60+ Best Bucket List Quotes To Inspire You

Monisha Kochhar
Dec 12, 2023 By Monisha Kochhar
Originally Published on Jan 18, 2021
Edited by Monisha Kochhar
Bucket list on notebook with a pen and cup of coffee
Age: 0-99
Read time: 10.5 Min

Life is so unpredictable.

Don’t let your dreams and goals hang. Hurry up and add them to your bucket list.

Many people have a bucket list that they follow to achieve some of their wildest dreams and passions. Having a bucket list would inspire and remind you about your goals, and things you want to experience before “you kick the bucket”.

Different people have different bucket list ideas. Some are very easy, some are extreme yet could still inspire yours. Some of the top ten ideas include experiencing the Northern Lights, hiking in the Himalayas, swim in each of the major oceans, have a vacation in foreign cities, become a millionaire, start your own business, visit different beaches, a getaway trip with your friends, skydiving and getting married. Bucket list ideas could relate to your goals, profession, likings, personal development, health, wellness, and much more.

Here are some of the best bucket list quotes that will inspire you to follow your list. You may even find the best quote ever on this list if it really resonates with you! For more, you can also take a look at unforgettable memories quotes and you only live once quotes. 
 

Best Bucket List Quotes

Bucket list ideas reflect the things that appear the most appealing. It could list adventure, travel or even change. These bucket list quotes will act as an inspiration and boost your self-confidence to create your own.

1. “Every man’s life ends the same way. It is only the details of how he lived and how he died that distinguish one man from another.”

- Ernest Hemingway

2. “When life gives you the opportunity to check off a thing on the bucket list, you have to check them.”

- Ryan Tedder

3. "Everyone who got where he is has had to begin where he was.”

- Robert Louis Stevenson

4. “Everyone who's born has a mysterious life path to follow. We must live to find that one reason to live.”

- Suchet Chaturvedi

5. “It is not down in any map, true places never are.”  

- Henry Miller

6. “We’ve learned to find happiness with less, and we’ve become more open-minded and open-hearted. We’ve learned about other cultures and where they seek happiness. Good, happy people, I’ve learned, come from everywhere.”

-  Garrett Gee

7. “Stop dreaming about your bucket list and start living it.”

- Annette White

8. “Because in the end, you won’t remember the time you spent working in the office or mowing your lawn. Climb that goddamn mountain.”

- Jack Kerouac

9. “Remember, you can earn more money, but when time is spent it is gone forever.”

- Zig Ziglar

Inspiring Bucket List Quotes

Sometimes life can be bumpy. But don’t give up. Keep holding tight and follow your bucket list. We are Here are inspiring bucket list quotes from various authors to get that adventure started.

10. “Some of the world’s greatest feats were accomplished by people not smart enough to know they were impossible.”

- Doug Larson

11. “Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all of one’s lifetime.”

- Mark Twain

12. “I don't have a bucket list because it is my dedication to live every day of my life there. I don't have a bucket list because I'm doing it that day. I don't want to go to bed and say, 'Oh, I wish I had done this.'”

- Melissa Etheridge

13. “If your dreams don’t scare you, they are too small.”

- Richard Branson

14. “The biggest adventure you can take is to live the life of your dreams.”

- Oprah Winfrey

15. “Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.”

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

16. “Have you arrived at your happy day by day yet, or are you waiting for a happy ending that will never actually arrive? There's no happy ever after – Only, happy right now!”

- Jimmy Tudeski

17. “If we did the things we are capable of, we would astound ourselves.”

- Thomas Edison

Inspirational Travel Quotes

healthy teenager school boy enjoying activity in a climbing adventure park

Quotes about travel are perfect for bucket lists. Traveling to faraway lands meeting fellow travelers is the stuff of dreams. Here are some short travel quotes and journey quotes ideas.

18. “Live life with no excuses, travel with no regret.”  

- Oscar Wilde

19. “During our travels we focus on three things: adventure, culture, and service."

- Garrett Gee

20. “I see my path, but I don’t know where it leads. Not knowing where I’m going is what inspires me to travel it.”

- Rosalia de Castro

Motivating Bucket List Quotes

A bucket list is made by many, but is followed by less. Keep going with some of these best motivating bucket list quotes to cross off your list.

21. “If you want your life to be a magnificent story, then begin by realizing that you are the author and everyday you have the opportunity to write a new page.”

- Mark Houlahan

22. “Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.”

- Mahatma Gandhi

23. “If you find yourself in a hole, the first to do is to stop digging.”

- Will Rogers

24. “Some beautiful paths can’t be discovered without getting lost.”

- Erol Ozan

25. “Many people die with their music still in them. Why is this so? Too often it is because they are always getting ready to live. Before they know it, time runs out.”

- Oliver Wendell Holmes

26. “Some people want it to happen, some wish it would happen, others make it happen.”

- Michael Jordan

27. “You know, the ancient Egyptians had a beautiful belief about death. When their souls got to the entrance to heaven, the guards asked two questions. Their answers determined whether they were able to enter or not. 'Have you found joy in your life?' 'Has your life brought joy to others?'”

- Morgan Freeman

Beautiful Bucket List Quotes

Everyone should have a bucket list to ensure they achieve dreams and goals. Here are beautiful bucket list quotes to inspire you.

