When you feel overwhelmed, when you’ve just had a setback or you’re simply tired then one helpful way to go about things to be able to keep moving forward is to take it one day at a time.
I’ve found that this is also actually a great way to move through life even at times when things are not tough.
Just focusing on today and taking care of it and nothing more can make it easier to release stress and inner pressure and to focus better on the most important things I want to get done.
So in this post I’d like to share the best timeless advice on this topic. 86 one day at a time quotes to help you to stay on track and navigate both through everyday life and difficult times.
And if you want even more motivation and positivity then check out this post with the best quotes on better days ahead and this one filled with don’t settle quotes.
Motivational One Day at a Time Quotes
“Everybody is looking for instant success, but it doesn’t work that way. You build a successful life one day at a time.”
Lou Holtz
“I believe that the best way to prepare for a future life is to be kind, live one day at a time, and do the work you can do best, doing it as well as you can.”
Elbert Hubbard
“Wholeheartedly do what it takes to awaken your clear-seeing intelligence, but one day at a time, one moment at a time. If we live that way, we will benefit this earth.”
Pema Chodron
“If people just took it a day at a time, they’d be a lot happier.”
Richard Bachman
“There is magic in knocking down your most important domino day after day. All you have to do is avoid breaking the chain, one day at a time until you generate a powerful new habit in your life.”
Gary W. Keller
“I believe everything has a solution, and I take it one day at a time or one thing at a time.”
Lisa Vidal
“The best thing about the future is that it comes one day at a time.”
Abraham Lincoln
“Live one day at a time and make it a masterpiece.”
Dale West
“My motivation is tomorrow, just one day at a time, right?”
Rafael Nadal
“A good friend of mine once told me that each morning when you wake up, think about winning the day. Don’t worry about a week from now or a month from now – just think about one day at a time. If you are worried about the mountain in the distance, you might trip over the molehill right in front of you. Win the day!”
Drew Brees
“We do the best we can in life, we take things one day at a time and sometimes we all just need a simple reminder of that.”
Demi Lovato
“Take life one day at a time because every day is a different day with new challenges.”
Penny Streeter
“Big things are built one brick at a time. Victories are achieved one choice at a time. A life well-lived is chosen one day at a time.”
Lysa TerKeurst
“I believe in one day at a time; you’ve got today, that’s what you’ve got.”
Al Pacino
“I’ll never worry about not being successful. I’ll just take it one day at a time, one season at a time. And play as hard as I can.”
Bo Jackson
“Take one day at a time. Today, after all, is the tomorrow you worried about yesterday.”
Billy Graham
“Live one day at a time, and never be afraid.”
Tammy Faye Bakker
“I still follow that model: just go hard every day, and take it one step at a time.”
Ace Hood
“I remind myself every day just how lucky I am to do what I love! I feel so fortunate and I’m just trying to take my life one day at a time.”
Misty Copeland
“Take it one day at a time. Then break that day into small steps. Then focus only on getting the first step all the way to done. And then the next step. That’s how you get the things that matter done every day.”
Unknown
“One day at a time is all we do. One day at a time is good for you.”
John Lennon
“I’m not a legend or a hero, I don’t slay dragons, I don’t do any of the things that a real hero can. But I can make things better, one day at a time, for most of the kingdom.”
Mercedes Lackey
“Life is like an ice-cream cone, you have to lick it one day at a time.”
Charles M. Schulz
“Live one day at a time, unless you can figure out how to live two.”
Dik Browne
“I take one day at a time. I’ve always been like that.”
Katherine Kelly
“I still find it almost impossible to relax for more than one day at a time.”
Gene Kelly
“One of the best tips to build a good today is to focus only on today. That singular focus makes it a lot easier to find and create the success you want.”
Unknown
“I live one day at a time, one day at a time. Yesterday’s gone and tomorrow is blind, so I live one day at a time.”
Willie Nelson
“Don’t look too far into the future, just look at tomorrow. One day at a time. Can you win tomorrow? Can you make progress? The answer is yes, you have a choice and tomorrow you’re going to win.”
Joe Wicks
“I never have planned a whole lot of future. It’s one day at a time.”
Darrell Royal
“Who knows, I have always lived one day at a time. Probably more adventure and excitement.”
Rob Mariano
“Now is now, and I live everything one day at a time. The fact that I’m still on the planet and able to still make music is such a miracle.”
Ronnie Milsap
“Life is simply a collection of little lives, each lived one day at a time.”
Nicholas Sparks
“Live one day at a time emphasizing ethics rather than rules.”
Wayne Dyer
“Take one day at a time. Allow yourself to change.”
Paul Henderson
“I live one day at a time. I dream one dream at a time. Yesterday’s dead, and tomorrow is blind. And I live one day at a time.”
Joan Baez
“Do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself.”
Mitch Albom
“I’m just taking it one day at a time. Actually, that’s a total lie. I always think about what’s in front of me.”
Julianne Hough
“No matter what looms ahead, if you can eat today, enjoy today, mix good cheer with friends today, enjoy it and bless God for it.”
Henry Ward Beecher
“You just try to take it one day at a time. You step on the basketball floor and just play. It’s fun. I’m comfortable with it.”
Kobe Bryant
“I try to take it one day at a time, but sometimes several days attack me at once.”
Ashleigh Brilliant
“Each day means a new twenty-four hours. Each day means everything’s possible again. You live in the moment, you die in the moment, you take it all one day at a time.”
Day Marie Lu
“To stay both focused and consistent with the action you take, go smaller. Take it one day at a time and nothing more than that.”
Unknown
“Life at its essence boils down to one day at a time. Today is the day!”
Jim Stovall
“Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap, but by the seeds you plant.”
