We all appreciate great people. But how do you develop your potential for greatness?
Every one of us has the potential for something truly extraordinary. Great people have given profound sayings about our hidden greatness, emphasizing how each person has the capacity to perform tremendous things they never imagined possible. When you think about being great as a choice, you take control.
The following inspiring quotes about potential for greatness can help you strengthen your mindset and shed light on your true potential.
You may also like:
Powerful Quotes about Potential for Greatness
1. “The potential for greatness lives within each of us.” — Wilma Rudolph
2. “The greatest truth must be recognition that in every man, in every child is the potential for greatness.” — Robert Kennedy
3. “Complacency is the last hurdle standing between any team and its potential greatness.” — Pat Riley
4. “In order to be great we must form great plans, and satisfy ambition that we are capable of improving great opportunities.” — Norman Macdonald
5. “Desire, burning desire, is basic to achieving anything beyond the ordinary.” — Joseph B. Wirthlin
6. “We become what we expect to become. Greatness can be achieved only if we expect it from ourselves and from others!” — James Ericson
7. “Both desire and imagination are stored in the mind of the individual and when stretched, both have the potential to position a person for greatness.” — Eric Thomas
8. “Greatness is more than potential. It is the execution of that potential.” — Eric Burns
9. “The final proof of greatness lies in being able to endure criticism without resentment.” — Elbert Hubbard
10. “Just because your feet are on the ground, doesn’t mean you weren’t born to fly.” — Justin Young
11. “Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great.” — Mark Twain
12. “Success isn’t always about greatness. It’s about consistency. Consistent hard work leads to success. Greatness will come.” — Dwayne Johnson
Related: 110 Powerful Quotes on Finding Purpose in Life
13. “No one is destined for greatness. Everyone is just destined to express the greatness that already exists within.” — Aunna Pourang
14. “Don’t bother just to be better than others. Try to be better than yourself.” — William Faulkner
15. “To submit one’s self to one’s gift is to submit oneself to education and self-development and to devote enough time to improve one’s gift.” — Sunday Adelaja
16. “Each of us have been born with the potential for greatness. We are equals. That doesn’t mean we are born into equal circumstances, or have equal skills. What we do have in common, though, is the ability to apply ourselves to achieving that which we desire.” — Justin Young
17. “Never underestimate the power of dreams and the influence of the human spirit. We are all the same in this notion: The potential for greatness lives within each of us.” — Wilma Rudolph
18. “No one achieves greatness by becoming a generalist. You don’t hone a skill by diluting your attention to its development. The only way to get to the next level is focus.” — John C. Maxwell
19. “Every person is different and has a different contribution to make. No one is destined to fail.” — Henry B. Eyring
20. “Every human being has the potential for greatness.” — Robert Foster Bennett
21. “If you don’t go after what you want, you’ll never have it. If you don’t ask, the answer is always no. If you don’t step forward, you’re always in the same place.” — Nora Roberts
22. “You carry greatness disguised in tiny potentials.” — Israelmore Ayivor
23. “The potential for greatness lives within us all.” — Wilma Rudolph
24. “A man’s greatness lies not in wealth and station, but in the consciousness of an honest purpose in life, founded on a just estimate of himself and everything else.” — George Long
25. “Anyone who wants to be great and influential person should be ready to pay the highest price in order to develop their gifts and submit themselves to this gift.” — Sunday Adelaja
Related: 100 Acceptance and Letting Go Quotes to Free Your Heart
26. “In your hands you hold the seeds of failure – or the potential for greatness.” — Zig Ziglar
27. “Greatness can only be rightly estimated when minuteness is justly reverenced.” — John Ruskin
28. “You must dare greatly, to receive the grace for greatness.” — Lailah Gifty Akita
29. “Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambition.” — Mark Twain
30. “It is meet the great should have the fame of happiness, the consolation of a little envy; it is all their pay for those superior cares, those pangs of heart their vassals never can feel.” — Thomas Young
31. “Every body should be given the chance and the necessary support to unearth their full potential.” — Lailah Gifty Akita
