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Top 25 David Goggins Quotes: Inspiration Without The Fluff

Need some tough love to keep you getting up? David Goggins' words won't let you down.
Top David Goggins Quotes from Can't Hurt Me

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Looking for some motivational quotes from the master of self motivation himself?

Next time you are training to run a 100-miler, crush your red-point goals, or just push yourself further than before; read these David Goggins quotes to stay driven and be unbreakable. 

Don’t know who David Goggins is?

Let me give you a hint, he is commonly referred to as one of the toughest men alive. 

Read his autobiography, Can’t Hurt Me, which is full of inspirational David Goggins quotes – you are guaranteed to be inspired, or at the very least awed.

Keep reading for some background or skip ahead to a list of the top 25 David Goggins quotes with images, and a quick summarized list of his top quotes here.



Top 25 David Goggins Quotes Infographic

David Goggins’ Quotes For Taking Souls

Sometimes, we hit a wall. Both life and our adventures can beat us down.

Whether you are struggling to make ends meet, training, starting a new job, or pursuing your passions, things can get tough. 

David Goggins knows hardship. The man has literally been through hell and back, more than once. 

Can’t Hurt Me

David Goggins has often been referred to as the ‘Hardest Man Alive,’ and was the SEAL profiled in Jesse Itzler’s, Living With A SEAL.

In his best-selling memoir, Can’t Hurt Me, David Goggins details his life in excruciating detail.

He triumphed over abuse, poverty, racism, and physical constraints to become one tough hombre. 

As the only service person to ever complete elite training in the Navy, Army, and Airforce; David Goggins is a Navy Seal, Army Ranger, and an Air Force Tactical Air Controller. 

He ran his first 100-mile race with zero preparation or training on splintered bones and put himself into acute kidney failure at the same time.

Later, he went on to set a world record for pull-ups and accomplish many other incredibly audacious feats of mental and physical fortitude. 

What sets this man apart, however, is his infectiously indomitable spirit. 

Take a listen to him here on the Joe Rogan Experience podcast (#1080), it is impossible not to be motivated by this guy. 

Taking Souls & Being Driven

If you like what you heard, his book reads similarly—it’s like one long inspirational speech that you’ll want to read over and over again. 

In Can’t Hurt Me, he talks about the idea of ‘taking souls.’ 

For Goggins, this means triumphing over yourself while taking someone else’s expectation of you and crushing it with perseverance. He uses this method to motivate himself and increase his drive for success. 

Drive, he explains is the differentiating factor in greatness. 

Motivation is the desire, the idea to achieve a certain goal. Drive means you are going to run right through anything standing in the way of that goal. Even if that something is yourself.

Motivation gets you out of bed in the morning. Drive keeps you moving further and faster than you ever thought possible. 

The 40% Rule

Goggins goes onto explain what he believes we are all capable of accomplishing. 

From his own experiences and research, he formulated the 40% rule. 

When your mind tells you it’s quitting time, you are actually only 40% spent. 

In Living A With SEAL, he demonstrated this to the author with pullups. Itzler did 8 pullups. He thought that was all he could do. Goggins showed him how to do 100. 

Become Unbreakable 

Point being, the man is a beast of mental and physical toughness. 

If you are looking for your next motivational wallpaper or some inspirational quotes to get you going on those early mornings, David Goggins is your man. 

Read these inspirational David Goggins quotes, share them with our friends, then get out there and plow through the walls in your life. 

Because, as Goggins put it himself, “At some point we will need some empowering words to keep us focused and deadly.” 

Top 25 David Goggins Quotes

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

David Goggins Quotes

2. “From the time you take your first breath, you become eligible to die. You also become eligible to find your greatness and become the one warrior” 

Top David Goggins Quotes

3. “Greatness pulls mediocrity into the mud. Get out there and get after it.”

Inspirational David Goggins Quotes

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

Top 25 David Goggins Quotes

5. “Mental toughness is a lifestyle.”

David Goggins Quotes For Inspiration

6. “If you choose to do something, attack it.” 

David Goggins Quotes For Inspiration

7. “Never let people who choose the path of least resistance steer you away from your chosen path of most resistance.”

David Goggins Quotes From Can't Hurt Me

8. “The only thing more contagious than a good attitude is a bad one.”

