Top 72 Quotes to Inspire You to Journal Today

For many people, quotes are an essential part of journaling. There are quotes to inspire you to do just about anything. When journaling for wellness, that makes a big difference.

Whether you use quotes as journal prompts or as cover art – there is always ways to add a few good quotes into your journaling routine. That’s why we’re listing all of the best quotes to inspire you to do x, y, and z. Who knows, maybe you’ll find a new favorite.

Words Inspire Words

Quotes get a bad rep as being “too cheesy”. Motivational posters and discount mugs have really done a lot to make quoting things cringe. This is a shame. Quotes have the power to be transformative.

But have you ever heard the cliché that good writers read? That’s because reading helps us discover knew ways of seeing and speaking about things. Quotes are no exception to the rule. They can literally help you find the words to describe something.

For journaling, this is so necessary. A quote might be exactly what you need to reframe a problem or dive into something you’ve been afraid of. Confidence. That’s what quotes can give us.

Where to Put Quotes

There is no wrong place to put quotes. If it makes sense for you and your journaling style, go for it. Still, if you are looking for some suggestions, here are some common favorites:

·        Design a journal cover using your quote

·        Write a journal page about what the quote reminds you of in your life

·        Make junk journal pages with the quote as a focal point

·        List some of your favorites and how you’ve used those quotes to inspire you

Quotes to Inspire You to Journal

Truth is, you need ways to express yourself through all phases of life. That is why there is never a bad time to journal. So, use these quotes to inspire you to journal.  You never know when that journal entry will be the one that changes everything.

When You Have “Nothing to Write About”

Thinking you have nothing to write about is almost always about perfectionism – one of the worst roadblocks when it comes to journaling. You can always write about something. It might be boring, repetitive, or nonsensical. But it is something. Still, beating perfectionism is way easier said than done. It takes work and repetition to let go of the societal push to be perfect. Use these quotes to inspire you to let go little by little.

1.        “Don’t let perfectionism become an excuse for never getting started.” – Marilu Henner

2.        “You can’t wait for inspiration, you have to go after it with a club.” – Jack London

3.        “Perfectionism is the voice of the oppressor, the enemy of the people. It will keep you insane your whole life.” – Anne Lamott

4.        “Perfect is the enemy of good.” – Voltaire

5.        “You only have to let the soft animal of your body love what it loves.” – Mary Oliver in Wild Geese

6.        “Everything is perfect and there is always room for improvement.” – Shunryu Suzuki

7.        “Have the courage to be imperfect.” – Alfre Adler

8.        “Excellence does not require perfection.” -Henry James

9.        “Let go of who you’re supposed to be and embrace who you are.” – Brené Brown

10.   “Sometimes good enough IS just perfect.” – Christina Morero

11.   “Personal growth is about progress, not perfection.” – Hal Elrod

12.   “Don’t wait for inspiration. It comes while working.” – Henri Matisse

13.   “I am a walking piece of art every day, with my dreams and my ambitions forward at all times.” – Lady Gaga

When You Feel Stuck in a Rut

If you’ve ever found yourself writing about the same topic in your journal over and over, you might be in a journaling rut. It happens to the best of us. A great way to shake things up is to try different journaling experiments to switch things up. Along the way, keep these quotes in mind.

14.   “New roads; new ruts.” – Gilber K. Chesterson

15.   “Happiness is loving the boring days.” – Thibaut

16.   “The shadows are as important as the light.” – Charlotte Brontë

17.   “If you really want closure…at some point, you have to shut the door.” – Jacki Wells Wunderlin

18.   “Change is hard at first, messy in the middle, and gorgeous at the end.” – Robin Sharma

19.    “You can’t start the next chapter of your life if you keep re-reading the last one.” – Michael McMillian

20.   “All things are difficult before they are easy.” – Thomas Fuller

21.   “Feel the rain on your skin, no one else can feel it for you.” Natasha Bedingfield

22.   “Life is short but it is wide. This too shall pass.” – Rebecca Wells

When Life is Going Good

One common fatal flaw in journaling is getting quiet when life gets good. Happier days deserve celebration and joy! This is the perfect time to build up you gratitude journal habit or dive into what good times feel like. With these positive quotes to inspire you, gratitude journaling might feel like second nature.

23.   “Gratitude looks to the Past and love to the Present; fear, avarice, lust, and ambition look ahead.” – C.S. Lewis in The Screwtape Letters

24.   “’Thank you’ is the best prayer that anyone could say.” – Alice Walker

25.   “’Enough’ is a feast.” – Buddhist Proverb

26.   “What separates privilege from entitlement is gratitude.” – Brené Brown

27.   “I am happy because I’m grateful. I choose to be grateful. That gratitude allows me to be happy.” – Will Arnett

28.   “This is a wonderful day. I have never seen this one before.” – Maya Angelou

29.   “When eating fruit, remember who planted the tree.” – Vietnamese Proverb

30.   “Gratitude turns what we have into enough and more.” – Melody Beattie

31.   “There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.” – Albert Einstein

32.   “Gratitude opens the door to the power, the wisdom, the creativity of the universe. You open the door through gratitude.” Deepak Chopra

33.   “The more grateful I am, the more beauty I see.” – Mary Davis

34.   “Stop now. Enjoy the moment. It’s now or never.” – Maxime Lagacé

When You Are Too Busy to Write

Been there. Sometimes life gets too full to journal all these time (although you should never feel pressure to journal every day). Guilt might pop up when this happens. Write Your Wellness is not the kind of blog to tell you “just journal anyway”. If it isn’t in the cards, it isn’t in the cards. This is when those beautiful art prompts come in handy. You can *quickly* look at these quotes whenever life is going too fast.

