Does it feel like an uphill battle when you’re chasing your dreams?
You know you’re working hard, but somehow you don’t see the results of your efforts.
Although you may feel tempted to do so, don’t give up just yet.
We’re here to assure you all your effort isn’t for nothing.
When you want to achieve something—a self-improvement goal, for example—success usually doesn’t happen overnight.
The key is to constantly work towards it. It may not seem obvious at first, but eventually your efforts will pay off.
This is what progress is all about.
Today, we’re sharing with you a collection of progress quotes to remind you that consistently working towards your goal will eventually yield the desired outcome.
Why Read Progress Quotes?
Sometimes we get discouraged when the results we’re expecting fail to materialize quickly. Reading this collection of quotes about progress is a great reminder that, although it isn’t obvious at first, success is right around the corner.
These quotes define what progress is, and also indicate what progress is not.
By reading these wise words from influential people throughout history, you’ll discover that true progress is born out of mistakes, failures, and the desire to improve.
Ready to succeed? Read on to learn more.
71 Progress Quotes
- “Even a small progression can be the start of something great.” – Angela Ruth
- “Progress means getting nearer to the place you want to be. And if you have taken a wrong turn, then to go forward does not get you any nearer. If you are on the wrong road, progress means doing an about-turn and walking back to the right road; and in that case the man who turns back soonest is the most progressive man.” – C. S. Lewis
- “Progress is not in enhancing what is, but in advancing toward what will be.” – Khalil Gibran
Progress is not in enhancing what is, but in advancing toward what will be.” – Khalil Gibran
- “Without deviation from the norm, progress is not possible.” – Frank Zappa
- “Progress in the spiritual life comes from climbing a ladder of which the rungs are made alternately of belief and doubt.” – Edward Patey
- “You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.” – R. Buckminster Fuller
- “If there is no struggle, there is no progress.” – Frederick Douglass
- “Knowledge is power. Information is liberating. Education is the premise of progress, in every society, in every family.” – Kofi Annan
- “Slow, steady progress is better than daily excuses.” – Robin Sharma
- “I am a slow walker, but I never walk back.” – Abraham Lincoln
- “The greater part of progress is the desire to progress.” – Seneca the Younger
- “Progress always involves risks. You can't steal second base and keep your foot on first.” – Frederick B. Wilcox
- “Progress and growth are impossible if you always do things the way you’ve always done things.” – Wayne Dyer
- “Progress grows out of motion.” – Richard E. Byrd
- “Human progress is neither automatic nor inevitable. Every step toward the goals requires sacrifice, suffering, and struggle; the tireless exertions and passionate concern of dedicated individuals.” – Martin Luther King, Jr.
- “Those who do not move do not notice their chains.” – Rosa Luxemburg
- “There are no constraints on the human mind, no walls around the human spirit, no barriers to our progress except those we ourselves erect.” – Ronald Reagan
- “Every day you may make progress. Every step may be fruitful. Yet there will stretch out before you an ever-lengthening, ever-ascending, ever-improving path. You know you will never get to the end of the journey. But this, so far from discouraging, only adds to the joy and glory of the climb.” – Winston Churchill
- “We can’t become what we need to be by remaining what we are.” – Oprah Winfrey
- “Do not confuse motion and progress. A rocking horse keeps moving but does not make any progress.” – Alfred A. Montapert
- “Failure is success in progress.” – Albert Einstein
- “Progress isn't made by early risers. It's made by lazy men trying to find easier ways to do something.” – Robert Heinlein
- “When any real progress is made, we unlearned and learn anew what we thought we knew before.” – Henry David Thoreau
- “Little by little, a little becomes a lot.” – Anonymous
- “No matter how many mistakes you make or how slow you progress, you are still ahead of everyone else who isn’t trying.” – Tony Robbins
- “True progress quietly and persistently moves along without notice.” – St. Francis de Sales
True progress quietly and persistently moves along without notice.” – St. Francis de Sales
- “Actively recognizing progress towards your goal will ultimately end up inspiring you and have you pushing even harder.” – Denzel J. Wellington
- “The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little.” – Franklin D. Roosevelt
- “Progress is the attraction that moves humanity.” – Marcus Garvey
- “Every step of progress which the world has made has been from scaffold to scaffold, and from stake to stake.” – Wendell Phillips
- “The key to happiness is really progress and growth and constantly working on yourself and developing something.” – Lewis Howes
- “The secret of making progress is to get started.” – Mark Twain
- “Progress isn't made through fear…. Fear is the coward's way of leadership.” – Michelle Obama
- “There is no progress or accomplishment without sacrifice.” – Idowu Koyenikan
- “Change is not always progress. A fever of newness has everywhere been confused with the spirit of progress.” – Henry Ford
- “The great difficulty which history records is not that of the first step, but that of the second step. What is most evident is not the difficulty of getting a fixed law, but getting out of a fixed law; not of cementing (as upon a former occasion I phrased it) a cake of custom, but of breaking the cake of custom; not of making the first preservative habit, but of breaking through it, and reaching something better.” – Walter Bagehot
- “Little by little one walks far.” – Peruvian Proverb
- “Progress is impossible without change.” – Walt Disney
- “I have followed many a weary mile behind a plough and I know all the drudgery of it. When very young I suspected that much might somehow be done in a better way.” – Henry Ford
- “We can only see a short distance ahead, but we can see plenty there that needs to be done.” – Alan Turing