9. “It’s possible to transcend anything that doesn’t kill you.”

Quotes from Can't Hurt Me by David Goggins

10. “Pain unlocks a secret doorway in the mind, one that leads to both peak performance, and beautiful silence.” 

Top 25 David Goggins Quotes About Life

11. “Seeds burst from the inside out in a self-destructive ritual of new life.”

David Goggins Quotes

12. “Nobody cares what you did yesterday. What have you done today to better yourself?”

Top Motivational David Goggins Quotes

13. “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.” 

Top 25 David Goggins Quotes

14. “Be more than motivated, be more than driven, become literally obsessed to the point where people think you’re f*cking nuts.”

Inspirational Quotes by David Goggins

15. “Tell yourself the truth! That you’ve wasted enough time, and that you have other dreams that will take courage to realize, so you don’t die a f*cking pussy.”

Top David Goggins Quotes

16. “Denial is the ultimate comfort zone.”

David Goggins Inspirational Quotes

17. “You are in danger of living a life so comfortable and soft, that you will die without ever realizing your true potential.”

Top David Goggins Quotes With Images

18. “We’re either getting better or we’re getting worse.”

David Goggins Quotes About Progress

19. “Don’t focus on what you think you deserve. Take aim at what you are willing to earn.”

25 Inspirational Quotes

20. “You want to be uncommon amongst uncommon people. Period.”

Best Motivation Quotes by David Goggins

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

Top 25 David Goggins Quotes

22. “We don’t rise to the level of our expectations, we fall to the level of our training.”

Top David Goggins Quotes from Can't Hurt Me

23. “If you’re willing to suffer, and I mean suffer, your brain and body once connected together, can do anything.” 

David Goggins Quote About Suffering And Overcoming

24. “We all need small sparks, small accomplishments in our lives to fuel the big ones […] Because its the small sparks, which start small fires, that eventually build enough heat to burn the whole f*cking forest down.”

Top David Goggins Quotes For Motivation

25. “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.”

Top 25 David Goggins Quotes

Top David Goggins Quotes Summarized

  1. “I don’t stop when I’m tired, I stop when I’m done.”
  2. “From the time you take your first breath, you become eligible to die. You also become eligible to find your greatness and become the one warrior” 
  3. “Greatness pulls mediocrity into the mud. Get out there and get after it.”
  4. “The worst thing that can happen to a man is to become civilized”
  5. “Mental toughness is a lifestyle.”
  6. “If you choose to do something, attack it.” 
  7. “Never let people who choose the path of least resistance steer you away from your chosen path of most resistance.”
  8. “The only thing more contagious than a good attitude is a bad one.”
  9. “It’s possible to transcend anything that doesn’t kill you.”
  10. “Pain unlocks a secret doorway in the mind, one that leads to both peak performance, and beautiful silence.” 
  11. “Seeds burst from the inside out in a self-destructive ritual of new life.”
  12. “Nobody cares what you did yesterday. What have you done today to better yourself?”
  13. “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.” 
  14. “Be more than motivated, be more than driven, become literally obsessed to the point where people think you’re f*cking nuts.”
  15. “Tell yourself the truth! That you’ve wasted enough time, and that you have other dreams that will take courage to realize, so you don’t die a f*cking pussy.”
  16. “Denial is the ultimate comfort zone.”
  17. “You are in danger of living a life so comfortable and soft, that you will die without ever realizing your true potential.”
  18. “We’re either getting better or we’re getting worse.”
  19. “Don’t focus on what you think you deserve. Take aim at what you are willing to earn.”
  20. “You want to be uncommon amongst uncommon people. Period.”
  21. “You have to build calluses on your brain just like how you build calluses on your hands. Callus your mind through pain and suffering.”
  22. “We don’t rise to the level of our expectations, we fall to the level of our training.”
  23. “If you’re willing to suffer, and I mean suffer, your brain and body once connected together, can do anything.” 
  24. “We all need small sparks, small accomplishments in our lives to fuel the big ones […] Because its the small sparks, which start small fires, that eventually build enough heat to burn the whole f*cking forest down.”
  25. “A warrior is a guy that goes, ‘Im 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.”

Feeling inspired yet? We sure hope so.

Now take David Goggins’ advice and get out there and destroy every barrier in your way!

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