105 Quotes About Choices & Consequences to Fire You Up (2021)

In life, choices are inevitable. Although they start small, as we age we are presented with monumental choices that have the power to shape the course of our everyday life.

Would you say that you truly understand the importance of the choices you make? If you’ve never really considered the outcomes of the actions you take, you will after reading these insightful quotes about choices.

We feel like the good things happen to us, while the bad things are our fault. What we need to realize is that each and every day, we make numerous choices that influence the outcome of all areas of our lives.

We can learn from our missteps, and we can build on our strengths. Your life is made up of an endless amount of choices, so instead of procrastinating in fear of making the wrong decisions, face the options before you with courage and confidence.

To help you create the life you want to live, below are some quotes about choices – and facing the consequences that come with them.

The Best Choices and Consequences Quotes

1. “Life presents many choices, the choices we make determine our future.” – Catherine Pulsifer

2. “The hardest decisions in life are not between good and bad or right and wrong, but between two goods or two rights.” – Joe Andrew

3. “And in life, it is all about choices we make. And how the direction of our lives comes down to the choices we choose.” – Catherine Pulsifer

4. “Choose your life’s mate carefully. From this one decision will come 90 percent of all your happiness or misery.” – H. Jackson Brown, Jr.

5. “When we find inspiration, we need to take action for ourselves and for our communities. Even if it means making a hard choice, or cutting out something and leaving it in your past.” – Aron Ralston

6. “Your life changes the moment you make a new, congruent, and committed decision.” – Anthony Robbins

7. “In every single thing you do, you are choosing a direction. Your life is a product of choices.” – Dr. Kathleen Hall

8. “The most difficult thing is the decision to act, the rest is merely tenacity. The fears are paper tigers. You can do anything you decide to do. You can act to change and control your life; and the procedure, the process is its own reward.” – Amelia Earhart

9. “And we have complete control over our own attitude. We are the ones who decide how we feel, how we look at things, how we react.” – Catherine Pulsifer

10. “This is as true in everyday life as it is in battle: we are given one life and the decision is ours whether to wait for circumstances to make up our mind, or whether to act, and in acting, to live.” – Omar Bradley

Also read these insightful Dante’s Inferno quotes about consequences and justice.

Wise quotes about choices and consequences

11. “Each person has a choice; the choice to do as one may wish and as one wants remains with the individual. If a person sees no benefit to change, they will not change.” – Byron Pulsifer

12. “We are the creative force of our life, and through our own decisions rather than our conditions, if we carefully learn to do certain things, we can accomplish those goals.” – Stephen Covey

13. “Did you know that to worry about a situation you are making a conscious choice to do so?” – Mike C. Adams

14. “We all need to decide whether to “play it safe” in life and worry about the downside, or instead take a chance, by being who we really are and living the life our heart desires. Which choice are you making?” – Charlie Badenhop

15. “There are a lot of things going on with my life right now that don’t just have to do with career. So I have a hard time making decisions about work. That’s really a luxury problem.” – Philip Seymour Hoffman

Powerful quotes about choices and consequences

16. “You came empty on earth, why overloaded now, were all your choices absolutely correct, it is never too late to reconsider them?” – William Ngwako Maphoto

17. “We are partners by fate. We become friends by choice.” – Jacquie McTaggart
If you’re enjoying these quotes, make sure to read our collection of fate quotes that will remind you to take each day one at a time.

18. “You always do what you want to do. This is true with every act. You may say that you had to do something, or that you were forced to, but actually, whatever you do, you do by choice. Only you have the power to choose for yourself.” – W. Clement Stone

19. “The choices that we make in our life, indeed determine the kind of results that we experience and the quality of the life that we live.” – Sumeet Jain
If you’re enjoying these quotes, you’ll love our collection of experience quotes that will inspire you to live a fulfilled life.

20. “The choices we make every minute of every day can contribute to making someone’s life a little bit better or worse even without intending to.” – Chikamso Efobi

Also read these powerful intuition quotes that will help you trust your your own instincts.

Quotes about choices to motivate you

21. “If you don’t have the information you need to make wise choices, find someone who does.” – Lori Hil

22. “I discovered I always have choices, and sometimes, it’s only a choice of attitude.” – Judith M. Knowlton

23. “May your choices reflect your hopes not your fears.” – Nelson Mandela

24. “In my experience working with a variety of people over several decades, far too many individuals choose to be anonymous members of the pack, therefore suffering from the inner remorse that makes them feel like failures, filled with conflict and resentment and wondering what the meaning of life is.” –  Dr. Wayne W. Dyer

25. “By knowing that you can fail and making the choice to take the risk you will be setting yourself up for success and not failure.” – Jennifer N. Smith

26. “Life is a choice – as is how you handle the pitfalls along its bumpy road.” – Julie Donner Andersen

27. “Addicts cannot change the abuse suffered in childhood. They cannot undo the choices they have made or the hurt they have caused. But they can change the future – through the power they have in the present moment.” – Ryan Holiday, Stephen Hanselman

