What We Think About When We Think About Running; Outside. December 20, 2021

Brendan Leonard , Outside; What We Think About When We Think About Running

38 quotes that we interpret for our own needs

"Mark Twain was not a runner, at least to my knowledge. But I think of this Twain quote nearly every time I go running, once I’ve finally dragged myself out the door: “It’s easier to stay out than get out.” When he penned that line in the late 1800s, there’s zero chance he was referring to my habit of procrastinating when it comes to running. Yet I never cease to marvel at how true it is.

So I got to wondering: What other maxims, or quotes, or pieces of advice—that have nothing to do with running—do runners think about? I asked people on Instagram and Twitter, and I got a ton of responses. Here are a bunch of my favorites:...

6

“Hard things are hard.”
—Plaque on Barack Obama’s desk (via Marc Heinzman)...

16

“Passion is the bridge that takes you from pain to change.”
—Frida Kahlo (via Candace Gonzales)...

19

“I can see no way out but through.”
—Robert Frost, from “A Servant to Servants” (via lots of people)

20

“If you’re going through hell, keep going.”
—Winston Churchill (via lots of people)...

30

“Not everything that counts can be counted, and not everything that can be counted counts.”
—Albert Einstein (via Anna Papuga)...

32

“Nobody realizes that some people expend tremendous energy merely to be normal.”
—Albert Camus, Notebook IV in Notebooks: 1942–1951 (via Emily Hansen)"