100 Words of Encouragement for Tough Times

Life can throw some tough challenges our way, and sometimes, we all need a little mental pick-me-up. Words of encouragement can have the power to uplift our spirits and motivate us to keep moving forward. Whether we are going through a difficult time or just need a little push to keep going, the right words can make all the difference. In this article, we will explore what encouragement is and will share some of our favorite words of encouragement.

What is encouragement?

Encouragement is the act of giving someone the strength, power, and hope they need to overcome a struggle, defeat, or challenge they are facing. It is a powerful tool that can help us feel more motivated and act with courage.

When we encourage someone, we help them tap into their potential and see the positive in a situation. It can be an effective way to motivate someone to keep trying and not give up, even when they feel like they are struggling. 

At times, we may need encouragement ourselves. It takes courage to ask for help and admit that we need support, but it is important to remember that it is okay to ask for help. We all face challenges and struggles in life, and it is important to have a support system to help us overcome them.

Quotes can be a great source of encouragement, providing us with a quick burst of motivation and inspiration.

Regardless of what you are going through today, here are some words of encouragement that can provide you a little boost.

Words of Encouragement for Hard Times

1. “Life is not easy for any of us. But what of that? We must have perseverance and, above all, confidence in ourselves. We must believe that we are gifted for something and that this thing, at whatever cost, must be attained.” — Marie Curie
2. “Sometimes when you are in a dark place you think you have been buried, but actually you have been planted.” —Christine Caine
3. “Hardships often prepare ordinary people for an extraordinary destiny.”–C.S. Lewis
4. “Learn how to be happy with what you have while you pursue all that you want.” – Jim Rohn
5. “Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement. Nothing can be done without hope and confidence.” Helen Keller
6. “You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, ‘I have lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along.'” Eleanor Roosevelt
7. “Believe you can and you’re halfway there.” – Theodore Roosevelt
8. “You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream.” – C.S. Lewis
9. “The greatest accomplishment is not in never falling, but in rising again after you fall.”— Vince Lombard
10. “Be a first rate version of yourself, not a second-rate version of someone else.” ―Judy Garland
11. “We may encounter many defeats, but we must not be defeated.”  Maya Angelou
12. What would life be if we had no courage to attempt anything?    Vincent Van Gogh

Words of Encouragement for a Friend

13. “When one door of happiness closes, another opens; but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one which has been opened for us.” ―Helen Keller
14. “Believe in yourself and all that you are. Know that there is something inside you that is greater than any obstacle.” – Christian D. Larson
15. “Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.” – Winston Churchill
16. “The greatest glory in living lies not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.” – Nelson Mandela
17. “You are capable of more than you know. Choose a goal that seems right for you and strive to be the best, however hard the path. Aim high. Behave honorably. Prepare to be alone at times, and to endure failure. Persist! The world needs all you can give.” – E. O. Wilson
18. “The only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it.” – Steve Jobs
19. “One’s life has value so long as one attributes value to the life of others, by means of love, friendship, indignation and compassion.” — Simone De Beauvoir
20. “Where there is no struggle, there is no strength.”– Oprah Winfrey
21. “Nobody cares if you can’t dance well. Just get up and dance. Great dancers are not great because of their technique, they are great because of their passion.”–Martha Graham
22. “We can do no great things, only small things with great love.” — Mother Teresa
23. “It doesn’t matter who you are, where you come from. The ability to triumph begins with you. Always.” — Oprah Winfrey
24. “For every minute you are angry, you lose sixty seconds of happiness.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson
25. “Some people want it to happen, some wish it would happen, others make it happen.”– Michael Jordan

Words of Encouragement for Work

26. “It is time for us all to stand and cheer for the doer, the achiever – the one who recognizes the challenges and does something about it.” – Vince Lombardi 
27. “Doing the best at this moment puts you in the best place for the next moment.” – Oprah Winfrey
28. “You may encounter many defeats, but you must not be defeated. In fact, it may be necessary to encounter the defeats so you can know who you are, what you can rise from, how you can still come out of it.” – Maya Angelou
29. “The gem cannot be polished without friction, nor man perfected without trials.” – Chinese Proverb
30. “When you come out of the storm, you won’t be the same person who walked in. That’s what the storm is all about.” – Haruki Murakami
31. “Tough times never last, but tough people do.” – Robert H. Schuller
32. “When everything seems to be going against you, remember that the airplane takes off against the wind, not with it.” – Henry Ford
33. “Without hustle, talent will only carry you so far.” ―Gary Vaynerchuk
34. “Perseverance is not a long race; it is many short races one after the other.” – Walter Elliot

