Determination Quotes for Leaders and Their Teams

These determination quotes are for leaders whose teams are in the middle of a long-term initiative, whether that's a twelve-month system migration or a sales territory that takes a year to build.

Staircase with a blue arrow climbing it, under gold quotation marks

A good quote gives your people a picture of the point you're making, and that picture can help solidify the vision you have in mind for the future result.

Determination is easy to talk about in the kickoff meeting and harder to maintain momentum, when the finish line still isn't in sight. Use one of these quotes to open a team meeting or a one-on-one, and let your own example connect it to the work your team is pushing through right now.

The quotes about determination below are grouped by the moments leaders run into most, from the long project to the short phrase that fits on a whiteboard. Click Copy quote on any card to paste the quote and the name into a slide or an email.

Determination Quotes for a Long Project

Long projects tend to lose energy in the middle of the journey, after the excitement of the start and well before the finish, and that's the stretch where a leader's determination matters most. These quotes help you name the middle stretch and keep the team moving through it, in moments like these:

Month six of a year-long system migration.
A building project delayed by permits for the third time.
A process improvement effort where the gains are slow to show up in the numbers.
A team rebuilding its customer base after losing a major account.

“

"When nothing seems to help, I go and look at a stonecutter hammering away at his rock, perhaps a hundred times without as much as a crack showing in it. Yet at the hundred and first blow it will split in two, and I know it was not that last blow that did it, but all that had gone before."

Jacob Riis

Journalist and social reformer

"Men who are resolved to find a way for themselves will always find opportunities enough; and if they do not find them, they will make them."

Samuel Smiles

Author of Self-Help

"Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent."

Attributed to Calvin Coolidge

30th President of the United States

"The heights by great men reached and kept were not attained by sudden flight, but they, while their companions slept, were toiling upward in the night."

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Poet

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

Attributed to Confucius

Chinese philosopher

Jacob Riis's stonecutter fits the process improvement effort, because it reminds the team that the early work counts even before you can see the results improving. Samuel Smiles's line works for the team rebuilding after a lost account, since it puts the focus on moving forward and making new opportunities.

Quotes About Determination for Pushing Through Resistance

Some goals stall on outside resistance, like a prospect who keeps saying no or an approval process that sends the same request back three times, and it's the leader who decides whether the team keeps pushing forward. These quotes help you keep the team moving. They fit times like these:

A sales rep has heard no from the same large prospect four times.
A funding request has gone back for revisions twice.
A peer department keeps pushing back on a shared process change.
An idea from your team keeps getting tabled in leadership meetings.

“

"The best way out is always through."

Robert Frost

Poet

"It ain't about how hard you hit. It's about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward."

Rocky Balboa, in Rocky Balboa

Line from the 2006 film, written by Sylvester Stallone

"It's the constant and determined effort that breaks down all resistance and sweeps away all obstacles."

Attributed to Claude M. Bristol

Author of The Magic of Believing

"A determined soul will do more with a rusty monkey wrench than a loafer will accomplish with all the tools in a machine shop."

Attributed to Robert Hughes

Writer

"Most of the important things in the world have been accomplished by people who have kept on trying when there seemed to be no hope at all."

Attributed to Dale Carnegie

Author of How to Win Friends and Influence People

Frost's line fits the funding request that keeps coming back, because it treats the next revision as one step closer to a finished result. The line from Rocky Balboa works for the sales rep after the fourth no, since it puts the focus on staying in the conversation with that prospect.

Quotes on Determination and Grit for Building a Skill

New skills take longer to build than most people expect, and a new hire who struggles in month two may decide the job isn't for them unless their leader steps in to encourage them not to give up. These quotes help you make the case for sticking with it. A few places they work include:

A new hire is still slower than the rest of the team after two months.
Someone is studying for a certification exam on top of a full workload.
A team member is learning a system the rest of the team already knows.
A strong individual contributor is learning to manage people for the first time.

“

"Enthusiasm is common. Endurance is rare."

Angela Duckworth

Psychologist and author of Grit

"Practice isn't the thing you do once you're good. It's the thing you do that makes you good."

Malcolm Gladwell

Author of Outliers

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

Michael Jordan

Hall of Fame basketball player

"Practice does not make perfect. Only perfect practice makes perfect."

Attributed to Vince Lombardi

Hall of Fame football coach

"A man can do all things if he will."

Attributed to Leon Battista Alberti

Renaissance architect and writer

Duckworth's line fits the new hire who's still slower than the team, because it treats staying with the work as the rare and valuable part. Gladwell's quote works for the person studying for a certification, since it describes practice as what builds the skill.

Quotes About Being Determined When Progress Is Slow

Some progress is too slow to see from week to week, and a team can start to wonder whether the effort is paying off. A leader who points to the small gains helps the team keep going until the bigger results are achieved. These are examples of moments where one fits:

Customer satisfaction scores have moved one point in three months.
A culture change is taking longer than planned.
A turnaround plan is in its second quarter with mixed results.
A team member's development plan is moving one small step at a time.

