50 motivational quotes to get you through the Wednesday slump

Scaling that midweek mountain can be tough. You've barely recovered from Monday, and the weekend still seems like a distant dream.

We all need a little extra encouragement sometimes, especially on those seemingly-endless Wednesday afternoons.

Looking back through history, there's no limit to what we can achieve on Wednesdays.

Yuri Gagarin, the first human to travel to outer space, achieved his remarkable feat on a Wednesday in 1961. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his iconic ‘I Have a Dream’ speech on a Wednesday during the March on Washington.

As Kit Williams said, “On Wednesday afternoons I could be practically anything.”

These motivational quotes for Wednesdays will help you power through hump day — take some inspiration from these famous figures and look at Wednesdays from a glass-half-full perspective.

Motivational quotes for Wednesday

• “As one goes through life one learns that if you don’t paddle your own canoe, you don’t move.” — Katharine Hepburn

• “Challenges are gifts that force us to search for a new center of gravity. Don’t fight them. Just find a different way to stand.” — Oprah Winfrey

• “I believe in hard work. It keeps the wrinkles out of the mind and the spirit.” — Helena Rubenstein

• “Make at least one definite move daily toward your goal.” — Bruce Lee

• “Accept the challenges, so that you may feel the exhilaration of victory.” — George S. Patton

• “All our talents increase in the using, and every faculty, both good and bad, strengthens by exercise.” — Anne Brontë

• “Life loves to be taken by the lapel and be told, 'I am with you kid. Let’s go!'” — Maya Angelou

• “Courage, hard work, self-mastery, and intelligent effort are all essential to successful life.” — Theodore Roosevelt

• “A good Wednesday is a day when we did things, and we did them well.” — Liza Hawkins

• “If you know what it is you want out of life and you are totally committed to working for it, then all sorts of opportunities open up.” — Joyce Brothers

• “There is only one road to human greatness: through the school of hard knocks.” — Albert Einstein

• “Dreams do not come true just because you dream them. It’s hard work that makes things happen. It’s hard work that creates change.” — Shonda Rhimes

• “On Wednesday afternoons I could be practically anything.” — Kit Williams

• “The challenge is in the moment; the time is always now.” — James Baldwin

• “You have set yourselves a difficult task, but you will succeed if you persevere, and you will find a joy in overcoming obstacles — a delight in climbing rugged paths, which you would perhaps never know if you did not sometime slip backward — if the road was always smooth and pleasant.” — Helen Keller

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

• “Difficulties are just things to overcome after all.” — Ernest Shackleton

• “Courage is very important. Like a muscle, it is strengthened by use.” — Ruth Gordon

• “A bright future beckons. The onus is on us, through hard work, honesty and integrity, to reach for the stars.” — Nelson Mandela

• “Success is its own reward, but failure is a great teacher too, and not to be feared.” — Sonia Sotomayor

• “It’s a lack of faith that makes people afraid of meeting challenges, and I believe in myself.” — Muhammad Ali

• “The most difficult thing is the decision to act. The rest is merely tenacity.” — Amelia Earhart

• “All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.” — J. R. R. Tolkien

• “You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face.” — Eleanor Roosevelt

• “All labor that uplifts humanity has dignity and importance and should be undertaken with painstaking excellence.” — Martin Luther King, Jr.

• “You can’t just sit there and wait for people to give you that golden dream, you’ve got to get out there and make it happen yourself.” — Diana Ross

• “We can’t take any credit for our talents. It’s how we use them that counts.” — Madeleine L’Engle

• “Why endeavor to straighten the road of life? The faster we travel, the less there is to see.” — Helen Hayes

• “Most of the important things in the world have been accomplished by people who have kept on trying when there seemed to be no hope at all.” — Dale Carnegie

• “Every person is born with a talent, and happiness depends on discovering that talent in time.” — Isabel Allende

• “Every choice gives you a chance to pave your own road. Keep moving. Full speed ahead.” — Oprah Winfrey

• “A person can perform only from strength. One cannot build performance on weakness, let alone on something one cannot do at all.” — Peter Drucker

• “What matters in this life is more than winning for ourselves. What really matters is helping others win too. Even if it means slowing down and changing our course now and then.” — Fred Rogers

• “If you are working on something exciting that you really care about, you don’t have to be pushed. The vision pulls you.” — Steve Jobs

• “I never dreamt of success. I worked for it.” —Estée Lauder

• “I have tried to keep on with my striving because this is the only hope I have of ever achieving anything worthwhile and lasting.” — Arthur Ashe

• “You may encounter many defeats, but you must not be defeated. In fact, it may be necessary to encounter the defeats, so you can know who you are, what you can rise from, how you can still come out of it.” — Maya Angelou

• “When I sit back in my rocking chair someday, I want to be able to say I’ve done it all.” — Dolly Parton

• “All the adversity I’ve had in my life, all my troubles and obstacles, have strengthened me. You may not realize it when it happens, but a kick in the teeth may be the best thing in the world for you.” — Walt Disney

• “Every champion was once a contender that didn’t give up.” — Gabby Douglas

• “I think everyone should experience defeat at least once during their career. You learn a lot from it.” — Lou Holtz

• “The willingness to accept responsibility for one’s own life is the source from which self-respect springs.” — Joan Didion

• “I have begun everything with the idea that I could succeed, and I never had much patience with the multitudes of people who are always ready to explain why one cannot succeed.” — Booker T. Washington

• “The key to success is to start before you are ready.” — Marie Forleo

• “Records are always made to be broken no matter what they are. Anybody can do anything that they set their mind to.” — Michael Phelps

• “I attribute my success to this — I never gave or took any excuse.” — Florence Nightingale

• “When you are satisfied, you are successful. For that’s all there is to success is satisfaction.” — Will Rogers

• “Success is a state of mind. If you want success, start thinking of yourself as a success.” — Joyce Brothers

• “It’s not whether you get knocked down, it’s whether you get up.” — Vince Lombardi

• “The main thing is to care. Care very hard, even if it is only a game you are playing.” — Billie Jean King

This article was originally published on TODAY.com