63 Inspirational Quotes About Goal Setting

If you have goals or dreams, big or small, this post is for you.

I put together this collection quotes about goal setting when considering how a flâneur might approach the theme of goals. Since a flâneur is a purposely aimless stroller, the idea of goals at first pass seems antithetical to the philosophy.

Feel free to dive in, explore, and see which quotes resonate with you most.

Quotes About Goal Setting

Go as far as you can see, and when you get there you will see farther.

Orison Swett Marden

In these parts you have to keep busy; otherwise you’re no-account. Here you just can’t sit, you have to be going someplace. It’s not easy for people like us.

Franz Hessel

If you want to be happy, set a goal that commands your thoughts, liberates your energy and inspires your hopes.

Andrew Carnegie

Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Willing is not enough; we must do.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

A goal without a timeline is just a dream.

Robert Herjavec

Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off your goal.

Henry Ford

The biggest adventure you can take is to live the life of your dreams.

Oprah Winfrey

The path of one who shrinks from arriving at his goal will easily take the form of a labyrinth.

Walter Benjamin

Hustling is putting every minute and all your effort into achieving the goal at hand. Every minute needs to count.

Gary Vaynerchuk

A person should set his goals as early as he can and devote all his energy and talent to getting there. With enough effort, he may achieve it. Or he may find something that is even more rewarding. But in the end, no matter what the outcome, he will know he has been alive.

Walt Disney

Successful people maintain a positive focus in life no matter what is going on around them. They stay focused on their past successes rather than their past failures, and on the next action steps they need to take to get them closer to the fulfillment of their goals rather than all the other distractions that life presents to them.

Jack Canfield

You may not know in your mind where you are going, but you know it by doing.

Nassim Taleb

Stay focused on your mission, remain steadfast in your pursuit of excellence, and always do the right thing.

Mark Esper

A good archer is known not by his arrows but by his aim.

Walt Disney

We aim above the mark to hit the mark.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

It must be borne in mind that the tragedy of life doesn’t lie in not reaching your goal. The tragedy lies in having no goals to reach.

Benjamin E. Mays

The greater danger for most of us isn’t that our aim is too high and miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it.

Michelangelo

Remember your dreams and fight for them. You must know what you want from life. There is just one thing that makes your dream become impossible: the fear of failure.

Paulo Coelho

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

Your goals are the road maps that guide you and show you what is possible for your life.

Les Brown

A dream becomes a goal when action is taken toward its achievement.

Bo Bennett

Those who talk should do and only those who do should talk.

Nassim Taleb

If you’re bored with life – you don’t get up every morning with a burning desire to do things – you don’t have enough goals.

Lou Holtz

The going is the goal.

Horace Kallen

If you don’t design your own life plan, chances are you’ll fall into someone else’s plan. And guess what they have planned for you? Not much.

Jim Rohn

I do know that when I am 60, I should be attempting to achieve different personal goals than those which had priority at age 20.

Warren Buffett

The only limit to the height of your achievements is the reach of your dreams and your willingness to work for them.

Michelle Obama

If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.

Henry David Thoreau

Every ceiling, when reached, becomes a floor, upon which one walks as a matter of course and prescriptive right.

Aldous Huxley

If we have a goal and a plan, and are willing to take risks and mistakes and work as team, we can choose to do the hard thing.

Scott Kelly

Just as your car runs more smoothly and requires less energy to go faster and farther when the wheels are in perfect alignment, you perform better when your thoughts, feelings, emotions, goals, and values are in balance.

Brian Tracy

It’s harder to stay on top than it is to make the climb. Continue to seek new goals.

Pat Summitt

If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them.

Henry David Thoreau

If you want to live a happy life, tie it to a goal, not to people or things.

Albert Einstein

Setting goals is the first step in turning the invisible into the visible.

Tony Robbins

What you get by achieving your goals is not as important as what you become by achieving your goals.

Henry David Thoreau

The people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do.

Steve Jobs

The question you should be asking isn’t, “What do I want?” or “What are my goals?” but “What would excite me?

Tim Ferriss

You measure the size of the accomplishment by the obstacles you have to overcome to reach your goals.

Booker T. Washington

99% of people in the world are convinced they are incapable of achieving great things, so they aim for the mediocre. The competition is thus fiercest for realistic goals.

Tim Ferriss

Don’t bunt. Aim out of the ballpark.

David Ogilvy

It is good to have an end to journey toward; but it is the journey that matters, in the end.

Ernest Hemingway

One way to keep momentum going is to have constantly greater goals.

Michael Korda

It is not enough to take steps which may someday lead to a goal; each step must be itself a goal and a step likewise.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Greatness is setting ambitious goals that your former self would have thought impossible, and trying to get a little better every day.

