Grit is the quiet force of perseverance and unwavering determination in the face of adversity. It blends passion and resilience to turn setbacks into stepping stones toward long-term goals. This collection of quotes about grit inspires endurance, tenacity, and the power of never giving up.
1. “Grit is passion and perseverance for very long-term goals.”
–Angela Duckworth, psychologist, author, Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance
2. “Fall seven times, stand up eight.”
— Japanese Proverb
3. “Success is not final, failure is not fatal: It is the courage to continue that counts.”
— Winston Churchill, British statesman
4. “Character consists of what you do on the third and fourth tries.”
— James A. Michener, American author
5. “Great works are performed not by strength, but by perseverance.”
— Samuel Johnson, English writer
6. “The difference between a successful person and others is not a lack of strength or knowledge, but rather a lack in will.”
— Vince Lombardi, legendary football coach
7. “It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop.”
–Confucius
8. “Perseverance is not a long race; it is many short races one after the other.”
— Walter Elliot
9. “Energy and persistence conquer all things.”
— Benjamin Franklin, American inventor
10. “Enthusiasm is common. Endurance is rare.”
— Angela Duckworth
11. “You may encounter many defeats, but you must not be defeated.”
— Maya Angelou, American writer
12. “Grit is refusing to give up. It’s persistence. It’s making your own luck.”
— Peter Diamandis
13. “Strength does not come from physical capacity. It comes from an indomitable will.”
— Mahatma Gandhi
14. “Grit is living life like it’s a marathon, not a sprint.”
— Angela Duckworth
15. “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
16. “Hard things are put in our way, not to stop us, but to call out our courage and strength.”
— Unknown
17. “Our potential is one thing. What we do with it is quite another.”
— Angela Duckworth
18. “Keep going. Everything you need will come to you at the perfect time.”
— Unknown
19. “Success is stumbling from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm.”
— Winston Churchill
20. “The difference between the impossible and the possible lies in a person’s determination.”
— Tommy Lasorda, legendary baseball coach
21. “A river cuts through rock, not because of its power, but because of its persistence.”
— James N. Watkins
22. “Grit grows as we figure out our life philosophy, learn to dust ourselves off after rejection and disappointment, and realize that anything worth doing takes time.”
— Angela Duckworth
22. “I’m convinced that about half of what separates successful entrepreneurs from the non-successful ones is pure perseverance.”
— Steve Jobs, co-founder of Apple Inc.
23. “Never confuse a single defeat with a final defeat.”
— F. Scott Fitzgerald, American writer
24. “Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.”
— Confucius
25. “The real test is not whether you avoid this failure…but whether you let it harden or shame you into inaction, or whether you learn from it.”
— Barack Obama, 44th U.S. President
26. “Without effort, your talent is nothing more than unmet potential. Without effort, your skill is nothing more than what you could have done but didn’t.”
— Angela Duckworth
27. “Tough times never last, but tough people do.”
— Robert H. Schuller
28. “You don’t have to be the smartest person in the room, you just have to be the most relentless.”
— Unknown
29. “Do not pray for an easy life, pray for the strength to endure a difficult one.”
— Bruce Lee
30. “Grit is about working on something you care about so much that you’re willing to stay loyal to it.”
— Angela Duckworth
31. “Resilience is knowing that you are the only one that has the power and the responsibility to pick yourself up.”
— Mary Holloway, American women’s rights activist
32. “Courage is not having the strength to go on; it is going on when you don’t have the strength.”
— Theodore Roosevelt, 26th U.S. president
33. “The most dazzling human achievements are, in fact, the aggregate of countless individual elements, each of which is, in a sense, ordinary.”
— Angela Duckworth
More Inspiring Quotes for Runners
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- Quotes from Olympic Athletes
- Motivational Quotes from Famous Runners
Running coach, avid runner, and fitness writer Christine Luff is an RRCA-certified running coach and ACE-certified personal trainer. Founder of the website Run for Good and author of the book Run for Good: How to Create a Lifelong Running Habit, she coaches runners, from beginners to advanced, who are training for races, from 5Ks to marathons.
