{
  "type": "topic",
  "site": {
    "name": "Leafy Quotes",
    "language": "en",
    "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com"
  },
  "formats": "Every page has two versions with the same data: JSON (the page address + .json) and markdown (the page address + .md). Append .json or .md to any `url` in this document.",
  "name": "willpower",
  "slug": "willpower",
  "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/willpower",
  "heading": "Quotes about willpower",
  "json": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/willpower.json",
  "markdown": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/willpower.md",
  "quotes_count": 13,
  "authors_count": 12,
  "parent": {
    "name": "self-control",
    "slug": "self-control",
    "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/self-control",
    "heading": "Quotes about self-control"
  },
  "children": [],
  "quotes": [
    {
      "id": "70ab3d52-02ac-44f0-883a-243eb8e6f67b",
      "slug": "if-you-have",
      "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-m-cain/mildred-pierce/if-you-have",
      "text": "If you have to do it, you can do it.",
      "language": "en",
      "author": {
        "name": "James M. Cain",
        "slug": "james-m-cain",
        "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-m-cain"
      },
      "book": {
        "title": "Mildred Pierce",
        "slug": "mildred-pierce",
        "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-m-cain/mildred-pierce"
      },
      "character": null,
      "chapter": null,
      "chapter_parent": null,
      "page": null,
      "verified": false,
      "original": null,
      "other_languages": [],
      "topics": [
        {
          "name": "willpower",
          "slug": "willpower",
          "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/willpower"
        }
      ],
      "source": {
        "name": "Wikiquote",
        "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/James_M._Cain#Mildred_Pierce_(1941)",
        "license": {
          "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0",
          "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/"
        }
      },
      "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:05:33"
    },
    {
      "id": "edd2d3f3-336f-4613-9996-9e303024a9b8",
      "slug": "the-ability-to-say",
      "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/nedra-glover-tawwab/set-boundaries-find-peace/the-ability-to-say",
      "text": "The ability to say no to yourself is a gift. If you can resist your urges, change your habits, and say yes to only what you deem truly meaningful, you’ll be practicing healthy self-boundaries. It’s your responsibility to care for yourself without excuses.",
      "language": "en",
      "author": {
        "name": "Nedra Glover Tawwab",
        "slug": "nedra-glover-tawwab",
        "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/nedra-glover-tawwab"
      },
      "book": {
        "title": "Set Boundaries, Find Peace",
        "slug": "set-boundaries-find-peace",
        "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/nedra-glover-tawwab/set-boundaries-find-peace"
      },
      "character": null,
      "chapter": null,
      "chapter_parent": null,
      "page": null,
      "verified": false,
      "original": null,
      "other_languages": [],
      "topics": [
        {
          "name": "habits",
          "slug": "habits",
          "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/habits"
        },
        {
          "name": "boundaries",
          "slug": "boundaries",
          "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/boundaries"
        },
        {
          "name": "willpower",
          "slug": "willpower",
          "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/willpower"
        }
      ],
      "source": {
        "name": "Wikiquote",
        "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Nedra_Glover_Tawwab#Set_Boundaries,_Find_Peace:_A_Guide_to_Reclaiming_Yourself_(2021)",
        "license": {
          "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0",
          "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/"
        }
      },
      "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:05:00"
    },
    {
      "id": "f561574e-36c7-4ee0-8ed9-60a58bd7308d",
      "slug": "if-the-will",
      "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/daniel-quinn/ishmael/if-the-will",
      "text": "If the will is there, the method will be found.",
      "language": "en",
      "author": {
        "name": "Daniel Quinn",
        "slug": "daniel-quinn",
        "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/daniel-quinn"
      },
      "book": {
        "title": "Ishmael",
        "slug": "ishmael",
        "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/daniel-quinn/ishmael"
      },
      "character": null,
      "chapter": null,
      "chapter_parent": null,
      "page": 140,
      "verified": false,
      "original": null,
      "other_languages": [],
      "topics": [
        {
          "name": "willpower",
          "slug": "willpower",
          "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/willpower"
        }
      ],
      "source": {
        "name": "Wikiquote",
        "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Daniel_Quinn#Ishmael_(1992)",
        "license": {
          "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0",
          "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/"
        }
      },
      "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:04:41"
    },
    {
      "id": "aa30ae67-b67b-409d-9409-e96ed717cf80",
      "slug": "she-would-not",
      "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/toni-cade-bambara/the-salt-eaters/she-would-not",
      "text": "She would not break her discipline to comfort herself in a shallow way. Would no more break discipline with her Self than she would her covenant with God.",
      "language": "en",
      "author": {
        "name": "Toni Cade Bambara",
        "slug": "toni-cade-bambara",
