Last Updated on September 6, 2024
Conflict has always been around since the dawn of mankind. It has stemmed out of different causes, and fought with many outcomes. The cycle of destruction and death also gave birth to civilizations and ironically, the risk of conflict has kept other centers of humanity from outright destroying each other.
While the present day has little need for ancient warriors, one can wonder what we can draw from them.
What makes a great warrior?
History has shown that great warriors are born out of need, as in the case of the Assyrians, the Zulus, and the Mamluks. To be born in a land vulnerable to its neighbors called for a demand of defenders of the highest quality, as military might seemed to be the most effective approach when other advantages are not available. Here, we can say that if you can’t find something good, then make those good qualities yourself.
Another quality is the love of freedom and the love of roaming. This can be said of the Mongols who reached out far and wide; the Macedonians who became models of Ancient Roman commanders; the Vikings with their piracy and seafaring; and the Celts who fought in places as far as Ptolemaic Egypt. Ironically, those who are exploratory in nature tend to show aggression when it is required, or when an opportunity shows up.
Flexibility and resilience are factors that go hand-in-hand. You have one side that makes the best use of situations even when proven to be disadvantageous. The other is the ability to get back up from defeat to fight again. These are seen from the ever-adaptable bushido of the Samurai that sees use even today, and what was regarded as the world’s first professional army forged from a series of defeats: the Romans.
From Alexander the Great, Boudicca, queen of the Iceni, Genghis Khan, to Queen Zenobia, Richard the Lionheart, and Joan of Arc, these great men and women fought with courage, dignity, and might. Before they had slain enemies, they have vanquished the enemies inside of them. This is why they are able to stand their ground when it mattered most.
Powerful Warrior Quotes and Sayings
We may no longer be on the battlefield; but we too, must deal with enemies. They could be in the form of abusive partners, unfair bosses, or our own inner demons. Like ancient warriors, we should be bold, flexible – yet kind – in dealing with them.
These warrior quotes should help set the tone before you face the day’s challenges.
1. “Nothing can resist a human will that will stake its very existence on its purpose.” – Benjamin Disraeli
2. “Every man should lose a battle in his youth, so he does not lose a war when he is old.” – George R.R. Martin
3. “The truth cuts like the sharpest knife I’ve ever known.” – Tomi Adeyemi
4. “When one has nothing to lose, one becomes courageous. We are timid only when there is something we can still cling to.” – Don Juan
5. “May the Warrior grant me a smooth course and a quick victory.” – George R.R. Martin
6. “I am a warrior! he snapped. Beyond that, who I am depends on who you want me to be.” – Dan Millman
7. “Be a Fearless Warrior, allow Love to be your shield.” – Lady Alexis Essuman
8. “In times like these, we must be warriors.” – Bethany Stahl
9. “The ultimate way to fight is to seem not to fight all.” – Bangambiki Habyarimana
10. “A Warrior speaks truth that cuts sharper than winter cold.” – Kevin Anytime
11. “And now, born from the ashes, she’s a warrior in bloodied black.”
– Amie Kaufman
12. “Every single girl, whether we want to recognize it or not, is a warrior.” – Marjorie Liu
13. “It is not enough to win a war; it is more important to organize the peace.” – Aristotle
14. “A warrior has to believe, otherwise, he cannot activate his intent positively.” – Théun Mares
15. “Warriors should suffer their pain silently.” – Erin Hunter
16. “To be a warrior is to learn to be genuine in every moment of your life.” – Chogyam Trungpa
17. “The more you sweat in training, the less you will bleed in battle.” – Motto of Navy Seals
18. “A warrior accepts the challenges of life in true humility. No matter what his destiny may be, it can never be a cause for discontent, but a living challenge which it is his privilege to surmount.” ? Théun Mares
19. “A warrior lives by acting, not by thinking about acting, nor by thinking about what he will think when he has finished acting.” – Carlos Castaneda
20. “Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.” – Confucius
21. “The warrior knows the worth of the wilderness.” – Lailah Gifty Akita
22. “One by one she slew her fears, and then planted a flower garden over their graves.” – John Mark Green
23. “Do not pray for an easy life, pray for the strength to endure a difficult one.” – Bruce Lee
24. “The bravest warriors know when to retreat.” – Maureen Joyce Connolly
25. “A warrior seeks to act rather than talk.” – Carlos Castaneda
26. “I’m a warrior when it comes to pursuing roles.” – Daniel Day-Lewis
27. “A warrior must only take care that his spirit is never broken.” – Shissai
28. “A warrior has to believe, for belief is an essential part of his being.” – Théun Mares
29. “We don’t rise to the level of our expectations, we fall to the level of our training.” – Archilochus
30. “Life can sometimes get the best of you but your state of mind determines your outcome.” – Sanjo Jendayi
31. “If you’re a true warrior, competition doesn’t scare you. It makes you better.” – Andrew Whitworth
32. “Every great warrior must learn to endure and overcome the adversities of life.” – Lailah Gifty Akita
33. “Go to the battlefield firmly confident of victory and you will come home with no wounds whatsoever.” – Uesugi Kenshin
34. “The only thing a warrior cannot fight is her own fierce nature.”
