Mental toughness reflects who you are, the person you want to be, and your willingness to take the path needed to achieve your goals. The best mental toughness quotes reflect one or more themes that help us think about where we are in our journey and what we need to do to continue forward.
To help you gain inspiration from quotes on mental toughness, we grouped 50 of the best mental toughness quotes that apply to different parts of your journey.
Mental toughness comes from within
Some quotes on mental toughness concern who you are. Life often requires drawing on your inner strengths, confidence, and willingness to compete. You must be willing to start and get moving, knowing that your efforts will have an impact.
Among the quotes on mental toughness that include thoughts about mental toughness reflecting your inner strength are:
It's not the size of the dog in the fight. It's the size of the fight in the dog.
- Anonymous
Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not: nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not: the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.
- Calvin Coolidge
The will to prepare has to be greater than the will to win
- Bobby Knight
Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal; nothing on earth can help the man with the wrong mental attitude.
- Thomas Jefferson
Confidence comes not from always being right but from not fearing to be wrong.
- Peter T. McIntyre
Strength does not come from physical capacity. It comes from an indomitable will.
- Mahatma Gandhi
Twenty years from now, you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sail. Explore. Dream. Discover.
- Mark Twain
My mother once told me why I was so confused all the time. She said I was without wood. Born without wood so that I listened to too many people. She knew this, because once she had almost become this way. “A girl is like a young tree,” she said. “You must stand tall and listen to your mother standing next to you. That is the only way to grow strong and straight. But if you bend to listen to other people, you will grow crooked and weak. You will fall to the ground with the first strong wind. And then you will be like a weed, growing wild in any direction, running along the ground until someone pulls you out and throws you away.
- Amy Tan, The Joy Luck Club
You define yourself by how you think about yourself and your challenges
Just as the longest journey begins with but one step, you define yourself by how you define the problems you face. Are they barriers or simple obstacles to be avoided or overcome? Only you can define how you react to challenges.
Do you face problems optimistically and with the confidence that you will find solutions? Only you have the capacity to see the world in a way that allows you to achieve your goals.
Among mental toughness quotes relate to how you define yourself and your problems are:
You have power over your mind, not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength.
- Marcus Aurelius
It is not the load that breaks you down. It is the way you carry it.
- Lena Horne
Every practice and competition begins with the way you think. The quality of your thoughts is critical; think in ways that promote the outcomes you desire.
- Stephany C. Coakley
He who believes is strong; he who doubts is weak. Strong convictions precede great actions.
- Louisa May Olcott
No matter what kind of challenges of difficulties or painful situations you go through in your life, we all have something deep within us that we can reach down and find inner strength to get through them.
- Alana Stewart
Make sure your worst enemy doesn't live between your ears.
- Anonymous
Champions aren’t made in the gyms. Champions are made from something they have deep inside them―a desire, a dream, a vision. They have to have the skill, and the will. But the will must be stronger than the skill.
- Muhammad Ali
We avoid the things that we're afraid of because we think there will be dire consequences if we confront them. But the truly dire consequences in our lives come from avoiding things that we need to learn about or discover.
- Shakti Gawain
Michelle Ribeiro provides multiple insights into how to define and think about challenges.
https://positivepsychology.com/mentally-strong/
Mental toughness can be built
While part of mental toughness comes from how you define your challenges, you can change how you define problems as you grow and learn. As Heraclitus said, “No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it's not the same river, and he's not the same man.”
You are always in the process of becoming yourself and have never-ending opportunities to demonstrate and improve your mental toughness. It is your effort, your small successes, and your willingness to come back from a loss that leads to bigger successes. Learn from your losses, and do not fear stepping back into the ring.
Mental toughness quotes related to the idea that you can improve your mental toughness include:
You never know how strong you are until being strong is your only choice.
- Anonymous
If you want to understand what wins, you have to understand what loses.
- Bill Parcells
The measure of your character and mental toughness is the space between what you are doing and what you could be doing.
- William James Moore
Mental toughness is when you find fuel in an empty tank.
- Anonymous
People don't realize how often you have to come in second in order to finish first.
- Jack Nicklaus
Strength doesn't come from what you can do. It comes from overcoming the things you once thought you couldn't.
- Anonymous
It was high counsel I once heard given to a young person, ‘”Always do what you are afraid to do.”
- Ralph Waldo Emerson
Among other topics, James Clear discusses how mental toughness is about habits.
https://jamesclear.com/mental-toughness
Mental toughness comes from overcoming adversity
Perhaps the most common theme among the best mental toughness quotes concerns overcoming adversity. Everyone has obstacles that appear in their paths, and mental toughness reflects their willingness to address them. You must be willing to try, to work to overcome those challenges.
Overcoming adversity can change how you think about and face adversity. Exercising your adversity muscles helps built strength and prepare you to overcome the next challenge, knowing you have overcome others in the past.
