Yearbook quotes are often associated with the graduating students section, but, truth is, they’re a pretty good fit just about anywhere in your book.
See, quotes aren’t just a way for your students to express themselves; they’re a way for you to build on the foundation of your theme, increase visual interest in your pages, and give your readers a little something extra to reflect on.
Consider that last point for just a moment longer: The feelings and emotions you want a page to express can be hard to put into words. But, sometimes, history’s best and brightest minds have already said or written about those very expressions in the most thought— provoking words.
There’s no need to recreate the wheel. Simply borrow from the best.
Inside this post, we’ve rounded up our favorite yearbook quotes for elementary schools, middle schools, and high schools. So, dive in; you’ll find inspiration.
Find Yearbook Quotes That Work For You
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Elementary School Yearbook Quotes
Portrait Pages
“A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” — Confucius
“Anything can happen, child. Anything can be.” — Shel Silverstein
“Be somebody who makes everybody feel like a somebody.” — Kid President
“Be yourself. Everyone else is already taken.” — Oscar Wilde
“You’re braver than you believe, and stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think.” — A. A. Milne
“If you have good thoughts, they will shine out of your face like sunbeams and you will always look lovely.” — Roald Dahl
“Nothing is impossible. The word itself says ‘I’m possible’!” — Audrey Hepburn
“I am only one, but I am one. I cannot do everything, but I can do something. And I will not let what I cannot do interfere with what I can do.” — Edward Everett Hale
“Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, but today is a gift. That’s why we call it the present.” — A. A. Milne
“The great thing in this world is not so much where you stand, as in what direction you are moving.” — Oliver Wendell Holmes
Academics
“The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.” — Dr. Seuss
“Great things are done by a series of small things brought together.” — Vincent Van Gogh
“The object of education is to prepare the young to educate themselves throughout their lives.” –Robert M. Hutchins
“The best preparation for tomorrow is doing your best today.” — H. Jackson Brown, Jr.
“When you know better, you do better.” — Maya Angelou
“Do what you can with what you have, where you are.” — Theodore Roosevelt
“No one is perfect. That’s why pencils have erasers.” — Wolfgang Riebe
“Develop a passion for learning. If you do, you will never cease to grow.” — Anthony J. D’Angelo
“There is no elevator to success. You have to take the stairs.” — Zig Ziglar
“If you try to do your best, there is no failure.” — Mike Farrell
Sports
“It’s not how big you are, it’s how big you play.” –John Wooden
“To be prepared is half the victory.” — Miguel Cervantes
“Just play. Have fun. Enjoy the game.” — Michael Jordan
“Believe in yourself and all that you are. Know that there is something inside you that is greater than any obstacle.” — Christian D. Larson
“Victory is in having done your best. If you’ve done your best, you’ve won.” – Bill Bowerman
“Every strike brings me closer to the next home run.” — Babe Ruth
“Persistence can change failure into extraordinary achievement.” — Matt Biondi
“One man can be a crucial ingredient on a team, but one man cannot make a team.” — Kareem Abdul— Jabbar
“Do you know what my favorite part of the game is? The opportunity to play.” — Mike Singletary
“Just keep going. Everybody gets better if they keep at it.” — Ted Williams
Music & Art
“We all can dance when we find music that we love.” — Giles Andreae
“If everyone started off the day singing, just think how happy they’d be.” — Lauren Myracle
“The only thing better than singing is more singing.” — Ella Fitzgerald
“Where words fail, music speaks.” — Hans Christian Andersen
“Music is a world within itself, it is a language we all understand.” — Stevie Wonder
“Creativity is intelligence having fun.” — Albert Einstein
“Painting is self-discovery. Every good artist paints what he is.” — Jackson Pollock
“Drawing is like making an expressive gesture with the advantage of permanence.” — Henri Matisse
“Art is not what you see, but what you make others see.” — Edgar Degas
“Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep.” — Scott Adams
Middle School Yearbook Quotes
Portrait Pages
“Whatever you can do, or dream you can do, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it. Begin it now.” —Goethe
“Just don’t give up trying to do what you really want to do.” — Ella Fitzgerald
“The people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.” — Steve Jobs
“The question isn’t who is going to let me; it’s who is going to stop me.” –Ayn Rand
“Alone we can do so little, together we can do so much.” – Helen Keller
“Wherever you go, go with all your heart.” — Confucius
“The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.” — Eleanor Roosevelt
“I can do things you cannot; you can do things I cannot; together we can do great things.” — Mother Teresa
A life is not important except in the impact it has on other lives. — Jackie Robinson
We all must make the choice between what is right, and what is easy. — Dumbledore
Academics
Wisdom begins in wonder. — Socrates
Be curious, not judgmental. — Walt Whitman
“Learning is lifelong” —
“Any fool can know. The point is to understand.” ― Albert Einstein
“It is wiser to find out than to suppose.” — Mark Twain
“I find the harder I work, the more luck I seem to have.” — Thomas Jefferson
Never mistake a single mistake with a final mistake. — F. Scott Fitzgerald
“Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success.” – Henry Ford
“There are no shortcuts to any place worth going.” — Beverly Sills
“Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty.” — Henry Ford
Sports
“My coach said I run like a girl. And I said if he ran a little faster, he could too.” — Mia Hamm
It is better to look ahead and prepare than to look back and regret. — Jackie Joyner- Kersee
If you’re not making mistakes, then you’re not doing anything. — John Wooden
It’s not the will to win that matters—everyone has that. It’s the will to prepare to win that matters. — Paul “Bear” Bryant
“It always seems impossible, until it’s done.” — Nelson Mandela
What do you do with a mistake: recognize it, admit it, learn from it, forget it. — Dean Smith
