Top 500 Firsts Quotes (2025 Update)

1. “If you have the ability to love, love yourself first.”

— Charles Bukowski

Also featured in: Self-Esteem Quotes, Self-Worth Quotes, Self-Love Quotes, Love You Quotes

2. “You can’t win unless you first begin. So start now.”

— Robin S. Sharma

Also featured in: Persistence Quotes, Goal Quotes, Inspirational Life Quotes, Winning Quotes

3. “It may seem difficult at first, but everything is difficult at first.”

— Miyamoto Musashi

Also featured in: Hard Work Quotes, Warrior Quotes, Martial Arts Quotes

4. “Those who seek a better life must first become a better person.”

— Jim Rohn

Also featured in: Positive Life Quotes, Personality Quotes, Inspirational Life Quotes, Self-Empowerment Quotes

5. “Even the greatest was once a beginner. Don’t be afraid to take that first step.”

— Muhammad Ali

6. “Our lives are fashioned by our choices. First we make our choices. Then our choices make us.”

— Anne Frank

Also featured in: Choices Quotes

7. “The first step is the hardest – making a commitment to yourself, for yourself.”

— Mary Kay Ash

Also featured in: Self-Love Quotes, Empowerment Quotes, Commitment Quotes, Self-Belief Quotes

8. “When you keep God in first place, He will take you to places you’ve never dreamed of.”

— Joel Osteen

Also featured in: Positive Inspirational Quotes, Blessing Quotes, Christian Motivational Quotes, Prosperity Quotes, Blessed Quotes

9. “When was the last time you did something for the first time?”

— John C. Maxwell

Also featured in: Experience Quotes, Short Motivational Quotes, Live Life Quotes, Short Inspiring Quotes

10. “Courage is the first virtue that makes all other virtues possible.”

— Aristotle

Also featured in: Virtue Quotes

11. “A problem is only a problem when viewed as a problem. All change is hard at first, messy in the middle and gorgeous at the end.”

— Robin S. Sharma

Also featured in: Change Quotes, Motivational Work Quotes, Short Inspirational Quotes, Perspective Quotes

12. “All the great speakers were bad speakers at first.”

— Ralph Waldo Emerson

Also featured in: Communication Quotes

13. “In the first 30 years of your life, you make your habits. For the last 30 years of your life, your habits make you.”

— Steve Jobs

14. “To accomplish much you must first lose everything.”

— Ernesto Che Guevara

15. “To achieve great things, we must first dream.”

— Coco Chanel

16. “In order to rise From its own ashes A phoenix First Must Burn.”

— Octavia Butler

Also featured in: Deep Quotes About Life, Transformation Quotes

17. “The first step to greatness is to be honest.”

— Samuel Johnson

18. “If at first you don’t succeed, try hard work.”

— William Feather

Also featured in: Short Motivational Quotes, Work Ethic Quotes, Quotes About Trying, Quotes About Work

19. “Work first, and then rest.”

— John Ruskin

Also featured in: Inspirational Quotes for Work, Work Ethic Quotes, Duty Quotes, Work Hard Quotes

20. “Model the behavior you wish more people would display. Lead first.”

— Robin S. Sharma

Also featured in: Inspirational Business Quotes, Taking Action Quotes, Sunday Inspirational Quotes, Influence Quotes

21. “Life is short and unpredictable. Eat the dessert first!”

— Helen Keller

Also featured in: Life Is Short Quotes

22. “The first draft is just you telling yourself the story.”

— Terry Pratchett

Also featured in: Creativity Quotes, Fiction Quotes, Storytelling Quotes

23. “We’re not going to be the first to this party, but we’re going to be the best.”

— Steve Jobs

24. “The way to achieve your own success is to be willing to help somebody else get it first.”

— Iyanla Vanzant

Also featured in: Service Quotes, Caring Quotes, Helping Quotes, Quotes About Giving

25. “God first, family second, career third.”

