25 quotes for Thursdays to motivate and inspire you (2024)

The weekend is just around the corner. But before you shift into full-blown Friday mode, perhaps you need a little mood boost to power through your personal to-do list, go for a long walk or tackle your spring-cleaning agenda. Whatever the case, these Thursday quotes are at the ready to delight you, make you think and maybe even inspire you to sign up for that yoga class you’ve been meaning to take.

As we cross the bridge to the weekend’s gateway on Friday, we’ve still got to fire up the fuel left in our tank and accomplish tasks aplenty. To help you tap into that Thursday dose of motivation, we’ve rounded up 25 quotes designed to make you feel great and thrive. (And if you want more sayings and quotes to get you through every day of the week, be sure to peruse 75 Monday motivation quotes to start your week off strong and 50 motivational quotes to get you through the Wednesday slump.)

Write down your favorite quotes from the below assortment on sticky notes for an instant lift or share them with loved ones if they could use a pick-me-up. We’ve got quotes from authors (yes, John Steinbeck’s Sweet Thursday made the cut), song lyrics, and even a nursery rhyme or two thrown in the mix. Keep reading for our favorite Thursday quotes.

Thoughtful Thursday Quotes

• “Write it on your heart that every day is the best day in the year. He is rich who owns the day, and no one owns the day who allows it to be invaded with fret and anxiety.” ― Ralph Waldo Emerson

• “Choose to be optimistic, it feels better.” ― Dalai Lama XIV

• “‘What has my life meant so far, and what can it mean in the time left to me?’ And now we’re coming to the wicked, poisoned dart: ‘What have I contributed in the Great Ledger? What am I worth?’ And this isn’t vanity or ambition. Men seem to be born with a debt they can never pay no matter how hard they try. It piles up ahead of them. Man owes something to man. If he ignores the debt it poisons him, and if he tries to make payments the debt only increases, and the quality of his gift is the measure of the man.” ― John Steinbeck, "Sweet Thursday"

• “It is a common experience that a problem difficult at night is resolved in the morning after the committee of sleep has worked on it.” ― John Steinbeck, “Sweet Thursday”

• “What are you looking for, little man? Is it yourself you’re trying to identify? Are you looking at little things to avoid big things?” ― John Steinbeck, “Sweet Thursday”

• “Thursday’s child has far to go.” — Anonymous, “Monday’s Child Is Fair of Face,” nursery rhyme

• “Thursday come[s], and the week is gone.” — George Herbert "Jacula Prudentum"

• “So like a summer Thursday, I cry for rain / To come and turn the ground to green again.” — Townes Van Zandt, “Like a Summer Thursday”

• “Thursday’s such a crazy, lazy day.” — Harry Nilsson, “(Thursday) Here’s Why I Did Not Go to Work Today”

• “People should know, understand that not all Thursdays are the same.” ― Percival Everett, "The Trees"

• “Your life will be a great and continuous unfolding.” ― Cheryl Strayed, "Tiny Beautiful Things: Advice on Love and Life from Dear Sugar"

• “Convince yourself everyday that you are worthy of a good life. Let go of stress, breathe. Stay positive, all is well.” ― Germany Kent

• “You know that feeling when you wake up in the morning and you’re excited for the day? That’s one of my main goals in life.” ― Kirsten Dunst

• “Ask questions. Stay curious. It’s much more important to stay interested than to be interesting.” ― Jane Fonda

• “Keep your face always toward the sunshine — and shadows will fall behind you.” ― Walt Whitman

• “My soul is awakened, my spirit is soaring and carried aloft on the wings of the breeze.” ― Anne Brontë

• “There is no better compass than compassion.” ― Amanda Gorman

• “Surround yourself only with people who are going to take you higher.” ― Oprah Winfrey

• “I try to be available for life to happen to me.” ― Bill Murray

• “Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds that you plant.” ― Robert Louis Stevenson

• “A problem is a chance for you to do your best.” ― Duke Ellington, "Music is My Mistress"

• “Always laugh when you can, it is cheap medicine.” ― Lord Byron

• “Appreciation is a wonderful thing. It makes what is excellent in others belong to us as well.” ― Voltaire

• “You cannot change what you are, only what you do.” ― Philip Pullman, The Golden Compass

• “Thursday is practically Friday, and Friday is Friday.” — Malcolm Azania

This article was originally published on TODAY.com