Quotes With Life Lessons to Help You Move On
March 14, 2023 5:00 AM EST
Our latest collection of quotes on life lessons on Everyday Power.
Let us know your favorite life lessons quote in the comment section below.
There’s a lot the world and our experiences can teach us.
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Research by the University of Pennsylvania shows that reading uplifting quotes can decrease stress and anxiety.
When feeling overwhelmed, take a moment to read life lesson quotes that resonate with you and bring a sense of calm and peace to your day.
What are the benefits of reading these life lesson quotes?
Some are easier to learn than others.
Life lessons can help you understand:
- Relationships
- Challenges
- Who you are
- How to stay positive and why it matters
It’s easy to go through life living with regrets and focusing on the negative things of the past.
It’s challenging to shake off what has held you back and move forward toward a bright future.
But as long as you focus on the negative baggage from yesterday, it will keep you from getting to where you want to go.
Focusing on your past mistakes, what hurts you, and what didn’t work out can only stop you from the bright future you envisioned.
Leave things behind
To start afresh and move forward, there are many things you will want to drop.
Let it go and move forward, whether it’s a betrayal, bad childhood, a divorce, or a bad job.
You cannot do anything about what happened in the past, but you can do something about your future.
Your past is not as important as what’s ahead, so you cannot let it poison your future.
Here are some powerful moving-on quotes on life lessons to inspire you to live a happier, healthier, and more meaningful life.
Check out our most popular quote article, a list of short inspirational quotes for daily inspiration.
Our inspirational quote category page has even more inspirational and educational quotes.
Quotes with life lessons to help you move on
According to a study from the University of Michigan, reading life lesson quotes promoting gratitude can lead to a greater appreciation for life and an overall increase in well-being.
Start each day with a quote that reminds you to be grateful and appreciate the small things in life.
1. “You can only lose what you cling to.”— Buddha
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2. “Yesterday is not ours to recover, but tomorrow is ours to win or lose.”– Lyndon B. Johnson
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3. “Why let go of yesterday? Because yesterday has already let go of you.” – Steve Maraboli
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4. “Only the dead have seen the end of war.” ― Plato
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5. “You’ve gotta know when it’s time to turn the page.” – Tori Amos
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6. “Though nobody can go back and make a new beginning… Anyone can start over and make a new ending.” ― Chico Xavier
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7. “Every new beginning comes from some other beginning’s end.” – Seneca
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8. “I do a good job of staying positive and just moving on.” – Katie Taylor
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9. “Letting go does not mean you stop caring. It means you stop trying to force others to.”– Mandy Hale
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10. “You only struggle because you’re ready to grow but aren’t willing to let go.” – Drew Gerald
If you’re enjoying these quotes, read our collection of short positive quotes to fuel your day.
Quotes about life lessons and moving on
Research conducted by the University of California, Berkeley, shows that reading quotes encouraging positive thinking can improve problem-solving abilities.
When faced with a challenge, read a quote that helps you approach the situation positively and constructively.
11. “We are products of our past, but we don’t have to be prisoners of it.” ― Rick Warren
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12. “Forgive yourself for your faults and your mistakes and move on.” – Les Brown
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13. “Some of us think holding on makes us strong, but sometimes it is letting go.”– Herman Hesse
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14. “You don’t learn to walk by following rules. You learn by doing, and by falling over.” ― Richard Branson
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15. “Courage is the power to let go of the familiar.”– Raymond Lindquist
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16. “In three words I can sum up everything I’ve learned about life: it goes on.” – Robert Frost
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17. “Every day is a new day, and you’ll never be able to find happiness if you don’t move on.” – Carrie Underwood
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18. “Anything you can’t control is teaching you how to let go.” – Jackson Kiddard
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19. “You can’t move forward if you’re still hanging on.” – Sue Fitzmaurice
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20. “Nothing in the universe can stop you from letting go and starting over.”– Guy Finley
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Inspirational quotes on life lessons
According to a study conducted by Dr. Alex Lickerman from the University of Chicago, reading quotes about life lessons can improve resilience.
