50 Inspirational Quotes for Running: Fuel Your Motivation and Keep Moving

"Some run to see who is fastest. I run to see who has the most guts."

- Steve Prefontaine

"The miracle isn’t that I finished. The miracle is that I had the courage to start."

- John Bingham

"In running, it doesn’t matter whether you come in first, in the middle of the pack, or last. You can say, ‘I have finished.’ There is a lot of satisfaction in that."

- Fred Lebow

"Running is the greatest metaphor for life, because you get out of it what you put into it."

- Oprah Winfrey

"I've failed over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed."

- Michael Jordan

"Run when you can, walk if you have to, crawl if you must, just never give up."

- Dean Karnazes

"Running has always been a relief and a sanctuary—something that makes me feel good, both physically and mentally. For me, it’s not so much about the health benefits. Those are great, but I believe that the best thing about running is the joy it brings to life."

- Kara Goucher

"It hurts, but that’s all it does. The most difficult part of the training is training your mind. You build calluses on your feet to endure the road. You build calluses on your mind to endure the pain. There’s only one way to do that. You have to get out there and run."

- David Goggins

"Run when you can, walk if you have to, crawl if you must; just never give up."

- Dean Karnazes

"Running is the greatest metaphor for life because you get out of it what you put into it."

- Oprah Winfrey

"The body achieves what the mind believes."

- Florence Griffith Joyner

"It’s very hard in the beginning to understand that the whole idea is not to beat the other runners. Eventually, you learn that the competition is against the little voice inside you that wants you to quit."

- George Sheehan

"To give anything less than your best is to sacrifice the gift."

- Steve Prefontaine

"Most people run a race to see who is fastest. I run a race to see who has the most guts."

- Steve Prefontaine

"I don’t run to add days to my life, I run to add life to my days."

- Ronald Rook

"It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop."

- Confucius

"Our running shoes have magic in them. The power to transform a bad day into a good day; frustration into speed; self-doubt into confidence; chocolate cake into muscle."

- Mina Samuels

"Fast running isn’t forced. You have to relax and let the run come out of you."

- Desiree Linden

"You can’t be upset at the results you didn’t get for the work you didn’t do."

- Jess Sims

"Never limit where running can take you. I mean that geographically, spiritually, and of course, physically."

- Bart Yasso

"What I've learned from running is that the time to push hard is when you're hurting like crazy and you want to give up. … Success is often just around the corner."

- James Dyson

"Every run is a work of art, a drawing on each day’s canvas. Some runs are shouts and some runs are whispers. Some runs are eulogies and others celebrations."

- Dagny Scott Barrios

"Train smart. Train hard. Have fun!"

- Matt Wilpers

"If it doesn’t challenge you, it doesn’t change you."

- Fred Devito

"We all have bad days and bad workouts, when running gets ugly, when split times seem slow, when you wonder why you started. It will pass."

- Hal Higdon

"You are truly your own hero in running. It is up to you to have the responsibility and self–discipline to get the job done."

- Adam Goucher

"I’ve learned that it’s what you do with the miles, rather than how many you’ve run"

- Rod DeHaven

"The pain you feel today will show itself as strength tomorrow."

- Tunde Oyeneyin

"Mental will is a muscle that needs exercise, just like the muscles of the body."

- Lynn Jennings

"It was being a runner that mattered, not how fast or how far I could run. The joy was in the act of running and in the journey, not in the destination."

- John Bingham

"If your legs are tired, run with your heart!"

- Tobias Heinze

"You can’t be afraid to fail. It’s the only way you succeed."

- LeBron James

"Running teaches us that we are capable of so much more than we ever imagined."

- Kara Goucher

"It’s hard to beat a person who never gives up."

- Babe Ruth

"You don’t stop running because you get old. You get old because you stop running."

- Christopher McDougall

"Everything you ever wanted to know about yourself you can learn in 26.2 miles."

