Tenacity runs through many themes we discuss on this blog. You might be chasing goals, getting back into your rhythm after being knocked off your stride, or just trying to be consistent day-to-day; whatever it is, it’s tenacity that keeps you moving forward. Our hand-picked list of tenacity quotes is designed to reflect that.
We’re talking grit, purpose, persistence, a never-say-die, nothing’s gonna stop me attitude. Got it!
If you’re building something, your business, career, body, or life…these quotes are for you. Because you can make it happen.
Or maybe you’re working on a presentation for college or work and need some uplifting quotes, that’s cool too.
Definition
What do the defining sources say about tenacity…?
- “The determination to continue what you are doing.” – Cambridge Dictionary
- “The quality or state of being tenacious…Persistent in maintaining, adhering to, or seeking something valued or desired.” – Merriam-Webster
- “If you have tenacity, you are very determined and do not give up easily.” – Collins Dictionary
A little underwhelming. Tenacity isn’t just about drive or pushing through, it means giving your absolute best when the chips are down, with your back to the wall, and then some.
When everyone and everything is saying let go, you keep going despite the obstacles and setbacks. That’s the difference between settling and doing what you need to do.
In Everyday Life
Think about your own experiences, you probably don’t have to go too far back. Most of the time, tenacity doesn’t look glamorous.
- A parent working multiple jobs and attending night school for a better future.
- A first-time entrepreneur who’s been told ‘no’ for the 25th time by lenders and investors.
- The sportsperson who battles through the pain of a long-term injury to regain fitness.
That doesn’t even begin to scratch the surface, everyone has their own stories. People the world over demonstrate tenacity every moment of every day.
Tenacity has a compounding effect over time.
A novice guitarist practices scales when they’d rather be rockin’ out playing some basic chords, but over time learns the skills to play the songs they only dreamt of being able to.
A person who applies for many jobs but consistently gets rejected after the first interview builds up resilience and interview know-how, and eventually lands the stellar role they’d always wanted.
Tenacity is important because it ties in with concepts such as a growth mindset. It’s more than going back and doing the same thing, tenacity is about finding a way, adapting, being flexible, and being open to new approaches. It’s seeing the possibilities with an abundance mentality. That’s how to overcome anything.
Tenacity Quotes: The List
Buckle up and let’s get right into our hand-picked collection of quotes.
To help you scan and skim, quotes are divided into categories. Looking for a specific kind of quote? Use the table of contents below to skip to your favorite theme.
Jump to a Tenacity Quotes Section:
IMPORTANT: Within each section, there are…
- Quotes that include the words ‘tenacity’ or ‘tenacious’
- Quotes that reflect the meaning of being tenacious.
1) Courage and Grit
1.1) Quotes Including ‘Tenacity’/’Tenacious’:
- “The most difficult thing is the decision to act, the rest is merely tenacity. The fears are paper tigers. You can do anything you decide to do. You can act to change and control your life, and the procedure, the process is its own reward.”
— Amelia Earhart - “Being a top performer – whether it’s in business or on the athletic field – requires grit and tenacity, as well as the continuous desire to become better.”
— Amy Morin - “No matter how heavy the challenges we face in our life, embrace optimism, perseverance, tenacity and courage. Never lose faith and hope and a generous heart who live and breathes with a timeless love”
— Angelica Hopes - “Achievement requires more than a vision – it takes courage, resolve and tenacity. All you have got to do is plant that seed in your mind, care for it, work steadily toward your goal, and it will become a reality.”
— Earl Nightingale - “Tenacity is a pretty fair substitute for bravery.”
— Eric Sevareid - “I think entrepreneurship is combining a passion with the tenacity to problem-solve and the fearlessness to fail.”
— Julia Hartz, Co-founder and CEO of Eventbrite - “In a world that is full of people trying to be someone else, the greatest gift you can give is your most authentic self. All of your lifetimes and all of the lessons of this lifetime have led you to where you are now. It has taken courage, determination, tenacity, and strength to be who you are today. There have been many times it would have been easier to run away, and you may even have done it, but here you are today in a space of bravery and trust.”
