101 Best Quotes on Purpose

Here’s a collection of my favorite quotes on the topic of Purpose. There’s a few Bible verses mixed in there, and even one from your’s truly. They’re not in any specific order. Enjoy!

• “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “Plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future.” – Jeremiah 29:11 
• “Success demands singleness of purpose.” – Vince Lombardi 
• “Efforts and courage are not enough without purpose and direction.” – John F Kennedy
• “There’s purpose and worth to each and every life.” – Ronald Reagan
• “To forget one’s purpose is the commonest form of stupidity.” – Friedrich Nietzsche
• “All successful people men and women are big dreamers. They imagine what their future could be, ideal in every respect, and then they work every day toward their distant vision, that goal or purpose.” – Brian Tracy 

• “I am here for a purpose and that purpose is to grow into a mountain, not to shrink to a grain of sand. Henceforth will I apply ALL my efforts to become the highest mountain of all and I will strain my potential until it cries for mercy.” – Og Mandino

• “There is one quality which one must possess to win, and that is definiteness of purpose, the knowledge of what one wants, and a burning desire to possess it.” – Napoleon Hill
• “Be daring, be different, be impractical, be anything that will assert integrity of purpose and imaginative vision against the play-it-safers, the creatures of the commonplace, the slaves of the ordinary.” – Cecil Beaton
• “I determined never to stop until I had come to the end and achieved my purpose.” – David Livingstone
• “The purpose of life is a life of purpose.” – Robert Byrne
• “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” – Romans 8:28
• “Choose your friends with caution; plan your future with purpose, and frame your life with faith.” –Thomas S. Monson
• “The Bible tells us that Jesus Christ came to do three things. He came to have my past forgiven, you get a purpose for living and a home in Heaven.” – Rick Warren
• “Winners are people with definite purpose in life.” – Denis Waitley
• “Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.” – Howard Thurman

• “The secret of success is constancy to purpose.” – Benjamin Disraeli
• “Definiteness of purpose is the starting point of all achievement.” – W. Clement Stone
• “No man or woman is an island. To exist just for yourself is meaningless. You can achieve the most satisfaction when you feel related to some greater purpose in life, something greater than yourself.” – Denis Waitley
• “We must have a theme, a goal, a purpose in our lives. If you don’t know where you’re aiming, you don’t have a goal. My goal is to live my life in such a way that when I die, someone can say, she cared.” – Mary Kay Ash
• “For it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.” – Philippians 2:13
• “I have brought myself, by long meditation, to the conviction that a human being with a settled purpose must accomplish it, and that nothing can resist a will which will stake even existence upon its fulfillment.” – Benjamin Disraeli
• “The only failure one should fear, is not hugging to the purpose they see as best.” – George Eliot
• “Preparation for old age should begin not later than one’s teens. A life which is empty of purpose until 65 will not suddenly become filled on retirement.” – Dwight L. Moody
• “Singleness of purpose is one of the chief essentials for success in life, no matter what may be one’s aim.” – John D. Rockefeller
• “The soul which has no fixed purpose in life is lost; to be everywhere, is to be nowhere.” Michel de Montaigne
• “Above all be of single aim; have a legitimate and useful purpose, and devote yourself unreservedly to it.” – James Allen
• “The two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why.” – Mark Twain
• “To begin to think with purpose, is to enter the ranks of those strong ones who only recognize failure as one of the pathways to attainment.” James Allen
• “There is no failure except in no longer trying. There is no defeat except from within, no really insurmountable barrier save our own inherent weakness of purpose.” – Kin Hubbard
• “The only true happiness comes from squandering ourselves for a purpose.” – William Cowper
• “Having a sense of purpose is having a sense of self. A course to plot is a destination to hope for.” – Bryant H. McGill
• “For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” – Ephesians 2:10