The study found that individuals who frequently read such quotes were more likely to bounce back from adversity and maintain a positive outlook on life.
21. “If there’s a single lesson that life teaches us, it’s that wishing doesn’t make it so.” ― Lev Grossman
22. “A man who wakes up and finds himself a success hasn’t been asleep.” – Dave Thomas
23. “Be yourself — everyone else is already taken.” – Oscar Wilde
24. “Fear is not a good teacher. The lessons of fear are quickly forgotten.” – Mary Catherine Bateson
25. “Sooner or later we’ve all got to let go of our past.”– Dan Brown
26. “It’s not the mistake that matters, it’s how you interpret the lesson.” – Michelle C. Ustaszeski
27. “I am learning to love the sound of my feet walking away from things not meant for me.” – A.G.
If you’re enjoying these quotes, you’ll love our collection of walk away quotes to help you find the motivation and courage you need to change your life.
28. “Your past does not equal your future.”– Anthony Robbins
29. “Sometimes the hardest part isn’t letting go but rather learning to start over.” ― Nicole Sobon
30. “You don’t have to let that one thing be the thing that defines you.” ― Jojo Moyes
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Quotes about life lessons and mistakes
In a survey by the Pew Research Center, it was revealed that 81% of adults find inspirational quotes helpful in guiding their personal growth.
This demonstrates the value of reading quotes that offer life lessons, as they can help individuals navigate through various life challenges.
31. “Every defeat, every heartbreak, every loss, contains its own seed, its own lesson on how to improve your performance the next time.” – Og Mandino
32. “It’s time to say goodbye, but I think goodbyes are sad and I’d much rather say hello. Hello to a new adventure.” – Ernie Harwell
33. “The past is a place of reference, not a place of residence; the past is a place of learning, not a place of living.” ― Roy T. Bennett
34. “Courage is the most important of all the virtues because without courage, you can’t practice any other virtue consistently.” ― Maya Angelou
35. “Most people claim that they feel like they’re trapped in a rat race, without an exit. While we can all feel this way from time to time, it’s important to know that there is a way out.” – Debeena Harris
36. “It happens to everyone as they grow up. You find out who you are and what you want, and then you realize that people you’ve known forever don’t see things the way you do. So you keep the wonderful memories, but find yourself moving on.” ― Nicholas Sparks
37. “A man must be big enough to admit his mistakes, smart enough to profit from them, and strong enough to correct them.” – John C. Maxwell
38. “We all make them, the difference is what we do after we make the mistake, how we see the mistake – a learning experience or a failure.” – Catherine Pulsifer
39. “You make mistakes. Mistakes don’t make you.” – Maxwell Maltz
40. “There is no sense in punishing your future for the mistakes of your past. Forgive yourself, grow from it, and then let it go.” – Melanie Koulouris
If you’re enjoying these quotes, make sure to read our collection of mistake quotes about learning from error.
Powerful quotes on life lessons
Research by Dr. Sonja Lyubomirsky, a psychologist at the University of California, Riverside, found that reading quotes about life lessons can boost overall happiness.
Participants who engaged in this activity reported a significant increase in their well-being and life satisfaction.
