130+ Best Eric Thomas Quotes to Inspire You to Succeed

Successful people always have a great source of motivation, and for Eric Thomas, that motivation comes in the form of quotes. In this blog post, we will be looking at some of his best quotes that will inspire you to achieve success. If you are feeling down or struggling to find the motivation to keep going, these quotes will help you get back on track.

Who is Eric Thomas?

Eric Thomas is an inspiring motivational speaker and author. He became popular after his TEDx Talk titled “When You Want to Succeed as Much as You Want to Breathe” went viral, accumulating over 30 million views. His many books and speeches have sold millions of copies around the world and he is considered one of the greatest motivational speakers in the world.

He holds no limits when it comes to chasing his dreams: with deep determination he earned himself the nickname ‘ET The Hip Hop Preacher’ after completing his Ph.D at Michigan State University.

From YouTube videos comprising some Eric’s most influential quotes about never giving up-to stints on NFL teams like Cincinnati Bengals, Denver Broncos & New York Jets – this powerful figure radiates raw passion for reaching greatness.

So without further ado, let’s get started!

Best Eric Thomas Quotes

1. “Fall in love with the process, and the results will come.” – Eric Thomas
2. “Practice doesn’t make perfect. Practice makes permanence!” – Eric Thomas
3. “We all have the ability to produce greatness in our lives.” – Eric Thomas
4. “Where there is no struggle, there is absolutely no progress.” – Eric Thomas
5. “Most of you don’t want success as much as you want to sleep!” – Eric Thomas
6. “You are the executive director and screenwriter of your life.” – Eric Thomas
7. “If there is no enemy within the enemy outside can do us no harm.” – Eric Thomas
8. “An eagle uses the negative energy of a storm to fly even higher.” – Eric Thomas
9. “Apply the ABC’s of success to your life. Ask, Believe and Claim It.” – Eric Thomas
10. “Stop being average. You’re not even good. You were born to be great.” – Eric Thomas
11. “Every single day has to be excellent. You gotta give it all you got!” – Eric Thomas
12. “Stop being average. You’re not even good. You were born to be great.” – Eric Thomas
13. “Champions keep going when they don’t have anything left in their tank!” – Eric Thomas
14. “Success is not for the weak and uncommitted… Sometimes it’s gonna hurt!” – Eric Thomas
15. “The reason why you’ll never be successful, is because you procrastinate.” – Eric Thomas
16. “It’s not who you are that holds you back, it’s who you think you’re not.” – Eric Thomas
17. “The only way to get out of mediocrity is to keep shooting for excellence.” – Eric Thomas
18. “Everybody wants to be a beast, until it’s time to do what real beasts do.” – Eric Thomas
19. “Only those who risk going too far, can possibly find out how far one can go.” – Eric Thomas
20. “It’s about optimal movement. Decisive movement. The most effective movement.” – Eric Thomas
21. “Everyone wants to shine bright like a diamond, but no one wants to get cut…” – Eric Thomas
22. “Desire and imagination have the potential to position a person for greatness.” – Eric Thomas
23. “Don’t quit. You’re already in pain. You’re already hurt. Get a reward from it!” – Eric Thomas
24. “Stop the blame game. Stop! Stop looking out the window and look in the mirror!” – Eric Thomas
25. “To be able, at any moment, to sacrifice what you are, for what you will become.” – Eric Thomas

