102 Inspiring Progress Quotes To Keep You Moving Forward

Martha Martins
Sep 19, 2023 By Martha Martins
Originally Published on Mar 18, 2021
Excited woman working in office
?
Age: 0-99
Read time: 12.3 Min

The most powerful quote is one that can inspire you like nothing else.

Progress quotes are extremely powerful since they are positive. Positive quotes are those that fill you with enthusiasm and teach you to never give up.

We know that progress is not possible without hard work. Progress quotes teach us to have patience and keep going and remind us to never give up.

Remember, as Megan Auman once said in her hugely powerful quote, "Slow progress is still progress." Here are some of the most uplifting progress quotes that will make you want to give your best at everything in life.

If you like these progress quotes, you may also want to check out these keep going quotes and spiritual growth quotes.
 

The Best Progress Quotes

Young business woman using a bicyle to reach her office

Here are some of the best quotes on progress.

1. "My own experience and development deepen every day my conviction that our moral progress may be measured by the degree in which we sympathize with individual suffering and individual joy."

- George Eliot.

2. “The only time you should ever look back is to see how far you've come.”

- Bangtan Boys.

3. “The reasonable man adapts himself to the world: the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man.”

- George Bernard Shaw.

4. "Progress in the spiritual life comes from climbing a ladder of which the rungs are made alternately of belief and doubt."

- Edward Patey.

5. "The greater part of progress is the desire to progress."

- Seneca the Younger.

6. “Progress means getting nearer to the place you want to be... If you are on the wrong road, progress means doing an about-turn and walking back to the right road; and in that case the man who turns back soonest is the most progressive man.”

- C.S. Lewis.

7. “Human progress is neither automatic nor inevitable… Every step toward the goal of justice requires sacrifice, suffering, and struggle; the tireless exertions and passionate concern of dedicated individuals.”

- Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

8. "Only mediocrities progress. An artist revolves in a cycle of masterpieces, the first of which is no less perfect than the last."

- Oscar Wilde.

9. "There are no constraints on the human mind, no walls around the human spirit, no barriers to our progress except those we ourselves erect."

- Ronald Reagan.

10. "When any real progress is made, we unlearned and learn anew what we thought we knew before."

- Henry David Thoreau.

11. "We have stopped believing in progress. What progress that is!"

- Jorge Luis Borges.

12. “The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little.”

- Franklin D. Roosevelt.

13. “Progress consists only in the greater clarification of answers to the basic questions of life.”

– Leo Tolstoy.

14. "Progress, far from consisting in change, depends on retentiveness. Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."

- George Santayana.

15. "The world hates change, yet it is the only thing that has brought progress."

- Charles Kettering.

16. "As we progress along our path, our experiences help us to define our own character."

- Richard Allan Krieger.

17. "Progress changes consciousness, and when people's consciousness changes, then their awareness of what is possible changes as well - a virtuous circle."

- William J. Clinton.

18. "All progress is based upon a universal innate desire on the part of every organism to live beyond its income."

- Samuel Butler.

19. "Too much looking backward... is bad for progress."

- Henry Ward Beecher.

20. "Progress, therefore, is not an accident, but a necessity… It is a part of nature."

- Herbert Spencer.

21. "The simple faith in progress is not a conviction belonging to strength, but one belonging to acquiescence and hence to weakness."

- Norbert Wiener.

22. "Letting a hundred flowers blossom and a hundred schools of thought contend is the policy for promoting the progress of the arts and the sciences and a flourishing culture in our land."

- Mao Zedong.

Uplifting Progress Quotes

Here are some of the best and most uplifting inspirational quotes about progress.

23. "If you're walking down the right path and you're willing to keep walking, eventually you'll make progress."

- Barack Obama.

24. “Healthy discontent is the prelude to progress.”

– Mahatma Gandhi.

25. "The characteristic of scientific progress is our knowing that we did not know."

- Gaston Bachelard.

26.

"You need to place the right people in your life, and you need to make sure that the way in which you live your life and the environment in which you do is in and of itself is one that is conducive to your progress, and if it's not, you need to do everything within your power to change it."

- Rachel Rebecca Wisdom.

27. "Progress occurs when courageous, skillful leaders seize the opportunity to change things for the better."

- Harry S Truman.

28. “Failure is success in progress.”

- Albert Einstein.

29. "There is progress whether ye are going forward or backward! The thing is to move."

- Edgar Cayce.

30. "I think it's the end of progress if you stand still and think of what you've done in the past. I keep on."

