60 Quotes to Inspire Great Teamwork

Now and then we forget how important teamwork is. No company or brand was built by one man or woman. It takes a team of hardworking and actionable individuals to create a path to success.

At Cleverism, we believe in the power of teamwork. So much that we put together a list of 60 carefully constructed motivational quotes exclusive to employees to unlock the inner team player.

Each of these quotes is guaranteed to unleash the spirit of unity. Grab a few work buddies and enjoy these powerful teamwork quotes dedicated to office colleagues.

QUOTES TO SPUR THE POWER OF UNITY

“Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much.”
– Helen Keller

The quote hits straight home. Without the ability and performance of a team, we rely on ourselves to perform every mundane task. In short, we waste valuable time in attempting to perform every action by ourselves.

“If you want to lift yourself, lift someone else.”– Booker T. Washington

Sometimes to help yourself, it’s necessary to help others. The appreciation we get through the good work we do is priceless. Similarly, when we encourage our work colleagues, we feel good when we witness their joy and enthusiasm.

“Individual commitment to a group effort: That is what makes a team work, a company work, a society work, a civilization work.”
– Vince Lombardi

As individuals, we all have our responsibilities, talents, and skills. Each of us must know our roles and perform them as needed. Whether it’s an organization or society, we build as a team and every individual effort adds to the cause.

“If you can laugh together, you can work together”
– Robert Orben

A happy workforce is a collaborative workforce. It’s necessary to spend time to know your coworkers. After all, they are your second family away from home. A team that sticks together backs each other up when the going gets tough.

“There is no such thing as a self-made man. You will reach your goals only with the help of others.” – George Shinn

The biggest organizations in the world – Apple, Microsoft, Google, etc. weren’t created by the famous founders themselves. Behind the vision are the hardworking men and women who courageously believe in their company’s motto and perform everything to keep the company running efficiently.

“No matter how brilliant your mind or strategy, if you’re playing a solo game, you’ll always lose out to a team.”
– Reid Hoffman

Assuming you are talented to run your company by yourself, you’ll still lose to a competitor with a work team. The other company has mastered the art of delegating their tasks, you’ll be buried under the weight of your ego.

“A team is not a group of people who work together. A team is people who trust each other.”
– Simon Sinek

Not everyone that works together is a team. To develop a team, trust and confidence are critical. Every team member believes that they are important to the company and hence, they can depend on each other when things go south.

“Don’t aspire to be the best on the team. Aspire to be the best for the team.”
– Brian Tracy

Teamwork isn’t a sprint race against others to win the fabled gold. To win in a team environment be available for your colleagues always. When you fit the jigsaw puzzle-like the final missing piece, that’s when you become valuable to your team.

“Many ideas grow better when transplanted into another mind than the one where they sprang up.”
– Oliver Wendell Holmes

An idea doesn’t necessarily have the best outcome from the point of origin. If you have an idea, there’s always someone on your team that can add more value to it and makes it better. That’s why it’s best to share every favorable result with your team and brainstorm to make it even better.

“Individually, we are one drop. Together, we are an ocean.”– Ryunosuke Satoro

Have you noticed how insignificant a glass of water is compared to the ocean? The glass of water represents your creativity and the ocean represents the creativity of every team member in your workforce. Can you feel the sheer abundance of creativity that is available to you when you work together?

“Cooperation is the thorough conviction that nobody can get there unless everybody gets there.”
– Virginia Burden

How satisfying is it to win alone? While you enjoy the spotlight for a few moments, the emotions are exhilarating when you share the trophy with your team. A winning moment with your team serves as a permanent memory for years to come. A solo win never triumphs over a team victory.

“I can do things you cannot, you can do things I cannot: together we can do great things.” – Mother Teresa

Everyone’s perfect at something that the other isn’t. A cook isn’t great at advertising and a salesperson isn’t good at cooking. But together, they can be a great team by representing their talents and working together.