32. “Are you living up to your potential? God made you with potential – potential for greatness! If you do what you can do, and trust Him to do what you can’t, you will grow into the person He gave you the potential to be!” — Joyce Meyer
33. “Greatness lies not in being strong, but in the right use of strength.” — Henry Ward Beecher
34. “When you look into the eyes of your children and grandchildren, when you picture their greatness and potential, do you feel that they are getting the education that is up to par with who they were born to become?” — Oliver DeMille
35. “Everyone has a potential for greatness.” — Khalil Gibran Muhammad
36. “The seeds of greatness are ideas you learn from people who’ve been great in their service to others.” — Denis Waitley
37. “Don’t cap your potential in the name of humility. First, maximize your potential, serve the world with your greatness and then worry about pride lol.” — Assegid Habtewold
Related: 115 Simple Life is about Experiences Quotes to Inspire You
38. “In your hands you hold the seeds of failure or the potential for greatness. Your hands are capable, but they must be used and for the right things to reap the rewards you are capable of attaining. The choice is yours.” — Zig Ziglar
39. “In order to be great we must form great plans, and satisfy ambition that we are capable of improving great opportunities.” — Norman Macdonald
40. “The fact that you are born means you have the potential of benefiting yourself and generations.” — Abegunde Sunday O.
41. “Believe in yourself. Believe in your own potential for greatness. Believe that you can change the world. It is something that is within each of us. Believe in the Power of One.” — Evan Tanner
42. “The sun illuminates the hills while it is still below the horizon, and truth is discovered by the highest minds a little before it becomes manifest to the multitude.” — Thomas Babington Macaulay
43. “Most rules are made by people with no authority who want to control and limit you from reaching your true potential. Ignore them, break their rules, and wave at them as you soar past them to greatness.” — Dan Pearce
44. “Believe in your own potential for greatness.” — Evan Tanner
45. “Think like a queen. A queen is not afraid to fail. Failure is another stepping stone to greatness.” — Oprah Winfrey
46. “Greatness is more than potential. It is the execution of that potential. Beyond the raw talent. You need the appropriate training. You need the discipline. You need the inspiration. You need the drive.” — Eric Burns
47. “Failure holds the seeds for greatness — so long as you water those seeds with introspection, they can be the root of your success.” — Daniel Lubetzky
48. “The final proof of greatness lies in being able to endure criticism without resentment.” — Elbert Hubbard
49. “To unleash your full potential recognise and acknowledge the greatness in others.” — Moonish Sood
50. “Greatness is not measured by what a man or woman accomplishes, but by the opposition, he or she has overcome to reach his goals.” — Dorothy Height
Related: 120 Best Hiding Emotions Quotes (Truth Behind the Smile)
51. “In all is built potential for greatness, but not all apply the efforts necessary for manifestation.” — Sunday Adelaja
52. “Imagination is divine. Your imagination will lead you to where you ought to be.” — Lailah Gifty Akita
53. “There will never be ‘the right time’ in your life to do a great thing. You must create that time and greatness will follow.” — John A. Passaro
54. “You treat people with greatness and greatness will come back to you.” — Afrika Bambaataa
55. “As we mature and develop awareness to match our potential, our ability to enjoy full health is realized. As we enjoy this fruit, we sow the seeds of greatness in our children.” — Rand Olson
56. “Greatness comes from fear. Fear can either shut us down and we go home, or we fight through it.” — Lionel Richie
57. “Everyone has inside of him a piece of good news. The good news is that you don’t know how great you can be! How much you can love! What you can accomplish! And what your potential is!” — Anne Frank
58. “You were born with potential. You were born with goodness and trust. You were born with ideals and dreams. You were born with greatness. You were born with wings. You are not meant for crawling, so don’t. You have wings. Learn to use them and fly.” — Rumi
59. “The only thing standing between me and greatness, is me.” — Woody Allen
60. “Continuous effort – not strength or intelligence – is the key to unlocking our potential.” — Winston Churchill
