Health Quotes that will Motivate You to Make Changes

Do you know that it’s time to make changes to your health but you struggle with finding the motivation to do it?

These health quotes can help.

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A study conducted by the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health found that individuals who adopt healthy habits, such as regular exercise and a healthy diet, can increase their lifespan by up to 14 years. 

The study suggests that making healthy changes to your lifestyle can have a significant impact on your lifespan.

There are endless benefits that come from leading a healthy life.

And, not only is taking care of your health about your physical health, but it also impacts your mental health.

But while the list of reasons you should pay attention to your health is long, it’s still easy to struggle with.

Things like eating right and exercising aren’t always the things that we want to do.

So, here are some motivational health sayings to help you make the healthy changes that will give you the life you desire.

If you need to be motivated further, be sure to also check out our collection of quotes on healthy eating.

Also, check out our most popular quote article, a list of short inspirational quotes for daily wisdom. 

See the rest of our quote database for even more inspirational ideas and thoughts.

Motivational health quotes

The American Heart Association reports that physical inactivity is a significant risk factor for developing heart disease, the leading cause of death worldwide.

Engaging in regular physical activity can reduce the risk of heart disease and improve overall heart health.

1. “Early to bed and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise.” – Benjamin Franklin

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2. “Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food.”― Hippocrates

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3. “Focus on health, energy, vitality – not weight.” – Karen Salmansohn

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4. “The best doctors give the least medicine.” – Benjamin Franklin

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5. “No disease that can be treated by diet should be treated with any other means.” ― Maimonides

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6. “Health is a state of complete mental, social and physical well-being, not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.” – World Health Organization, 1948

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7. “Health is a large word.  It embraces not the body only, but the mind and spirit as well;…and not today’s pain or pleasure alone, but the whole being and outlook of a man.” – James H. West

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8. “To ensure good health: eat lightly, breathe deeply, live moderately, cultivate cheerfulness, and maintain an interest in life.” – William Londen

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9. “Physical fitness is not only one of the most important keys to a healthy body, it is the basis of dynamic and creative intellectual activity.” – John F. Kennedy

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10. “We know that food is a medicine, perhaps the most powerful drug on the planet with the power to cause or cure most disease.” – Dr Mark Hyman

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11. “Moderation. Small helpings. Sample a little bit of everything. These are the secrets of happiness and good health.” – Julia Child

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12. “Nobody can be in good health if he does not have all the time fresh air, sunshine and good water.” – Flying Hawk

13. “The best six doctors anywhere and no one can deny it are sunshine, water, rest, air, exercise and diet.”- Wayne Fields

14. “Physical fitness is the first requisite of happiness.” – Joseph Pilates

15. “To keep the body in good health is a duty…otherwise we shall not be able to keep the mind strong and clear.” – Buddha

16. “I believe that the greatest gift you can give your family and the world is a healthy you.” – Joyce Meyer

17. “It is health that is the real wealth, and not pieces of gold and silver.” – Mahatma Gandhi

18. “Healthy citizens are the greatest asset any country can have.” ― Winston Churchill

19. “A healthy body is a guest-chamber for the soul; a sick body is a prison.” – Francis Bacon

20. “You can’t control what goes on outside, but you CAN control what goes on inside.” – Unknown

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Health quotes that will make you change your habits

A study conducted by the University of Cambridge found that individuals who cycled to work had a lower risk of death from all causes, including cardiovascular disease and cancer. 

This highlights the benefits of incorporating physical activity into daily routines, such as cycling or walking to work.

21. “The only way to keep your health is to eat what you don’t want, drink what you don’t like, and do what you’d rather not.” – Mark Twain

22. “When diet is wrong, medicine is of no use. When diet is correct, medicine is of no need.” – Ayurvedic Proverb

23. “A vigorous five-mile walk will do more good for an unhappy but otherwise healthy adult than all the medicine and psychology in the world.” ― Paul Dudley White

24. “A good laugh and a long sleep are the best cures in the doctor’s book.” – Irish proverb

25. “The doctor of the future will give no medicine, but will instruct his patients in care of the human frame, in diet, and in the cause and prevention of disease.” – Thomas Edison

26. “I have chosen to be happy because it is good for my health.” – Voltaire

27. “Nurturing yourself is not selfish – it’s essential to your survival and your well-being.” – Renee Peterson Trudeau

28. “Take care of your body. It’s the only place you have to live.”  —Jim Rohn

29. “There is no diet that will do what eating healthy does. Skip the diet. Just eat healthy.” – Anonymous

30. “Doctors won’t make you healthy. Nutritionists won’t make you slim. Teachers won’t make you smart. Gurus won’t make you calm. Mentors won’t make you rich. Trainers won’t make you fit. Ultimately, you have to take responsibility. Save yourself.” – Naval Ravikant

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Health quotes to inspire and teach

The World Health Organization reports that physical inactivity is the fourth leading risk factor for global mortality, causing an estimated 3.2 million deaths per year.

