Phil Ochs Quotes

I'm the kinda person, you gotta fight for everything you get. You gotta believe in yourself.

Having once decided to achieve a certain task, achieve it at all costs of tedium and distaste. The gain in self confidence of having accomplished a tiresome labor is immense.

You have to believe in yourself before anybody else believes in you.

Who cares if somebody dances better? Doing my very best is rewarding internally.

I don't think I could live with myself if I stopped trying.

I learnt a lesson that you mustn't worry what people think if you are achieving your objective.

It's surprising how hard we'll work when the work is done just for ourselves.

I like who I am. I'm different. I work really hard just to be where I am, and I know I'm not gonna stop doing that.

If you don't believe in yourself, then who is going to believe in you?

So much of myself is consumed with earning my way, doing it myself, and never feeling like things are being handed to you. Growing up that way was humbling.

I wanted to prove to myself I can do something on my own. Not for the world, but for myself. To have that self-confidence.

I know nothing comes easily in life and I don't want to make things easy for myself.

There's two things you need to know. One, that you won't quit on yourself, and two, that I've done the work.

Success is not handed to you. You must work hard for it and you must never dishonor what you’ve achieved.

originality and a feeling of one's own dignity are achieved only through work and struggle.

I think high self-esteem is overrated. A little low self-esteem is actually quite good. Maybe you're not the best, so you should work a little harder.

Respect your efforts, respect yourself. Self-respect leads to self-discipline. When you have both firmly under your belt, that's real power.

One of the most important things that teachers teach students is you, you can work harder. You are mentally tougher than you think.

There are few things that you can't do as long as you are willing to apply yourself.

Ali's belief in himself was something I picked up on, and it's become my own philosophy.

Self-actualized people are independent of the good opinion of others.

I believe that anyone can become better, if you put in the effort.

Honor is a gift a man gives himself. You can be as good as anyone that ever lived. If you can read, you can learn everything that anyone ever learned. But you've got to want it.

I will not be concerned at other men's not knowing me; I will be concerned at my own want of ability.

I work as hard as anybody will ever work and I like that. That's why I've been successful and that is when I feel good about myself. If I do my damnedest and don't succeed, I feel good about the effort.