It’s not whether you get knocked down, it’s whether you get up. — Vince Lombardi
“If you even dream of beating me, you better wake up and apologize.” — Muhammad Ali
“Champions keep playing until they get it right.” — Billie Jean King
Most people run a race to see who is fastest. I run a race to see who has the most guts. — Steve Prefontaine
Music & Art
“If you hear a voice within you say ‘you cannot paint,’ then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced.” — Vincent Van Gogh
“Everything you can imagine is real.” ― Pablo Picasso
“Creativity takes courage. ” ― Henri Matisse
“We don’t make mistakes, just happy little accidents.” ― Bob Ross
“The first mistake of art is to assume that it’s serious.” ― Lester Bangs
“Good music comes out of people playing together, knowing what they want to do and going for it.” — Keith Richards
“If you pour some music on whatever’s wrong, it’ll sure help out.” –Levon Helm
“Music is a world within itself, it is a language we all understand.” — Stevie Wonder
“Where words leave off, music begins.” ― Heinrich Heine
“Music is an outburst of the soul.” ― Frederick Delius
High School Yearbook Quotes
Portrait Pages
“Be curious. Not judgmental.” — Walt Whitman
“Be somebody who makes everybody feel like a somebody.” — Kid President
“Be who you are and say how you feel, because those who mind don’t matter, and those who matter don’t mind.” — Dr. Seuss
“Dreams do come true, if only we wish hard enough. You can have anything in life if you will sacrifice everything else for it.” — J.M. Barrie
“For what it’s worth: It’s never too late to be whoever you want to be. I hope you live a life you’re proud of, and if you find that you’re not, I hope you have the strength to start over.” — F. Scott Fitzgerald
“Great things are done by a series of small things brought together.” — Vincent Van Gogh
“If it scares you, it might be a good thing to try.” — Seth Godin
“It’s kind of fun to do the impossible.” — Walt Disney
“One day you will wake up and there won’t be any more time to do the things you’ve always wanted. Do it now.” — Paulo Coelho
“If you’ll not settle for anything less than your best, you will be amazed at what you can accomplish in your lives.” — Vince Lombardi
Academics
“I find the harder I work, the more luck I seem to have.” — Thomas Jefferson
“The capacity to learn is a gift; the ability to learn is a skill; the willingness to learn is a choice.” — Brian Herbert
“Whatever you do, do it well.” — Walt Disney
“Teachers open the door, but you must enter by yourself.” — Chinese Proverb
“Education is the key to unlocking the world; a passport to freedom.” — Oprah Winfrey
“Learning is the only thing the mind never exhausts, never fears, and never regrets.” — Leonardo Da Vinci
“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” — Nelson Mandela
“The beautiful thing about learning is that no one can take it away from you.” — B.B. King
“Try to learn something about everything and everything about something.” — Thomas Huxley
“The important thing is not to stop questioning.” — Albert Einstein
Student Life
“You have been my friend. That in itself is a tremendous thing.” — E.B. White
“Be so good they can’t ignore you.” — Steve Martin
“I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” — Maya Angelou
“I cannot even imagine where I would be today were it not for that handful of friends who have given me a heart full of joy. Let’s face it, friends make life a lot more fun.” — Charles R. Swindoll
“Friendship… is not something you learn in school. But if you haven’t learned the meaning of friendship, you really haven’t learned anything.” — Muhammed Ali
“Lots of people want to ride with you in the limo, but what you want is someone who will take the bus with you when the limo breaks down.” — Oprah Winfrey
“Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference. — Robert Frost
“The only person you are destined to become is the person you decide to be.” –Ralph Waldo Emerson
“Every moment is a fresh beginning.” — T.S. Eliot
“It seems they had always been, and would always be, friends. Time could change much, but not that.” — Winnie the Pooh
Sports
“Set your goals high, and don’t stop ‘til you get there.” — Bo Jackson
“To give anything less than your best is to sacrifice the gift.” — Steve Prefontaine
“Every day is a new opportunity. You can build on yesterday’s success or put its failures behind and start over again. That’s the way life is, with a new game every day, and that’s the way baseball is.” –Bob Feller
“Winning is not a sometime thing, it is an all the time thing. You don’t do things right once in awhile…you do them right all the time.” — Vince Lombardi
“It’s a hard person to beat who never gives up.” — Babe Ruth
“Practice like you’ve never won. Play like you’ve never lost.” — Michael Jordan
“The key is not the will to win. Everybody has that. It is the will to prepare to win that is important.” –Bobby Knight
Champions keep playing until they get it right. — Billie Jean King
You are never really playing an opponent. You are playing yourself, your own highest standards, and when you reach your limits, that is real joy. — Arthur Ashe
“You can’t always be the strongest or most talented or most gifted person in the room, but you can be the most competitive.” — Pat Summitt
Music & Art
“Music is a moral law. It gives soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, and charm and gaiety to life and to everything.” — Plato
“Music is a second language to my heart.” ― Mara Arps
“Without music, life would be a mistake.” — Friedrich Nietzsche
“Music washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life.” — Berthold Auerbach
“One good thing about music, when it hits you, you feel no pain.” — Bob Marley
“If you hear a voice within you say “you cannot paint,” then by all means paint and that voice will be silenced.” — Vincent Van Gogh
“An artist’s only concern is to shoot for some kind of perfection, and on his own terms, not anyone else’s.” ― J.D. Salinger
“Art is what you can get away with.” ― Andy Warhol
“Color is my daylong obsession, joy, and torment.” ― Claude Monet
“Everything you can imagine is real.” ― Pablo Picasso
Used correctly, yearbook quotes can help you complement your theme, add some design flair to your pages, and give your readers a little something extra to think about. Include them in your yearbook, and you’ll be giving everyone something to talk about.