This statistic highlights the importance of physical activity for maintaining good health and reducing the risk of chronic diseases.

31. “Rest when you’re weary. Refresh and renew yourself, your body, your mind, your spirit. Then get back to work.” — Ralph Marston

32. “To enjoy the glow of good health, you must exercise.” – Gene Tunney

33. “The sovereign invigorator of the body is exercise, and of all the exercises walking is the best.” – Thomas Jefferson

34. “By choosing healthy over skinny, you are choosing self-love over self-judgement.”  —Steve Maraboli

35. “Sorry, there´s no magic bullet. You gotta eat healthy and live healthy to be healthy and look healthy. End of story.” ― Morgan Spurlock

36. “Be careful about reading health books. You may die of a misprint.” ― Mark Twain

37. “Walking is the best possible exercise. Habituate yourself to walk very far.” – Thomas Jefferson

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38. “There is one consolation in being sick; and that is the possibility that you may recover to a better state than you were ever in before.” – Henry David Thoreau

39. “A sad soul can be just as lethal as a germ.” – John Steinbeck

40. “Eating crappy food isn’t a reward — it’s a punishment.” ― Drew Carey

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Insightful health quotes

The World Health Organization reports that physical inactivity is the fourth leading risk factor for global mortality, causing an estimated 3.2 million deaths per year.

This statistic highlights the importance of physical activity for maintaining good health and reducing the risk of chronic diseases.

41. “Love yourself enough to live a healthy lifestyle.” – Jules Robson

42. “Your body hears everything your mind says.” – Naomi Judd

43. “Our bodies are our gardens – our wills are our gardeners.” – William Shakespeare

44. “In order to change we must be sick and tired of being sick and tired.” – Unknown

45. “The mind and body are not separate. what affects one, affects the other.” – Anonymous

46. “When the heart is at ease, the body is healthy.” – Chinese proverb

47. “1 billion people in the world are chronically hungry. 1 billion people are overweight.” ― Mark Bittman

48. “If you’re too busy to workout, your priorities need to change. I can’t think of too many things more important than your health.” – Rolsey

49. “Those who think they have no time for healthy eating will sooner or later have to find time for illness.” – Edward Stanley

50. “Sickness – nature’s vengeance for violating her laws.” – Charles Simmons

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More health quotes and sayings

A study by researchers at Harvard University found that following a healthy lifestyle can add up to 10 years of life expectancy, compared to unhealthy behaviors such as smoking, excessive alcohol consumption, and physical inactivity.

This statistic emphasizes the importance of lifestyle choices in promoting longevity and good health.

51. “It’s up to you today to start making healthy choices. Not choices that are just healthy for your body, but healthy for your mind.” – Steve Maraboli

52. “Honest differences are often a healthy sign of progress.” – Mahatma Gandhi

53. “Just like your body and lifestyle can be healthy or unhealthy, the same is true with your beliefs. Your beliefs can be your medicine or your poison.” – Steve Maraboli

54. “Health is hearty, health is harmony, health is happiness.” – Amit Kalantri

55. “Be healthy by being outdoors in the natural daylight with nature!” – Steven Magee

56. “You are what you eat. What would YOU like to be?” – Julie Murphy

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57. “Not knowing that eating something we have just eaten is bad for our health is in some cases good for our health.” – Mokokoma Mokhonoana

58. “Healthy mind, healthy body.” – Lailah Gifty Akita

59. “The more we see health as a practice rather than as a problem to fix, the more we encourage the body’s natural potential to be healthy.” – Aarti Patel

60. “A Healthy Outside Starts From the Inside.” – Warren Forrest

Short health quotes

61. “A fit body, a calm mind, a house full of love. These things cannot be bought – they must be earned.” – Naval Ravikant

62. “Good health and good sense are two of life’s greatest blessings.”– Publilius Syrus

63. “The wish for healing has always been half of health.” – Lucius Annaeus Seneca

64. “A fit, healthy body — that is the best fashion statement.” – Jess C. Scott

65. “The more you understand yourself, the more silence there is, the healthier you are.” – Maxime Lagacé

