45 Monday motivation quotes to start the week

Monday gets a bad reputation, but it's the one morning that sets the pace for everything after it. The Monday motivation quotes below are grouped by what you might actually need on a given week — a fresh start, a push to begin, the discipline to keep going, or a reminder that the work itself is the point. Every line comes from a real person who earned the right to say it: founders, athletes, writers, scientists, and leaders. Pick the one that fits and keep it somewhere you'll see it.

Monday motivation quotes to start a new week

A new week is the easiest place to reset, so start here.

1. "The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing." - Walt Disney
2. "Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can." - Arthur Ashe
3. "At dawn, when you have trouble getting out of bed, tell yourself: 'I have to go to work - as a human being. What do I have to complain of, if I'm going to do what I was born for?'" - Marcus Aurelius, Meditations
4. "With the new day comes new strength and new thoughts." - Eleanor Roosevelt
5. "Write it on your heart that every day is the best day in the year." - Ralph Waldo Emerson
6. "Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could." - Ralph Waldo Emerson
7. "Nothing in life is to be feared, it is only to be understood. Now is the time to understand more, so that we may fear less." - Marie Curie

Motivational Monday quotes about momentum

For the mornings when you just need a push to begin.

1. "Either you run the day or the day runs you." - Jim Rohn
2. "Motivation is what gets you started. Habit is what keeps you going." - Jim Rohn
3. "People often say that motivation doesn't last. Well, neither does bathing - that's why we recommend it daily." - Zig Ziglar
4. "You miss 100 percent of the shots you don't take." - Wayne Gretzky
5. "Whatever the mind can conceive and believe, it can achieve." - Napoleon Hill
6. "The big secret in life is that there is no big secret. Whatever your goal, you can get there if you're willing to work." - Oprah Winfrey
7. "The only way to do great work is to love what you do." - Steve Jobs

Powerful Monday motivation quotes about discipline

When motivation runs out, discipline is what's left.

1. "Discipline equals freedom." - Jocko Willink
2. "Discipline is the bridge between goals and accomplishment." - Jim Rohn
3. "Success is nothing more than a few simple disciplines, practiced every day." - Jim Rohn
4. "Amateurs sit and wait for inspiration, the rest of us just get up and go to work." - Stephen King, On Writing
5. "We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit." - Will Durant
6. "We become just by doing just acts, temperate by doing temperate acts, brave by doing brave acts." - Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics
7. "A small daily task, if it be really daily, will beat the labours of a spasmodic Hercules." - Anthony Trollope
8. "It is wonderful how much may be done if we are always doing." - Thomas Jefferson
9. "Never leave that till tomorrow which you can do today." - Benjamin Franklin

Monday motivation quotes for work and success

Lines for the desk, the locker room, and the inbox - many from leaders who built something, and you'll find more of them in our roundup of the best leadership quotes.

1. "Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration." - Thomas Edison
2. "There is no substitute for hard work." - Thomas Edison
3. "A dream doesn't become reality through magic; it takes sweat, determination, and hard work." - Colin Powell
4. "There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure." - Colin Powell
5. "Nothing will work unless you do." - Maya Angelou
6. "I've failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed." - Michael Jordan
7. "Hard work beats talent when talent doesn't work hard." - Tim Notke
8. "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." - Pelé
9. "I never dreamed about success. I worked for it." - Estée Lauder
10. "Nothing ever comes to one, that is worth having, except as a result of hard work." - Booker T. Washington
11. "The difference between a successful person and others is not a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but rather a lack of will." - Vince Lombardi
12. "Success is the sum of small efforts, repeated day in and day out." - Robert Collier

Happy Monday quotes for a better mindset

A lighter set to start the week in a good headspace.

1. "Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement. Nothing can be done without hope and confidence." - Helen Keller
2. "The best way out is always through." - Robert Frost
3. "You may encounter many defeats, but you must not be defeated." - Maya Angelou
4. "Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life." - Steve Jobs

Short Monday inspirational quotes

Short enough to write on a sticky note or post as your Monday status.

1. "Don't watch the clock; do what it does. Keep going." - Sam Levenson
2. "Well done is better than well said." - Benjamin Franklin
3. "Lost time is never found again." - Benjamin Franklin
4. "There are no gains without pains." - Benjamin Franklin
5. "Energy and persistence conquer all things." - Benjamin Franklin
6. "There are no shortcuts to any place worth going." - Beverly Sills

Making a Monday quote memorable

A quote is a spark, not a plan. The ones that last are the ones you act on, so write down the line that landed and attach it to one small thing you'll do before noon. If you want that spark to become a routine instead of a one-off, that's the idea behind the best self-improvement apps — small daily reps you keep. And if you find yourself collecting words that change how you carry yourself, our list of communication quotes is a good next read.

RiseGuide turns that into practice: short, daily lessons built from the insights of experts in communication, confidence, and productivity, so a Monday you feel motivated becomes a week you actually follow through on.