Want to start practicing hand lettering and calligraphy but feel blocked because you don’t know what to write? I’ve put together a list of over 100 short quotes for lettering and calligraphy that you can use now so you never get stuck. In addition to quotes, I’ve included inspirational phrases.
I put this list together because I am participating in a 100 day project challenge. In this challenge you pick a project to focus on for at least 10 minutes every day. I chose to focus on lettering because my goal is to create a font this year!
I was spending so much time looking for the “perfect” quote so decided to create a list of quotes I could use for hand lettering projects. No more delays or excuses! This also allows me to think about what I might want to say about the quote on Instagram.
I’ve broken the words, quotes, and phrases down into lists according to how many words are in them to make it easier to choose a quote that fits your needs.
Since these quotes and phrases are ones I chose for my lettering, you’ll see a certain theme. This list includes inspirational quotes around facing your fears, believing in yourself, and changing your thoughts.
2 Word Phrases and Quotes For Hand Lettering
Begin anywhere – John Cage
Choose love
Be unique
Change constantly
Take chances
Stay strong
Stay focused
Rise above
Perfectly content
Notice things
Laughter heals
Keep smiling
Keep going
Keep calm
Just sayin…
Just believe
Inhale exhale
Imperfectly perfect
Follow through
In balance
Fear not
Fairy dust
Explore magic
Enjoy today
Cherish today
Breathe deeply
Be still
Be kind
Be awesome
Amplify hope
Aim high
Accept yourself
Build mastery
3 Word Phrases for Lettering
Live the moment
Never stop dreaming
Follow your heart
Choose to shine
You are unstoppable
Always be yourself
Act without expectation
Be constantly curious
Believe in yourself
Believe you can
Change is good
Dare to suck
Do your best
Focus vs scattered
Happiness in choice
Just be awesome
Keep it simple
Learn from yesterday
Life is awesome
Life is beautiful
Live, laugh, love
Manage your resistance
Never give up
Yes you can
Keep on shining
Love and laughter
Shift your awareness
Creativity takes courage – Henri Matisse
Make it happen
Leave your mark
4 Word Quotes and Phrases For Hand Lettering and Journaling
Happiness depends on ourselves. – Aristotle
You are a warrior
Think progress, not perfection – Ryan Holiday
Allow yourself to feel
Find solace in nature
No rain no flowers
Do what you love
You are not alone
Patience is a virtue
Make your own magic
Good things take time
5 Word Quotes and Phrases
Be inspired but don’t copy
Knowledge speaks, but wisdom listens. – Jimi Hendrix
Every flower must grow through dirt – Laurie Jean Sennott
Turn your wounds into wisdom – Oprah Winfrey
What we think, we become. – Buddha
I can and I will
The obstacle is the way – Ryan Holiday
Rest while the storm passes
My life is my message – Mahatma Gandhi
Powerful dreams inspire powerful action – Jonathan Lockwood Huie
Fear regret more than failure – Taryn Rose
Do less with more focus
Don’t stop until you’re proud – Anna Colibri
Creativity is intelligence having fun. – Albert Einstein
6 Word Quotes and Phrases for Calligraphy Practice
When in doubt, tell the truth – Mark Twain
Prove yourself to yourself, not others.
We become what we think about – Earl Nightingale
No great thing is created suddenly – Epictetus
Pain is temporary. Quitting lasts forever. -Lance Armstrong
We are what we repeatedly do – Will Durant
Dream big and dare to fail – Norman Vaughan
Change the world by being yourself – Amy Poehler
In teaching others, we teach ourselves – Proverbs
Take each day as it comes
Action cures fear, inaction creates terror – Douglas Horton
Accept full responsibility for your life.
Get out of your own way
Get out of your comfort zone
Forget the mistake, remember the lesson
Great fear is concealed under daring – Lucan
Integrity is choosing courage over comfort – Brene Brown
7 Word Quotes and Phrases for your Journal
Live out your imagination, not your history – Stephen Covey
You can if you think you can – George Reeves
Determine your priorities and focus on them – Ellen McDargh
You are enough just as you are – Meghan Markle
Try to be a rainbow in someone’s cloud – Maya Angelou
If opportunity doesn’t knock, build a door – Milton Berle
Believe you can and you’re halfway there – Theodore Roosevelt
Embrace the glorious mess that you are – Elizabeth Gilbert
What consumes your mind controls your life – Unknown
Without love…breath is just a clock ticking – Dedrick D. L. Pitter
Be yourself; everyone else is already taken – Oscar Wilde
You never fail until you stop trying – Albert Einstein
Above all, a person is their will – Unknown
Feel the fear and do it anyway – Susan Jeffers
She believed she could, so she did.
You make mistakes. Mistakes don’t make you. – Maxwell Maltz
It seems impossible until it’s done – Nelson Mandela
You only fail when you stop trying.
8 Word Quotes
Change your thoughts and you change your world – Norman Vincent Peale
Happiness is not by chance, but by choice – Jim Rohn
The starting point of all achievement is desire – Napoleon Hill
Always do what you are afraid to do – Ralph Waldo Emerson
Have faith in yourself and the future – Ted Kennedy
Courage is fear that has said its prayers – Dorothy Bernard
One day or day one, it’s your decision – Paulo Coehlo
Quotes with 8 Words or More for Lettering Composition
You are far more powerful than you ever dreamed – Peter McWilliams
It is never too late to be what you might have been – George Eliot
If you have a dream, give it a chance to happen – Richard M. DeVos
You must do things you think you cannot do. – Eleanor Roosevelt
It’s just a bad day, not a bad life – Mary Engelbreit
You must be the change you wish to see in the world – Mahatma Gandhi
May your choices reflect your hopes, not your fears – Nelson Mandela
Worrying is like paying a debt you don’t owe – Mark Twain
He who has a why to live can bear almost any how – Friedrich Nietzsche
Some days you just have to create your own sunshine – Unknown
If you don’t like the road you’re walking, start paving a new one – Dolly Parton
Life isn’t about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself – George Bernard Shaw
It’s not what you look at that matters, it’s what you see – Henry Davis Thoreau
Have enough courage to start and enough heart to finish – Jessica N. S. Yourko
Who you are tomorrow begins with what you do today – Tim Fargo
I will not let anyone walk through my mind with their dirty feet – Mahatma Gandhi
Excellence, then is not an act, but a habit – Will Durant
A pause to catch your breath is a sensible decision
You are allowed to be both afraid and brave
Failure shows us the way – by showing us what isn’t the way – Ryan Holiday
Focus on the moment, not the monsters that may or may not be ahead – Ryan Holiday
Be there for others, but never leave yourself behind – Dodinsky
Be who you are and say what you feel, because those that mind don’t matter and those who matter don’t mind – Dr. Seuss
We must not allow other people’s limited perceptions to define us – Virginia Satir
The quieter you become, the more you can hear – Ram Dass
The past is in your head. The future is in your hands – Unknown
Fears are nothing more than a state of mind – Napoleon Hill
Never let the fear of striking out get in your way – Babe Ruth
Time To Get Lettering
Well, there you have it, a little over 150 quotes and phrases for lettering. I would love to see what you create with these phrases.
If you have a favorite short phrase or quote that’s not on this list, leave a comment.
I create my lettering on my iPad using Procreate. Learn about my recommendation for the best iPad for lettering in Procreate here.
