33 inspirational movie quotes that motivate us to live our best lives

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  • We put together some of our favourite lines from films to help you stay positive no matter what challenges you might be facing
  • Here are some uplifting words of wisdom from movies like Rocky Balboa, Harry Potter, Black Panther and more
Karly Cox |
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We've got quotes from Rocky Balboa, Pocahontas and other classic films that always cheer us up, and we hope it will be the same for you!

If you find yourself needing a pick-me-up when life gets a bit rough, here are 33 of our favourite quotes from some of the biggest hit movies to motivate and inspire you to keep on trucking. Even when it’s all starting to feel a bit pointless, sometimes you just need a bit of encouragement to turn your day around.

To infinity, and beyond!

1. Rocky Balboa in Rocky Balboa

“Nobody is gonna hit as hard as life, but it ain’t how hard you can hit. It’s how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward. It’s how much you can take, and keep moving forward. That’s how winning is done.

2. Grandmother Willow in Pocahontas

“Sometimes the right path is not the easiest one.

3. Yoda in Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back

Do or do not. There is no try.”

4. Ferris Bueller in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off

Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.”

5. Gusteau in Ratatouille

If you focus on what you left behind, you will never be able to see what lies ahead.”

6. Walter Mitty in The Secret Life of Walter Mitty

To see the world, things dangerous to come to, to see behind walls, to draw closer, to find each other and to feel. That is the purpose of life.”

7. Rick Dicker in Incredibles 2

You want to get out of the hole? First you’re going to have to put down the shovel.” 

8. Sean Maguire in Good Will Hunting

You’ll have bad times, but it’ll always wake you up to the good stuff you weren’t paying attention to.”

9. Timothy Mouse in Dumbo

The very things that hold you down are going to lift you up.”

10. Maximus in Gladiator

“Nothing happens to anyone that he is not fitted by nature to bear.

11. Gandalf in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us.”

12. Dumbledore in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

It is not our abilities that show what we truly are … it is our choices.”

13. John Keating in Dead Poets Society

Carpe diem. Seize the day, boys. Make your lives extraordinary.”

14. Osgood Fielding III in Some Like It Hot

Nobody’s perfect.”

15. Dory in Finding Nemo

Just keep swimming. Just keep swimming. Just keep swimming, swimming, swimming. What do we do? We swim, swim.”

16. Shuri in Black Panther

How many times do I have to teach you: just because something works doesn’t mean it can’t be improved.”

17. August Walker in Mission Impossible: Fallout

Hope is not a strategy.” 

18. Neil Armstrong in First Man

When you get a different vantage point, it changes your perspective ... It allows us to see things that maybe we should have seen a long time ago.”

19. Mary Poppins in Mary Poppins Returns

Everything is possible, even the impossible.”

20. Jeff Struecker in Black Hawk Down

It’s what you do right now that makes a difference.”

21. Fa Zhou in Mulan

The flower that blooms in adversity is the most rare and beautiful of all.”

22. Dumbledore in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

Happiness can be found even in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the light.”

23. Samwise Gamgee in The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers 

It’s only a passing thing, this shadow. Even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines it will shine out the clearer.”

24. Roger Rabbit in Who Framed Roger Rabbit?

A laugh can be a very powerful thing. Why, sometimes in life, it’s the only weapon we have.”

25. Andrew Largeman in Garden State

Let’s just allow ourselves to be whatever it is we are.”

26. Moana in Moana

There’s just no telling how far I’ll go.”

27. Nicole in Boyhood

You know how everyone’s always saying, ‘Seize the moment’? I don’t know, I’m kinda thinkin’ it’s the other way. Like the moment seizes us.”

28. Bob Harris in Lost in Translation

The more you know who you are, and what you want, the less you let things upset you.”

29. Merida in Brave

You control your destiny – you don’t need magic to do it. And there are no magical shortcuts to solving your problems.”

30. Christopher Gardner in The Pursuit of Happyness

“Don’t ever let somebody tell you you can’t do something, not even me. Alright? You dream, you gotta protect it. People can’t do something themselves, they wanna tell you you can’t do it. If you want something, go get it. Period.

31. Quasimodo in The Hunchback of Notre Dame

Today is a good day to try.”

32. Stephen Hawking in The Theory of Everything (and Stephen Hawking IRL)

“There should be no boundaries to human endeavour. We are all different. However bad life may seem, there is always something you can do, and succeed at. While there’s life, there is hope.

33. Flik in A Bug’s Life

Everything that made that giant tree is already contained inside this tiny little seed. All it needs is some time, a little bit of sunshine and rain, and voila! ... Now, you might not feel like you can do much now, but that’s just because, well, you’re not a tree yet. You just have to give yourself some time. You’re still a seed.”

All gifs via GIPHY

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