“

"Slow and steady wins the race."

Aesop

The moral of The Tortoise and the Hare

"Every noble work is at first impossible."

Thomas Carlyle

Historian and essayist

"A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step."

Lao Tzu

Chinese philosopher

"A resolute determination is the truest wisdom."

Attributed to Napoleon Bonaparte

French emperor and general

"Let us not be content to wait and see what will happen, but give us the determination to make the right things happen."

Attributed to Peter Marshall

Former Chaplain of the U.S. Senate

Aesop's moral fits the culture change, because it reminds the team that steady effort pays off in the end. Lao Tzu's line works for the development plan, since it puts the value on taking the next step in the plan.

Short Determination Phrases for Team Meetings

Sometimes the right quote is the shortest one, a line that fits on a whiteboard or at the top of a meeting agenda where the team will see it every day. These short phrases and sayings about determination work well in moments like these:

The last week before a big deadline.
A whiteboard in the team's work area during a long project.
The subject line of an email to a tired team.
The close of a team meeting after a difficult update.

“

"Never give in, never give in, never, never, never, never."

Winston Churchill

Former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

"Just keep swimming."

Dory, in Finding Nemo

Line from the 2003 Pixar film

"Dripping water hollows out stone."

Ovid

Roman poet

"Fall seven times, stand up eight."

Japanese proverb

Traditional saying

"If you want to get somewhere you have to know where you want to go and how to get there. Then never, never, never give up."

Attributed to Norman Vincent Peale

Minister and author of The Power of Positive Thinking

Churchill's line fits the last week before a deadline, because the repetition carries the message on its own. Dory's line from Finding Nemo works on the whiteboard, where a little humor keeps a long project from feeling too heavy.

How to Use a Quote with Your Team

A determination quote lands best when the leader pairs it with the real number and asks the team what's slowing them down, then works quickly with the team to remove the obstacle they name.

MARCO'S MIGRATION CHECK-IN

Marco leads a twelve-person IT support team in month seven of a twelve-month system migration. They had converted 40 of 90 offices and were ten offices behind schedule. At the team's check-in he read Jacob Riis's line about the stonecutter, put "40 of 90" on the screen and asked one question: what's slowing each conversion down?

The team pointed to data cleanup, which added two days to every office. They built a cleanup checklist that goes to each office two weeks before its conversion date, and the average conversion dropped from five days to three.

Two months later the count was 70 of 90, and the project was back on schedule.

Marco used the quote to name the middle stretch, then gave the team a number and a question they could act on. When a leader removes the obstacle the team names, the expectations going forward feel possible.

For more quotes sorted by topic, see the leadership quotes for managers, and for picking a quote that fits your message, see Famous Leadership Quotes.

More for Leaders

For a long project, the free project tracker and calendar lets your team see progress against each milestone, which makes the middle stretch easier to keep going through. If the goal itself needs resetting, see the goal setting quotes.

Samuel Smiles's Self-Help, the source of one of the quotes on this page, is one of the free classic books in the Classic Self Growth Library.

Determination Quotes FAQ

The questions below address what leaders most commonly ask about determination quotes.

Click on the (+) sign below to expand each question. Click the (-) sign to collapse it again.

What are the best determination quotes for work?

The best ones fit the stretch your team is in. Jacob Riis's stonecutter, who splits the rock on the hundred and first blow, works in the middle of a long project, and Angela Duckworth's "Enthusiasm is common. Endurance is rare" fits a conversation with someone learning a hard new skill.

What are some famous quotes about determination?

Winston Churchill told the students of Harrow School in 1941 to "never give in, never, never, never, never." Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote in 1858 that great men were "toiling upward in the night," and Robert Frost wrote in 1914 that "the best way out is always through."

What are some short determination phrases?

Short phrases work well on a whiteboard or an agenda. "Never give in" comes from Winston Churchill, "Just keep swimming" is Dory's line in Finding Nemo, and "Dripping water hollows out stone" goes back to the Roman poet Ovid.

How do I keep my team motivated on a long project?

Show the team where things stand in plain numbers, then ask what's slowing them down and remove the obstacle they name. Come back to the same number at the next check-in, so the team can see the progress their effort made.

What does "Attributed to" mean on these quotes?

It means the quote is widely credited to that person, but there's no dated source behind it, like a book or an interview. Every quote without it traces back to a source you can cite.

Can I use these quotes in my training materials?

Yes. Click Copy quote on any card, and the quote and the name go to your clipboard together, ready to paste into a slide or a handout. Keep the name with the quote when you use it.

More Leadership Quotes

Goal Setting Quotes

Quotes on Achievement

Quotes on Courage

Richard Gorham has led teams in financial services for more than 30 years, from retail branches and operations to investments and insurance, and he still leads a team today.

He founded Leadership-Tools.com in 2002 to give managers free, practical tools like the ones he used in his various leadership roles. Every tool here has been used in a real workplace and comes with a filled-in example you can follow.

ShareFacebook X Pinterest