66. “Happiness lies first of all in health.” – George William Curtis

67. “He who has health has hope, and he who has hope has everything.” – Thomas Carlyle

68. “Looking after my health today gives me a better hope for tomorrow.” – Anne Wilson Schaef

69. “Health is not valued until sickness comes.” – Thomas Fuller

70. “The first wealth is health.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

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Health quotes from famous (and sometimes controversial) nutritionists

71. “I’ve been fit and I’ve been fat, and fit is better.” — Susan Powter

72. “Floating stools that will not flush show a liver imbalance.” — Gillian McKeith

73. “To get people to eat well, don’t say a word about health, just cook fantastic food for them.” — Ellie Krieger

74. “Sugar and chemicals disturb the body’s biochemical balance and dislocate brain function.” — Gillian McKeith

75. “Ditch fizzy drinks, caffeine and sugar – they are all stored as fat in the thighs and tummy.” — Gillian McKeith, High Life Magazine

76. “You shouldn’t eat late at night because that’s when your digestive system… is actually detoxifying the body.” — Gillian McKeith

77. “Fury. A vital passion in every healthy person’s life, unless you are dead, you have to be bloody furious.” ― Susan Powter, The Politics of Stupid

78. “Broccoli and cabbage are known as cruciferous vegetables which means they’re good for the liver. They raise the liver’s energy.” — Gillian McKeith

79. “You can be fat and love yourself. You can be fat and have a great damn personality. You can be fat and sew your own clothes. But you can’t be fat and healthy.” — Susan Powter

80. “The problem is that when you’re eating so much sugar combined with extra yeast through those white processed breads, you cause that yeast inside to grow more. And when it bursts out of the gut and goes into the bloodstream, you can feel just dreadful.” — Gillian McKeith

Health quotes about what it is like to be healthy in today’s world

81. “Attention to health is life’s greatest hindrance.” — Plato

82. “A healthy outside starts from the inside.” — Robert Urich

83. “The groundwork of all happiness is health. — Leigh Hunt

84. “Sleep is that golden chain that ties health and our bodies together.” — Thomas Dekker

85. “A healthy attitude is contagious but don’t wait to catch it from others. Be a carrier.” — Tom Stoppard

86. “The healthy man does not torture others—generally it is the tortured who turn into torturers.” — Carl Jung

87. “It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society.” — Jiddu Krishnamurti

88. “There’s nothing more important than our good health – that’s our principal capital asset.” — Arlen Specter

89. “When wealth is lost, nothing is lost; when health is lost, something is lost; when character is lost, all is lost.” — Billy Graham

90. “Being in control of your life and having realistic expectations about your day-to-day challenges are the keys to stress management, which is perhaps the most important ingredient to living a happy, healthy and rewarding life.” — Marilu Henner

Thought-provoking health quotes

91.  “The secret of getting ahead is getting started.” – Mark Twain

92.   “You can either suffer the pain of discipline or the pain of regret.” – Jim Rohn

93. “The only place where success comes before work is in the dictionary.” – Vidal Sasson

94.  “It’s challenging, but you have to at least try to eat right and exercise.” – Joely Fisher

95. “You may not be there yet, but you are closer than you were yesterday.” – Unknown

96. “And I believe that the best buy in public health today must be a combination of regular physical exercise and a healthy diet.” – Julie Bishop

97.  “The secret of our success is that we never, never give up.” – Wilma Mankiller

98.  “Find fitness with fun dancing. It is fun and makes you forget about the dreaded exercise.” – Paula Abdul

99.  “Time and health are two precious assets that we don’t recognize and appreciate until they have been depleted.” – Denis Waitley

100. “Take plenty of exercise. Always be cheerful. Take all the sleep you need. You may expect to be well.” – James Freeman Clarke

Health quotes about fitness to inspire you

101. “In fitness, there are no shortcuts. It involves immense discipline and hard work.” – Mahesh Babu

102. “Practice puts brains in your muscles.” – Sam Sneed

103. “It’s not about weight, it’s about fitness, and one component of being fit is to have relatively low body fat, because fat is not very efficient, whereas muscle is.” – Deborah Bull

104. “Fitness needs to be perceived as fun and games or we subconsciously avoid it.” – Alan Thicke

105. “No one’s ever achieved financial fitness with a January resolution that’s abandoned by February.” – Suze Orman

106. “If it doesn’t challenge you, it doesn’t change you.” – Fred DeVito

107. “It hurts now, but one day it will be your warm up.” – Anonymous

108. “Exercise is a celebration of what your body can do. Not a punishment for what you ate.” – Women’s Health UK