Famous Eric Thomas Quotes

1. “Stop sabotaging yourself.” – Eric Thomas
2. “I’m intoxicated on success!” – Eric Thomas
3. “Avoid being your own enemy.” – Eric Thomas
4. “Stop whining, start grinding.” – Eric Thomas
5. “Be phenomenal or be forgotten!” – Eric Thomas
6. “At the end of pain is SUCCESS!” – Eric Thomas
7. “Be stronger than your excuses.” – Eric Thomas
8. “At the end of pain is success.” – Eric Thomas
9. “It’s not easy, but it’s simple.” – Eric Thomas
10. “Information changes situations.” – Eric Thomas
11. “It’s not easy, but it’s simple.” – Eric Thomas
12. “I use pain to push me to greatness” – Eric Thomas
13. “If you can look up, you can get up.” – Eric Thomas
14. “A setback is a setup for a comeback.” – Eric Thomas
15. “Don’t cry to quit. Cry to keep going!” – Eric Thomas
16. “I used my pain to push me to greatness.” – Eric Thomas
17. “Some of you have never learned to grow up!” – Eric Thomas
18. “No Alarm Clock Needed. My Passion Wakes Me.” – Eric Thomas
19. “Look in the mirror, that’s your competition.” – Eric Thomas
20. “Some of you need to give up your cell phone!” – Eric Thomas
21. “Greatness is a lot of small things done well.” – Eric Thomas
22. “I dare you to take a little pain. I dare you!” – Eric Thomas
23. “I challenge you. Be obsessed with improvement!” – Eric Thomas
24. “Innovation is rewarded. Execution is worshipped.” – Eric Thomas
25. “I’ve got a dream that’s worth more than my sleep.” – Eric Thomas
26. “At some point in life you have to face your fears.” – Eric Thomas
27. “Knowledge isn’t power, applied knowledge is power.” – Eric Thomas
28. “Winners focus on winning. Losers focus on winners.” – Eric Thomas
29. “At some point in life you have to face your fears.” – Eric Thomas
30. “Done is better than perfect if perfect ain’t done.” – Eric Thomas
31. “Everybody has a dream, but not everybody has a grind.” – Eric Thomas
32. “An eagle uses the storm to reach unimaginable heights.” – Eric Thomas

Motivational Eric Thomas Quotes

1. “When you’re great! You attract great! When you’re average! You attract average.” – Eric Thomas
2. “If you ready to take your game to the next level, you gotta change that mindset.” – Eric Thomas
3. “When you want to succeed as bad as you want to breathe, then you’ll be successful.” – Eric Thomas
4. “To get to that next level, you gotta learn to get comfortable being uncomfortable.” – Eric Thomas
5. “When all your energy gone! When you have nothing left! That’s when it’s show time!” – Eric Thomas
6. “If you’re going to go to your next level, your values are going to have to change.” – Eric Thomas
7. “I don’t care if you broke, you grew up broke… you grew up rich. You only get 24hrs!” – Eric Thomas
8. “Don’t make a habit out of choosing what feels good over what’s actually good for you.” – Eric Thomas
9. “I do not take constructive criticism from people who have never constructed anything.” – Eric Thomas
10. “You can get through this. You are bigger than your pain, don’t give up, don’t give in.” – Eric Thomas
11. “I’m not the smartest. But you will not out work me! I wake up every morning at 3 o’clock!” – Eric Thomas
12. “The difference between those who succeed and fail: not taking advantage of opportunities.” – Eric Thomas
13. “Most of you won’t be successful because when you’re studying and you get tired, you quit!” – Eric Thomas
14. “I realized the secret to success is finishing! And not just finishing, but finishing strong!” – Eric Thomas
15. “The problem is, you get more excited talking about it than you do when you actually doing it!” – Eric Thomas
