Oprah Winfrey’s journey from humble beginnings to becoming a media icon is a testament to perseverance, authenticity, and self-belief. Her reflections on overcoming challenges and recognizing inner strength are gifts that remind us of our own potential.
Below, we’re sharing some of Oprah’s most inspiring quotes—words that uplift, empower, and infuse your life with self-affirming magic. The beauty of these quotes is that they can be revisited whenever you need a reminder of your own light and purpose. May her wisdom inspire you to embrace your story and shine your light for yourself and others.
Oprah Winfrey Quotes On Life
"Life is reciprocal: The energy you expand always comes back."
"Life is about growth and change. When you are no longer doing that—that is your whisper; that is your whisper that you are supposed to do something else."
"You can either waltz boldly onto the stage of life and live the way you know your spirit is nudging you to, or you can sit quietly by the wall, receding into the shadows of fear and self-doubt."
"When you don’t know what to do, do nothing. Get quiet so you can hear the still, small voice—your inner GPS guiding you to true north."
"Wherever you are in your journey, I hope you, too, will keep encountering challenges. It is a blessing to be able to survive them, to be able to keep putting one foot in front of the other—to be in a position to make the climb up life’s mountain, knowing that the summit still lies ahead. And every experience is a valuable teacher."
"What I know for sure is that pleasure is energy reciprocated: What you put out comes back. Your base level of pleasure is determined by how you view your whole life."
"The answers keep unfolding as your life expands, if you’re willing to see things for what they are—and what they can be."
"No matter how far away from yourself you may have strayed, there is always a path back. You already know who you are and how to fulfill your destiny. And your ruby slippers are ready to carry you home."
"With every experience, you alone are painting your own canvas, thought by thought, choice by choice."
"Only you have the responsibility to move your life forward. The sooner you get that, the sooner your life gets into gear. It does not matter where you come from. It doesn’t matter your circumstances – what matters is this moment and what you’re willing to do right now."
"To me, aging well means feeling fit and strong—emotionally and physically—and being fully self-aware to the point of self-actualization."
"You are the captain of your soul. You are responsible for the choices you make in your life. I am living the dream. I’m not living the dream because I’m special, I’m living the dream because I was obedient to the call of the dream."
"Life is about recalibrating. About continually asking yourself: 'What do I have to do to get where I need to be?' 'How do I create the life I want?'"
"If change is the one thing you can be sure of, the goal is to figure out how you can use that certainty to your advantage, to modify, transfigure, refashion, and transform your day-to-day being."
"We can’t allow ourselves to be frightened into not living our lives, and I think that we have to keep going and we have to keep going with the faith that things will get better […] And things will get better when we make them better."
"There is a supreme moment of destiny calling on your life. Your job is to feel that, to hear that, to know that. And sometimes when you're not listening, you get taken off track. You get in the wrong marriage, the wrong relationship, you take the wrong job, but it's all leading to the same path. There are no wrong paths."
Oprah Quotes On Love and Relationships
"Look inward—the loving begins with you."
"Alone time is when I distance myself from the voices of the world so I can hear my own."
"Good riddance to decisions that don’t support self-worth."
"The best gift anyone can give, I believe, is the gift of sharing themselves."
"Turn your wounds into wisdom."
"Surround yourself with only people who are going to lift you higher."
"Family should be the place where you can be your most complete self."
"The ability to love and be loved exists no matter where you are."
"You must be fearless enough to give yourself the love you didn't receive."
"When you make loving others the story of your life, there's never a final chapter, because the legacy continues. You lend your light to one person, and he or she shines it on another and another and another."
"If a person turns against you because you say 'no' to them, you recognize that that wasn't real love anyway. True love, true friendship, true support comes from people who want you to tell your own truth. They don't want things given to them that don't come from a pure place."
Oprah Winfrey Quotes On Success
"The reason I’ve been able to be so financially successful is my focus has never, ever for one minute been money."
"The key to realizing a dream is to focus not on success but on significance–and then even the small steps and little victories along your path will take on greater meaning."
"Create the highest, grandest vision possible for your life, because you become what you believe."
"Doing the best at this moment puts you in the best place for the next moment."
"Think like a queen. A queen is not afraid to fail. Failure is another stepping stone to greatness."
"I’ve come to believe that each of us has a personal calling that’s as unique as a fingerprint—and that the best way to succeed is to discover what you love and then find a way to offer it to others in the form of service, working hard, and also allowing the energy of the universe to lead you."
