When it comes to success, our mindsets are our secret weapon. 

Without the right mindset, it can be nearly impossible to achieve the success you desire and deserve. 

This concept is promoted heavily by American physiologist, professor and author; Carol Dweck. 

Dweck is most well known for her research and work on motivation and “growth mindset,” particularly her book Mindset, which has been increasingly influential amongst educators and leaders of all kinds. 

She defines “growth mindset,” as a mindset where people believe that natural talent and abilities can always be developed through dedication and hard work.

To help get you thinking about this mindset, this collection compiles a list of some of our favorite Carol Dweck quotes. 

As you read through the quotes, I hope you will find some sort of inspiration, or comfort from her words. 

Carol Dweck Quotes On Growth Mindset 

“Important achievements require a clear focus, all-out effort, and a bottomless trunk full of strategies. Plus allies in learning.” 

“Test scores and measures of achievement tell you where a student is, but they don’t tell you where a student could end up.”

“Just because some people can do something with little or no training, it doesn’t mean that others can’t do it (and sometimes do it even better) with training.” 

“When people believe their basic qualities can be developed, failures may still hurt, but failures don’t define them. And if abilities can be expanded – if change and growth are possible – then there are still many paths to success.”

“The passion for stretching yourself and sticking to it, even (or especially) when it’s not going well, is the hallmark of the growth mindset.”

“More and more research is suggesting that, far from being simply encoded in the genes, much of personality is a flexible and dynamic thing that changes over the life span and is shaped by experience.”

“If parents want to give their children a gift, the best thing they can do is to teach their children to love challenges, be intrigued by mistakes, enjoy effort, and keep on learning.”

“I don’t mind losing as long as I see improvement or I feel I’ve done as well as I possibly could.”

“We like to think of our champions and idols as superheroes who were born different from us. We don’t like to think of them as relatively ordinary people who made themselves extraordinary.” 

“Important achievements require a clear focus, all-out effort, and a bottomless trunk full of strategies. Plus allies in learning.”

“Failure is information-we label it failure, but it’s more like, ‘This didn’t work, I’m a problem solver, and I’ll try something else.’” 

“It’s for you to decide whether change is right for you right now. Maybe it is, maybe it isn’t. But either way keep the growth mindset in your thoughts then when you bump up against obstacles you can turn to it, it will always be there for you showing you a path into the future.”

“Creating organizations that value a growth mindset can create contexts in which more people grow into the knowledgeable, visionary, and responsible leaders we need.” 

“Everyone is a mixture of fixed and growth mindsets. You could have a predominant growth mindset in an area, but there can still be things that trigger you into a fixed mindset trait.” 

“No matter what your current ability is, effort is what ignites that ability and turns it into accomplishment.”