– Bianca Marais
35. “The two most powerful warriors are patience and time.” – Leo Tolstoy
36. “All men are warriors. And life for everything in our universe is nothing but war.” – David Zindell
37. “We chose whether to be warriors or to be ordinary.” – Carlos Castaneda
38. “Never forget about your inner warrior; sometimes she’s all you have”
– Mozelle Barr Martin
39. “A warrior with a cause is the most dangerous soldier of all.” – Michael Scott
40. “The warrior must never get angry in war.” – Lailah Gifty Akita
41. “Any great warrior is also a scholar, and a poet, and an artist.” – Steven Seaga
42. “The successful warrior is the average man with laser like focus.” – Bruce Lee
43. “Ideas are the great warriors of the world, and a war that has no idea behind it is simply a brutality.” – James A. Garfield
44. “He who conquers himself is the mightiest warrior.” – Confucius
45. “Courage, above all things, is the first quality of a warrior.” – Karl von Clausewitz
46. “You never know how strong you are, until being strong is your only choice.” – Bob Marley
47. “Within every woman exists a warrior. Really.” – Jessica Bennett
48. “Warriors do not win victories by beating their heads against walls, but by overtaking the walls. Warriors jump over walls; they don’t demolish them.” – Carlos Castaneda
49. “The path of the Warrior is lifelong, and mastery is often simply staying on the path.” – Richard Strozzi-Heckler
50. “Being a WARRIOR is an ATTITUDE!!!” – Santosh Kumar
51. “I was on the path of the warrior, when I realized I was the warrior.” – Neetal Parekh
52. “What you think of me does not change who I am.” – Lailah Gifty Akita
53. “The warrior guided by the spirit serves humanity, the warrior without, serves the ego.” – Soke Behzad Ahmadi
54. “Consider your goal like a war to win and use whatever strategies you know to win.” – Bangambiki Habyarimana
55. “The quality of a conqueror is to be judged as much by what he spears as by what he spares.” – Agona Apell
56. “Protecting yourself is self-defense. Protecting others is warriorship.” – Bohdi Sanders
57. “With a blade at your throat, a well-connected uncle or a wealthy mother could not save you. Only you could save yourself.” – Natalia Marx
58. “Take a chance and risk it all or play it safe and suffer defeat.” – Pittacus Lore
59. “You’re the hunter, the warrior. You’re stronger than anyone else here, that’s your tragedy.” – Anne Rice
60. “The true warrior isn’t immune to fear. She fights in spite of it.” – Francesca Lia Block
61. “Cowards hide […] but warriors lie and wait […] the only difference is whether you’re motivated by fear or purpose.” – Neal Shusterman
62. “Never strike out of anger if at all possible, this will give your enemy the advantage and strengthen his resolve and psyche.” – Soke behzad Ahmadi
63. “Be the hero of your children’s story. Never let them believe for a minute that honor, courage and doing what is right is only reserved for other fathers and mothers.” – Shannon L. Alder
64. “A Warrior of Light does not postpone making decisions.” – Paulo Coelho
65. “Don’t let hollow heroes distract you from saving yourself.” – Nikki Rowe
66. “Warriors train, everyone else works out.” – Lahong Guro Earles
67. “Without a problem there is no solution. Without a mistake there is no correction. It is failure that gives possibility to progress and your adversary that allows mental and physical sharpening to arise.” – Tagaturo Klement
68. “Let your plans be dark and as impenetrable as night, and when you move, fall like a thunderbolt.” – Sun Tzu
69. “Make every move count. Pick your target and hit it. Perfect concentration means effortless flowing.” – Masirib Jeff Elliott
70. “We sleep safe in our beds because rough men stand ready in the night to visit violence on those who would do us harm.” – George Orwell
71. “Winning is not everything, but wanting to win is.” – Vince Lombardi
72. “There are no extraordinary men… just extraordinary circumstances that ordinary men are forced to deal with.” – Admiral William “Bull” Halsey
73. “The basic difference between an ordinary man and a warrior is that a warrior takes everything as a challenge while an ordinary man takes everything as a blessing or a curse.” – Carlos Castaneda
74. “Do not regret a mistake in training. A mistake that is understood and can be corrected is worth more than any effortless perfection.” – Tagaturo Klement
75. “Every victorious warrior draws his strength from the highest source; his love.” – Tapan Ghosh
76. “Warriors want a worthy opponent. There is no redress in fighting the pathetic.” – Donna Lynn Hope
77. “Victorious warriors win first and then go to war, while defeated warriors go to war first and then seek to win.” – Sun Tzu
78. “I know what I’m capable of; I am a soldier now, a warrior. I am someone to fear, not hunt.” – Pittacus Lore
79. “A warrior never worries about his fear.” – Carlos Castaneda
80. “I’m a warrior for the middle class.” – Barack Obama
81. “A warrior does not give up what he loves, he finds the love in what he does.” – Dan Millman
82. “The true soldier fights not because he hates what is in front of him, but because he loves what is behind him.” – G.K. Chesterton
83. “The warrior stands, ready to defend, ready to fight for those he serves. He is a warrior of virtue, A knight of conscience. He is who we all wish to be.” – Anthony T. Hincks
84. “There is no greater warrior than a mother protecting her child.” – N. K. Jemisin
85. “Victory is reserved for those who are willing to pay its price.” – Sun Tzu
86. “Victorious warriors draw their strength from the highest source; their love.” – Tapan Ghosh
87. “The greatest warriors know when to retreat.” – Maureen Joyce Connolly
88. “Victory are reserved for those warriors who are willing to pay it’s price.” – Sun Tzu
89. “A true warrior fights not because he hates what is in front of him, but because he loves what is behind him.” – G.K. Chesterton
90. “Every warrior wants a worthy opponent. There is no redress in fighting the pathetic.” – Donna Lynn Hope