109. “The next few months will go by whether you workout or not!” – Unknown

110. “If you ever lack the motivation to train then think what happens to your mind and body when you don’t.” – Shifu Lan Yei

Health Quotes To Keep Things In Perspective

111. “Tell me what you eat and I will tell you who you are.” ― Jean Anthelme

112. “My own prescription for health is less paperwork and more running barefoot through the grass.” ― Leslie Grimutter

113. “What some call health, if purchased by perpetual anxiety about diet, isn’t much better than tedious disease.” ― George Dennison

114. “Your health, wealth, position, performance, ability and attitude are the results of your decisions.” ― Israelmore Ayivor

115. “To be physically astute and psychologically tended, yet morally insulated and conceptually blind–is to be crazy, not healthy.” ― Michael Ventura

116. “Like pornography, junk [food] might be tough to define but you know it when you see it.” ― Mark Bittman

117. “Eating healthy nutritious food is the simple and right solution to get rid of excess body weight effortlessly and become slim and healthy forever.” ― Subodh Gupta

118. “When we are healthy, wealthy and powerful, we forget about our mortality. It’s only when irreparable cracks set in that we come back to reality.” ― Bangambiki Habyarimana

119. “The healthy man is the thin man. But you don’t need to go hungry for it: Remove the flours, starches and sugars; that’s all.” ― Samael Aun Weor

120. “Healthy people have a natural skill of avoiding feverish eyes.” ― Albert Camus

Health Quotes To Encourage You To Live A Healthy Life

121. “When health is absent, wisdom cannot reveal itself, art cannot manifest, strength cannot fight, wealth becomes useless, and intelligence cannot be applied.” ― Herophilus

122. “A healthy lifestyle is the most potent medicine at your disposal.” — Sravani Saha Nakhro

123. “Health is like money, we never have a true idea of its value until we lose it.” — Josh Billings

124. “The man who earns a million but destroys his health in the process is not really a success.” — Zig Ziglar

125. “Health is the soul that animates all the enjoyments of life, which fade and are tasteless without it.” — Seneca

126. “When you are happy at work and at home you feel safe. Your health is better and you feel good.” — Clodagh Swanson

127. “I think it’s more important to be fit so you can be healthy and enjoy activities than it is to have a good body.” — Rachel Branchard

128. “A calm mind brings inner strength and self-confidence, so that’s very important for good health.” — Dalai Lama

129. “Health is the greatest possession.” — Laozi

130. “Cheerfulness is the best promoter of health and is as friendly to the mind as to the body.” — Joseph Addison

Health Quotes Facts To Bear In Mind Today

131. “A further sign of health is that we don’t become undone by fear and trembling, but we take it as a message that it’s time to stop struggling and look directly at what’s threatening us.” ― Pema Chodron

132. “Eat healthily, sleep well, breathe deeply, move harmoniously.” ― Jean-Pierre Barral

133. “To wish a healthy man to die is the wish from a mind of sickness. To wish an ailing man to die is the wish of the ambitious.” ― Roman Payne

134. “Sleep is the single most effective thing we can do to reset our brain and body health each day — Mother Nature’s best effort yet at contra-death.” ― Matthew Walker

135. “Regaining health is more difficult an objective then becoming ill. Becoming ill is a random act of ignorance and regaining health is an intentional effort in frustration.” ― Richard Diaz

136. “The first sure symptom of a mind in health Is rest of heart and pleasure felt at home.” ― Edward Young

137. “Health makes good propaganda.” ― Naomi Wolf

138. “Health isn’t about being “perfect” with food or exercise or herbs. Health is about balancing those things with your desires. It’s about nourishing your spirit as well as your body.” ― Golda Poretsky

139. “What the sick need is teachers not treaters, health schools not hospitals, instruction not treatment, education in right living not training the sick habit. Both they and their advisors must get rid of the curing idea and the practices built up thereon.” ― Herbert M. Shelton

140. “In general, nine-tenths of our happiness depends on our health alone.” ― Arthur Schopenhauer

You can do it!

Getting healthy isn’t always fun, but it’s always worth the effort that you make.

You are in control of your health.

If you’re struggling, reread over the quotes above and choose one area to focus on in order to start improving your health.

Many times just changing your mindset and thoughts around health is the first place that you need to start.

Once you have this in place, doing things like beginning to exercise or choosing healthy foods doesn’t seem quite as hard.

Or, when it does, you are still able to focus on the benefits that the work will lead to.

Which of these health quotes resonated with you best?

Do you have any other inspirational quotes to add?

Let us know in the comment section below.