65 Inspiring Quotes About Choosing Wisely - AnQuotes.com (2024)

When we are young, we look to our families for guidance in decision-making situations and learn to choose wisely. For those among us who grew up without much guidance, learning to make decisions wisely is a matter of learning what great people have said about it throughout history.

The quotes that follow are gathered from great minds ranging from Aristotle (Alexander the Great’s teacher) to modern speakers and authors. Aristotle tells us that “choice, not chance, determines your destiny.” Charles Dickens reminds us that we build our own chains and willingly lock ourselves in them with unwise decisions. The philosopher Bertrand Russell advises comically “Chose your parents wisely.”

It’s never too late or too early to learn the critical skill of choosing wisely.

These 65 inspiring quotes about choosing wisely are great reminders to us all to remain true to ourselves when we make choices.

Choosing Wisely Quotes

1. “Your life is not a simulation; it’s the real game. Play wisely.” Richelle E. Goodrich
2. “One cannot choose wisely for a life unless he dares to listen to himself, his own self, at each moment of his life.” Abraham Maslow
3. “Excellence is never an accident. It is always the result of high intention, sincere effort, and intelligent execution; it represents the wise choice of many alternatives – choice, not chance, determines your destiny.” Aristotle
4. “Your choices decide your fate. Take the time to make the right ones. If you make a mistake, that’s fine; learn from it & don’t make it again.” Robert Kiyosaki
5. “Choose a challenge instead of competence.” Eleanor Roosevelt
6. “You have never been and you won’t ever be wrong for choosing yourself! Read that again …” Samiha Totanji
7. “It is easy to give up than to endure. Always choose the latter.” Lailah Gifty Akita
8. “Wisely and slow; they stumble that run fast.” William Shakespeare
9. “Choose your parents wisely.” Bertrand Russell
10. “The decisions you make today matter. Every decision points your life in the direction you are about to travel. No decision is an isolated choice. It’s a chain of events. If you choose wisely, your future will reflect that. But if you don’t choose wisely, the decisions you make now will take you to places you don’t want to be later.” Lysa TerKeurst
11. “When it comes to making friends, it is never about how many that you have, but about the kind of energy that they bring. Please choose wisely.” Edmond Mbiaka
12. “Everyone has influence. Use it wisely.” Johnny Hunt
13. “Some habits are self-destructive, even if they look attractive in the beginning, they often lead to a traumatic destiny in the end. Choose your habits as if your life depends on them, because it does.” Gift Gugu Mona
14. “Sacrifice or Selfishness. The Crucial Choice,” Henna Sohail
15. “Use wisely your power of choice.” Og Mandino
16. “Every time we choose our past over our present we kill our future.” TemitOpe Ibrahim
17. “Choose to be happy, because you always have the choice.” Auliq Ice
18. “It took me a long time to realize this: We get to choose what defines us.” Sarah Addison Allen
19. “As time goes by, I realized that, words actually enact as a motivator and at the same time as the heartbreaker in a person’s life. Hence, choose your words wisely. Let people be inspired by your words, don’t dash someone’s heart.” SoulWanderer
20. “The time has come to get clear about who you are and what you choose. There must come moments in every person’s life when a decision is necessary. A big decision. A major choice. Such a time is now. What you get to choose today is who you are and who you choose to be, and what you wish to experience in your life. Remember, not to decide is to decide.” Neale Donald Walsch
21. “Mindfulness is attentiveness, moment to moment. What’s happening right now and what’s coming up in me in response to what’s happening right now. Importantly, this is in the service of being able to choose wisely so that I avoid complicating my own life and the lives of others.” Sylvia Boorstein
22. “When passion rules, she never rules wisely.” Benjamin Franklin
23. “All is context. Choose yours carefully, where you have a choice.” Mike Young
24. “If thou wouldst marry wisely, marry thine equal.” Ovid
25. “Who you spend time with is who you become! Change your life by consciously choosing to surround yourself with people with higher standards!” Tony Robbins
26. “Where our thoughts dwell, so becomes our reality. Choose wisely!” Nanette Mathews
27. “Because with every action, comment, conversation, we have the choice to invite Heaven or Hell to Earth.” Rob Bell
28. “Only you can determine your choice of attitude. Choose wisely, choose carefully, choose confidently!” Charles R. Swindoll
29. “In a choice between love and fear, choose love.” Marianne Williamson
30. “Therefore, be honest with yourself as to why you are choosing to do a particular thing. Then, do it gladly, knowing that you are always getting to do what you want. The statement “I have no choice” is a lie. You can choose. You simply do not prefer the alternatives available to you, for whatever reason. So you select the outcome that you most prefer.” Neale Donald Walsch
31. “Your pen is your sword. Wield it wisely.” C.A. Simonson
