58 Work-Life Balance Quotes to Inspire Leaders and Organizations

There are few things more impactful and inspiring than these work-life balance quotes when it comes to illustrating the value of balancing your personal and professional lives.   

In today’s fast-paced and highly connected professional world, the topic of work-life balance has been front and center for organizations all across the world. After all, 68% of employees say poor work-life balance negatively impacts their morale and motivation at work. 

This challenge has been amplified drastically by the pandemic creating a drastic rise in remote work, with 29% of remote employees saying they struggle to maintain a proper work-life balance while working from home. 

Sometimes, the best way to draw inspiration for how to create work-life balance is by hearing different perspectives on it. So, we’ve compiled 58 work-life balance quotes from business leaders, authors, politicians, and more.  

58 Work-Life Balance Quotes for Leaders and Organizations  

If you’re looking for a sure-fire sign of the importance of work-life balance, just look at the impassioned words in these work-life balance quotes.  

23 Work-Life Balance Quotes About Prioritization  

1. “We need to do a better job of putting ourselves higher on our own ‘to do’ list.” —Michelle Obama, former First Lady 

2. “Never get so busy making a living that you forget to make a life.” —Dolly Parton, singer 

3. “You can’t have everything you want, but you can have the things that really matter to you.” —Marissa Mayer, former President and CEO of Yahoo 

4. “Don’t confuse having a career with having a life.” – Hillary Clinton, Former U.S. Secretary of State  

5. “Do less, be more.” – Elizabeth Grace Saunders, author 

6. “No one on his deathbed ever said, ‘I wish I had spent more time at the office.’” —Harold Kushner, rabbi 

7. “The key is not to prioritize what’s on your schedule, but to schedule your priorities.” – Stephen Covey, author 

8. “Self-care is, fundamentally, about bringing balance back to a life that has grown imbalanced from too many commitments or responsibilities.” – Robyn L. Gobin, psychologist and author  

9. “I believe in a world where work feels like play, and while it’s not always as easy as I’d like, I try to spend as much time as possible there.” Marney K. Makridakis, author 

10. “Balance is a feeling derived from being whole and complete; it’s a sense of harmony. It is essential to maintaining quality in life and work.” – Joshua Osenga, author 

11. “Reconsider your definitions. We are prone to judge success by the index of our salaries or the size of our automobiles rather than by the quality of our service and relationship to mankind.” – Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.  

12. “If you want to change the world, go home and love your family.” —Mother Teresa, nun and missionary 

13. “Either you run the day, or the day runs you.” – Jim Rohn, Motivational Speaker 

14. “Regret for the things we did can be tempered by time; it is regret for the things we did not do that is inconsolable.” —Sydney J. Harris, journalist 

15. “When you’re gone, would you rather have your gravestone say, ‘he never missed a meeting’ or one that said, ‘he was a great father’?” – Steve Blank, author 

16. “Invest in your work-life balance. Time with friends and family is as important as time at work. Getting that out of balance is a path toward unhappiness.” Stephen Gillett, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Chronicle Security 

17. “Strive not to be a success, but rather to be of value.” – Albert Einstein 

18. “You will never find time for anything. If you want time, you must make it.” – Charles Buxton, writer and politician  

19. “The gift of balance in your life – may you find the balance of life, time for work but also time for play. Too much of one thing ends up creating stress that no one needs in their life.” – Catherine Pulsifer, editor  

20. “You can have it all. You just can’t have it all at once.” Oprah Winfrey  

21. “Imagine life as a game in which you are juggling some five balls in the air. You name them: work, family, health, friends, and spirit, and you’re keeping all of these in the air. You will soon understand that work is a rubber ball. If you drop it, it will bounce back. But the other four balls are made of glass. If you drop one of these, they will be irrevocably scuffed, marked, nicked, damaged, or event shattered. They will never be the same. You must understand that and strive for balance in your life.” – Bryan Dyson, former Vice Chairman and COO of Coca-Cola  

22. “A career is wonderful, but you can’t curl up with it on a cold night.” – Marilyn Monroe, actress  

23. “When I think about work-life balance, I don’t imagine it as a perfect day where I got to spend the exact right amount of time having an impact at work and snuggling with my kids at home. I never achieve that. But over the course of a month, or a quarter, or a year, I try to make time for the people and experiences I value.” – Jane Park, professional golfer 

9 Work-Life Balance Quotes About Empowerment  

1. “Work-life balance is not an entitlement of benefit. Your company cannot give it to you. You have to create it for yourself.” – Matthew Kelly, author  

2. “Always take some of the plan, fun, freedom, and wonder of the weekend into your week and your work.” – Rasheed Ogunlaru, life coach  

3. “When in doubt, choose the kids. There will be plenty of time later to choose work.” —Anna Quindlen, author 

4. “You will never feel truly satisfied by work until you are satisfied by life.” – Heather Schuck, author  

5. “The key is in not spending time, but in investing it.” —Stephen R. Covey, author 

6. “The bad news is time flies. The good news is you’re the pilot.” —Michael Altshuler, motivational speaker and sales consultant 

7. “Time is the coin of your life. It is the only coin you have, and only you can determine how it will be spent. Be careful lest you let other people spend it for you.” —Carl Sandburg, poet 

8. “Time is really the only capital that any human being has, and the only thing he can’t afford to lose.” —Thomas Edison, inventor 

