16 Badass Quotes That’ll Get You Up Off the Couch and Hitting the Grind
Everyone has bad days. This is true whether you’ve just begun your journey towards badassery or whether you're a seasoned veteran. It’s even true of the great badasses that we look up to from history.
Those days – the ones where you feel heavier and can’t drag yourself out of bed or off the couch to do the shit you know you should be doing – they’re normal. It’s human to have them.
But just because it’s a human tendency, doesn’t mean you have an excuse to give in. Not at all. In fact, badassery is about rebelling against exactly that feeling.
And one useful way I’ve found to do this is by exposing yourself to something that you know will get you jazzed up. Something that will inspire you enough to get up and start building momentum.
With that in mind, here are 15 of my favourite badass quotes – both the real and the fictional.
1. “If you would not be forgotten as soon as you are dead and rotten, either write things worth reading, or do things worth writing.”
~Benjamin Franklin
To me, this quote is a healthy reminder to live fully. Have adventures, build skills, create things you’re proud of.
This isn’t just the key to impacting other people and being remembered. It’s also the key to fulfilment and enjoying yourself along the way.
2. “Peace has cost you your strength. Victory has defeated you!”
~Bane, The Dark Knight Rises
This quote serves as a great reminder for me that discomfort means you’re on the right track.
If you aren’t pushing yourself through pain and difficulty, you’re probably leaving some growth on the table. If you want to be strong and successful, difficulty is a necessity.
Peace will sometimes be necessary. We all need moments to rest and reflect, after all. But be careful to avoid lingering there too long. That complacency might cost you your strength.
3. “There has been a constant war, a war with fear. Those who have the courage to conquer it are made free.”
~ Alexander the Great
For thousands of years, great men have known the truth – your biggest enemy is your own mind. Fear holds you back far more than other people or societal systems ever will.
If you can overcome the common fears of discomfort and social judgement, you’ll grow x10 faster.
4. "You are in danger of living a life so comfortable and soft that you will die without ever realising your true potential."
~David Goggins
Another reminder, from the king of ‘growth through suffering’, that difficulty is the key to a good life.
Put yourself through challenges. Do long, difficult workouts. Try new things. Face up to your fears.
It’s only by doing this that you’ll have any chance of reaching your potential.
5. “All the ways you wish you could be, that's me. I look like you wanna look, I fuck like you wanna fuck, I am smart, capable, and most importantly, I am free in all the ways that you are not.”
~Tyler Durden, Fight Club
***FIGHT CLUB SPOILERS***
Stop now if you haven’t watched the movie yet (seriously, if you haven’t, leave that rock you’ve been hiding under and go watch it now.).
This one becomes powerful once you learn the big twist: that Tyler Durden is a manifestation of the protagonist’s own mind. He was so tired of living a mediocre life that he created an idealised version of himself and started living through it.
Obviously, it’s important to acknowledge the mental health angle here – I’m certainly not glorifying delusion or genuine psychological conditions, nor am I suggesting people should start underground revolutionist fighting cults.
But there’s definitely some inspiration to be taken here. Maybe the only thing stopping you from becoming the man you want to be is your own mental limitations and beliefs.
Maybe if you were able to let all of that shit go for a moment, you’d be able to steer yourself in a direction you’ve always wanted to go. Food for thought.
6. “Today is victory over yourself of yesterday; tomorrow is your victory over lesser men.”
~Miyamoto Musashi
This is one of my favourite badass quotes from Miyamoto Musashi, a legendary Japanese samurai. I think it’s a powerful message, as a reminder that the work you do today leads to the benefits you reap tomorrow.
All you have is now, so get to work. Get your workout in. Read another few chapters. Work on that project. These are the things that will push you ahead of lesser men.
7. “Death smiles at us all. All a man can do is smile back.”
~Maximus, Gladiator
Although it’s from the blockbuster movie – Gladiator – this quote is incredibly appropriate, given how accurately it seems to portray Marcus Aurelius’s real-life Stoic philosophy.
Just like the quote suggests, a big part of this philosophy involves contemplating your own mortality, something which for many people, appears morbid but actually feels quite liberating.
