Perseverance is more than just pushing through—it’s the foundation for turning obstacles into stepping stones and dreams into accomplishments.
It’s what keeps us grounded in tough times and fuels our drive to achieve, no matter the odds.
But why does perseverance matter so much, and how can we cultivate it?
Perseverance isn’t just a skill—it’s a mindset that shapes how we approach challenges.
It builds resilience, helping us bounce back when things get tough, and ensures that setbacks become lessons instead of barriers.
For students, perseverance is critical to success; it teaches them to navigate academic pressures and life’s inevitable roadblocks with determination and confidence.
In this post, we’ve gathered over 100 powerful quotes on perseverance from authentic sources to keep you inspired.
These quotes are categorized to resonate with your journey—whether you’re tackling personal goals, professional challenges, or creative pursuits.
If you’re looking to dive deeper into building a growth-focused mindset, check out some of our other popular posts:
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- What Students Should Know About Building Self-Discipline The Easy Way: Discover simple strategies to stay focused and achieve your goals without the overwhelm.
- Empower Your Student Journey With 100+ Daily Affirmations: Boost your confidence and motivation with affirmations designed to support your success.
These posts complement the perseverance journey, offering actionable insights and inspiration to help you stay determined, grow, and thrive. Dive in and empower yourself today!
Perseverance In The Face Of Challenges
1. “It always seems impossible until it’s done.” – Nelson Mandela
2. “Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.” – Thomas Edison
3. “Success is not final, failure is not fatal: It is the courage to continue that counts.” – Winston Churchill
4. “The greater the obstacle, the more glory in overcoming it.” – Molière
5. “Perseverance is not a long race; it is many short races one after the other.” – Walter Elliot
6. As I look back on my life, I realize that every time I thought I was being rejected from something good, I was actually being redirected to something better. – Dr. Steve Maraboli
7. “A winner is just a loser who tried one more time.” – George M. Moore Jr.
8. “Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently.” – Henry Ford
9. “When you feel like quitting, remember why you started.” – Anonymous
10. “Perseverance is the hard work you do after you get tired of doing the hard work you already did.” – Newt Gingrich
11. “Success seems to be largely a matter of hanging on after others have let go.” – William Feather
12. “Fall seven times, stand up eight.” – Japanese Proverb
13. “The man who moves a mountain begins by carrying away small stones.” – Confucius
14. “Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.” – Thomas Edison
Perseverance And Hard Work
15. “Energy and persistence conquer all things.” – Benjamin Franklin
16. “Dreams don’t work unless you do.” – John C. Maxwell
17. “Patience, persistence, and perspiration make an unbeatable combination for success.” – Napoleon Hill
18. “The only way to do great work is to love what you do.” – Steve Jobs
19. “Hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard.” – Tim Notke
20. “The harder you work for something, the greater you’ll feel when you achieve it.” – Anonymous
21. “Success is the sum of small efforts, repeated day in and day out.” – Robert Collier
22. “Success usually comes to those who are too busy to be looking for it.” – Henry David Thoreau
23. “Without labor, nothing prospers.” – Sophocles
24. “The key to success is to focus on goals, not obstacles.” – Anonymous
25. “Great things are not done by impulse, but by a series of small things brought together.” – Vincent van Gogh
26. “Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can.” – Arthur Ashe
27. “The secret of getting ahead is getting started.” – Mark Twain
28. “Success is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure.” – Colin Powell
Quotes For When You Feel Like Giving Up
29. “Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
30. “You just can’t beat the person who won’t give up.” – Babe Ruth
31. “Never give up on a dream just because of the time it will take to accomplish it. The time will pass anyway.” – Earl Nightingale
32. “Perseverance is failing 19 times and succeeding the 20th.” – Julie Andrews
33. “There is no failure except in no longer trying.” – Chris Bradford
34. “Keep your face always toward the sunshine—and shadows will fall behind you.” – Walt Whitman
35. “The difference between a successful person and others is not a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but rather a lack in will.” – Vince Lombardi
36. “What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
