How different our lives would be if we:
- were resilient and adaptive
- had a growth mindset
- saw obstacles as challenges
- were passionate and perseverant
- weren’t discouraged easily
- were determined to achieve all our goals, no matter what?
I firmly believe that not only our lives would be significantly different, but also the world would be a better place.
All of the mentioned is connected to the personality trait all high achievers share: grit.
You can find several definitions of it, however, the most important detail is absolutely the fact that everybody can learn grit.
Having that in mind, I collected 100 most powerful and inspirational quotes about grit from various online sources.
They’ll provide you with plenty of unique perspectives on grit and inspire you to live your life to the fullest!
Let’s get down to business!
10 Most Powerful Quotes About Grit
1. “Mindset is everything. Your success begins and ends with mindset. In between it’s grit that carries you through.” — LeAura Alderson
2. “No man can fight his way to the top and stay at the top without exercising the fullest measure of grit, courage, determination, resolution.” — B. C. Forbes
3. “Grit is sticking with your future day in, day out and not just for the week, not just for the month, but for years.” — Angela Lee Duckworth
4. “Being a top performer – whether it’s in business or on the athletic field – requires grit and tenacity, as well as the continuous desire to become better.” — Amy Morin
5. “A grit mind strengthens all of your strengths.” — Pearl Zhu
6. “I kept going. The decisions I’ve had to make, the setbacks, the feeling of having my back against the wall, I was determined that I had the grit.” — Eddy Alvarez
7. “Life may try to knock you down but be persistent with your passions – cultivate grit, resilience, tenacity and endurance. Success will come.” ― Amit Ray
8. “It’s not that I’m so smart, it’s just that I stay with problems longer.” — Albert Einstein
9. “Grit is not synonymous with hard work. It involves a certain single-mindedness. An ungritty prison inmate will mount a daring new escape attempt every month, but a gritty prison inmate will tunnel his way out one spoonful of concrete at a time.” — Chip Heath
10. “Grit means not taking no for an answer, and sticking to your guns.” — Levison Wood
Brilliant Quotes On Grit
1. “True grit is making a decision and standing by it, doing what must be done. No moral man can have peace of mind if he leaves undone what he knows he should have done.” ― John Wayne
2. “To be gritty is to keep putting one foot in front of the other. To be gritty is to hold fast to an interesting and purposeful goal. To be gritty is to invest, day after week after year, in challenging practice. To be gritty is to fall down seven times, and rise eight.” ― Angela Duckworth
3. “Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go.” T.S. Eliot
4. “Humans are creatures of habit. If you quit when things get tough, it gets that much easier to quit the next time. On the other hand, if you force yourself to push through it, the grit begins to grow in you.” ― Travis Bradberry
5. “Grit has two components: passion and perseverance.” ― Angela Duckworth
6. “Anyone can be tough for a season. It takes a special kind of human to rise to life’s challenges for a lifetime.” ― Chris Matakas
7. “Anyone can hide. Facing up to things, working through them, that’s what makes you strong.”
― Sarah Dessen
8. “Grit, determination, the right amount of crazy, self belief – everything it takes to be a champion. I have that.” ― Dustin Poirier
9. “Destiny is not a matter of chance, it is a matter of choice; it is not a thing to be waited for, it is a thing to be achieved.” — Winston Churchill
10. “Grit is the persistence in following your own destiny.” ― Paul Bradley Smith
11. “Grit is having the courage to do the right thing, regardless of the popularity or consequences.” ― Joan Hall
12. “When you keep searching for ways to change your situation for the better, you stand a chance of finding them. When you stop searching, assuming they can’t be found, you guarantee they won.” ― Angela Duckworth
13. “I learned a lesson I’d never forget. The lesson was that, when you have setbacks and failures, you can’t overreact to them.” ― Angela Duckworth
14. “I have to admit that, yes, it is possible to be a gritty villain… but my research suggests that there are many more gritty heroes.” — Angela Duckworth
15. “Character consists of what you do on the third and fourth tries.” ― James A. Michener
16. “Never hope for it more than you work for it.” — Sonya Teclai
17. “A little more persistence, a little more effort, and what seemed hopeless failure may turn to glorious success.” ― Elbert Hubbard
18. “Never give up on something that you can’t go a day without thinking about.” — Winston Churchill
19. “If you can’t fly then run, if you can’t run then walk, if you can’t walk then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward.” ― Martin Luther King Jr.
