60+ Powerful Quotes for Every Student Challenge

Learning can be a tough job, whether you are a teacher or a student. To offset the challenges facing students and teachers today, we’ve collected more than 60 quotes to inspire, to engage and to provoke, as well as to celebrate all phases of school life. They’re perfect for using in situations where a positive thought will boost morale and promote achievement. 

After curating these quotes, we took a handful of them and visualized them in different formats. If you see any layouts you like, you can create similar results! They were all created with Piktochart AI with just a few clicks. 

When I was in high school, I covered a folder with quotes to remind myself I was capable of bouncing back from sorrow and failure, no matter how bad things got. I didn’t realize it at the time, but reading quotes like the following ones helped me build up my inner core of resilience and mental toughness. 

1. “In the midst of winter, I found there was, within me, an invincible summer.” – French philosopher Albert Camus

This quote was created using a Piktochart Quote Poster template in about five minutes!

2. “You have faced and overcome adversity in the past, and you can do it again. It is amazing what we can live through and turn into powerful lessons and life experiences.” – author and business consultant Pamela Slim

3. “Circumstances change and you have to be proactive about changing with those circumstances.” – sports executive and author Paul DePodesta

4. “In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity.” – American physicist John Archibald Wheeler

5. “It’s your reaction to adversity, not adversity itself, that determines how your life’s story will develop.” – German aviator and airline executive Dieter F. Uchtdorf

6. “With a strong inner sense of who you are, you can easily adapt to and thrive in new environments.” – psychologist Al Siebert

Spontaneity has its place, but planning ahead can make studying so much smoother. Proactive behaviors are easiest to manifest when supporting habits are learned early. Hopefully, these quotes will encourage students (and teachers!) to avoid frantic, last-minute scrambles and plan ahead!

7. “A man who does not plan long ahead will find trouble at his door.” – Chinese philosopher Confucius 

8. “One of the best escapes from the prison of procrastination is to take even the smallest step toward your goal.” – motivational speaker Denis Waitley

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

10. “People can’t jump on your bandwagon if it’s parked in the garage.” – communications expert Sam Horn

11. “A good plan today is better than a perfect plan tomorrow.” – U.S. Army Gen. George S. Patton

12. “Planning is bringing the future into the present so that you can do something about it now.” – author Alan Lakein

13. “Proper planning and preparation prevents poor performance.” – author Stephen Keague

Not all quotes need to be shared on print posters. This one was created from an Instagram Post template and took less than three minutes to update. 

Kids can give up too early if they don’t see immediate results. That’s unfortunate, because skipping out on learning to persist means skipping out on great rewards. Take Thomas Edison, for example: the American inventor tried 6,000 different substances before discovering carbonized cotton thread was a viable filament material for the electric light bulb. Once he found the right material, his basic design for light bulbs dominated the market for decades.  

Sticking with it when things get hard can pay off later. These quotes may help light a fire in students so they can keep calm and carry on!

14. “What we find is that if you have a goal that is very, very far out, and you approach it in little steps, you start to get there faster. Your mind opens up to the possibilities.” – American astronaut Mae Jemison

15. “What separates the talented individual from the successful one is a lot of hard work.” – novelist Stephen King

16. “We don’t even know how strong we are until we are forced to bring that hidden strength forward.” – Chilean-American writer Isabel Allende

17. “You may have to fight a battle more than once to win it.” – U.K. Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher

18. “Character consists of what we do on the third and fourth tries.” – novelist James A. Michener

19. “Mastery is not about perfection. It’s about a process, a journey. The master is the one who stays on the path day after day, year after year.” – author George Leonard

20. “Teachers play an essential role in building a student’s ability to persevere. Students should be praised for effort – not just success – and never shamed for failing.” – blogger Emmaline Soken-Huberty

21. “You will be able to navigate your way through life’s difficulties if you are persistent. You’ll look for answers to overcome your difficulties and keep going forward in order to create a life that is satisfying to you.” – life coach and speaker Lo-Ammi Richardson

22. “We fall down, we get back up again. That’s the process.” – blogger Thea Easterby

Collaboration is a goal that complements education’s focus on individual achievement. It isn’t enough to be a star performer – much of our adult world revolves around our ability to work well with others. These quotes help students remember that “we” is as important as “me.”

23. “It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit.” – U.S. President Harry S Truman

24. “Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much.” – author and disability advocate Helen Keller

25. “Filmmaking is all about appreciating the talents of the people you surround yourself with and knowing you could never have made any of these films by yourself.” – filmmaker Steven Spielberg

26. “No one can whistle a symphony. It takes a whole orchestra to play it.” – Methodist minister and author H.E. Luccock

27. “Great communication begins with connection.” – American media producer Oprah Winfrey

28. “The best way to lift one’s self up is to help someone else.” – educator Booker T. Washington

This graphic was completed in less than 10 minutes using Piktochart’s Greeting Card Template. 

29. “Only when diverse perspectives are included, respected, and valued can we start to get a full picture of the world.” – American research professor and author Brené Brown

Creativity is every student’s birthright. These quotes help learners of all ages take the facts and theories they learn and put them to new, never-before-seen uses! 

