Matt Long Quotes

What we face may look insurmountable. But I learned something from all those years of training and competing. I learned something from all those sets and reps when I didn't think I could lift another ounce of weight. What I learned is that we are always stronger than we know.

I've done all my bike circuit cardio workouts when I know I gotta push my numbers higher and I gotta be better than I was before. It sucks. Your body doesn't want to do it, but I've done that. I know I have that in me.

The music of a marathon is a powerful strain, one of those tunes of glory. It asks us to forsake pleasures, to discipline the body, to find courage, to renew faith and to become one's own person, utterly and completely.

I run because it's so symbolic of life. You have to drive yourself to overcome the obstacles. You might feel that you can't. But then you find your inner strength, and realize you're capable of so much more than you thought.

It is not the mountain we conquer but ourselves.

I really believe in the old expression that what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. It's through adversity that you find the strength you never knew you had.

You take yourself to a place where you've got absolutely nothing left and then you find out you have to push yourself one more step. That's a tough place to be in.

When we tackle obstacles, we find hidden reserves of courage and resilience we did not know we had. And it is only when we are faced with failure do we realise that these resources were always there within us. We only need to find them and move on with our lives.

To be able to know that I can push myself a little further than you think you can was so important. And that it's a mental barrier more than anything. You can break through it.

What the SEAL teams do, what our training does, is it chips away the outer that layer and shows you what you're capable of and not capable of.

From the vertigo, I found out how far I can push myself physically and also mentally.

From wrestling, I learned that I was capable of much more than I thought I was.

I had to play the cards that I was dealt to get better mentally, physically, and push myself to limits that I didn't think I was capable of.

Sometimes you stumble when you push yourself harder and you're trying to run faster or whatever. We forgive ourselves, pick ourselves up, and keep running. We don't cry and stop running because we skinned our knee.

In my most painful moments on the bike, I am at my most curious and I wonder each and every time how I will respond.

Running taught me to have faith in my skills as a writer. I learned how much I can demand of myself, when I need a break, and when the break starts to get too long. I known how hard I am allowed to push myself.

I've gone through so much in my life. I should have been dead a long time ago, but I am still here, and I'm the happiest I've ever been.

No matter what, I need to maintain my sense of self and always be true to who I am. And that while there are always going to be roadblocks along the way, you're going to be just fine, as long as you learn from each setback.

Adversity builds character and character takes you places money can't.

I had to change. I had to change was the thought that drove me in those months of planning. Not into a different person, but back to the person I used to be—strong and responsible, clear-eyed and driven, ethical and good. And the PCT would make me that way. There, I’d walk and think about my entire life. I’d find my strength again, far from everything that had made my life ridiculous.

We are all capable of infinitely more than we believe. We are stronger and more resourceful than we know, and we can endure much more than we think we can.

There's something about sober living and sober thinking, about facing long afternoons without the numbing distraction of anesthesia that disabuses you of the belief in the externals, shows you that strength and hope come not from circumstances or the acquisition of things, but from the simple accumulation of active experience, from gritting the teeth and checking the items off the list, one by one, even if it's painful and you're afraid.

I don't know what I was thinking, coming out here. There are no silver bullets in life, there's just the long, messy climb out of the pit you've dug youself.

When you just don't think you can, keep going! Getting through those weak moments is how you become stronger.

A lot of the times we don't see enough of strength. Imagery is obviously a large part of it. I think it's important to see her [Michelle Obama] passion, her complexity, and to see her be challenged. Whether it's about forgiveness, or wanting to do more, it's what it is.