“Surround yourself with a trusted and loyal team. It makes all the difference.”
–Alison Pincus

When you have the backing of a loyal workforce, even the worst times pass by quickly. And when you succeed, the victory is sweeter with confident coworkers who trust their company through thick and thin.

“Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence win championships.”
– Michael Jordan

Michael Jordan was the GOAT (Greatest of all Time) for years to come. He was regarded as the undisputed legend in basketball. Yet, in his admission, Jordan reveals that none of those victories were possible without the other 4 players. Individual efforts shine better when supported by a loyal team.

“No one can whistle a symphony. It takes a whole orchestra to play it.”
– H.E. Luccock

Ever witnessed an orchestra with just a single musician seated in the middle? Of course, not. The music isn’t impressive compared to a band of musicians playing in unison with each other. Teamwork is critical to create inspiring ventures.

“The secret is to gang up on the problem, rather than each other.”– Thomas Stallkamp

Think of a problem as a big bowl of green veggies. Yuck! The sheer thought of having a spoonful is repulsive enough but a big bowl? That’s when you strike up the idea of sharing your green veggies with your coworkers who assist you in clearing the hurdle together.

“When ‘I’ is replaced by “We” even ‘Illness’ becomes ‘Wellness’.”
– Scharf

The wordplay is apparent in this quote but when we change our perspective even negative changes to a positive situation. In this case, when a problem seems too big to solve, having people on board makes things easier when the responsibilities are shared.

“Strategy is not a solo sport, even if you’re the CEO.”
– Max McKeown

Being the top of the food chain doesn’t make you immune to the effects of teamwork. When you head a project or a company, it’s critical to address your team. Without them, it’s impossible to enjoy success for a long time.

“It takes both sides to build a bridge.”
– Fredrik Nael

Only the joint efforts of both nations can unite and build bridges together. Similarly, letting go of our egos and working together solves many previously impenetrable barriers.

“The bigger the dream, the more important to the team.”
– Robin Sharma

Sure, it’s easy to trample over your coworker or two and impress the big wigs. In the long run, it simply won’t stick. When the project is large, you’ll require the support of your team and that’s when things turn ugly when you failed to represent them in a positive light. Always stand by your team, no matter what.

QUOTES TO RAISE THE SPIRITS ON FINDING SUCCESS

“Success usually comes to those who are too busy to be looking for it.”– Henry David Thoreau

When you immerse yourself deep into your work without thinking of the idea of success, the destination is closer. This happens because successful people concentrate on the journey rather than the result. The fruits of success are sweeter when you don’t expect it.

“Opportunities don’t happen. You create them.”
– Chris Grosser

Opportunities are like Summer rains. They never last and are rare. But if you don’t make the effort to go out and experience it, you’ll miss a precious moment. Similarly hoping for an opportunity to land on your lap is the lazy person’s dream. Instead, make every moment count and focus on your efforts to create opportunities.

“There are two types of people who will tell you that you cannot make a difference in this world. Those who are afraid to try and those who are afraid you will succeed.”
– Ray Goforth

The world is full of non-believers. Ever have someone tell you that it can’t be done? Guess what? They haven’t tried their hand at it and convince themselves it won’t happen. Then there is the jealous lot, who understand your potential but dissuade you from catching the success train.

“Successful people do what unsuccessful people are not willing to do. Don’t wish it were easier; wish you were better.”
– Jim Rohn

Do you ever have days when you wish your job was easier? Think about that statement for a moment. Only you can do what you do, if the job was any easier, you’d be easily replaced. Don’t wish for things to be easier, instead upgrade your skills and talents to be exceptional and irreplaceable at your work.

“The ones who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones that do.”
– Rob Siltanen

It’s a crazy thought to change the world. Everyone has envisioned it at some point in their lives. Very few do. Changing the world isn’t impossible, it’s a long journey that requires commitment, excellence, and persistence. Are you ready to commit?