37. “If you can dream it, you can do it.” – Walt Disney
38. “The only limit to our realization of tomorrow is our doubts of today.” – Franklin D. Roosevelt
39. “Do not wait to strike till the iron is hot, but make it hot by striking.” – William Butler Yeats
40. “You may have to fight a battle more than once to win it.” – Margaret Thatcher
41. “You may encounter many defeats, but you must not be defeated.” – Maya Angelou
Perseverance And Personal Growth
42. “What you get by achieving your goals is not as important as what you become by achieving your goals.” – Zig Ziglar
43. “Success is not how high you have climbed, but how you make a positive difference to the world.” – Roy T. Bennett
44. “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.” – Aristotle
45. “Don’t watch the clock; do what it does. Keep going.” – Sam Levenson
46.“If you’re going through hell, keep going.” – Winston Churchill
47. “You don’t have to be great to start, but you have to start to be great.” – Zig Ziglar
48. “Success isn’t always about greatness. It’s about consistency. Consistent hard work leads to success. Greatness will come.” – Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson
49. “It always seems impossible until it’s done.” – Nelson Mandela
50. “The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.” – Eleanor Roosevelt
51. “Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life.” – Steve Jobs
52. “It’s not whether you get knocked down, it’s whether you get up.” – Vince Lombardi
53. “Your limitation—it’s only your imagination.” – Anonymous
54. “Hardships often prepare ordinary people for an extraordinary destiny.” – C.S. Lewis
55. “Strive not to be a success, but rather to be of value.” – Albert Einstein
56. “Don’t wait. The time will never be just right.” – Napoleon Hill
Perseverance In Creativity And Innovation
57. “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” – Thomas Edison
58. “The only way to achieve the impossible is to believe it is possible.” – Charles Kingsleigh, Alice in Wonderland
59. “Success is not in what you have, but who you are.” – Bo Bennett
60. “Every artist was first an amateur.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
61. “Creativity takes courage.” – Henri Matisse
62. “Do not be embarrassed by your failures, learn from them and start again.” – Richard Branson
63. “Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work.” – Steve Jobs
64. “Do one thing every day that scares you.” – Eleanor Roosevelt
65. “There are no shortcuts to any place worth going.” – Beverly Sills
66. “Keep going. Be all in.” – Bryan Hutchinson
67. “Do not wait; the time will never be ‘just right.’” – Napoleon Hill
68. “The road to success and the road to failure are almost exactly the same.” – Colin R. Davis
69. “Make the most of yourself… for that is all there is of you.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
70. “Do not stop thinking of life as an adventure. You have no security unless you can live bravely, excitingly, imaginatively; unless you can choose a challenge instead of competence.” – Eleanor Roosevelt
71. “It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop.” – Confucius
Quotes About Persistence From Historical Figures
72. “The only thing that overcomes hard luck is hard work.” – Harry Golden
73. “You must not only aim right, but draw the bow with all your might.” – Henry David Thoreau
74. “With ordinary talent and extraordinary perseverance, all things are attainable.” – Thomas Fowell Buxton
75. “Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.” – Thomas Edison
76. “Great works are performed not by strength but by perseverance.” – Samuel Johnson
77. “The people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do.” – Rob Siltanen
78. “Start by doing what’s necessary; then do what’s possible; and suddenly you are doing the impossible.” – Francis of Assisi
79. “Success seems to be connected with action. Successful people keep moving. They make mistakes, but they don’t quit.” – Conrad Hilton
80. “You can do anything you set your mind to.” – Benjamin Franklin
81. “It’s not what happens to you, but how you react to it that matters.” – Epictetus
Quotes On Resilience And Inner Strength
82. “Strength does not come from physical capacity. It comes from an indomitable will.” – Mahatma Gandhi
83. “Resilience is knowing that you are the only one that has the power and the responsibility to pick yourself up.” – Mary Holloway
84. “Life doesn’t get easier or more forgiving; we get stronger and more resilient.” – Steve Maraboli
85. “The oak fought the wind and was broken, the willow bent when it must and survived.” – Robert Jordan
86. “Although the world is full of suffering, it is also full of the overcoming of it.” – Helen Keller
87. “Persistence and resilience only come from having been given the chance to work through difficult problems.” – Gever Tulley