30. “The way to activate the seeds of your creation is by making choices about the results you want to create.” – author, composer and filmmaker Robert Fritz

31. “Collecting facts is important. Knowledge is important. But if you don’t have an imagination to use the knowledge, civilization is nowhere.” – science-fiction author Ray Bradbury

32. “When you do the common things in life in an uncommon way, you will command the attention of the world.” – agricultural scientist and inventor George Washington Carver

33. “The world needs all kinds of minds.” – scientist, consultant and autism advocate Temple Grandin

34. “Creative activity could be described as a type of learning process where teacher and pupil are located in the same individual.” – author and journalist Arthur Koestler

35. “Everyone has huge creative capacities. The challenge is to develop them.” – Sir Ken Robinson, British educational and creativity advisor

36. “The best way to predict the future is to invent it.” – computer scientist Alan Kay

This quote was created with a template from Piktochart’s Motivational Wallpaper collection. 

Do you remember the first teacher who helped you love learning for its own sake? In my own life, that person was my mother, a former kindergarten teacher, who constantly expanded her horizons through reading, watching educational television, and asking a lot of questions! These quotes echo her lifelong love of learning and may spark the same kind of reaction in your students. 

37. “The possession of knowledge does not kill the sense of wonder and mystery. There is always more mystery.” – essayist and diarist Anaïs Nin

38. “Life-transforming ideas have always come to me through books.” – author, educator and social theorist bell hooks

39. “The whole world opened to me when I learned to read.” – African-American education pioneer Mary McLeod Bethune

40. “The only person who is educated is the one who has learned how to learn and change.” – psychotherapist Carl Rogers

41. “You don’t learn to walk by following rules. You learn by doing, and by falling over.” – entrepreneur Richard Branson

42. “Living is like tearing through a museum. Not until later do you really start absorbing what you saw, thinking about it, looking it up in a book, and remembering — because you can’t take it all in at once.” – actress and humanitarian Audrey Hepburn

43. “Learning isn’t a way of reaching one’s potential but rather a way of developing it.” – researcher and psychologist K. Anders Ericsson

44. “Make learning the journey, not the end point.” – psychotherapist and author Peter Hollins

Long after students walk across the stage at graduation and hang up their cap and gown, they remember the teachers who encouraged them to do more than just learn the subject matter. They remember the passion their teachers expressed for the subjects they taught, and how they challenged students to use their lessons to become better human beings. Just the right motivational quote may take students’ attitude to a new level!

45. “With the new day comes new strength and new thoughts.” – American First Lady, author and humanitarian Eleanor Roosevelt

46. “Motivation is what gets you started. Habit is what keeps you going.” – entrepreneur and motivational speaker Jim Rohn

47. “A goal is a dream with a deadline.” – author Napoleon Hill

48. “Determination, energy, and courage appear spontaneously when we care deeply about something. We take risks that are unimaginable in any other context.” – author, teacher and management consultant Margaret J. Wheatley

49. “To speak a true word is to transform the world.” – Brazilian educator Paulo Freire

50. “The most important investment you can make is in yourself.” – investor Warren Buffett

Sometimes a quote can provide a refreshing change to a short bio section. This graphic was created with Piktochart’s Introducing Yourself As A Teacher template. 

51. “There is no substitute for hard work.” – inventor Thomas Edison

52. “A caterpillar doesn’t tell you it’s going to become a butterfly.” – futurist and inventor R. Buckminster Fuller

Education touches so many aspects of a healthy society: government, business, scientific research, and our social life.  These quotes highlight the power of good teaching and what it takes to be a master teacher. 

53. “The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires.” – writer William Arthur Ward

54. “I touch the future. I teach.” – astronaut and educator Christa McAuliffe

55. “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” – activist and former president of South Africa Nelson Mandela

56. “Teaching is the greatest act of optimism.” – educator Colleen Wilcox

57. “Teaching is the essential profession, the one that makes all other professions possible.” – educational advocate David Haselkorn

58. “The good life is one inspired by love and guided by knowledge.” – philosopher Bertrand Russell

59. “One book, one pen, one child and one teacher can change the world.” – Pakistani educational advocate Malala Yousafzai

60. “Children must be taught how to think, not what to think.” – anthropologist Margaret Mead

61. “I am not a teacher, but an awakener.” – poet Robert Frost

62. “Good teaching cannot be reduced to technique; good teaching comes from the identity and integrity of the teacher.” – educator and author Parker J. Palmer

Numerous research studies have found that quotes can be a great tool for inspiring students or encouraging positive habits in the classroom. The secret is delivering those messages over and over. 

You can increase the impact of the quotes presented here by using Piktochart and other design tools to visualize quotes in a variety of formats, including:

• Presentation slides
• Instagram Posts and Stories
• Desktop or mobile computer backgrounds
• Facebook banners
• Classroom posters

When it comes to discovering unique platforms for sharing inspirational quotes, your creativity and passion for teaching means the sky is your limit! Let these quotes help you help your students stretch themselves to new heights!