Diana Nyad quotes: the swimmer-speaker’s outlook on life.
“What is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?”
“Write that novel. Start that business you’ve always wanted to. The ultimate high of life is the commitment to pursuing something.”
“Just begin. There’s boldness in beginning. Take that first step and you will find your way. Whereas if you sit back and let inertia take over, you’ll probably never take that step. You’ll never find your way. So just take that first bold step.”
“This journey has always been about reaching your own other shore no matter what it is, and that dream continues.”
“We may not have the talent, we may not have the luck. Sometimes you gotta have connections. But if you just have that die-hard perseverance, you’re going to get there, you’re going to get to your other shore.”
“Whatever inspires you, you will find a way to get there.”
“When you achieve your goals, it’s not so much what you get for them, it’s who you become. You get some compensation, you get some pats on the back, you get your name printed somewhere. It’s more who you become. What did it take? And, not give up no matter how crushing the disappointments were along the way.”
“You have a dream and you have obstacles in front of you as we all do. None of us ever get through this life without heartache, without turmoil, and if you believe and you have faith and you can get knocked down and get back up again and you believe in perseverance as a great human quality, you find your way.”
“I am willing to put myself through anything; temporary pain or discomfort means nothing to me as long as I can see that the experience will take me to a new level.”
“All those factors out there in life, you can’t control them, but you have to have intelligent answers to them, you have to have solutions.”
“I am interested in the unknown, and the only path to the unknown is through breaking barriers, an often painful process.”
“I just can’t buy into others setting limits for what’s possible. All my life, when I’ve heard ‘can’t be done,’ it’s not that I get defiant, it’s that I like to consider myself a free thinker and thus it’s me and only me who will decide what is and isn’t possible.”
“I believe endurance grows and we can never discount the mental—the powers of concentration and perspective of what it all means.”
“Every human being on this planet has their pain and their heartache and it’s up to all of us to find our way back to the light.”
“Never, ever give up. You’re never too old to chase your dreams. It looks like a solitary sport, but really a team effort.”
“You can’t start to get into negative spaces… telling yourself it hurts too much, maybe another day… because even people with an iron will can talk themselves out of stuff and quit when things get tough.”
“Whenever you’re pushing through the tough moments, find a way. If something is important to you and it looks impossible and you’re up against it, step back for a minute and ask yourself if you have the resolve to think of every ‘nth degree’ to get through this. And most times, we do.”
“When you reach for the horizon, you may not get there, but what a tremendous build of character and spirit that you lay down. What a foundation you lay down in reaching for those horizons.”
“The mantra I used was ‘find a way.’ All of us suffer difficulties in our lives. And if you say to yourself ‘find a way,’ you’ll make it through.”
“Never underestimate the power of the human spirit.”
“Every moment we spend concerned with things beyond our control are moments we’ll never get back. I have some wrinkles, some age spots, some fat I never had at earlier ages. There are so many high-minded moments in life more worthy of our time than worrying about aging. Take good care of your physical and emotional self and aging won’t even occur to you. You won’t have time for such foolishness.”
“I wanted to teach myself some life lessons at the age of 60 and one of them was that you don’t give up.”
“I don’t want to reach the end of my life and regret not having given my days everything in me to make them worthwhile. But for each of us, isn’t life about determining your own finish line?”
“I failed and faltered many times, but I can look back without regret because I was never burdened with the paralysis of fear and inaction.”
“Nobody goes through life without disappointment, and worse. When we dream, if we’re brave enough to reach for the stars, the chances are much higher we’ll wind up disappointed than elated. People often think I’ve ‘won’ at everything I’ve ever tried. Au contraire. I have faced a mountain of failures. But it’s been my decision to shoot high, to believe in myself, to live a life of highs that naturally lead to a number of lows. Wallowing in disappointment has no purpose. But to experience disappointment is only human. Then we pick ourselves up and march onward!”
“I have an uncompromising relationship with my goals.”
“I am overwhelmed by the strength of my body and the power of my mind.”
“I’ve been living out loud the Henry David Thoreau saying: ‘What you get by achieving your goals is not as important as what you become by achieving your goals.'”
“I want to be that kind of person: fierce, fearless and live it large.”
“It’s: ‘Am I living the life that I can admire? Am I… am I gonna leave this earth, maybe as you do, leaving it a place where it’s a little more just than it was and human rights have been fulfilled more?’ Those are my values. And never giving up. And finding a way through your obstacles and finding your grit and your will. Those are what I value. It’s about those values. And you know what? I am that person.”
“I’m confused about the definition of success. Is this society’s version, where you are lauded by your peers, where your bank account is flush, where your resume is long and prestigious? Well, there’s nothing wrong with all that. But the older I get, the more philosophical I become about success. When I turned 60 and decided to go back and chase this lifelong dream of mine, being the first to swim from Cuba to Florida, I wasn’t thirsty for another athletic record, another Hall of Fame induction. I was staring at myself in the virtual existential mirror, asking if I had really become a person I could admire. That’s success to me now. If my character is true, if I’m a person who would die rather than give up, then I’m a grand success.”
“[On philanthropy] Part of living a good life is to give. We experience and we live and we take in all the glory this planet offers us. But it’s empty without feeling compassion for those less fortunate than ourselves and then acting on that compassion. As much as I admire Bill and Melinda Gates for giving the lion’s share of their fortune to needy causes all over the world, I also admire the mother with two jobs who has no money to give but she’s the one who gets down to her local soup kitchen or school or church to give of her time. We take plenty. We need to give, too.”
“If you can just immerse yourself in your life, it doesn’t matter what you do everyday. Just do it intensely. Be in it, so that when you go to sleep you’re exhausted every night and you say, ‘Whoa, I just couldn’t have done any more with that day.'”
“Take every minute, one at a time. Don’t be fooled by a perfect sea at any given moment. Accept and rise to whatever circumstance presents itself. Be in it full tilt, your best self. Summon your courage, your true grit. When the body fades, don’t let negative edges of despair creep in. Allowing flecks of negativity leads to a Pandora’s box syndrome. You can’t stop the doubts once you consent to let them seep into your tired, weakened brain. You must set your will. Set it now. Let nothing penetrate or cripple it.”
