Giving Up quotes

Giving Up

3.2K quotes on this topic — from poets, philosophers, and thinkers across history.

3.2K quotes
Nas
Nas Rapper, Songwriter

"Don't ever give up on yourself. Keep pushing because the change of guards is what life's all about. [...] You've always got to stick with whatever you're into because you're day is going to come. You're day is destined. If you walk away from that, whether it be from fear or whether you're just giving up. [...] The greatest sin is fear and giving up."

Benjamin Franklin
Benjamin Franklin Inventor, Statesman, Author

"When you get into a tight place and everything goes against you, till it seems as though you could not hold on a minute longer, never give up then, for that is just the place and time that the tide will turn. When you're down to nothing, God is up to something. The faithful see the invisible, believe the incredible and then receive the impossible. Where liberty dwells there is my country."

Paramahansa Yogananda
Paramahansa Yogananda Spiritual Teacher, Author

"Don't depend on death to liberate you from your imperfections. You are exactly the same after death as you were before. Nothing changes; you only give up the body. If you are a thief or a liar or a cheater before death, you don't become an angel merely by dying. If such were possible, then let us all go and jump in the ocean now and become angels at once! Whatever you have made of yourself thus far, so will you be hereafter. And when you reincarnate, you will bring that same nature with you. To change, you have to make the effort. This world is the place to do it."

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Joyce Meyer Author, Speaker
Giving Up

"Battles are fought in our minds every day. When we begin to feel the battle is just too difficult and want to give up, we must choose to resist negative thoughts and be determined to rise above our problems. We must decide that we're not going to quit. When we're bombarded with doubts and fears, we must take a stand and say: "I'll never give up! God's on my side. He loves me, and He's helping me! I'm going to make it!""

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Stephen Hawking Theoretical Physicist
Giving Up

"So remember to look up at the stars and not down at your feet. Try to make sense of what you see and hold on to that childlike wonder about what makes the universe exist."

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Huey Newton Activist
Giving Up

"Institutions work this way. A son is murdered by the police, and nothing is done. The institutions send the victim's family on a merry-go-round, going from one agency to another, until they wear out and give up. this is a very effective way to beat down poor and oppressed people, who do not have the time to prosecute their cases. Time is money to poor people. To go to Sacramento means loss of a day's pay - often a loss of job. If this is a democracy, obviously it is a bourgeois democracy limited to the middle and upper classes. Only they can afford to participate in it."

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Serena Williams Tennis Player
Giving Up

"With a defeat, when you lose, you get up, you make it better, you try again. That's what I do in life, when I get down, when I get sick, I don't want to just stop. I keep going and I try to do more. Everyone always says never give up but you really have to take that to heart and really do never definitely give up. Keep trying."

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George Washington Carver Agricultural Scientist, Inventor
Giving Up

"Anything will give up its secrets if you love it enough. Not only have I found that when I talk to the little flower or to the little peanut they will give up their secrets, but I have found that when I silently commune with people they give up their secrets also – if you love them enough."

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Jim Morrison Musician, Poet
Giving Up

"The most important kind of freedom is to be what you really are. You trade in your reality for a role. You give up your ability to feel, and in exchange, put on a mask."

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Eminem Rapper, songwriter, record producer
Giving Up

"‘Cause sometimes you just feel tired, feel weak And when you feel weak, you feel like you wanna just give up But you gotta search within you And gotta find that inner strength And just pull that shit out of you And get that motivation to not give up And not be a quitter, no matter how bad you wanna just fall flat on your face, and collapse."

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Abraham Maslow Psychologist
Giving Up

"There are no perfect human beings! Persons can be found who are good, very good indeed, in fact, great. There do in fact exist creators, seers, sages, saints, shakers, and movers...even if they are uncommon and do not come by the dozen. And yet these very same people can at times be boring, irritating, petulant, selfish, angry, or depressed. To avoid disillusionment with human nature, we must first give up our illusions about it."

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Baruch Spinoza Philosopher, Rationalist
Giving Up

"The more you struggle to live, the less you live. Give up the notion that you must be sure of what you are doing. Instead, surrender to what is real within you, for that alone is sure....you are above everything distressing."

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Charles Bukowski Poet, Novelist
Giving Up

"I lapsed into my pathetic cut-off period. Often with humans, both good and bad, my senses simply shut off, they get tired, I give up. I am polite. I nod. I pretend to understand because I don’t want anybody to be hurt. That is the one weakness that has lead me into the most trouble. Trying to be kind to others I often get my soul shredded into a kind of spiritual pasta. No matter. My brain shuts off. I listen. I respond. And they are too dumb to know that I am not there."

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