Words of Encouragement to Inspire and Uplif others

35. “All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them.”    Walt Disney
36. “All you need is the plan, the road map, and the courage to press on to your destination.” Earl Nightingale
37. “A word of encouragement during a failure is worth more than an hour of praise after success.”  Unknown
38. “There is nothing better than the encouragement of a good friend.”    Katherine Hathaway
39. “Because of a great love, one is courageous.” Lao Tse
40. “Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength; loving someone deeply gives you courage.”  Lao Tzu
41. “Confidence is courage at ease.”  Daniel Maher
42. “Correction does much, but encouragement does more. Encouragement after censure is as the sun after a shower.” Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
43. “Courage and perseverance have a magical talisman, before which difficulties disappear and obstacles vanish into air.” John Quincy Adams
44. “Determination, patience and courage are the only things needed to improve any situation.” Unknown
45. “Develop success from failures. Discouragement and failure are two of the surest stepping stones to success.” Dale Carnegie
46. “Difficulties are meant to rouse, not discourage. The human spirit is to grow strong by conflict.” William Ellery Channing
47. “Don’t get discouraged; it’s usually the last key in the bunch that opens the lock.” Unknown
48. “Don’t let life discourage you; everyone who got where he is had to begin where he was.” Richard L. Evans
49. “You need to be aware of what others are doing, applaud their efforts, acknowledge their successes, and encourage them in their pursuits. When we all help one another, everybody wins.” Jim Stovall
50. “More powerful than the will to win is the courage to begin.” Unknown
51. “Never discourage anyone… who continually makes progress, no matter how slow.” Plato
52. “No problem is insurmountable. With a little courage, teamwork and determination a person can overcome anything.” B. Dodge

Courage quotes for Mental Resilience

53. “Courage and resolution are the spirit and soul of virtue.”    Thomas Fuller
54. “Courage is being afraid but going on anyhow. ”   Dan Rather
55. “Courage is being scared to death… and saddling up anyway.”    John Wayne
56. “Courage is contagious. When a brave man takes a stand, the spines of others are stiffened.”    Billy Graham
57. “Courage is doing what you are afraid to do. There can be no courage unless you are scared.”    Eddie Rickenbacker
58. “Courage is doing what you’re afraid to do. There can be no courage unless you’re scared.”    Eddie Rickenbacker
59. “Courage is doing without witnesses that which we would be capable of doing before everyone.” François, Duc de La Rochefoucauld
60. “Courage is fear holding on a minute longer.”    George S. Patton
61. “Courage is grace under pressure.”    Ernest Hemingway
62. “Courage is knowing what not to fear. ”   Plato
63. “Courage is like love; it must have hope for nourishment.”    Robert Frost
64. “Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgment that something else is more important than fear.”   Ambrose Redmoon
65. “Courage is the first of human qualities because it is the quality which guarantees all others.”    Sir Winston Churchill
66. “Courage is the price that life exacts for granting peace.”    Amelia Earhart
67. “Courage is the willingness to accept fear and act anyway.” Unknown
68. “Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen.” Winston Churchill
69. “Courage to start and willingness to keep everlasting at it are the requisites for success.” Alonzo Newton Benn
70. “The highest courage is to dare to appear to be what one is.” John Lancaster Spalding
71. “The most courageous act is still to think for yourself. Aloud” Coco Chanel

