71 Grit Quotes (powerful words for determination and strength)

You have likely heard about the importance of grit.

And it’s important to understand that grit and resilience are qualities that can be developed and cultivated within yourself.

Ultimately, your level of grit will play a significant role in your success, even more so than your IQ and any other inherent talents combined.

It can take you further than just relying on connections and networking.

While collecting inspiring quotes about grit may not be a bad idea,

we have gathered the following grit quotes to motivate and inspire you.

What Is Grit?

Do you know someone who always perseveres, never gives up, and has a remarkable ability to bounce back after setbacks and failures, no matter how tough or frequent they may be?

This is what “grit” looks like, and developing this quality can have a positive impact on your life. Grit is about having courage, determination, and strength of character.

Neuroscientist and psychologist Angela Duckworth is one of the leading experts on grit and its relation to success.

After years of research, Duckworth found that the main factors indicating whether someone will achieve their goals and produce high-quality work are passion and persistence — or in simpler terms, the ability to persevere. According to her findings, this quality is more important than:

• IQ
• SAT/MCAT/GRE scores (and other standardized test results)
• Background
• Your genetic makeup

Why Do We Need Grit?

People often spend a lot of time comparing and emphasizing things like IQ, and there is a fascination with child prodigies.

However, grit is a highly underrated quality. Why should more individuals consider developing their resilience?

• Higher Probability of Success: While having natural talent can be advantageous, it does not guarantee success. Research shows that individuals who work hard and persist after failures are more likely to achieve their goals compared to those who do not. Instead of worrying about how “smart” others perceive you to be, focus on your work ethic.
• Improved Mental Health: Success has a positive impact on mental health. Therefore, developing grit, which leads to more successes, can improve your mindset and cognitive function.
• Enhanced Self-Esteem: Putting in effort and persevering instills a sense of pride. Individuals who work hard usually feel good about their perseverance, leading to improved self-esteem.

It is important to note that we are not advocating for overworking. Striving to the point of mental exhaustion is not a virtue.

You deserve a healthy work-life balance. However, prioritizing “healthy hard work” can take you far.

71 Grit Quotes To Stoke Your Inner Strength

1. “Grit is not just a simple term for persistence. It is an invisible display of endurance that allows you to stay in uncomfortable situations, work hard to improve a particular interest, and repeat the process over and over again.” — Sarah Lewis

2. “Grit is having the courage to push through, no matter the obstacles, because it is worth it.” — Chris Morris

3. “There is no failure. Only feedback.” — Robert Allen

4. “It is time for us all to stand and cheer for the doer, the achiever — the one who recognizes the challenges and takes action.” — Vince Lombardi

5. “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

6. “In plain words, you’ve got to make up your mind to study whatever you undertake, concentrate your mind on it, and really work at it. This isn’t wisdom. Any fool in the world knows it’s true, whether it’s a question of raising horses or writing plays. You simply have to face the prospect of starting at the bottom and spending years learning how to do it.” — Eugene O’Neill

7. “Every great story happened when someone decided not to give up.” — Spryte Loriano

8. “No problem can withstand the assault of sustained thinking.” — Voltaire

9. “Grit is the persistence in following your own destiny.” — Paul Bradley Smith

10. “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

11. “Above everything else I’ve done, I’ve always said I’ve had more guts than I’ve got talent.” — Dolly Parton

12. “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

13. “Have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become.” — Steve Jobs

14. “But it is a blessed provision of nature that at times like these, as soon as a man’s mercury has got down to a certain point there comes a revulsion, and he rallies. Hope springs up, and cheerfulness along with it, and then he is in good shape to do something for himself, if anything can be done.” — Mark Twain

15. “The harder the conflict, the greater the triumph.” — George Washington

16. “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

17. “Life isn’t about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself.” — George Bernard Shaw

18. “The future bears down upon each one of us with all the hazards of the unknown. The only way out is through.” — Plutarch

19. “I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.”
— Robert Frost

20. “A grit mind strengthens all of your strengths.” — Pearl Zhu

21. “It’s just as important to know when to drop something and shift direction as it is to know when to stick with something. When we quit the things that aren’t working for us, we free up our willpower and perseverance for the things that really do matter.” — Rich Karlgaard

22. “Great works are performed, not by strength, but by perseverance.” — Samuel Johnson

23. “Leaders aren’t born, they are made. And they are made like anything else, through hard work. And that’s the price we’ll have to pay to achieve that goal or any goal.” — Vince Lombardi

24. “Character consists of what you do on the third and fourth tries.” — James A. Michener

25. “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

26. “Successful men and women keep moving. They make mistakes, but they don’t quit.” — Conrad Hilton

27. “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

28. “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

29. “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

30. “There isn’t a person anywhere who isn’t capable of doing more than he thinks he can.” — Henry Ford

31. “Grit is picking yourself up and moving forward even when you think you can’t take one more step.” — Christy Mossburg

32. “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

33. “The only thing that overcomes hard luck is hard work.” — Harry Golden

34. “When our commitment is wavering, the best way to stay on track is to consider the progress we’ve already made. As we recognize what we’ve invested and attained, it seems like a waste to give up, and our confidence and commitment surge.” — Adam M. Grant

35. “Successful people aren’t born successful. Behind it all, there is hard work, persistence, and a lot of grit.” — Arshad Wahedna

36. “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

37. “Life may try to knock you down, but be persistent with your passions — cultivate grit, resilience, tenacity, and endurance, success will come.” — Amit Ray

38. “Grit is having the courage to do the right thing, regardless of popularity or consequences.” — Joan Hall

39. “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

40. “It’s not that I’m so smart, it’s just that I stay with problems longer.” — Albert Einstein

41. “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

42. “Never hope for it more than you work for it.” — Sonya Teclai

43. “Never give up on something that you can’t go a day without thinking about