Moving On Quotes to Push You Forward

Some of the links in this post may be affiliate links. See our disclosure for more info.

Moving on and looking to the future are often challenging, but these moving on quotes will prime your mind to forge ahead.

Life often challenges us to move on from many things. Places, relationships, old ideas, skills, and habits may all cease being best for us. When that happens, it’s time to move on.

Sometimes moving forward is fulfilling and joyful experience. Other times, it’s agonizing. Even when that little voice tells you to move into a new future, it’s hard to imagine doing it.

These moving on quotes show how to embrace forward thinking and moving into your greater good, even when you feel you’re not ready.

Top 10 Moving On Quotes

Moving on is easy. It’s staying moved on that’s trickier.

Katerina Stoykova Klemer

When you make a mistake, learn from it, pick yourself up and move on.

Dave Pelzer
Josh Rayburn quote "Life is about making the right decisions and moving on"
“Life is about making the right decisions and moving on.” – Josh Rayburn

Moving on, is a simple thing, what it leaves behind is hard.

Dave Mustaine

Life moves on and so should we.

Spencer Johnson

The most difficult aspect of moving on is accepting that the other person already did.

Faraaz Kazi

Sometimes you don’t get closure, you just move on.

Karen Salmansohn
Chris Hughton quote "Part of the game is moving on And you do."
“Part of the game is moving on. And you do.” – Chris Hughton

The past always looks better than it was because it isn’t here.

Finley Peter Dunne

You don’t have to let that one thing be the thing that defines you.

Jojo Moyes

Quotes about Moving On

Moving on doesn’t take a day, it takes lots of little steps to be able to break free of your broken self.

Tere Arigo

One of the happiest moments in life is when you find the courage to let go of what you cannot change.

Anonymous

Courage is not the absence of fear, but simply moving on with dignity despite that fear.

Pat Riley

It is only through labor and painful effort, by grim energy and resolute courage, that we move on to better things.

Teddy Roosevelt

No matter how bad you want a person, if your hearts are in two different places, you’ll have to pass and move on.

Alexandra Elle

What surrounds us we endure better for giving it a name – and moving on.

Emil Cioran
Anthony Liccione quote "Even a rock moves on"
“Even a rock moves on.” – Anthony Liccione

You must make a decision that you are going to move on. It won’t happen automatically. You will have to rise up and say, ‘I don’t care how hard this is, I don’t care how disappointed I am, I’m not going to let this get the best of me. I’m moving on with my life.’

Joel Osteen

It is important that we forgive ourselves for making mistakes. We need to learn from our errors and move on.

Steve Maraboli

Grudges are for those who insist that they are owed something; forgiveness, however, is for those who are substantial enough to move on.

Criss Jami

It’s better to be healthy alone than sick with someone else.

Phil McGraw

Look at life through the windshield, not the rear-view mirror.

Byrd Baggett

Nobody can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start today and make a new ending.

Maria Robinson

The problem is that when we speak of plan Bs, we already negate the possibility of moving on with plan A.

Isaac Herzog

When you start to abandon your old beliefs or values – you may be stuck at the threshold for two or three years. Before moving on, you have to clear away your cherished beliefs.

Dick Raymond

Laughter gives us distance. It allows us to step back from an event, deal with it and then move on.

Bob Newhart
"If I look back I am lost"
“If I look back I am lost.” – George R.R. Martin

Take all the time you need to heal emotionally. Moving on doesn’t take a day, it takes lots of little steps to be able to break free of your broken self.

Tere Arigo

You build on failure. You use it as a stepping stone. Close the door on the past. You don’t try to forget the mistakes, but you don’t dwell on it. You don’t let it have any of your energy, or any of your time, or any of your space.

Johnny Cash

To be able to move on, one has to learn to forgive not only the person, or people, who have done one wrong but also oneself.

Eugenia Tripputi

It happens to everyone as they grow up. You find out who you are and what you want, and then you realize that people you’ve known forever don’t see things the way you do. So you keep the wonderful memories, but find yourself moving on.

Nicholas Sparks

I think that you never fall out of love with somebody, you just let go and move on.

Ashley Rickards

The only way to go on is to go on. To say ‘I can do this’ even when you know you can’t.

Stephen King

When someone you love says goodbye you can stare long and hard at the door they closed and forget to see all the doors God has open in front of you.

Shannon L. Alder

I can enjoy anywhere, and I can leave it. Life is about moving on.

Waris Dirie

Laughter, and the broader category of humor, are key elements in helping us go on with our life after a loss.

Allen Klein

What’s the point of pointing the finger, other than to stall your own progress in moving on?

Lisa Steadman
Kati Taylor quote "I do a good job of staying positive and just moving on"
“I do a good job of staying positive and just moving on.” – Kati Taylor

You are responsible for your life. You can’t keep blaming somebody else for your dysfunction. Life is really about moving on.

Oprah Winfrey

By forgiving and choosing to move on, one takes the power back to morph it into positive energy.