41. “The great courageous act that we must all do, is to have the courage to step out of our history and past so that we can live our dreams.” ― Oprah Winfrey
42. “We must be willing to let go of the life we’ve planned, so as to have the life that is waiting for us.”– Joseph Campbell
43. “Over the years I’ve come to realize that mistakes are just lessons, life lessons almost like school. Once you’ve learned a lesson in class, you move on to the next lesson because now you know it. Well mistakes are exactly the same.” – Rashard Royster
44. “One of the most courageous decisions you’ll ever make is to finally let go of what is hurting your heart and soul.” – B. Nicole
45. “Happiness is not the absence of problems, it’s the ability to deal with them.” ― Steve Maraboli
46. “My greatest life lessons have not come from any achievements I have attained but rather from the failures, heartaches, and setbacks that I have experienced.” – Dr. Marshall Hennington
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47. “When one door closes, another opens; but we often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door that we do not see the one which has opened for us.”– Alexander Graham Bell
48. “There comes a time in your life when you have to choose to turn the page, write another book or simply close it.” ― Shannon L. Alder
49. “A very wise man once told me that you can’t look back-you just have to put the past behind you, and find something better in your future.” ― Jodi Picoult
50. “I’ve been burdened with blame trapped in the past for too long, I’m moving on” ― Rascal Flatts
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Other motivational quotes on life lessons
51. “To be successful, you must act big, think big and talk big.” – Aristotle Onassis
52. “Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you react.” –Tony Robbins
53. “If you can dream it, you can do it.” – Walt Disney
54. “Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.” – Seneca
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55. “Letting go isn’t a one-time thing, it’s something you have to do every day, over and over again.” – Dawson’s Creek
56. “Letting go doesn’t mean that you don’t care about someone anymore. It’s just realizing that the only person you really have control over is yourself.” ― Deborah Reber
57. “Behind every adversity is an opportunity. If you lament over the adversity, you will miss the opportunity.” – Ajaero Tony Martins
58. “I don’t dwell on the things that are too late to fix, but I do my best to get life’s lessons and put them into action.” – Les Brown
59. “Never be ashamed! There’s some who will hold it against you, but they are not worth bothering with.” – J.K. Rowling
60. “Think of each failure, each heartache, and each loss in your life as a lesson in courage and resilience.” – Kate Anderson
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More quotes on life lessons
61. “Accept yourself, love yourself, and keep moving forward. If you want to fly, you have to give up what weighs you down.” – Roy T. Bennett
62. “Make improvements, not excuses. Seek respect, not attention.” – Roy T. Bennett
63. “Pursue what catches your heart, not what catches your eyes.” – Roy T. Bennett
64. “Let the improvement of yourself keep you so busy that you have no time to criticize others.” – Roy T. Bennett
65. “In this life, when you deny someone an apology, you will remember it at time you beg forgiveness.” – Toba Beta
66. “It’s clearly easier to get the snake out of the sack than it is to shove it back.” – Mary Morris
67. “Knowing when to forgive yourself and correct yourself is a blessing.” – Angel Moreira
68. “When something happens and it causes us pain, the pain is there to teach us a lesson. It is not so that we feel pain for the sake of pain.” – Cave Man
69. “Be humble to those who praise you, pleasant to those who honor you, kind to those who cherish you, good to those who love you, and generous to those who adore you.” – Matshona Dhliwayo
70. “We cannot change the past. We can only take action in the present and, therefore, change the future.” – Ken Poirot
71. “Take chances, make mistakes. That’s how you grow. Pain nourishes your courage. You have to fail in order to practice being brave.” ―Mary Tyler Moore
72. “There are no passengers on spaceship earth. We are all crew.” ―Marshall McLuhan
73. “Avoid doing the same you always do or the day will fill like an incoming tide.” – Allan Jenkins
74. “Life is available only in the present. That is why we should walk in such a way that every step can bring us to the here and the now.” – Thich Nhat Hanh
75. “In every success story, you will find someone who has made a courageous decision.” –
Peter F. Drucker
Thought-provoking quotes with life lessons to help you move on
76. “Forget the past.” – Nelson Mandela
77. “Time doesn’t heal emotional pain, you need to learn how to let go.” – Roy T. Bennett
78. “The first step towards getting somewhere is to decide that you are not going to stay where you are.” – J.P. Morgan
79. “Look at life through the windshield, not the rear-view mirror.” – Byrd Baggett
80. “We can not become what we need to by remaining what we are.” – Oprah Winfrey
81. “People can be more forgiving than you can imagine. But you have to forgive yourself. Let go of what’s bitter and move on.” – Bill Cosby
82. “Take the first step in faith. You don’t have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step.” – Martin Luther King Jr.
