Quotes about discipline and consistency
Discipline quotes online usually come with a photo of someone doing pull-ups at dawn. Real discipline is less cinematic. It's the same small thing, done again, on a day you'd rather not. These lines are about that version.
What discipline actually is
Self-discipline is the ability to get yourself to take action regardless of your emotional state.
Steve Pavlina, Self-Discipline
The key word is regardless. Not "when you're fired up," and not "after you've fought off the urge to skip." Discipline doesn't wait for the right mood, and it doesn't need the wrong one either.
Those who master others are strong; those who master themselves have true power.
Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching
Said will be a little ahead, but Done should follow at his heel.
Charles Spurgeon
A Victorian preacher's way of saying the gap between talking and doing should be short. It's a nice image: Said and Done as two people on a walk, one of them always trying to keep up.
Success comes from doing, not declaring.
Derek Sivers, sive.rs
Small and often
Nearly every serious writer on habits lands in the same place: consistency beats intensity. A small thing done daily beats a big thing done when you feel like it.
Consistency before intensity. Start small and become the kind of person who shows up every day. Build a new identity. Then increase the intensity.
James Clear, 3-2-1 Newsletter
It's easier to keep a small thing going than a big one. And keeping it going is what matters.
Leo Babauta, Zen Habits
Think not lightly of goodness, that it won’t come back to you. The pot is filled with water falling drop by drop; the attentive one is filled with goodness piled up bit by bit.
Buddha, Dhammapada
The road which looks so long when viewed in its entirety is easily traveled, considered as a series of particular steps.
John Dewey, The Child and the Curriculum
The tallest tree begins as a tiny sprout. The tallest building starts with one shovel of dirt.
Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching
On habits
Habit is a cable. We weave a thread of it every day, and at last we cannot break it.
Horace Mann
It's usually read as a warning about bad habits, but it cuts both ways. The same daily thread that traps you can also hold you up.
Whenever there is a gap between your habits and your goals, your habits will always win.
James Clear, 3-2-1 Newsletter
You're defined by what you do repeatedly. Your habits create your character.
Derek Sivers, How to Live
The trajectory of your life bends in the direction of your habits.
James Clear, 3-2-1 Newsletter
On keeping going
Falling in love is easy. Staying in love is harder. Enthusiasm is common. Endurance is rare.
Derek Sivers, How to Live
Great works are performed, not by strength, but by perseverance.
Samuel Johnson
Johnson spent about nine years on his Dictionary of the English Language, with only a handful of clerks to help. He knew something about perseverance.
Just as it takes muscle to build muscle, it takes self-discipline to build self-discipline.
Steve Pavlina, Self-Discipline
Grow fast, built to crash. Grow slow, built to last.
James Clear, 3-2-1 Newsletter
Making it stick
A quote about discipline is a strange thing to rely on, because the whole point of discipline is that it works on the days you don't feel inspired. But a well-timed line can remind you what you're doing and why, which is half the battle on a flat Wednesday.
If you want the thinking behind these, motivation vs discipline goes into what the research says about willpower and habit, and why the most disciplined people fight themselves less than you'd expect.
And if you'd like a steady supply, Dailies has topics for exactly this: Small and often, Habits that actually stick, Keep your promises to yourself and Push through the dull bit. Follow the ones that fit, and they'll turn up on your Lock Screen through the day.
Questions
What is the best quote about discipline?
Steve Pavlina's definition is hard to improve on: "Self-discipline is the ability to get yourself to take action regardless of your emotional state." For consistency, James Clear's "Consistency before intensity" is a practical rule to live by.
Who said "Habit is a cable"?
It's usually credited to Horace Mann, the American education reformer: "Habit is a cable. We weave a thread of it every day, and at last we cannot break it."
Is discipline more important than motivation?
For long-term goals, usually yes, because motivation comes and goes. But motivation is useful for choosing goals and getting started. Our article on motivation vs discipline covers how they work together.
How do I become more consistent?
Make the habit small enough to do on your worst day, tie it to something you already do every day, track it somewhere visible, and never let one missed day turn into two.
Keep reading
Start today with something good.
Set it up once. Dailies takes it from there.