“Don’t let the fear of losing be greater than the excitement of winning.”
– Robert Kiyosaki

Ever had the fear of riding a roller coaster for the first time? Just before your turn in the queue, your heart races and thumps, you almost back out. Once you get on the ride, the thrill of excitement takes over and you enjoy every minute of it. You run back to the queue for another adventurous ride.

The fear of losing is always at its peak when you attempt something new. Don’t let it take over and instead focus on the thrill of excitement when you triumph.

“If you really look closely, most overnight successes took a long time.”
– Steve Jobs

No one or nothing was built overnight. Whether it was Microsoft, Apple, or Facebook, when you follow the story of their success closely, you’ll encounter many hardships and obstacles that each of the founders went through to get to where they are. In life, Rome wasn’t built in a day and neither will your vision.

“The only limit to our realization of tomorrow will be our doubts of today.”
– Franklin D. Roosevelt

The future is filled with endless possibilities. The power of action takes us there. When we doubt ourselves, we act less on the present causing our future to be affected. The limit we set ourselves in the future is unlocked with the action of today.

“The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing.”
– Walt Disney

Ask yourself – what were your goals 10 years back? Have you achieved it? If the answer is no, it’s because humans speak about their goals in grandeur but when it comes to game time, most back out. The formula for achieving success is to speak less and act more.

“There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure.”
– Colin Powell

Often people overestimate the journey to achieving success.

“We can’t be rich; they were just lucky.”
“We’d require 2-3 lifetimes to achieve that. It can’t be done”.

Statements like these are common when we don’t put in efforts such as – the daily persistence, the hard-working hours, and the ability to rise from failure.

“Success isn’t just about what you accomplish in your life; it’s about what you inspire others to do.”
– Anonymous

Every famous person in history caused a chain reaction by inspiring others to never give up. When you reap success, you’re affecting the lives of others who look up to you. These individuals are your family, friends, coworkers, neighbors, city folks, country people, or even the world.

“Some people dream of success while others wake up and work.”– Anonymous

There are two kinds of people. One that achieves success in their dreams and others who achieve it for real. The difference is that the former spends their time daydreaming while the latter completes milestones required to reach their vision.

“Don’t be distracted by criticism. Remember–the only taste of success some people get is to take a bite out of you.”
– Zig Ziglar

Criticism is often harsh. While it’s great to have constructive criticism to improve your skills, yet, when it comes to negative criticism, there’s nothing valuable to salvage. J. K. Rowling had rejection letters with brutal criticisms. She eventually went ahead to sell over 400-million copies of her fabled Harry Potter series without letting criticism affect her.

“The secret to success is to know something nobody else knows.”
– Aristotle Onassis

Don’t always choose the road often taken by everyone. Experiment and risk yourself, the rewards at the end are bountiful. It’s critical to take advantage of the opportunity where no one else ventures into.

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

You’ve heard of stories of wealthy folks inheriting their fortune and decided that there is success without hard work. These aren’t success stories but rather momentary luck. True success is achieved when you combine mind and body and make wondrous things happen.

“Coming together is a beginning, staying together is progress, and working together is a success.”– Henry Ford

When creative minds bind to each other, there’s no stopping the juggernaut of success. Find likeminded people that share your goal. Next, it’s necessary to stay with each other through thick and thin. Finally, when success does come, celebrate together.

“Only by binding together as a single force will we remain strong and unconquerable.”
– Chris Bradford

A single bee by itself is non-threatening. A swarm of bees, on the other hand, is an overwhelming threat. Similarly, a single bee bringing nectar to the hive would collapse the hive. It requires the teamwork of numerous bees to keep the hive thriving.

“You Learn More from Failure Than from Success. Don’t Let It Stop You. Failure Builds Character.”
– Anonymous

Have you or your team ever been discouraged by failure? Of course, you have. Failure is never fun but it also teaches us that it’s necessary to fail before we succeed. Otherwise, we’ll never test the foundation to find the weak spots.

