Teamwork is amazing. But it’s also challenging, and it takes hard work to get right. It’s definitely not summed up by platitudes like, “Teamwork makes the dream work” (even if the origin story behind the phrase is quite interesting.
How can we think about teamwork differently? How can we honor the challenge that working with others provides, and motivate our teams around the powerful opportunity of working together?
Here’s a list of teamwork quotes that we’ve sourced over the years that don’t bathe teamwork in the glow of senseless platitudes, but instead provide real insight, motivation, and inspiration. (Pro tip: If you right click on the images, you can download them to your desktop for your next presentation!)
Motivational teamwork quotes
1. “When you hand good people possibility, they do great things.” – Biz Stone
2. “Cooperation is the thorough conviction that nobody can get there unless everybody gets there.” – Virginia Burden
3. “There is no such thing as a self-made man. You will reach your goals only with the help of others.” – George Shinn
4. “If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.”– Isaac Newton
5. “The way to achieve your own success is to be willing to help somebody else get it first.” – Iyanla Vanzant
6. “Never confuse movement with action.” – Ernest Hemingway
7. “It’s better to be alone than in bad company.” – George Washington
8. “The strength of the team is each individual member. The strength of each member is the team.” – Phil Jackson
9. “Find a group of people who challenge and inspire you, spend a lot of time with them, and it will change your life forever.”– Amy Poehler
10. “To be good, and to do good, is all we have to do.” – John Adams
11. “We rise by lifting others” – Robert Ingersoll
12. “If you take out the team in teamwork, it’s just work. Now who wants that?” – Matthew Woodring Stover
13. “In the midst of chaos, there is also opportunity” – Sun Tzu
14. “I don’t like that man. I must get to know him better.” – Abraham Lincoln
15. “Our destiny is not written for us, it’s written by us” – Barack Obama
16. “It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit.”– Harry S Truman
17. “None of us is as smart as all of us.” – Ken Blanchard
18. “Iteration is the fundamental basis of all improvement.” – Mark Manson
19. “Every once in a while you hear an expert that says team chemistry is overrated. You just write that person off.” – Tony La Russa
20. “You cannot shake hands with a clenched fist.” – Indira Gandhi
21. “Create an environment where people can take risks. If everything has to be brilliant from the word go, you’re never gonna get off the ground.” – Paul Hewson, aka, Bono
22. “There is nothing more beautiful than someone who goes out of their way to make life beautiful for others.” – Mandy Hale
23. “You are not the work you do; you are the person you are.” – Toni Morrison
24. “Understand this if you understand nothing: it is a powerful thing to be seen.” – Akwaeke Emezi
25. “Failure and invention are inseparable twins. To invent you have to experiment, and if you know in advance that it’s going to work, it’s not an experiment.” – Scott Galloway
26. “Every time you are tempted to react in the same old way, ask if you want to be a prisoner of the past or a pioneer of the future.” – Deepak Chopra
27. “The worst walls are never the ones you find in your way. The worst walls are the ones you put there.” – Ursula K. Le Guin
28. “Intellect is the power tool of our separateness. The intuitive, compassionate heart is the doorway to our unity.” – Ram Dass
29. “Decency is avoiding disrespect, not avoiding disagreement. Integrity is trying to get it right, not being right.” – Adam Grant
30. “I’m no longer accepting the things I cannot change. I’m changing the things I cannot accept.” – Angela Davis
31. “Be more concerned with your character than with your reputation. Your character is what you really are while your reputation is merely what others think you are.” – John Wooden
32. “The opposite for courage is not cowardice, it is conformity. Even a dead fish can go with the flow.” – Jim Hightower
Want even more teamwork inspiration from real life people? Check out our 5 minute video with honest relfections on teamwork from leaders around Atlassian.