Top 30 Dan Crenshaw Quotes (2025 Update)

1. “You want to be humble. This can mean a lot of things, so let’s be a little specific. You say “please” and “thank you” often, and practice the good manners that are a timeless doctrine of civil society. You do not expect people to do things for you that you can do yourself. You put your shopping cart away instead of leaving it in the parking lot, for instance. You have confidence but it isn’t overbearing.”

— Dan Crenshaw

2. “Government does not exist to end your suffering; it exists in order to create the proper structure, based on equality and justice, so that you may pursue your own happiness.”

— Dan Crenshaw

3. “I seek out hardship. I do not run from pain but embrace it, because I derive strength from my suffering.”

— Dan Crenshaw

4. “Admiral McRaven, the senior Navy SEAL who planned the Bin Laden mission, said this starts with the mundane: making your bed. “If you make your bed every morning you will have accomplished the first task of the day. It will give you a small sense of pride and it will encourage you to do another task and another and another. By the end of the day, that one task completed will have turned into many tasks completed. Making your bed will also reinforce the fact that little things in life matter.”

— Dan Crenshaw

5. “Unfortunately, these days, too many people are overcoming their knowledge deficits with passion, and too many more people are mistaking “passion” and “authenticity” for righteousness and sophistication. It is an unhealthy trend.”

— Dan Crenshaw

6. “Identity politics becomes the new normal, and cultural leaders and politicians take advantage of these stories and even encourage them.”

— Dan Crenshaw

7. “Carl Jung, the renowned psychologist, summed it up: “The foundation of all mental illness is the avoidance of true suffering.”

— Dan Crenshaw

8. “John Adams said, “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”

— Dan Crenshaw

9. “If you find yourself calling someone a communist, traitor, or RINO because they disagree with you, it is a good indication that your arguments are shallow and your emotions are driving your thinking.”

— Dan Crenshaw

10. “In Hate Inc., Matt Taibbi notes that this is partly because the financial incentives for incendiary opinion journalism are so strong: “There is a financial pull toward research-free stories. Writing 1,200 words of jokes about a Trump tweet costs less than sending a reporter undercover into a Mexican maquiladora.”

— Dan Crenshaw

11. “Thoughtful conversations have been substituted by social media snark and insult, where your opponent is assumed to have the worst intentions – simply because they are an opponent.”

— Dan Crenshaw

12. “There is nothing wrong with saying, “I don’t know.” Ignorance on its own is not cause to feel ashamed. There are plenty of things that I am not an expert on and never will be. But ignorance coupled with strong opinions is a reason to feel ashamed, and it is one of the hardest things to get people to actually feel ashamed about.”

— Dan Crenshaw

13. “When describing the importance of duty, that is one of my favorite phrases: “If not me, then who?” It isn’t just applicable to joining the military; it applies to everyday life. If you won’t help that homeless person get a meal, who will? Why is it someone else’s job? If you care, if you really care, then why not take action?”

— Dan Crenshaw

14. “Forming an opinion without the relevant facts is a phenomenon that I believe is getting worse – probably because of social media and the echo chamber of disinformation it can create.”

— Dan Crenshaw

15. “More and more, we are putting a preference on victimhood, glorifying weakness instead of strength, and outright shaming anyone with more traditional characteristics.”

— Dan Crenshaw

16. “I will not quit in the face of danger or pain or self-doubt; I will not justify the easier path before me. I decide that all my actions, not just some, matter. Every small task is a contribution toward a higher purpose. Every day is undertaken with a sense of duty to be better than I was yesterday, even in the smallest of ways. I seek out hardship. I do not run from pain but embrace it, because I derive strength.”

— Dan Crenshaw

17. “A mentally tough, confident person does not have a problem admitting they are wrong or unknowledgeable on a subject.”

— Dan Crenshaw

18. “The dismissive and insulting tone of today’s political debate is a reflection of mental weakness.”

— Dan Crenshaw

19. “Acceptance for what you truly can’t control, but responsibility for what you can control. The Stoic does not believe in categorizing so many things as ‘outside your control’ that you simply become a victim of circumstance. Far more is within your control than you might think.”

— Dan Crenshaw

20. “A shallow reading of a problem begets outrage; a detailed approach to a problem encourages moderation.”

— Dan Crenshaw

21. “The number of decibels your voice hits as you scream about how right you are is not necessarily an indicator of how much sense you are making.”

— Dan Crenshaw

22. “Outrage culture is the weaponization of emotion, and the elevation of emotion above reason. It is the new normal, where moral righteousness rises in proportion to your level of outrage. The more outraged one is, the more authentic one is perceived to be. And the more authentic one is, the greater one’s moral standing. Reason, rationale, and evidence be damned.”

— Dan Crenshaw

23. “It has grown terribly difficult to separate objective journalism from opinion journalism.”

— Dan Crenshaw

24. “The stories we tell ourselves ultimately make up our characters and decide our fate. These small stories make up the larger narrative that we build together as Americans.”

— Dan Crenshaw

25. “Outrage is weakness. It is the muting of rational thinking and the triumph of emotion. Despite what you’ve been hearing and seeing as of late, it is not a virtue. It is not something to be celebrated, nor praised, nor aspired to. It is a deeply human emotion – even understandable at times – but rarely is it productive, virtuous, or useful. It is an emotion to overcome, not accept, and overcoming it requires mental strength. This book is about acquiring that necessary mental fortitude.”

— Dan Crenshaw

26. “Perspective doesn’t necessarily have to be gained through experience, though it certainly helps. It can be self-taught. You can open your mind to the obvious truth that your experience, your hardship, your inclination to outrage, can be overcome because others have done so. Perspective, and the benefits of it, can be a simple choice you make.”

— Dan Crenshaw

27. “While our own citizens burn our flag or sneer at our pledge of allegiance, millions of people around the world would do anything to be here.”

— Dan Crenshaw

28. “The meme has replaced good argument, the tweet has replaced the well-reasoned op-ed, and the op-ed has replaced objective journalism.”

— Dan Crenshaw

29. “The phrase “check your privilege” becomes the favorite tactic used to discredit opponents and subvert real discourse.”

— Dan Crenshaw

30. “A good rule of thumb is this: If you aren’t making someone laugh with your complaints, then you might be doing it wrong. Lighthearted humor wrapped up in your menial grumbling should be the goal.”

— Dan Crenshaw

31. “But in fact, a truly democratic society is one that protects its citizens’ rights to be who they want, while also not forcing others to believe the same.”

— Dan Crenshaw

32. “Which person do you think is happier? Which one do you think has less stress? The person who finds ill intent with every interaction, or the person who chooses to give the benefit of the doubt?”

— Dan Crenshaw

33. “The common story being told by many people, especially in the outrage mob Twitter-sphere, is that their opinion is true simply because it is their truth. There is no sense of shame whatsoever in their inability to explain why they hold that opinion.”

— Dan Crenshaw

34. “The question isn’t about the existence of injustice, but whether our reaction to said injustice is productive – or strewn with self-pity. The former reaction allows for growth beyond the injustice, and the latter imprisons you in victimhood.”

— Dan Crenshaw