- Leslie Caron.

31. "Pursuing perfection, rather than progress, can set you up for a life of disappointment and inevitable failure. Strive for progress, not perfection."

- Unknown.*

32. "Every day you may make progress. Every step may be fruitful. Yet there will stretch out before you an ever-lengthening, ever-ascending, ever-improving path."

- Winston Churchill.

33. "He who rejects change is the architect of decay. The only human institution which rejects progress is the cemetery."

- Harold Wilson.

34. “Comfort is the enemy of progress.”

– P. T. Barnum.

35. "If there is no struggle, there is no progress."

– Frederick Douglass.

36. “No matter how many mistakes you make or how slow you progress, you are still way ahead of everyone who isn’t trying.”

– Tony Robbins.

37. “Progress is not in enhancing what is, but in advancing toward what will be.”

- Khalil Gibran.

38. “I was taught that the way of progress was neither swift nor easy.”

– Marie Curie.

39. "Actively recognizing progress towards your goal will ultimately end up inspiring you and have you pushing even harder."

- Denzel J. Wellington.

40. "Progress and innovation happen when you set unrealistic goals."

- Simon Sinek.

41. "We are trying to prove ourselves wrong as quickly as possible, because only in that way can we find progress."

- Richard P. Feynman.

42. “Always concentrate on how far you have come, rather than how far you have left to go. The difference in how easy it seems will amaze you.”

– Heidi Johnson.

43. “Always be a work in progress.”

– Emily Lillian.

44. “Some quit due to slow progress. Never grasping the fact that slow progress is progress.”

– Jeff Olson.

45. "The progress from virtue towards vice is gradual and insensible."

- Lippincott.

46. “All progress occurs because people dare to be different.”

- Harry Millner.

47. "Each man must learn his own ideal and try to accomplish it: that is a surer way of progress than to take the ideas of another."

- Romain Rolland.

Uplifting Quotes About Success

Here you will find some uplifting quotes on the struggle to success.

48. "Success does not consist in never making mistakes but in never making the same one a second time."

-  George Bernard Shaw.

49. "Success is a state of mind. If you want success, start thinking of yourself as a success."

- Joyce Brothers.

50. "Without self-discipline, success is impossible, period."

- Lou Holtz.

51. "Coming together is a beginning; keeping together is progress; working together is success."

- Edward Everett Hale.

52. "Winners are not afraid of losing. But losers are. Failure is part of the process of success. People who avoid failure also avoid success."

- Robert Kiyosaki.

53. "Without continual growth and progress, such words as improvement, achievement, and success have no meaning."

– Benjamin Franklin.

54. "There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure."

- Colin Powell.

55. "It is literally true that you can succeed best and quickest by helping others to succeed."

- Napoleon Hill.

56. "I've missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I've lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I've been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I've failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed."

- Michael Jordan.

57. "Success means having the courage, the determination, and the will to become the person you believe you were meant to be."

- George A. Sheehan.

Inspiring Quotes About Growth

Here are some quotes on growth that you can look forward to.

58. "A little progress every day adds up to big results.”

- Satya.

59. "Unless you try to do something beyond what you have already mastered, you will never grow."

- Ralph Waldo Emerson.

60. “Never discourage anyone... who continually makes progress, no matter how slow.”

- Plato.

61. "Growth is a spiral process, doubling back on itself, reassessing and regrouping."

- Julia Margaret Cameron.

62. "Everyone wants to live on top of the mountain, but all the happiness and growth occurs while you're climbing it."

- Andy Rooney.

63. "Development is a universal process that is also your personal challenge."

- Alfred Henry.

64. "Each stage of development, remember, has a dialectic of progress - in plain language, every new development is good news, bad news."

- Ken Wilber.

65. "I'm a big believer in growth. Life is not about achievement, it's about learning and growth, and developing qualities like compassion, patience, perseverance, love, and joy, and so forth."

- Jack Canfield.

66. "Ever since I was a child I have had this instinctive urge for expansion and growth. To me, the function and duty of a quality human being is the sincere and honest development of one's potential."

- Bruce Lee.

67. "Progress and growth are impossible if you always do things the way you've always done things."

- Wayne Dyer.

68. "Where there is age there is evolution, where there is life there is growth."

- Anjelica Huston.

69. "Seeds of faith are always within us; sometimes it takes a crisis to nourish and encourage their growth."

- Susan L. Taylor.

70. "It's important to balance the drudgery with inspiration. It's a nightmare if you are just existing in the present project - you don't feel a sense of your own growth."

