Pop quiz!

Which teacher are you?

1. I’m a teacher who wants to create more of a growth mindset culture in my class.
2. I’m a teacher who loves writing a quote on the board at the start of the week.
3. I’m a teacher who just loves an inspiring quote.
4. All of the above.

If you said yes to any of the above, you’re in the right place.

We’ve put together a list of 45 great quotes that promote growth mindset. Use them how you want, but they’re perfect for that weekly quote (yes, there are a few bonus ones) on the classroom board or screen. 

The great thing about these quotes is that there are so many talking points. They offer a bit of bite-sized meaty content to dig into with your students as your start your week’s teaching and learning.

Make a new tradition of dissecting a quote on a Monday morning (or any other time during the week). Ask questions, talk about the vocabulary, draw inferences, synthesise ideas. Who did each quote come from? What do we know about that person, or what can we find out that might have made them say this?

Use each one to start a conversation with your students, and let it set the tone for your programme that week.

Check them out below.

45 growth mindset quotes to see you through the entire school year

1. It’s not that I’m so smart, it’s just that I stay with problems longer.
   – Albert Einstein
   
2. I like the challenge of trying different things and wondering whether it’s going to work or whether I’m going to fall flat on my face. 
   – Johnny Depp
3. A challenge only becomes an obstacle when you bow to it. 
   – Ray Davis
4. Per aspera ad astra! (Through hardship to the stars!)
   – Latin proverb
5. The gem cannot be polished without friction, nor man perfected without trials. 
   – Chinese proverb
6. Difficulties strengthen the mind, as labor does the body. 
   – Seneca
7. If you are facing a new challenge or being asked to do something that you have never done before don’t be afraid to step out. You have more capability than you think you do but you will never see it unless you place a demand on yourself for more.
   – Joyce Meyer
8. The only thing that overcomes hard luck is hard work. ­
   – Harry Golden
   
9. If it scares you, it might be a good thing to try.
   – Seth Godin
10. There is no failure. Only feedback.
    – Robert Allen
11. Nothing is impossible. The word itself says ‘I’m possible!’
    – Audrey Hepburn
12. Don’t worry about failure. Worry about the chances you miss when you don’t even try.
    – Sherman Finesilver
13. The best way out is always through. 
    – Robert Frost
14. I haven’t failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work. 
    – Thomas Edison
15. Challenges bring opportunity for growth.
    – Theresa Larsen
16. No problem can withstand the assault of sustained thinking.
    – Voltaire
    
17. Success is 99 percent failure.
    – Soichiro Honda
18. There is no education like adversity.
    – Disraeli
19. I hated every minute of training, but I said, 'Don't quit. Suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion.'
    – Muhammad Ali
20. A person who never made a mistake never tried anything new.
    – Albert Einstein
21. Effort is grossly underrated.
    – Gary Vaynerchuk

22. Failure is so important. It is the ability to resist failure or use failure that often leads to greater success.
    – J.K. Rowling
    

23. Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration.
    – Thomas Edison
24. Success is not an accident, success is a choice. 
    – Stephen Curry
25. I don’t divide the world into the weak and the strong, or the successes and the failures … I divide the world into the learners and the non-learners.
    – Benjamin Barber
26. If you don’t give anything, don’t expect anything. Success is not coming to you, you must come to it.
    – Marva Collins
27. When it is obvious that the goals cannot be reached, don’t adjust the goals, adjust the action steps.
    – Confucius
28. The measure of success is not whether you have a tough problem to deal with, but whether it’s the same problem you had last year.
    – John Foster Dulles
29. Success comes from knowing that you did your best to become the best that you are capable of being.
    – John Wooden
30. Improve by 1% a day, and in just 70 days, you’re twice as good.
    – Alan Weiss

31. Wake up determined, go to bed satisfied.
    – Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson
    

32. Patience, persistence and perspiration make an unbeatable combination for success.
    – Napoleon Hill
33. Success is most often achieved by those who don't know that failure is inevitable. 
    – Coco Chanel
34. There are better starters than me but I’m a strong finisher.
    – Usain Bolt
35. The phoenix must burn to emerge. 
    – Janet Fitch
36. Failures are finger posts on the road to achievement. 
    – C.S. Lewis
37. When you take risks, you learn that there will be times when you succeed and there will be times when you fail, and both are equally important. 
    – Ellen DeGeneres
38. Don’t tell me how talented you are. Tell me how hard you work.
    – Arthur Rubenstein
39. Every problem is a gift. Without them we wouldn’t grow.
    – Tony Robbins

40. I like criticism. It makes you strong.
    – LeBron James
    

41. A problem is a chance for you to do your best.
    – Duke Ellington
42. Inside of every problem lies an opportunity.
    – Robert Kiposaki
43. You can increase your problem-solving skills by honing your question-asking ability.
    – Michael J. Gelb
44. We will either find a way, or make one!
    – Hannibal
45. No human ever became interesting by not failing. The more you fail and recover and improve, the better you are as a person. Ever meet someone who’s always had everything work out for them with zero struggle? They usually have the depth of a puddle.
    – Chris Hardwick 
    
    

What's your favourite growth mindset quote? Leave it in the comments!