Men are expected to be strong, powerful, resolute and driven. They are expected to overcome hurdles, ignore stress, and get things done excellently.

However, we often forget that even the most accomplished men experience doubt, fear, hopelessness, sadness and heartbreak. At one time or another, even the most successful men experience setback in personal life, career or business.

But if you’ve been knocked down, you can get back on your feet. These words of encouragement and inspirational quotes can help you return to a positive mindset.

Encouraging Quotes for Men

Pursue your goals.

  • “A man is what he believes.” – Anton Chekhov
  • “The inner fire is the most important thing mankind possesses.” – Edith Sodergran
  • “The successful man will profit from his mistakes and try again in a different way.” – Dale Carnegie
  • “The most persevering becomes the most talented.” – Maxime Lagacé
  • “The more self-knowledge you have, the calmer you can be.” – Maxime Lagacé
  • “Live your life in such a way that you neither hide nor have a wish to display your life to people.” – Leo Tolstoy
  • “The greater the success, the more it was due to one thing: focus.” – Shane Parrish

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  • “All fortune belongs to him who has a contented mind.” – The Panchatantra
  • “One man with courage makes a majority.” – Andrew Jackson
  • “The greater the success, the less it was due to one thing.” – James Clear
  • “Be forgiving with your past self. Be strict with your present self. Be flexible with your future self.” – James Clear
  • “It takes a great man to be a good listener.” – Calvin Coolidge
  • “It’s only pain that can make you change.” – Naval Ravikant
  • “It is not the situation which makes the man, but the man who makes the situation.” – Frederick William Robertson
  • “The world is full of guys. Be a man.” – unknown
  • “Courage is not having the strength to go on. It’s going on when you don’t have the strength.” – Theodore Roosevelt
  • “You are given this life because you are strong enough to live it.” – unknown
  • “Whether you think you can or you think you can’t, you’re right.” – Henry Ford
  • “The inner fire is the most important thing mankind possesses.” – unknown
  • “Our greatest story is not in never falling but in getting up every time we do.” – Confucius

Inspirational Quotes for Men

  • “A person can achieve everything by being simple and humble.” – The Vedas
  • “When you find peace within yourself, you also find peace without.” – Naga Devi
  • “Knowledge will give you power, but character respect.” – Bruce Lee
  • “What we achieve inwardly will change outer reality.” – Plutarch
  • “Try not to become a man of success but rather to become a man of value.” – Albert Einstein
  • “Seek truth over comfort.” – Anthony Pompliano
  • “You will earn the respect of all men if you begin by earning the respect of yourself.” – Musonius Rufus
  • “He who indulges in empty fears earns himself real fears.” – Seneca
  • “Man is not made for defeat. A man can be destroyed, but not defeated.” – Ernest Hemingway
  • “A good man’s prayers will from the deepest dungeon climb heaven’s height, and bring a blessing down.” – Joanna Baillie
  • “Who is the happiest of men? He who values the merits of others, and in their pleasure takes joy, even as though t’were his own.” – Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe
  • “Confidence is silent. Insecurities are loud.” – unknown
  • “If you try, you risk failure. If you don’t, you ensure it.” – unknown
  • “The secret of getting ahead is getting started” – unknown
  • “A great man is hard on himself. A small man is hard on others.” – Confucius
  • “Once you stop chasing the wrong things, the right ones will catch up to you.” – unknown
  • “If a man’s mind becomes pure, his surroundings will also become pure.” – Buddha
  • “He who stops being better stops being good.” – Oliver Cromwell
  • “Nothing deters a good man from doing what is honorable.” – Seneca the Younger
  • “The way of a superior man is three-fold: virtuous, he is free from anxieties; wise, he is free from perplexities; bold, he is free from fear.” – Confucius

Inspirational Quotes for Working Man

The job hunt can be disappointing. You won’t get an offer for every interview you take. Give your man the much-needed motivation, power, and energy to go through their day with these quotes.

  • “To have become a deeper man is the privilege of those who have suffered.” – Oscar Wilde
  • “If you want to save the world, save your little corner of the world.” – Naval Ravikant
  • “Progress is made in solitude; profit is made in public.” – Sven Schnieders
  • “The first question a leader should ask is: ‘How can I make those around me more successful?’” – John C. Maxwell
  • “Man is a genius when he is dreaming.” – Akira Kurosawa
  • “Don’t work more. Focus more.” – Nathan Gotch
  • “Don’t talk about plans. Only show results.” – Ed Latimore
  • “Working hard can give you meaning. Silence can give you peace.” – Maxime Lagacé
  • “The ignorant work for their own profit; the wise work for the welfare of the world, without thought for themselves.” – Bhagavad Gita
  • “You don’t succeed by being perfect. You succeed by doing good work, consistently.” – Thibaut
  • “Big jobs usually go to the men who prove their ability to outgrow small ones.” – Theodore Roosevelt
  • “The mark of a great man is one who knows when to set aside the important things in order to accomplish the vital ones.” – Brandon Sanderson
  • “Associate with men of good quality if you esteem your own reputation; for it is better to be alone than in bad company.” – George Washington
  • “Well done is better than well said.” – Benjamin Franklin
  • “Those who say it cannot be done should not interrupt those who are doing it.” – Chinese proverb
  • “Good men are hard to find because they are usually busy working.” – unknown
  • “You keep getting hit and you move forward. That’s how winning is done.” – Sylvester Stallone
  • “Small men build too many walls and too few bridges.” – unknown
  • “Life is 10% what happens to me and 90% of how I react to it.” – Charles Swindoll
  • “What defines us is how we rise after falling.” – Bob Hoskins