— Kyle Gray - “GRIT is Guts, Resilience, Industriousness and Tenacity. GRIT is the ability to focus, stay determined, stay optimistic in the face of a challenge, and simply work harder than the next guy or gal.”
— Linda Kaplan Thaler - “The history of the world is full of men who rose to leadership, by sheer force of self-confidence, bravery, and tenacity.”
— Mahatma Gandhi - “The history of the world is full of men who rose to leadership, by sheer force of self-confidence, bravery and tenacity.”
— Mahatma Gandhi - “If we have the courage and tenacity of our forebears, who stood firmly like a rock against the lash of slavery, we shall find a way to do for our day what they did for theirs.”
— Mary McLeod Bethune
1.2) Quotes Reflecting the Meaning of Tenacity:
- “Success means having the courage, the determination, and the will to become the person you believe you were meant to be.”
— George Sheehan - “It takes courage…to endure the sharp pains of self discovery rather than choose to take the dull pain of unconsciousness that would last the rest of our lives.”
— Marianne Williamson - “With courage you will dare to take risks, have the strength to be compassionate, and the wisdom to be humble. Courage is the foundation of integrity.”
— Mark Twain - “Courage doesn’t always roar. Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying, ‘I will try again tomorrow’.”
— Mary Anne Radmacher - “Your whole life can change in a second, and you never even know when it’s coming. When you are tired, exhausted and discouraged. ENDURE. Endurance is rewarded.”
— Ranatta Philip
2) Discipline and Focus
2.1) Quotes Including ‘Tenacity’/’Tenacious’:
- “I don’t have talent, I have tenacity; I have discipline; I have focus. And I know without any illusion where I come from and what I can go back to”
– Henry Rollins - “Your life’s work is to find your life’s work–and then to exercise the discipline, tenacity, and hard work it takes to pursue it.”
– Oprah Winfrey - “Fully commit to being a person of formidable intelligence and tenacity and a champion focused on every aspect of your own life.”
– Germany Kent - “I would just say that I could share what served me, which was trying to find the best material that I could possibly find and make it better. When other celebrities and sports stars, or people that are successful in another area, cross over into movies, they’re always encouraged to bring that same tenacity and that same relentless drive that you had to make it. You have to apply that to acting.”
— Dwayne Johnson
2.1) Quotes Reflecting the Meaning of Tenacity:
- “Happiness is a choice and a conscious creation. It comes from a vision of happiness and a happy life driven by a desire and determination to achieve it.”
— Michele Moore - “Construct your determination with sustained effort, controlled attention, and concentrated energy. Opportunities never come to those who wait … they are captured by those who dare to attack.”
— Paul J. Meyer - “See the positive possibilities. Redirect the substantial energy of your frustration and turn it into positive, effective, unstoppable determination.”
— Ralph Marston - “Victory is the child of preparation and determination.”
— Sean Hampton - “Time can be an ally or an enemy. What it becomes depends entirely upon you, your goals, and your determination to use every available minute.”
— Zig Ziglar
3) Life and Resilience
3.1) Quotes Including ‘Tenacity’/’Tenacious’:
- “To succeed in life in today’s world, you must have the will and tenacity to finish the job.”
– Chin-Ning Chu - “The beginning of Greater things starts as a seed. Passion, willingness to learn and tenacity is the key to rising above the average and the mediocre. Keep pushing and the refinery of life will bring out the Gold within you.”
– Oscar Bim - “The tenacity of life is mind-boggling. We keep finding it where no one thought it could be.”
– Neil deGrasse Tyson
3.2) Quotes Reflecting the Meaning of Tenacity:
- “Everyone needs resilience, because one thing is certain, life includes adversities.”
