Need an extra boost for those final days of the fall semester? Check out the inspirational quotes that the collegiettes™ at Her Campus have been successfully motivated by — and tell us yours by leaving a comment below!
“Anyone can give up, it’s the easiest thing in the world to do. But to hold it together when everyone else would understand if you fell apart, that’s true strength.” – Unknown
Kathleen Kalinsky, Social Media, James Madison University
“Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don’t matter and those who matter don’t mind.” – Dr. Seuss
Laura Maddox, Campus Correspondent, Appalachian State University
“Become your dream.” Honestly, I don’t know who said it. I saw it on a random plank of wood when I was on my way to my very first New York Fashion Week show. Months later that quote still sticks with me and inspires me to — here comes the cliché — be the best that I can be.
Kelsey Mulvey, Contributing Writer, Boston University
“Whether you think you can or you think you can’t, you’re right.” – Henry Ford
Stephanie Kaplan, Co-Founder and Editor-in-Chief, Harvard alum
“I must learn to love the fool in me — the one who feels too much, talks too much, takes too many chances, wins sometimes and loses often, lacks self-control, loves and hates, hurts and gets hurt, promises and breaks promises, laughs and cries. It alone protects me against that utterly self-controlled, masterful tyrant whom I also harbor and who would rob me of human aliveness, humility, and dignity but for my fool.” — Theodore I. Rubin, MD
Kayla Riley, Contributing Writer, University of Maine
Because I’m abroad in London and in the midst of finals, I keep telling myself to “Keep Calm and Carry On” because it’s EVERYWHERE, and it’s also just a great quote.
Lauren Kaplan, Contributing Writer, Emory University
The worst thing anyone can ever tell you is “no.” — Rani Goodman (my mom)
Elyssa Goodman, Style Editor, Carngie Melon alum
“A man may die, nations may rise and fall, but an idea lives on.”— John F. Kennedy.
Lorena Mora, Campus Correspondent, Emerson College
As a dancer, this quote really speaks to me — but I think it can be reinterpreted to fit any field or study!
“You have to love dancing to stick with it. It gives you nothing back, no manuscripts to store away, no paintings to show on walls and maybe hang in museums, no poems to be printed and sold, nothing but that single fleeting moment when you feel alive. It is not for unsteady souls.” – Merce Cunningham
Alice Chen, Summer Editorial Intern, Emory University
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“Our passion is our strength. “ — Billie Joe Armstrong
Sydney Nolan, Contributing Writer, University of Missouri: Columbia
“I believe that everything happens for a reason. People change so that you can learn to let go, things go wrong so that you appreciate them when they’re right, you believe lies so you eventually learn to trust no one but yourself, and sometimes good things fall apart so better things can fall together.” — Marilyn Monroe
Alexandra Churchill, Editorial Intern/Contributing Writer, University of New Hampshire
“We shall not cease from exploration. And the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time.” — T.S. Eliot
Jenni Whalen, Editorial Intern/Contributing Writer, Bucknell University
“Hoy es hoy, y ayer se fue. No hay duda.” — Pablo Neruda.
This quote translated means, today is today, and yesterday is gone. There is no doubt. Neruda is one of my favorite poets and this quote teaches me not to dwell on the past. No matter what I scored on past exams, I am motivated to move forward and look optimistically to the future. There is nothing I can do to change the past, but I can change how I perform in the future.
Elizabeth Carey, Campus Correspondent, UC Berkley
“We are not put on this earth to see through one another, but to see one another through.” – Gloria Vanderbilt
Mara Flanagan, Campus Correspondent, Chatham University
“Promise me you’ll always remember: You’re braver than you believe, and stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think.” – Christopher Robin to Pooh (author A. A. Milne)
Sarah Ramirez, Campus Correspondent, Fordham University
“Getting a “C” isn’t the end of the world you know.” – My mother
– Crystal Garner, Campus Correspondent, University of Southern Mississippi