71 Excuses Quotes to Start Getting Things Done in Life

I’ll do it tomorrow.

How many times do we put things off – only to end up never getting it done? Excuses can put your life on hold if you’re not careful. So in today’s piece, we’ve put together a bunch of excuse quotes to charge up your motivation and help get things moving.

Why do we put off doing the things that could be most beneficial or that we know to be good for our health and wellbeing? Before we get to the quotes, let's explore all things excuses.

Why Read Excuses Quotes

What is an excuse? An excuse is a reason not to do something. It can be incredibly simple “I don’t feel like doing it today,” or it can take on absurd levels of complexity. One thing is for sure; nearly everyone is a master at making excuses.

Are excuses a bad thing? There are only 24 hours in a day, and there are only so many things that you can do with your time, you might say. However, when you start to habitually make excuses, then you can start to grind your life to a halt.

Sometimes, our minds invent elaborate excuses because we are afraid, or we make excuses because we know something is good, but we also know how much work it’ll take or how long it’ll take to achieve our goals.

It’s up to us to peer into our own minds and work out the truth for ourselves because perfectly reasonable excuses can keep us in very bad situations if we allow them to.  

That’s what excuse quotes are here for – to help give you the boost you might need to set things in motion. The words we feed our minds can affect our behaviour greatly and sometimes it can be the tiniest word that can spark huge change.

Now, let’s look at the quotes!

51 Excuses Quotes to Start Getting Things Done in Life

1. “I attribute my success to this:—I never gave or took an excuse.” – Florence Nightingale
2.  “He that is good for making excuses is seldom good for anything else” – Benjamin Franklin
3. “It is better to offer no excuse than a bad one.” – George Washington
4. “How pitiful is an intelligence used only to make excuses to quieten the conscience.” – Ignazio Silone
5.  “Excuses are lies wrapped up in reasons.” – Howard Wright
6. “Excuses are the crutches of the uncommitted.” – A. R. Bernard
7. “It is wise to direct your anger towards problems – not people; to focus your energies on answers – not excuses.” – William Arthur Ward

It is wise to direct your anger towards problems – not people; to focus your energies on answers – not excuses.” – William Arthur Ward

8. “When you are good at making excuses, it is hard to excel at anything else.” – John L. Mason
9. “Excuses are merely nails used to build a house of failure.” – Habeeb Akande
10. “An excuse is a way of promising ourselves that we will have the same issue again.” – Henry Cloud
11. “To rush into explanations is always a sign of weakness.” – Agatha Christie
12. “Don't bother explaining—I've heard all the excuses and the trouble is most of them are true.” – John Brunner
13. “Being honest with myself is something I like. I am happy that I don't make excuses when I make a mistake. This is a good way to improve in the fastest way.” – Charles Leclerc
14. “If you really want to do it, you do it. There are no excuses.” – Bruce Nauman
15. “No one ever excused his way to success.” – Dave Del Dotto

16. “Success is not as easy as winners make it look nor as hard as losers make it sound.” – Orrin Woodward
17. “No excuses. Play like a champion.” – Kelley O'Hara
18. “We have more ability than willpower, and it is often an excuse to ourselves that we imagine that things are impossible.” Francois De La Rochefoucauld
19. “Neglecting small things under the pretext of wanting to accomplish large ones is the excuse of a coward.” – Alexandra David-Neel
20. “A difficulty is the excuse history never accepts.” – Edward R. Murrow
21. “An archer must never blame a target for missing it.” – Matshona Dhliwayo
22. “Not managing your time and making excuses are two bad habits. Don't put them both together by claiming you ‘don't have the time.” – Bo Bennett
23. “Excuses are things like sausages stuffed with reason, in the skin of a lie.” – Kianu Starr
24. “Excuses change nothing, but make everyone feel better.” – Mason Cooley
25. “You can make a million excuses for why something didn't go well, but ultimately, just fix it and get on with it. Be a solutions person.” – Emily Weiss

You can make a million excuses for why something didn't go well, but ultimately, just fix it and get on with it. Be a solutions person.” – Emily Weiss

26. “Success requires no explanations. Failure permits no alibis.” – Napoleon Hill
27. “Most people don't have that willingness to break bad habits. They have a lot of excuses and they talk like victims.” – Carlos Santana
28. “Ignorance of the law excuses no man from practicing it.” Addison Mizner
29. “When you say that something is impossible, you have made it impossible.” – Bruce Lee
30. “Excuses destroy success every time.” – Jon Taffer
31. “Peace is a question of will. All conflicts can be settled, and there are no excuses for allowing them to become eternal.” – Martti Ahtisaari
32. “Excuses are a powerful thing. One excuse can negate 100 opportunities.” – Bobby Darnell
33. “I refuse to allow the excuses in my mind to grow into giants that keep me from living up to my full potential.” – Shaun King
34. “Essentially there are two actions in life: Performance and excuses. Make a decision as to which he will accept from yourself.” – Steven Brown
35. “Your excuses are just the lies your fears have sold you.” – Robin Sharma