28. “Most of the choices we make each day may feel like the products of well-considered decision making, but they’re not. They’re habits. And though each habit means relatively little on its own, over time, the meals we order, what we say to our kids each night, whether we save or spend, how often we exercise, and the way we organize our thoughts and work routines have enormous impacts on our health, productivity, financial security, and happiness.” – Charles Duhigg

29. “Any decision I make is the biggest decision of my life.” – Carmelo Anthony

30. “Expanding our capacity to talk, particularly when we face critical choices, is a life-enhancing skill. I believe that there is no faster way for us to evolve than through the process of interacting with one another.” – Sarah Rozenthuler

Quotes about choices to help you grow

31. “In this new era, you have two choices: become a temp staffer (not a horrible choice) or become an artist-entrepreneur. Choose to commoditize your labor or choose yourself to be a creator, an innovator, an artist, an investor, a marketer, and an entrepreneur.” – James Altucher

32. “Concision in style, precision in thought, decision in life.” – Victor Hugo

33. “Big changes don’t have to be hard, but they do have to start with a choice. This is where real change begins; where you start taking control of your life and how you choose to live it; this is where it all starts.” – Nathalie Thompson

34. “It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities.” ― J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

35. “You cannot control the behavior of others, but you can always choose how you respond to it.”― Roy T. Bennett, The Light in the Heart

36. “The choices you make now, the people you surround yourself with, they all have the potential to affect your life, even who you are, forever.”
― Sarah Dessen, The Truth About Forever

37. “Desires dictate our priorities, priorities shape our choices, and choices determine our actions.”― Dallin H. Oaks
If you’re enjoying these quotes, make sure to read our collection of priority quotes that will help you clarify what’s important to you in your life.

38. “Everyone has choices to make; no one has the right to take those choices away from us. Not even out of love..”― Cassandra Clare, City of Ashes

39. “The hardest choices in life aren’t between what’s right and what’s wrong but between what’s right and what’s best.”― Jamie Ford, Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet

40. “Sometimes good choices are really bad ones, wrapped up in so much fear you can’t even see straight.”― Deb Caletti, The Secret Life of Prince Charming

Choice quotes to expand your mind

41. “It’s not hard to make decisions when you know what your values are.” ― Roy Disney

42. “We all make choices, but in the end our choices make us.” ― Ken Levine

43. “It’s our choices that matter in the end. Not wishes, not words, not promises.” ― Alexandra Bracken , Passenger

44. “Choose your love. Love your choice.”― Thomas S. Monson

45. “In the end that was the choice you made, and it doesn’t matter how hard it was to make it. It matters that you did.”― Cassandra Clare, City of Glass

46. “The right choice is hardly ever the easy choice.”― Rick Riordan, The Throne of Fire

47. “Sometimes it doesn’t matter too much what choice you make, as long as you make it quick and stick to it.” ― Joe Abercrombie, Last Argument of Kings

48. “You can’t make yourself feel positive, but you can choose how to act, and if you choose right, it builds your confidence.”― Julien Smith, The Flinch

49. “Not to decide is to decide.”― Harvey Cox

50. “We are free to choose our paths, but we can’t choose the consequences that come with them.”― Sean Covey, The 7 Habits Of Highly Effective Teens

Other inspirational quotes about choices and consequences

51. “For every choice you make, there is a consequence to face. Choose wisely!”― Kemi Sogunle

52. “The choice to make good choices is the best choice you can choose. Fail to make that choice and on most choices you will lose.”― Ryan Lilly

53. “We often throw rocks not realizing that they’re going to land somewhere.”― Craig D. Lounsbrough

54. “Show the youth the consequences of their actions and why they should choose wisely.”― Sunday Adelaja

55. “Your little choices become habits that affect the bigger decisions you make in life.”― Elizabeth George

56. “You don’t get to rewind your life like a tape and splice it back together, pretending it never knotted and tore, when it did and you know it did.”― Silvia Moreno-Garcia

57. “Your destiny lies in your hands and can be molded with each passing day by the choices you make.”― Sunday Adelaja

58. “Individual choices have universal consequences.”― Laurie Buchanan

59. “Most people, faced with two difficult choices, prefer not to choose at all.”― Kenneth Eade

60. “Look for your choices, pick the best one, and then go with it.” – Pat Riley

61. “Behavior has consequences, and stupid behavior often has terrible consequences.”― James C. Dobson

62. “It’s very easy to make certain decisions that affect your life that you have no perspective on.” – Jena Malone

63. “Whenever it comes to decision making, Remember the part about having confidence.”― Auliq Ice

64. “Don’t choose to be bitter, but choose to be better.”― De philosopher DJ Kyos

65. “Every choice has its consequences. Some more than others.”― Stephenie Meyer

More quotes about choices

66. “Choices made, whether bad or good, follow you forever and affect everyone in their path one way or another.” – J.E.B. Spredemann

67. “No one loses their innocence. It is either taken or given away willingly.” – Tiffany Madison

68. “Attitude is a choice. Happiness is a choice. Optimism is a choice. Kindness is a choice. Giving is a choice. Respect is a choice. Whatever choice you make makes you. Choose wisely.” ― Roy T. Bennett

