In light of my return to training, I would like to share a list of motivational quotes I have collected over the past few months that have constantly helped me throughout my training regime. I understand there are people out there who shun these things and are more robotic in their approach to working out. Good for you. I am not like that. I need motivation from time to time. Sometimes I'm high as a kite, and other times life might be getting me down, and exercise will be the last thing on my mind. Therefore, after countless hours of scouring the net for motivational quotes, I have found some true gems that have helped fuel my passion to succeed and given me energy in the gym when I've been running on empty.Here they are:
“The fight is won or lost far away from witnesses - behind the lines, in the gym and out there on the road, long before I dance under those lights.”
- Muhammad Ali (American Boxer and Activist, b.1942)
“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; because there is not effort without error and shortcomings; but who does actually strive to do the deed; who knows the great enthusiasm, the great devotion, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement and who at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly. So that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.”
- Theodore Roosevelt (American 26th US President (1901-09), 1858-1919)
“You may fetter my leg, but Zeus himself cannot get the better of my free will”
- Epictetus (Greek philosopher associated with the Stoics, AD 55-c.135)
“If you want to improve, be content to be thought foolish and stupid.” - Epictetus (Greek philosopher associated with the Stoics, AD 55-c.135)
“Dream as if you'll live forever, live as if you'll die today.”
James Dean (American motion picture actor, symbol of rebellion, 1931-1955)
“Never, never, never, never give up.”
Winston Churchill (British Orator, Author and Prime Minister during World War II. 1874-1965)
"Make the most of yourself, for that is all there is of you." - Ralph Waldo Emerson, Philosopher & Writer
“Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear - not absence of fear”
Mark Twain (American Humorist, Writer and Lecturer. 1835-1910)
“It's not the size of the dog in the fight, it's the size of the fight in the dog.”
Mark Twain (American Humorist, Writer and Lecturer. 1835-1910)
"The greatest oak was once a little nut who held its ground." ~Author Unknown
“It is never too late to become what you might have been”
George Eliot (English Victorian Novelist. Pseudonym of Mary Ann Evans, 1819-1880)
"Suffer the pain of discipline or suffer the pain of regret"
- Jim Rohn (American Speaker and Author.)
‘A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort.’ ~Herm Albright
"A boy comes to me with a spark of interest and it becomes a flame. I feed the flame and it becomes a fire. I feed the fire and it becomes a roaring blaze."
- Cus D'Amato (Tyson's manager and trainer)
"Never let the fear of striking out get in your way."
Babe Ruth
"An invincible determination can accomplish almost anything and in this lies the distinction between great men and little men."
Thomas Fuller
"Imagination is more important than knowledge."
Albert Einstein
'To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.'
Ralph Waldo Emerson
"Those who are reluctant to give up their lives and embrace death are not true warriors.... Go to the battlefield firmly confident of victory, and you will come home with no wounds whatever. Engage in combat fully determined to die and you will be alive; wish to survive in the battle and you will surely meet death. When you leave the house determined not to see it again you will come home safely; when you have any thought of returning you will not return. You may not be in the wrong to think that the world is always subject to change, but the warrior must not entertain this way of thinking, for his fate is always determined."
Uesugi Kenshin
'The war between being and nothingness is the underlying illness of the twentieth century. Boredom slays more of existence than war.'
Norman Mailer
'There's nothing like biting off more than you can chew, and then chewing anyway.'
Mark Burnett
'Effort is only effort when it begins to hurt.'
José Ortega y Gassett
“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and fabulous? Actually who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small doesn’t serve the world. There is nothing enlightening about shrinking so other people won’t feel insecure around you.
We were born to manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some; it’s in all, everyone. And as we let our own light shine we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”
- Authored by Maryanne Williamson, and used by Nelson Mandela in his 1994 inaugural speech
'Pain is just weakness leaving the body'
- Author unknown
'Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they
were to success when they gave up.'
- Thomas Edison
'The good Lord gave you a body that can stand most anything. It's your
mind you have to convince.'
- Vincent Lombardi
'The man who can drive himself further once the effort gets painful is
the man who will win'
- Roger Bannister
'Enter every activity without giving mental recognition to the possibility
of defeat. Concentrate on your strengths instead of your weaknesses, on
your powers instead of your problems.'
- Paul J. Meyer
'If you always put limit on everything you do, physical or anything else,
It will spread into your work and into your life. There are no limits.
There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go
beyond them.' - Bruce Lee
“You have enemies? Good. That means you've stood up for something, sometime in your life.”
- Winston Churchill
"Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind." ~Dr. Seuss
'...the wind speaks not more sweetly to the giant oaks than to the least of all the blades of grass." - Khalil Gibran
That's all of them so far.
I've also created collages of a few chosen quotes from above, which I have printed and put up on the walls of my bedroom/workout area. The images of each are below. There are two styles, light and dark, because I do not have access to a color printer, so the dark colored slides were not printing well in black & white. The links to the Powerpoint documents (if you want to print/edit the slides) are as follows:
Quotes Collage (Dark Colors): goo.gl/AxHi
Quotes Collage (Light Colors): goo.gl/B0wz
Google docs is not showing the slides background colors online, so you should download the docs to your computer and then open them.
Quotes Collage (Dark Colors):
Quotes Collage (Light Colors):
I hope you guys find these as helpful and inspiring as I do. Good luck with your respective goals!
If you've found some quotes of your own that you'd like to share, please do so in the comments. I'd love to read them. Cheers.
