44 procrastination quotes to get you moving

Sometimes the nudge to stop putting things off comes from a single good line. These procrastination quotes are here for that moment, grouped by what you need: motivational quotes for procrastination to get you going, funny lines that make the habit feel less heavy, and famous quotes about procrastination that put it in perspective. Read the group that fits your mood, pick the one that lands, and let it move you from reading to doing. For a lift heading into the week, our Monday motivation quotes pair well with these.

Motivational procrastination quotes to get you moving

1. "A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step." — Lao Tzu
2. "Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can." — Arthur Ashe
3. "You don't have to be great to start, but you have to start to be great." — Zig Ziglar
4. "You miss 100 percent of the shots you don't take." — Wayne Gretzky
5. "Amateurs sit and wait for inspiration, the rest of us just get up and go to work." — Stephen King
6. "You can't build a reputation on what you are going to do." — Henry Ford
7. "If you hear a voice within you say 'you cannot paint,' then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced." — Vincent van Gogh
8. "If you spend too much time thinking about a thing, you'll never get it done." — Bruce Lee

Quotes about procrastination and time

1. "Procrastination is the thief of time." — Edward Young
2. "You may delay, but time will not." — Benjamin Franklin
3. "While we are postponing, life speeds by." — Seneca
4. "Seize the day, and put as little trust as you can in tomorrow." — Horace
5. "Gather ye rosebuds while ye may, old time is still a-flying." — Robert Herrick
6. "Nothing is so fatiguing as the eternal hanging on of an uncompleted task." — William James
7. "Don't let the fear of the time it will take to accomplish something stand in the way of your doing it." — Earl Nightingale
8. "Lost time is never found again." — Benjamin Franklin

Famous quotes about procrastination

1. "Procrastination is the thief of time; collar him!" — Charles Dickens
2. "Never put off till tomorrow what you can do today." — Thomas Jefferson
3. "No idleness, no laziness, no procrastination: never put off till tomorrow what you can do today." — Lord Chesterfield
4. "By the street of by-and-by one arrives at the house of never." — Miguel de Cervantes
5. "In delay there lies no plenty." — William Shakespeare
6. "Do not put your work off till tomorrow and the day after; for a sluggish worker does not fill his barn." — Hesiod
7. "Procrastination is the bad habit of putting off until the day after tomorrow what should have been done the day before yesterday." — Napoleon Hill
8. "A small daily task, if it be really daily, will beat the labours of a spasmodic Hercules." — Anthony Trollope

Funny procrastination quotes

1. "Never put off till tomorrow what you can do the day after tomorrow just as well." — Mark Twain
2. "I love deadlines. I love the whooshing noise they make as they go by." — Douglas Adams
3. "Procrastination is the art of keeping up with yesterday." — Don Marquis
4. "Procrastination is like a credit card: it's a lot of fun until you get the bill." — Christopher Parker
5. "If it weren't for the last minute, nothing would get done." — Rita Mae Brown
6. "Anyone can do any amount of work, provided it isn't the work he is supposed to be doing at that moment." — Robert Benchley
7. "Procrastinate now, don't put it off." — Ellen DeGeneres
8. "Procrastination is my sin. It brings me naught but sorrow. I know that I should stop it. In fact, I will — tomorrow!" — Gloria Pitzer
9. "Writing is easy. All you do is stare at a blank sheet of paper until drops of blood form on your forehead." — Gene Fowler
10. "It's not that I'm lazy, it's that I just don't care." — Peter Gibbons, in Office Space

Quotes on procrastination to help you start

1. "Procrastination makes easy things hard and hard things harder." — Mason Cooley
2. "Procrastination is opportunity's assassin." — Victor Kiam
3. "Someday is a disease that will take your dreams to the grave with you." — Tim Ferriss
4. "Putting things off is the biggest waste of life." — Seneca
5. "Never leave that till tomorrow which you can do today." — Benjamin Franklin

Procrastination quotes for students and work

1. "You can do anything, but not everything." — David Allen
2. "Working is one of the most dangerous forms of procrastination." — Gretchen Rubin
3. "The best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago. The second best time is now." — Chinese proverb
4. "I never notice what has been done; I only see what remains to be done." — Marie Curie
5. "Successful people are simply those with successful habits." — Brian Tracy

Conclusion

A quote only helps if it moves you to do something. Pick the one line here that hit hardest, and pair it with the smallest possible first step: five minutes, one paragraph, a single email. The quote sets the intention, and the small step gets you past the stall. For more in the same spirit, our boundaries quotes help you protect the time you free up, and if you want a tool to build the habit, these self-improvement apps can keep you moving.