69. “Choice is the basis of every part of your existence, but so is fear. The difference is, choice creates movement, where fear limits movement.” – Réné Gaudette

70. “We never choose anything at all. Things happen. Or not.” – Haruki Murakami

71. “The choices you make are descendants of your conditioning.” – Dr. Jacinta Mpalyenkana

72. “Your life is determined by the sum of the choices that YOU make.” – Frank Sonnenberg

73. “We should be careful as to the choices we make. We need to be certain that we are prepared to accept the consequences of those choices.” – Jim Robinson

74. “The choices we make determines our destiny.” – Lailah Gifty Akita

75. “Our lives are made up of choices. Big ones, small ones, strung together by the thin air of good intentions; a line of dominoes, ready to fall.” – Abigail Haas

relatable quotes about choices and consequences

76. “If you build the guts to do something, anything, then you better save enough to face the consequences.”  – Criss Jami

77. “The thing about real life is, when you do something stupid, it normally costs you.” – Darren Shan

78. “When you choose an action, you choose the consequences of that action.”  – Lois McMaster Bujold

79. “There are in nature neither rewards nor punishments — there are consequences.”   – Robert G. Ingersoll

80. “Good and evil both increase at compound interest. That is why the little decisions you and I make every day are of such infinite importance.”  – C.S. Lewis

81. “If, before every action, we were to begin by weighing up the consequences, thinking about them in earnest, first the immediate consequences, then the probable, then the possible, then the imaginable ones, we should never move beyond the point where our first thought brought us to a halt.”  – Jose Saramago

82. “Be wise today so you don’t cry tomorrow.”  – E.A. Bucchianeri 

83. “I am sorry my decisions do not meet with your approval, but nevertheless, they are mine, and the consequences are also mine.”  – Rachel Caine

84. “I’ve made a decision and now I must face the consequences.”  – J. Michael Straczynski 

85. “There’s a dignity in consequences.”  – James S.A. Corey

Choices and consequences quotes to help you with decisions

86. “But until a person can say deeply and honestly, “I am what I am today because of the choices I made yesterday,” that person cannot say, “I choose otherwise.”  –Stephen R. Covey

87. “We are our choices.”  –Jean-Paul Sartre 

88. “In any moment of decision, the best thing you can do is the right thing. The worst thing you can do is nothing.”  –Theodore Roosevelt

89. “But there are moments when one has to choose between living one’s own life, fully, entirely, completely—or dragging out some false, shallow, degrading existence that the world in its hypocrisy demands. You have that moment now. Choose!”  –Oscar Wilde 

90. “We don’t get to choose what is true. We only get to choose what we do about it.”  –Kami Garcia

91. “Every choice comes with a consequence. Once you make a choice, you must accept responsibility. You cannot escape the consequences of your choices, whether you like them or not.”  –Roy T. Bennett

92. “It’s up to you today to start making healthy choices. Not choices that are just healthy for your body, but healthy for your mind.”  -Steve Maraboli

93. “Focus on making choices to lead your life that aligns with your core values in the most purposeful way possible.”  –Roy T. Bennett

94. “All you can do is make your decisions based on what you know now.”  –Malinda Lo

95. “But the past cannot be changed, and we carry our choices with us, forward, into the unknown. We can only move on.”  -Libba Bray

Choices and consequences quotes to keep in mind

96. “When anger rises, think of the consequences.” — Confucius

97. “Sooner or later everyone sits down to a banquet of consequences.” — Robert Louis Stevenson

98. “Nobody ever did, or ever will, escape the consequences of his choices.” — Alfred A. Montapert

99. “How much more grievous are the consequences of anger than the causes of it.” — Marcus Aurelius

100. “Acceptance of what has happened is the first step to overcoming the consequences of any misfortune.” — William James

101. “There’s no such thing as work-life balance. There are work-life choices, and you make them, and they have consequences.” — Jack Welch

102. “Without reflection, we go blindly on our way, creating more unintended consequences, and failing to achieve anything useful.” — Margaret J. Wheatley

103. “There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences.” — P. J. O’Rourke

104. “Nothing happens in a vacuum in life: every action has a series of consequences, and sometimes it takes a long time to fully understand the consequences of our actions.” — Khaled Hosseini

105. “In this life, we have to make many choices. Some are very important choices. Some are not. Many of our choices are between good and evil. The choices we make, however, determine to a large extent our happiness or our unhappiness, because we have to live with the consequences of our choices.” — James E. Faust

Which are your favorite quotes about choices and consequences?

Realizing and acknowledging the choices that we make is empowering – whether the outcome is good or bad. It is also important, as it helps us evaluate what we do and do not have control over.

This is an important distinction to make. Let us let go of what we will never have a choice or control over, and focus our time and energy on what we do. Hopefully, the above quotes have given you the courage and confidence to create the life you want to live.

Which are your favorite quotes about choices and consequences? Do you have any other inspirational quotes to add? Feel free to share with us your opinion in the comment section below.