72 Progress Quotes That Will Inspire You to Keep Going

Are you looking for some extra motivation? Then you need to read these progress quotes! 

I have compiled a collection of quotes about progress that will motivate you to keep going, focus on making progress instead of just procrastinating or doing busy work, and most of all, never to give up. 

If you have a big goal to reach, you need to do a lot of hard work and you need to continue even when you feel like you’re not making any progress or it’s just not worth it. Those feelings are completely normal, but you must not let them win. You have so much potential and if you just put in the effort, only the sky’s the limit when it comes to what you can accomplish. 

When you’re feeling unmotivated or discouraged, inspirational quotes can help. They remind you of what progress really is and why you need to keep going. 

These are some of the best quotes about progress you can find, so go ahead and read them. And after that, it’s time to actually go make some progress! 

72 Quotes about progress

1. “Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better.”
— Maya Angelou

2. “If you’re walking down the right path and you’re willing to keep walking, eventually you’ll make progress.”
— Barack Obama

3. “Progress is the activity of today and the assurance of tomorrow.”
— Ralph Waldo Emerson

4. “Progress is impossible without change, and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything.”
— George Bernard Shaw

5. “One step at a time is all it takes to get you there.”
— Emily Dickinson

6. “Big achievements come one small advantage at a time, one step at a time, one day at time.”
— Jim Rohn

7. “Nothing happens without focus. Don’t try to do everything at once. Take it one step at a time.”
— Dave Ramsey

8. “Courage means to keep making forward progress while you still feel afraid!”
— Joyce Meyer

9. “Progress is impossible without change.”
— Walt Disney

10. “Failure is success in progress.”
— Albert Einstein

11. “Slow, steady progress is better than daily excuses.” 
— Robin Sharma

12. “Without continual growth and progress, such words as improvement, achievement, and success have no meaning.”
— Benjamin Franklin

13. “The secret of getting ahead is getting started.”
— Mark Twain

14. “Every optimist moves along with progress and hastens it, while every pessimist would keep the worlds at a standstill.” 
— Helen Keller

15. “Don’t try to rush progress. Remember — a step forward, no matter how small, is a step in the right direction. Keep believing.”
— Kara Goucher

16. “Unless we progress, we regress.”
— Dwight D. Eisenhower

17. “Celebrate what you’ve accomplished, but raise the bar a little higher each time you succeed.”
— Mia Hamm

18. “Success isn’t always about greatness. It’s about consistency. Consistent hard work leads to success. Greatness will come.” 
— Dwayne Johnson

19. “Without deviation from the norm, progress is not possible.”
― Frank Zappa

20. “The best road to progress is freedom’s road.”
— John F. Kennedy

21. “True progress quietly and persistently moves along without notice.”
— Saint Francis de Sales

22. “Little progress is better than no progress at all. Success comes in taking many small steps. If you stumble in a small step, it rarely matters. Don’t gift wrap the garbage. Let little failures go.”
— John C. Maxwell

23. “The only thing standing between you and outrageous success is continuous progress.” 
—Dan Waldschmidt

24. “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. You know you will never get to the end of the journey. But this, so far from discouraging, only adds to the joy and glory of the climb.”
— Winston Churchill

25. “All progress takes place outside the comfort zone.”
― Michael John Bobak

26. “Problems are the price of progress. Don’t bring me anything but trouble. Good news weakens me.”
— Charles Kettering

27. “Our progress in degeneracy appears to me to be pretty rapid.”
— Abraham Lincoln

28. “If there is no struggle, there is no progress.”
— Frederick Douglass

29. “You don’t make progress by standing on the sidelines, whimpering and complaining. You make progress by implementing ideas.” 
— Shirley Chisholm

30. “Wherever you are in your journey, I hope you, too, will keep encountering challenges. It is a blessing to be able to survive them, to be able to keep putting one foot in front of the other—to be in a position to make the climb up life’s mountain, knowing that the summit still lies ahead. And every experience is a valuable teacher.”
― Oprah Winfrey

31. “Progress lies not in enhancing what is, but in advancing toward what will be.”
— Khalil Gibran

32. “You simply have to put one foot in front of the other and keep going. Put blinders on and plow right ahead.” 
— George Lucas

33. “When you set out to accomplish something, recognize that slow, steady progress over time can lead to big success.” 
— Erica Hudson

34. “Coming together is a beginning; keeping together is progress; working together is success.” 
— Henry Ford

35. “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

36. “There are many ways of going forward, but only one way of standing still.”
— Franklin D. Roosevelt

37. “We must progress to the stage of doing all the right things for all the right reasons instead of doing all the right things for all the wrong reasons.”
—  Buckminster Fuller

38. “Believe in yourself, take on your challenges, dig deep within yourself to conquer fears. Never let anyone bring you down. You got to keep going.” 
— Chantal Sutherland

39. “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.” 
— Martin Luther King Jr.