28. “In the end, it’s not the years in your life that count. It’s the life in your years.”

- Abraham Lincoln

29. “A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.”

- Winston Churchill

30. “By recording your dreams and goals on paper, you set in motion the process of becoming the person you most want to be.”

- Mark Victor Hansen

31. “Two roads diverged in a wood and I – I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.”

-  Robert Frost

32. “I haven't been everywhere, but it's on my list.”

- Susan Sontag

33. “Live your life by a compass, not a clock.”

- Stephen R. Covey

34. “At first dreams seem impossible, then improbable, then inevitable.”

- Christopher Reeves

35. “Why do you go away? So that you can come back. So that you can see the place you came from with new eyes and extra colors. And the people there see you differently, too. Coming back to where you started is not the same as never leaving.”

- Terry Pratchett

Great Bucket List Quotes

Life’s tough sometimes but a bucket list can change that. These quotes will inspire adventure. Whether it's travel and exploring the world you want or just more excitement, a bucket list can help bring this about more easily.

36. “Life isn’t about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself.”

- George Bernard Shaw

37. “The purpose of life, after all, is to live it, to taste experience to the utmost, to reach out eagerly and without fear for newer and richer experience.”

- Eleanor Roosevelt

38. “What you get by achieving your goals is not as important as what you become by achieving your goals”

- Zig Ziglar

39. “Man cannot discover new oceans unless he has courage to lose sight of the shoreline.”  

- Andre Gide

40. “If you live a life of make-believe, your life isn't worth anything until you do something that does challenge your reality. And to me, sailing the open ocean is a real challenge, because it's life or death.”

- Morgan Freeman

41. “We don’t get a chance to do that many things, and each one should be really excellent. Because these are our lives.”

- Steve Jobs

Fascinating Bucket List Quotes

Bucket lists are not only endearing but also fascinating. They remind you to keep working hard towards your dreams and goals, travel, experience, explore, and achieve whatever you wish to. We are here with some of the fascinating bucket list quotes to motivate you to experience this.

42. “Don’t die without embracing the daring adventure your life is meant to be.”

- Steve Pavlina

43. “If you don’t build your dream, someone else will hire you to build theirs”

- Tony Gaskins

44. “Wherever you go, go with all your heart.”  

- Confucius

45. “To accomplish great things, we must not only act, but also dream; not only plan, but also believe.”

- Anatole France

46. “I’m in love with cities I’ve never been to and people I’ve never met.”

- John Green

47. “I can't imagine a person becoming a success who doesn't give this game of life everything he's got.”

- Walter Cronkite

48. “If it scares you, it might be a good thing to try.”

- Seth Godin

49. “Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”

- Mark Twain

50. “One day you will wake up and there won’t be any more time to do the things you have always wanted. Do it now.”

- Paulo Coelho

51. “All men dream, but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds, wake in the day to find that it was vanity: but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act on their dreams with open eyes, to make them possible.”

- T. E. Lawrence

Enjoyable Bucket List Quotes

There’s a new zeal of enjoyment with achieving your goals and dreams and crossing it off your bucket list. Let’s take a look at some of the most enjoyable bucket list quotes that display the feeling of fulfillment and motivate you to do the same.

52. “Once a year, go someplace you’ve never been before.”  

- Dalai Lama

53. “Follow your bliss, and doors will open for you that you never knew existed. Follow your bliss and the universe will open doors for you where there were only walls."

- Joseph Campbell

54. “If you obey all the rules you miss all the fun.”

- Katharine Hepburn

55. “Dare to live the life you have dreamed for yourself. Go forward and make your dreams come true.”

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

56. “Never get so busy making a living that you forget to make a life.”  

- Dolly Parton

57. “Life has taught us that love does not consist in gazing at each other, but in looking together in the same direction.”

- Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

58. “Minutes are worth more than money. Spend them wisely.”

- Thomas P. Murphy

59. “If we were meant to stay in one place, we’d have roots instead of feet.”

- Rachel Wolchin

Funny Bucket List Quotes

Different phases of life bring out varied goals and passions that you would want to achieve no matter what. We are here to inspire and motivate you with some of the best funny bucket list ideas to keep you rolling with it.

60. “I won't make a bucket list because I'm so afraid that I'll die and then people will find my bucket list and be, like, 'Oh, she didn't get to do that.'”

- Emma Stone

61. “I love flying. I’ve been to almost as many places as my luggage.”

- Bob Hope

62. “As soon as anyone starts telling you to be realistic, cross that person off your invitation list.”

- John Eliot

Here at Kidadl, we have carefully created lots of interesting family-friendly quotes for everyone to enjoy! If you liked our suggestions for 60+ Best Bucket List Quotes To Inspire Youthen why not take a look at some of our other works you can do anything quotes, or unstoppable quotes.

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Written by Monisha Kochhar

Bachelor of Arts Hons specializing in Modern Languages (French and Spanish)

Monisha Kochhar picture

Monisha KochharBachelor of Arts Hons specializing in Modern Languages (French and Spanish)

A Modern Languages graduate from the University College London, Monisha with a passion for travel and exploring different cultures. She is fluent in French and Spanish and is currently learning Hindi. Monisha enjoys discovering new foods and is an avid sports fan, following soccer and Formula 1. In her spare time, she enjoys playing tennis and watching TV shows.

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