Charles Duhigg Quotes

If you want to do something that requires willpower - like going for a run after work - you have to conserve your willpower muscle during the day.

I vowed I wouldn't ever let anyone destroy me again. I was going to work at it every day, so hard that I would be the toughest guy in the world. By the end of practice, I wanted to be physically tired, to know that I'd been through a workout. If I wasn't tired, I must have cheated somehow, so I stayed a little longer.

I think willpower is very valuable.

If you can keep your wits about you while all others are losing theirs, and blaming you. The world will be yours and everything in it, what's more, you'll be a man, my son.

I am mentally strong.

If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew to serve your turn long after they are gone, and so hold on when there is nothing in you except the will which says to them: 'Hold on!'

When ambitious desires arise in thy heart, recall the days of extremity thou has passed through.

Strength of character does not consist solely in having powerful feelings, but in maintaining one’s balance in spite of them

A lot of things I've done in my life have taken incredible mental fortitude.

When you have a limited theory of willpower, you're constantly on alert, constantly monitoring yourself. 'Am I tired? Am I hungry? Do I need a break? How am I feeling?' And at the first sign that something is flagging, you think, 'I need a rest or a boost.'

Being mentally strong is something I've always been very good at and sometimes you just have to dig a bit deeper.

If you can wait, and not be tired by waiting ... if you can dream, and not make dreams your master; if you can think, and not make thoughts your aim; if you can meet with Triumph and Disaster, and treat those two impostors just the same; ... yours is the earth and everything that's in it...

Those who have nothing have only their discipline.

It seems like the more I punish myself, the better it's been. What it is, I'm relentless and I never give up. I never take the easy way out.

It's just a matter of willpower. The day you decide it's over, it's over. You never get over it.

Watch and pray, dear, never get tired of trying, and never think it is impossible to conquer your fault.

Running alone is the toughest. You get to the point where you have to keep pushing yourself.

Do something everyday for no other reason than you would rather not do it, so that when the hour of dire need draws nigh, it may find you not unnerved and untrained to stand the test.

Endless effort, endless humility, endless modesty.

I have the strength to endure it all.

Firmness in enduring and exertion is a character I always wish to possess. I have always despised the whining yelp of complaint and cowardly resolve.

Not being able to govern events, I govern myself.

I learned to discipline myself to do things I didn't want to do.

Most people want to avoid pain, and discipline is usually painful.

A true champion is one who sweats from exhaustion when no one is watching.