Best 122 Short Procrastination Quotes and a Few Selected Longer Quotes

How many of us have procrastinated when it comes to doing something. I’d be willing to bet all of us have at one time or another. To that end here are the best mostly short procrastination quotes.

122. “I remember reading somewhere about an organization called Procrastinators Anonymous. I think they had been in existence for some years but had never gotten around to having a meeting.”
― Author Unknown

Procrastination can stymie anyone. It can cause undue hardship or problems if the thing we procrastinate on is important or critical to get done.

Here’s what the Meriam Webster Dictionary says about procrastinate.

procrastinate [pro·​cras·​ti·​nate]
procrastinated; procrastinating

Definition of procrastinate
transitive verb
: to put off intentionally and habitually

intransitive verb
: to put off intentionally the doing of something that should be done

123. ““He who every morning plans the transactions of that day and follows that plan carries a thread that will guide him through the labyrinth of the most busy life.”
― Victor Hugo.”

Note the above quote may be considered a quote about procrastination, even though it doesn’t have any version of the word procrastinate within it. I generally call these types of quotes “FAKE” quotes. This particular quote actually mentions the exact opposite of procrastination. Basically to do things as needed and don’t put them off which would be procrastination.
 

124. “The really happy people are those who have broken the chains of procrastination, those who find satisfaction in doing the job at hand. They’re full of eagerness, zest, productivity. You can be, too.”
― Norman Vincent Peale

According to Wikipedia :

Procrastination is the avoidance of doing a task that needs to be accomplished by a certain deadline. It could be further stated as a habitual or intentional delay of starting or finishing a task despite knowing it might have negative consequences.

125. “Waiting is a trap. There will always be reasons to wait – The truth is, there are only two things in life, reasons and results, and reasons simply don’t count.”
― Robert Anthony

Above is another example of a “FAKE” procrastination quote. It doesn’t have any variation of the word procrastination in it. However, this is a straight forward example of procrastination without using the word.

44 Mostly Short Quotes about Putting Off Action

1. “Procrastination is opportunity’s natural assassin.”
― Victor Kiam
 

Have you ever wondered if people steal other person’s quotes? When looking through thousands of quotes sometimes we see a quote attributed to one person. Then later the same quote with a different author. It could easily be a mistake on the part of the researcher.

But other times it might be more than a simple mistake of authors. Here is an instance of probably a famous quote taken to a different level. The much later author apparently added the short quote to the end of his quote. Take a look at the two quotes and see for yourself. Check the last sentence of the second quote.

2. “Procrastination is the thief of time.”
― Edward Young   Lived 1683 – 1765
 

2A. “My advice is to never do tomorrow what you can do today. Procrastination is the thief of time.”
― Charles Dickens   Lived 1812 – 1870

3. “Procrastination is the soul rebelling against entrapment.”
― Nassim N. Taleb
 

4. “The search for the perfect venture can turn into procrastination. Your idea may or may not have merit. The key is to get started.”
― Unknown
 

5. “Stop procrastinating, stop feeling guilty and just do it!”
― Bastiaan Blikman
 

6. “Procrastination can guard against making the wrong choice too soon. Or it could just be mental laziness.”
― Pepper Hume
 

7. “Procrastinate now, don’t put it off.”
― Ellen DeGeneres
 

8. “Procrastination is, hands down, our favorite form of self-sabotage.”
– Alyce P. Cornyn-Selby
 

9. “Procrastination is like going to a fancy restaurant and filling up on bread and not leaving enough room for dinner.”
– Richie Norton
 

10. “Procrastination is the bad habit of putting off until the day after tomorrow what should have been done the day before yesterday.”
― Napoleon Hill

11. “The two rules of procrastination: 1) Do it today. 2) Tomorrow will be today tomorrow.”
― Author Unknown
 

12. “Procrastination is something best put off until tomorrow.”
― Gerald Vaughan
 

13. “Procrastination is the foundation of all disasters.”
― Pandora Poikilos
 

14. “Don’t put off until tomorrow what can be done today. Procrastination is a sign of weak character.”
― Carol Cox
 

