101 Inspirational Quotes — Get Motivated to Workout With These Words of Wisdom

Inspirational quotes are awesome. Whenever I feel unmotivated or not in the mood to get stuff done, I read through a few fitness quotes and I feel ready to go. If you’re looking for some inspiration, a laugh, or you just want to learn a thing or two, then you’ll enjoy the list I put together below.

(If only my backyard looked something like this. I’d be able to get some serious thinking done.)

1. “Don’t give up what you want most, for what you want now.” - Unknown

2. “Do you give as much energy to your dreams as you do to your fears?” - Unknown

3. “People often say that motivation doesn’t last. Well, neither does bathing – that’s why we recommend it daily.” - Zig Ziglar

4. “It’s not about having time, it’s about making time.” - Unknown

5. “You can cheat on your boyfriend or girlfriend but not on your workout.” - Unknown

6. “Those who think they have not time for bodily exercise will sooner or later have to find time for illness.” - Edward Stanley

7. “Pain is weakness leaving the body.” - Unknown

8. “The secret of getting ahead is getting started.” - Mark Twain

9. “Sugar is a type of bodily fuel, yes, but your body runs about as well on it as a car would.” - V.L. Allineare

10. “The real risk is doing nothing.” - Denis Whitley

11. “Good things come to those who work their asses off and never give up.” - Unknown

12. “Luck is a matter of preparation meeting opportunity.” - Oprah Winfrey

13. “Running is one the best solutions to a clear mind.” - Sasha Azevedo

14. “If you don’t make mistakes, you aren’t really trying.” - Unknown

15. “The only workout you’ll ever regret is the one you didn’t do.” - Unknown

16. “Strive for progress, not perfection.” – Unknown

17. “Fitness is not a one-night stand; it’s a long-term, committed marriage. Treat it as such.” – Sohee Lee

18. “You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.” – Wayne Gretzky

19. “The finish line is just the beginning of a whole new race.” - Unknown

20. “You don’t have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step.” – Unknown

21. “You want me to do something… tell me I can’t do it.” - Maya Angelou

22. “Effort is grossly underrated.” - Gary Vaynerchuk

23. “Motivation will almost always beat mere talent.” - Norman R. Augustine

24. “Lack of activity destroys the good condition of every human being, while movement and methodical physical exercise save it and preserve it.” - Plato

25. “Physical fitness is not only one of the most important keys to a healthy body, it is the basis of dynamic and creative intellectual activity.” - John F. Kennedy

26. “Act as though it were impossible to fail.” - Winston Churchill

27. “Sweat is fat crying.” - Unknown

28. “Our health always seems much more valuable after we lose it.” - Unknown

29. “There’s a spirit that grabs me, and it’s in every one of you guys, but the questions is, how much time are we wasting?” - Ray Lewis

30. “If tomorrow wasn’t promised, what would you give for today?” - Ray Lewis

31. “I’d rather be a failure at something I enjoy than a success at something I hate.” - George Burns

32. “I can accept failure, everyone fails at something. But I can’t accept not trying.” - Michael Jordan

33. “A vigorous five-mile walk will do more good for an unhappy but otherwise healthy adult than all the medicine and psychology in the world.” - Paul Dudley White

34. “You were born to win, but to be a winner, you must plan to win, prepare to win, and expect to win.” - Zig Ziglar

35. “Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” - Albert Einstein

36. “If the TV set and the refrigerator weren’t so far apart, some of us wouldn’t get any exercise at all.” - Joey Adams

37. “A lack of exercise robs the body of an essential ingredient.” - Karen Sessions

38. “You live longer once you realize that any time spent being unhappy is wasted.” - Ruth E. Renkl

39. “You have to believe in yourself when no one else does — that makes you a winner right there.” - Venus Williams

40. “I’m trying to do the best I can. I’m not concerned with tomorrow, but with what goes on today.” - Mark Spitz

41. “Success trains. Failure complains.” - Unknown

42. “Ability is what you’re capable of doing. Motivation determines what you do. Attitude determines how well you do it.” - Lou Holtz

43. “Motivation is what gets you started. Habit is what keeps you going.” - Jim Ryan

44. “The difference between a goal and a dream is a deadline.” - Steve Smith

45. “Those who do not find time for exercise will have to find time for illness.” - Earl of Derby

46. “Our health always seems much more valuable after we lose it.” - Unknown

47. “Strength does not come from physical capacity. It comes from an indomitable will.” - Mahatma Gandhi

48. “If you can dream it, then you can achieve it. You will get all you want in life if you help enough other people get what they want.” - Zig Ziglar

49. “The greatest oak was once a little nut who held its ground.” - Unknown

50. “You’re only a workout away from a good mood.” – Unknown

51. “Energy and persistence conquer all things.” - Benjamin Franklin

52. “If it is important to you, you will find a way. If not, you’ll find an excuse.” - Unknown

53. “Be proud, but never satisfied.” - Unknown

54. “Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.” - Ralph Waldo Emerson

