Rejection. Adversity. Failure. Not exactly steppingstones to success. Or are they? We've all heard of celebrities who refused to let hardships stop them on the road to victory. Their stories tell of dozens of unsuccessful experiments, missed swings, endless rewrites, and humiliating performances. Although they have been the objects of the critical judgment of authority figures, they never allowed harsh words to dull their aspirations and destroy their dreams.

The next time you receive negative criticism, dig through how lousy it feels and try to find something in some inspiring quotes for teenagers that can help you improve. Instead of feeling frustrated, stupid, sad, fearful or defeated, just read the below inspiring quotes for teenagers and mull about how much poorer this world would be if these people gave up believing in themselves and let the judgment of others keep them from accomplishing their goals.

Inspiring Quotes for Teenagers

"If I had thought about it, I wouldn't have done the experiment. The literature was full of examples that said you can't do this." 

     —Spencer Silver, the creator of Post-It Notes

"We don't like their sound, and the guitar music is on the way out."

     —Decca Recording Company, rejecting The Beatles, 1962

"Radio has no future."

     —Lord Kelvin, president, Royal Society of London, 1897

"The telephone has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a means of communication. The device is inherently of no value to us."

     —Western Union internal memo, 1876

"You want to have consistent and uniform muscle development across all your muscles? It can't be done. It's just a fact of life. You just have to accept inconsistent muscle development as an unalterable condition of weight training." 

     —Comment made to Arthur Jones, inventor of Nautilus Fitness Systems, 1969

Debbi Fields, embarrassed by the host of a party for mispronouncing a word, was inspired to launch her own business, just to show this rude man up. In 1977, as a young mother with no business experience, Mrs. Fields opened her first cookie store.

"Louis Pasteur's theory of germs is ridiculous fiction."

     —Pierre Pachet, University of Toulouse, France, 1872

"The abdomen, the chest, and the brain will forever be shut from the intrusion of the wise and humane surgeon."

     —Sir John Eric Erickson, surgeon for Queen Victoria, 1873

"Human flight is utterly impossible." 

     —Simon Newcombe, astronomer, 1905

"Who the hell wants to hear actors talk?"

     —Harry Warner, Warner Brothers, 1927, in response to the beginning of talking pictures.

"Try any other profession." 

     —John Murray Anderson, Anderson School of Drama to the young Lucille Ball

"When the Paris Exhibition closes, electric light will close with it and no more be heard of." 

     —Erasmus Wilson, 1838, professor, Oxford University

"Everything that can be invented, has been invented."

     —Charles H. Duell, commissioner, U.S. Office of Patents, 1899

"So we went to Atari and said, 'Hey, we've got this amazing thing, even built with some of your parts, and what do you think about funding us? Or we'll give it to you. We just want to do it. Pay our salary. We'll come work for you.' And they said, 'No.' So then we went to Hewlett Packard and they said, 'Hey, we don't need you. You haven't got through college yet.'"

     —Apple computer founder, Steve Jobs, on attempts to get Atari and HP interested in his personal computer.

"Drill for oil? You mean drill into the ground to try to find oil? You're crazy."

     —What prospectors said to Edwin Drake, the father of oil drilling when he tried to enlist their help in 1859

"But what is it good for?"

     —Engineer at the advanced computing systems division of IBM, 1968, commenting on the microchip.