15. “It’s easy to get distracted and procrastinate sometimes, but you can make it happen.”
― Danny Yann
 

16. “Don’t let procrastination take over your life. Be brave and take risks. Your life is happening right now.”
― Roy Bennett
 

17. “My evil genius Procrastination has whispered me to tarry ’til a more convenient season.”
― Mary Todd Lincoln

18. “Procrastination is the grave in which opportunity is buried.”
― Author Unknown
 

19. “Procrastination is also a subtle act of corruption – it corrupts valuable time.”
― Amit Abraham
 

20. “Vagueness and procrastination are ever a comfort to the frail in spirit.”
― John Updike
 

21. “Procrastination may not take up a lot of effort physically but without you knowing it, it takes over the mind.”
― Stephen Hall
 

22. “You may not be punished for your procrastination, but for sure you will be punished by your procrastination.”
― Debasish Mridha
 

23. “The problem with procrastination is it’s been around since the beginning of time it seems.”
― Stephen Richards
 

24. “Procrastination is the art of keeping up with yesterday.”
― Don Marquis
 

25. “Happy soul and a hardcore procrastinator seeking truth.”
― Pallav Gautam
 

26. “Do you know what happens when you give a procrastinator a good idea? Nothing!”
― Donald Gardner
 

27. “Procrastinators are the painters of tomorrow.”
― Rick Rotante
 

28. “Procrastination is like stopping a train that left the station: when we procrastinate, we hold others up.”
― Joseph R. Ferrar
 

29. “We’ll define procrastination as the act of deferring action on something when taking earlier action would arguably have been a better decision.”
― Damon Zahariades
 

30. “Procrastination is one of the most common and deadliest of diseases and its toll on success and happiness is heavy.”
― Wayne Gretzky
 

31. “If you know you have a tendency for procrastination, start your day by doing one or two of your most important tasks in the first hours of the morning.”
― Frank Mullani
 

32. “The secret to beating procrastination is that we need to keep motivated. Every day we must motivate ourselves because when we are motivated we have energy.”
― Priyanka Tripathi
 

33. “Procrastination is like a credit card: it’s a lot of fun until you get the bill.”
― Christopher Parker
 

34. “Change what you can change to the way you like. If you want to overcome procrastination, start today! (There’s really no other way.)”
― Ray Divine
 

35. “Procrastination is an art form that is less desirable than painting a detailed landscape using a three inch wide brush.”
― Byron Pulsifer
 

36. “How to stop procrastinating starts with believing you can overcome procrastination.”
― Robert Moment
 

37. “Procrastination usually results in sorrowful regret. Today’s duties put off until tomorrow give us a double burden to bear; the best way is to do them in their proper time.”
― Ida Scott Taylor
 

38. “Success is not obtained overnight. It comes in instalments; you get a little bit today, a little bit tomorrow until the whole package is given out. The day you procrastinate, you lose that day’s success.”
― Israelmore Ayivor
 

39. “We are so scared of being judged that we look for every excuse to procrastinate.”
― Erica Jong
 

40. “Not having direction can destroy motivation, because without an obvious next action we succumb to procrastination.”
― Madhur Chugh
 

41. “Whatever form your procrastination comes in, learn to identify it, root it, and kick it out!”
― Jim Howard
 

42. “You can defeat procrastination all by yourself. You’re the one who started it and it’s also you who can stop it.”
― Samuel Andreas
 

43. “Initiative – take it, rather than procrastinate.”
― Catherine Pulsifer
 

44. “The inability to prioritize and focus also contributes to procrastination.”
― Romuald Andrade
 

Just in case I don’t know how to count…

45. “What are the true reasons for your procrastinating? Your most prominent adversary at this stage is fear of failure.”
― Anthony Herrera
 

Top 77 Mostly Short Fake Procrastination Quotes that Indicate Procrastination

Oh no! You caught me telling a little white lie. I think someone snuck a few picture quotes in here which may have a few short Procrastination quotes on them.