— Karen Reivich - “To be human is to suffer, and there is profound power in the suffering we endure if we transform it into a more authentic, meaningful life.”
— Steve Leder - “Think of each failure, each heartache, and each loss in your life as a lesson in courage and resilience.”
— Kate Anderson - “Life is not easy for any of us. But what of that? We must have perseverance and above all confidence in ourselves. We must believe that we are gifted for something and that this thing must be attained.”
— Marie Curie
4) Mental Strength and Attitude
4.1) Quotes Including ‘Tenacity’/’Tenacious’:
- “When you develop the tenacity to change your thoughts, you will open the door to where you can go.”
– Bob Proctor - “It’s useful to think of tenacity and willpower on one end of a psychological spectrum—with apathy and depression on the other. Motivation, then, allows us to move up and down that spectrum. It’s not the same as tenacity or willpower, but it enables us to access them.”
– Andrew Huberman - “In order to get the most out of life we must learn consciously to change many of our habitual thought patterns. This is not easy, for our old thought patterns cling to us with great tenacity, but, being thought patterns, they can be reversed.”
– Ernest Holmes - “Tenacity can be defined as the process you use to develop your ability to do your best work and give your best performance (in whatever field you’re in), no matter how hard the conditions you’re facing are and what obstacles you go up against. It’s your ability to keep going no matter how harsh things get without losing your hope, resilience, and optimism.”
– Mike Hogan, entrepreneur and author
4.2) Quotes Reflecting the Meaning of Tenacity:
- “80% of success is Psychology, it’s your mindset, it’s your emotions, it’s your capacity to overcome your fears and limitations and just push yourself anyway. 20% of success in life is knowing what to do, having the skills, or the strategies, the tools.”
— Tony Robbins - “You’ve got to get up every morning with determination if you’re going to go to bed with satisfaction.
— George Horace Lorimer - “Our job as humans is to hold on to the thoughts of what we want, make it absolutely clear in our minds what we want, and from that we start to invoke one of the greatest laws in the Universe, and that’s the Law of Attraction. You become what you think about most, but you also attract what you think about most.”
— John Assaraf
5) Failure and Overcoming Obstacles
5.1) Quotes Including ‘Tenacity’/’Tenacious’:
- “Being tenacious is about telling yourself, ‘I enjoy my process so much that I am able to push through what others normally view as obstacles along the way”
– Gary Vaynerchuk - “The will to do, the tenacity to overcome all obstacles and to finish the course, the strength to cling to inexorable ideals, are all rooted in courage.”
– J. Edgar Hoover - “Tenacity bores failure.”
– Seun Ayilara
5.2) Quotes Reflecting the Meaning of Tenacity:
- “Positive thinking is a valuable tool that can help you overcome obstacles, deal with pain, and reach new goals.”
— Amy Morin - “You may encounter many defeats, but you must not be defeated.”
– Maya Angelou - “Life is truly known only to those who suffer, lose, endure adversity and stumble from defeat to defeat.”
— Anaïs Nin - “If we did not have problems, we would never learn strength. If we did not have struggles, we would never learn resilience.”
— Barbara De Angelis - “You measure the size of the accomplishment by the obstacles you had to overcome to reach your goals.”
— Booker T. Washington - “A failure establishes only this, that our determination to succeed was not strong enough.”
— Christian Nestell Bovee - “Your destiny is not cancelled because of a mistake, because of a failure. Get back up and go again.”
— Joel Osteen - “Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better.”
— Samuel Beckett - “When you reach an obstacle, turn it into an opportunity. You have the choice. You can overcome and be a winner, or you can allow it to overcome you and be a loser. The choice is yours and yours alone. Refuse to throw in the towel. Go that extra mile that failures refuse to travel. It is far better to be exhausted from success than to be rested from failure.”
— Mary Kay Ash - “Stand up to your obstacles and do something about them. You will find that they haven’t half the strength you think they have.”
