a lot, and the outage wasn't anyone's fault. Chaplin said life is a comedy in long-shot. Let's look at it from long-shot on Monday. Log off on time today.”
Six quote-and-question meeting openers
Each pairs a quote from this page with a question we wrote. Read the quote, ask the question, take one answer from anyone who wants to give one. Want a new quote every morning instead? Our quote of the day for work picks one.
Albert Einstein: “I have no special talents. I am only passionately curious.”
What's something you got curious about this month, at work or outside it?
Spider Robinson: “Shared pain is lessened; shared joy is increased”
What's one win from this week that deserves more people knowing about it?
Jane Austen: “How often is happiness destroyed by preparation, foolish preparation!”
What's something we over-prepare for that we could just try?
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe: “One ought, every day at least, to hear a little song, read a good poem, see a fine picture”
What's the best thing you read, heard or saw this week?
Thomas Carlyle: “Blessed is he who has found his work”
When did you last lose track of time on a task, and what was it?
Václav Havel: “Anyone who takes himself too seriously always runs the risk of looking ridiculous”
What's a work mistake you can laugh about now?
30 positive sayings for work we wrote
Some teams want words without a famous name attached. We wrote these, so they carry no attribution: use one on a sign, a slide or a sticky note.
Want lines in the first person, to say to yourself? Those are affirmations, and we have 150 in our positive affirmations for work.
Popular positive quotes with shaky attributions
These show up on most lists of positive quotes. We left them off because the name under them doesn't hold up.
“A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.” (usually credited to Winston Churchill)
Richard Langworth's Churchill by Himself (2008), the standard collection of his quotes, lists it among the false attributions, with no known source.
“Folks are usually about as happy as they make their minds up to be.” (usually credited to Abraham Lincoln)
It isn't in Lincoln's searchable writings. It first appeared, credited to him with no source, in 1914, nearly 50 years after his death.
“Believe you can and you're halfway there.” (usually credited to Theodore Roosevelt)
The Theodore Roosevelt Center says it has not found the line in his letters, speeches or other writings.
“Attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference.” (usually credited to Winston Churchill)
Quote Investigator found no evidence he said it, and it isn't in Langworth's Churchill by Himself. The earliest match is Zig Ziglar's See You at the Top (1977).
“Keep your face always toward the sunshine, and shadows will fall behind you.” (usually credited to Walt Whitman or Helen Keller)
It hasn't been found in either writer's published work. A Dictionary of American Proverbs (1992) lists versions of it as a common proverb.
“It always seems impossible until it's done.” (usually credited to Nelson Mandela)
Quote Investigator hasn't found it in any book or speech by Mandela, and the Nelson Mandela Foundation told Africa Check it has no record of him saying it. Barack Obama quoted it about him in his 2013 eulogy.
Give the team more than a quote
A good quote lifts a channel for a minute. A live host can give the team a whole hour. In Manifest a Positive Mindset, a host leads an hour on reframing hard moments, with discussion and practical exercises. Gratitude Games & Grins is a game night built around thanks, with small teams that reshuffle every game. Both run on Zoom by default (Teams, Google Meet or Webex on request). Teams split across time zones can book two sessions. Book about 2 weeks ahead, and earlier for December, when dates fill first.
For a calmer hour, our virtual wellness classes bring a yoga or meditation instructor to your call, and our mental health workshops cover stress and burnout. Want music instead of words? Try our teamwork songs.
Two hosted hours for a positive team, with today's prices. Get a free quote with your date and headcount.