"I don’t think of myself as a poor deprived ghetto girl who made good. I think of myself as somebody who, from an early age, knew I was responsible for myself, and I had to make good."
"We can’t become what we need to be by remaining what we are."
"You are where you are in your life, based on what you believe. If you’re not looking at the shadows, what is subconsciously telling yourself you’re not good enough, not worthy enough, not smart enough…you’re not enough, you end up acting out of THAT belief system, and not of what you want to be the truest for yourself."
"The truth is, success is a process—you can ask anybody who’s been successful."
"What I learned at a very early age was that I was responsible for my life. And as I became more spiritually conscious, I learned that we all are responsible for ourselves, that you create your own reality by the way you think and therefore act."
"The biggest reward is not financial benefits, though it’s really good, you can get a lot of great shoes! Those of you who have a lot of shoes know having a closet full of shoes doesn’t fill up your life. Living a life of substance can. Substance through your service."
"The key to realizing a dream is to focus not on success but on significance -- and then even the small steps and little victories along your path will take on greater meaning."
"You know you are on the road to success if you would do your job and not be paid for it."
Oprah Winfrey Quotes On Happiness
"I live in a state of exhilarated contentment (my definition of happiness), fueled by a passion for everything I'm committed to: my work, my colleagues, my home, my gratitude for every breath taken in freedom and peace. And what makes it sweeter is knowing for sure that I created this happiness. It was my choice."
"The No. 1 principle that rules my life is intention."
"Envy is the great destroyer. It is the happiness killer. And so anytime you are looking at anything else with envy, you have already killed your own happiness or your ability to be happier in that moment, and probably in moments to come."
Oprah Winfrey Quotes On Self-Care
"You can’t give what you don’t have. You have to keep your own self full. Keep your cup full."
"When you are tuned in and charged into that…whenever you feel empty you go inside yourself and you connect to the source and you know that all things are possible."
"We’re all energy fields. Keep your energy level high. For me, it’s eating as healthy as possible, some form of silence or prayer or meditation in the morning, and exercise. It’s keeping yourself whole and connected and knowing only positive energy brings positive energy."
"Often when people think about self-care, they think about a trip to the spa or bubble bath—you all know I love a bath. There’s nothing wrong with a spa-ing—love that, too. But I think self-care is something deeper. It’s a practice that comes with doing the internal work and listening to what you, and only you, need."
"The biggest choices begin and end with YOU. Your internal BIG questions. Who I wanna be in the world. My relationship to source energy. To all that is god. Your experience with all that is life, divine and universal."
"Self-care shouldn't have to come out of an imminent need for relief when everything comes tumbling down. It should be deliberate, it should be scheduled, it should become a habit. Because what I know for sure: You don't have anything to give that you don't have."
"Now when I begin to feel exhausted, I pull back. If I'm at work and people are lined up at my desk with one request after another, I literally go sit in my closet and refuel. And I always give myself Sundays as a spiritual base of renewal—a day when I do absolutely nothing."
Oprah Winfrey Quotes On Gratitude
"That’s the gift of gratitude: In order to feel it, your ego has to take a backseat."
"I know for sure that only by owning who and what you are can you step into the fullness of life. I feel sorry for anyone who buys into the myth that you can be what you once were. The way to your best life isn't denial. It's owning every moment and staking a claim to the here and now... And I'm grateful for every age I'm blessed to become."
"Be thankful for what you have; you’ll end up having more. If you concentrate on what you don’t have, you will never, ever have enough."
"The more you praise and celebrate your life, the more there is in life to celebrate."
"If you can learn to focus on what you have, you can always see that the universe is abundant and you will have more. If you concentrate on what you don’t have, you will never have enough."
"I live in the space of thankfulness -- and for that, I have been rewarded a million times over. I started out giving thanks for small things, and the more thankful I became, the more my bounty increased. That's because -- for sure -- what you focus on expands. When you focus on the goodness in life, you create more of it."
"Focusing on one thing that you are grateful for increases the energy of gratitude and rises the joy inside yourself."
"I know for sure that appreciating whatever shows up for you in life changes your personal vibration. You radiate and generate more goodness for yourself when you're aware of all you have and not focusing on your have-nots."
"Breathe. Let go. And remind yourself that this very moment is the only one you know you have for sure."
Featured image by Phillip Faraone/Getty Images for ELLE