1. “Following-through is the only thing that separates dreamers from people that accomplish great things”.
― Gene Hayden
 

2. “Until you value yourself, you will not value your time. Until you value your time, you will not do anything with it.”
― M. Scott Peck
 

3. “He who hesitates is a damned fool.”
― Mae West
 

4. “Delay not to seize the hour!”
― Aeschylus
 

5. “Someday is not a day of the week.”
― Janet Dailey
 

6. “Stop talking. Start walking.”
― L.M. Heroux
 

7. “If you procrastinate when faced with a big difficult problem… break the problem into parts, and handle one part at a time.”
– Robert Collier
 

8. “Begin doing what you want to do now.”
― Marie Beynon Ray
 

9. “Time wasted is existence; used is life.”
― Edward Young
 

10. “How soon not now, becomes never.”
― Martin Luther
 

11. “To think too long about doing a thing often becomes its undoing.”
― Eva Young
 

12. “You may delay, but time will not.”
― Benjamin Franklin
 

13. “If you put off everything till you’re sure of it, you’ll never get anything done.”
― Norman Vincent Peale
 

14. “Begin while others are procrastinating. Work while others are wishing.”
― William Arthur Ward
 

15. “If you want to make an easy job seem mighty hard, just keep putting off doing it.”
― Olin Miller
 

16. “Life, as it is called, is for most of us one long postponement.”
― Henry Miller
 

17. “Never put off for tomorrow, what you can do today.”
― Thomas Jefferson
 

18. “Tomorrow is often the busiest day of the week.”
― Spanish Proverb
 

19. “Amateurs sit and wait for inspiration, the rest of us just get up and go to work.”
― Stephen King
 

20. “Your mind is for having ideas, not holding them.”
― David Allen
 

21. “One of these days, is none of these days.”
― Unknown
 

22. “The man who waits to know everything is the man who never does anything.”
― Craig D. Lounsbrough
 

23. “Procrastination is the lazy cousin of fear. When we feel anxiety around an activity, we postpone it.”
― Noelle Hancock
 

24. “In delay there lies no plenty.”
― William Shakespeare
 

25. “He who is begun has half done. Dare to be wise; begin.”
― Horace
 

26. “Anything worth putting off is worth abandoning altogether.”
― Epictetus
 

27. “The best way to get something done is to begin.”
― Author Unknown
 

28. “A year from now you may wish you had started today.”
― Karen Lamb
 

29. “If and When were planted, and Nothing grew.”
― Proverb
 

30. “One of the greatest labor-saving inventions of today is tomorrow.”
― Vincent T. Foss
 

31. “If you have goals and procrastination you have nothing. If you have goals and you take action, you will have anything you want.”
– Thomas J. Vilord

32. “Nothing is so fatiguing as the eternal hanging on of an uncompleted task.”
― William James
 

33. “Never put off till tomorrow what may be done day after tomorrow just as well.”
― Mark Twain
 

34. “You cannot plough a field by turning it over in your mind.”
– Author Unknown
 

35. “All things come to those who wait, but when they come they’re out of date.”
– Anonymous
 

36. “Only put off until tomorrow what you are willing to die having left undone.”
– Pablo Picasso
 

37. “You don’t have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step.”
– Martin Luther King, Jr.
 