Eugenia Tripputi

Moving Forward Quotes

Those who move forward with a happy spirit will find that things always work out.

Gordon B. Hinkley

Man maintains his balance, poise, and sense of security only as he is moving forward.

Maxwell Maltz

One fails forward toward success.

Charles F. Kettering

You can’t move forward if you’re still hanging on.

Sue Fitzmaurice

Press forward. Do not stop, do not linger in your journey, but strive for the mark set before you.

George Whitefield

Even if you fall on your face, you’re still moving forward.

Victor Kiam

If you want to fly on the sky, you need to leave the earth. If you want to move forward, you need to let go the past that drags you down.

Amit Ray

The only thing a person can ever really do is keep moving forward. Take that big leap forward without hesitation, without once looking back. Simply forget the past and forge toward the future.

Alyson Noel

The truth is, unless you let go, unless you forgive yourself, unless you forgive the situation, unless you realize that the situation is over, you cannot move forward.

Steve Maraboli
"Sometimes you have to take a step back to move forward"
“Sometimes you have to take a step back to move forward.” – Erika Taylor

It’s a wonderful world. You can’t go backwards. You’re always moving forward. It’s the wonderful part about life. And that’s terrific.

Harvey Fierstein

We let go the present, which we have in our power, and look forward to that which depends upon chance, and so relinquish a certainty for an uncertainty.

Seneca

I demolish my bridges behind me…then there is no choice but to move forward.

Fridtjof Nansen

Stay focused, go after your dreams and keep moving toward your goals.

LL Cool J

There’s no time for regrets. You’ve just got to keep moving forward.

Mike McCready

If you bury the pain deep down it will stay with you indefinitely, but if you open yourself to it, experience it, and deal with it head-on, you’ll find it begins to move on after a while.

Greg Behrendt

If you’ve fallen down, today is the day you can get back up and try again.

Amelie Chance

Rehashing the past wouldn’t change anything. Time to move forward.

Zena Wynn

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.

I think that the power is the principle. The principle of moving forward, as though you have the confidence to move forward, eventually gives you confidence when you look back and see what you’ve done.

Robert Downey, Jr.

Our scars make us who we are. Wear them proudly, and move forward.

Jane Linfoot
Mel Robbins quote "No matter how small the step, forward is forward"
“No matter how small the step, forward is forward.” – Mel Robbins

You can’t expect to move forward if your emergency break is on.

Angela Cecilia

If everyone is moving forward together, then success takes care of itself.

Henry Ford

Keep planting and sowing, living and knowing: beautiful things take time, and that is okay.

Morgan Harper Nichols

My wish for you is that you continue. Continue to be who you are, to astonish a mean world with your acts of kindness.

Maya Angelou

There is no standing still because time is moving forward.

Greg Lake

You are allowed to be both a masterpiece and a work in progress simultaneously.

Sophia Bush

Owning your story is the bravest thing you’ll ever do.

Brené Brown

What matters most is how well you walk through the fire.

Charles Bukowski

Be messy and complicated and afraid and show up anyways.

Glennon Doyle

Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can.

Arthur Ashe

Sometimes your only available transportation is a leap of faith.

Margaret Shepard
Marty Rubin quote "Memory looks back in order to move forward"
“Memory looks back in order to move forward.” – Marty Rubin

Don’t dwell on what went wrong. Instead, focus on what to do next. Spend your energy moving forward together towards an answer.

Denis Waitley

We keep moving forward, opening new doors, and doing new things, because we’re curious and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths

Walt Disney

Accept yourself, love yourself, and keep moving forward. If you want to fly, you have to give up what weighs you down.

Roy T. Bennett

I must give you this warning: your journeys will rarely ever go as you plan. You will make mistakes, and you will feel lost. Whenever that happens, look to the light and keep moving forward in faith.

Seth Adam Smith

Be brave and take risks: You need to have faith in yourself. Be brave and take risks. You don’t have to have it all figured out to move forward.

Roy T. Bennett

Life moves forward. The old leaves wither, die and fall away, and the new growth extends forward into the light.

Bryant H. McGill

The answer to every adversity lies in courageously moving forward with faith.

Edmond Mbiaka

Moving On and Forward Thinking

One finds limits by pushing them.

Herbert A. Simon

You will evolve past certain people. Let yourself.

Mandy Hale

Celebrate endings – for they precede new beginnings.

Jonathan Lockwood Huie

When one door closes, another opens; but we often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door that we do not see the one which has opened for us.

Alexander Graham Bell
"Yesterday is not ours to recover, but tomorrow is ours to win or lose"
“Yesterday is not ours to recover, but tomorrow is ours to win or lose.” – Lyndon B. Johnson

Today expect something good to happen to you no matter what occurred yesterday.

Sarah Ban Breathnach

A very wise man once told me that you can’t look back – you just have to put the past behind you, and find something better in your future.

Jodi Picoult

Change has to come for life to struggle forward.