        "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/toni-cade-bambara"
      },
      "book": {
        "title": "The Salt Eaters",
        "slug": "the-salt-eaters",
        "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/toni-cade-bambara/the-salt-eaters"
      },
      "character": null,
      "chapter": null,
      "chapter_parent": null,
      "page": null,
      "verified": false,
      "original": null,
      "other_languages": [],
      "topics": [
        {
          "name": "willpower",
          "slug": "willpower",
          "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/willpower"
        }
      ],
      "source": {
        "name": "Wikiquote",
        "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Toni_Cade_Bambara#The_Salt_Eaters_(1980)",
        "license": {
          "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0",
          "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/"
        }
      },
      "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:04:36"
    },
    {
      "id": "9091841e-8e13-4db8-be4d-e451ab3be8f1",
      "slug": "sometimes-she-couldnt",
      "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/tim-winton/cloudstreet/sometimes-she-couldnt",
      "text": "Sometimes she couldn't think what jerrybuilt frame was holding her together. It wasn't willpower anymore. She'd gone past that lately. She only had will enough to make everything else work, these days. There was never enough left for her. She was like that blessed truck of Lester's, running on an empty sump.",
      "language": "en",
      "author": {
        "name": "Tim Winton",
        "slug": "tim-winton",
        "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/tim-winton"
      },
      "book": {
        "title": "Cloudstreet",
        "slug": "cloudstreet",
        "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/tim-winton/cloudstreet"
      },
      "character": null,
      "chapter": null,
      "chapter_parent": null,
      "page": 274,
      "verified": false,
      "original": null,
      "other_languages": [],
      "topics": [
        {
          "name": "willpower",
          "slug": "willpower",
          "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/willpower"
        },
        {
          "name": "exhaustion",
          "slug": "exhaustion-2",
          "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/exhaustion-2"
        }
      ],
      "source": {
        "name": "Wikiquote",
        "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Tim_Winton#Cloudstreet_(1991)",
        "license": {
          "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0",
          "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/"
        }
      },
      "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:03:47"
    },
    {
      "id": "3b565689-42c0-4b70-bd7d-5577dddbc900",
      "slug": "behind-the-rebel",
      "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/howard-zinn/a-peoples-history-of-the-united-states/behind-the-rebel",
      "text": "Behind the rebel battle yells and the legendary spirit of the Confederate army, there was much reluctance to fight. A sympathetic historian of the South, E. Merton Coulter, asked \"Why did the Confederacy fail? The forces leading to the defeat were many but they may be summed up in this one fact\"The People did not will hard enough and long enough to win.\"Not money or soldiers, but willpower and morale were decisive.",
      "language": "en",
      "author": {
        "name": "Howard Zinn",
        "slug": "howard-zinn",
        "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/howard-zinn"
      },
      "book": {
        "title": "A People's History of the United States",
        "slug": "a-peoples-history-of-the-united-states",
        "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/howard-zinn/a-peoples-history-of-the-united-states"
      },
      "character": null,
      "chapter": null,
      "chapter_parent": null,
      "page": null,
      "verified": false,
      "original": null,
      "other_languages": [],
      "topics": [
        {
          "name": "war",
          "slug": "war",
          "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/war"
        },
        {
          "name": "willpower",
          "slug": "willpower",
          "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/willpower"
        }
      ],
      "source": {
        "name": "Wikiquote",
        "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Howard_Zinn#A_People's_History_of_the_United_States_(1980%3B_2003)",
        "license": {
          "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0",
          "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/"
        }
      },
      "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:47:05"
    },
    {
      "id": "20e4aba5-68f6-43e9-ae98-62b5ac994872",
      "slug": "there-aint-nothin",
      "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/margaret-mitchell/gone-with-the-wind/there-aint-nothin",
      "text": "There ain’t nothin’ that walks can lick us, any more than it could lick him, not Yankees nor Carpetbaggers nor hard times nor high taxes nor even downright starvation. But that weakness that’s in our hearts can lick us in the time it takes to bat your eye.",
      "language": "en",
      "author": {
        "name": "Margaret Mitchell",
        "slug": "margaret-mitchell",
        "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/margaret-mitchell"
      },
      "book": {
        "title": "Gone with the Wind",
        "slug": "gone-with-the-wind",
        "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/margaret-mitchell/gone-with-the-wind"
      },
      "character": null,
      "chapter": null,
      "chapter_parent": null,
      "page": null,
      "verified": false,
      "original": null,
      "other_languages": [],
      "topics": [
        {
          "name": "courage",
          "slug": "courage",
          "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/courage"
        },
        {
          "name": "willpower",
