33 Powerful David Goggins Quotes on Motivation From The Toughest Man Alive

David Goggins is one of the toughest men on the planet. He is like movie secret-agents pretend to be. But he didn’t start that way!


David Goggins described his dad as a violent person including everything you imagine when the word ‘hustler’ comes to mind. He was running prostitutes in the US and in Canada, often beating little David and his mother, who fortunately left him when David was 8 years old.

In school wasn’t any better. That’s what the future renowned athlete revealed about his youth in one of the interviews:

‘I came from a horrible background. The KKK headquarters at that time was around 20 miles from where I lived. I was called nigga every day of my life when I was you, I got my first car, they sprayed nigga on it. I was an insecure scared kid.

The best what happened to me is that no one helped me. I had to figure it out on my own!

No one felt sorry for me. I felt I was a kid going nowhere. The way I could turn it all around was to suffer. I had to build calluses on my brain just like how you build calluses on your hands. Callus your mind through pain and suffering.

I did 67 000 pullups to break a world record in pullups. In order for me to be the person that I wanted to become, as I saw myself as the weakest person (that God) ever created. But I never blamed God for that, I believed he had a goal in creating me. I wanted to change that into being the hardest man ever created.

Me sitting there, not going to school, being bullied, having no self-esteem decided that the only person who can turn this person around was me. I decided to put myself into the worse things man can experience in this world had to build calluses in my mind through pain and suffering, to build inside me a brain which can handle anything that comes in front of me.’


He wanted to prove everyone wrong who doubted him. Despite being the world-record holder for the most pull-ups completed in twenty-four hours, he is also a former navy Seal (who went through The Navy-Seal Hell Week three times), United States Air force Veteran, ultra-marathoner, the world’s top endurance athletes, and in general one of the toughest men alive.

  1. “I don’t stop when I’m tired, I stop when I’m done.”

2. “The worst thing that can happen to a man is to become civilized”


3. We are 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.


4. If you’re a person who is stuck in life: figure out how to not be that person anymore.


5. No one is going to come help you. No one’s coming to save you. It’s you against yourself forever.


6. A lot of us have these fears that you don’t want to fucking face.


7. A warrior is a mother-Fucker who says I’m here today. I’m here again tomorrow I’m going to be here the next day.


8. 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.


9. Only you can master your mind, which is what it takes to live a bold life filled with accomplishments most people consider beyond their capability.


10. A warrior is a person who puts no limits on themselves.


11. Normal people are driven when their lives are good. The warrior is motivated when his life is bad, or good.


12. It’s easier to accept the fact that you’re just not good enough. We all have a lot more than we think we have.


13. 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 ‘Forget it, I’m not going to work hard today.’ That’s your choice that you make every single day of your life. Make the right decision.


14. You’ve never fucking made it.


15. If you’re not good enough don’t try something else – make yourself good enough.


16. The other side of quitting is a lifetime of regret.


17. People consuming self-help information look for magic words to change them. There aren’t any magic words. There is only your tolerance to suffering.


18. 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.


19. You have to build calluses on your brain just like how you build calluses on your hands. Callus your mind through pain and suffering.


20. Put yourself in situations that suck. You’ll find yourself real quick.


21. Suffering is a test. That’s all it is. Suffering is the true test of life.


22. You’re going to have to suffer to go from here to there. Most people will never understand the journey.


23. You are giving up instead of getting hard! Tell the truth about the real reasons for your limitations and you will turn that negativity, which is real, into jet fuel. Those odds stacked against you will become a damn runway!


24. 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.


25. Greatness pulls mediocrity into the mud. Get out there and get after it.


26. A lot of us when we have bad times even life, even the hardest person in the world, we forget how badass we are during that hard time.


27. Motivation is crap. Motivation comes and goes. When you’re driven, whatever is in front of you will get destroyed.


28. You can read all the books you want. Unless you have a habit of surviving difficult scenarios, you’ll never thrive.


29. I don’t close my mind to the fact that this can be done.


30. You are stopping you, you are giving up instead of getting hard.


31. 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.


32. Our greatest accomplishments produce mental trophies; not physical trophies.


33. Your spirit lives forever when you die. It’s too powerful to go after a single lifetime.

Patrick Banks
Patrick Banks

Patrick is a Berlin-based dating advisor, motivational speaker, a huge fitness and vegan diet enthusiast and the main editor at Wingman Magazine, specialised in men's health. His ultimate goal is to share with men around the world his passion for self-development and to help them to become the greatest version of themselves. He believes a healthy body and successful social interactions are two main keys to happiness.

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