135 Teamwork Quotes That Teach the Power of Collaboration

Many of us first heard about teamwork while in school. Teachers would divide the class into small groups and ask students to work together on a project or a task. 

The idea might have seemed difficult to accept for some. After all, up to that point, most of us were used to focusing on our own success. But if teamwork happens the way it’s intended, it can lead to amazing things. When everyone is equally dedicated and involved in doing their part on a team, work is easier for everyone. When every member of the team is goal-oriented, you’ll work more efficiently, come up with better ideas and avoid mistakes.

And let’s not forget that teamwork brings new friends. How wonderful does it feel to celebrate a success with your team? Here are 135 teamwork quotes to inspire, and show you how collaboration can be the key to success.

Motivational Teamwork Quotes

When people come together in a collaborative effort to achieve a shared goal, the dynamic can inspire greater creativity and productivity. That typically leads to better results. But the truth is, it’s difficult to remain motivated and focused. There can be a number of reasons behind that lack of motivation.

If you have been feeling unproductive, it can be helpful to practice self-compassion and become curious about why. If you’ve noticed your team becoming unenthusiastic, you could probably use some inspiration and guidance. That’s why we’ve gathered these quotes -- to help you and your team stay motivated to keep working toward your goals.

Teamwork is the ability to work together toward a common vision. The ability to direct individual accomplishments toward organizational objectives. It is the fuel that allows common people to attain uncommon results.

– Andrew Carnegie

There is no such thing as a self-made man. You will reach your goals only with the help of others.

– George Shinn

Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence win championships.

– Michael Jordan

There is immense power when a group of people with similar interests gets together to work toward the same goals.

― Idowu Koyenikan

A core group of guys, all sharing similar goals, can move mountains.

― Chris Matakas

Unity is strength… when there is teamwork and collaboration, wonderful things can be achieved.

— Mattie Stepanek

None of us is as smart as all of us.

- Ken Blanchard

If everyone is moving forward together, then success takes care of itself.

- Henry Ford

Collaboration allows teachers to capture each other’s fund of collective intelligence.

- Mike Schmoker

It takes two flints to make a fire.

- Louisa May Alcott

To me, teamwork is the beauty of our sport, where you have five acting as one. You become selfless.

- Mike Kryzewski

Efficiency is doing better than what is already being done.

- Peter Drucker

The value of achievement lies in the achievement.

- Albert Einstein

You don’t need a new plan for next year. You need a commitment.

- Seth Godin

Focus on being productive instead of busy.

- Tim Ferriss

Bad attitudes will ruin your team.

- Terry Bradshaw

Individual commitment to a group effort: That is what makes a team work, a company work, a society work, a civilization work.

- Vince Lombardi

If you can laugh together, you can work together.

-Robert Orben

The speed of the boss is the speed of the team.

-Lee Laccoca

Great teamwork is the only way we create the breakthroughs that define our careers.

-Pat Riley

No individual can win a game by himself.

-Pele

A team is more than a collection of people. It is a process of give and take.

-Barbara Glacel

Gettin’ good players is easy. Gettin’ ’em to play together is the hard part.

-Casey Stengel

If you take out the team in teamwork, it’s just work. Now who wants that?

– Matthew Woodring Stover

Teamwork. A few harmless flakes working together can unleash an avalanche of destruction.

– Justin Sewel

Inspirational Teamwork Quotes

No matter how big or small your team is, building and nurturing a strong culture of teamwork can have a sizable impact on results. Creating and maintaining a shared mindset among a diverse group of people can unleash creativity, encourage innovation and build the foundation for strong relationships. That kind of environment paves the way for more efficient and effective collaboration.

If each member feels valued for who they are and for what they contribute, the entire team may have a better chance of achieving greater outcomes than if each person worked independently. If you’re looking to provide motivation, these teamwork quotes to inspire collaboration serve as a powerful reminder of the impact it can have on success.

Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much.

– Helen Keller

No one can whistle a symphony. It takes a whole orchestra to play it.

– H.E. Luccock

Many ideas grow better when transplanted into another mind than the one where they sprang up.

– Oliver Wendell Holmes

Coming together is a beginning, staying together is progress, and working together is success.

– Henry Ford

With teamwork we are able to multiply our output and minimize individual input.

― Ogwo David Emenike

We talk a lot about hope, helping, and teamwork. Our whole message is that we are more powerful together.

— Victoria Osteen

The best teamwork comes from men who are working independently toward one goal in unison.

— James Cash Penney

It is literally true that you can succeed best and quickest by helping others to succeed.

- Napoleon Hill

If you want to lift yourself up, lift up someone else.

- Booker T. Washington

None of us, including me, ever do great things. But we can all do small things, with great love, and together we can do something wonderful.

- Mother Teresa

I don’t like that man. I must get to know him better.

- Abraham Lincoln

The ratio of we’s to I’s is the best indicator of the development of a team.

