100 Inspirational Quotes to Fire Up Life Over 40

Okay, I’ll confess: I am that person.

The one with highlighted books, a notes app full of random wisdom, and a former career as a self-appointed quote graphic designer (rest in peace, my Canva era ✌️).

I can’t help it — there’s something about the right words at the right moment that can completely shift your perspective, remind you of who you are, or give you the push you didn’t know you needed.

So I’ve gathered 100 of my favorite quotes — on self-trust, power, resilience, joy, relationships, and what it actually means to come into your own after 40 — and put them all in one place for you.

Consider this your permission slip to feel inspired, fired up, and yes — unstoppable. ✨

Grab a coffee, get comfortable, and may something here find you. ☕

🧠 On Self-Love, Self-Trust, Inner Strength, and Your Mindset

1. “I never travel without my diary. One should always have something sensational to read on the train.” – Oscar Wilde, The Importance of Being Earnest (1895)

2. "Self-trust is the first secret of success." – Ralph Waldo Emerson, Self-Reliance (1841)

3. "The world breaks everyone and afterward many are stronger at the broken places." – Ernest Hemingway, A Farewell to Arms (1929)

4. "What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us." – Ralph Waldo Emerson, Essays (1841)

5. "Mastering others is strength; mastering yourself is true power." – Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching (6th century BCE)

6. "Vulnerability is not about winning or losing, it's the courage to show up and be seen when you can't control the outcome." – Brené Brown, Dare to Lead (2018)

7. "Just be whatever kind of mother you want and need to be. The rest is nobody else's business." – Leanne Morgan, What in the World?! (2024)

8. "Trust that all you've learned was worth learning, no matter what answer you have—or don't have—about what practical use it has in your life." – Cheryl Strayed, Tiny Beautiful Things (2012)

9. "Trust yourself. You know more than you think you do." – Elizabeth Gilbert, Eat, Pray, Love (2006)

10. "To love oneself is the beginning of a lifelong romance." – Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray (1890)

11. "You become what you believe." – Oprah Winfrey, What I Know for Sure (2014)

12. "Follow your intuition and all will be well." – Marie Kondo, The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up (2014)

13. “We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.” – Oscar Wilde, Lady Windermere’s Fan (1892)

14. "A smile is a curve that sets everything straight." – Phyllis Diller, Phyllis Diller's Comedy Gold (1978)

15. "The greatest discovery of all time is that a woman can change her future by merely changing her attitude." – Oprah Winfrey, O, The Oprah Magazine (2004)

16. "Be yourself; everyone else is already taken." – Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray (1890)

17. "Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement. Nothing can be done without hope and confidence." – Helen Keller, The Story of My Life (1903)

18. "Positive thinking will let you do everything better than negative thinking will." – Zig Ziglar, See You at the Top (1975)

19. "You have to believe in yourself when no one else does. That makes you a winner right there." – Venus Williams, Foreword to Thrive (2015)

20. "If you feel good about who you are inside, it will radiate." – Patti Smith, Rolling Stone Magazine profile (2015)

21. "God doesn't do the work for you; He does the work through you. It's not enough to look up; you must also look within." – Patti LaBelle, Patti's Pearls (2001)

✦ GET SOULFULL MEDICINE WEEKLY ✦

 

⚡️ On Power, Leadership & Unapologetic Existence

22. “I am not free while any woman is unfree, even when her shackles are very different from my own.” – Audre Lorde, Sister Outsider (1984)

23. “The question isn’t who is going to let me; it’s who is going to stop me.” – Ayn Rand, The Fountainhead (1943)

24. "I have learned over the years that when one's mind is made up, this diminishes fear." – Rosa Parks, Rosa Parks: My Story (1992)

25. "You may encounter many defeats, but you must not be defeated. In fact, it may be necessary to encounter the defeats, so you can know who you are, what you can rise from, how you can still come out of it." – Maya Angelou, Letter to My Daughter (2008)

26. "We need women at all levels, including the top, to change the dynamic, reshape the conversation, to make sure women's voices are heard and heeded, not overlooked and ignored." – Sheryl Sandberg, Lean In (2013)

27. “The person who says it cannot be done should not interrupt the person doing it.” – Chinese Proverb

28. “I would rather die of passion than of boredom.” – Émile Zola, Le Paradis des femmes (The Ladies’ Paradise) (1883)

29. "It's not your job to like me — it's mine." – Byron Katie, Loving What Is: Four Questions That Can Change Your Life (2002)

30. “I don’t care what you think about me. I don’t think about you at all.” – Coco Chanel, Interview with Le Figaro (1955)

31. "Do your thing and don't care if they like it." – Tina Fey, Bossypants (2011)

32. "The only way to deal with an unfree world is to become so absolutely free that your very existence is an act of rebellion." – John Lennon, Interview with Life Magazine (1968)