- Lori Culnane

"Some seek the comfort of their therapist’s office, others head for the corner pub, but I chose running as my therapy."

- Dean Karnazes

"The obsession with running is really an obsession with the potential for more and more life."

- George Sheehan

"Just keep running."

- Forrest Gump

"Marathons teach you to keep going when things get tough."

- Kathrine Switzer

"The real purpose of running isn’t to win a race; it’s to test the limits of the human heart."

- Bill Bowerman

"You don’t have to be fast. But you’d better be fearless."

- Christopher McDougall

"There is magic in misery. Just ask any runner."

- Dean Karnazes

"If you run, you are a runner. It doesn’t matter how fast or how far."

- John Bingham

"The will to win means nothing without the will to prepare."

- Juma Ikangaa

"A runner must run with dreams in his heart."

- Emil Zatopek

"Only the disciplined ones in life are free."

- Eliud Kipchoge

"I trained 4 years to run only 9 seconds. There are people who do not see results in two months, give up and quit."

- Usain Bolt

"Pain is inevitable. Suffering is optional."

- M. Kathleen Casey

"Unless you puke, faint, or die, keep going!"

- Jillian Michaels

"Bruce had me up to three miles a day, really at a good pace. We’d run the three miles in twenty-one or twenty-two minutes. Just under eight minutes a mile. So this morning he said to me “We’re going to go five.” I said, “Bruce, I can’t go five. I’m a helluva lot older than you are, and I can’t do five.” He said, “When we get to three, we’ll shift gears and it’s only two more and you’ll do it. ” I said “Okay, hell, I’ll go for it.” So we get to three, we go into the fourth mile and I’m okay for three or four minutes, and then I really begin to give out. I’m tired, my heart’s pounding, I can’t go any more and so I say to him, “Bruce if I run any more,”—and we’re still running—“if I run any more I’m liable to have a heart attack and die.” He said, “Then die.” It made me so mad that I went the full five miles. Afterward I went to the shower and then I wanted to talk to him about it. I said, you know, ‘“Why did you say that?” He said, “Because you might as well be dead. Seriously, if you always put limits on what you can do, physical or anything else, it’ll spread over into the rest of your life. It’ll spread into your work, into your morality, into your entire being. There are no limits. There are plateaus, but you must not stay there, you must go beyond them. If it kills you, it kills you. A man must constantly exceed his level.”"

- Bruce Lee (as recounted)

"It gets easier. Every day, it gets a little easier. But you gotta do it every day. That's the hard part."

- The running baboon from Bojack Horseman

"Good things come slow – especially in distance running."

- Bill Dellinger

"Nothing, not even pain, lasts forever. If I can just keep putting one foot in front of the other, I will eventually get to the end."

- Kim Cowart

"Running is the classical road to self-consciousness, self-awareness, and self-reliance."

- Noel Carroll

"As we run, we become."

- Amby Burfoot

"Running is kind of like coffee. The first time you drink it you might not like it. It’s bitter and leaves a bad taste in your mouth but you kind of like the way it makes you feel. However, after a few times, it starts to taste better and then all of a sudden you’re hooked and it’s the new best part of waking up."

- Amy Hastings

"If we had a drug that did what exercise did, it would be the biggest revolution ever and would be promoted all over the world. And all you have to do is go out for a run."

- Greg Wells, Ph.D.

"When I'm working 16-hour days and I can't work out, I get angry very easily. It's because I'm missing all those good endorphins. For me, exercise equals happiness."

- Heather Morris

"Running is the quickest endorphin hit I can get. I like to do it really early in the morning, before everyone gets up. It gives me a clear head and sort of resets the clock. It’s like, 'OK, I got that out of the way. Now I can deal with people.'"

- Julie Bowen

"There's a great empowerment that I get from running, not only from the endorphins . . . Being a runner, to me, has made being depressed impossible. If ever I'm going through something emotional and just go outside for a run, you can rest assured that I'll come back with clarity and empowerment."