55. “The first wealth is health.” - Ralph Waldo Emerson

56. “Eighty percent of success is showing up.” - Woody Allen

57. “If you don’t do what’s best for your body, you’re the one who comes up on the short end.” - Julius Erving

58. “If you always do what you have always done, then you will always get what you have always got.” - Unknown

59. “How am I to know what I can achieve if I quit?” - Jason Bishop

60. “Quitters never win, and winners never quit.” - Unknown

61. “I learned that the only way you are going to get anywhere in life is to work hard at it. Whether you’re a musician, a writer, an athlete or a businessman, there is no getting around it. If you do, you’ll win – if you don’t, you won’t.” - Bruce Jenner

62. “There are no shortcuts in life — only those we imagine.” - Frank Leahy 

63. “If you are going to be a champion, you must be willing to pay a greater price.” - Bud Wilkinson

64. “Champions keep playing until they get it right.” - Billie Jean King

65. “Good, better, best. Never let it rest. Until your good is better and your better is best.” - Tim Duncan

66. “Victory belongs to the most persevering.” - Napoleon

67. “Success isn’t permanent and failure isn’t fatal.” - Mike Ditka

68. “You were made to soar, to crash to earth, then to rise and soar again.” - Alfred Wainwright

69. “If not you, who? If not now, when?” - Garry Herbert

70. “Try and fail, but dont fail to try.” - Unknown

71. “I like thinking big. If you’re going to be thinking anything, you might as well think big.” - Donald Trump

72. “Obsessed is just a word the lazy use to describe the dedicated.” - Unknown

73. “Life shrinks or expands in proportion to ones courage.” - Anais Nin

74. “There are plenty of difficult obstacles in your path. Don’t allow yourself to become one of them.” - Ralph Marston

75. “The harder you work, the luckier you get.” - Gary Player

76. “The man who has no imagination has no wings.” - Muhammad Ali

77. “A man too busy to take care of his health is like a mechanic too busy to take care of his tools.” - Spanish Proverb

78. “When it comes to eating right and exercising, there is no “I’ll start tomorrow.” Tomorrow is disease.” - Terri Guillemets

79. “The mind is the limit. As long as the mind can envision the fact that you can do something, you can do it, as long as you really believe 100 percent.” - Arnold Schwarzenegger

80. “The first step before anyone else in the world believes it, is you have to believe it. There’s no reason to have a plan B because it distracts from plan A.” - Will Smith

81. “The resistance that you fight physically in the gym and the resistance that you fight in life can only build a strong character.” - Arnold Schwarzenegger

82. “No pain, no gain.” - Unknown

83. “I wouldn’t say anything is impossible. I think that everything is possible as long as you put your mind to it and put the work and time into it.” - Michael Phelps

84. “Sometimes it is not the ability to want to work hard that stops us. It is the ability to stay focus that impairs us to work hard.” - Unknown

85. “The body does not want you to do this. As you run, it tells you to stop but the mind must be strong. You always go too far for your body. You must handle the pain with strategy…It is not age; it is not diet. It is the will to succeed.” - Jacqueline Gareau

86. “Being defeated is often a temporary condition. Giving up is what makes it permanent.” - Marilyn vos Savant

87. “Fitness – if it came in a bottle, everybody would have a great body.” - Cher

88. “The body is like a piano, and happiness is like music. It is needful to have the instrument in good order.” - Beecher

89. “Just because you’re not sick doesn’t mean you’re healthy.” - Unknown

90. “I’m not out there sweating for three hours every day just to find out what it feels like to sweat.” - Michael Jordan

91. “Pain is temporary. Quitting lasts forever.” - Lance Armstrong

92. “No matter how good you get you can always get better and that’s the exciting part.” - Tiger Woods

93. “Imagination is more important than knowledge.” - Albert Einstein

94. “A bird can fly as high as it wants but it eventually has to come down to earth and get some water… and when it comes down to get that water that’s when you strike.” – Kimbo Slice

95. “I hated every minute of training, but I said, “Don’t quit. Suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion.”” - Muhammad Ali

96. “It is about what you do when nobody is watching. Can you always stay on your grind, or are you only a star when the lights are on you and everybody is watching?” - Ian Warner

97. “Gold medals aren’t really made of gold. They’re made of sweat, determination, and a hard-to-find alloy called guts.” - Dan Gable

98. “It’s not the size of the dog in the fight but the size of the fight in the dog.” - Magic Johnson

99. “Be patient and tough; some day this pain will be useful to you.” - Ovid

100. “Fear is what stops you… courages is what keeps you going.” - Unknown

101. “A goal properly set is halfway reached.” - Zig Ziglar

Final Note

Which one did you like the most? Do you have a favorite quote that should be added to the list?

Feel free to leave comment below, I’d love to hear your thoughts. Also, I’ve been tweeting a ton of fitness quotes/advice lately. Checkout my twitter @AustinGreen if you want to hear more.