- Lewis B. Ergen

If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.

- Isaac Newton

Great things in business are never done by one person; they’re done by a team of people.

- Steve Jobs

The way a team plays as a whole determines its success. You may have the greatest bunch of individual stars in the world, but if they don’t play together, the club won’t be worth a dime.

- Babe Ruth

A group is a bunch of people in an elevator. A team is a bunch of people in an elevator, but the elevator is broken.

- Bonnie Edelstein

Politeness is the poison of collaboration.

- Edwin Land

Cooperation is the thorough conviction that nobody can get there unless everybody gets there.

- Virginia Burden

If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.

- African proverb

Success is best when it’s shared.

- Howard Schultz

It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit.

- Harry Truman

When a team outgrows individual performance and learns team confidence, excellence becomes a reality.

- Joe Paterno

The main ingredient of stardom is the rest of the team.

- John Wooden

Teamwork is a make or break situation. Either you help make it or the lack of it will break you.

– Kris A. Hiatt

Teamwork makes the dream work.

– John C. Maxwell

Teamwork Quotes for Celebrating Your Workplace

Taking the time to let your team members know how much you appreciate their hard work can go a long way. However, sometimes we forget to make the time. Celebrating your team’s success has the tendency to breed more success. That's why it’s crucial to recognize that none of it would be possible without each member’s unique contributions.

Just like we honor major milestones, it’s equally important to acknowledge small accomplishments in the workplace, to keep members engaged and satisfied. If you’re looking to maintain an upbeat momentum at work, celebrate your crew and their efforts with these powerful teamwork quotes.

The nicest thing about teamwork is that you always have others on your side.

- Margaret Carty

You are either supporting the vision or supporting division.

- Saji Ijiyemi

Sticks in a bundle are unbreakable.

- Kenyan proverb

To build a strong team you must see someone else's strength as a complement to your weakness not a threat to your position or authority.

- Christine Caine

The higher a monkey climbs, the more you see of its behind.

- Joseph Stilwell

Find a group of people who challenge and inspire you, spend a lot of time with them, and it will change your life forever.

- Amy Poehler

Many hands make light work.

- John Heywood

In teamwork, silence isn’t golden, it’s deadly.

- Mark Sanborn

It is the long history of humankind (and animal kind, too) that those who learned to collaborate and improvise most effectively have prevailed.

– Charles Darwin

No matter how brilliant your mind or strategy, if you’re playing a solo game, you’ll always lose out to a team.

– Reid Hoffman

The secret to teamwork is an outward mindset.

― Steve Young

The strength of the team is each individual member. The strength of each member is the team.

– Phil Jackson

Only by binding together as a single force will we remain strong and unconquerable.

― Chris Bradford

Remember teamwork begins by building trust. And the only way to do that is to overcome our need for invulnerability.

― Patrick Lencion

Be fast, be first, but never be alone. Nothing can replace the value of teamwork.

― Farshad Asl

Interdependent people combine their own effort with the efforts of others to achieve their greatest success.

- Stephen Covey

Teamwork is the secret that makes common people achieve uncommon results.

- Ifeanyi Enoch Onuoha

A small group of thoughtful people could change the world. Indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.

- Margaret Mead

Individually, we are one drop. Together, we are an ocean.

- Ryunosuke Satoro

When you hand good people possibility, they do great things.

- Biz Stone

The world is moving so fast these days that the man who says it can’t be done is generally interrupted by someone doing it.

- Elbert Hubbard

If anything goes bad, I did it. If anything goes semi-good, we did it. If anything goes really good, then you did it.

- Bear Bryant

In union there is strength.

-Aesop

When he took time to help the man up the mountain, lo, he scaled it himself.

- TIbetan proverb

It’s better to have a great team than a team of greats.

– Simon Sinek

When your team is winning, be ready to be tough, because winning can make you soft. On the other hand, when you team is losing, stick by them. Keep believing.

- Bo Schembechler

Positive Teamwork Quotes

Building and sustaining positive momentum within your team can lead to stronger collaboration and improved performance. Team members who feel happy and engaged are more likely to be driven to succeed and reach their goals. However, keeping the momentum going when things don’t go as planned is sometimes easier said than done.  

Staying optimistic during uncertain times can be trick. But knowing you can rely upon your team for support can help you navigate challenges as they arise. If you need a little pick-me-up, these positive teamwork quotes might help you to gain perspective.

Nothing succeeds like success. Get a little success, and then just get a little more.

- Maya Angelou

Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.

- Benjamin Franklin

An organization's ability to learn, and translate that learning into action rapidly, is the ultimate competitive advantage.

- Jack Welch

Nothing is impossible; the word itself says ‘I’m possible’!

- Audrey Hepburn

Perpetual optimism is a force multiplier.

- Colin Powell

I can do things you cannot. You can do things I cannot. Together we can do great things.

- MOTHER TERESA

The most important thing is to try and inspire people so that they can be great in whatever they want to do.

