89 Powerful Conference Quotes for Events in 2023

You found our list of the best conference quotes.

Conference quotes are motivational statements you can use during speeches at large-scale events. For example, “great things are done by a series of small things brought together.”  The purpose of these sentiments is to inspire audiences, command attention, and increase engagement.

These phrases are a form of motivational work quotes and are similar to conference jokes, human resources quotes, quotes about hard work, quotes about how to be successful.

This list includes:

• general conference quotes
• motivational quotes for conferences
• technical conference quotes
• funny conference quotes
• women’s conference quotes
• quotes for leadership conferences

Here we go!

General conference quotes

1. “The meeting of two personalities is like the contact of two chemical substances: if there is any reaction, both are transformed.” – Carl Jung
2. “Coming together is a beginning; keeping together is progress; working together is success.” – Edward Everett Hale
3. “Growth is never by mere chance; it is the result of forces working together.” – James Cash Penney
4. “We are drowning in information, while starving for wisdom. The world henceforth will be run by synthesizers, people able to put together the right information at the right time, think critically about it, and make important choices wisely.” – E. O. Wilson
5. “If civilization is to survive, we must cultivate the science of human relationships – the ability of all peoples, of all kinds, to live together, in the same world at peace.” – Franklin D. Roosevelt
6. “Let us walk into the conference room as equals and not second class citizens.” – Martin McGuinness
7. “Diversity: the art of thinking independently together.” – Malcolm Forbes
8. “When creativity melds together with global issues, I believe you can bring the world together.” – Virgil Abloh
9. “Being in the same room with people and creating something together is a good thing.” – Robin Williams
10. “Working together on solving something requires a high level of humility and a high level of self-awareness.” – Paul Polman
11. “When the youth of America gets together, amazing things happen.” – Tom Ford
12. “Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, ‘What are you doing for others?'” – Martin Luther King, Jr.
13. “If you continue to think the way you have always thought, you’ll continue to get what you’ve always got. Is it enough?” – Paul Meyer
14. “Be so good they can’t ignore you.” – Steve Martin

Motivational quotes for conferences

1. “Luck is a matter of preparation meeting opportunity.” – Lucius Annaeus Seneca
2. “Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much.” – Helen Keller
3. “Do your little bit of good where you are; it’s those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world.” – Desmond Tutu
4. “A dream you dream alone is only a dream. A dream you dream together is reality.” – Yoko Ono
5. “Great things are done by a series of small things brought together.” – Vincent Van Gogh
6. “There are no problems we cannot solve together, and very few that we can solve by ourselves.” – Lyndon B. Johnson
7. “The power of one, if fearless and focused, is formidable, but the power of many working together is better.” – Gloria Macapagal Arroyo
8. “What I try to tell young people is that if you come together with a mission, and its grounded with love and a sense of community, you can make the impossible possible.” – John Lewis
9. “From the depth of need and despair, people can work together, can organize themselves to solve their own problems and fill their own needs with dignity and strength.” – Cesar Chavez
10. “How many years has it taken people to realize that we are all brothers and sisters and human beings in the human race? I mean how many years does it take people to see that? We’re all in this rat race together!” – Marsha P. Johnson
11. “A voice is a human gift; it should be cherished and used, to utter fully human speech as possible. Powerlessness and silence go together.” – Margaret Atwood
12. “Success comes when people act together; failure tends to happen alone.” – Deepak Chopra
13. “Creativity is a spark. It can be excruciating when we’re rubbing two rocks together and getting nothing. And it can be intensely satisfying when the flame catches and a new idea sweeps around the world.” – Jonah Lehrer
14. “It always seems impossible until it’s done.” – Nelson Mandela

Technical conference quotes

1. “Technology is best when it brings people together.” – Matt Mullenweg
2. “The Internet has brought communities across the globe closer together through instant communication.” – Mike Fitzpatrick
3. “The number one benefit of information technology is that it empowers people to do what they want to do. It lets people be creative. It lets people be productive. It lets people learn things they didn’t think they could learn before, and so in a sense it is all about potential.” – Steve Ballmer
4. “The real problem is not whether machines think but whether men do.” – B. F. Skinner
5. “For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled.” – Richard P. Feynman
6. “Men have become the tools of their tools.” – Henry David Thoreau
7. “Some people don’t like change, but you need to embrace change if the alternative is disaster.” – Elon Musk
8. “In software systems it is often the early bird that makes the worm.” – Alan Perlis
9. “Design is not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works.” – Steve Jobs
10. “We always overestimate the change that will occur in the next two years and underestimate the change that will occur in the next ten. Don’t let yourself be lulled into inaction.” – Bill Gates
11. “The right moral compass is trying hard to think about what customers want.” – Sundar Pichai
12. “The science of today is the technology of tomorrow.” – Edward Teller
13. “Science and technology revolutionize our lives, but memory, tradition and myth frame our response.” – Arthur M. Schlesinger
14. “The only thing we know about the future is that it will be different.” – Peter Drucker
15. “Study hard so that you can master technology, which allows us to master nature.” – Che Guevara
16. “Technology, like art, is a soaring exercise of the human imagination.” – Daniel Bell
17. “The only constant in the technology industry is change.” – Marc Benioff