83. “Moving on, is a simple thing, what it leaves behind is hard.” – Dave Mustaine
84. “You must make a decision that you are going to move on. It won’t happen automatically. You will have to rise up and say, ’I don’t care how hard this is, I don’t care how disappointed I am, I’m not going to let this get the best of me. I’m moving on with my life.” – Joel Osteen
85. “There are far better things ahead than any we leave behind.” – C.S. Lewis
86. “Sometimes moving on with the rest of your life starts with goodbye.” – Carrie Underwood
Life lesson quotes we could all benefit from
87. “The biggest lesson I had in my life was failure.” — Tim Rice
88. “Life’s too mysterious to take too serious.” — Mary Engelbreit
89. “You’re never wrong if you love and help people.” — Maxime Lagacé
90. “Life taught me love is risky. Death taught me to love even more.” — Maxime Lagacé
91. “Life is a succession of lessons which must be lived to be understood.” — Helen Keller
92. “Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow. The important thing is not to stop questioning.” — Albert Einstein
93. “The one thing that I keep learning over and over again is that I don’t know nothing. I mean, that’s my life lesson.” — Dwayne Johnson
94. “The Universe is one great kindergarten for man. Everything that exists has brought with it its own peculiar lesson.” — Orison Swett Marden
95. “My greatest life lesson has been that life can change in a second. This is why it’s important to always live your best possible life and to do what you can for others.” — Niki Taylor
96. “The biggest lesson I learned this year is to not force anything; conversations, friendships, relationships, attention, love. Anything forced is just not worth fighting for, whatever flows flows, what crashes crashes.” — Amanda Rose
Life Lesson quotes you should remember every day
97. “Short cuts make long delays.” — J.R.R. Tolkien
98. “Mistakes are part of the dues one pays for a full life.” — Sophia Loren
99. “Life is not a problem to be solved, but a reality to be experienced.” — Soren Kierkegaard
100. “We make a living by what we get. We make a life by what we give.” — Winston Churchill
101. “Don’t let anyone ever make you feel like you don’t deserve what you want.” — Heath Ledger
102. “The hardest thing to learn in life is which bridge to cross and which bridge to burn.” — David Russell
103. “Good judgment comes from experience, and experience comes from bad judgment.” — Rita Mae Brown
104. “Life is inherently risky. There is only one big risk you should avoid at all costs, and that is the risk of doing nothing.” — Denis Waitley
105. “Mistakes are a part of being human. Appreciate your mistakes for what they are: precious life lessons that can only be learned the hard way.” — Al Franken
106. “In the long run, we shape our lives, and we shape ourselves. The process never ends until we die. And the choices we make are ultimately our own responsibility.” — Eleanor Roosevelt
Quotes on life lessons to encourage you
107. “Instead of worrying about what you cannot control, shift your energy to what you can create.”― Roy T. Bennett
108. “You think you know someone. But mostly you just know what you want to know.”― Joe Hill
109. “The trouble is if you don’t spend your life yourself, other people spend it for you.”― Peter Shaffer
110. “Most important thing in life is learning how to fall.”― Jeannette Walls
111. “People tend to complicate their own lives as if living weren’t already complicated enough.”― Carlos Ruiz Zafón
112. “To suffer without complaint is the only lesson we have to learn in this life.”― Vincent Willem van Gogh
113. “I don’t think anyone ever gets over anything in life; they merely get used to it.”― Douglas Coupland
114. “Your fear is 100% dependent on you for its survival.”― Steve Maraboli
115. “Give out what you most want to come back.”― Robin S. Sharma
116. “Listen to what you know instead of what you fear.”― Richard Bach
Short quotes about life lessons
117. “Short cuts make long delays.” ― J.R.R. Tolkien
118. “Being safe doesn’t mean you won’t be sorry.”― Katerina Stoykova Klemer
119. “Your sacred space is where you can find yourself over and over again.”― Joseph Campbell
120. “Money isn’t everything, but it’s right up there with oxygen.”― Rita Davenport
121. “What gets measured gets improved.”― Robin S. Sharma
122. “If you do not have control over your mouth, you will not have control over your future.”