- Peter Wolf.

71. "All the great spiritual traditions have placed major emphasis upon meditation as a path to personal growth."

- David Fontana.

Famous Progress Quotes

Here are some of the most famous progress quotes, including the most powerful quote from Frank Zappa: "Without deviation from the norm, progress is not possible."

72. "The best road to progress is freedom's road."

- John F. Kennedy.

73. “You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.”

- Buckminster Fuller.

74. “There is no progress or accomplishment without sacrifice.”

- Idowu Koyenikan.

75. "The first condition of progress is the removal of censorship."

- George Bernard Shaw.

76. "Progress isn't made by early risers. It's made by lazy men trying to find easier ways to do something."

- Robert Heinlein.

77. "I'll go anywhere as long as it's forward."

- Barack Obama.

78. "Without deviation from the norm, progress is not possible."

– Frank Zappa.

79. "Progress grows out of motion."

- Richard E. Byrd.

80. "Every step of progress the world has made has been from scaffold to scaffold, and from stake to stake."

- Wendell Phillips.

81. "Changes call for innovation, and innovation leads to progress."

- Li Keqiang.

82. "The art of progress is to preserve order amid change and to preserve change amid order."

- Alfred North Whitehead.

83. "We are the nation of human progress, and who will, what can, set limits to our onward march? Providence is with us, and no earthly power can."

- John L. O'Sullivan.

84. “Progress is impossible without change, and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything.”

- George Bernard Shaw.

85. "True progress quietly and persistently moves along without notice."

- Saint Francis de Sales.

86. "It doesn't matter which side of the fence you get off on sometimes. What matters most is getting off! You cannot make progress without making decisions."

- Jim Rohn.

87. “All progress is experimental.”

– John Jay Chapman.

88. "Nature knows no pause in progress and development, and attaches her curse on all inaction."

- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.

89. "The reason men oppose progress is not that they hate progress, but that they love inertia."

- Elbert Hubbard.

90. "Progress is a nice word. But change is its motivator. And change has its enemies."

- Robert Kennedy.

91. "Like the turtle, you need to stick your neck out to make progress."

- Anna Olson.

92. "Change is not always progress. A fever of newness has everywhere been confused with the spirit of progress."

- Henry Ford

93. "Civilization is the progress toward a society of privacy. The savage's whole existence is public, ruled by the laws of his tribe. Civilization is the process of setting man free from men."

- Ayn Rand.

94. "Technological progress has merely provided us with more efficient means for going backwards."

- Aldous Huxley.

95. “It’s not about success, it’s about progress.”

– Anthony Robbins.

96. "Progress is the attraction that moves humanity."

- Marcus Garvey.

97. "I feel good because I believe I have made progress in rebuilding the people's trust in their government."

- Arnold Schwarzenegger.

98. "Substantial progress toward better things can rarely be taken without developing new evils requiring new remedies."

- William Howard Taft.

99. "A party of order or stability, and a party of progress or reform, are both necessary elements of a healthy state of political life."

- John Stuart Mill.

100. "Science is the only self-correcting human institution, but it also is a process that progresses only by showing itself to be wrong."

- Allan Sandage.

101. "Problems are the price of progress. Don't bring me anything but trouble. Good news weakens me."

- Charles Kettering.

102. "Each morning my characters greet me with misty faces willing, though chilled, to muster for another day's progress through the dazzling quicksand the marsh of blank paper."

- John Updike.

Here at Kidadl, we have carefully created lots of interesting family-friendly quotes for everyone to enjoy! If you liked our suggestions for progress quotes then why not take a look at these [proverbs quotes] or purpose driven life quotes too?

*Do you know where this quote originated? Please email us to let us know at hello@kidadl.com.

We Want Your Photos!
We Want Your Photos!

We Want Your Photos!

Do you have a photo you are happy to share that would improve this article?
Email your photos

More for You

See All

Written by Martha Martins

Bachelor of Arts specializing in Linguistics

Martha Martins picture

Martha MartinsBachelor of Arts specializing in Linguistics

Martha is a full-time creative writer, content strategist, and aspiring screenwriter who communicates complex thoughts and ideas effectively. She has completed her Bachelor's in Linguistics from Nasarawa State University. As an enthusiast of public relations and communication, Martha is well-prepared to substantially impact your organization as your next content writer and strategist. Her dedication to her craft and commitment to delivering high-quality work enables her to create compelling content that resonates with audiences.

Read full bio >