60 Famous Hard Work Quotes to Motivate Your Team

Hard work is the most important key to success. Without being willing to work hard and put everything into a venture, business success is nearly impossible.

No matter what industry you work in, hard work and team spirit is the recipe for a burgeoning and successful business. However, as every business owner, manager and entrepreneur will tell you, some days are significantly more productive than others.

Are you or your team in a slump and in need of a boost? Share a few of the following famous hard work quotes designed to inspire yourself and your team.

Famous Hard Work Quotes

16 Quotes to Drive Business Success

No inspiring business leader got to where they are without a willingness to work hard and put everything into their business. The following rousing leaders, entrepreneurs and business maestros sum up the importance of working hard.

• Thinking is the hardest work there is, which is probably the reason so few engage in it. ~ Henry Ford, American industrialist and founder of Ford Motor Co.
• A dream does not become reality through magic; it takes sweat, determination, and hard work. ~ Colin Powell, former U.S. Defense Secretary
• I’m a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work, the more I have of it. ~ Thomas Jefferson, former President of the United States
• No matter how hard you work, someone else is working harder. ~ Elon Musk, entrepreneur
• Hard work beats talent if talent doesn’t work hard. ~ Tim Notke, basketball coach
• Satisfaction lies in the effort, not in the attainment. ~ Mahatma Gandhi, Indian activist
• We think, mistakenly, that success is the result of the amount of time we put in at work, instead of the quality of time we put in. ~ Ariana Huffington, businesswoman and author
• Men die of boredom, psychological conflict and disease. They do not die of hard work. ~ David Ogilvy, advertising business tycoon
• The only place where success comes before work is in the dictionary. ~ Vidal Sassoon, hairdressing business tycoon

Inaction Brings Doubt and Fear…

• Inaction breeds doubt and fear. Action breeds confidence and courage. If you want to conquer fear, do not sit home and think about it. Go out and get busy. ~ Dale Carnegie, American business icon
• Work hard, have fun, make history. ~ Jeff Bezos, Amazon founder
• I never took a day off in my 20s. Not one. ~ Bill Gates, Microsoft co-founder
• I’ve read something that Bill Gates said about six months ago. He said, ‘I worked really, really hard in my 20s.’ And I know what he means because I worked really, really hard in my 20s too. Literally, you know, 7 days a week, a lot of hours every day. And it actually is a wonderful thing to do, because you can get a lot done. But you can’t do it forever, and you don’t want to do it forever, and you have to come up with ways of figuring out what the most important things are and working with other people even more. ~ Steve Jobs, Apple co-founder
• There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure. ~ Colin Powell, former U.S. Defense Secretary
• Without labor, nothing prospers. ~ Sophocles, philosopher
• There is no time for cut-and-dried monotony. There is time for work. And time for love. That leaves no other time. ~ Coco Chanel, fashion icon

11 Motivational Hard Work Quotes as a Team

Working in teams increases collaboration. And the sharing of ideas and can go a long way in giving teams a productivity boost. However, with multiple individuals comprising the team, it is important to keep them all motivated. This ensures there are no weak points in group efforts. If you or your team need a little motivation, check out the following famous hard work quotes about teamwork.

• The price of success is hard work, dedication to the job at hand, and the determination that whether we win or lose, we have applied the best of ourselves to the task at hand. ~ Vince Lombardi, Hall of Fame coach
• Teamwork is the ability to work together toward a common vision. The ability to direct individual accomplishments toward organizational objectives. It is the fuel that allows common people to attain uncommon results. ~ Andrew Carnegie, business magnate and philanthropist
• Great teamwork is the only way we create the breakthroughs that define our careers. ~ Pat Riley, basketball coach
• The best teamwork comes from men who are working independently toward one goal in unison. ~ J.C. Penney, retail magnate
• In the end, all business operation can be reduced to three words: people, products, and profits. Unless you’ve got a good team, you can’t do much with the other two. ~ Lee Iacocca, President, CEO of Chrysler

The Way a Team Plays as a Whole Determines Its Success…

• The way a team plays as a whole determines its success. You may have the greatest bunch of individual stars in the world, but if they don’t play together, the club won’t be worth a dime. ~ Babe Ruth, baseball legend
• Success is best when it’s shared. ~ Howard Schultz, CEO of Starbucks
• Great companies are built in the office, with hard work put in by a team. ~ Emily Chang, journalist and executive producer
• If you love your work, you’ll be out there every day trying to do it the best you possibly can, and pretty soon everybody around will catch the passion from you – like a fever. ~ Sam Walton, founder of Walmart
• Nothing is particularly hard if you divide it into small jobs. ~ Henry Ford, American industrialist

12 Famous Hard Work Quotes for Business Success

Success doesn’t happen overnight. And the most successful individuals are those who are willing to put in a productive day’s work before they even receive success. If you’re struggling to motivate your team, show them the following famous hard work quotes about business success:

• I know the price of success: dedication, hard work and an unremitting devotion to the things you want to see happen. ~ Frank Lloyd Wright, architect and writer
• Doing the best at this moment puts you in the best place for the next moment. ~ Oprah Winfrey, media mogul
• What is success? I think it is a mixture of having a flair for the thing that you are doing; knowing that it is not enough, that you have got to have hard work and a certain sense of purpose. ~ Margaret Thatcher, former UK Prime Minister
• I have learned that success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has had to overcome while trying to succeed. ~ Booker T. Washington, educator and presidential advisor
• I think that my biggest attribute to any success that I have had is hard work. There really is no substitute for working hard. ~ Maria Bartiromo, television journalist and author