— Norman Vincent Peale - “Like success, failure is many things to many people. With a positive mental attitude, failure is a learning experience, a rung on the ladder, a plateau at which to get your thoughts in order and prepare to try again.”
— W. Clement Stone - “When you feel insecure or like you don’t measure up, remind yourself of how far you’ve come. And in that moment, you’ll realize you’ve climbed mountains and can overcome anything.”
— Brittany Burgunder
6) Perseverance and Persistence
6.1) Quotes Including ‘Tenacity’/’Tenacious’:
- “Tenacity is not just about persistence; it’s about passion with a purpose.”
– Angela Duckworth - “I think a lot about the word tenacity. What it takes to survive in a world that is sometimes beautiful and sometimes hostile. I’m always amazed at the body’s willingness to continue, to keep going. The heart that keeps pumping, the lungs that keep breathing, the way the will to live can outsmart those other dark voices inside.”
– Ada Limon - “To make our way, we must have firm resolve, persistence, tenacity. We must gear ourselves to work hard all the way. We can never let up”
– Ralph Bunche - “Perseverance can be regarded as a personality trait. To persevere, you need to have the right attitude – an attitude of persistent determination or tenacity. To display a tenacious attitude, you need to keep going whenever you’re feeling tired or discouraged, and never give up”
– Sorin Dumitrascu
6.2) Quotes Reflecting the Meaning of Tenacity:
- “Success is not the absence of failure; it’s the persistence through failure.”
— Aisha Tyler - “Never give up on what you really want to do. The person with big dreams is more powerful than one with all the facts.”
— Albert Einstein - “Energy and persistence conquer all things.”
— Benjamin Franklin - “Ambition is the path to success. Persistence is the vehicle you arrive in.”
— Bill Bradley - “Press on. Nothing in the world can take the place of Persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and Determination alone are omnipotent.”
— Calvin Coolidge - “Always remember that motivation gets you moving, but determination keeps you going.”
— Dr. Prem Jagyasi - “Believe in yourself, take on your challenges, dig deep within yourself to conquer fears. Never let anyone bring you down. You got to keep going.”
— Chantal Sutherland - “The thing that makes for greatness is determination, persisting in the right direction over the long haul, following your dream, staying at the task.”
— Charles R. Swindoll - “Never give up on you. Disappointments will happen. No one gets a free pass from them. Look not at these trials as setbacks. Rather, look at the lessons attached for your greatest personal comeback yet. You’ve got this.”
— Christine E. Szymanski - “Flaming enthusiasm, backed up by horse sense and persistence, is the quality that most frequently makes for success.”
— Dale Carnegie - “With ordinary talent and extraordinary perseverance, all things are attainable.”
— Thomas Foxwell Buxton - “Never give up on a dream just because of the time it will take to accomplish it. The time will pass anyway.”
— Earl Nightingale - “Strength grows in the moments when you think you can’t go on but you keep going anyway.”
— Ed Mylett - “Persistence is very important. You should not give up unless you are forced to give up.”
— Elon Musk - “Never give up, for that is just the place and time that the tide will turn.”
— Harriet Beecher Stowe - “Never give up. Today is hard, tomorrow will be worse, but the day after tomorrow will be sunshine.”
— Jack Ma - “The most essential factor is persistence – the determination never to allow your energy or enthusiasm to be dampened by the discouragement that must inevitably come.”
— James Whitcomb Riley - “A river cuts through rock, not because of its power but because of its persistence.”
— Jim Watkins - “The key of persistence opens all doors closed by resistance.”
— John Di Lemme - “When the goal seems difficult to reach, take a break but never give up.”
— Lailah Gifty Akita - “If you really believe in what you’re doing, work hard, take nothing personally, and if something blocks your route, find another. Never give up.”
— Laurie Notaro - “People who achieve their goals do so with passion, planning, persistence and purpose.”
— Lynda Field - “Success is a function of persistence and doggedness and the willingness to work hard for twenty-two minutes to make sense of something that most people would give up on after thirty seconds.”
