101 Quotes on Passion to Inspire

Passion can be a little bit hard to define, but any of us can recognize it once we see it – whether in ourselves or others around us.

Some attribute passion to work and others to hobbies. Some think about passion only romantically and others are simply passionate about every little thing that brings them joy. 

In an attempt to define it, we’ll say that passion is an intense feeling towards something or someone. A feeling that gives you endless energy and enthusiasm when it comes to an activity or interest. When you’re passionate about something, nothing that has to do with it will ever become boring or tiring. You’ll always think about all the positive outcomes that certain activity brings you, so getting over some of its “not so great” parts will never exhaust you.

The following inspirational quotes on passion focus more on the enthusiasm towards different interests, activities and work. They’ll teach you how to find your passion and stick with it. Finally, the words below will help you keep a keen interest in life in general.

Find your motivation with these 101 passion quotes:

Work passion quotes 

One thing’s for sure – it is enough to like what you do for a living to make the hours fly by, unnoticed. However, when you’re really passionate about your work, every goal is more easily achieved. You’re never too tired and nothing about what you do will seem tedious.

Not many can brag about making an income out of their passion, but those who do are definitely happier. In hopes that you’ll someday be this lucky, here’s our list of work passion quotes to help you live life on your own terms.

Chase your passion, not your pension. 

• Denis Waitley

True passion attracts. If you have passion in your business, the right people will be attracted to your team. 

• Robert T. Kiyosaki

Working hard for something we don’t care about is called stress. Working hard for something we love is called passion.

• Unknown

No alarm clock needed. My passion wakes me. 

• Eric Thomas

To succeed you have to believe in something with such passion that it becomes a reality. 

• Anita Roddick

Passion is so key in leading and creating excellence that I will hire passion over education and talent every time. 

• Dave Ramsey

Make your passion your paycheck. 

• Unknown

A great leader’s courage to fulfil his vision comes from passion, not position. 

• John C. Maxwell

Be spectacularly great at what you do. Wear your passion on your sleeve and hold your heart in the palm of your hand. And work hard. Really hard. 

• Robin S. Sharma

The biggest mistake that you can make is to believe that you are working for somebody else…The driving force of a career must come from the individual. Remember: Jobs are owned by the company, you own your career! 

• Earl Nightingale

Work hard! In the end, passion and hard work beat out natural talent. 

• Pete Docter

Forget about the fast lane. If you really want to fly, harness your power to your passion. Honor your calling. Everybody has one. Trust your heart, and success will come to you.

• Oprah Winfrey

A passion for one’s work makes life happier, and work no longer work. 

• Unknown

I believe you are your work. Don’t trade the stuff of your life, time, for nothing more than dollars. That’s a rotten bargain. 

• Rita Mae Brown

To be successful, the first thing to do is fall in love with your work. 

• Sister Mary Lauretta

Trust not what inspires other members of society to choose a career. Trust what inspires you.” 

• Ernie Zelinski

Nothing is as important as passion. No matter what you want to do with your life, be passionate.

• Jon Bon Jovi

One person with passion is better than forty people merely interested. 

• E. M. Forster

You can do anything as long as you have the passion, the drive, the focus, and the support.

• Sabrina Bryan

Desire! That’s the one secret of every man’s career. Not education. Not being born with hidden talents. Desire. 

• Bobby Unser

There is no greatness without a passion to be great, whether it’s the aspiration of an athlete or an artist, a scientist, a parent, or a businessperson. 

• Anthony Robbins

My mother said to me, ‘If you become a soldier, you’ll be a general, if you become a monk you’ll end up as the pope.’ Instead, I became a painter and wound up as Picasso.

• Pablo Picasso

You are what you do. If you do boring, stupid, monotonous work, chances are you’ll end up boring, stupid, and monotonous. 

• Bob Black

Your work is to discover your work and then with all your heart to give yourself to it. 

• Unknown

Don’t ask yourself what the world needs; ask yourself what makes you come alive. And then go and do that. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive. 

• Howard Thurman

It is the ultimate luxury to combine passion and contribution. It’s also a very clear path to happiness. 

