David Goggins is an embodiment of a tough mindset and hard work. Due to his inspirational life, we have made a list of David Goggins best quotes! Draw motivation from David Goggins quotes, by the only person to have completed elite training as a Navy SEAL, Army Ranger, and Air Force Tactical Controller.
People nowadays call David Goggins “the toughest man alive”. But his beginnings in life were quite tough. He faced bullying, abuse, racism, and poverty while growing up. A lot of his early life was a struggle when he was a child, but failing the ASVAB was what made him know things needed to change. The quotes by David Goggins give a peek into the mindset that helped him progress.
Short Biography and Top Achievements of David Goggins
David Goggins is known for a lot of things, like ultramarathon runner, ultra-distance cyclist, public speaker and a writer. Here is the timelines of his best achievements:
- In 2004, he set a Guinness World Record by running 135 miles in just one day.
- The following year, he took on the Badwater Ultramarathon in Death Valley, completing the 135-mile race in an impressive 24 hours and 48 minutes.
- In 2013, he went all out despite having injuries, he set a Guinness World Record for the most pull-ups, doing 4,030 in 17 hours.
- Not stopping there, in 2015, he swam over 80 miles in 11 hours, overcoming his fear of water and setting yet another Guinness World Record.
- In 2016, he won the World’s Toughest Mudder by finishing the 24-hour race in under 16 hours.
His accomplishments in sports earned him a place in the International Sports Hall of Fame. Aside from being famous for his extreme endurance, Goggins served as a Navy SEAL, making history as the only member of the U.S. He enlisted in the U.S. Armed Forces to complete SEAL training twice, including two Hell Weeks U.S. Army Ranger School, and Air Force Tactical Air Controller training.
David Goggins has gone through various tough times. From growing up in poverty and abuse to societal racism and failures, he knows how bad life can get. Yet, he’s a Navy SEAL and one of the world’s top endurance athletes.
Through his experiences, he understood that life isn't easy, but the mindset and decisions can shape happiness. Through his quotes, you can channel his strengths to overcome challenges.
Here’s a list of the top 50 David Goggins quotes, books (like “Can't Hurt Me” and “Built Not Born”), and speeches from his interviews and podcasts. Take your time reading them. Think about what they mean.
1. David Goggins Motivational Quotes
Let David Goggins show you what it means to never give up even when motivation fades:
- “The hero is you.”
- “When you think that you are done, you’re only 40% in to what your body’s capable of doing. That’s just the limits that we put on ourselves.”
- “Motivation is a crap. Motivation comes and goes. When you’re driven, whatever is in front of you will get destroyed.”
- “Breaking the shackles and stretching beyond our own perceived limits takes hard fucking work—often times physical work—and when you put yourself on the line, self-doubt, and pain will greet you with a stinging combination that will buckle your knees.”
- “Always be ready to adjust, recalibrate, and stay after it to become better, somehow.”
- “If you want to master the mind and remove your governor, you’ll have to become addicted to hard work. Because passion and obsession, even talent, are only useful tools if you have the work ethic to back them up.”
- “Most of us sweep our failures and evil secrets under the rug, but when we run into problems, that rug gets lifted up, and our darkness re-emerges, floods our soul, and influences the decisions which determine our character.”
- “A lot of us surround ourselves with people who speak to our desire for comfort. People who would rather treat the pain of our wounds and prevent further injury than help us callous over them and try again. We need to surround ourselves with people who will tell us what we need to hear, not what we want to hear, but at the same time not make us feel we’re up against the impossible.”
- “I don’t stop when I’m tired, I stop when I’m done.”
- “No one is going to come help you. No one’s coming to save you.”
2. Inspirational Life and Hard Work Quotes
Life's tough, but these success quotes remind you that with hard work you’re tougher:
- “In every failure there is something to be gained, even if it’s only practice for the next test you’ll have to take. Because the next test is coming. That’s a guarantee.”
- “Be more than motivated, be more than driven, become literally obsessed to the point where people think you're fucking nuts.”
- “A warrior is a guy that goes, I’m here again today. I’ll be here again tomorrow and the next day. It’s a person who puts no limit on what’s possible.”
- “My happiness is my reflection on the suffering during my journey and knowing that I never quit nor was I guided by anybody on this earth.”
- “The Buddha famously said that life is suffering. I’m not a Buddhist, but I know what he meant and so do you. To exist in this world, we must contend with humiliation, broken dreams, sadness, and loss. That’s just nature.”
- “We can’t control all the variables in our lives. It’s about what we do with opportunities revoked or presented to us that determine how a story ends.”
- “My mother was my biggest fan. Whenever I failed in life she was always asking me when and where I would go after it again. She never said, Well, maybe it isn’t meant to be.”
- “Human beings change through study, habit, and stories… when you’re driven, whatever is in front of you, whether it’s racism, sexism, injuries, divorce, depression, obesity, tragedy, or poverty, becomes fuel for your metamorphosis.”
- “We all need small sparks, small accomplishments in our lives to fuel the big ones. Think of your small accomplishments as kindling. When you want a bonfire, you don’t start by lighting a big log. You collect some witch’s hair—a small pile of hay or some dry, dead grass. You light that, and then add small sticks and bigger sticks before you feed your tree stump into the blaze. Because it’s the small sparks, which start small fires, that eventually build enough heat to burn the whole fucking forest down.”
