48 Inspiring, Wise, and Witty Quotes to Use in Your Email Signatures

Your email signature—an optional footer you can add to every message you send out—is an ideal place to put your name and contact information, so people can easily reach you in a variety of ways. If you're using personal email, it's also a field where you might add a quote—a few short words that are inspiring, wise, or humorous to enlighten the reader. The remarks of famous writers, politicians, activists, and entertainers can serve as personal statements in the digital age. Find a quote that speaks to you and then use it as a sign-off at the end of your emails.

Inspiring Quotes

These quotes from Maya Angelou to Confucius to Mark Twain were handpicked to help the seeker in all of us—to keep us bounding forward even during the most challenging days.

Maya Angelou

"We may encounter many defeats, but we must not be defeated."

Walter Bagehot

"The great pleasure in life is doing what people say you cannot do."

Simone de Beauvoir

"Change your life today. Don't gamble on the future, act now, without delay."

Josh Billings

"To bring up a child in the way he should go, travel that way yourself once in a while."

Confucius

"The more man meditates upon good thoughts, the better will be his world and the world at large."

William Hazlitt

"The more we do, the more we can do."

Gary Player

"The harder you work, the luckier you get."

Jim Rohn

"Discipline is the bridge between goals and accomplishment."

Eleanor Roosevelt

"With the new day comes new strength and new thoughts."

Charles R. Swindoll

"Life is 10 percent what happens to you and 90 percent how you react to it."

Rabindranath Tagore

"You can't cross the sea merely by standing and staring at the water."

Mark Twain

"The secret of getting ahead is getting started."

Wise Quotes

An email signature can be a place to share a nugget of wisdom, something that expresses your personal values or outlook on life. If you work in education, you might choose a quote about teaching or learning. If you're a writer or a painter, you might choose a quote about the power of art.

Bill Clinton

"There is nothing wrong with America that cannot be cured by what is right with America."

Paul Ehrlich

"To err is human, but to really foul things up you need a computer."

Euripides

"Friends show their love in times of trouble, not in happiness."

Robert Frost

"In three words I can sum up everything I've learned about life. It goes on."

Gandhi

"There are limits to self-indulgence, none to self-restraint."

Khalil Gibran

"The teacher who is indeed wise does not bid you to enter the house of his wisdom but rather leads you to the threshold of your mind."

Omar Khayyam

"Be happy for this moment. This moment is your life."

Thomas La Mance

"Life is what happens to us while we are making other plans."

Jawaharlal Nehru

"Life is like a game of cards. The hand that is dealt you represents determinism; the way you play it is free will."

General George S. Patton Jr.

"Never tell people how to do things. Tell them what to do and they will surprise you with their ingenuity."

Pablo Picasso

"The purpose of art is washing the dust of daily life off our souls."

Josiah Royce

"Thinking is like loving and dying. Each of us must do it for himself."

Rumi

"Let the beauty of what you love be what you do."

Bertrand Russell

"No one gossips about other people's secret virtues."

George Sand

"There is only one happiness in this life, to love and be loved."

William Shakespeare

"A fool thinks himself to be wise, but a wise man knows himself to be a fool."

Robert S. Surtees

"It is better to be killed than frightened to death."

Oscar Wilde

"Keep love in your heart. A life without it is like a sunless garden when the flowers are dead."

William Butler Yeats

"Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire."

Witty Quotes

Email signatures don't have to be serious. If you're known for being lighthearted and making people laugh, you might be happier using a funny email signature, such as a quote from a comedian. A snappy one-liner or a clever zinger can leave the person on the other end with a smile—just be sure you know your audience well.

Fred Allen

"I don't want to own anything that won't fit into my coffin."

Woody Allen

"I am thankful for laughter, except when milk comes out of my nose."

Louis Hector Berlioz

"Time is a great teacher, but unfortunately, it kills all its pupils."

Red Buttons

"Never raise your hands to your kids. It leaves your groin unprotected."

George Carlin

"The day after tomorrow is the third day of the rest of your life."

Lawrence Ferlinghetti

"If you're too open-minded, your brains will fall out."

Carrie Fisher

"Instant gratification takes too long."

Benjamin Franklin

"Keep your eyes wide open before marriage, and half-shut afterward."

Fran Lebowitz

"You're only as good as your last haircut."

P.J. O'Rourke

"Cleanliness becomes more important when godliness is unlikely."

Charles M. Schulz

"I never made a mistake in my life. I thought I did once, but I was wrong."

George Bernard Shaw

"Youth is wasted on the young."

Lily Tomlin

"Man invented language to satisfy his deep need to complain."

Mark Twain

"Go to Heaven for the climate, Hell for the company."

"Never put off until tomorrow what you can do the day after tomorrow."

Mae West

"I generally avoid temptation unless I can't resist it."

Steven Wright

"If at first you don't succeed, then skydiving definitely isn't for you."