As a small business owner, have you ever said “I want to quit my job” even though it’s your own company? Every small business owner feels that way from time to time. We need some inspiration to refill our motivation tanks.

I’m a big fan of inspirational quotations. Quotations remind me of truths I know but may have forgotten and pick me up when I’m feeling a bit overwhelmed.

If you’re struggling in your small business, perhaps one or two of the following quotes will inspire you too:

“One thing is certain in business. You and everyone around you will make mistakes.” – Richard Branson

“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 and over again in my life and that is why I succeed.” – Michael Jordan

“At the point in life where your talents meet the needs of the world is where God wants you to be.” – Albert Schweitzer

“Never allow a person to tell you no who doesn’t have the power to say yes.” – Eleanor Roosevelt

“You may encounter many defeats but you must not be defeated.” – Maya Angelou

“New beginnings are often disguised as painful exits.” – Lao Tzu

“Every exit is an entry somewhere else.” – Tom Stoppard

“How you climb a mountain is more important than reaching the top.” – Yvon Chouinard

“The road to success is always under construction.” – Lily Tomlin

“Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do.” – John Wooden

“It’s how many things you do right, not how many things you do wrong, that counts.” – Sandra Kurtzig

“In walking, just walk. In sitting, just sit. Above all, don’t wobble.” – Yun-Men

“I don’t focus on what I’m up against. I focus on my goals and I try to ignore the rest.” – Venus Williams

“Life is not always a matter of holding good cards, but sometimes playing a poor hand well.” – Jack London

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did.” – Mark Twain

“If you can’t fly then run, if you can’t run then walk, if you can’t walk then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward.” – Martin Luther King Jr.

“If you don’t paddle your own canoe, you don’t move.” – Katharine Hepburn

“Out of clutter, find simplicity. From discord, find harmony. In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity.” – Albert Einstein’s three rules of work

“A really important part of competition is coming back, trying to do it better the second time than you did the first.” – Brian Boitano

“You may be disappointed if you fail, but you are doomed if you don’t try.” – Beverly Sills

“The way I see it, if you want the rainbow, you gotta put up with the rain.” – Dolly Parton

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

“You don’t learn to walk by following rules. You learn by doing and falling over.” – Richard Branson

“Getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life.” – Steve Jobs

“If you’re in a hole, you ought to stop digging.” – Anonymous

“I know God will not give me anything I can’t handle. I just wish that He didn’t trust me so much.” – Mother Teresa

“To fly, we have to have resistance.” – Maya Lin

“It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you’ll do things differently.” – Warren Buffett

“Confidence is 99% of what you do…Instead of getting up to the plate and saying, ‘I wonder if I’m going to hit the ball,’ you’d go, ‘I wonder where I want to hit the ball, and suddenly I was a hitter.’” – George Clooney, on what he learned from sports.

“Do or do not. There is no try.” – Yoda

“Living well is the best revenge.” – George Herbert

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Copyright, Rhonda Abrams, 2018

This article originally ran in USA Today on June 6, 2018