16. “You ain’t average! But you know what? You’re playing small because it’s easier to be average.” – Eric Thomas
17. “I’m exactly where I wanted to be because I realized, I gotta commit my very being to this thing.” – Eric Thomas
18. “Listen to me: You’ll never be successful until I don’t have to give you a dime to do what you do.” – Eric Thomas
19. “If you are not where you want to be DO NOT QUIT, instead reinvent yourself and change your habits.” – Eric Thomas
20. “The difference between average and good. Good and Great! Great and Phenomenal! It’s their mindset!” – Eric Thomas
21. “You want to be a millionaire. But your values system says you believe in sleep more than grinding!” – Eric Thomas
22. “Can you honestly say the environment(s) you are in will yield the kind of harvest you are expecting?” – Eric Thomas
23. “Just because you failed, don’t make you a failure. And just because you lost, don’t make you a loser.” – Eric Thomas
24. “Things change for the better when we take responsibility for our own thoughts, decisions and actions.” – Eric Thomas
25. “You master Monday! You start winning the day! You start winning the week! Then the month! Then the year!” – Eric Thomas
26. “If you willing to put in that sweat! Blood! And tears! I’m telling you! You can have, be and do what you want!” – Eric Thomas
27. “This is what I’m saying, take advantage of opportunity, because if you do, doors are going to open up for you.” – Eric Thomas
28. “God has a purpose for your pain, a reason for your struggles and a reward for your faithfulness. Don’t give up.” – Eric Thomas
29. “The most important thing is this: To be able at any moment, to sacrifice what you are, for what you will become!” – Eric Thomas
30. “You can’t cheat the grind, it knows hows much you’ve invested, it won’t give you nothing you haven’t worked for.” – Eric Thomas
31. “You got an opportunity to make a dream become a reality – and when you do, you just got to take advantage of it.” – Eric Thomas
32. “Like for real, you can start from the bottom, and by the grace of God, work your way all the way up to the top man.” – Eric Thomas
33. “The competitive edge is not something that… it’s not the top tier management… it’s not something that they give you.” – Eric Thomas
34. “I was homeless for two and half years. And the problem with most of you, you’ve never felt any pain before. Y’all spoiled.” – Eric Thomas
35. “It’s realizing that a great dream is not as good as a great memory. The dream can be had by anyone. The memory – must be made.” – Eric Thomas
36. “I’m that guy that comes in your high school and tells you, you can make it happen! Greatness is upon you! You better act like it!” – Eric Thomas
37. “I’m here to tell you, number one, that most of you say you want to be successful, but you don’t want it bad, you just kinda want it.” – Eric Thomas
38. “It’s not about where you come from; it’s about heart! You come to a place where, you know, being smart ain’t enough. You gotta have heart” – Eric Thomas
39. “Success, meaningful success, begins when we take ownership and actively take responsibility for our part in the shortcomings of our life.” – Eric Thomas
40. “You can’t sleep. Broke people sleep. You got to be willing to sacrifice sleep, if you sleep you may miss the opportunity to be successful.” – Eric Thomas
41. “When you get to a place where you don’t go for what you can get, but you go for what you can give, you gonna see your life change tremendously.” – Eric Thomas
42. “Both desire and imagination are stored in the mind of the individual and when stretched, both have the potential to position a person for greatness.” – Eric Thomas