61. “The strength to move forward when others stop, to keep going when others turn back, is the key to unlocking your greatest potential.” — Matshona Dhliwayo
62. “I used my pain to push me to greatness.” — Eric Thomas
Related: 99 Powerful Quotes about Growing up and Maturing in Life
63. “Great leaders can see the greatness in others when they can’t see it themselves and lead them to their highest potential they don’t even know.” — Roy T. Bennett
64. “Don’t try to get even with those who wrong you, get ahead.” — Mensah Oteh
65. “When you catch a glimpse of your potential, that’s when passion is born.” — Zig Ziglar
66. “One isn’t necessarily born with courage, but one is born with potential. Without courage, we cannot practice any other virtue with consistency. We can’t be kind, true, merciful, generous, or honest.” — Maya Angelou
67. “Believe in your own potential for greatness.” — Evan Tanner
68. “Whoever renders service to many puts himself in line for greatness — great wealth, great return, great satisfaction, great reputation, and great joy.” — Jim Rohn
69. “Consult not your fears but your hopes and your dreams. Think not about your frustrations, but about your unfulfilled potential. Concern yourself not with what you tried and failed in, but with what it is still possible for you to do.” — Pope John XXIII
70. “You can never meet your potential until you truly learn to love yourself.” — Teresa Collins
71. “The greatest good we can do for others is not to share our riches with them but to reveal theirs to them.” — Zig Ziglar
72. “Building a solid foundation in the early years of a child’s life will not only help him or her reach their full potential but will also result in better societies as a whole.” — Novak Djokovic
73. “The test of leadership is not to put greatness into humanity, but to elicit it, for the greatness is already there.” — James Buchanan
74. “All greatness of character is dependent on individuality. The man who has no other existence than that which he partakes in common with all around him, will never have any other than an existence of mediocrity.” — James Fenimore Cooper
75. “Leadership is unlocking people’s potential to become better.” — Bill Bradley
Related: 110 Quotes about Excitement in Life’s Beautiful Moments
76. “Greatness has a fragrance. Get close to it and that fragrance will arouse your potential.” — Mensah Oteh
77. “You can only become great at that thing you’re willing to sacrifice for.” — Maya Angelou
78. “The greater the obstacle, the more glory in achieving it.” — Moliere
79. “Focus on creating value by finding and solving problems for others.” — Mensah Oteh
80. “Human greatness does not lie in wealth or power, but in character and goodness. People are just people, and all people have faults and shortcomings, but all of us are born with a basic goodness.” — Anne Frank
81. “There are no great men, only great challenges that ordinary men are forced by circumstances to meet.” — William F. Halsey
82. “There is no cap to the potential within us, except when we place one on ourselves.” — E’yen A. Gardner
83. “Greatness is not found in possessions, power, position, or prestige. It is discovered in goodness, humility, service and character.” — William Arthur Ward
84. “Anyone who stops is old, whether at 20 or 80. Anyone who keeps learning stays young. The greatest thing in life is to keep your mind young.” — Henry Ford
85. “Desire, burning desire, is basic to achieving anything beyond the ordinary.” — Joseph B. Wirthlin
86. “Be not afraid of greatness; some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them.” — William Shakespeare
87. “True greatness consists in being great in little things.” — Charles Simmons
Related: 125 Quotes of Moving on with Life: New Chapters Await
88. “Your story is the greatest legacy that you will leave to your friends. It’s the longest-lasting legacy you will leave to your heirs.” — Steve Saint
89. “The greatest glory in living lies not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.” — Nelson Mandela
90. “All greatness of character is dependent on individuality. The man who has no other existence than that which he partakes in common with all around him, will never have any other than an existence of mediocrity.” — James Fenimore Cooper
91. “All I’m suggesting is that greatness and goodness is a potential in a majority of humans, not a reality.” — Amish Tripathi
92. “Great acts and great eloquence have most commonly gone hand in hand, equaling and honoring each other in the same ages.” — John Milton
93. “Greatness is not found in possessions, power, position, or prestige. It is discovered in goodness, humility, service and character.” — William Arthur Ward
