15 Funny Quotes About Inspiration And Motivation You'll Want to Save Forever

The best funny quotes about inspiration and motivation are the ones that admit out loud what the rest of the motivational genre is too polished to say. That mornings are hard. That the to-do list is not a personality. That sometimes the most honest, useful line you can read at 7 am is a joke. Fifteen of them, gathered from writers who knew the difference between earnest and insufferable.

We grouped them by mood, not by author. Read the section that matches the kind of day you're having. Save the lines that make you laugh and then, somehow, also get you out of the chair.

None of these punch down. They are the realistic-adult kind of funny, the friend-at-the-kitchen-table kind, the I-have-also-been-here kind. The kind that lands harder than the inspirational posters because it earned the laugh first.

Read more on the full motivational quotes hub, or save 21 motivational quotes worth saving for later.

When motivational quotes feel like too much

Four lines for the days the regular inspirational genre is reading like a sales pitch. Save these for when you need the antidote.

"Almost everything will work again if you unplug it for a few minutes, including you." Anne Lamott. The only motivational line that ever included permission to nap.

"The trouble with the rat race is that even if you win, you're still a rat." Lily Tomlin. Read this before the next promotion cycle.

"Be yourself. Everyone else is taken." Oscar Wilde. Yes, this one is on every mug. It earned the mug.

"I always wanted to be somebody, but now I realize I should have been more specific." Lily Tomlin. The whole problem with vague goals, in one sentence.

The motivational genre is heavy on uplift and light on honesty. These four lines do the inverse, which is why they keep traveling. A real laugh is almost always more useful than a manufactured one.

Dry humor for hard mornings

Four lines for the mornings that started badly and have not improved. The kind of funny that does not require feeling better first.

"I don't want to achieve immortality through my work. I want to achieve it through not dying." Woody Allen, attributed; sometimes Mel Brooks. The truest version of every grand life goal.

"The early bird gets the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese." Steven Wright. Save it for the days you slept in.

"If at first you don't succeed, then skydiving definitely isn't for you." Steven Wright. The kindest reframe of failure ever written.

"I have a new philosophy. I'm only going to dread one day at a time." Charlie Brown via Charles Schulz. Worth taping to the inside of the laptop lid.

Dry humor is the form of comedy that holds up best on a bad day, because it does not ask you to be in a good mood to land. These four lines are dry on purpose. The relief is the medicine.

The realistic-adult kind

Four lines for the version of motivation that has been to the doctor, paid the bills, and is still tired. Comedy from people who knew what adulthood actually costs.

"Housework, if you do it right, will kill you." Erma Bombeck. The line every overachiever needs taped to the fridge.

"The key to a happy marriage is still a mystery to me." Tina Fey. The honesty that survives the wedding registry.

"I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work." Thomas Edison. Old line, still useful, especially when said with a flat tone.

"Doing nothing is very hard to do. You never know when you're finished." Leslie Nielsen. Save this for the Sunday afternoon you keep apologizing for.

Realistic-adult humor is the humor that survives the school pickup, the inbox, and the dentist. These four lines were written by people who had been there. The laugh is the relief; the relief is the point.

On the absurdity of trying anyway

Three lines for the part of motivation that is almost always left out of the posters: the part where you laugh at the whole project and then keep going. The lines that hold both at once.

"You can't wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club." Jack London. The least romantic and most accurate sentence ever written about creative work.

"My mother said the cure for thinking too much about yourself was helping somebody who was worse off than you." Maya Angelou. Funny in delivery, true in practice.

"Take your work seriously, but never yourself." Dame Margot Fonteyn, often attributed. The whole career, in seven words.

Trying is absurd in a way nobody talks about, and the people who keep trying anyway are usually the ones who can laugh at it. These three lines are the closing argument: take the work seriously, take yourself less so, and read the funny quotes about inspiration and motivation the next time the project starts to feel sacred.

FAQ

Frequently asked

Are funny motivational quotes actually motivating, or just funny?

Both, and that's the point. A laugh lowers the cost of starting. The genre's straight-faced version often raises it, because the pressure to feel inspired can be its own block. A funny line gets you sitting at the desk first; the working starts on its own from there.

What's a good funny inspirational quote for a tough Monday?

"Almost everything will work again if you unplug it for a few minutes, including you." Anne Lamott. Short, kind, and the only motivational line in circulation that gives you permission to do less before doing more. Save it to your phone for Mondays.

Can I use funny motivational quotes at work without it being weird?

Keep them in your own field of view, not on the company Slack. A sticky note on the inside of your laptop lid does the work without the cringe. The audience for these lines is you at 3 pm on a Wednesday, not the all-hands.