• “More men fail through lack of purpose than lack of talent.” – Billy Sunday
• “I knew that there was a calling and a sense of purpose in my life that gave me fulfillment and a sense of destiny.” – T. D. Jakes
• “He who has a why to live for can bear almost any how.” – Friedrich Nietzsche
• “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
• “What am I living for and what am I dying for are the same question.” – Margaret Atwood
• “Make your work to be in keeping with your purpose” – Leonardo da Vinci
• “The fact that you are still alive assures you that God has something for you to accomplish.” – Rodney A. Winters
• “There are so many stupid things that steal that purpose from us. The stupid things that you believe a lie that we ‘re not as important as we really are. That our life isn’t as important as it really is. It’s important to the people that you love, it’s important to the people that you will love in the future, it’s important to the world around you and it’s so important that you fulfill the purpose that only you can fulfill the way that you can fulfill that.” – Lacey Mosley
• “You don’t create or design your purpose; you discover it. It’s a process of looking inward and upward. Inward at the unique passions and talents you possess, and upward at your creator who promises to ‘guide the humble in what is right.’” – Wesley Wiley

• “Following all the rules leaves a completed checklist. Following your heart achieves a completed you.” – Ray Davis
• “He has a plan for everybody here and it’s all a matter of whether you answer it when He calls you.” – Lacey Mosley
• “He does have surprising, secret purposes. I open a Bible, and His plans, startling, lie there barefaced. It’s hard to believe it, when I read it, and I have to come back to it many times, feel long across those words, make sure they are real. His love letter forever silences any doubts: “His secret purpose framed from the very beginning [is] to bring us to our full glory” (1 Corinthians 2:7 NEB).” –  Ann Voskamp, One Thousand Gifts: A Dare to Live Fully Right Where You Are
• “The great thing in this world is not so much where we are, but in what direction we are going.” – Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.
• “Without God, life has no purpose, and without purpose, life has no meaning. Without meaning, life has no significance or hope.” – Rick Warren
• “Our privileges are not for our pleasure but rather for our purpose.” – Chris Brady
• “To the person who does not know where he wants to go there is no favorable wind.” – Seneca
• “The question of how to spend my life, of what my life is for, is a question posed only to me, and I can no more delegate the responsibility for answering it than I can delegate the task of dying.” – Anthony T. Kronman
• “It’s not enough to have lived. We should be determined to live for something.” – Winston Churchill
• “Of all the questions I have asked my readers this is the most important: What would you do if you weren’t afraid? When you finally give wings to that answer then you have found your life’s purpose.” –  Shannon L. Alder
• “With purpose, cause and passion, there is no way the end you envision will not become the reality you live.” – Toni Sorenson
• “Your purpose is your why.” – Deborah Day
  
• “Lord, when I feel that what I’m doing is insignificant and unimportant, help me to remember that everything I do is significant and important in your eyes, because you love me and you put me here, and no one else can do what I am doing in exactly the way I do it.” – Brennan Manning
• “Find a purpose to serve, not a lifestyle to live.” – Criss Jami
• “You can have anything you want if you want it badly enough. You can be anything you want to be, do anything you set out to accomplish if you hold to that desire with singleness of purpose.” – Abraham Lincoln
• “When you know that everything matters—that every move counts as much as any other—you will begin living a life of permanent purpose.” – Andy Andrews
• “There’s a difference between waiting with patient expectation, and waiting because you never know what God will do. If you don’t know how God thinks or what God wants to do in your life, read the Bible. When you know what God wants you to do, go out there and do it and see God work his wonderful mission through you. The whole time you thought you were waiting on God, but the whole time God was WAITING ON YOU.” – Osayi Osar-Emokpae
• “Jesus has prepared the way and has made following our destiny possible, whereas we are helpless by ourselves. We can find and fulfill our purpose by responding to the clear, simple call of Jesus Christ: “Follow Me.” He is the doorway to fulfilling our destiny, where our divine design and God-ordained purpose live in perfect harmony.” – Charles R. Swindoll
• “When ours are interrupted, his are not. His plans are proceeding exactly as scheduled, moving us always (including those minutes or hours or years which seem most useless or wasted or unendurable).” – Elisabeth Elliot“
• Many persons have a wrong idea of what constitutes true happiness. It is not attained through self-gratification but through fidelity to a worthy purpose.” – Helen Keller