40. “Our ambition should be to rule ourselves, the true Kingdom for each of us; and true progress is to know more, be more, and do more.” 
— Oscar Wilde

41. “Grain by grain, a loaf. Stone upon stone, a palace.”
— George Bernard Shaw

42. “Good thing I didn’t accomplish all my goals yet because then what would I do tomorrow?”
— Alexi Pappas

43. “You can get anywhere if you simply go one step at a time.”
— Dave Ramsey

44. “We are not helpless. We all have the ability to make this world a better place. We can start with small steps, one day at a time.”
— Wayne Gerard Trotman

45. “A new idea must not be judged by its immediate results.”
— Nikola Tesla

46. “Work hard! Just keep working hard until you can do something you want to do! We all progress at different speeds and in different ways, so be patient and keep working hard!”
— Hiromi

47. “Do not be impatient with your seemingly slow progress. Do not try to run faster than you presently can. If you are studying, reflecting, and trying, you are making progress whether you are aware of it or not. A traveler walking the road in the darkness of night is still going forward. Someday, some way, everything will break open, like the natural unfolding of a rosebud.”
— Vernon Howard

48. “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

49. “A static hero is a public liability. Progress grows out of motion.” 
— Richard E. Byrd

50. “In the middle of it all, pause and look around you. Appreciate what’s beautiful. Take in the love. Nod to what’s good and true. And then move forward one step at a time.”
— Kathy Freston

51. “Do not confuse motion and progress. A rocking horse keeps moving but does not make any progress.”
― Alfred A. Montapert

52. “Progress means getting nearer to the place you want to be. And if you have taken a wrong turn, then to go forward does not get you any nearer. 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

53. “Progress, of the best kind, is comparatively slow.” 
— Samuel Smiles

54. “Checking items off a to-do list doesn’t determine progress; focusing on your priorities is what counts.”
— Frank Sonnenberg

55. “Progress not perfection… you can’t be perfect everything… but you can gain progress on a daily basis.”
— Court McGee

56. “The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.”
— Mahatma Gandhi

57. “Progress always involves risk. You can’t steal second base and keep your foot on first.” 
— Frederick B. Wilcox

58. “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

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

60. “Great things are not done by impulse, but by a series of small things brought together.” 
— Vincent Van Gogh

61. “The most important thing I think we need to remember is that we’re a work in progress. Do not be ashamed or afraid to ask for help. That’s what I did. I asked for help.”
— Carnie Wilson

62. “In a moment of decision, the best thing you can do is the right thing to do, the next best thing is the wrong thing, and the worst thing you can do is nothing.”
— Theodore Roosevelt

63. “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

64. “The most difficult thing is the decision to act, the rest is merely tenacity. The fears are paper tigers. You can do anything you decide to do. You can act to change and control your life; and the procedure, the process is its own reward.” 
— Amelia Earhart

65. “Progress however, of the best kind, is comparatively slow. Great results cannot be achieved at once; and we must be satisfied to advance in life as we walk, step by step.”
— Samuel Smiles

66. “What is the first step to take and how do you measure your progress? How far have you gone and how close are you to getting to your goals?”
— Michael E. Gerber

67. “Progress first requires a step to be taken.”
— Chase S.M. Neill

68. “In the middle of chaos lies opportunity.”  
— Bruce Lee

69. “The only time you should ever look back is to see how far you’ve come.”
— BTS

70. “Under the sublime law of progress, the present outgrows the past. The great heart of humanity is heaving with the hopes of a brighter day. All the higher instincts of our nature prophesy its approach; and the best intellects of the race are struggling to turn that prophecy into fulfillment.”
— Horace Mann

71. “Restlessness is discontent and discontent is the first necessity of progress.” 
— Thomas Edison

72. “Every time you tear a leaf off a calendar, you present a new place for new ideas and progress.” 
— Charles Kettering

Final thoughts on progress quotes

These motivational progress quotes will definitely help you get back on track! Some of them are well-known quotes by famous people, some are not, but I think they are all very helpful in their own way. 

Next time you feel like you could really use some motivational quotes, just head back here! And if you happen to be on a personal growth journey and would like some tips and advice, I have quite a few blog posts on personal development that will help you: 

But You Are Afraid of Success

14 Ways to Unlock Your Potential And Live Your Best Life

How to Stop Thinking About the Past and Focus on Your Future

Which of these inspirational quotes is your favorite? Share it in the comments! And never forget that you have potential and there’s no reason why you couldn’t succeed.