Eric Thomas Quotes On Success

1. “There is nothing wrong with dreaming big dreams, just know that all roads that lead to success have to pass through Hardwork Boulevard at some point.” – Eric Thomas
2. “I wanted to surround myself with the kind of people who could help me turn my life around; people whom I could rub up against like iron and be sharpened.” – Eric Thomas
3. “Monday, I grind. Tuesday, I grind. Wednesday, I grind. Thursday, I grind. Friday, I grind. Saturday, I grind. Sunday, I grind. And, that’s why I’m here today.” – Eric Thomas
4. “What you envision in your mind, how you see yourself, and how you envision the world around you is of great importance because those things become your focus.” – Eric Thomas
5. “Success is never on discount! Greatness is never on sale! Greatness is never half off! It’s all or nothing! It’s all day, every day! Greatness is never on discount!” – Eric Thomas
6. “Listen to me, even when you lose, it’s OK to lose, but you can never get comfortable with it. You can never be satisfied with losing. When you lose, it’s got to hurt.” – Eric Thomas
7. “I started studying. I wasn’t watching the game no more. I wanted to study what was in Michael Jordan. I’m like “What’s in Michael Jordan? Michael Jordan got something in him?” – Eric Thomas
8. “My greatest asset is I was homeless. So, I can’t feel a whole lot of pain. I’ve already been alone. There’s not a whole of hurt I can feel, on a little paper, on a little test.” – Eric Thomas
9. “Some of you love sleep more than you love success. If you want to be successful, you gotta be willing to give up sleep. If you go to sleep, you might miss the opportunity to successful.” – Eric Thomas
10. “I learned that a real friendship is not about what you can get, but what you can give. Real friendship is about making sacrifices and investing in people to help them improve their lives.” – Eric Thomas
11. “You know school ain’t my first love, but we gotta get in here and do it so that young people can know that for real it’s past possible, there’s absolutely nothing that we can’t accomplish.” – Eric Thomas
12. “Don’t think about what can happen in a month. Don’t think about what can happen in a year. Just focus on the 24 hours in front of you and do what you can to get closer to where you want to be.” – Eric Thomas
13. “Pain is temporary. It may last for a minute, or an hour or a day, or even a year. But eventually, it will subside. And something else takes its place. If I quit, however, it will last forever.” – Eric Thomas
14. “Sometimes it ain’t about being the most talented. Sometimes it ain’t about being the smartest. Sometimes it’s not even about working the hardest. Sometimes it’s about consistency! Consistency!” – Eric Thomas
15. “Don’t think about what can happen in a month. Don’t think about what can happen in a year. Just focus on the 24 hours in front of you and do what you can to get closer to where you want to be.” – Eric Thomas
16. “If it takes a boring Biology class, then I’m taking Biology. If I gotta go through Calculus to make my family get to a level they’ve never been too, then Calculus watch your back! Cause your boy is coming.” – Eric Thomas
17. “Because the time you spend on your cell phone, could be used for your success. The time you could be using to be successful, you’re using on the cell! And the cell phone is not bringing you nothing but a bill!” – Eric Thomas
18. “Sleep? “I don’t sleep.” You thought that was it? It goes deeper than going without sleep because you might miss the opportunity to succeed. No, no, no! It’s about No Days Off! No weekends! No Holidays! No Birthdays!” – Eric Thomas
19. “I’ve been trying to tell y’all, its’s not your circumstances or situation, that determines if you gonna be successful or not. I’ve been telling you it’s your mindset! It’s the way you see it. It’s the way you think it right!” – Eric Thomas
20. “Your relationships will either make you or break you and there is no such thing as a neutral relationship. People either inspire you to greatness or pull you down in the gutter, it’s that simple. No one fails alone, and no one succeeds alone.” – Eric Thomas
21. “It’s one thing to talk about your destiny. It’s one thing to dream about your destiny. It’s one thing to look at your destiny. But it’s another thing – it is another thing – to make the decisions. To wake up when you know you supposed to wake up!” – Eric Thomas
22. “That most of you say you want to be successful, but you don’t want it bad. You just kinda want it. You don’t want it badder than you wanna party. You don’t want it as much as you want to be cool. Most of you don’t want success as much as you want to sleep!” – Eric Thomas
23. “Listen to me! No, to sleep when you should be working out. Saying no, to quitting when you still got a hundred more shots to make. Saying no, when your body says stop, but you put in fifty more push ups! You can’t just talk about it! You gotta be about it!” – Eric Thomas
24. “If you’re just reading the book she told you to read, you’re getting beat! You read what she told you to read and then you ask her what she reading, cause if you don’t get what she’s reading, she’s gonna always be the teacher, and you’re always gonna be the student!” – Eric Thomas
25. “I’m discovering that the people that wake up early are really the trendsetters. They are up giving the commands on what the whole world needs to do so the worker wakes up at 8am but the dreamer, the innovator, the creator, the engineer is up at 3 or 4 in the morning making it happen.” – Eric Thomas
26. “If you’re not where you are. If you’re not where you want to be. If you don’t have what you want, want to have. If you’re not where you think you should be at this particular place. It has nothing to do with the system, but it has everything to do with the fact that you’re not making the sacrifice.” – Eric Thomas
27. “When you have something good… When you have something good, you don’t play with it! You don’t take chances with it! You don’t take risks with it! When you got something good, you get every single thing you can get out of it! Because guess what? When you take care of something good, that something good takes care of you.” – Eric Thomas
28. “You will never ever be successful, until you turn your pain into greatness, until you allow your pain to push you from where you are to push you to where you need to be. Stop running from your pain and embrace your pain. Your pain is going to be a part of your prize, a part of your product. I challenge you to push yourself.” – Eric Thomas
29. “I have learned over the years that the higher the level of emotion, the lower the level of reasoning. For example, if your emotions are at the highest level of 10, your ability to reason is at a 0. If it’s a 9 then your reasoning is a 1. I am not suggesting that emotions don’t have their place, but taking actions based purely on emotions is dangerous and could cost you everything.” – Eric Thomas
30. “I’m here to tell you today, that the reason why God is allowing you to go through what he’s allowing you to go through, cause you been too smooth and you ain’t going as far as he needs you to go. And so God is allowing you to go up the rough side of the mountain not so he could hurt you, or break you. But God is trying to change, he’s trying to redesign you! And so every trial you go through, every tribulation you go through, every setback you go through, God is redesigning you and putting more dimples on you baby, so you can go farther!” – Eric Thomas

Wrapping Up

The words of Eric Thomas provide deep insight into how to make tough decisions, push yourself, and succeed. Through pain and determination, you can go from where you are to where you need to be! Emotions should never be the driving force behind any decision-making, but rather they should be a thought-out calculation that leads to action. Take the words of Eric Thomas to heart and make the most of every opportunity life gives you!