9. “You do have choices about how you spend your time. Balancing what you need to do with what you want to do can lead to happiness and success.” Stephen Hall, actor, writer, and producer  

7 Work-Life Balance Quotes About Multitasking 

1. “Work is a rubber ball. If you drop it, it will bounce back. The other four balls—family, health, friends, and integrity—are made of glass. If you drop one of these, it will be irrevocably scuffed, nicked, perhaps even shattered.” —Gary Keller, real estate entrepreneur 

2. “You have to balance your passions, not your time.” Lisa Sugar, Editor-in-Chief at POPSUGAR 

3. “You can’t truly be considered successful in your business life if your home life is in shambles.” —Zig Ziglar, motivational speaker 

4. “Balance is not better time management, but better boundary management. Balance means making choices and enjoying those choices.” – Betsy Jacobson, business consultant 

5. “It’s a paradox. How does one balance living in the now with preparing responsibly for the future? The key to this dilemma lies in the distinction between ‘worrying about the future’ and ‘preparing for the future.’ The two concepts are not at all the same.” – Jonathan Lockwood Huie, author 

6. “Work, love, and play are the great balance wheels of man’s being.” – Orison Swett Marden, author  

7. “Better learn balance. Balance is key.” – Mr. Miyagi  

4 Work-Life Balance Quotes About Excelling at Work  

1. “Be steady and well-ordered in your life so that you can be fierce and original in your work.” – Gustave Flaubert, writer 

2. “We think, mistakenly, that success is the result of the amount of time we put in at work, instead of the quality of time we put in.” —Arianna Huffington, author and businesswoman 

3. “The struggle doesn’t make success happen. In fact, struggle can prevent success from happening. If you seek struggle, you will find it. If you seek ease, you will find it.” – Rich Fettke, success coach and author 

4. “You can’t do a good job if your job is all you do.” – Katie Thurmes, entrepreneur 

12 Work-Life Balance Quotes from Business Leaders 

1. “I believe a balanced life is essential, and I try to make sure that all of our employees know that and live that way. It’s crucial to me as a manager that I help ensure that our employees are as successful as our customers and partners. I also think that employees these days expect less of a separation of work and personal life. That doesn’t mean that work tasks should encroach upon our personal time, but it does mean that employees today expect more from companies for whom they work. Why shouldn’t your workplace reflect your values?” – Marc Benioff, Chairman and CEO of SalesForce  

2. “Framing the issue of work-life balance – as if the two were dramatically opposed – practically ensures work will lose out. Who would ever choose work over life?” – Sheryl Sandberg, Chief Operating Officer of Facebook  

3. “You don’t have to make yourself miserable to be successful.” – Andrew Wilkinson, founder of MetaLab 

4. “It’s all about quality of life and finding a happy balance between work and friends and family.” – Sir Philip Green, chairman of Arcadia Group  

5. “You can’t have everything you want, but you can have the things that really matter to you. And thinking that way empowers you to work really hard for a really long period of time.” – Marissa Mayer, former president and CEO of Yahoo 

6. “Most people chase success at work thinking that will make them happy. The truth is that happiness at work will make you successful.” – Alexander Kjerulf, “Chief Happiness Officer”  

7. “Take care of yourself: When you don’t sleep, eat crap, don’t exercise, and are living off adrenaline for too long, your performance suffers. Your decisions suffer. Your company suffers. Love those close to you: Failure of your company is not failure in life. Failure in your relationship is.” ―Ev Williams, co-founder of Medium and Twitter 

8. “Burnout is about resentment. Preventing it is about knowing yourself well enough to know what it is you’re giving up that makes you resentful.” – Marissa Mayer, former president and CEO of Yahoo 

9. “I spend most of my time thinking about how to connect the world and serve our community better, but a lot of that time isn’t in our office or meeting with people or doing what you’d call real work. I take a lot of time just to read and think about things by myself.” ―Mark Zuckerberg, Chief Executive Officer of Facebook 

10. “We have overstretched our personal boundaries and forgotten that true happiness comes from living an authentic life fueled with a sense of purpose and balance.” – Dr. Kathleen Hall 

11. “We think, mistakenly, that success is the result of the amount of time we put in at work instead of the quality of time we put in.” Arianna Huffington, Co-Founder and Editor-in-Chief of The Huffington Post 

12. “Failure of your company is not failure in life. Failure in your relationship is.” – Ev Williams, Co-Founder of Medium and Twitter  

3 Work-Life Balance Quotes About Modern Challenges  

1. “The challenge of work-life balance is without question one of the most significant struggles faced by modern man.” – Stephen Covey, author  

2. “One of the major issues plaguing human potential in the corporate world today is work-life balance. The term itself diminishes our ability to make the case that work can be a richly rewarding part of a person’s life and should in many ways be personal.” Matthew Kelly, author 

3. “All work and no play make Jack a dull boy.” – Jack Torrance 

If you’re looking for ways to create better work-life balance for your employees and throughout your organization, you may want to consider in-person or virtual team building activities. They’re a great way to get your staff together for a fun and non-work-related activity that helps boost morale and encourages socialization. 

Does your organization have initiatives that serve to improve work-life balance for your staff? If so, what are they? Let us know in the comments section below!  

Learn More About Team Building Activities You Can Use to Support Work-Life Balance      

If you’ve got questions about how team building and training programs can help with work-life balance, reach out to an Employee Engagement Consultant.