It tends to put things in perspective and remind you of what truly matters – the things you care about and how little time you have to pursue and enjoy them.
8. “It is said that the warrior’s way is the twofold way of pen and sword, and he should have a taste for both ways.”
~Miyamoto Musashi
I love this quote because of how accurately it represents the need to be widely capable across disciplines. A man who’s physically capable but mentally weak is incomplete, and vice versa.
To truly become a badass, you must become both a scholar and a warrior. A thinker and a doer.
9. “We’re all stories in the end. Just make it a good one, eh.”
~The Doctor, Doctor Who
Another reminder to live fully; there’s definitely a running theme to this list, huh?
Remember, most of the details don’t matter. Most of the small moments will be forgotten. What does matter is the larger narrative. When you reach the end, what did you accomplish and how did you make people feel?
Those are the things that count. And therefore, those are the things you should do your best to focus on each day.
10. “The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man who lives fully is prepared to die at any time.”
~Mark Twain
Another Stoic reminder to be aware of your own mortality.
Remember that you’re going to die and time is limited. In turn, allow this to prompt you to make things happen. As Andy Dufresne said in Shawshank Redemption, “Get busy living or get busy dying.”
11. “Do not go gentle into that good night; Old age should burn and rave at close of day. Rage, rage against the dying of the light.”
~Dylan Thomas
A brilliant poem made famous by its use in the hit science-fiction movie, Interstellar. I consider it a beautiful encouragement to persist in spite of difficulty.
It doesn’t matter if you feel like you’re too old, or you’ve missed your chance, or you’ve already failed and don’t have what it takes. None of that matters. Try again, with gusto.
Don’t go out gently. Rage against the dying of the light.
12. “Discipline is your best friend. It will take care of you like nothing else can.”
~Jocko Willink
Forget all the new age self-care bullshit. Forget mental health days and ‘treating yourself’.
The real self-care is discipline. It’s doing the things you know you should be doing, when you should be doing them. It’s the metaphorical ‘making your kids eat their vegetables before dessert’.
Discipline is the thing that makes life better for future you. It’s the best self-care there is.
13. “This task was appointed to you. And if you do not find a way, no one will.”
~Galadriel, The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
Although Frodo did actually have a special assignment given to him by a wise, old wizard, I think this quote is useful for its broader meaning.
Think about it in the context of the challenges in your life. Your challenges are your own. They were assigned to you. If you don’t find a way to conquer them, no one will.
Said another way: no one’s coming to help you. It’s scary, I know. But the truth. Get to work.
14. “The question isn’t who is going to let me: it’s who is going to stop me.”
~Ayn Rand
A helpful reminder that we’re often the ones who hold ourselves back the most. If you find yourself hesitating to pursue something, ask yourself this question – will anyone stop you?
9 times out of 10, the only person who’ll stop you is yourself.
It can be scary to view yourself as the enemy, but also liberating. If you can get out of your own way, no one will stop you from getting the things you want.
15. “There is nothing outside of yourself that can ever enable you to get better, stronger, richer, quicker or smarter. Everything is within. Everything exists. Seek nothing outside of yourself.”
~Miyamoto Musashi
I know, I know… I could get away with two Musashi quotes, but 3!? Sorry, I had no choice – basically everything the man wrote down was badass.
This quote is so powerful that I have it up on my wall, to remind me not only that I can improve but that I have all the tools I need already.
This isn’t to say that there won’t be things you need to learn or knowledge you need to accumulate. It’s a mere reminder that you aren’t lacking any of the necessary ingredients. A powerful idea.
16. “It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”
~Theodore Roosevelt
A long one, but a great quote to end with, I think.
Roosevelt, a man who endured many hardships throughout his life, had great failures and great successes, reminds us to keep things in perspective.
People will talk. Sometimes they won’t approve of the things you do or say. Sometimes they’ll comment or criticise. But it’s all noise.
What matters is that you’re in the arena trying to accomplish something. Trying to live. That’s worth far more than anything they have to say.
So, what are you waiting for?
Inspirational, badass quotes are only worthwhile if they drive you to accomplish something. You’ve indulged. Now get up and get moving. Use this fuel to become badass.