Appreciate a Good Man Quotes

recipe development

I appreciate a man in the kitchen.

  • “The true measure of a man is how he treats someone who can do him absolutely no good.” – Samuel Johnson
  • “You spend time with your family? Good. Because a man who doesn’t spend time with his family can never be a real man.” – Don Vito Corleone
  • “One good man, one good man, it ain’t much – it’s only everything.” – Deborah Kerr
  • “A good man would prefer to be defeated than to defeat injustice by evil means.” – Sallust
  • “Being a good man is something you do, not something you are.” – Luvie Ajayi
  • “A good man’s prayers will, from the deepest dungeon, climb heaven’s height and bring a blessing down.” – Joanna Baillie

“If unwilling to rise in the morning, say to thyself, ‘I awake to do the work of a man.’” – Marcus Aurelius

  • “A good man will want you to shine. He wants you to be your amazing self. A good man loves to show off his happy, intelligent, amazing, powerful woman.” – Anastasia Netri
  • “It is not what he has, or even what he does which expresses the worth of a man, but what he is.” – Henri-Frederic Amiel

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  • “Adversity toughens manhood, and the characteristic of the good or the great man is not that he has been exempt from the evils of life, but that he has surmounted them.” – Patrick Henry
  • “A good man would prefer to be defeated than to defeat injustice by evil means.” – Sallust
  • “The good man is the man who, no matter how morally unworthy he has been, is moving to become better.” – John Dewey

“You cannot dream yourself into a character; you must hammer and forge yourself one.” – James Froude

  • “You have to be a man before you can be a gentleman.” – John Wayne
  • “The mind of man is capable of anything.”― Joseph Conrad
  • “Here is the manliness of manhood, that a man has a good reason for what he does, and has a will in doing it.” –Alexander MacLaren
  • “It takes a mighty good man to be better than no man at all.” – Dixie Carter
  • “A gentleman will open doors, pull out chairs, and carry things. Not because she’s helpless or unable, but because he wants to show her that she is valuable and worthy of respect.” – Charles J. Orlando
  • “It is part of a good man to do great and noble deeds, though he risk everything.” – Plutarch
  • “No great man ever complains of want of opportunity.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

Encouraging Text Messages for Men

Do you want to send a guy a text message to inspire him? Check these suggestions out.

  • Remember that you’re awesome!
  • You can do this!
  • Light up your inner fire.
  • Rest if you must. But don’t quit.
  • You got this. Just a little more.
  • It’s okay to fail. What is not okay is to quit.
  • Never think of yourself as a failure.
  • You’re one step to success
  • Each small victory is a step towards your goal.
  • Your dream is waiting for you! Don’t quit.
  • This is what you want. Get it!
  • Work hard, and don’t quit.
  • Keep going. Your success will come soon.
  • Don’t fear failure. It’s part of success.
  • I’m with you all the way.
  • Yes, it’s hard. That’s why it’s worth it.
  • The beautiful way you treat us will always be remembered.
  • You’re a real man. You can overcome your limits.
  • Don’t give me that quitter talk.
  • There’s a team behind you! Keep moving!

Motivational Quotes for Men

  • “Once you’re calm and fit, you have everything worth having, as the rest just comes and goes.” – Naval Ravikant
  • “The wiser you get, the less you care to look like a fool.” – Maxime Lagacé
  • “We just keep swimming and let the tide take care of itself.” – Warren Buffett
  • “A sense of humor is the only divine quality of man.”- Arthur Schopenhauer
  • “Fools hate to look like fools. Wise men don’t care.” – Maxime Lagacé
  • “Never diminish someone’s dream, no matter how absurd it seems.” – Thibaut
  • “Make focusing on the long-term your default mode.” – Matthew Kobach
  • “The stronger a man is, the more gentle he can afford to be.” – Elbert Hubbard
  • “To have doubted one’s own first principles is the mark of a civilized man.” – Oliver W. Holmes Jr

“To be a man requires that you accept everything life has to give you, beginning with your name.” – Burl Ives