- “Our culture has become hooked on the quick-fix, the life hack, efficiency. Everyone is on the hunt for that simple action algorithm that nets maximum profit with the least amount of effort. There’s no denying this attitude may get you some of the trappings of success, if you’re lucky, but it will not lead to a calloused mind or self-mastery. If you want to master the mind and remove your governor, you’ll have to become addicted to hard work. Because passion and obsession, even talent, are only useful tools if you have the work ethic to back them up.”
3. Mindset Quotes
David Goggins sayings will challenge how you think, and that’s the first step to real change:
- “I never set a goal I can reach”
- “The most important conversations you’ll ever have are the ones you’ll have with yourself.”
- You must recognize what you are about to do, highlight what you do not like about it, and spend time visualizing each and every obstacle you can.”
- “It may be satisfactory, but that's another word for mediocrity.”
- “Are you an experienced scuba diver? Great, shed your gear, take a deep breath, and become a one-hundred-foot freediver. Are you a badass triathlete? Cool, learn how to rock climb. Are you enjoying a wildly successful career? Wonderful, learn a new language or skill. Get a second degree. Always be willing to embrace ignorance and become the dumb fuck in the classroom again, because that is the only way to expand your body of knowledge and body of work. It’s the only way to expand your mind.”
- “I knew that the confidence I’d managed to develop didn’t come from a perfect family or God-given talent. It came from personal accountability which brought me self-respect, and self-respect will always light a way forward.”
- “The vast majority of us are slaves to our minds. Most don’t even make the first effort when it comes to mastering their thought process because it’s a never-ending chore and impossible to get right every time.”
- “Nobody cares what you did yesterday. What have you done today to better yourself?”
- “Your entitled mind is dead weight. Cut it loose. Don’t focus on what you think you deserve. Take aim on what you are willing to earn!”
- “Everything in life is a mind game! Whenever we get swept under by life’s dramas, large and small, we are forgetting that no matter how bad the pain gets, no matter how harrowing the torture, all bad things end.”
4. Overcoming Adversity Quotes
Adversity is inevitable, it happens to everyone and David Goggins has been well acquainted with pain and adversity. His quotes teach us how to turn pain into strength:
- “Denial is the ultimate comfort zone.”
- “The ticket to victory often comes down to bringing your very best when you feel your worst.”
- “Everyone fails sometimes and life isn’t supposed to be fair, much less bend to your every whim.”
- “It takes great strength to be vulnerable enough to put your ass on the line, in public, and work toward a dream that feels like it’s slipping away.”
- “If you’re willing to suffer, and I mean suffer, your brain and body once connected together, can do anything.”
- “Suffering is a test. That’s all it is. Suffering is the true of life.”
- “I had a rough childhood coming up, and I just took all that negative energy and made it very positive for myself to drive me. I'm a very driven person. I have passion that almost scares people, just to be successful and make it no matter what.”
- “You have to build calluses on your brain just like how you build calluses on your hands. Calluses your mind through pain and suffering.”
- “When the ending is unknown and the distance is unknown that's when you know who the fuck you are.”
- “The hard part is getting to that point because the ticket to victory often comes down to bringing your very best when you feel your worst.”
5. Discipline Quotes
David’s words will push you to build the habits that create greatness:
- “From the time you take your first breath, you become eligible to die. You also become eligible to find your greatness and become a warrior.”
- “You are in danger of living a life so comfortable and soft that you will die without ever realizing your true potential.”
- “It's a lot more than mind over matter. It takes relentless self-discipline to schedule suffering into your day, every day.”
- “There is no more time to waste. Hours and days evaporate like creeks in the desert. That’s why it’s okay to be cruel to yourself as long as you realize you’re doing it to become better.”
- “You want to be uncommon amongst uncommon people. Period.”
- “If you want to be one of the few to defy those trends in our ever-softening society, you will have to be willing to go to war with yourself and create a whole new identity, which requires an open mind.”
- “In the military, we always say we don’t rise to the level of our expectations, we fall to the level of our training,”
- “The more things you can do to get outside of that zone that makes you feel good, the stronger your mind is going to get… It’s not fun, but now my mind is used to it.
- “If you can get through doing things that you hate to do, on the other side is greatness.”
- “Don't stop when you're tired. Stop when you're done.”
Final Words
Whenever you feel stuck or down, take a moment to think about David Goggins quotes. Even when you feel low, remember you have the strength to keep going. David Goggins's life is the definition of the end means you’re really just starting. So, keep moving, remember many of our limits are self-imposed, and trust that better days are coming.
FAQs
1. What’s David Goggins's biggest achievement?
David Goggins's best achievements include finishing over 60 ultra-marathons and setting a world record with 4,030 pull-ups in 17 hours.
2. What is the best quote from Never Finished Goggins?
“If I'm lost, I will find myself. As long as I'm on planet Earth, I will not half-ass it. Anywhere I lack, I will improve because I exist and I am willing. Reality can be brutal when all of your excuses are stripped away and you are exposed for exactly who and what you have become, but the truth can also be liberating.”
3. Does David Goggins make a 4x4x48 Challenge?
Yes, he made a 4x4x48 Challenge for ultramarathon runners where you run four miles every four hours for 48 hours. It’s a total of 48 miles, but you get breaks between each run, so it is a hard but manageable ultra-marathon.
4. What are some facts about David Goggins?
Here are some surprising facts about David. In 2021, David had major leg surgery. He got rods and screws to help him heal. He was born with a heart problem. As a kid, he felt bad about himself because of a learning disability and a stutter. Even with serious injuries, he reached his goals. He also lost 100 pounds in three months to join Marine training.
