Mottos can give individuals strength in the hardest of times. A motto usually represents a core value that ranges from reliability and determination, through to a sense of self-confidence and a way of life.
Often, they can seem as simple advice, but inmost cases, the perfect life motto means much more than a simple sentence can represent.
A motto should be a straightforward and incredibly important reminder of a stark truth that faces many of us on a day to day basis. Let’s take a look at some of the best life mottos to live by.
How to find a good motto to live by
There are some things that are considered as core values for all of us, and these typically make for a good motto. A motto reaches the heart of a person directly – it should encourage positive feeling, whilst also being realistic too.
If you want to find your own personal life motto or mantra to live by, you should also be considering how it applies to your life. Your personal motto has to speak to your authentic self and personal beliefs, because otherwise, you’ll be following the wrong path.
70+ of the best personal life mottos
Good Life Mottos
- “Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.” – Mahatma Gandhi
- “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
- “Life is what happens when you’re busy making other plans.” – John Lennon
- “In three words I can sum up everything I’ve learned about life: it goes on.” – Robert Frost
- “The good life is one inspired by love and guided by knowledge.” – Bertrand Russell
- “Don’t count the days, make the days count.” – Muhammad Ali
- “Happiness is not something ready made. It comes from your own actions.” – Dalai Lama
- “It’s not the years in your life that count. It’s the life in your years.” – Abraham Lincoln
- “Be the change that you wish to see in the world.” – Mahatma Gandhi
- “Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
Mottos For Love and Compassion
- “Love is not just looking at each other, it’s looking in the same direction.” – Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
- “Love and compassion are necessities, not luxuries. Without them, humanity cannot survive.” – Dalai Lama
- “The greatest thing you’ll ever learn is just to love, and be loved in return.” – Moulin Rouge
- “The love we give away is the only love we keep.” – Elbert Hubbard
- “Where there is great love, there are always miracles.” – Willa Cather
- “Love is not about possession, it’s all about appreciation.” – Chinese Proverb
- “Compassion is an action word with no boundaries.” – Prince
- “Do all things with love.” – Og Mandino
- “Compassion is the radicalism of our time.” – Dalai Lama
- “True love stories never have endings.” – Richard Bach
Life mottos to spread kindness
- “No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted.” – Aesop
- “Carry out a random act of kindness, with no expectation of reward, safe in the knowledge that one day someone might do the same for you.” – Princess Diana
- “Kindness is a language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see.” – Mark Twain
- “Always be a little kinder than necessary.” – J.M. Barrie
- “In a world where you can be anything, be kind.” – Jennifer Dukes Lee
- “Three things in human life are important: the first is to be kind; the second is to be kind; and the third is to be kind.” – Henry James
- “Do your little bit of good where you are; it’s those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world.” – Desmond Tutu
- “The smallest act of kindness is worth more than the grandest intention.” – Oscar Wilde
- “Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless.” – Mother Teresa
- “Spread love everywhere you go. Let no one ever come to you without leaving happier.” – Mother Teresa
Life mottos about love
- “To love is nothing. To be loved is something. But to love and be loved, that’s everything.” – T. Tolis
- “We love because it’s the only true adventure.” – Nikki Giovanni
- “Love doesn’t make the world go ’round; love is what makes the ride worthwhile.” – Franklin P. Jones
- “The best love is the kind that awakens the soul and makes us reach for more.” – Nicholas Sparks
- “Love is not about how many days, months, or years you have been together. Love is about how much you love each other every single day.” – Unknown
- “Love is never lost. If not reciprocated, it will flow back and soften and purify the heart.” – Washington Irving
- “The best and most beautiful things in this world cannot be seen or even heard, but must be felt with the heart.” – Helen Keller
- “Where there is love, there is life.” – Mahatma Gandhi
- “Love is the flower; you’ve got to let it grow.” – John Lennon
- “If I know what love is, it is because of you.” – Hermann Hesse
Life mottos for living in the present
- “Realize deeply that the present moment is all you ever have. Make the Now the primary focus of your life.” – Eckhart Tolle
- “Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, today is a gift of God, which is why we call it the present.” – Bill Keane
- “The future starts today, not tomorrow.” – Pope John Paul II
- “Don’t let yesterday use up too much of today.” – Will Rogers
- “You cannot find peace by avoiding life.” – Virginia Woolf
- “Life is available only in the present. That is why we should walk in such a way that every step can bring us to the here and the now.” – Thich Nhat Hanh
- “It’s not what if, it’s what now.” – Unknown
- “Be present in all things and thankful for all things.” – Maya Angelou
- “The art of life is to live in the present moment.” – Emmet Fox
- “One today is worth two tomorrows.” – Benjamin Franklin
Mottos To Live By that encourage growth
- “The only way that we can live, is if we grow. The only way that we can grow is if we change.” – C. JoyBell C.
- “Personal development is a major time-saver. The better you become, the less time it takes you to achieve your goals.” – Brian Tracy
- “All growth depends upon activity. There is no development physically or intellectually without effort, and effort means work.” – Calvin Coolidge
- “Growth is never by mere chance; it is the result of forces working together.” – James Cash Penney
- “The greatest discovery of all time is that a person can change his future by merely changing his attitude.” – Oprah Winfrey
- “If we don’t change, we don’t grow. If we don’t grow, we aren’t really living.” – Gail Sheehy
- “You’ll never be able to grow if you’re afraid to lose people during the process. Sometimes past relationships don’t belong in new seasons.” – Unknown
- “Your life does not get better by chance, it gets better by change.” – Jim Rohn
- “He who rejects change is the architect of decay.” – Harold Wilson
- “In any given moment we have two options: to step forward into growth or step back into safety.” – Abraham Maslow
Mottos on happiness
- “Happiness is not by chance, but by choice.” – Jim Rohn
- “Happiness is a direction, not a place.” – Sydney J. Harris
- “The happiest people don’t have the best of everything, they just make the best of everything.” – Unknown
- “Happiness is the secret to all beauty. There is no beauty without happiness.” – Christian Dior
- “Happiness is not the absence of problems, it’s the ability to deal with them.” – Steve Maraboli
- “The art of being happy lies in the power of extracting happiness from common things.” – Henry Ward Beecher
- “Most folks are as happy as they make up their minds to be.” – Abraham Lincoln
- “There is only one happiness in this life, to love and be loved.” – George Sand
- “Happiness often sneaks in through a door you didn’t know you left open.” – John Barrymore
- “Happiness is not something you postpone for the future; it is something you design for the present.” – Jim Rohn
Which of these life mottos resonates with you?
There are plenty of different mottos to live by, and the one that sticks with you will be personal to your own circumstance.
If you’re at the start of your career, then a good life motto is one that can help you make it to the next level financially. However, if you’re at the end of your career, mottos regarding appreciation of what you have may be more relevant.
Either way, all you need to do is find the motto in life that works for you. Then, you can use it to build your dream life.