We can only see a short distance ahead, but we can see plenty there that needs to be done.” – Alan Turing
- “Like the turtle, you need to stick your neck out to make progress.” – Anna Olson
- “Under the sublime law of progress, the present outgrows the past. The great heart of humanity is heaving with the hopes of a brighter day. All the higher instincts of our nature prophesy its approach; and the best intellects of the race are struggling to turn that prophecy into fulfillment.” – Horace Mann
- “Without continual growth and progress, such words as improvement, achievement, and success have no meaning.” – Benjamin Franklin
- “Progress occurs when courageous, skillful leaders seize the opportunity to change things for the better.” – Harry S Truman
- “The condition of all progress is experience. We go wrong a thousand times before we find the right path. We struggle, and grope, and hurt ourselves until we learn the use of things, and this is true of things spiritual as well as of material things. Pain is unavoidable, but it acquires a new and higher meaning when we perceive that it is the price humanity must pay for an invaluable good.” – Felix Adler
- “Every success story is a tale of constant adaption, revision and change.” – Richard Branson
- “Progress is not achieved by luck or accident, but by working on yourself daily.” – Epictetus
- “Have you ever needed to do a thorough cleaning of your home, only to find out that you just can't get inspired until you start a bit of it? That's because progress is going to help you improve your motivation, and in truth, progress is the greatest motivator.” – Monica Bell
- “The only limit to our realization of tomorrow will be our doubts of today. Let us move forward with strong and active faith.” – Franklin D. Roosevelt
- “I think it's the end of progress if you stand still and think of what you've done in the past. I keep on.” – Leslie Caron
- “Human progress never rolls in on wheels of inevitability; it comes through the tireless efforts of men willing to be co-workers with God, and without this hard work, time itself becomes an ally of the forces of social stagnation.” – Martin Luther King, Jr.
- “Unless you try to do something beyond what you have already mastered, you will never grow.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
- “Progress changes consciousness, and when people’s consciousness changes, then their awareness of what is possible changes as well a virtuous circle.” – Bill Clinton
- “You need to place the right people in your life, and you need to make sure that the way in which you live your life and the environment in which you do is in and of itself is one that is conducive to your progress, and if it's not, you need to do everything within your power to change it.” – Rachel Rebecca Wisdom
- “It is not by muscle, speed, or physical dexterity that great things are achieved, but by reflection, force of character, and judgment.” – Marcus Tullius Cicero
- “He who rejects change is the architect of decay. The only human institution which rejects progress is the cemetery.” – Harold Wilson
- “Progress is the stride of God.” – Victor Hugo
- “Be not afraid of going slowly, be afraid only of standing still.” – Chinese Proverb
- “Excellence without effort is as futile as progress without preparation.” – William Arthur Ward
- “If you're walking down the right path and you're willing to keep walking, eventually you'll make progress.” – Barack Obama
- “Ideas and not battles mark the forward progress of mankind.” – L. Ron Hubbard
Ideas and not battles mark the forward progress of mankind.” – L. Ron Hubbard
- “Healthy discontent is the prelude to progress.” – Mahatma Gandhi
- “The law of man's bodily progress is also the law of his mental progress; both must be gradual. No grand idea can be realized except by successive steps and stages, which the mind must use as landing places in its ascent.” – Edward Meyrick Goulburn
- “Nature knows no pause in progress and development, and attaches her curse on all inaction.” – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
- “Each man must learn his own ideal and try to accomplish it: that is a surer way of progress than to take the ideas of another.” – Romain Rolland
- “Time and again, I've seen people make the most progress when they combine their knowledge of themselves with real world actions.” – Alison Cardy
- “The purpose of fear is to raise your awareness not to stop your progress.” – Steve Maraboli
- “The world hates change, yet it is the only thing that has brought progress.” – Charles Kettering
- “The key to any progress is to ask the question why? All the time. Why is that child poor? Why was there a war? Why was he killed? Why is he in power? And of course questions can get you into a lot of trouble, because society is trained by those who run it, to accept what goes on. Without questions we won't make any progress at all.” – Tony Benn
- “Measuring progress is often like watching grass grow. While it’s difficult to detect movement on a daily basis, it’s simple to see growth over time.” – Frank Sonnenberg
- “The key to happiness is really progress and growth and constantly working on yourself and developing something.” – Lewis Howes
Final Thoughts on Progress Quotes
There you have it—progress quotes that define what true success is and that remind you of the consistent effort needed to achieve the results you want.
Hopefully this collection will inspire you to continue working toward your dreams and goals, buoyed with the knowledge that you’ll eventually get there.
Discovering your life’s purpose allows you to set more meaningful goals. Check out this guide for finding your purpose in life.
Moreover, a mission statement provides a roadmap for goals that are in alignment with your life’s purpose. If you don’t have one yet, this post shows you the Steps to Write Your Personal Mission Statement.
And if you want more inspirational quotes, be sure to check out these blog posts:
- 83 Walt Disney Quotes About Dreams, Imagination, and Living a Magical Life
- 45 Vision Quotes to Turn Your Dreams into Reality
- 157 Goal Setting and Achieving Quotes
Finally, if you want to use these quotes to make a lasting change to your life, then watch this free video that details the 7-minute habit for planning your day to focus on what's truly important to you..