• Sheryl Sandberg

Yes, in all my research, the greatest leaders looked inward and were able to tell a good story with authenticity and passion. 

• Deepak Chopra

Follow your passion. Nothing—not wealth, success, accolades or fame—is worth spending a lifetime doing things you don’t enjoy. 

• Jonathan Sacks

Just making it another day doesn’t get us where we truly want to be. We must move with vigor, passion, and fixed determination to achieve our goals. 

• Unknown

Hire for passion and intensity; there is training for everything else. 

• Nolan Bushnell

Build your own dreams, or someone else will hire you to build theirs. 

• Farrah Gray

If you wish to achieve worthwhile things in your personal and career life, you must become a worthwhile person in your own self-development. 

• Brian Tracy

A person can succeed at almost anything for which they have unlimited enthusiasm. 

• Charles M. Schwab

Skills are cheap. Passion is priceless.

• Gary Vaynerchuk

More passion quotes to inspire

A few words said the right way can (re)ignite passion. They can remind us of something that we used to love doing, but got lost on the way. The little time we often  have for ourselves made us put everything else above our passions.

We’ve handpicked the following passion quotes to inspire you and to remind you that you should never let go of anything that puts your soul on fire.

A true passion that burns within your soul is one that can never be put out. 

• Zach Toelke

Passion will move men beyond themselves, beyond their shortcomings, beyond their failures.

• Joseph Campbell

My mission in life is not merely to survive, but to thrive; and to do so with some passion, some compassion, some humor, and some style.

• Maya Angelou

The most powerful weapon on earth is the human soul on fire.

• Ferdinand Foch

As long as you’ve got passion, faith and are willing to work hard, you can do anything you want in this life.

• Unknown

Your passion is waiting for your courage to catch up.

• Isabelle Lafleche

Dreams and passion are more powerful than facts and reality.

• Gail Lynne Goodwin

Rest in reason; move in passion.

• Kahlil Gibran

Know your passion. Follow it. Dream it. Live it.

• Unknown

Passion is born when you catch a glimpse of your true potential.

• Unknown

Always go with your passions. Never ask yourself if it’s realistic or not.

• Deepak Chopra

Our passion is our strength.

• Billie Joe Armstrong

I have no special talents. I am only passionately curious.

• Albert Einstein

Develop a passion for learning. If you do, you will never cease to grow.

• Anthony J. D’Angelo

It is obvious that we can no more explain a passion to a person who has never experienced it than we can explain light to the blind.

• T. S. Eliot

Purpose is the reason you journey. Passion is the fire that lights the way.

• Unknown

There is no end. There is no beginning. There is only the infinite passion of life.

• Federico Fellini

If passion drives you, let reason hold the reins.

• Benjamin Franklin

Be still when you have nothing to say; when genuine passion moves you, say what you’ve got to say, and say it hot.

• D.H. Lawrence

Passion kept one fully in the present, so that time became a series of mutually exclusive ‘nows.’

• Sue Halpern

If we could live without passion maybe we’d know some kind of peace… but we would be hollow… Empty rooms shuttered and dank. Without passion we’d be truly dead.

• Joss Whedon

Chase down your passion like it’s the last bus of the night.

• Terri Guillemets

Light yourself on fire with passion and people will come from miles to watch you burn.

• John Wesley

You have to be burning with an idea, or a problem, or a wrong that you want to right. If you’re not passionate enough from the start, you’ll never stick it out.

• Steve Jobs

Only passions, great passions, can elevate the soul to great things.

• Denis Diderot

If we resist our passions, it is more through their weakness than from our strength.

• François de la Rochefoucauld

Without passion man is a mere latent force and possibility, like the flint which awaits the shock of the iron before it can give forth its spark.

• Henri Frederic Amiel

Never underestimate the power of passion.

• Eve Sawyer

I would rather die of passion than of boredom.

• Vincent Van Gogh

It’s your place in the world; it’s your life. Go on and do all you can with it, and make it the life you want to live.

• Mae Jemison

You can’t fake passion.

• Barbara Corcoran

Nobody cares if you can’t dance well. Just get up and dance. Great dancers are great because of their passion.