33. "The most courageous act is still to think for yourself. Aloud." – Coco Chanel, Interview with The New York Times (1972)

34. "Freeing yourself was one thing, claiming ownership of that freed self was another." - Toni Morrison, Beloved (1987)

35. "Tidying is the act of confronting yourself." – Marie Kondo, The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up (2014)

36. "I always wondered why somebody doesn't do something about that. Then I realized I was somebody." – Lily Tomlin, The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe (1999)

37. “What you do makes a difference, and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make.” – Jane Goodall, Reason for Hope (1999)

38. "We cannot seek achievement for ourselves and forget about progress and prosperity for our community... Our victories must be shared." – Dolores Huerta, Life Is the Miracle (2023)

✦ GET SOULFULL MEDICINE WEEKLY ✦

 

🍃 On Being Over 40, Wisdom & Shedding Limiting Beliefs

39. “It is never too late to be what you might have been.” – George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans), Middlemarch (1871-72)

40. "The second half of life is about finding the self that was lost in the first half." – Carl Jung, Modern Man in Search of a Soul (1933)

41. "The best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago. The second best time is now." — Chinese Proverb

42. "Aging is not 'lost youth' but a new stage of opportunity and strength." — Betty Friedan, The Fountain of Age (1993).

43. "I am not afraid of storms, for I am learning how to sail my ship." — Louisa May Alcott, Little Women (1868).

44. “Just when the caterpillar thought the world was over, it turned into a butterfly.” - English Proverb

45. “Work to become, not to acquire.” – Elbert Hubbard, The Note Book, (published posthumously in 1927)

46. "Owning your story can be hard, but not nearly as difficult as spending your life running from it." – Brené Brown, Rising Strong (2015)

47. "Almost everything will work again if you unplug it for a few minutes, including you." – Anne Lamont, Operating Instructions (2013)

48. "The thing about aging is that you finally get to love yourself." – Gloria Steinem, Interview on Charlie Rose (1994)

49. “The process of assessing how you feel about the things you own, identifying those that have fulfilled their purpose, expressing your gratitude, and bidding them farewell, is really about examining your inner self, a rite of passage to a new life.” – Marie Kondo, The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up (2014)

50. "Aging is ascending a staircase into growth, wisdom, well-being, and happiness." – Jane Fonda, My Life So Far (2020)

51. "Don't surrender all your joy for an idea you used to have about yourself that isn't true anymore." – Cheryl Strayed, Tiny Beautiful Things (2012)

52. "Never discard anything without saying thank you and goodbye." – Marie Kondo, The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up (2014)

53. "The trouble with the rat race is that even if you win, you're still a rat." – Lilly Tomlin, Lily Tomlin: The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe (1982)

54. "You have to be willing to be a beginner again." – Rita Moreno, Rita Moreno: A Memoir (2013)

55. "If you don't have wrinkles, you haven't laughed enough." – Phyllis Diller, The Best of Phyllis Diller (1980)

56. "When I turned 40, I had this sort of upgrade, which really pulled me into my power, and I started looking at everything differently." – Gwyneth Paltrow, The Hollywood Reporter (2024)

✦ GET SOULFULL MEDICINE WEEKLY ✦

 

💪🏽 On Making Good Things Happen, Surviving What’s Hard, & Never Giving Up

57. "There is no chance, no destiny, no fate, that can hinder or control the firm resolve of a determined soul." – Ella Wheeler Wilcox, Maurine and Other Poems (1882)

58. "How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world." – Anne Frank, The Diary of a Young Girl (1944)

59. "If we want a joyous life, we must think joyous thoughts. If we want a prosperous life, we must think prosperous thoughts." – Louise Hay, You Can Heal Your Life (1984)

60. "Just as physical wounds heal at different rates in different people, so do emotional wounds. Everyone has different needs and speeds." – Karen Salmansohn, The Bounce Back Book (2013)

61. "We've all had joy and heartbreak. We've all had ups and downs. I've survived mine by trying to find the funny in every situation and, eventually, having the faith that things will sort themselves out." – Leanne Morgan, What in the World?! (2024)

62. "You do it because the doing of it is the thing. The doing is the thing. The talking and worrying and thinking is not the thing." – Amy Poehler, Yes, Please (2014)

63. "You can't cross the sea merely by standing and staring at the water." – Helen Keller, The Open Door (1957)

64. “You may not control all the events that happen to you, but you can decide not to be reduced by them.” – Maya Angelou, The Complete Collected Poems of Maya Angelou (1994)

65. "Real change, enduring change, happens one step at a time." – Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Interview with the American Writers Museum (2015)

66. "Find out who you are. And do it on purpose." – Dolly Parton, Dream More (2012)

67. "Even if you are on the right track, you'll get run over if you just sit there." – Will Rogers, New York Tribune (1925)