• “Think of the self that God has given as an acorn. It is a marvelous little thing, a perfect shape, perfectly designed for its purpose, perfectly functional. Think of the grand glory of an oak tree. God’s intention when He made the acorn was the oak tree. His intention for us is ‘… the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.’ Many deaths must go into our reaching that measure, many letting-goes. When you look at the oak tree, you don’t feel that the loss’ of the acorn is a very great loss. The more you perceive God’s purpose in your life, the less terrible the losses seem.” – Elisabeth Elliot
• “Either we are adrift in chaos or we are individuals, created, loved, upheld and placed purposefully, exactly where we are. Can you believe that? Can you trust God for that?” – Elisabeth Elliot
• “Peter’s destiny lay along a different path from John’s. And your calling is unlike anyone else’s. But the call remains the same: “Follow Me!” – Charles R. Swindoll
• “When you were born, you cried and the world rejoiced; live your life so that when you die, the world cries and you rejoice.” – Cherokee Saying
• “Life is a promise; fulfill it.” – Mother Teresa
• “Allow your passion to become your purpose, and it will one day become your profession.” – Gabrielle Bernstein
• “Everyone is trying to accomplish something big, not realizing that life is made up of little things.” – Frank A. Clark
• “When your heart speaks, take good notes.” – Judith Campbell
• “Your dream doesn’t have an expiration date. Take a deep breath and try again.” – KT Witten
• “If you can’t figure out your purpose, figure out your passion. For your passion will lead you right into your purpose.” – TD Jakes
• “The value of identity is that so often with it comes purpose.” – Richard R Grant
• “The two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why.” –  Mark Twain
• “The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.” – Gandhi
• “There are far, far better things ahead than any we leave behind.” – C.S. Lewis
• “You have to realize that you don’t have someone else’s life and you’re never going to. You better start loving the one you got. Embrace the life you have and stop wishing that you could be someone else. Just stop all that and start saying “God, here I am. Do what you want to do with me.” – Joyce Meyer
• “Everyone has his own specific vocation or mission in life… Therein he cannot be replaced, nor can his life be repeated. Thus, everyone’s task is as unique as is his specific opportunity to implement it.” – Viktor Frankl
• “Nothing is likely to help a person overcome or endure troubles than the consciousness of having a task in life.” – Viktor Frankl
• “Many are the plans of a man’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails.” – Proverbs 19:21

• “Let others lead small lives, but not you. Let others argue over small things, but not you. Let others cry over small hurts, but not you. Let others leave their future in someone else’s hands, but not you.” – Jim Rohn
• “You can never cross the ocean unless you have the courage to lose sight of the shore.” – Christopher Columbus
• “There is no chance, no destiny, no fate that can circumvent or hinder or control the firm resolve of a determined soul.” – Ella Wheeler Wilcox
• “You were born an original. Don’t die a copy.” – John Mason
• “Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will cary it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” – Philippians 1:6
• “Is life not a hundred times too short for us to stifle ourselves?” —Friedrich Nietzsche
• “Let him who would enjoy a good future waste none of his present.” – Roger Babson
• “The path to our destination is not always a straight one. We go down the wrong road, we get lost, we turn back. Maybe it doesn’t matter which road we embark on. Maybe what matters is that we embark.” – Barbara Hall
• “Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life and don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. Most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become.” – Steve Jobs
• “Too many people overvalue what they are not and undervalue what they are.” – Malcolm Forbes
• “We seek purpose when we are not in touch with who we really are. When an apple tree discovers who it is, the question ‘what must I do?’ disappears. When you discover who you are (at the deepest place of your being) you will find your purpose.” – Colleen-Joy Page
• “People who consider themselves victims of their circumstances will always remain victims unless they develop a greater vision for their lives.” – Stedman Graham
• “Too many of us are not living our dreams because we are living our fears.” – Les Brown
• “A ship in harbor is safe, but that is not what ships are for.” – John A. She’d
• “If you don’t design your own life plan, chances are you’ll fall into someone else’s plan. And guess what they have planned for you? Not much.” – Jim Rohn
• “Though no one can go back and make a brand new start, anyone can start from now and make a brand new ending.” – Carl Bard
• “Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.” Psalm 90:12
• “It’s never too late to be what you might have been.” – George Elliot
• “The greatest danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it.” – Michelangelo
• “Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” – Mark Twain
• “Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the duty of all mankind.” – Ecclesiastes 12:13

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