— Malcolm Gladwell - “Patience, persistence and perspiration make an unbeatable combination for success.”
— Napoleon Hill - “Never give up. When your heart becomes tired, just walk with your legs – but move on.”
— Paulo Coelho - “Let everything happen to you. Beauty and terror. Just keep going. No feeling is final.”
— Rainer Maria Rilke - “You may be the only person left who believes in you, but it’s enough. It takes just one star to pierce a universe of darkness. Never give up.”
— Richelle E. Goodrich - “Don’t watch the clock; do what it does. Keep going.”
— Sam Levenson - “Never give up on something you really want. However impossible things seem, there’s always a way.”
— Sophie Kinsella - “If you do not have persistence then no amount of education, talent or genius can make up for it.”
— Stephen Richards - “I may stumble. I may fall. I may cry. But I’ll NEVER give up! Tomorrow, I rise again.”
— Steve Maraboli - “Keep at it. Persistence does pay dividends. But there is a catch; you gotta believe it before manifestation will validate conviction as [your] truth. And sacrifice is a required path to fulfillment.”
— T.F. Hodge - “Just keep going. Everybody gets better if they keep at it.”
— Ted Williams - “Let perseverance be your engine and hope your fuel.”
— H. Jackson Brown Jr. - “Perseverance is failing 19 times and succeeding the 20th.”
— Julie Andrews - “It’s perseverance that’s the key. It’s persevering for long enough to achieve your potential.”
— Lynn Davies - “Perseverance is not a long race; it is many short races one after the other.”
— Walter Elliot
7) Purpose and Passion
7.1) Quotes Including ‘Tenacity’/’Tenacious’:
- “In the journey to success, tenacity of purpose is supreme”
– Aliko Dangote - “Luck is tenacity of purpose.”
– Elbert Hubbard - “Being an entrepreneur is my dream job, as it tests one’s tenacity.”
– Gautam Adani - “All excellence involves discipline and tenacity of purpose.”
– John W. Gardner - “Do not give up your dream because it is apparently not being realized, because you cannot see it coming true. Cling to your vision with all the tenacity you can muster. Keep it bright; do not let the bread-and-butter side of life cloud your ideal or dim it.”
– Orison Swett Marden - “Luck is just another word for tenacity of purpose.”
– Ralph Waldo Emerson - “Tenacity is the engine that drives the dream.”
– Unknown Author - “Men never cling to their dreams with such tenacity as at the moment when they are losing faith in them, and know it, but do not dare yet to confess it to themselves.”
– William Graham Sumner
7.2) Quotes Reflecting the Meaning of Tenacity:
- “When you start living the life of your dreams, there will always be obstacles, doubters, mistakes and setbacks along the way. But with hard work, perseverance and self-belief there is no limit to what you can achieve.”
— Roy T. Bennett - “Be daring, be different, be impractical, be anything that will assert integrity of purpose and imaginative vision against the play-it-safers, the creatures of the commonplace, the slaves of the ordinary.”
— Cecil Beaton - “To successfully manifest whatever you most desire in life, you must set a crystal clear intention for it…with resolute focus and unshakeable determination…but without any trace of negative emotional attachment to the outcome.”
— Anthon St. Maarten - “I advise you to say your dream is possible and then overcome all inconveniences, ignore all the hassles and take a running leap through the hoop, even if it is in flames.”
— Les Brown
8) Drive, Strength, and Growth
8.1) Quotes Including ‘Tenacity’/’Tenacious’:
- “Tenacity, even when others might give up, is the seed of drive that, when it matures, gives rise to the undefeatable motivation that defines a warrior.”
– Eldon Henson - “Tenacity is the ability to hang on when letting go appears most attractive.”
– Anonymous - “The first footfalls on Mars will mark a historic milestone, an enterprise that requires human tenacity matched with technology to anchor ourselves on another world.”
– Buzz Aldrin - “A Data Scientists strength lies solely in their tenacity.”