— Mary Kay Ash

Also featured in: Inspirational Quotes for Women, Values Quotes, Inspirational Career Quotes, Family Quotes

26. “If you want to break the rules of grammar, first learn the rules of grammar.”

— Kurt Vonnegut

Also featured in: Witty Quotes

27. “Whenever you remove any fence, always pause long enough to ask why it was put there in the first place.”

— Gilbert K. Chesterton

Also featured in: Boundaries Quotes

28. “Every act of creation is first an act of destruction.”

— Pablo Picasso

Also featured in: Creative Quotes, Art Quotes, Design Quotes

29. “If you want to accomplish something, you must first expect it of yourself.”

— Wayne W. Dyer

Also featured in: Excellence Quotes, Quotes About Believing, Desire Quotes, Moving Forward Quotes

30. “If at first you don’t succeed, redefine success.”

— George Carlin

31. “Anything worth doing is worth doing poorly at first.”

— Brian Tracy

32. “Put first things first and second things are thrown in. Put second things first and you lose both first and second things.”

— C. S. Lewis

Also featured in: Wise Quotes

33. “If the big rocks don’t go in first, they aren’t going to fit in later.”

— Stephen R. Covey

Also featured in: Inspirational Quotes for Work, Wisdom Quotes, Quotes for Better Decisions

34. “All things are created twice. There’s a mental or first creation, and a physical or second creation to all things.”

— Stephen R. Covey

35. “If you want to assert a truth, first make sure it’s not just an opinion that you desperately want to be true.”

— Neil deGrasse Tyson

Also featured in: Science Quotes, Smart Quotes, Truth Quotes

36. “You can’t reason someone out of something that they weren’t reasoned into in the first place.”

— Mark Twain

37. “Whether it’s marriage or business, patience is the first rule of success.”

— William Feather

Also featured in: Patience Quotes

38. “I’m not afraid of death, but I’m in no hurry to die. I have so much I want to do first.”

— Stephen Hawking

39. “The first five years have so much to do with how the next 80 turn out.”

— Bill Gates

40. “Loyalty is the first law of God.”

— Paramahansa Yogananda

Also featured in: Loyalty Quotes

41. “No, no! The adventures first, explanations take such a dreadful time.”

— Lewis Carroll

Also featured in: Patience Quotes, Imagination Quotes, Crazy Quotes, Adventure Quotes

42. “The first requisite of civilization is that of justice.”

— Sigmund Freud

Also featured in: Justice Quotes, Quotes About Civilization

43. “For everyone, well-being is a journey. The secret is committing to that journey and taking those first steps with hope and belief in yourself.”

— Deepak Chopra

Also featured in: Self-Care Quotes, Optimistic Quotes, Empowering Quotes, Feel Good Quotes, Wellness Quotes

44. “The first rule of fight club is, you don’t talk about fight club.”

— Chuck Palahniuk

Also featured in: Fighting Quotes, Crazy Quotes, Famous Movie Quotes

45. “Whenever GOD determines to do a great work, HE first sets HIS people to pray.”

— Charles H. Spurgeon

Also featured in: Christian Quotes, Scripture Quotes, Sunday Morning Quotes

46. “If at first you do succeed, quit trying in investing.”

— Warren Buffett

Also featured in: Wealth Quotes, Investing Quotes

47. “Make friends first, make sales second, make love third. In no particular order.”

— Michael Scott

Also featured in: Silly Quotes, Hilarious Quotes, Crazy Quotes

48. “My first priority is my family. I am human. But my whole family knows what my priority is. Family is always first. But my work is under nothing else, except God.”

— Lil Wayne

Also featured in: Blessed Family Quotes

49. “To understand recursion, one must first understand recursion.”

— Stephen Hawking

50. “I made my first investment at age eleven. I was wasting my life up until then.”

— Warren Buffett

Also featured in: Business Quotes, Interesting Quotes, Wealth Quotes, Opportunity Quotes