William H. McRaven Quotes

Never stop fighting until you arrive at your destined place - that is, the unique you. Have an aim in life, continuously acquire knowledge, work hard, and have perseverance to realise the great life.

Willpower is that thing CEOs and professional athletes tell us they used to make it to the top.

I always hustled to make money and pay for school. I was never afraid of hard work.

If four things are followed - having a great aim, acquiring knowledge, hard work, and perseverance - then anything can be achieved.

It's all about your determination, I think, as much as anything. There are a lot of people with talent, but it's that determination.

There is no such thing as a great talent without great will power.

There is no royal road to a successful life, as there is no royal road to learning. It has got to be hard knocks, morning, noon, and night, and fixity of purpose.

To succeed in life in today's world, you must have the will and tenacity to finish the job.

Destiny has a lot to do with it, but so do you. You have to persevere, you have to insist.

Circumstances have rarely favored great men. A lowly beginning is no bar to a great career. The boy who works his way through college may have a hard time of it, but he will learn how to work his way in life, and will usually take higher rank in school and in after life than his classmate who is the son of a millionaire.

You can get through anything if you want it bad enough.

I ran and ran and ran every day, and I acquired this sense of determination, this sense of spirit that I would never, never give up, no matter what else happened.

I couldn't buy my way - I had to work my way. What a great quote: 'I couldn't buy my way into success, I had to work my way into success.'

That is not enough. Sport has been great for me, a great learning place that if you want to achieve you can, even if you are from the poorest part of Africa.

As an older and wiser man, I don't believe in luck. I believe in hard work and talent and determination.

The one thing you realize if you're going to be successful - no matter where you grew up, no matter what your educational level is - A. You can succeed, but B. The only way you're going to succeed is by outworking everyone else.

I see myself as the product of hard work.

To me, the most shocking thing about grit is how little we know, how little science knows, about building it. Every day, parents and teachers ask me, 'How do I build grit in kids? What do I do to teach kids a solid work ethic? How do I keep them motivated for the long run?' The honest answer is, I don't know.

I put myself through college.

I don't want anything handed to me, I want to work for everything I have... that's the way I've done everything in my life.

I'm very strong mentally. I have a lot of character. I never give in; I always have the drive to keep going and to work hard to achieve my goals.

I'm proud of my hard work. Working hard won't always lead to the exact things we desire. There are many things I've wanted that I haven't always gotten. But, I have a great satisfaction in the blessings from my mother and father, who instilled a great work ethic in me both personally and professionally.

I believe that rewards in life are deserved. Every reward is the fruit of discipline, of dedication and of sacrifices. And of stubbornness.

Willpower is so common among highly successful people that many see its characteristics as synonymous with success.

Never complain or make excuses. If something seems unfair, just prove yourself by working twice as hard and being twice as good.