You can spend hours reading business books and browsing blogs about teamwork, but sometimes, teamwork quotes from history seem to say more than an entire book ever could. And since every team can use a little extra motivation once in a while, we set out to find the best teamwork quotes for you to share with your employees to get your team working at their best.
Don’t forget that, while employee motivation is key to success in the workplace, it’s not all you and your team need to succeed. You’ll also need project management software like ProjectManager. Our award-winning software offers teams the tools they need to plan, schedule and keep track of all their projects and strategies in real time. Get started with ProjectManager today for free.
Tips to Manage Teams & Promote Teamwork
Before we look at the best teamwork quotes from history, let’s start with some key team management tips. In the video below, Jennifer Bridges, professional project manager (PMP) explains how leaders can motivate their team members and help them better collaborate with each other.
Best 35 Teamwork Quotes
In the list below, we’ve included the best teamwork quotes along with a visual version of each quote so that you can easily drop your favorite teamwork quote into an email or Slack channel when your team needs that extra motivation. So, without further ado, here are 35 of the best inspirational quotes about teamwork.
1. “If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.” – Isaac Newton
Isaac Newton is one of the most notorious intellectuals that the world has seen. Even a brilliant man like him knew the importance of teamwork. In this quote, Isaac Newton explains he didn’t achieve all his accomplishments by himself, but rather through teamwork and the work of those who came before him.
2. “Great things in business are never done by one person. They’re done by a team of people.” – Steve Jobs
If anyone deserved to run a company named after the most famous symbol for knowledge, it was Steve Jobs. At Apple, he rallied teams to successes that continue to resonate today through excellent team management. There are many famous teamwork quotes that came from his motivational speeches at Apple.
3. “It is the long history of humankind (and animal kind, too) that those who learned to collaborate and improvise most effectively have prevailed.” – Charles Darwin
Charles Darwin spent many years analyzing a wide variety of animal species to develop his famous evolution theory. During those years, he realized that teamwork and collaboration are not only inherent to humankind but are also important in the animal kingdom.
4. “Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success.” – Henry Ford
Henry Ford built cars, but his most famous innovation was the factory assembly line, which took teamwork to a whole new level and revolutionized the automotive industry. Besides that, he’s got great team success quotes.
Related: 10 Strategies to Motivate Your Team
5. “The strength of the team is each individual member. The strength of each member is the team.” – Phil Jackson
Phil Jackson is a man who has experienced teamwork in the athletic world. Like other sports legends, he’s remembered for his teamwork quotes. This phrase captures the importance of collaboration in any team, project or organization.
6. “[Teamwork] is the fuel that allows common people to attain uncommon results.” – Andrew Carnegie
Industrialist philanthropist Andrew Carnegie knew that if each team member gave their all, the collective effort would lead to success.
7. “Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great.” – Mark Twain
Constructive criticism should be always welcome in any team. We must strive to help our teammates flourish, in any way we can. Because when one member of the team becomes great, then the team becomes great, as Mark Twain says.
8. “None of us is as smart as all of us.” – Ken Blanchard
Ken Blanchard is a management guru, best known for his 13-million-copies sold tome The One Minute Manager. It takes even less time than that to read his insightful quote.
9. “It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit.” – Harry Truman
Harry Truman, the 33rd president of the United States, surely knew a thing or two about leadership. This is a great teamwork quote from history because it shows the importance of selflessness when being part of any team.
Achieving better results alongside your team often requires reflecting on what went well within your project. This helps you establish what went well and what can improve the next time. Take advantage of our free lessons learned template for guidance.
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Use this free Lessons Learned Template for Excel to manage your projects better.
10. “There is no such thing as a self-made man. You will reach your goals only with the help of others.” – George Shinn
George Shinn, an American entrepreneur and owner of sports teams, knows that teamwork is key to achieving goals, whether those are personal goals, business objectives or the completion of a project.
11. “Many ideas grow better when transplanted into another mind than the one where they sprang up.” – Oliver Wendell Holmes
This teamwork quote helps us understand the importance of letting others contribute with their talent. It’s important to let our teammates do their job and provide them with a collaborative environment where they feel welcome, as this teamwork helps us grow and makes our own ideas better.
12. “Individual commitment to a group effort — that is what makes a team work, a company work, a society work, a civilization work.” – Vince Lombardi
Vince Lombardi is another sports legend who’s known for his famous teamwork quotes. He truly experienced the power of teamwork, as he expressed in this quote.
13. “No matter how brilliant your mind or strategy, if you’re playing a solo game, you’ll always lose out to a team.” – Reid Hoffman
Reid Hoffman, the co-founder of LinkedIn, is an experienced entrepreneur who understands how teamwork helps organizations grow. This short teamwork quote sums up the power of working as a team.
14. “If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up people together to collect wood and don’t assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea.” – Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry is best known as the author of the children’s classic The Little Prince. He was also an enthusiastic aviator and knew that it was better to fly as a flock than to fly alone.