Quotes on mental toughness related to improving our mental toughness by overcoming adversity include:
Don't wait until everything is just right. It will never be perfect. There will always be challenges, obstacles, and less-than-perfect conditions. So what? Get started now. With each step you take, you will grow stronger and stronger, more and more skilled, more and more self-confident, and more and more successful.
- Mark Victor Hansen
The way to develop self-confidence is to do the thing you fear and get a record of successful experiences behind you.
- William Jennings Bryan
Mental toughness is Spartanism, with all its qualities of self-denial, sacrifice, dedication, fearlessness, and love.
- Vince Lombardi
It's not about the setback, it's about the comeback.
- Robyn Benincasa
Mental toughness is the ability to focus on and execute solutions, especially in the face of adversity.
- Jason Selk
That which does not kill me makes me stronger.
- Frederick Nietsche
Winners never quit, and quitters never win.
- Vince Lombardi
Success is not final. Failure is not fatal. It is the courage to continue that counts.
- Anonymous
It ain't how hard you hit. It's how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward. That's how winning is done.
- Rocky Balboa
This is the mark of a really admirable man: steadfastness in the face of trouble.
- Ludwig van Beethoven
Do not judge me by my success, judge me by how many times I fell down and got back up again.
- Nelson Mandela
I've missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I've lost almost 300 games. 26 times I've been trusted to take the game-winning shot and missed. I've failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.
- Michael Jordan
Keep the big picture in mind and shine your own light
We go through periods in which many challenges come our way, but another aspect of mental toughness comes from seeing beyond the next obstacle and keeping higher-level or longer-term goals in mind. Obstacles provide an opportunity to persevere, win, and do so with honor.
Sometimes it is important that others acknowledge your successes; other times, it is not. Focusing on the big picture helps you to distinguish the two.
Quotes on mental toughness that relate to keeping the big picture in mind and being proud of your accomplishments include:
Mental toughness is doing the right thing for the team when it is not the best thing for you.
- Bill Belichick
Be strong when you are weak, brave when you are scared, and humble when you are victorious.
- Anonymous
Success has a thousand fathers. Failure is an orphan.
- Anonymous
The strongest are those who win battles we know nothing about.
- Anonymous
Nothing can dim the light which shines from within.
- Maya Angelou
Great leaders don’t need to act tough. Their confidence and humility serve to underscore their toughness.
- Simon Sine
Ideapod discusses delayed gratification and keeping a realistic perspective on failure.
https://ideapod.com/10-powerful-ways-build-mental-toughness/
Results from metal sharpening metal / The journey is the reward
Your actions, trials, and attempts to succeed are as important as your successes. Trying makes you mentally tougher, just as metal sharpens metal, and the challenges you once thought were insurmountable became easier to conquer. Working to accomplish something makes you smarter about what to do and what not to do.
Working for success builds mental toughness as the journey becomes the reward. You become tougher mentally as you see former obstacles in the rearview mirror. Just as runners training for a marathon increase their mileage each week and come to enjoy the effort and strain, the same experience is yours when you embrace the journey itself.
The best mental health quotes related to gaining strength through your efforts and embracing the idea that the journey can become the reward include the following:
Pain is temporary. It may last a minute, or an hour, or a day, or a year, but eventually it will subside and something else will take its place. If I quit, however, it lasts forever.
- Lance Armstrong
Everyone wants to live at the top of the mountain, but all the happiness and growth happens while you're climbing.
- Andy Rooney
Your hardest times often lead to the greatest moments of your life. Keep going. Tough situations build strong people in the end.
- Roy T. Bennett
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.
If you want to be tougher mentally, it is simple: be tougher. Don't meditate.
- Jocko Willink
Mental toughness results from being mentally tough
An outcome of being mentally tough is that it makes you tougher. Like a muscle that gains strength through use, mental toughness is a resource that seldom runs short. You can tap into your mental toughness to continue forging ahead.
Among the top mental toughness quotes reflecting the idea that being mentally tough increases your mental toughness pool are the following:
Concentration and mental toughness are the margins of victory.
- Bill Russell
Mental toughness is what separates champions from near champions.
- Anonymous
Tough times never last, but tough people do.
- Anonymous
I learned all about mental toughness on the practice field. If things weren’t working out for me in high school, in college, early in my pro career, my solution was always to work harder and internalize. That way, whenever I got an opportunity, I was always prepared. See, there are a lot of guys who are all talk. They say they want to work harder and be the best, but they never pay the price. I love paying the price.
- Tom Brady
Mental toughness does not involve unethical behavior or having a win-at-all-costs attitude. Instead, it involves identifying your North Star, determining where you want to go and whom you want to be, and then steadfastly working toward those goals. Whether you push an obstacle aside, avoid it, or take it head-on, being mentally tough provides the confidence that you can find a solution regardless of the approach. You have it in yourself to think about challenges correctly. You can face adversity while keeping your eye on the prize, and recognize that every step taken in the mental toughness journey increases your ability to take another step.
The Cleveland Clinic links your mental strength and overall health.