- Alanis Morissette

"Exercise is like meditation for me. And I'm giving myself that time . . . I cannot live without it now. When you have such a good workout, it clears everything up mentally, physically, and you just have a better day."

- Minka Kelly

"I like what it does for my mind. If I've had a bad day, if I'm feeling stressed out, if I'm feeling overwhelmed — it takes it all away. It's my antidote for everything. If I feel any sort of emotional upheaval, I go for a jog and I feel better."

- Kelly Ripa

"I love running but I think you have to find a workout routine that really speaks to you beyond trying to get goals for your body. For me, running, I need it as much for my head and to clear my head as I do for keeping in shape."

- Meghan Markle

"It's no fun to sit down and talk about what exercise has to do with life... go drip that sweat, run until we're fatigued, to where the mind can't ponder the past or the future, well, then you've got something... It's fun to feel healthy, and it's fun to feel good."

- Matthew McConaughey

"Don't be afraid to fail. It's not the end of the world and in many ways, it's the first step toward learning something better and getting better at it."

- Jon Hamm

"Strength does not come from physical capacity. It comes from an indomitable will."

- Mahatma Gandhi

"There are clubs you can’t belong to, neighbors you can’t live in, schools you can’t get into, but the roads are always open."

- Nike

"The only failure is not to try."

- George Clooney

"Run into your unknown."

- Becs Gentry

"That’s the thing about running: your greatest runs are rarely measured by racing success. They are moments in time when running allows you to see how wonderful your life is."

- Kara Goucher

"You didn’t get this far to only go this far."

- Ben Alldis

"I often hear someone say, ‘I’m not a real runner.’ We are all runners, some just run faster than others. I never met a fake runner."

- Bart Yasso

"Your mind is your strongest muscle."

- Tunde Oyeneyin

"Run often. Run long. But never outrun your joy of running."

- Julie Isphording

"Don’t dream of winning, train for it!"

- Mo Farah

"Take control of your workout and make the decision to succeed."

- Matt Wilpers

"Whether a mile or a marathon, you get there the same way… one step at a time. Such is life."

- Baylor Barbee

"The benefits and opportunities of running are available to anyone. You don’t have to be born a natural athlete, and you don’t have to be uniquely gifted. A life-shaping experience is there for the taking, waiting right outside your door."

- Donald Buraglio and Michael Dove

"Fight fatigue with focus."

- Andy Speer

"We are designed to run, and we increase our chance of daily happiness when we do so."

- Jeff Galloway

"It’s very hard in the beginning to understand that the whole idea is not to beat the other runners. Eventually you learn that the competition is against the little voice inside you that wants you to quit."

- George Sheehan

"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."

- Arthur Blank

"Don’t compare your chapter one with someone else’s chapter six."

- Ally Love

"Step one to running a marathon: You run. There is no step two."

- Barney Stinson

"Run like hell and get the agony over with."

- Clarence DeMar

"The best way to predict the future is to create it."

- Peter Drucker

"Running is about finding your inner peace, and so is a life well lived."

- Dean Karnazes

"For me, working out is a form of therapy, it's cathartic for me, it's a good stress reliever. I know that when I go to the gym I am taking care of myself and I know I’ll feel so much better afterwards."

- Bob Harper

"Good things come slow—especially in distance running."

- Bill Dellinger

"Fast running isn't forced. You have to relax and let the run come out of you."

- Desiree Linden

"Every marathon I ran, I knew I had a faster one in me."

- Dick Beardsley

"Running is a lot like life. Only 10 percent of it is exciting. 90 percent of it is slog and drudge."

- Dave Bedford

"If you’ve never had a bad day running, you’re probably doing something wrong. If you’ve never had a good day running, you’re definitely doing something wrong."

- Mark Remy

"I run every day. It’s like medicine."

