51 Powerful and Positive Behavior Quotes For Students

Encourage positive classroom behavior using these positive behavior quotes for students.

While everyone makes mistakes, it’s important to always reinforce appropriate behavior.

Good behavior shows respect for others and for oneself. Part of students’ learning process is navigating how to make good choices.

Teachers play a role in this journey by guiding students in their decision-making.

Utilizing motivational and positive behavior quotes for students is one such way to support the cause.

So implement some of these quotes in your classroom.

Positive Behavior Quotes For Students

Following you will find a list of inspirational quotes for students that help to cultivate a positive mindset.

1. “Accept and acknowledge your own brilliance. Stop waiting for others to tell you how great you are! Believe it for yourself and about yourself.” – Iyanla Vanzant

2. “You don’t have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step.” – Martin Luther King, Jr.

3. “Believe deep down in your heart that you’re destined to do great things.” – Joe Paterno

4. “Believe in yourself and all that you are. Know that there is something inside you that is greater than any obstacle.” – Christian D. Larson

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

6. “Don’t limit yourself. Many people limit themselves to what they think they can do. You can go as far as your mind lets you. What you believe, remember, you can achieve.” – Mary Kay Ash

7. “Success means having the courage, the determination, and the will to become the person you believe you were meant to be.” – George Sheehan

8. “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.

9. “Ninety-nine percent of the failures come from people who have the habit of making excuses.” – George Washington Carver

positive behavior quotes for students

10. “If you don’t go after what you want, you’ll never have it. If you don’t ask, the answer is always no. If you don’t step forward, you’re always in the same place.” – Nora Roberts

11. “Perseverance is not a long race; it is many short races one after another.” – Walter Elliott

12. “Successful and unsuccessful people do not vary greatly in their abilities. They vary in their desires to reach their potential.” – John Maxwell

13. “Good manners are just a way of showing other people that we have respect for them.” – Bill Kelly

14. “Take a minute: look at your goals, look at your performance, see if your behavior matches your goals.” – Kenneth H. Blanchard

15. “It’s not whether you get knocked down, it’s whether you get back up.” – Vince Lombardi

positive behavior quotes for students
positive behavior quotes for students

16. “People will forget what you said. People will forget what you did. But people will never forget how you made them feel.” – Maya Angelou

17. “I’ve failed over and over and over in my life and that is why I succeed.” – Michael Jordan

18. “Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement. Nothing can be done without hope and confidence.” – Helen Keller

19. “Kindness and politeness are not overrated at all. They’re underused.” – Tommy Lee Jones

20. “Right is right, even if everyone is against it; and wrong is wrong, even if everyone is for it.” – William Penn

21. “Your positive action combined with positive thinking results in success.” – Shiv Khera

22. “The only difference between success and failure is the ability to take action.” – Alexander Graham Bell

23. “Success is most often achieved by those who don’t know that failure is inevitable.” – Coco Chanel

24. “You cannot change the circumstances, the seasons, or the wind, but you can change yourself.” – Jim Rohn

25. “You create beauty with your attitude, your behavior, your actions. It’s all up to you.” – Unknown

26. “A man’s manners are a mirror in which he shows his portrait.” – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

positive behavior quotes for students

Short Positive Behavior Quotes for Students 

27. “Change your thoughts, and you will change your world.” – Norman Vincent Peale

28. “Manners easily and rapidly mature into morals.” – Horace Mann

29. “The secret of your success is determined by your daily agenda.” – John C. Maxwell

30. “You are always responsible for how you act, no matter how you feel.” – Robert Tew

31. “Attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference.” – Winston Churchill

32. “Motivation is what gets you started. Habit is what keeps you going.” – Jim Ryun

33. “Nothing can dim the light which shines from within.” – Maya Angelou

34. “Failure is another stepping stone to greatness.” – Oprah Winfrey

35. “Good manners are a sign of strength.” – Dick Francis

36. “We change other people’s behavior by changing our own.” – Unknown

positive behavior quotes for students
positive behavior quotes for students

37. “The best apology is changed behavior.” – Unknown

38. “Follow your dreams, believe in yourself, and don’t give up.” – Rachel Corrie

39. “Your attitude, not your aptitude, will determine your altitude.” – Zig Ziglar

40. “I need to listen well so that I hear what is not said.” – Thuli Madonsela

41. “Try to be a rainbow in someone’s cloud.” – Maya Angelou

42. “We may encounter many defeats but we must not be defeated.” – Maya Angelou

43. “Be stronger than your excuses.” – Unknown 

44. “Today I shall behave as if this is the day I will be remembered.” – Dr. Seuss

45. “Act the way you’d like to be, and soon you’ll be the way you act.” – Leonard Cohen

46. “You miss 100 percent of the shots you don’t take.” – Wayne Gretzky

positive behavior quotes for students

47. “There are no traffic jams on the extra mile.” – Zig Ziglar

48. “It always seems impossible until it’s done.” – Nelson Mandela

49. “Action is the foundational key to all success.” – Pablo Picasso

50. “In a world where you can be anything, be kind.” – Jennifer Dukes Lee

51. “The only impossible journey is the one you never begin.” – Anthony Robbins

Final Thoughts On Positive Behavior Quotes for Students

Encourage appropriate actions using these positive behavior quotes for students. They make a great addition to your classroom management plan.

If you liked these quotes, you might also like … growth mindset journal prompts.