“If You Are Working on Something That You Care About, You Don’t Have to Be Pushed. The Vision Pulls You.”
– Steve Jobs

Let’s be honest for a minute – How many of us wait for the weekend to get here? After all, working all week is a professional nightmare. What if we told you that a certain group of people work year-round without a single break? Big names such as Elon Musk, Larry Ellison, Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, etc. have put in 14-16 hours of work every day. They don’t believe in 9-5 workdays but rather 95 hours a week because they trust their vision.

“It is true that you can succeed best and quickest by helping others to succeed.” – Napoleon Hill

There’s no greater feeling than seeing your coworkers achieve new feats of success. When you help others reach their success peak, it’s a personal victory. After all, you played a small part in their journey. When they offer their heartfelt gratitude to you, the feeling is precious.

QUOTES ON OVERCOMING FAILURE WITH YOUR TEAM

“The only real mistake is the one from which we learn nothing.”
– Henry Ford

Don’t count the wasted years of your past. Instead, focus on today. What’s something you can do right now that will put you closest to your goals? Every failure leads to a lesson and every lesson provides knowledge to improve. It’s only through improvement that we attain perfection.

“Failure is a success if we learn from it.” – Malcolm Forbes

Every bad business decision and every single loss teaches us that we shouldn’t repeat the same mistake. Moving forward we perform fewer mistakes to achieve success.

Think of throwing a dart at the dartboard for the very first time, you’re bound to miss. In time, when you decrease your mistakes, your chances of aiming at the bullseye increase.

“When we give ourselves permission to fail, we, at the same time, give ourselves permission to excel.”
– Eloise Ristad

Failing isn’t voluntary, it’s a calculated decision that didn’t go as expected. The more calculated decisions that are taken the lesser the failure rate. Perfection isn’t an overnight tactic.

Take Apple, for example, the first iPod released was bulky as compared to the current iPhone which is sleek, light, and innovative. At the time the iPod was released, it was revolutionary compared to the Sony Walkman. But did you know there were several rejected prototypes of the iPod before the final version was released? Failure indeed leads to success.

“Every adversity, every failure, every heartache carries with it the seed of an equal or greater benefit.” – Napoleon Hill

Emotions don’t linger around for long. The dreadful feeling of failure will pass and, in its place, a new renewed positive energy. Every time you try, a seed is planted, some plants shrivel and die. Others, take a new lease of life to transform into a strong and sturdy tree.

“You have to be able to accept failure to get better.”
– Lebron James

When the greatest highlights of Lebron James is played, does it contain all the missed shots of his career? Of course, not. It’s because people are interested in success and not failure. To get better, you have to accept failure as a part of your life.

“Everything you want is on the other side of fear.”
– Jack Canfield

Fear is the mental response to a new scenario that isn’t within your comfort zone. And the only way to attain success is to get off your comfort zone. Success is brutal, it drains the life out of you but the rewards are worth everything.

“Giving up is the only sure way to fail.”
– Gena Showalter

Giving up is the sluggish person’s way of exiting when things don’t go their way. No matter how many times you try, if you give up easily, that’s a 100% failure rate and there are no lessons to learn.

“If you don’t try at anything, you can’t fail. It takes a backbone to lead the life you want”
– Richard Yates

Let’s assume you and your friend decide to run laps around a sprint track. Your friend begins their first lap while you’re resting on the bench. By the time your friend has finished his third lap, you begin your warmup. Your friend has now finished 5 laps and is done with this training while you’re yet to begin yours.

That’s the difference between action and daydreaming. When you don’t try, there’s no number to keep score.

“I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.”
– Thomas A. Edison

Every failure should be recorded as a victory. Failed 3 times? Good, write it as 3 points towards success. Eventually, you’ll notice that failure isn’t a bad thing but it keeps you in good mental shape towards achieving success.

“Pain is temporary. Quitting lasts forever.” – Lance Armstrong

Imagine this was your first day at the gym. Performing your first 5-minute walk on the treadmill feels nightmarish. Your mind crumbles and begs you to quit. Here’s the choice you have – quit now and never attain your dream physique or endure the pain and achieve your fitness goals.