35.   “Caring for myself is not self-indulgence, it is self-preservation, and that is an act of political warfare.” – Audre Lorde

36.   “The trees that are slow to grow bear the best fruit.” – Moliere

37.   “When things happen too fast, nobody can be certain about anything, about anything at all, not even about himself.” – Milan Kundera

38.   “An empty lantern provides no light. Self-care is the fuel that allows your light to shine brightly.”- Unknown

39.   “We’re a species that rushes through everything, then complains that time flies.” – Steve Maraboli

40.   “Peace can be reached through meditation on the knowledge which dreams give. Peace can also be reached through concentration upon that which is dearest to the heart.” – Patanjali

41.   “Do not take life too seriously. You will never get out of it alive.” – Elbert Hubbard

42.   “Everything in the world can wait but one. Only love can’t wait.” – Catherine M. Wilson

When It Hurts Too Much to Write About

Sometimes big feelings need time before they can be written down into words. This is exactly what quotes are for. It can be comforting to read someone else’s words describe your inner world – especially when you can’t at the moment. Use these quotes to inspire you to trust the process and be comforted however you need to be.

43.   “Grief is itself a medicine.” – William Cowper

44.   “We are healed of a suffering only by experiencing it to the full.” – Marcel Proust

45.   “Given a choice between grief and nothing, I’d choose grief.” – Wiliam Faulkner

46.   “Forgiveness is healing…especially forgiving yourself.” – Alyson Noel in Evermore

47.   “Healing never came when I clawed in search of it. Instead, it came when I was willing to listen to the lesson the pain was here to teach me.” – Lauren Fortenberry

48.   “Given enough time and distance, the heart will always heal.” – Laura Fitgerald

49.   “Our sorrows and wounds are healed only when we touch them with compassion.” Buddha

50.   “It’s not a matter of letting go –you would if you could. Instead of ‘let it go’ we should probably say ‘let it be’.” – Job Kabat-Zinn

51.   “Some of us think holding on makes us strong but sometimes it is letting go.” Hermann Hesse

52.   “Surrender is a journey from outer turmoil to inner peace.” – Sri Chinmoy

53.   “Let reality be reality. Let things flow naturally forward in whatever way they like.” – Lao Tzu

When You Don’t Know Where to Start

They say the best place to start is the beginning. But what do you do when the beginning isn’t obvious? Well, when it comes to a journaling habit, you can use these resources to get started. But if we’re talking real life? Try these quotes for some direction.

54.   “If all you can do is crawl, then start crawling.” – Rumi

55.   “Start wherever you are and start small.” – Rita Bailey

56.   “Ideas won’t keep; something must be done about them.”  – Alferd North Whitehead

57.   “The beginning is always today.” – Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley

58.   “What would life be if we had no courage to attempt anything?” – Vincent Van Gogh

59.   “The only limit to our realization of tomorrow will be our doubts of today.” – Franklin D. Roosevelt

60.   ”Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can.” – Arthur Ashe

61.   “Don’t live your life regretting yesterday. Live your life so tomorrow you won’t regret today.” – Catherine Pulsifer

62.   “You may delay, but time will not.” Benjamin Franklin

63.   “I make so many beginnings, there never will be an end.” – Louisa May Alcott

64.   “The direction you choose to face determines whether you’re standing at the end or beginning of a road.” – Richelle E. Goodrich

When Journaling Isn’t Working

When people say that “journaling doesn’t work for them”, there are often many reasons why. Most of it boils down to what expectations they have. Journaling cannot fix all of the problems in you life. At best, it can only identify them. Real change happens with the actions you take outside of your journal. Use these quotes to inspire you to make all those plans reality.

65.   It isn’t what we say or think that defines us, but what we do.” – Jane Austen in Sense and Sensibility

66.   “What progress have I made? I have begun to be a friend to myself.” – Seneca

67.   “Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for.” – Barack Obama

68.   “Yesterday, I was clever, so I wanted to change the world. Today I am wise, so I am changing myself.” – Jalal al-Din Rumi

69.   “If you don’t like the road you’re walking, start paving another one.” – Dolly

70.   “Without change something sleeps inside us, and seldom awakens. The sleeper must awaken.” – Frank Herbet in Dune

71.   “Good things take time; better things take a little longer.” – Sanhita Baruah

72.   “Time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time.” – Marthe Troly-Curtin