20. “Grit is picking yourself up and moving forward even when you think you can’t take one more step.” ― Christy Mossburg
21. “Over time, grit is what separates fruitful lives from aimlessness.” ― John Ortberg
22. “Fall seven times and stand up eight.” ― Japanese proverb
23. “The question isn’t who’s going to let me; it’s who’s going to stop me.” ― Ayn Rand
24. “Grit is the grain of character. It may generally be described as heroism materialized, spirit and will thrust into heart, brain, and backbone, so as to form part of the physical substance of the man.” — Edwin Percy Whipple
25. “Grit is knowing who you are and where you are headed, moving determinedly forward with eyes fixed on the mark, rather than the obstacles that lie in wait.” — Christine Bisch
26. “Decide that you want it more than you are afraid of it.” ― Bill Cosby
27. “You may encounter many defeats, but you must not be defeated. In fact, it may be necessary to encounter the defeats, so you can know who you are, what you can rise from, how you can still come out of it.” ― Maya Angelou
28. “What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.” ― Ralph Waldo Emerson
29. “The thing that we did was, we didn’t give up.” ― Jay-Z
30. “It is not in the still calm of life, or the repose of a pacific station, that great characters are formed.” ― Abigail Adams
31. “Rock bottom became the solid foundation in which I rebuilt my life.” ― J.K. Rowling
32. “No problem can withstand the assault of sustained thinking.” — Voltaire
33. “The difference between a successful person and others is not a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but rather a lack of will.” ― Vince Lombardi
See also: 130 Best Positive Inner Strength Quotes To Build You Up
34. “Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.” ― Confucius
35. “You may have to fight a battle more than once to win it.” ― Margaret Thatcher
36. “When everything seems to be going against you, remember that the airplane takes off against the wind, not with it.” ― Henry Ford
37. “Successful men and women keep moving. They make mistakes, but they don’t quit.” ― Conrad Hilton
38. “Success is stumbling from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm.” ― Winston Churchill
39. “Being gritty doesn’t mean not showing pain or pretending everything is O.K. In fact, when you look at healthy and successful and giving people, they are extraordinarily meta-cognitive. They’re able to say things like, ‘Dude, I totally lost my temper this morning.’ That ability to reflect on yourself is signature to grit.” ― Angela Duckworth
40. “Courage doesn’t always roar. Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying, ‘I will try again tomorrow.’” ― Mary Anne Radmacher
41. “Success comes from curiosity, concentration, perseverance and self-criticism.” ― Albert Einstein
42. “The people who stick with things for years and never stop almost always win the race.” ― James Clear
43. “Without effort, your skill is nothing more than what you could have done but didn’t.” ― Angela Duckworth
44. “Above everything else I’ve done, I’ve always said I’ve had more guts than I’ve got talent.” ― Dolly Parton
45. “The difference between the impossible and the possible lies in a man’s determination.” — Tommy Lasorda
See also: 200 Greatest Life Lessons Quotes To Live Your Best Life
Inspirational Grit Quotes
1. “God honors a beautiful blend of gift and grit! He gives the gift, and He expects us to have the grit to practice and learn how to use it effectively.” ― Beth Moore
2. “Success doesn’t just happen. It is a product of hard work, grit and ingenuity.” ― Ogwo David Emenike
3. “Grit is passion and perseverance for very long-term goals. Grit is having stamina. Grit is sticking with your future, day-in, day-out. Not just for the week, not just for the month, but for years. And working really hard to make that future a reality. Grit is living life like it’s a marathon, not a sprint.” ― Angela Duckworth
4. “Grit is that ‘extra something’ that separates the most successful people from the rest. It’s the passion, perseverance, and stamina that we must channel in order to stick with our dreams until they become a reality.” ― Travis Bradberry
5. “If you quit once it becomes a habit. Never quit!” ― Michael Jordan
6. “Perseverance is the hard work you do after you get tired of doing the hard work you already did.” ― Newt Gingrich
7. “I won’t just have a job; I’ll have a calling. I’ll challenge myself every day. When I get knocked down, I’ll get back up. I may not be the smartest person in the room, but I’ll strive to be the grittiest.” ― Angela Duckworth
8. “Every great story happened when someone decided not to give up.” ― Spryte Loriano
9. “Grit, in a word, is stamina. But it’s not just stamina in your effort. It’s also stamina in your direction, stamina in your interests. If you are working on different things but all of them very hard, you’re not really going to get anywhere. You’ll never become an expert.” ― Wade Davis
10. “When I was young, I observed that nine out of ten things I did were failures. So I did ten times more work.” ― George Bernard Shaw
11. “To succeed at anything worthwhile in life requires persistence, no matter how gifted, fortunate, or passionate you are. When I interviewed late bloomers for this book, nearly every one said that once you find your passion and your “pot,” you need to hang in there – you need to persist.” ― Rich Karlgaard