“Those who dare to fail miserably can achieve greatly.” – John F. Kennedy

The greater the failure, the higher the threshold for success. Unlocking our fears and releasing our visions allows us to set our goals where others dare not. While the risk of failure is high, the rewards for success are significantly higher too.

“Develop success from failures. Discouragement and failure are two of the surest stepping stones to success.” – Dale Carnegie

No successful individual ever dodged the two founding blocks of success – discouragement, and failure. Every person must come to face and deal with these situations. Without these testing trials, it’s impossible to ponder success.

“I can accept failure; everyone fails at something. But I can’t accept not trying.”
– Michael Jordan

Giving up before you’ve tried is the biggest blunder that hinders success. Even if it’s a small trial, it’s progress. Even a few steps every day towards the direction of productivity lead to your eventual success.

Think about it if your goal is to write 10,000 words and you write 100 words every day, a remarkably minor feat. In 100 days, you’ll reach your goal compared to someone who never wrote a single word.

An inventor fails 999 times, and if he succeeds once, he’s in. He treats his failures simply as practice shots.”
– Charles F. Kettering

Take for example you throw a paper ball at your friend. The chance of the ball hitting them is low. Now if you throw 100 paper balls at them, a few would certainly hit. This is how opportunity works when you attempt. Your practice shots won’t immediately return with results, but in time, you’ll land your target.

“Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try Again. Fail again. Fail better.”– Samuel Beckett

If you’ve attempted to do something, you’re already better than the ones who do nothing. Witness a cat trying its best to reach a high point on a wall. It falls and falls but eventually, it makes it. This is why failing improves your chances of success.

“The only real failure in life is not to be true to the best one knows.”
– Buddha

When we don’t find our inner passion before our time is up, that’s the ultimate failure. There’s nothing worse than dying without affecting those around us with positivity. When we don’t discover our abilities, that’s when we fail at life.

“It is impossible to live without failing at something. Unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all. In which case you have failed by default.”
– J.K. Rowling

When you live your life with caution at every turn, making sure you never take risks, you live a life of fear. Essentially, fear of doing things is the absolute failure of success. A needle prick when vaccinating is painful, it’s nothing compared to the fatal risk of exposing yourself to the disease. No pain, no gain.

“Anyone who attempts is not a failure.”
– Sarah Dessen

The word ‘Failure’ seems to convey ‘Loser’ more than it conveys ‘Attempt at Success’. Anyone that has attempted is outright a winner compared to those that don’t. When you throw enough darts at the dartboard, one of them is bound to hit the bullseye.

“Failure is success in progress.”
– Albert Einstein

If people gave up every time, they encountered failure, their progress stops at that point. Think of progress as drilling a hole into the earth to find oil. If every miner gave up halfway and started drilling at a new spot, they’d go for years without striking oil. However, a miner that is focused on contributing their energy on one spot is sure to be rewarded with success.

“If you set your goals ridiculously high and it’s a failure, you will fail above everyone else’s success.”
– James Cameron

A grand failure is above a minor success. Here’s an example. Person A sets a goal to reach out to 20 clients every day. Person B wishes to reach out to 80 clients a day. In the end, A finishes their goals of 20 clients and is labeled a success. B manages 68 clients out of 80 but is termed a failure. In reality, B has reached out to more than thrice the clients of A.

That’s why it’s alright to fail when your goals are large rather than succeeding by setting the bar below.

CONCLUSION

An apple a day keeps the doctor away. Likewise, reading an inspirational teamwork quote every day keeps your energy positive and team-focused. If you ever doubt the power of teamwork, take a look at a basketball team.

What do you see?

A plan in motion with each team working together to achieve the trophy. Now imagine, facing off against the rival team alone?

You’ll only make their victory a cakewalk.

Do you believe in the power of teamwork or are you a solopreneur that works alone? Let us know in the comments below!