Tim Ferriss

By recording your dreams and goals on paper, you set in motion the process of becoming the person you most want to be. Put your future in good hands—your own.

Mark Victor Hansen

A goal is not always meant to be reached, it often serves simply as something to aim at.

Bruce Lee

You are never too old to set a new goal or to dream a new dream.

C.S. Lewis

Dreams are the touchstones of our characters.

Henry David Thoreau

For to reach a port, we must sail—sail, not tie at anchor—sail, not drift.

Franklin Roosevelt

Be practical as well as generous in your ideals. Keep your eyes on the stars, but remember to keep your feet on the ground.

Theodore Roosevelt

I think goals should never be easy, they should force you to work, even if they are uncomfortable at the time.

Michael Phelps

All who have accomplished great things have had a great aim, have fixed their gaze on a goal which was high, one which sometimes seemed impossible.

Orison Swett Marden

Our goals can only be reached through a vehicle of a plan, in which we must fervently believe, and upon which we must vigorously act. There is no other route to success.

Pablo Picasso

To live a fulfilled life, we need to keep creating the “what is next” of our lives. Without dreams and goals there is no living, only merely existing, and that is not why we are here.

Mark Twain

You cannot change your destination overnight, but you can change your direction overnight.

Jim Rohn

 The trouble with not having a goal is that you can spend your life running up and down the field and never score.

Bill Copeland

If you set goals and go after them with all the determination you can muster, your gifts will take you places that will amaze you.

Les Brown

Success is the progressive realization of a worthy goal or ideal.

Earl Nightingale

The thing about goals is that living without them is a lot more fun, in the short run. It seems to me, though, that the people who get things done, who lead, who grow and who make an impact…those people have goals.

Seth Godin

You have to set goals that are almost out of reach. If you set a goal that is attainable without much work or thought, you are stuck with something below your true talent and potential.

Steve Garvey

All successful people have a goal. No one can get anywhere unless he knows where he wants to go and what he wants to be or do.

Norman Vincent Peale

Goals. There’s no telling what you can do when you get inspired by them. There’s no telling what you can do when you believe in them. And there’s no telling what will happen when you act upon them.

Jim Rohn

How a Flaneur Might Approach Goal Setting

A flâneur, a leisurely explorer ot streets who strolls or wanders with no urgent destination, would likely approach goal-setting with a leisurely, exploratory, and perhaps even a slightly detached mindset.

Here are some thoughts on how they might approach goals:

1. Organic Goals

A flâneur might set goals organically, allowing them to emerge naturally from their daily observations and experiences rather than imposing strict targets on themselves.

2. Mindful Observation

Their goals might be centered around enhancing their powers of observation, fostering deeper connections with their surroundings, or cultivating a rich inner life.

3. Flexible Deadlines

When it comes to deadlines, a flâneur might prefer flexible, fluid timeframes that allow them to pursue their goals at a leisurely pace, enjoying the process rather than rushing towards the finish line.

4. Quality Over Quantity

Their focus would be on the quality of the experience rather than the quantity of the outcomes, valuing depth over breadth in their endeavors.

5. Personal Satisfaction

Goals would likely be personal and self-directed, focused on their satisfaction rather than external validations or measures of success.

6. Serendipitous Discoveries

Open to serendipitous discoveries, a flâneur might set loose, open-ended goals that allow for unexpected developments and happy accidents.

7. Daily Exploration

On a day-to-day level, goals might be as simple as exploring a new street, visiting a new place, or meeting a new person, with an emphasis on the richness of the immediate experience.

8. Journaling

A flâneur might keep a journal to record their impressions and reflections, setting goals related to their writing and exploration.

9. Philosophical Enquiry

If inclined towards philosophical enquiry, a flâneur might set goals around understanding complex concepts or theories better through their daily explorations and observations.

10. Personal Growth

Personal growth and understanding might be a recurring theme in the goals set, focusing on a deeper understanding of self and surroundings through contemplative wandering.

In short, a flâneur might not have explicit goals in the sense we have come to understand them, but they are “secretly attuned” to where they’re headed, and likely have a vision for that destination that’s evolving in real time.

Parting Words

I’ve come to learn that goals best serve me when they’re flexible and evolving. I start out with a rough vision in my mind of where I’m heading, and things become clearer as I progress.

New conversations, new information, and new progress helps me aling myself better and gain clarity on what I’m setting out to do.

Have any other quotes about goal setting to add? Which is your favorite from this list? Let me know in the comments!

P.S. If you liked this, you might also enjoy these related quote collections:

• Quotes About Synergy
• Quotes About Finding Yourself
• Quotes About Overcoming Fear
• Quotes About Social Conditioning
• Quotes About Flânerie and Being a Flâneur

Originally published September 2, 2019. The date of the last significant edit is reflected at the top of the post.