Would You Like Me to Give You a Formula for Success?…

• Would you like me to give you a formula for success? It’s quite simple, really: Double your rate of failure. You are thinking of failure as the enemy of success. But it isn’t at all. You can be discouraged by failure or you can learn from it, so go ahead and make mistakes. Make all you can. Because remember that’s where you will find success. ~ Thomas J. Watson, CEO of IBM
• The only difference between success and failure is the ability to take action. ~ Alexander Graham Bell, Inventor
• Talent is cheaper than table salt. What separates the talented individual from the successful one is hard work. ~ Stephen King, American author
• If you are willing to work hard and ask lots of questions, you can learn business pretty fast. ~ Steve Jobs, Apple co-founder
• Luck is a dividend of sweat. The more you sweat, the luckier you get. ~ Ray Kroc, American fast food tycoon
• The three great essentials to achieve anything worth while are: Hard work, stick-to-itiveness, and common sense. ~ Thomas Edison, inventor
• It’s not about money or connection — it’s the willingness to outwork and outlearn everyone. ~ Mark Cuban, American investor

10 Motivational Quotes for Perseverance and Determination

It is often possible to motivate a team with a rousing pep talk or some inspirational words. It pulls them together to persevere with their tasks. However, there are other times when individuals on the team need a more tailored approach. Either way, use these famous hard work quotes to inspire unrelenting determination in your team members. It will make them stronger than the sum of their parts.

• The average person puts only 25% of his energy and ability into his work. The world takes off its hat to those who put in more than 50% of their capacity, and stands on its head for those few and far between souls who devote 100%. ~ Andrew Carnegie, business magnate and philanthropist
• If you really look closely, most overnight successes took a long time. ~ Steve Jobs, co-Founder of Apple Inc.
• Success is no accident. It is hard work, perseverance, learning, studying, sacrifice and most of all, love of what you are doing or learning to do. ~ Pele, Brazilian soccer player
• The successful warrior is the average man, with laser-like focus. ~ Bruce Lee, martial artist and movie star

Success Seems to be Connected with Action…

• Success seems to be connected with action. Successful people keep moving. They make mistakes, but they don’t quit. ~ Conrad Hilton, hotelier and business magnate
• I never did anything worth doing by accident, nor did any of my inventions come indirectly through accident, except the phonograph. No, when I have fully decided that a result is worth getting I go about it, and make trial after trial until it comes. ~ Thomas Edison, inventor and businessman
• Keep on going, and the chances are that you will stumble on something, perhaps when you are least expecting it. I never heard of anyone ever stumbling on something sitting down. ~ Charles F. Kettering, auto industry magnate
• Entrepreneurship is a great leveler. The wonderful thing is that money is not the sole currency when it comes to starting a business; drive, determination, passion and hard work are all free and more valuable than a pot of cash. ~ Richard Branson, Serial entrepreneur
• I’m against retiring. The thing that keeps a man alive is having something to do. ~ Colonel Sanders, KFC founder
• Success isn’t always about greatness. It’s about consistency. Consistent hard work leads to success. Greatness will come. ~ Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, former wrestler and actor

11 Famous Hard Work Quotes About Rewards

One of the best sources of motivation in the business world is the reward earned. Below are many inspirational quotes from successful individuals that focus on all the good things that can be achieved through hard work and effective cooperation within a team.

• Knowledge comes, but wisdom lingers. It may not be difficult to store up in the mind a vast quantity of facts within a comparatively short time, but the ability to form judgments requires the severe discipline of hard work and the tempering heat of experience and maturity. ~ Calvin Coolidge, former President of the United States
• A lot of hard work is hidden behind nice things. ~ Ralph Lauren, fashion designer and business executive
• I do not know anyone who has got to the top without hard work. That is the recipe. It will not always get you to the top, but should get you pretty near. ~ Margaret Thatcher, Former UK Prime Minister

Sticking to Good Habits Can Be Hard Work…

• Sticking to good habits can be hard work, and mistakes are part of the process. Don’t declare failure simply because you messed up or because you’re having trouble reaching your goals. Instead, use your mistakes as opportunities to grow stronger and become better. ~ Amy Morin, author and clinical social worker
• For every two minutes of glamour, there are eight hours of hard work. ~ Jessica Savitch, television news presenter and correspondent
• I’ve learned that anything in life worth having comes from patience and hard work. ~ Greg Behrendt, comedian and author
• I learned the value of hard work by working hard. ~ Margaret Mead, author and cultural anthropologist
• It takes a lot of unspectacular preparation to have spectacular results in both business and football. ~ Roger Staubach, former NFL quarterback and US Navy officer
• I work hard because I love my work. ~ Bill Gates, Microsoft co-founder
• Diamonds are nothing more than chunks of coal that stuck to their jobs. ~ Malcolm Forbes, entrepreneur and Forbes magazine publisher
• Chop your own wood and it will warm you twice. ~ Henry Ford, American industrialist

How You Can Use These Famous Hard Work Quotes

If you’d like to view more motivational quotes for business, including motivational sales quotes, you can find them here in our motivational quotes image gallery where you can share them socially:

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