I'll never be Milo. I still train.
Epictetus, Discourses 1.2.37
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Quotes about discipline and grit
For the hard days, the early mornings and the arena. From the people who wrote the book on all three.
- I'll never be Milo. I still train.Epictetus
- Life is wrestling, not ballet. Stay braced.Marcus Aurelius
- Strife is the father of all things.Heraclitus
- Don't let your spirit quit before your body does.Marcus Aurelius
- Nothing is too small to survive if it dares to fight back.Brasidas
- Beating others takes force. Beating yourself takes strength.Lao Tzu
- Stop watching other lanes. Ride your own line.Marcus Aurelius
- A strong fire eats whatever you throw on it.Marcus Aurelius
- What blocks the road helps you along it.Marcus Aurelius
- Up. You were built for the work, not the blankets.Marcus Aurelius
- Act instead of complaining.Marcus Aurelius
- Become a rock. Nothing hits you. Nothing moves you.Miyamoto Musashi
Wear them
Life is wrestling, not ballet. Stay braced.
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 7.61
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Strife is the father of all things.
Heraclitus, Fragment B53 (Diels-Kranz)
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Don't let your spirit quit before your body does.
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 6.29
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Nothing is too small to survive if it dares to fight back.
Brasidas, Plutarch, Sayings of Spartans, Brasidas 1 (219c)
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Beating others takes force. Beating yourself takes strength.
Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching 33
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Stop watching other lanes. Ride your own line.
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 4.18
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A strong fire eats whatever you throw on it.
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 4.1
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All 190
190 lines
A strong fire eats whatever you throw on it.
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 4.1
Up. You were built for the work, not the blankets.
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 5.1
Life is wrestling, not ballet. Stay braced.
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 7.61
自勝者強
Beating others takes force. Beating yourself takes strength.
Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching 33
Don't let your spirit quit before your body does.
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 6.29
I'll never be Milo. I still train.
Epictetus, Discourses 1.2.37
Nothing is too small to survive if it dares to fight back.
Brasidas, Plutarch, Sayings of Spartans, Brasidas 1 (219c)
What blocks the road helps you along it.
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 5.20
Stop watching other lanes. Ride your own line.
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 4.18
ΠΟΛΕΜΟΣ ΠΑΝΤΩΝ ΠΑΤΗΡ
Strife is the father of all things.
Heraclitus, Fragment B53 (Diels-Kranz)
Sit on a stone for three years and even it gets warm.
Japanese proverb, Rigen ruishu: ichigo senkin (1906)
Even an ant's will can reach the sky.
Japanese proverb, Rigen ruishu: ichigo senkin (1906)
If a human can do it, so can you.
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 6.19
Everyone knows soft beats hard. No one lives it.
Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching 78
You become a builder by building. Good by doing good.
Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics 2.1
If you fail, fail going for the right thing.
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 10.12
Nineteen years, thousands of oxen, and the blade still looks new.
Zhuangzi, Zhuangzi 3 (Nourishing the Lord of Life)
Rough opponent? Your coach picked him on purpose.
Epictetus, Discourses 1.24
Ready for any fortune. That's what philosophy gave me.
Diogenes, Diogenes Laertius, Lives 6
大器晚成
The biggest vessels take longest to finish.
Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching 41
Patience gives birth to good things.
Swahili proverb, Taylor, African Aphorisms (1891), no. 499
Even monkeys fall out of trees.
Japanese proverb, Rigen ruishu: ichigo senkin (1906)
鐵杵磨成針
Keep grinding and an iron bar becomes a needle.
Chinese proverb, Shantang sikao 182 (the old woman grinding the pestle)
Inch forward, little by little, like an inchworm.
Yamamoto Tsunetomo, Hagakure, Book 1
Questions
- Where do these quotes about discipline and grit come from?
- Each of the 190 lines links to its own page with the book and passage it comes from, the original-language wording and how it was translated. Nothing is attributed without a source.
- Can I get these quotes on a shirt?
- Yes. 8 of them are printed on our tees and caps, with the Spartan Surfers helmet and our coordinates on every piece. 2 pieces 10% off, 3 pieces 15%, 4 or more 20%. Free US shipping on everything.