38. “Begin to weave and God will give you the thread.”
– German Proverb
 

39. “Procrastinating does nothing more than add to your do list. Do it, be done with it!”
― Catherine Pulsifer
 

40. “If it weren’t for the last minute, nothing would get done.”
– Rita Mae Brown
 

41. “It is easier to resist at the beginning than at the end.”
– Leonardo da Vinci
 

42. “There is nothing so fatal to character as half finished tasks.”
~ David Lloyd George
 

43. “Things may come to those who wait, but only the things left by those who hustle.”
― Abraham Lincoln
 

44. “When there is a hill to climb, don’t think that waiting will make it smaller.”
― Author Unknown
 

45. “Often greater risk is involved in postponement than in making a wrong decision.”
― Harry A. Hopf
 

46. “Getting an idea should be like sitting on a pin; it should make you jump up and do something.”
― E. L. Simpson
 

47. “Procrastination is my sin. It brings me naught but sorrow. I know that I should stop it. In fact, I will–tomorrow”
― Gloria Pitzer
 

48. “Procrastination is a sign of a perfectionist.”
― P. J. Kennedy
 

49. “Don’t wait for someone to take you under their wing. Find a good wing and climb up underneath it.”
― Frank C. Bucaro
 

50. “Doing things at the last minute reminds us of the importance of doing things at the first minute.”
― Matshona Dhliwayo
 

51. “Whatever you want to do, do it now! There are only so many tomorrows.”
― Michael Landon
 

52. “If you want to get ahead in life, I’ve found that perhaps the most useless word in the world is ‘tomorrow‘.”
― José N. Harris
 

53. “Don’t wait. The time will never be just right.”
― Napoleon Hill
 

54. “Don’t procrastinate. Putting off an unpleasant task until tomorrow simply gives you more time for your imagination to make a mountain out a possible molehill. More time for anxiety to sap your self-confidence. Do it now, brother, do it now.”
― Author Unknown
 

55. “You can’t get much done in life if you only work on the days when you feel good.”
― Jerry West
 

56. “Nothing is so fatiguing as the eternal hanging on of an uncompleted task.”
― William James
 

57. “You cannot escape the responsibility of tomorrow by evading it today.”
― Abraham Lincoln
 

58. “A day can really slip by when you’re deliberately avoiding what you’re supposed to do.”
― Bill Watterson
 

59. “How does a project get to be a year behind schedule? One day at a time.”
― Fred Brooks
 

60. “By what right do I, who have wasted this day, make claims on tomorrow?”
― Alain Fournier
 

61. “The least productive people are usually the ones who are most in favor of holding meetings.”
― Thomas Sowell
 

62. “The greatest thief this world has ever produced is procrastination, and he is still at large.”
― Henry Wheelter Shaw

63. “Nothing is less productive than to make more efficient what should not be done at all.”
― Peter Drucker
 

64. “Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion.”
― C. Northcote Parkinson
 

65. “Motivation is what gets you started. Habit is what keeps you going.”
― Jim Rohn
 

66. “The only difference between success and failure is the ability to take action.”
― Alexander Graham Bell
 

67. “You may delay, but time will not, and lost time is never found again.”
― Benjamin Franklin
 

68. “A perfect method for adding drama to life is to wait until the deadline looms large.”
― Alyce P. Cornyn-Selby
 

69. “Take time to deliberate; but when the time for action arrives, stop thinking and go in.”
― Napoleon Bonaparte
 

70. “Putting off an easy thing makes it hard, and putting off a hard one makes it impossible.”
― George H. Lorimer
 

71. “Concentrate all your thoughts upon the work in hand. The sun’s rays do not burn until brought to a focus.”
― Alexander Graham Bell
 

72. “This one makes a net, this one stands and wishes. Would you like to make a bet which one gets the fishes.”
― Chinese Rhyme
 

73. “Don’t put off for tomorrow what you can do today because if you enjoy it today, you can do it again tomorrow.”
― James A. Michener
 

74. “What may be done at any time will be done at no time.”
― Scottish Proverb
 

75. “I don’t wait for moods. You accomplish nothing if you do that. Your mind must know it has got to get down to work.”
― Pearl S. Buck
 

76. “Yesterday is a cancelled check. Tomorrow is a promissory note. Today is the only cash you have, so spend it wisely.”
― Kim Lyons.
 

77. “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 Harris
 

Which one of these procrastination quotes did you like the most?
Which of these procrastination images appeals to you the most? Or maybe you hate the most?
Let us know in the comments below.