88. “You may have to fight a battle more than once to win it.” – Margaret Thatcher
89. “She stood in the storm, and when the wind did not blow her way, she adjusted her sails.” – Elizabeth Edwards
90. “The human capacity for burden is like bamboo—far more flexible than you’d ever believe at first glance.” – Jodi Picoult
91. “Do not pray for an easy life, pray for the strength to endure a difficult one.” – Bruce Lee
Quotes From Sports Icons About Perseverance
92. “Champions keep playing until they get it right.” – Billie Jean King
93. “I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.” – Michael Jordan
94. “Pain is temporary. It may last a minute, an hour, or a day, but eventually, it will subside, and something else will take its place. If I quit, however, it lasts forever.” – Lance Armstrong
95. “You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.” – Wayne Gretzky
96. “The difference between the impossible and the possible lies in a person’s determination.” – Tommy Lasorda
97. “The more difficult the victory, the greater the happiness in winning.” – Pelé
98. “A champion is someone who gets up when he can’t.” – Jack Dempsey
99. “Gold medals aren’t really made of gold. They’re made of sweat, determination, and a hard-to-find alloy called guts.” – Dan Gable
100. “I hated every minute of training, but I said, ‘Don’t quit. Suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion.’” – Muhammad Ali
101. “Set your goals high, and don’t stop till you get there.” – Bo Jackson
Philosophical Quotes On Perseverance
102. “He who has a why to live can bear almost any how.” – Friedrich Nietzsche
103. “What we achieve inwardly will change outer reality.” – Plutarch
104. “Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.” – Confucius
105. “Difficulties strengthen the mind, as labor does the body.” – Seneca
106. “Do not pray for tasks equal to your powers. Pray for powers equal to your tasks.” – Phillips Brooks
107. “The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing.” – Walt Disney
108. “Permanence, perseverance and persistence in spite of all obstacles, discouragements, and impossibilities: It is this, that in all things distinguishes the strong soul from the weak.” – Thomas Carlyle
109. “Adversity causes some men to break; others to break records.” – William Arthur Ward
110. “First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.” – Mahatma Gandhi
111. “Fortune favors the brave.” – Virgil
Quotes About Perseverance For Entrepreneurs
112. “Success is stumbling from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm.” – Winston Churchill
113. “Timing, perseverance, and ten years of trying will eventually make you look like an overnight success.” – Biz Stone
114. “Perseverance is a great element of success. If you only knock long enough and loud enough at the gate, you are sure to wake somebody up.” – Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
115. “Entrepreneurship is living a few years of your life like most people won’t so that you can spend the rest of your life like most people can’t.” – Anonymous
116. “Don’t be afraid to give up the good to go for the great.” – John D. Rockefeller
117. “Opportunities don’t happen. You create them.” – Chris Grosser
118. “I’m convinced that about half of what separates the successful entrepreneurs from the non-successful ones is pure perseverance.” – Steve Jobs
119. “Do not be embarrassed by your failures; learn from them and start again.” – Richard Branson
120. “Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning.” – Bill Gates
Timeless Proverbs About Perseverance
121. “Little by little, one travels far.” – J.R.R. Tolkien
122. “When the going gets tough, the tough get going.” – Joseph P. Kennedy
123. “Big shots are only little shots who kept shooting.” – Christopher Morley
124. “He conquers who endures.” – Persian Proverb
125. “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.” – African Proverb
126. “Smooth seas do not make skillful sailors.” – African Proverb
127. “Patience is bitter, but its fruit is sweet.” – Aristotle
128. “Even the darkest night will end and the sun will rise.” – Victor Hugo
129. “Rome wasn’t built in a day.” – Latin Proverb
130. “The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.” – Lao Tzu
Final Thoughts On Perseverance
Perseverance is more than enduring challenges—it’s the quiet strength that fuels progress, the resilience that turns setbacks into stepping stones, and the hope that keeps dreams alive.
Whether you’re facing a momentary hurdle or navigating a long, uncertain path, let these quotes serve as a reminder of your inner strength and capacity to grow.
Take these words with you, let them inspire your next step, and remember: every effort, no matter how small, brings you closer to the life you envision.
Stay focused, stay resilient, and keep moving forward—you’re capable of more than you know.