          "slug": "willpower",
          "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/willpower"
        }
      ],
      "source": {
        "name": "Wikiquote",
        "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Gone_with_the_Wind_(novel)#Quotes",
        "license": {
          "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0",
          "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/"
        }
      },
      "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:45:49"
    },
    {
      "id": "ff11e39d-d98f-4d35-8682-72544d60b927",
      "slug": "oh-be-men",
      "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/mary-shelley/frankenstein/oh-be-men",
      "text": "Oh! Be men, or be more than men. Be steady to your purposes and firm as a rock. This ice is not made of such stuff as your hearts may be; it is mutable and cannot withstand you if you say that it shall not.",
      "language": "en",
      "author": {
        "name": "Mary Shelley",
        "slug": "mary-shelley",
        "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/mary-shelley"
      },
      "book": {
        "title": "Frankenstein",
        "slug": "frankenstein",
        "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/mary-shelley/frankenstein"
      },
      "character": null,
      "chapter": null,
      "chapter_parent": null,
      "page": null,
      "verified": false,
      "original": null,
      "other_languages": [],
      "topics": [
        {
          "name": "courage",
          "slug": "courage",
          "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/courage"
        },
        {
          "name": "willpower",
          "slug": "willpower",
          "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/willpower"
        }
      ],
      "source": {
        "name": "Wikiquote",
        "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Frankenstein_(novel)#Quotes",
        "license": {
          "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0",
          "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/"
        }
      },
      "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:45:47"
    },
    {
      "id": "94ea172c-645c-4658-bf5e-caaedb3ea808",
      "slug": "what-can-stop",
      "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/mary-shelley/frankenstein/what-can-stop",
      "text": "What can stop the determined heart and resolved will of man?",
      "language": "en",
      "author": {
        "name": "Mary Shelley",
        "slug": "mary-shelley",
        "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/mary-shelley"
      },
      "book": {
        "title": "Frankenstein",
        "slug": "frankenstein",
        "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/mary-shelley/frankenstein"
      },
      "character": null,
      "chapter": null,
      "chapter_parent": null,
      "page": null,
      "verified": false,
      "original": null,
      "other_languages": [],
      "topics": [
        {
          "name": "willpower",
          "slug": "willpower",
          "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/willpower"
        }
      ],
      "source": {
        "name": "Wikiquote",
        "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Frankenstein_(novel)#Quotes",
        "license": {
          "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0",
          "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/"
        }
      },
      "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:45:46"
    },
    {
      "id": "e0791425-7280-404b-8969-be73eaf8c436",
      "slug": "as-man-under",
      "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/carl-von-clausewitz/on-war/as-man-under",
      "text": "...as man under pressure tends to give in to physical and intellectual weakness, only great strength of will can lead to the objective.",
      "language": "en",
      "author": {
        "name": "Carl von Clausewitz",
        "slug": "carl-von-clausewitz",
        "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/carl-von-clausewitz"
      },
      "book": {
        "title": "On War",
        "slug": "on-war",
        "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/carl-von-clausewitz/on-war"
      },
      "character": null,
      "chapter": null,
      "chapter_parent": null,
      "page": null,
      "verified": false,
      "original": null,
      "other_languages": [],
      "topics": [
        {
          "name": "willpower",
          "slug": "willpower",
          "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/willpower"
        }
      ],
      "source": {
        "name": "Wikiquote",
        "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Carl_von_Clausewitz#Book_3",
        "license": {
          "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0",
          "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/"
        }
      },
      "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:45:37"
    },
    {
      "id": "832cce8b-225f-47ea-9640-0cb541b68fba",
      "slug": "my-son-there",
      "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jean-jacques-rousseau/emile-or-on-education/my-son-there",
      "text": "My son, there is no happiness without courage, nor virtue without a struggle. The word virtue is derived from a word signifying strength, and strength is the foundation of all virtue. Virtue is the heritage of a creature weak by nature but strong by will; that is the whole merit of the righteous man; and though we call God good we do not call Him virtuous, because He does good without effort. I waited to explain the meaning of this word, so often profaned, until you were ready to understand me. As long as virtue is quite easy to practise, there is little need to know it. This need arises with the awakening of the passions; your time has come. \"When I brought you up in all the simplicity of nature, instead of preaching disagreeable duties, I secured for you immunity from the vices which make such duties disagreeable; I made lying not so much hateful as unnecessary in your sight; I taught you not so much to give others their due, as to care little about your own rights; I made you kindly rather than virtuous. But the kindly man is only kind so long as he finds it pleasant; kindness falls to pieces at the shook of human passions; the kindly man is only kind to himself. for nature delivers us from the evils she lays upon us, or else she teaches us to submit to them; but she has no message for us with regard to our self-imposed evils; she leaves us to ourselves; she leaves us, victims of our own passions, to succumb to our vain sorrows, to pride ourselves on the tears of which we should be ashamed.",