Robert Louis Stevenson
“Take life on life’s terms – one day at a time. And have fun while you’re doing it.”
Joe Perry
“Big achievements come one small advantage at a time, one step at a time, one day at a time.”
Jim Rohn
“Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day. You shall begin it serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson
You might also find this post about loving yourself uplifting and this one with you got this quotes helpful.
One Day at a Time Quotes for Life is Difficult
“No matter how difficult your situation is, you can get through it if you don’t look too far into the future, and focus on the present moment. You can get through anything one day at a time.”
Bob Parsons
“I try to live my life one day at a time, and if I look too far in advance, I get really stressed.”
Hope Solo
“One breath at a time. One day at a time. Wake up, and be shredded. Cry for a while. Then stop crying and go about your day. You’re not okay, but you’re alive, and you will be okay, someday.”
Jasinda Wilder
“Everyone is lonely, we have to remember that life is to be lived one day at a time. You cannot worry about the past or future. Happiness is in the now.”
Claudia Gray
“Dream big, my friend, and never give up. We all make mistakes, but none of us are mistakes. Take one day at a time. Embrace the positive attitudes, perspectives, principles, and truths I share, and you, too, will overcome.”
Nick Vujicic
“The future comes one day at a time. So don’t fear and try to solve all the worries and problems of the future today.”
Dean Acheson
“Life’s so full that you just take it one day at a time.”
Sheryl Crow
“A lot of things have been thrown at me in life, and I’ve got through it all without a rule book, taking it one day at a time.”
Yoko Ono
“Live one day at a time. Keep your attention in present time. Have no expectations. Make no judgments. And give up the need to know why things happen as they do. Give it up!”
Caroline Myss
“I like my life. I’ve had a good life. I think the reason is my parents taught me that life is a burden. But if you take it one day at a time, it’s an easy burden.”
Andrew Young
“I’ve learned that no matter what happens, or how bad it seems today, life does go on, and it will be better tomorrow.”
Maya Angelou
“Life is like an onion; you peel off one layer at a time and sometimes you weep.”
Carl Sandberg
“When life is tough then take it just one day at a time. Or sometimes an hour at a time.”
Unknown
“A battle is a day of your life. So we do one day at a time in self-discovery.”
Frederick Lenz
“Sail through the good days, and on bad days pick a spot of blue sky to steer toward.”
Richelle E. Goodrich
“I’m trying to stay as calm as possible and focus one day at a time, but when reality sets in, I feel everything: anxiety, excitement, nerves, pressure, and joy.”
Shawn Johnson
“You can only do things one day at a time… Sometimes… that’s the only way you can get through it.”
Deborah Crombie
“Now I’m starting, relatively, to think straight again. I live one day at a time, one hour at a time. What makes it all worthwhile is my children.”
Paula Yates
“Hold on tight we’ll muddle through. One day at a time.”
Gloria Estefan
“The life of faith is lived one day at a time, and it has to be lived – not always looked forward to as though the “real” living were around the next corner. It is today for which we are responsible. God still owns tomorrow.”
Elisabeth Elliot
“If you’re going through difficult times today, hold steady. It will change soon. If you are experiencing smooth sailing and easy times now, brace yourself. It will change soon. The only thing you can be certain of is change.”
James Dobson
“Today and right now is the day and time you have power over. Not yesterday. Not tomorrow. So take things one day at a time and really focus on doing what you can today to improve upon your current situation.”
Unknown
“My philosophy is to take one day at a time. I don’t worry about the future. Tomorrow is even out of sight for me.”
Bobby Darin
“I’ve been sober now for a couple of years and I’m taking my sobriety very seriously – one day at a time and I am moving forward in my career.”
Daniel Baldwin
“Time is what prevents everything from happening at once.”
John Archibald Wheeler
“People aren’t evil and people aren’t good. They live how they can one day at a time.”
Caryl Churchill
“The whole idea is you can’t sit around and do nothing. You have to get up and start living one day at a time.”
Darlene Love
“When you have a bad day, a really bad day, try and treat the world better than it treated you.”
Patrick Stump
“I try not to worry about the future – so I take each day just one anxiety attack at a time.”
Tom Wilson
“You have to remember that the hard days are what make you stronger. The bad days make you realize what a good day is. If you never had any bad days, you would never have that sense of accomplishment.”
Aly Raisman
“The good times of today are the sad thoughts of tomorrow.”
Bob Marley
“When I am tired and overwhelmed then I remember that it’s OK to just take care of today.”
Unknown
“When people go through something rough in life, they say, ‘I’m taking it one day at a time.’ Yes, so is everybody. Because that’s how time works.”
Hannibal Buress
“The life I’ve been exposed to has let me know what step to take and how not to go back a step. I take life one day at a time, and I prepare myself for each one of those days.”
Chamique Holdsclaw
“It won’t do you any good to run if you’re running the wrong way. I’ve developed a new philosophy. I only dread one day at a time.”
Charles M. Schulz
“I learned that, with grief, you have to take it one day at a time and learn how to find the happiness amid the heartbreak.”
Adrienne C. Moore
“You never know where life is going to take you. So everything I do, I just take it one day at a time, and it always leads you to the right place.”
Kyle Massey
“It’s a waste of time to think about what I should have done and what I didn’t… I live my life one day at a time.”
Liza Minnelli
“If you can’t fly then run, if you can’t run then walk, if you can’t walk then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward.”
Martin Luther King Jr
“All we can do is try, do our best. Give as much time as we have to give, one day at a time. One breath at a time.”
Jasinda Wilder
Want even more inspirational quotes? Check out this post that’s all about getting a big boost of positive energy right now.