36. “What we need to understand is that once we rely on using excuses as a way out, they take a life of their own.” – Peter Lopez Jr.
37. “Tomorrow. A mystical land where 99% of all human productivity, motivation, and achievement is stored.” – Anonymous
38. “The best job goes to the person who can get it done without passing the buck or coming back with excuses.” – G. M. Trevelyan
39. “Those who make excuses, don't make progress.” – Amit Kalantri
40. “Don't give in to excuses that can keep you from really living the best life God has for you.” – Joyce Meyer
41. “The trouble with excuses, however, is that they become inevitably difficult to believe after they’ve been used a couple of times.” – Scott Spencer
42.  “Leadership – leadership is about taking responsibility, not making excuses.” – Mitt Romney
43. “Win without boasting. Lose without excuse.” – Albert Payson Terhune
44. “In football, the worst things are excuses. Excuses mean you cannot grow or move forward.” – Pep Guardiola

In football, the worst things are excuses. Excuses mean you cannot grow or move forward.” – Pep Guardiola

45. “It takes guts to realize you screwed up and to then come clean without any excuses.” – Brandon Webb
46. “Excuses proclaim an unwillingness to learn.” – Frank Sonnenberg
47. “The biggest barrier to starting a company isn't ideas, funding or experience. It's excuses.” – Sarah Lacy
48. “I come up with the silliest excuses when it's time to work out. I'll be like, ‘Oh no! Now I have to go and find some socks.” – Christina Hendricks
49. “The more you make excuses, the less you create solutions.” – Raymond Hull
50. “Excuses are the cradle that indifference is rocked to sleep in.” – Jim Rohn
51. “Success is not the result of spontaneous combustion. You must set yourself on fire.” – Arnold H. Glasow
52. “Excuses are the cradle of failure.” – Victor Kiam
53. “Conditions are seldom ideal, and if one waits long enough for ideal conditions one is just making excuses” – Bernard Heinrich
54. “An excuse is nothing more than a self-imposed roadblock.” – C.C. Chapman

55. “The point is that we make so many complicated excuses for not doing things. Whatever happened to a little simple ingenuity?” – Jim Brickman
56. “The art of making excuses is the art of growth inhibition.” – Stewart Stafford
57. “Excuses are the bricks that build the house of failure.” – Don Wilder
58. “A wise man excuses, a fool accuses.” – Unknown
59. “Excuses are the crutches of the uncommitted.” – Nathan Mitchell
60. “Your excuses may comfort you, but they won't serve you.” – Unknown
61. “Excuses are the language of the weak.” – James N. Watkins
62. “Your goals don't care about your excuses.” – Unknown
63. “The only limit to your impact is your imagination and commitment.” – Tony Robbins
64. “Excuses are the anchors that keep dreams in the harbor.” – Casey Combden
65. “Excuses are the nails that build the house of failure.” – Unknown
66. “If you really want to do something, you'll find a way. If you don't, you'll find an excuse.” – Jim Rohn

If you really want to do something, you'll find a way. If you don't, you'll find an excuse.” – Jim Rohn

67. “Excuses are the walls that prevent progress.” – Unknown
68. “The only thing standing between you and your goal is the story you keep telling yourself as to why you can't achieve it.” – Jordan Belfort
69. “Excuses are the tools with which persons with no purpose in view build for themselves great monuments of nothing.” – Steven Grayhm
70. “A setback is a setup for a comeback.” – Willie Jolley
71. “Excuses are the poison to progress.” – Unknown

Final Thoughts on Excuses Quotes

That brings us to the end of our excuse quotes compilation. We hope you’ve found some nuggets of wisdom among these.

While nobody is perfect, taking time to break our own excuses can see us go to places in our own lives we never thought possible – after all, if you never take the steps you can’t reach the destination.

Help yourself reach new heights with these 31 affirmations for positive thinking that will change your life.

And if you want more inspirational quotes, be sure to check out these blog posts:

• 75 Keep Pushing Quotes So You Can Move Forward
• 103 You Are Enough Quotes to Celebrate Your Greatness
• 67 You Got This Quotes to Give You a Motivational Boost

Finally, if you want to use these quotes to make a lasting change to your life, then check out and recite these 57 affirmations for success.