Article image

14 Quotes To Start Your Morning on the Right Note

“Carpe diem,” the famous Latin saying from the Roman poet Horace that means “seize the day,” encourages us to live life to the fullest in the present moment. While we often think of it when presented with big opportunities or faced with important decisions, there may be no more powerful way to use it than as a simple everyday affirmation.

How we start our mornings sets the tone for the rest of the day, and making even a small effort to be positive can have a domino effect on everything else that comes after. But the power of positive thinking does so much more than make for a productive day; studies have shown that there is a strong link between being optimistic and good health. But don’t worry if it doesn’t feel natural to wake up and look on the bright side of things.

It's worth making an effort to cultivate a positive mindset each morning, whether that means practicing gratitude, looking at things from a different perspective, taking time to meditate, setting goals, or simply reminding ourselves that good things are possible.

Here, we’ve selected 14 motivating quotes that can also serve as simple mantras to help set the tone for your day when you wake up.

Make each day your masterpiece.
John Wooden

Share Quote

I have always been delighted at the prospect of a new day, a fresh try, one more start, with perhaps a bit of magic waiting somewhere behind the morning.
J.B. Priestley

Share Quote

Don’t count the days. Make the days count.
Muhammad Ali

Share Quote

You’ve got to get up every morning with determination if you’re going to bed with satisfaction.
George Horace Lorimer

Share Quote

Waking up this morning I smile. Twenty-four brand new hours before me. I vow to live fully each moment and to look at all beings with eyes of compassion.
Thích Nhất Hạnh

Share Quote

This is a wonderful day. I've never seen this one before.
Maya Angelou

Share Quote

Either you run the day or the day runs you.
Jim Rohn

Share Quote

Write it on your heart that every day is the best day in the year.
Ralph Waldo Emerson

Share Quote

One day you will wake up and there won’t be any more time to do the things you’ve always wanted. Do it now.
Paulo Coelho

Share Quote

Light tomorrow with today!
Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Share Quote

For each new morning let there be flow of love. Let there be light of happiness in every direction.
Amit Ray

Share Quote

This day is all I have and these hours are now my eternity.
Og Mandino

Share Quote

With the new day comes new strength and new thoughts.
Eleanor Roosevelt

Share Quote

The breeze at dawn has secrets to tell you. Don’t go back to sleep.
Rumi

Share Quote

Featured image credit: ThomasVogel/ iStock

Author image
About the Author
Nicole Villeneuve
Nicole is a writer, thrift store lover, and group-chat meme spammer based in Ontario, Canada.
Play more header background
Play more icon
Daily Question
Fill in the blank: "___ is a very powerful thing, more powerful than intellect." - Steve Jobs

More Inspiration

happiness theme icon

You can't lead the people if you don't love the people. You can't save the people, if you don't serve the people.

separator icon
Cornel West
motivation theme icon

Don't allow your rituals to become ruts.

separator icon
Todd Henry
hope theme icon

In art and dream may you proceed with abandon. In life may you proceed with balance and stealth.

separator icon
Patti Smith
love theme icon

Art is about finding creativity in the gutter next to you.

separator icon
Olafur Eliasson
wisdom theme icon

The winds and waves are always on the side of the ablest navigators.

separator icon
Edward Gibbon
happiness theme icon

A genuinely happy person is one who has rendered others happy.

separator icon
Daisaku Ikeda
motivation theme icon

Often when you think you’re at the end of something, you’re at the beginning of something else.

separator icon
Fred Rogers
hope theme icon

Nothing is ever really lost to us as long as we remember it.

separator icon
Lucy Maud Montgomery
love theme icon

A purpose of human life, no matter who is controlling it, is to love whoever is around to be loved.

separator icon
Kurt Vonnegut
wisdom theme icon

He who has peace of mind disturbs neither himself nor another.

separator icon
Epicurus
happiness theme icon

The universe is full of magical things patiently waiting for our wits to grow sharper.

separator icon
Eden Phillpotts