― Germany Kent
123. “Where there is life, there is hope.”― Alyson Noel
124. “Life’s too short to regret for not doing what we love.”― Rafsan Al Musawver
125. “You can’t wait around for something to become good, it either is, or isn’t.”― Toni Aleo
126. “Don’t change your principles to make them fit into another person’s mold.”― Cinderella
Hardest lessons in life quotes
127. “There are certain life lessons that you can only learn in the struggle.”― Idowu Koyenikan
128. “Lessons in life will be repeated until they are learned.” ― Frank Sonnenberg
129. “If there was any great lesson in life it was this: No battle was ever won with silence.”― Shannon L. Alder
130. “When patience pans out, you realize you’ve not waited for long.”― Kwesi Ackah
131. “Sometimes you don’t realize how strong you are until you’re tested.”― Morgan Rhodes
132. “Everything is possible, isn’t it? The world soon teaches one that!” ― Agatha Christie
133. “If you are still alive, do not lose hope, you can always start anew.”― Lailah Gifty Akita
134. “The day you decide you know all you should or could is the day you start dying.” ― Gavin Mills
135. “Every fault made is another valuable lesson learned.”― Kaylee Stepkoski
136. “Solitude is our greatest teacher.”― Mimi Novic
Quotes On Life Lessons To Make You Overcome Tough Times
137. “I’m grateful for every scar, some pages turned, some bridges burned, but there were lessons learned.” ― Carrie Underwood
138. “So learning to appreciate your lessons, mistakes, and setbacks as stepping-stones to the future is a clear sign you’re moving in the right direction.” ― Oprah Winfrey
139. “One of my biggest lessons in life is, we heal at the speed of our forgiveness.” ― Romany Malco
140. “Ultimately there is no such thing as failure. There are lessons learned in different ways.” ― Twyla Tharp
141. “I’ve come to realize that every single day we face moments that are difficult, uncertain, and scary. Your life requires courage.” ― Mel Robbins
142. “I am not someone who is ashamed of my past. I’m actually really proud. I know I made a lot of mistakes, but they in turn were my life lessons.” ― Drew Barrymore
143. “A tough lesson in life that one has to learn is that not everybody wishes you well.” ― Dan Rather
144. “Life’s lessons take a lifetime to learn, that’s just how it is in life’s classroom. But as we learn, we teach others. We are all teachers in the school of life.” ― Olive Steele
145. “The most valuable lessons in life cannot be taught, they must be experienced.” ― Liam Payne
146. “So learn your lessons and be thorough with the long road of experience.” ― Florence Scovel Shinn
Quotes On Life Lessons To Help You Sail the Murky Waters
147. “When you come out of the storm, you won’t be the same person who walked in.” ― Haruki Murakami
148. “The greatest glory in living lies not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.” ― Nelson Mandela
149. “Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life.” ― Steve Jobs
150. “Many of us go down a sad path when we let our egos make us suffer.” ― Mo Gawdat
151. “People only get better with experience if they are willing to learn and understand the lessons that are given to them through the bad times in their lives.” ― Jamie Alderton
152. “I have taken the biggest lesson of all from animals, needless to say, and discovering that living for the day is the way to live.” ― Jackie Weaver
153. “As life’s lessons are learned, spiritual truth emerges.” ― Eric Alsterberg
154. “Life’s lessons are about learning one or more of the values of the Truth.” ― Mary E McGovern
155. “Life’s lessons are hard but we have all learned ways to cope with tragedy as well as seeing the lessons is what my kids and I now call “the storms of life!” ― Francesco Capozzoli III
156. “One important thing to consider is that we are born ready to give and receive love, but our life lessons get in the way of experiencing this gift.” ― TJ Gibbs