– Damian Mingle - “What I lack in talent, I make up for in tenacity.”
– Don Zimmer - “Tenacity is what it takes to dare unrelentingly.”
– Ernest Agyemang Yeboah - “Tenacity is a virtue only when it serves the right cause.”
– Gerald W. Johnson - “When you’re young, you start looking at what you want to do – not just who you want to be, but what you want to do. And I think the tenacity to say, ‘I’m going to perfect that,’ is the beginning of a work ethic. It’s the beginning of a talent.”
– Goldie Hawn - “For every Pasteur, there must be thousands of people who have had an idea that didn’t pan out, as well as countless others whose ideas were good, but never got traction. Science depends on the tenacity of the person with the new idea, even when others take pleasure in mocking it.”
– Heather E. Heying - “Often it is tenacity, not talent, that rules the day.”
– Julia Cameron - “Almost more than talent you need tenacity, and an infinite capacity for rejection, if you are to succeed.”
– Larry Kramer - “Let me tell you the secret that has led me to my goal. My strength lies solely in my tenacity.”
– Louis Pasteur - “Bulldogs have been known to fall on their swords when confronted by my superior tenacity.”
– Margaret Halsey - “Tenacity isn’t just the most important thing, it’s the only thing.”
– Mavis Leno - “A wedding anniversary is the celebration of love, trust, partnership, tolerance, and tenacity. The order varies for any given year.”
– Paul Sweeney - “Capacity, audacity and tenacity will take you to your mountaintop.”
– Robin Sharma - “Tenacity is when you follow your heart – when the whole world is screaming to get back into your head.
– Sonia Choquette - “With ordinary talent and extraordinary tenacity, all things are attainable.”
– Thomas Fowell Buxton - “Patience and tenacity are worth more than twice their weight of cleverness.”
– Thomas Huxley - “Tenacity is the mother of progress.”
– Valerie M. Hudson - “An investor should ordinarily hold a small piece of an outstanding business with the same tenacity that an owner would exhibit if he owned all of that business.”
– Warren Buffett
8.2) Quotes Reflecting the Meaning of Tenacity:
- “If someone is strong enough to bring you down, show them you are strong enough to get back up.”
— A. Josland - “The only thing a person can ever really do is keep moving forward. Take that big leap forward without hesitation, without once looking back. Simply forget the past and forge toward the future.”
— Alyson Noel - “If you fell down yesterday, stand up today.”
— H. G. Wells - “Hold On. Pain Ends: H.O.P.E..”
— Shyla Colt - “Remember diamonds are created under pressure so hold on, it will be your time to shine soon.”
— Sope Agbelusi - “We must overcome the notion that we must be regular… it robs you of the chance to be extraordinary and leads you to the mediocre.”
— Uta Hagen
9) Success and Achievement
9.1) Quotes Including ‘Tenacity’/’Tenacious’:
- “There can be no success in sales without tenacity.”
– Chris Murray - “There are strong people who aren’t able to climb. It’s about reading the rock, knowing how to position your body, and having the tenacity to not let go.”
– Chris Sharma - “Don’t be scared to dream big, and don’t be afraid to be close to people. And never give up! It’s the tenacious not the talented that win.”
– Bear Grylls - “Tenacity is essential for accomplishment in anything you do. Without drive, determination, and a strong-willed attitude, one’s level of success at many endeavors will be limited in scope.”
– Gabriella Marigold Lindsay - “Tenacious people don’t rely on luck, fate, or destiny for their success. And when conditions become difficult, they keep working.”
– John C. Maxwell - “A brilliant idea doesn’t guarantee a successful invention. Real magic comes from a brilliant idea combined with willpower, tenacity, and a willingness to make mistakes.”
– Lori Greiner - “Tenacity is an underlying drive and determination to achieve something. It’s the unwillingness to give up the pursuit of something you feel deeply driven to accomplish.”