15. “Give us the tools and we’ll finish the job.” – Winston Churchill
Winston Churchill was a great leader for a number of reasons, and one that’s famous for his teamwork quotes. One of them is that he understood that teamwork wins the fight, and quotes like the one below show how good he was at motivating not only the troops but everyone into supporting the war effort.
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16. “It takes two flints to make a fire.” – Louisa May Alcott
Author Louisa May Alcott wrote the novel Little Women, which is as influential now as it was when first published in 1868 and knows that characters, like people, work best together.
17. “Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much.” – Helen Keller
Don’t tell Helen Keller that she had disabilities. She knew that a person is more than the sum of their parts.
18. “If anything goes bad, I did it. If anything goes semi-good, we did it. If anything goes really good, then you did it.” – Bear Bryant
Paul W. Bryant, commonly known as Bear Bryant, was the head coach of the University of Alabama football team for 25 years. During that time, they won six national championships and 13 conference championships. Now that’s teamwork!
19. “In union there is strength.” Aesop
You’ve read Aesop’s fables in school. Maybe you should go back and read the Greek storyteller again. There’s a lot of wisdom in those stories.
20. “When he took time to help the man up the mountain, lo, he scaled it himself.” – Tibetan Proverb
A proverb is a simple saying that gains popularity over time. This Tibetan proverb is deceptively simple and offers a great lesson on teamwork.
21. “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed people can change the world. Indeed. It is the only thing that ever has.” – Margaret Mead
Margaret Mead was a cultural anthropologist who spent her life studying the holistic view of human nature. So, who better to comment on the nature of teamwork than the icon herself?
22. “When your team is winning, be ready to be tough, because winning can make you soft. On the other hand, when your team is losing, stick by them. Keep believing.” – Bo Schembechler
Bo Schembechler was one of the most victorious college football coaches in history. So, it’s wise to listen when he’s offering advice on teamwork.
23. “The nicest thing about teamwork is that you always have others on your side.” – Margaret Carty
You might have come across this quote by Margaret Carty. It’s a good one. Oddly, there’s little-to-no biographical information on her. It’s a mystery, and who doesn’t love a mystery?
24. “In teamwork, silence isn’t golden, it’s deadly.” – Mark Sanborn
Entrepreneur Mark Sanborn is a wealth of wisdom, and thankfully he likes to share the wealth.
25. “Trust is knowing that when a team member does push you, they’re doing it because they care about the team.” – Patrick Lencioni
Management and teamwork expert Patrick Lencioni is best known for his bestselling book The Five Dysfunctions of a Team, so he’s someone all teams should listen to.
26. “I’m not the smartest fellow in the world, but I sure can pick smart colleagues.” – Franklin D. Roosevelt
President Franklin D. Roosevelt got the United States through the Great Depression and the Second World War. He knew it wasn’t just what you can do, but what you and your team can accomplish.
27. “You are either supporting the vision or supporting division.” – Saji Ijiyemi
Leadership pro and author Saji Ijiyemi knows that a leader is only as good as the team supporting them.
28. “Individually, we are one drop. Together, we are an ocean.” – Ryūnosuke Satoro
Japanese short story writer Ryūnosuke Satoro is best known as the author of “In a Grove.” It was famously adapted by director Akira Kurosawa as the movie Rashōmon, which retold a story from several different participants’ perspectives.
29. “The ratio of We’s to I’s is the best indicator of the development of a team.” –Lewis B. Ergen
Fake news? Maybe. Lewis B. Ergen is another attributed quote whose author is elusive to the research department here at ProjectManager. But if this is a fake quote, the sentiment behind it isn’t.
30. “Sticks in a bundle are unbreakable.” – Kenyan Proverb
If Africa is the cradle of civilization, then there’s a lot we can learn as this Kenyan proverb proves.
31. “It is literally true that you can succeed best and quickest by helping others to succeed.” – Napoleon Hill
Self-help author Napoleon Hill wrote a book called Think and Grow Rich. Those are two things we can all get behind.
32. “The way a team plays as a whole determines its success. You may have the greatest bunch of individual stars in the world, but if they don’t play together, the club won’t be worth a dime.” – Babe Ruth
Baseball legend Babe Ruth is so famous they named a candy bar after him. But his real worth is that he was but one part of one of the winningest teams ever, the New York Yankees.
33. “Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence wins championships.” – Michael Jordan
What can’t Michael Jordan do? The basketball star has parlayed his post-sports career into a powerful empire, and his sneakers are pretty great, too. He’s also right about teamwork.
34. “Teamwork makes the dream work.” – John C. Maxwell
John C. Maxwell was a leadership visionary, but even from his perch on top, he could see the importance of teamwork.
35. “The higher a monkey climbs, the more you see of its behind.” — Joseph Stilwell
Army general Joseph Stilwell led troops during the Second World War. For him, teamwork was the difference between life and death.
If you’re looking for project management tools like Gantt charts, Kanban boards and project calendars to kickstart your teamwork efforts, then try ProjectManager, online project management software. It has the tools your team needs to communicate and collaborate in real time. Get started for free.