• Martha Graham

People with great passion can make the impossible happen.

• Unknown

Nothing great in the world has ever been accomplished without passion.

• George Hegel

People like to warn you that by the time you reach the middle of your life, passion will begin to feel like a meal eaten long ago, which you remember with great tenderness.

• Meg Wolitzer

Creativity is not merely the innocent spontaneity of our youth and childhood; it must also be married to the passion of the adult human being, which is a passion to live beyond one’s death.

• Rollo May

Serve someone such as by charity and if not money simply by helping people in pursuing their passion or motivating them.

• Unknown

Passion is the genesis of genius.

• Anthony Robbins

How to find your passion

Have you ever found yourself in this situation where you know what you like, yet you can’t say that you’re passionate about something in particular? We frequently see our friends doing things out of pure passion, but none of those things appeal to us.

That’s okay! Sometimes it takes time to discover your true passion. It can often be something you’ve never thought about – a hidden talent or an activity that you haven’t even tried yet.

Maybe the following sayings will help you discover the things that bring you joy faster, so check out our list of quotes on how to find your passion.

When you identify your passion and align it with whatever you’re doing, a magical synergy happens that will effortlessly carry you to rarefied heights.

• Unknown

If you can’t figure out your purpose, figure out your passion. For your passion will lead you right into your purpose.

• T.D. Jakes

There is no passion to be found playing small, in settling for a life that is less than the one you are capable of living.

• Nelson Mandela

If you feel like there’s something out there that you’re supposed to be doing, if you have a passion for it, then stop wishing and just do it.

• Wanda Sykes

Love what you do and do what you love. Passion is the key that opens the door to joy and abundance.

• David Cuschieri

Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world.

• Harriet Tubman

It is the soul's duty to be loyal to its own desires. It must abandon itself to its master passion.

• Rebecca West

Just don’t give up trying to do what you really want to do. Where there is love and inspiration, I don’t think you can go wrong.

• Ella Fitzgerald

The people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want, and, if they can’t find them, make them.

• George Bernard Shaw

If you don’t love what you do, you won’t do it with much conviction or passion.

• Mia Hamm

The things you are passionate about are not random, they are your calling.

• Unknown

Anything that gets your blood racing is probably worth doing.

• Hunter S. Thompson

Almost everything–all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure–these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.

• Steve Jobs

I’ve been absolutely terrified every moment of my life and I’ve never let it keep me from doing a single thing that I wanted to do.

• Georgia O’Keeffe

We cannot be sure of having something to live for unless we are willing to die for it.

• Che Guavara

Passion is energy. Feel the power that comes from focusing on what excites you.

• Oprah Winfrey

If there is no passion in your life, then have you really lived? Find your passion, whatever it may be. Become it, and let it become you and you will find great things happen for you, to you and because of you.

• T. Alan Armstrong

Passion and purpose go hand in hand. When you discover your purpose, you will normally find it’s something you’re tremendously passionate about.

• Steve Pavlina

The voice of passion is better than the voice of reason. The passionless cannot change history.

• Czeslaw Milosz

Follow your own passion – not your parents’, not your teachers’– yours.

• Robert Ballard

The two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why.

• Mark Twain

Passion isn’t something that lives way up in the sky, in abstract dreams and hopes. It lives at ground level, in the specific details of what you’re actually doing every day.

• Marcus Buckingham

I have to face life with a newly found passion. I must rediscover the irresistible will to learn, to live and to love.

• Andrea Bocelli

Passion is your joy, it is the essence of who you are. You have to unwrap it and find it.

• Jackie St. Onge

When your passion and purpose are greater than your fears and excuses, you will find a way.

• Unknown

Purpose may point you in the right direction but it’s passion that propels you.

• Travis McAshan

Be fearless in the pursuit of what sets your soul on fire.

• Jennifer Lee

Finding your passion isn’t just about careers and money. It’s about finding your authentic self. The one you’ve buried beneath other people’s needs.

• Unknown

The very basic of a man’s living spirit is his passion for adventure.

• Christopher McCandless