– Danny Doucette - “The pyramid would start at the bottom: you don’t know who you are or what you’re intended to do in life. And so, the X factor – the ingredient that will make you powerful, that will make you successful is your energy and drive and your tenacity. If you’ve got that, there’s nothing in the world that’s going to stop you.”
– Robert Greene - “You get some success. You run into some walls. You try a formula for a new idea, a new innovation, it doesn’t work. And it’s how tenacious you are, how irrepressible, how ultimately optimistic and tenacious you are about it that will determine your success.”
– Steve Ballmer - “At the end of the day, both men and women who become CEOs have showed tenacity and hard work to succeed in their careers. It takes not just skills but also extreme dedication and commitment. And regardless of gender, CEOs are measured by the same criteria – the growth and success of the business.”
– Susan Wojcicki - “We may live in an age of instant messaging, instant gratification and Instagram, but there is no way to short circuit the path to success. It takes hard work, tenacity and patience.”
– Tory Burch - “Success seems to be largely a matter of hanging on after others have let go. That’s tenacity.”
– William Feather
9.2) Quotes Reflecting the Meaning of Tenacity:
- “Success seems to be connected with action. Successful people keep moving. They make mistakes, but they don’t quit.”
— Conrad Hilton - “There is no royal road to anything. One thing at a time, all things in succession. That which grows fast, withers as rapidly. That which grows slowly, endures.”
— Josiah Gilbert Holland - “Desire is the key to motivation, but it’s determination and commitment to an unrelenting pursuit of your goal – a commitment to excellence – that will enable you to attain the success you seek.”
— Mario Andretti - “Success is the child of drudgery and perseverance. It cannot be coaxed or bribed; pay the price and it is yours.”
— Orison Swett Marden - “I’m convinced that about half of what separates the successful entrepreneurs from the non-successful ones is pure perseverance.”
— Steve Jobs - “The price of success is hard work, dedication to the job at hand, and the determination that whether we win or lose, we have applied the best of ourselves to the task at hand.”
— Vince Lombardi - “Aim for success, not perfection. Never give up your right to be wrong, because then you will lose the ability to learn new things and move forward with your life.”
— Dr David M. Burns
Final Thought
Tenacity is about clarity [of purpose], consistency [of action], and belief [in yourself]. It’s a mindset, it’s about finding a way, whatever the circumstances may be.
Words such as perseverance, resolve, persistence, drive, and doggedness are all powerful and meaningful in their own right. But, for me, ‘tenacity’ is an underused gem that sums up what it takes to achieve.
Whether you’re chasing something big or just trying to keep going day-to-day, I hope these quotes give you a little nudge forward in the right direction.
Check out some of our other articles:
- 75 Visualization Quotes to Inspire You Towards Your Goals
- 89 Stoicism Quotes for Better Living in 2025
- Small Wins Quotes for Motivation and Momentum
Tenacity Quote FAQs
What is a quote with the word tenacious?
“Tenacious people don’t rely on luck, fate, or destiny for their success. And when conditions become difficult, they keep working.” – John C. Maxwell
This quote highlights that success comes down to intent and sustained action, and that hard work is the key to overcoming obstacles.
What is a tenacious mindset?
A tenacious mindset is one that refuses to give up, even in the face of adversity. It’s built on resilience, grit, and unwavering focus on a goal.
Can tenacity be a strength?
Yes. Tenacity is one of the most valuable forms of strength—it combines willpower, endurance, and the ability to overcome setbacks.
What is a strong sense of tenacity?
A strong sense of tenacity is the inner drive to persist no matter how hard the journey gets. It’s the voice inside you that says “keep going” when others would quit. It fuels long-term progress.
What is the old quote about strength?
Of all the old quotes about strength, one of the most impactful and enduring is by Friedrich Nietzsche. It suggests that character, toughness, and resolve can be built if we make it through adverse circumstances.
“That which does not kill us makes us stronger.”
– Friedrich Nietzsche