94. “The level of happiness you experience through your interactions depends on the quality of your walk in love.” — Mensah Oteh
95. “Take a stand for what’s right. Raise a ruckus and make a change. You may not always be popular, but you’ll be part of something larger and bigger and greater than yourself. Besides, making history is extremely cool.” — Samuel L. Jackson
96. “No one ever achieved greatness by playing it safe.” — Harry Gray
97. “No one ever achieved greatness by playing it safe.” — Harry Gray
98. “Our greatness is best seen, not in the great things we do or aspire to, but in the great things to which we are called.” — Herman Hooker
99. “True greatness consists in being great in little things.” — Charles Simmons
100. “All good men and women must take responsibility to create legacies that will take the next generation to a level we could only imagine.” — Jim Rohn
Related: 101 Inspiring Bad Gut Feeling Quotes (be Careful)
101. “Appreciate your flaws to reach the potential of your greatness.” — Behdad Sami
102. “Your past is not your potential. In any hour you can choose to liberate the future.” — Marilyn Ferguson
103. “Greatness begins with a vision. And ends with a legacy.” — Robin Sharma
104. “Great souls are not those which have less passion and more virtue than common souls, but only those which have greater designs.” — François de La Rochefoucauld
105. “Everyone has inside them a piece of good news. The good news is you don’t know how great you can be! How much you can love! What you can accomplish! And what your potential is!” — Anne Frank
106. “Waste no more time arguing what a good man should be. Be One.” —Marcus Aurelius
107. “No man is truly great who is great only in his lifetime. The test of greatness is the page of history.” — William Hazlitt
108. “Continuous effort – not strength or intelligence – is the key to unlocking our potential.” — Winston Churchill
109. “It isn’t the mountains ahead to climb that wear you out; it’s the pebble in your shoe.” — Muhammad Ali
110. “A man’s greatness lies not in wealth and station, but in the consciousness of an honest purpose in life, founded on a just estimate of himself and everything else.” — George Long
111. “In each of us are places where we have never gone. Only by pressing the limits do you ever find them.” — Joyce Brothers
112. “There is something on earth greater than arbitrary power; the thunder, the lightning, and the earthquake are terrific, but the judgment of the people is more.” — Daniel Webster
Related: 99 Quotes about Freedom and Liberty Everyone Should Know
113. “The will to win, the desire to succeed, the urge to reach your full potential… these are the keys that will unlock the door to personal excellence.” — Confucius
114. “When I understand myself, I understand you, and out of that understanding comes love.” — Jiddu Krishnamurti
115. “One’s only rival is one’s own potentialities. One’s only failure is failing to live up to one’s own possibilities.” — Abraham Maslow
116. “The potential of the average person is like a huge ocean unsailed, a new continent unexplored, a world of possibilities waiting to be released and channeled toward some great good.” — Brian Tracy
117. “Greatness can only be rightly estimated when minuteness is justly reverenced.” — John Ruskin
118. “Always dream and shoot higher than you know you can do. Do not bother just to be better than your contemporaries or predecessors. Try to be better than yourself.” — William Faulkner
119. “You were designed for accomplishment, engineered for success, and endowed with the seeds of greatness.” — Zig Ziglar
120. “With realization of one’s own potential and self-confidence in one’s ability, one can build a better world.” — Dalai Lama
121. “The greatest thing about a man is his ability to transcend himself, his environment, and to be what he dreams of being.” — Tully C. Knoles
122. “It is meet the great should have the fame of happiness, the consolation of a little envy; it is all their pay for those superior cares, those pangs of heart their vassals never can feel.” — Thomas Young
123. “Everybody has a creative potential and from the moment you can express this creative potential, you can start changing the world.” — Paulo Coelho
124. “The triumph can’t be had without the struggle. And I know what struggle is.” — Wilma Rudolph
125. “Just because Fate doesn’t deal you the right cards, it doesn’t mean you should give up. It just means you have to play the cards you get to their maximum potential.” — Les Brown
I hope you enjoyed these quotes about potential for greatness. If you liked it please write it in the comment section below which one was your favorite?
Want more Inspiration? Why not Take a Look at the Following: