Career Change Quotes: 49 for New Jobs & Fresh Starts

49 Quotes 4 verified to a primary source

Changing jobs rarely feels brave while you’re doing it. It feels like doubt, updated resumes, and second-guessing. The 49 quotes below — from founders, working writers, and a few philosophers — are picked for that stretch between deciding to leave and settling into what’s next.

Each lists the book or speech it is usually credited to. Quotes we have matched to the source are marked verified; the rest are marked “attributed,” so you know which ones to double-check before you put them in a farewell email. At the end is the famous “throw off the bowlines” line, which is not Mark Twain’s.

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1

Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do.

Steve Jobs Verified source
2

I didn't see it then, but it turned out that getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything.

Steve Jobs Verified source
3

I'm convinced that about half of what separates the successful entrepreneurs from the non-successful ones is pure perseverance.

Steve Jobs Verified source
4

Careers are a jungle gym, not a ladder.

Sheryl Sandberg Attributed — source not confirmed
5

There is no perfect fit when you're looking for the next big thing to do. You have to take opportunities and make an opportunity fit for you, rather than the other way around. The ability to learn is the most important quality a leader can have.

Sheryl Sandberg Attributed — source not confirmed
6

We cannot change what we are not aware of, and once we are aware, we cannot help but change.

Sheryl Sandberg Attributed — source not confirmed
7

What would you do if you weren't afraid?

Sheryl Sandberg Attributed — source not confirmed
8

Fortune does favor the bold and you'll never know what you're capable of if you don't try.

Sheryl Sandberg Attributed — source not confirmed
9

Build your skills, not your résumé. Evaluate what you can do, not the title they're going to give you.

Sheryl Sandberg Attributed — source not confirmed
10

Business opportunities are like buses, there's always another one coming.

Richard Branson Attributed — source not confirmed
11

If somebody offers you an amazing opportunity but you are not sure you can do it, say yes – then learn how to do it later!

Richard Branson Attributed — source not confirmed
12

If you don't get out there and define yourself, you'll be quickly and inaccurately defined by others.

Michelle Obama Attributed — source not confirmed
13

For me, becoming isn't about arriving somewhere or achieving a certain aim. I see it instead as forward motion, a means of evolving, a way to reach continuously toward a better self. The journey doesn't end.

Michelle Obama Attributed — source not confirmed
14

Success isn't about how much money you make; it's about the difference you make in people's lives.

Michelle Obama Attributed — source not confirmed
15

In the world of business, the people who are most successful are those who are doing what they love.

Warren Buffett Attributed — source not confirmed
16

It's better to hang out with people better than you. Pick out associates whose behavior is better than yours and you'll drift in that direction.

Warren Buffett Attributed — source not confirmed
17

The difference between successful people and really successful people is that really successful people say no to almost everything.

Warren Buffett Attributed — source not confirmed
18

People don't buy what you do; they buy why you do it.

Simon Sinek Attributed — source not confirmed
19

Most of us live our lives by accident—we live as it happens. Fulfillment comes when we live our lives on purpose.

Simon Sinek Attributed — source not confirmed
20

Achievement happens when we pursue and attain what we want. Success comes when we are in clear pursuit of why we want it.

Simon Sinek Attributed — source not confirmed
21

Successful careers are not planned. They develop when people are prepared for opportunities because they know their strengths, their method of work, and their values.

Peter Drucker Attributed — source not confirmed
22

Efficiency is doing things right; effectiveness is doing the right things.

Peter Drucker Attributed — source not confirmed
23

Transferring your passion to your job is far easier than finding a job that happens to match your passion.

Seth Godin Attributed — source not confirmed
24

The only way to get what you're worth is to stand out, to exert emotional labor, to be seen as indispensable, and to produce interactions that organizations and people care deeply about.

Seth Godin Attributed — source not confirmed
25

The road to comfort is crowded and it rarely gets you there. Ironically, it's those who seek out discomfort that are able to make a difference and find their footing.

Seth Godin Attributed — source not confirmed
26

Vulnerability sounds like truth and feels like courage.

Brené Brown Attributed — source not confirmed
27

We can choose courage or we can choose comfort, but we can't have both.

Brené Brown Attributed — source not confirmed
28

Courage starts with showing up and letting ourselves be seen.

Brené Brown Attributed — source not confirmed
29

You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You must do the thing you think you cannot do.

Eleanor Roosevelt Verified source
30

Courage is more exhilarating than fear and in the long run it is easier. We do not have to become heroes overnight. Just one step at a time.

Eleanor Roosevelt Attributed — source not confirmed
31

Nothing will work unless you do.

Maya Angelou Attributed — source not confirmed
32

You can only become truly accomplished at something you love. Don't make money your goal. Instead pursue the things you love doing and then do them so well that people can't take their eyes off of you.

Maya Angelou Attributed — source not confirmed
33

Some employers out there do want you. Yes, you. But it's not their job to find you. It's your job to find them.

Richard Bolles Attributed — source not confirmed
34

Passion plus competency, not just competency alone, is key to securing employment.

Richard Bolles Attributed — source not confirmed
35

Enthusiasm is common. Endurance is rare.

Angela Duckworth Attributed — source not confirmed
36

Our potential is one thing. What we do with it is quite another.

Angela Duckworth Attributed — source not confirmed
37

Without effort, your talent is nothing more than unmet potential. Without effort, your skill is nothing more than what you could have done but didn't.

Angela Duckworth Attributed — source not confirmed
38

Passion comes after you put in the hard work to become excellent at something valuable, not before. In other words, what you do for a living is much less important than how you do it.

Cal Newport Attributed — source not confirmed
39

If you want to love what you do, abandon the passion mindset and instead adopt the craftsman mindset.

Cal Newport Attributed — source not confirmed
40

No one owes you a great career, it argues; you need to earn it—and the process won't be easy.

Cal Newport Attributed — source not confirmed
41

Control leads to compliance; autonomy leads to engagement.

Daniel Pink Attributed — source not confirmed
42

Human beings have an innate inner drive to be autonomous, self-determined, and connected to one another. And when that drive is liberated, people achieve more and live richer lives.

Daniel Pink Attributed — source not confirmed
43

You don't have to be great to start, but you have to start to be great.

Zig Ziglar Attributed — source not confirmed
44

People often say that motivation doesn't last. Well, neither does bathing - that's why we recommend it daily.

Zig Ziglar Attributed — source not confirmed
45

Success is nothing more than a few simple disciplines, practiced every day.

Jim Rohn Attributed — source not confirmed
46

Your life does not get better by chance, it gets better by change.

Jim Rohn Attributed — source not confirmed
47

Work harder on yourself than you do on your job.

Jim Rohn Attributed — source not confirmed
48

Change before you have to.

Jack Welch Attributed — source not confirmed
49

Before you are a leader, success is all about growing yourself. When you become a leader, success is all about growing others.

Jack Welch Attributed — source not confirmed

Often misattributed

These circulate under the name above, but the record points elsewhere. Here is where each one actually comes from.

  • Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.

    Usually credited to Mark Twain

    Actually: Not Mark Twain. It comes from H. Jackson Brown Jr.'s P.S. I Love You (1990), a book of his mother's sayings.

    Research: en.wikiquote.org

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