Funny conference quotes

1. “A conference is a gathering of people who singly can do nothing but together can decide that nothing can be done.” -Fred Allen
2. “No grand idea was ever born in a conference, but a lot of foolish ideas have died there.” – F. Scott Fitzgerald
3. “People who enjoy meetings should not be in charge of anything.” – Thomas Sowell
4. “If you think adventure is dangerous, try routine; it is lethal.” – Paulo Coelho
5. “The success of a meeting often depends on having the right documents – proofs, artwork, schedules, research charts, etc. – present at the start of the meeting. All too often we arrive like plumbers, leaving our tools behind.” – David Ogilvy
6. “Before I refuse to take your questions, I have an opening statement.” – Ronald Reagan
7. “Whatever you do, always give 100%. Unless you’re donating blood.” – Bill Murray
8. “Even a stopped clock is right twice every day. After some years, it can boast of a long series of successes.” – Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach
9. “An expert is a man who has made all the mistakes which can be made in a very narrow field.” – Niels Bohr
10. “Doing nothing is very hard to do… you never know when you’re finished.” – Leslie Nielsen
11. “Executive ability is deciding quickly and getting somebody else to do the work.” – Earl Nightingale
12. “There’s no secret about success. Did you ever know a successful man who didn’t tell you about it?” –  Kin Hubbard
13. “People often say that motivation doesn’t last. Well neither does bathing. That’s why we recommend it daily.” – Zig Ziglar
14. ​​”An expert is a man who tells you a simple thing in a confused way in such a fashion as to make you think the confusion is your own fault.” – William Castle
15. “Never put off till tomorrow what you can do the day after tomorrow.” – Mark Twain
16. “Never confuse movement with action.” – Ernest Hemingway

Women’s conference quotes

1. “Women, like men, should try to do the impossible. And when they fail, their failure should be a challenge to others.” – Amelia Earhart
2. “A woman with a voice is by definition a strong woman. But the search to find that voice can be remarkably difficult.” – Melinda Gates
3. “We can each define ambition and progress for ourselves. The goal is to work toward a world where expectations are not set by the stereotypes that hold us back, but by our personal passion, talents, and interests.” – Sheryl Sandberg
4. “Woman must not accept; she must challenge. She must not be awed by that which has been built up around her; she must reverence that woman in her which struggles for expression.”  – Margaret Sanger
5. “How wrong it is for a woman to expect the man to build the world she wants, rather than to create it herself.” – Anais Nin
6. “I do not wish women to have power over men; but over themselves.” – Mary Shelley
7. “Each time a woman stands up for herself, without knowing it possibly, without claiming it, she stands up for all women.” – Maya Angelou
8. “It’s essential for women to unite and support one another. We are making the earth shake and we are really changing the game. Together we are stronger.” – Parris Goebel
9. “Every woman’s success should be an inspiration to another. We’re strongest when we cheer each other on.” – Serena Williams
10. “When women put their heads together, powerful things can happen!” – Oprah Winfrey
11. “Women who support other women are Confident, Generous, Visionaries.” – Mariela Dabbah
12. “I can promise you that women working together – linked, informed and educated – can bring peace and prosperity to this forsaken planet.” – Isabel Allende
13. “Women belong in all places where decisions are being made.” – Ruth Bader Ginsberg
14. “​​Without leaps of imagination, or dreaming, we lose the excitement of possibilities. Dreaming, after all, is a form of planning.” – Gloria Steinem
15. “Success is only meaningful and enjoyable if it feels like your own.” – Michelle Obama

Check out more inspiring quotes for women.

Quotes for leadership conferences

1. “The challenge of the unknown future is so much more exciting than the stories of the accomplished past.” – Simon Sinek
2. “Things can fall apart, or threaten to, for many reasons, and then there’s got to be a leap of faith. Ultimately, when you’re at the edge, you have to go forward or backward; if you go forward, you have to jump together.” – Yo-Yo Ma
3. “There is no innovation and creativity without failure. Period.” – Brene Brown
4. “To improve is to change; to be perfect is to change often.” – Winston Churchill
5. “You don’t need a group of superstars, you need a team working together to bring you better results.” – Brian Lara
6. “One of my beliefs about leadership is it’s not how many followers you have, but how many people you have with different opinions that you can bring together and try to be a good listener.” – Robert Kraft
7. “It’s lack of faith that makes people afraid of meeting challenges, and I believed in myself.” – Muhammad Ali
8. “The majority of meetings should be discussions that lead to decisions.” – Patrick Lencioni
9. “Meetings should have as few people as possible, but all the right people.” – Charles W. Scharf
10. “Failure and invention are inseparable twins. To invent you have to experiment, and if you know in advance that it’s going to work, it’s not an experiment.” – Scott Galloway
11. “A leader is best when people barely know he exists, when his work is done, his aim fulfilled, they will say: we did it ourselves.” – Lao Tzu
12.  “A leader is a dealer in hope.” – Napoleon Bonaparte
13. “The key to successful leadership today is influence, not authority.” – Ken Blanchard

Check out more quotes on leadership and this list of the best leadership conferences.

Conclusion

When looking for ways to rouse a crowd, turning to history’s most brilliant minds and captivating speakers is a good source of inspiration. Sharing quotes at conferences can provide a framework and a slogan for the meeting’s missions. The best event quotes are short but striking and give the audience food for thought and actionable advice.

For more planning tools, check out conference agenda templates and conference breakout session ideas.