Words of Encouragement to Lift Your Spirits

72. “Encouraged people achieve the best; dominated people achieve second best; neglected people achieve the least.”    Anonymous
73. “Everyone has talent. What is rare is the courage to follow that talent to the dark place it leads.”    Erica Jong
74. “Fear is met and destroyed with courage.”    James F. Bell
75. “Half a man’s wisdom goes with his courage.”    Ralph Waldo Emerson
76. “Hard things are put in our way, not to stop us, but to call out our courage and strength.”    Unknown Author
77. “I am not discouraged, because every wrong attempt discarded is another step forward.”    Thomas A. Edison
78. “I know of no more encouraging fact than the unquestionable ability of man to elevate his life by conscious endeavor.”    Henry David Thoreau
79. “If we are to survive, we must have ideas, vision, and courage. These things are rarely produced by committees.”    Arthur Schlesinger
80. “Incorrect assumptions lie at the root of every failure. Have the courage to test your assumption.”    Brian Tracy
81. “Ingenuity, plus courage, plus work, equals miracles.”    Bob Richards
82. “Instruction does much, but encouragement does everything.”    Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe
83. “It is curious that physical courage should be so common in the world and moral courage so rare. ”   Mark Twain
84. “It often requires more courage to dare to do right than to fear to do wrong.”    Abraham Lincoln
85. “It takes as much courage to have tried and failed as it does to have tried and succeeded.”    Anne Morrow Lindbergh
86. “It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are”    E.E Cummings.
87. “It was courage, faith, endurance and a dogged determination to surmount all obstacles that built this bridge.”    John J. Watson

Words of Encouragement for a Positive Mindset

88. “Keep your fears to yourself, but share your courage with others.”    Robert Louis Stevenson
89. “Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one’s courage.”    Anais Nin
90. “Man cannot discover new oceans until he has courage to lose sight of the shore.”   Unknown
91. “Moral courage is the most valuable and usually the most absent characteristic in men.”  George Patton
92. “Optimism is essential to achievement and it is also the foundation of courage and true progress.”    Nicholas M. Butler
93. “Successful leaders have the courage to take action while others hesitate.”    John C. Maxwell
94. “The greatest test of courage on earth is to bear defeat without losing heart.”    Napoleon Hill
95. “The pessimist borrows trouble; the optimists lend encouragement.”    William Arthur Ward
96. “Those who are lifting the world upward and onward are those who encourage more than criticize.”    Elizabeth Harrison
97. “Whenever you see a successful business, someone once made a courageous decision.”    Peter Drucker
98. “You can measure a man by the opposition it takes to discourage him.”    Elbert Hubbard
99. “You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face.”    Eleanor Roosevelt
100. “You will never do anything in this world without courage. It is the greatest quality of the mind next to honor.”    James Allen

These are great words of encouragement that can inspire us.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are some good encouraging phrases?

“You can do it!”

“Believe in yourself”

“Keep going, you got this” 

“Never give up” 

“Stay strong”

What are positive encouragement messages?

“You are capable of achieving great things”

“Your hard work and dedication will pay off”

“You are making progress and improving”

“Your positive attitude will lead to success”

What is the most encouraging quote?

“Believe you can and you’re halfway there” by Theodore Roosevelt. 

“You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take” by Wayne Gretzky 

What can I say to give someone strength?

“I believe in you”

“You are strong and capable”

“You have overcome challenges before and you can do it again”

“I am here for you”

What are some short encouraging words?

 “Bravo”, “Awesome”, “Fantastic”, “Excellent”, and “Well done”.

Why is encouragement important?

As writers, we understand the power of words. Words have the ability to inspire, motivate, and uplift. They can also devastate, discourage, and tear down. The words we choose to use can have a profound impact on those around us and ourselves.

Words of encouragement can create a sense of hope and optimism. They can inspire us to keep going when we feel like giving up. Encouraging quotes can be a source of inspiration when we need it most.

It’s important to listen to the words we use when speaking to ourselves and others. Studies show that negative self-talk can be damaging to our self-esteem and confidence. Let’s choose our words carefully and use them to uplift and encourage those around us.

Did you enjoy reading these words of encouragement? Let us know what your favorite was in the comments below.

Life is a combination of ups and downs, so it would be great if you can provide some words of encouragement to others, by sharing this article around you.

For more motivational quotes or sayings, you can read Short and Inspirational Quotes about Strength with Images, Short Stay Strong Quotes and Images and Encouraging Quotes with Beautiful Images.

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