Helen Hollick

Let every day be the first day of the rest of your life.

Jonathan Lockwood Huie

The great courageous act that we must all do, is to have the courage to step out of our history and past so that we can live our dreams.

Oprah Winfrey

Girls you’ve gotta know when it’s time to turn the page.

Tori Amos

Your heart’s strength is measured by how hard it holds on. Your self-worth and faith is measured by finally letting go. However, your peace is measured by how long you don’t look back.

Shannon L. Alder

If I just keep putting one foot in front of the other, it stands to reason that I’m going to get there.

Rachel Joyce

Take the first step in faith. You don’t have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step.

Martin Luther King, Jr.

Incredible change happens in your life when you decide to take control of what you do have power over instead of craving control over what you don’t.

Steve Maraboli

I choose not to project my past onto my future.

Jonathan Lockwood Huie
Shannon Louise quote "I can’t take back the past, but I can fight for the future"
“I can’t take back the past, but I can fight for the future.” – Shannon A. Louise

There will come a time when you believe everything is finished; that will be the beginning.

Louis L’Amour

Do not wait until the conditions are perfect to begin. Beginning makes the conditions perfect.

Alan Cohen

Keep on beginning and failing. Each time you fail, start all over again, and you will grow stronger until you have accomplished a purpose – not the one you began with perhaps, but one you’ll be glad to remember.

Anne Sullivan

I have always been delighted at the prospect of a new day, a fresh try, one more start, with perhaps a bit of magic waiting somewhere behind the morning.

J. B. Priestley

When we go back into the past and rake up all the troubles we’ve had, we end up reeling and staggering through life. Stability and peace of mind come by living in the moment.

Pam W. Vredevelt

Seek not that the things which happen should happen as you wish; but wish the things which happen to be as they are, and you will have a tranquil flow of life.

Epictetus

If you do not change direction, you might end up where you are heading.

Lao Tzu

Looking Forward Quotes

Cry me a river, build a bridge, and get over it.

Justin Timberlake

It is always important to know when something has reached its end. Closing circles, shutting doors, finishing chapters, it doesn’t matter what we call it; what matters is to leave in the past those moments in life that are over.

Paulo Coelho

Life becomes easier when you learn to accept an apology you never got.

Robert Brault

That’s all you can do in this world, no matter how strong the current beats against you, or how heavy your burden, or how tragic your love story. You keep going.

Robyn Schneider
"Learn to walk away from those who cause harm to you"
“Learn to walk away from those who cause harm to you.” – Malika E. Nura

Keeping baggage from the past will leave no room for happiness in the future.

Wayne L. Misner

Vitality shows in not only the ability to persist but the ability to start over.

F. Scott Fitzgerald

If you spend your time hoping someone will suffer the consequences for what they did to your heart, then you’re allowing them to hurt you a second time in your mind.

Shannon L. Alder

Don’t hang on to the past and don’t look on to the future, focus on your present and present will build your future, cover your past and make your present worth a while.

Meeran W. Malik

The greatest win is walking away and choosing not to engage in drama and toxic energy at all.

Lalah Delia

Life is not about waiting for the storms to pass – It’s about learning how to dance in the rain.

Vivian Greene

You can live your life angry, bitter, mad at somebody or even guilty, not letting go of your own mistakes, but you won’t receive the good things God has in store.

Joel Osteen

Never waste valuable time, or mental peace of mind, on the affairs of others – that is too high a price to pay.

Robert Greene

Choose the non-emotional response to any given situation and see how much easier your life becomes.

Naval Ravikant

I welcomed who I was and left behind who I was not.

David Elliott
Tom Stoppard quote "Every exit is an entry somewhere"
“Every exit is an entry somewhere.” – Tom Stoppard

Just keep in mind: the more we value things outside our control, the less control we have.

Epictetus

Do not let the behavior of others destroy your inner peace.

Dalai Lama

There is a huge amount of freedom that comes to you when you take nothing personally.

Don Miguel Ruiz, The Four Agreements

We must learn to let things flow just like breath, and life will do the rest.

Iyanla Vanzant

The heart will break, but broken live on.

Lord Byron

There is no passion to be found playing small—in settling for a life that is less than the one you are capable of living.

Nelson Mandela

Moving on is not always easy, but we hope these quotes showed you it’s often the right thing to do.

Despite the unpleasantness of leaving the familiar and embracing the unknown, doing so can lead you to a better place. Moving on can also be a huge relief and feel great if you know it’s time for a new chapter in whatever you’re doing!

Nothing in life is certain or lasts forever and we are better off when we are able to go with the flow. So remember the wisdom in these moving on quotes next time you feel like embracing a new direction, and get ready for a new direction when you need one.

Photo of author

Quincy Seale

Quincy is KIM's editor, and has collected and shared inspiring quotes and stories since 2005. Quincy holds an MBA from the University of Dundee and an MSc from the University of Edinburgh, and lives in San Antonio with his wife Natalie, son Alex, and his dog Oban.