    • “Knowledge will give you power, but character respect.” – Bruce Lee
    • “The price tag of leadership is self-discipline.” – John C. Maxwell
    • “Success is achieved and maintained by those who keep trying and trying.” – Bald Brothers
    • “A man who is a master of patience is a master of everything else.” – George Savillo
    • “To serve people takes dignity and intelligence.” – Bob Hoskins
    • “Life isn’t about finding yourself. It’s about creating yourself.” – George Bernard Shaw
    • “Strong men don’t have attitude. They have standards.” – unknown
    • “The real workout starts when you want to stop.” – unknown
    • “Success is going from failure to failure without losing your enthusiasm.” – Winston Churchill
  •  “Success is nothing more than a few simple disciplines practiced every day.” – The Bald Brothers

Male Empowerment Quotes

  • “A great man is hard on himself; a small man is hard on others.” – Confucius
  • “If you perform the sacrifice of doing your duty, you do not have to do anything else. Devoted to duty, man attains perfection.” – Bhagavad Gita
  • “The crucial thing is to find a truth which is truth for me, to find the idea for which I am willing to live and die.” – Søren Kierkegaard
  • “What you aim at determines what you see.” – Jordan Peterson
  • “We need men who can dream of things that never were.” – John F. Kennedy
  • “It is in your hands, to make a better world for all who live in it.” – Nelson Mandela
  • “Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power.”-Abraham Lincoln
  • “There is nothing with which every man is so afraid as getting to know how enormously much he is capable of doing and becoming.” – Søren Kierkegaard
  • “If you want to overcome the whole world, overcome yourself.” – Fyodor Dostoevsky

“Those who apply themselves too closely to little things often become incapable of great things.” – François de La Rochefoucauld

  • “I like criticism. It makes you strong.” – LeBron James
  • “The real man smiles in trouble, gathers strength from distress, and grows brave by reflection.” – Thomas Paine
  • “A successful man is one who can lay a firm foundation with the bricks others have thrown at him.” – David Brinkley
  • “A man may conquer a million men in battle but one who conquers himself is, indeed, the greatest of conquerors.” – Buddha
  • “What a man knows should find its expression in what he does. The value of superior knowledge is chiefly in that it leads to a performing manhood.” – Christian Nestell Bovee
  • “What’s meant to be doesn’t happen on its own. Sometimes, you have to fight like hell for it.” – Sean Colarossi
  • “If you want to be strong, learn to enjoy being alone.” – unknown
  • “If something stands between you and success, move it. Never be denied.” – Dwayne Johnson
  • “A man must be big enough to admit his mistakes, smart enough to profit from them, and strong enough to correct them.” – John Maxwell
  • “Men are like steel. When they lose their temper, they lose their worth.” – Chuck Norris

Black Male Inspirational Quotes

  • Be proud of being black leader.
  • Black is only a color.
  • Your forefathers sacrificed for you. Never forget that.
  • No one can judge you because of your skin color.
  • Do you know that a lot of very successful people are black?
  • Black is powerful. Black is determined.
  • Just because you’re black doesn’t mean you’re worthless.
  • Be proud of your identity. That’s black pride!
  • It’s not about your color. It’s what you accomplished.

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  • Just like light, shadows can emphasize the form of a beautiful thing.
  • Always bet on black.
  • Remember who you are and the game will change.
  • It doesn’t matter if you’re black. What matters is that you have dreams, and you’re working to achieve those dreams.
  • I am a black man. I doing everything with honesty, integrity, and dignity.
  • Skin color doesn’t define my character. My attitude does.
  • You’re a black man. You have the power.
  • Be proactive. Be good. Be noble.
  • Success is not measured by your skin color.
  • Conquer your mindset first. Then take out the competition.

What Can You Say or Do to Encourage a Man After a Setback?

Is your father, brother, son, boyfriend, colleague, or friend going through a hard time? Here are some tips on how to help him get back on his feet.

  • Listen to the guy as he pours out his heart to you. Don’t interrupt. Often, what a man needs is just someone hear them out.
  • Empathize with him. Let him know that you understand how he feels.
  • Enumerate the things that he did correctly, excellently, and spectacularly. Remind him of past successes.
  • If possible, tell him success stories of people who encountered similar hardships. Be careful with this one though.
  • Let him know how he helped you for the better. Being aware that he has done something good for someone is a powerful means of encouragement.
  • Tell him that it’s not the end of the world. This is nothing more than a speed bump on the journey to success.
  • Assure the man you’ll always be there to support him through thick and thin.

Bottom line, no one gets a hit at every at bat. No one wins every wrestling match. Literally everyone experiences failure and setback. Remember these setbacks don’t reflect on you personally. Setbacks happen to everyone.

Want to start your own food business?

Hey! 👋I’m Brett Lindenberg, the founder of Food Truck Empire.

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