68. "When I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent left, and could say, 'I used everything you gave me.'" – Erma Bombeck, If Life Is a Bowl of Cherries, You Might Be the Pit (1978)

69. "It is not what happens to you, but how you react to it that matters." – Epictetus, Enchiridion (100 CE)

70. "The most difficult thing is the decision to act, the rest is merely tenacity. The fears are paper tigers. You can do anything you decide to do." – Amelia Earhart, Letter to her husband, George Putnam (1932)

71. "People often say that motivation doesn't last. Well, neither does bathing—that's why we recommend it daily." – Zig Ziglar, See You at the Top (1975)

72. “The most regretful people on earth are those who felt the call to creative work, who felt their own creative power restive and uprising, and gave to it neither power nor time.” ― Mary Oliver, A Thousand Mornings (2015)

73. "Hold onto your dreams. Don't let anybody ever tell you that you're not magical." – Stevie Nicks, Parade Magazine (2010)

74. "There is no agony like bearing an untold story inside you." – Zora Neale Hurston, Dust Tracks on a Road (1942)

75. "Great people do things before they're ready. They do things before they know they can do it. And by doing it, they're proven right." – Amy Poehler, Yes Please (2014)

76. "Everything is figureoutable." – Marie Forleo, Everything Is Figureoutable (2019)

✦ GET SOULFULL MEDICINE WEEKLY ✦

 

🫶🏿 On Healthy Relationships, Friendships, and Valuing Each Other

77. “Let us always meet each other with a smile, for the smile is the beginning of love.” — Mother Teresa, Missionaries of Charity Newsletter (1991)

78. "Far too many people are looking for the right person, instead of trying to be the right person." – Gloria Steinem, Ms. Magazine (1995)

79. “We can improve our relationships with others by leaps and bounds if we become encouragers instead of critics.” — Joyce Meyer, Starting Your Day Right (2004)

80. “Love in such a way that the person you love feels free.” — Thich Nhat Hanh, True Love (2017

81. “The ultimate test of a relationship is to disagree but to hold hands.” — Alexandra Penney, Self Magazine (1998)

82. “Lots of people want to ride with you in the limo, but what you want is someone who will take the bus with you when the limo breaks down.” — Oprah Winfrey, O, The Oprah Magazine (2000)

83. “The purpose of a relationship is not to have another who might complete you, but to have another with whom you might share your completeness.” — Neale Donald Walsch, Conversations with God, Book 2: An Uncommon Dialogue (1996)

84. “A healthy relationship keeps the doors and windows wide open. Possessiveness closes them.” — Deepak Chopra, The Seven Spiritual Laws of Love (2003)

85. “Never take a person's dignity; it's worth everything to them, and nothing to you.” — Frank Barron, Creative Person and Creative Process (1969)

86. “The quality of your life is the quality of your relationships.” — Tony Robbins, Unlimited Power (1986)

87. "The friend who holds your hand and says the wrong thing is made of dearer stuff than the one who stays away." – Barbara Kingsolver, Animal Dreams (1990)

88. “Shared joy is a double joy; shared sorrow is half a sorrow.” — Swedish Proverb

✦ GET SOULFULL MEDICINE WEEKLY ✦

 

💫 On The Importance of Having Fun & Actually Enjoying Your Life

89. “If you ever have to decide between winning a fight or being happy, choose happiness. Being happy automatically makes you a winner.” – Karen Salmansohn, Think Happy (2015)

90. "No one looks stupid when they're having fun." – Amy Poehler, Yes Please (2015)

91. "Life is not a problem to be solved, but a reality to be experienced." - Søren Kierkegaard, Either/Or Vol. 1 (1843)

92. "The most wasted of all days is one without laughter." – E.E. Cummings, ViVa (1931)

93. "Happiness is the consequence of personal effort. You fight for it, strive for it, insist upon it." – Elizabeth Gilbert, Eat, Pray, Love (2006)

94. "When you make space in your life for joy, you discover that happiness is a habit, not a destination." – Michelle Obama, The Light We Carry (2022)

95. "The ideal home is one that sparks joy." – Marie Kondo, Tidying Up with Marie Kondo (2019)

96. “A little nonsense now and then is relished by the wisest men.” – Roald Dahl, Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator (1972)

97. “There is no pleasure in having nothing to do; the fun is in having lots to do and not doing it.” – Mary Wilson Little, A Paragrapher's Reveries (1904)

98. “Hello, sun in my face. Hello, you who made the morning and spread it over the fields...Watch, now, how I start the day in happiness, in kindness.” ― Mary Oliver, The Day (1994)

99. “I had too much fun was no one’s last regret ever.” ― Jonathan Heatt, The Last Regrets of the Dying (2011)

100. “You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough.” – Mae West, She Done Him Wrong (1933)

Now it's your turn — drop your favorite in the comments. Bonus points if you share why it resonates for you right now. 💛 💬

xo,
Dr. Sue