Mike Tyson and motivation go together like a jab and a cross. Iron Mike rose from reform school to be the undisputed heavyweight boxing champion of the world, celebrated for his ferocious intensity and his 24 first-round knockouts. Throughout his pugilistic career and up to the present day, Tyson has been delivering inspirational advice as frequently as he once delivered knockout blows. Sure to inspire you in and out of the gym, these are Mike Tyson’s best motivational quotes.
“You never lose until you actually give up.”
“Unfortunately, sometimes you can’t have fun accomplishing your goals. Sometimes people don’t have the determination, the will, the steadfastness, the tenacity. They give in under the slightest struggle.”
“In order for me to achieve, I had to regard myself greater than what I was. In other words, I had to fake it until I make it.”
“Whatever you want, especially when you’re striving to be the best in the world at something, there’ll always be disappointments; and you can’t be emotionally tied to them, because they’ll break your spirit.”
“As long as we persevere and endure, we can get anything we want.”
“That’s what people respect, the fact that I wasn’t a chump that laid on his back and gave up.”
“I am a dreamer. I have to dream and reach for the stars, and if I miss a star then I grab a handful of clouds.”
“There’s nothing wrong with making mistakes; just don’t make the same ones. We don’t want to duplicate them.”
“Everyone has a plan ‘till they get punched in the mouth.”
“You can’t be disturbed by anything. There’s no emotion involved. You can’t feel sorrow, you can’t feel pity, there’s nothing you feel. The job has to be done.”
“Fear is your best friend or worst enemy. It’s like fire. If you can control it, it can cook for you; it can heat your house. If you can’t control it, it will burn everything around you and destroy you.”
“I’m scared every time I go into the ring. But it’s how you handle it. What you have to do is plant your feet, bite down into your mouthpiece and say, ‘Let’s go.’”
“In order to succeed greatly, you have to be prepared to fail greatly. If you can’t do both of them, you’ve got a problem.”
“You stand your ground, and you perform your art. That’s what the artist does. The artist is about perfection.”
“Every win, regardless a good or bad one, gives you more confidence.”
“Most fighters are the most humble people in the world because they’ve gotten their ass kicked before.”
“We all have struggles in life, but we have to continue to fight.”
“Everybody thinks this is a tough man’s sport. This is not a tough man’s sport. This is a thinking man’s sport. A tough man is gonna get hurt real bad in this sport.”
“Any man can do what he has to do. But doing it like you love it? That is what takes it to a whole different level. A champion does it like he loves it, even when he doesn’t.”
“When you have something in life that you want to accomplish greatly, you have to be willing to give up your happiness. I’ve lost all my sensitivity as far as being embarrassed, being shy. You just have to lose that.”
“Fear is the greatest obstacle to learning.”
“One must never allow fear to develop and build-up without having control over it, because if you don’t, you won’t be able to achieve your objective or save your life.”
“It’s good to know how to read, but it’s dangerous to know how to read and not how to interpret what you’re reading.”
“Everyone that you fight is not your enemy, and everyone who helps you is not your friend.”
“I had to persevere because this was my life. This championship, this was the stuff I dreamt of all my life, and I wasn’t gonna be denied.”
“Without struggle, there is no progress. There has to be a struggle in your life.”
“Discipline is doing what you hate to do, but nonetheless doing it like you love it.”
See also: 60 Best Workout Motivational Quotes