32. “Failure is only an option; so is success. Please choose wisely.” Edmond Mbiaka
33. “You are what you choose to be today. Not what you’ve chosen to be before.” Wayne Dyer
34. “Every action has an impact; choose wisely the impact you want to have.” Mindy Hall
35. “God has devised ways for all of us to live, but it is for us to choose how.” Neeraj Singhvi
36. “This fork in the road happens over a hundred times a day, and it’s the choices that you make that will determine the shape of your life.” Liz Murray
37. “Where our thoughts dwell, so becomes our reality. Choose wisely!” Nanette Mathews
38. “Ultimately, happiness comes down to choosing between the discomfort of becoming aware of your mental afflictions and the discomfort of being ruled by them.” Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche
39. “You are always walking in the direction of either love or fear. Choose wisely.” Oprah Winfrey
40. “Pause and remember– Every moment is a choice. Every thought, word, and deed is creating your future. Choose wisely and positively!” Jennifer Young
41. “Always pick your battles carefully, and let karma take care of the rest.” Anthon St. Maarten
42. “Evaluating the benefits and drawbacks of any relationship is your responsibility. You do not have to passively accept what is brought to you. You can choose.” Deborah
43. “We should always choose our books as God chooses our friends, just a bit beyond us, so that we have to do our level best to keep up with them.” Oswald Chambers
44. “Taking the path with the least resistance does NOT mean take any opportunity that comes to you. Some opportunities are traps!” TemitOpe Ibrahim
45. “Hold yourself back, or heal yourself back together. You decide.” Brittany Burgunder
46. “Attitude is a choice. Happiness is a choice. Optimism is a choice. Kindness is a choice. Giving is a choice. Respect is a choice. Whatever choice you make makes you. Choose wisely.” Roy T. Bennett
47. “Your capacity to say “No” determines your capacity to say “Yes” to greater things.” E. Stanley Jones
48. “Quality is never an accident; it is always the result of high intention, sincere effort, intelligent direction and skillful execution; it represents the wise choice of many alternatives, the cumulative experience of many masters of craftsmanship. Quality also marks the search for an ideal after necessity has been satisfied and mere usefulness achieved.” John Ruskin
49. “In the end that was the choice you made, and it doesn’t matter how hard it was to make it. It matters that you did.” Cassandra Clare
50. “Sometimes it’s the words we choose not to say that speak most loudly about our character.” Lysa TerKeurst
51. “Your energy is a valuable resource, distribute it wisely.” Jay Samit
52. “Always choose attitude over experience. Always.” Barbara Corcoran
53. “We are our choices.” Jean-Paul Sartre
54. “Each day you’re presented with a choice. You can either keep your greatness hidden under a pile of fears, regrets, and excuses, or you can let it out. So the best way to begin unlocking inner greatness is to make a conscious choice to live out the rest of today, with the best you.” Lewis Howes
55. “You are not the victim of the world, but rather the master of your own destiny. It is your choices and decisions that determine your destiny.” Roy T. Bennett
56. “Words are confessions of your actions. Choose them wisely.” Anum Sattar
57. “One of the greatest regrets in life is being what others would want you to be, rather than being yourself.” Shannon L. Alder
58. “Each day you’re presented with a choice. You can either keep your greatness hidden under a pile of fears, regrets, and excuses, or you can let it out. So the best way to begin unlocking inner greatness is to make a conscious choice to live out the rest of today, with the best you.” Lewis Howes
59. “In any moment of decision, the best thing you can do is the right thing. The worst thing you can do is nothing.” Theodore Roosevelt
60. “Your Mentors in life are important, so choose them wisely.” Robert Kiyosaki
61. “People pay for what they do, and still more for what they have allowed themselves to become. And they pay for it very simply; by the lives they lead.” James Baldwin
62. “We don’t get to chose what is true. We only get to choose what we do about it.” Kami Garcia
63. “You are fettered,” said Scrooge, trembling. “Tell me why?” “I wear the chain I forged in life,” replied the Ghost. “I made it link by link, and yard by yard; I girded it on of my own free will, and of my own free will I wore it.” Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol
64. “The choices you make now, the people you surround yourself with, they all have the potential to affect your life, even who you are, forever.” Sarah Dessen
65. “It’s not hard to make decisions when you know what your values are.” Roy Disney

Summary

Some of the people we quoted had to make decisions for their country, and others influenced thousands with their inspirational words about choosing wisely. Some became famous because of their decisions, and some became extraordinary role models.

Please feel free to use these quotes are reminders of the importance of choosing wisely. You can write them on sticky notes for your office and make a practice of remembering every decision you make impacts your life and the lives of others.