Quotes on Life Lessons To help You Live Responsibly
157. “Accept responsibility for your life. Know that it is you who will get you where you want to go, no one else.” ― Les Brown
158. “No matter how much suffering you went through, you never wanted to let go of those memories.” ― Haruki Murakami
159. “You ought to know how to rise above the trivialities of life, in which most people are found drowning themselves.” ― D.T. Suzuki
160. “Everyday is a new beginning and a chance to blow it.” ― Cathy Guisewite
161. “It took a long time, but I have learned that you just can’t take anything you want out of life without putting something back in exchange.” ― Piper Laurie
162. “Sometimes life’s so much cooler when you just don’t know any better and all the painful lessons have not hammered your head open yet.” ― Anthony Kiedis
163. “Focus and simplicity…once you get there, you can move mountains.” ― Steve Jobs
164. “Remember that winners do what losers don’t want to do.” ― H. Jackson Brown, Jr.
165. “Just a reminder, what other people think of you is none of your business.” ― Ze Frank
166. “Change the changeable, accept the unchangeable, and remove yourself from the unacceptable.” ― Denis Waitley
Short Quotes on Life Lessons To Encourage You
167. “Learn to listen. Opportunity sometimes knocks very softly.” — H. Jackson Brown, Jr.
168. “I learned it by doing it, and I was scared to death.” — Herb Kelleher
169. “Be tough minded but tenderhearted.” — H. Jackson Brown, Jr.
170. “Childhood decisions do not have to define you.” — Selena Gomez
171. “There are some things you learn best in calm, and some in storm.” — Willa Cather
172. “The big lesson in life, baby, is never be scared of anyone or anything.” — Frank Sinatra
173. “My ideas usually come not at my desk writing but in the midst of living.” — Anais Nin
174. “Never back down from a real challenge. They give the best lessons in life.” — Lil Wayne
175. “Speaking of friends, the best ones always have your back.” — Selena Gomez
176. “Sheer persistence is the difference between success and failure.” — Donald Trump
Quotes on Life Lessons To Be Keen on The Decisions You Make
177. “Rock bottom became the solid foundation on which I rebuilt my life.” ― J.K. Rowling
178. “Don’t bite off more than you can chew because nobody looks attractive spitting it back out.” ― Carroll Bryant
179. “Time management is about life management.” ― Idowu Koyenikan
180. “Things are what they are, and whatever will be, will be.” ― Jonas Jonasson
181. “What helps you persevere is your resilience and commitment.” ― Roy T. Bennett
182. “I made up my mind not to care so much about the destination, and simply enjoy the journey.” ― David Archuleta
183. “Be comforted, dear soul! There is always light behind the clouds.” ― Louisa May Alcott
184. “Life is short. Focus on what really matters most. You have to change your priorities over time.” ― Roy T. Bennett
185. “The energy of the mind is the essence of life.” ― Aristotle
186. “You just can’t let life happen to you, you have to make life happen.” ― Idowu Koyenikan
Which of these quotes on life lessons was your favorite?
Although life can throw a sucker punch at you, you have to stay on course and remain focused on where you want to go.
Success is waiting for you; so you cannot live a life limited by fear, anger, ill health, or self-imposed barriers.
Love is all around you.
You just have to take the time to feel it for life itself.
Hopefully, these quotes have inspired you to move on and live life without limits.
Did you enjoy these quotes on life lessons?
Which of the quotes was your favorite?
Tell us in the comment section below.
We would love to hear all about it.
Joyce D
January 21, 2020 at 7:54 AM
44. “One of the most courageous decisions you’ll ever make is to finally let go of what is hurting your heart and soul.” – B. Nicole