Motivational Quotes in Other Languages, With Literal Translation and What They Actually Mean
Languages · Quote translation · Updated 2026-07-22
A motivational line almost never survives a word-for-word translation. The Spanish proverb poco a poco se anda lejos literally reads "little by little one walks far", the German Übung macht den Meister literally says "practice makes the master", and the French vouloir, c'est pouvoir literally says "to want is to be able" - none of which is what an English speaker would ever actually say.
Below is one well-known line for each of the eight languages Thrive publishes in, given four ways: the original script, a romanization you can read aloud, the literal English, and the idiomatic sense. Every row is also marked as a traditional proverb, a quote with a named source, or a line that is famous under the wrong name, because a large share of what circulates as translated wisdom is misattributed.
Eight motivational quotes with literal and idiomatic translation
| Language | Original | Romanization | Literal English | What it actually means | Attribution |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hindi | करत करत अभ्यास के जड़मति होत सुजान | karat karat abhyaas ke, jadmati hot sujaan | Doing, doing practice, the dull-witted becomes wise | Repetition, not talent, is what turns a slow starter into an expert | Attributed to the Braj poet Vrind (1643-1723), usually cited to *Vrind Satsai*; it circulates far more often with no attribution at all |
| Spanish | Poco a poco se anda lejos | poco a poco se anda lejos | Little by little one walks far | Small consistent effort covers more ground than bursts of it | Traditional proverb from the Spanish *refranero*, no author |
| French | Vouloir, c'est pouvoir | vouloir, c'est pouvoir | To want is to be able | Where there's a will there's a way | Traditional proverb; several famous names get attached to it online without a documented source |
| German | Übung macht den Meister | Übung macht den Meister | Practice makes the master | Practice makes perfect - but the German promises a person, not a state | Traditional proverb, no author |
| Mandarin | 千里之行，始于足下 | qiān lǐ zhī xíng, shǐ yú zú xià | A journey of a thousand li begins beneath the feet | Any long undertaking starts from exactly where you already stand | Named source: *Tao Te Ching*, chapter 64, traditionally ascribed to Laozi; the text's authorship is debated by scholars |
| Marathi | केल्याने होत आहे रे, आधी केलेचि पाहिजे | kelyane hot aahe re, aadhi kelechi paahije | By doing, it is happening; first it must be done | Things become possible once you start; the starting is not optional | Attributed to the Marathi saint-poet Samarth Ramdas (c. 1608 - c. 1682), author of the *Dasbodh*; the line is traditionally credited to him but the specific text it sits in is cited inconsistently, so quote the words and hedge the source |
| Arabic | من جدَّ وجد | man jadda wajada | Whoever strove, found | Effort finds what it is looking for | Traditional proverb. Widely reposted as a Quranic verse or a hadith; it is neither |
| English | Whether you think you can or you think you can't, you're right | - | - | Belief sets the ceiling on effort | Commonly misattributed. Captioned "Henry Ford" nearly everywhere, but absent from his documented writing and from Wikiquote's sourced list of Ford quotations |
Romanization is a reading aid, not a spelling. Hindi and Marathi transliterations vary by scheme (IAST, ITRANS, or informal spelling), Mandarin here is Hanyu Pinyin with tone marks, and Arabic is a loose transliteration without the long-vowel diacritics. If you are copying a line for a card, a tattoo, or a printed gift, copy the original script, not the romanization.
Why literal translation breaks a motivational line
- The metaphor is load-bearing. Poco a poco se anda lejos is about walking. "Slow and steady wins the race" is about a race. Both mean persistence pays, but one is a stroll and the other is a competition.
- The noun is a person, not an abstraction. Übung macht den Meister ends in der Meister, the guild master, a rank you can be promoted to. English swaps in "perfect", an unreachable state.
- The grammar carries the argument. Vouloir, c'est pouvoir sets two bare infinitives side by side: wanting simply is being able. English needs six extra words and somewhere to put the way.
- The source frames the meaning. 千里之行，始于足下 read as a standalone proverb is generic encouragement. Read in Tao Te Ching chapter 64, beside the tree grown from a sprout and the tower raised from a basket of earth, it is an argument about acting early, while a thing is still small.
How to check a translated quote before you commit to it
- Find the original script first: If a page gives you only a romanization or only English, it is a copy of a copy. A quote you cannot see in its own alphabet cannot be checked.
- Back-translate it: Machine-translate the original to English, then that English back to the source language. If the round trip drifts badly, the phrasing is idiomatic and a literal reading will be wrong.
- Search the original, not the translation: Search the line in its own script. If a real source exists, native-language pages will name it; if nothing comes back but quote aggregators, treat the attribution as unproven.
- Separate the words from the name: A line can be genuine and its author invented. Quote the words, drop the name you cannot source.
- Have a native speaker read it aloud: Register is invisible to translation software. A line can be grammatical and still sound like an advertising slogan. This is the only step that catches that, and the one worth doing before anything permanent.
Get the daily quote in your language, not through English. Thrive publishes its daily wisdom in eight languages - English, Arabic, French, German, Hindi, Mandarin, Marathi and Spanish - so the line arrives written in your language rather than as a rough translation of an English one. Thematic collections cover personal growth, relationships, career, health and mental resilience. Download Inspire: Thrive Daily Quotes on the App Store.
Four lines that are famous under the wrong name
| Line as it circulates | Credited to | What the record shows |
|---|---|---|
| Be the change you wish to see in the world | Mahatma Gandhi | Flagged as misattributed. The nearest documented passage is "We but mirror the world." |
| Whether you think you can or you think you can't, you're right | Henry Ford | Not present in Wikiquote's sourced Ford quotations. Treat as unsourced. |
| من جدَّ وجد (man jadda wajada) | The Quran or a hadith | A proverbial Arabic saying taught widely in schools. It is neither. |
| A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step | Laozi | Source genuine (*Tao Te Ching* 64), English a loose paraphrase: the original says "beneath the feet", and a li is not a mile. |
How Thrive handles multilingual wisdom
Most quote apps ship an English library and bolt a translation layer on top, which is how machine-translated proverbs end up on lock screens. Thrive is built the other way round: pick your language in the app and the daily insight, the thematic collections and the gentle daily notifications all arrive in it. Because the content is organised by life area rather than by language, you can read career or mental-resilience wisdom in Marathi or Arabic without dropping to an English fallback. If you want more on the daily habit itself, see what time of day to read your quote and how many affirmations to say a day.
Frequently asked questions
What is a good motivational quote in Hindi with English translation?
करत करत अभ्यास के जड़मति होत सुजान (karat karat abhyaas ke, jadmati hot sujaan). Literally "doing, doing practice, the dull-witted becomes wise", meaning repetition turns a slow starter into an expert. It is attributed to the poet Vrind (1643-1723) and usually cited to Vrind Satsai.
What is the most famous Spanish motivational proverb?
Poco a poco se anda lejos - "little by little one walks far". It is a traditional saying from the Spanish refranero with no author, and the closest English equivalent is "slow and steady", though the Spanish is about walking rather than racing.
Is Google Translate accurate enough for a quote tattoo?
No. Machine translation handles literal sense reasonably but misses register, idiom and script direction, and it will happily render a proverb word for word into nonsense. Get the original script from a native-language source and have a native speaker read it aloud before anything permanent.
Is man jadda wajada from the Quran?
No. من جدَّ وجد is a well-known Arabic proverb meaning "whoever strove, found", widely taught in schools, but it is not a verse of the Quran and is not a hadith, despite being posted as both.