David Goggins is a remarkable individual known for his extraordinary feats of endurance and mental toughness. His inspirational journey from a challenging upbringing to becoming a Navy SEAL, ultra-endurance athlete and motivational speaker is incredible. He has inspired people around the world and given a much needed pick-me-up to people who are in need of some straight talk and tough love.

David Goggins’ quotes reflect his philosophy of pushing past mental and physical limits to achieve greatness. His emphasis on discipline, hard work and perseverance continues to inspire many to strive for their own full potential. While the kind of “gym-bro,” grind-set content Goggins produces is not for everyone, there are truly some words he speaks that can apply to anyone who is struggling. Every person’s life and circumstances are different, so there is no one way to interpret Goggins’ words.

Check out this list of 50 David Goggins quotes and see what considering this speaker’s thoughts can do for your mind, body and soul. 

David Goggins Quotes for Some Motivation To Better Your Life

  1. “The only thing that I see that is distinctly different about me is I’m not afraid to die on a treadmill. I will not be out-worked, period.”
  1. “Motivation is crap. Motivation comes and goes. When you’re driven, whatever is in front of you will get destroyed.”
  1. “The cookie jar is your identity. If you can change your identity, you can change your life.”
  1. “The human body is the most adaptable thing on the planet. But if you only demand a little bit from it, that’s all you’re going to get.”
  1. “Every morning in our lives, we have a choice to make. You have the choice to stay in bed and say, ‘Forget it, I’m not going to work out today.’ Or you can wake up and say, ‘I’m going to work out for an hour.'”

David Goggins Quotes for Breaking Bad Habits

Breaking bad habits and implementing better ones to improve one’s quality of life is something many of us know we need to do, but still have a hard time doing it. If you are looking for that extra push to remind yourself that you can transform your life if you just try, these David Goggins quotes are essential for you. 

  1. “The only way I was going to get out of that lifestyle was through pain and suffering.”
  1. “Don’t stop when you’re tired. Stop when you’re done.”
  1. “We live in an external world. Everything, you have to see it, touch it. If you can for the rest of your life, live inside yourself – to find greatness, you have to go inside.”
  1. “It doesn’t have to be a New Year’s resolution. It doesn’t have to be January 1st. It doesn’t have to be your birthday. The moment you decide is the moment you take control.”
  1. “The 40% rule is all about how you feel when your mind is telling you that you’re done and that you have nothing left. You’re only at 40%. So don’t stop. Keep going.”
  1. “Greatness pulls mediocrity into the mud. Get out there and get after it.”
  1. “The only way to get better is to face your fears and suffer. If you don’t face your fears and suffering, you will suffer even worse.”
  1. “The biggest thing is to realize you can do whatever you want whenever you want. The biggest blocker in life is the concept of time.”
  1. “The mind is the most powerful thing in the world. The mind has capabilities that are so unknown, and being able to tap into that is on the other side of suffering.”
  1. “If you can get through doing things that you hate to do, on the other side is greatness.”
  1. “We’re all great. No matter if you think you’re dumb, fat, been bullied, we all have greatness. You gotta find the courage. It’s going to be hard work, discipline, and the non-cognitive skills – hard work, dedication, sacrifice – that will set you apart.”
  1. “There is no more time to waste. Hours and days and weeks and years can be lost in the blink of an eye. We have only this moment, sparkling like a star in our hand, and melting like a snowflake.”
  1. “Get comfortable with being uncomfortable.”
  1. “I’m always looking for the next thing that’s gonna make me a little bit better.”
  1. “I wasn’t a good athlete, but because I trained as hard as I did, I became a great athlete.”
  1. “Don’t count on motivation. Count on discipline.”

David Goggins Quotes That Can Help You Improve Your Mentality 

Some say the hardest battles you will ever fight in life are the mental ones. This seems overwhelmingly true as everyone you meet is silently dealing with something that no one else, and maybe they themselves do not understand. Ensuring mental health is tricky but it is so necessary, and these quotes for Goggins are a testament to that. 

  1. “The most important conversation is the one you have with yourself.”
  1. “You will never learn from people if you always tap dance around the truth.”
  1. “If you can see yourself doing something, you can do it. If you can’t see yourself doing it, usually you can’t achieve it.”
  1. “You’re gonna have to go through hell, worse than any nightmare you’ve ever dreamed. But when it’s over, I know you’ll be the one standing.”
  1. “You are stopping you, you are giving yourself permission to be less than you can be.”
  1. “Life is a battle between trying to find more of yourself knowing that the you now is different from the you yesterday.”
  1. “You have to build calluses on your brain just like how you build calluses on your hands. Callus your mind through pain and suffering.”
  1. “When you’re feeling down, your self-talk is very important. How you talk to yourself is going to determine how you feel.”
  1. “Embrace the suck.”
  1. “Your life will be more challenging if you live it with the attitude of ‘I just want to do the minimum to get by.'”
  1. “What changed my life was being brutally honest with myself about where I was in my life and accepting the responsibility for the way my life was.”
  1. “You have to make sure your mindset is right before you go into something.”
  1. “You are stopping you. That’s it. There’s not another person on the planet that’s stopping you from getting what you want but you.”
  1. “You have to be willing to fail. You have to be willing to crash and burn. With people on the outside, they look at it and say, ‘You failed. You’re not good.’ Nobody had the ability to look at me and say, ‘You’re not good.’ That’s something inside of you.”
  1. “Don’t wait until you’re in a dire situation to pray and ask God to help you. Start with yourself now, and build your faith and mentality so that when those difficult times come, you’re prepared to handle them.”
  1. “Make sure your worst enemy doesn’t live between your own two ears.”
  1. “Nobody cares what you did yesterday. What have you done today to better yourself?”

David Goggins Quotes That Can Change Your Perception of Today’s Culture

A part of learning how to cope with this world and the challenges it brings is understanding the world. Goggins’ thought-provoking words on the culture and society of today can hep you understand the people around you more. Additionally, these Goggins quotes are here to remind you that you will never truly understand others, so it is important to prioritize understanding yourself. 

  1. “We all have a lot more to go than we think we do.”
  1. “We like to live our lives in other people’s minds. We like to live in a lot of different people’s minds where we can never be our self.”
  1. “At the end of the day, hard work may not be enough. You still may fail. But you keep going out there and go after it.”
  1. “A lot of us don’t know about another world that exists for us because it’s on the other side of suffering.”
  1. “We like to live our life in other people’s minds. We like to live in a lot of different people’s minds where we can never be our self.”
  1. “When you’re exhausted, weak, and tired and everyone else around you looks just as bad as you or even worse – that’s the time to make a statement.”
  1. “Life is one big tug-of-war between mediocrity and trying to find your best self.”
  1. “If you think you’re safe in life, you’re already dead.”
  1. “The best people in any field are the ones who devote the most hours to what the researchers call ‘deliberate practice.'”
  1. “Pain unlocks a secret doorway in the mind, one that leads to both peak performance and beautiful silence.”
  1. “The purpose of life is to live it, to taste experience to the utmost, to reach out eagerly and without fear for newer and richer experience.”
  1. “People take classes on self-help, mental toughness, breathing control…the first thing they do is avoid the very thing that’s going to bring them all they want.”