40+ Motivational Phrases and Quotes for Perseverance

Perseverance is more than just pushing through, it’s a mindset, a habit and often the secret behind every success story.

That’s why people turn to perseverance quotes for a spark of motivation whether they’re facing personal struggles, writing a speech or seeking inspiration. 

From students working on class projects to therapists guiding clients, quotes about resilience find their way into educational settings, recovery journeys and even spiritual reflections.

These quotes are shared on social media, printed in greeting cards and pinned on classroom walls. They’re daily affirmations, fuel for athletes and words of encouragement in tough times. 

Coaches, leaders, bloggers and designers use them to lift others up, whether in workshops, business presentations or creative projects. 

If you’re here to reflect, share, teach or simply boost your own spirit this collection of perseverance quotes is here for you.

• "Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently."
  Henry Ford
  Year: Early 20th century
  
  

• "Great works are performed not by strength but by perseverance."
  Samuel Johnson
  Year: 18th century
  
  

• "Perseverance, the secret of all triumphs."
  Victor Hugo
  Year: 19th century
  
  

• "It's not that I'm so smart, it's just that I stay with problems longer."
  Albert Einstein
  Year: 20th century
  
  

• "Perseverance is not a long race; it is many short races one after the other."
  Walter Elliot
  Year: 20th century
  
  

• "A winner is just a loser who tried one more time."
  George M. Moore Jr.
  Year: 20th century
  
  

• "Perseverance is failing 19 times and succeeding the 20th."
  Julie Andrews
  Year: 20th century
  
  

• "Success is the sum of small efforts, repeated day in and day out."
  Robert Collier
  Year: 20th century
  
  

• "If you are going through hell, keep going." 
  Winston S. Churchill
  Year: Circa 1940s
  
  

• "Fall seven times and stand up eight."
  Japanese Proverb
  Year: Traditional

• "Perseverance, determination, commitment, and courage—those things are real. The desire for redemption drives you."
  Michael Phelps
  Year: 2012
  
  

• "Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent."
  Calvin Coolidge
  Year: 1920s
  
  

• "One form of perseverance is the daily discipline of trying to do things better than we did yesterday."
  Angela Duckworth
  Year: 2016
  
  

• "Patience, persistence and perspiration make an unbeatable combination for success."
  Napoleon Hill
  Year: 1937
  
  

• "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
  Year: 19th century
  
  

• "Courage and perseverance have a magical talisman, before which difficulties disappear and obstacles vanish into air."
  John Quincy Adams
  Year: 1802
  
  

• "Through perseverance many people win success out of what seemed destined to be certain failure."
  Benjamin Disraeli
  Year: 19th century
  
  

• "I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul."
  William Ernest Henley
  Year: 1875
  
  

• "You can't give up your passion if things don't work right away... It's those folks who stay at it, those who do the long, hard, committed work of change that gradually push this country in the right direction."
  Barack Obama
  Year: 2013
  
  

• "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
  Year: Early 2000s

• "Victory belongs to the most persevering."
  Napoleon Bonaparte
  Year: Early 19th century
  
  

• "Keep on going, and the chances are that you will stumble on something, perhaps when you are least expecting it."
  Charles F. Kettering
  Year: Mid-20th century
  
  

• "Life is not easy for any of us. But what of that? We must have perseverance and above all confidence in ourselves."
  Marie Curie
  Year: Early 20th century
  
  

• "The greater the obstacle, the more glory in overcoming it."
  Molière
  Year: 17th century
  
  

• "Difficulties strengthen the mind, as labor does the body."
  Seneca
  Year: 1st century AD
  
  

• "Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall."
  Confucius
  Year: 6th–5th century BCE
  
  

• "Energy and persistence conquer all things."
  Benjamin Franklin
  Year: 18th century
  
  

• "The only real failure in life is not to be true to the best one knows."
  Buddha
  Year: 6th–5th century BCE
  
  

• "He conquers who endures."
  Persius
  Year: 1st century AD
  
  

• "Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts."
  Winston Churchill
  Year: Mid-20th century

• "Patience and perseverance have a magical effect before which difficulties disappear and obstacles vanish."
  John Quincy Adams
  Year: Early 19th century
  
  

• "Patience, persistence and perspiration make an unbeatable combination for success."
  Napoleon Hill
  Year: 1937
  
  

• "Purity, patience and perseverance are the three essentials to success and above all, love."
  Swami Vivekananda
  Year: 1893
  
  

• "Patience and perseverance are necessary in autosuggestion, as well as in everything else."
  Émile Coué
  Year: 1922
  
  

• "Patience brings perseverance."
  Sunday Adelaja
  Year: 2015
  
  

• "If you have infinite patience and perseverance, success is bound to come. No mistake in that."
  Swami Vivekananda
  Year: 1893
  
  

• "Patience is the companion of wisdom."
  Saint Augustine
  Year: 5th century
  
  

• "Patience and perseverance overcome mountains."
  William Penn
  Year: 17th century
  
  

• "Patience is bitter, but its fruit is sweet."
  Jean-Jacques Rousseau
  Year: 18th century
  
  

• "Patience is not simply the ability to wait – it's how we behave while we're waiting."
  Joyce Meyer
  Year: 2003