- KOBE BRYANT

Since you get more joy out of giving joy to others, you should put a good deal of thought into the happiness that you are able to give.

- Eleanor Roosevelt 

A strong team can make any vision turn into a reality. 

- John Carmack

When we strive to become better than we are, everything around us becomes better too.

- Paulo Coelho

Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds that you plant.

- Robert Louis Stevenson

Excellence is not a skill. It is an attitude.

- Ralph Marston

The best way out is always through.

- Robert Frost

Learning never exhausts the mind.

- Leonardo Da Vinci

It’s hard to beat a person who never gives up.

- Babe Ruth

 Great things are done by a series of small things brought together.

- Vincent Van Gogh

Once you replace negative thoughts with positive ones, you’ll start having positive results.

- Willie Nelson

 Don’t count the days, make the days count.

- Muhammad Ali

The key to success is not through achievement, but through enthusiasm.

- Malcolm Forbes

Success is not final; failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.

- Winston S. Churchill

Pleasure in the job puts perfection in the work.

- Aristotle

Some people want it to happen, some wish it would happen, others make it happen.

- Michael Jordan

The most effective way to do it, is to do it.

- Amelia Earhart

If everyone is moving forward together, then success takes care of itself.

- Henry Ford

It is literally true that you can succeed best and quickest by helping others to succeed.

- Napolean Hill

To handle yourself, use your head; to handle others, use your heart.

- Eleanor Roosevelt

The best way to cheer yourself up is to try to cheer somebody else up.

- Mark Twain

What lies behind us, and what lies before us are but tiny matters compared to what lies within us.

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

When your work speaks for itself, don't interrupt.
- Henry J. Kaiser

Yesterday’s home runs don’t win today’s games.

- Babe Ruth

The pessimist complains about the wind. The optimist expects it to change. The leader adjusts the sails.

- John Maxwell

Funny Teamwork Quotes

Regardless of the task at hand or how well your team works together, things can get a little tense and stressful sometimes. Work life comes with ups and downs and navigating them becomes easier when we allow ourselves to be our authentic selves and loosen up a little. Life and work can be a lot more fun if we stop taking ourselves too seriously.

You probably know how the saying goes: laughter is the best medicine. Well, as it turns out not only does a good laugh have the power of relieving stress, it also has the potential of creating stronger bonds with your teammates. If you need to lighten up the mood, these funny teamwork quotes will put a smile on your face and help you get through the day.

If you take out the team in teamwork, it’s just work. Now who wants that?

- Matthew Woodring Stover

I don’t like that man. I must get to know him better.

- Abraham Lincoln

There’s no secret about success. Did you ever know a successful man who didn’t tell you about it?

- Kin Hubbard

The problem with the rat race is that even if you win, you’re still a rat.

- Lily Tomlin

Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake.

- Napoleon Bonaparte

The best way to appreciate your job is to imagine yourself without one.

- Oscar Wilde

I like work; it fascinates me. I can sit and look at it for hours.

- Jerome K. Jerome

Executive ability is deciding quickly and getting somebody else to do the work.

- Earl Nightingale

Oh, you hate your job? Why didn’t you say so? There’s a support group for that. It’s called everybody, and they meet at the bar.

- Drew Carey

Be like a postage stamp. Stick to a thing till you get there.

- Josh Billings

I always arrive late at the office, but I make up for it by leaving early.

- Charles Lamb

Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work

- Thomas Edison

I know worrying works, because none of the stuff I worried about ever happened.

- Will Rogers

A team effort is a lot of people doing what I say.

- Michael Winner

I choose a lazy person to do a hard job, because a lazy person will find an easy way to do it.

- Bill Gates

No man goes before his time — unless the boss leaves early.

- Groucho Marx

All you need in this life is ignorance and confidence, and then success is sure.

- Mark Twain

Do or do not. There is no try.

- Yoda

 Hard work never killed anybody but why take a chance?

- Edgar Bergen

If you had to identify in one word the reason why the human race has not achieved and never will achieve its full potential, that word would be ‘meetings.’

- Dave Barry

Leadership is the art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it.

- Dwight Eisenhower

By working faithfully eight hours a day you may eventually get to be boss and work twelve hours a day.

- Robert Frost

If you try to fail, and succeed, which have you done?

- George Carlin

There are no traffic jams along the extra mile. - Roger Staubach

The road to success is dotted with many tempting parking spaces.

- Will Rogers

On this team, we're all united in a common goal: to keep my job.

- Lou Holtz

We must, indeed, all hang together or, most assuredly, we shall all hang separately.

- Benjamin Franklin

No member of a crew is praised for the rugged individuality of his rowing.

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Change is not a four letter word… but often your reaction to it is!

- Jeffrey Gitomer

The brain is a wonderful organ; it starts working the moment you get up in the morning and does not stop until you get into the office.

- Robert Frost