      "language": "en",
      "author": {
        "name": "Jean Jacques Rousseau",
        "slug": "jean-jacques-rousseau",
        "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jean-jacques-rousseau"
      },
      "book": {
        "title": "Emile; or On Education",
        "slug": "emile-or-on-education",
        "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jean-jacques-rousseau/emile-or-on-education"
      },
      "character": null,
      "chapter": null,
      "chapter_parent": null,
      "page": null,
      "verified": false,
      "original": null,
      "other_languages": [],
      "topics": [
        {
          "name": "morality",
          "slug": "morality",
          "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/morality"
        },
        {
          "name": "courage",
          "slug": "courage",
          "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/courage"
        },
        {
          "name": "willpower",
          "slug": "willpower",
          "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/willpower"
        }
      ],
      "source": {
        "name": "Wikiquote",
        "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Emile,_or_On_Education#Book_V",
        "license": {
          "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0",
          "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/"
        }
      },
      "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:38"
    },
    {
      "id": "1a96e151-ce6c-4709-bd9a-9d16a38c6eab",
      "slug": "he-was-always",
      "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-somerset-maugham/of-human-bondage/he-was-always",
      "text": "He was always seeking for a meaning in life, and here it seemed to him that a meaning was offered; but it was obscure and vague. He was profoundly troubled. He saw what looked like the truth as by flashes of lightning on a dark, stormy night you might see a mountain range. He seemed to see that a man need not leave his life to chance, but that his will was powerful; he seemed to see that self-control might be as passionate and as active as the surrender to passion; he seemed to see that the inward life might be as manifold, as varied, as rich with experience, as the life of one who conquered realms and explored unknown lands.",
      "language": "en",
      "author": {
        "name": "William Somerset Maugham",
        "slug": "william-somerset-maugham",
        "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-somerset-maugham"
      },
      "book": {
        "title": "Of Human Bondage",
        "slug": "of-human-bondage",
        "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-somerset-maugham/of-human-bondage"
      },
      "character": null,
      "chapter": null,
      "chapter_parent": null,
      "page": null,
      "verified": false,
      "original": null,
      "other_languages": [],
      "topics": [
        {
          "name": "meaning of life",
          "slug": "meaning-of-life",
          "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/meaning-of-life"
        },
        {
          "name": "willpower",
          "slug": "willpower",
          "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/willpower"
        }
      ],
      "source": {
        "name": "Wikiquote",
        "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/W._Somerset_Maugham#Of_Human_Bondage_(1915)",
        "license": {
          "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0",
          "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/"
        }
      },
      "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:26"
    },
    {
      "id": "1b8f0820-92f8-4fe7-8b91-a22b1c26b810",
      "slug": "this-is-just",
      "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-brodsky/less-than-one/this-is-just",
      "text": "This is just one example of the trimming of the self that — along with the language itself, where verbs and nouns changed places as freely as one dare to have them do so — bred in us such an overpowering sense of ambivalence that in ten years we ended up with a willpower in no way superior to a seaweed’s.",
      "language": "en",
      "author": {
        "name": "Joseph Brodsky",
        "slug": "joseph-brodsky",
        "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-brodsky"
      },
      "book": {
        "title": "Less Than One",
        "slug": "less-than-one",
        "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-brodsky/less-than-one"
      },
      "character": null,
      "chapter": null,
      "chapter_parent": null,
      "page": 14,
      "verified": false,
      "original": null,
      "other_languages": [],
      "topics": [
        {
          "name": "totalitarianism",
          "slug": "totalitarianism",
          "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/totalitarianism"
        },
        {
          "name": "willpower",
          "slug": "willpower",
          "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/willpower"
        }
      ],
      "source": {
        "name": "Wikiquote",
        "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Joseph_Brodsky#Less_Than_One:_Selected_Essays_(1986)",
        "license": {
          "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0",
          "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/"
        }
      },
      "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:16"
    }
  ]
}