- Jennifer Carpenter

"I always run without music. Being disconnected is what I'm addicted to more than anything. There aren't many places where you can be without your phone and computer. I've started to crave and enjoy that time alone."

- Christy Turlington

"Shut up legs"

- Jens Voight

"If you have a body, you are an athlete."

- Bill Bowerman

"Things that hurt, instruct."

- Benjamin Franklin

"Go fast enough to get there, but slow enough to see."

- Jimmy Buffett

"I never listen to music when I run – I listen to the beat of my heart. I like to feel the blood pumping in my veins. If I’m running for a long time, I take my hydration pack. I like to disappear up a mountain or into the woods and come back two hours later."

- Fred Sirieux

"Be so good they can't ignore you."

- Steve Martin

"Running is my alone time. I have people around me all the time, all day. The only time I have alone is when I’m running, or when I’m at church. Running’s easier to fit in."

- Mario Lopez

"If the path be beautiful, let us not ask where it leads."

- Anatole France

"It is not the mountain we conquer, but ourselves."

- Edmund Hillary

"Running a marathon is not a question of whether it will be painful, but when it will be painful. It does help to have a sense of humor, but I’m also respectful of the race."

- Will Ferrell

"Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better."

- Albert Einstein

"To me, sweat is workout bliss."

- Brooke Burke-Charvet

"I choose the things that I want to do, and they all revolve around one thing: food. Even my running has to do with food. I run to stay in shape so I can eat what I want."

- Bobby Flay

"It's an acquired skill, being able to discuss your love life, children, and friends, all while you're running! But we have mastered it."

- Reese Witherspoon

"How do you know if someone ran a marathon? Don’t worry, they’ll tell you."

- Jimmy Fallon

"One run can change your day, many runs can change your life."

"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit."

"26.2 miles is a helluva long way for everything to go right and a helluva long way for just one thing to go wrong. Legs feed the wolf. Pain is weakness leaving your body. Run the mile you're on. Some days my best is a PR, others it's just putting one foot in front of the other"

"Runners just do it – they run for the finish line even if someone else has reached it first."

- Unknown

"Just stick with it. What seems hard now will one day be your warm-up"

- Unknown

"Run the mile you are on"

"Pain is weakness leaving your body."

"A good laugh and a long run are the two best cures for anything."

- Unknown

"One run can change your day. Many runs can change your life."

"Start strong. Finish stronger."

"I don’t have to go for a run, I get to go for a run"

"It’s not only about the finish line."

"But the only person who needs to believe in you is you."

"Running may be an independent activity but you’re never alone."

"There’s nothing more rewarding than making your goals a reality."

"There will never be a right time."

"And for the days that feel overwhelming…"

"Remember, you’re lapping everyone on the couch!"

"You can do it."

"It’s just one foot in front of the other."

"Running isn’t about being the best, it’s about pursuing your personal best."

"Running is a mental sport (and we’re all insane!)."

"Today’s impossible is tomorrow’s normal."

"Never underestimate your strength."

"Stop thinking and just do it already."

"Even the worst run is better than no run at all."

"Just stick with it. What seems hard now will one day be your warm-up."

"Hills don’t go away. They wait."

"Running is the answer. The question is irrelevant."

"I run because somehow completely exhausting myself is the most relaxing part of my day."

"Running is not about being better than someone else. It's about being better than you used to be."

"Running reminds you that even in your weakest moments, you are strong."

"Don’t ask me why I run. Ask yourself why you don’t."

"No matter how slow you go, you are still lapping everybody on the couch."

- Unknown

"Running teaches us to keep moving forward, one step at a time, especially in the most painful moments."

"Run fast, run slow, run far, run close—just run."

"The pain you feel today will be the strength you feel tomorrow."

"The voice in your head that says you can’t do this is a liar."

"The first mile is a lie"

"The only bad run is the one that didn't happen."

"I often hear someone say I’m not a real runner. We are all runners, some just run faster than others. I’ve never met a fake runner."