12. “Grit is not just simple elbow-grease term for rugged persistence. It is an often invisible display of endurance that lets you stay in an uncomfortable place, work hard to improve upon a given interest, and do it again and again.” ― Sarah Lewis
13. “Leadership grit begets grit. Lead by example.” ― Bill Hybels
14. “If you don’t give up, you still have a chance. Giving up is the greatest failure.” ― Jack Ma
15. “What is grit? Grit is refusing to give up. It’s persistence. It’s making your own luck.” ― Peter Diamandis
16. “Success seems to be largely a matter of hanging on after others have let go.” ― William Feather
17. “Have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become.” ― Steve Jobs
18. “Dreams don’t work unless you do.” ― John C. Maxwell
19. “Remember how far you’ve come, not just how far you have to go. You are not where you want to be, but neither are you where you used to be.” ― Rick Warren
20. “Grit is having the courage to push through, no matter what the obstacles are, because it’s worth it.” — Chris Morris
21. “Most of the important things in the world have been accomplished by people who have kept on trying when there seemed no hope at all.” ― Dale Carnegie
22. “The focus on talent distracts us from something that is at least as important, and that is effort. As much as talent counts, effort counts twice.” ― Angela Duckworth
See also: 160 Wise Quotes About Focusing On Yourself To Empower You
23. “Grit. Refusing to give up, pushing to the limit, wiping the sweat off the face in order to make a better tomorrow.” ― Unknown
24. “I am not cut out to be crushed yet again. So dare you not, because I have risen from the grave once, and you can’t kill the dead twice.” — Nitu Bhojwani
25. “Grit is not about forcing yourself to work hard at something you don’t like. It’s about pushing through challenges when engaged in something you do.” — Mike Anderson
26. “It’s going to take grit and grind, and desire. It’s a heart game. You can bring all the talent and say you’re doing to depend on that, but that only gets you so far. Every piston has to be hitting in the engine to win. You have to execute.” ― Bryan Larrison
27. “Great works are performed, not by strength, but by perseverance.” ― Samuel Johnson
28. “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.” ― Carol Dweck
29. “Life is messy. Grit and grace come at us fast, side by side. Sometimes the grit becomes overwhelming and diminishes our spirit. What’s good seems lost and gone forever. This is a story about the pathway back to what’s beautiful, when the way back seems impossible.” ― Sharon E. Rainey
30. “You have power over your mind – not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength.” ― Marcus Aurelius
31. “The future bears down upon each one of us with all the hazards of the unknown. The only way out is through.” ― Plutarch
32. “Picture your brain forming new connections as you meet the challenge and learn. Keep on going.” — Carol Dweck
33. “You cannot talk about grit – you have to embody it. You cannot talk about faith – you have to live it. You cannot talk about the desert – you have to cross it.” ― Unknown
34. “Cultivating holistic wealth helps us to be mentally tough and to have grit to weather the inevitable storms and setbacks that life brings.” ― Keisha Blair
35. “Successful people aren’t born successful. Behind it all there is hard work, persistence and a lot of grit.” ― Arshad Wahedna
36. “Be miserable. Or motivate yourself. Whatever has to be done, it’s always your choice.” ―
Wayne Dyer
37. “I think my story relates. When I started out, all I had was my passion and grit.” ― Huda Kattan
38. “This is the chapter of my story where I trade a lifetime of fear for a lifetime of freedom by learning how to fight. It’s the part where I transform from victim to hero on every page that I write for the rest of my life.” ― Christy Ann Martine
See also: 200 Empowering Hero Quotes To Ignite Your Brave Heart
39. “Effort is one of those things that gives meaning to life. Effort means you care about something, that something is important to you and you are willing to work for it.” ― Carol Dweck
40. “Building our resilience muscles starts with the way we process the negative events in our lives. Mental toughness is a prerequisite for personal growth and success.” ― Keisha Blair
41. “No grit, no pearl.” ― N.C. Moms
42. “Enthusiasm is common. Endurance is rare.” ― Angela Duckworth
43. “Compassion does not need any special preparation, place or time. You can start it anywhere and anytime. Try it at home, work, school – or anywhere! The more you cultivate compassion the more will be your fulfillment, resilience, patience, grit, endurance and equanimity.” ― Amit Ray
44. “Strength does not come from physical capacity, it comes from indominable will.” ― Mahatma Gandhi
45. “People with grit don’t believe that failure is a permanent condition.” ― Angela Duckworth
Final Thoughts
I hope that you feel inspired after reading this list of the best quotes about grit!
P.S. If you enjoyed this post, be sure to check out my page for more inspirational content like this!
Read next: 50 Life-Changing Consistency Quotes On The Key To Success