Top 40 Scott Jurek Quotes (2024 Update)

1. “Injuries are our best teachers.”

— Scott Jurek

Featured in: Running Quotes

2. “Sometimes you just do things!”

— Scott Jurek

Featured in: Running Quotes

3. “The longer and farther I ran, the more I realized that what I was often chasing was a state of mind – a place where worries that seemed monumental melted away, where the beauty and timelessness of the universe, of the present moment, came into sharp focus.”

— Scott Jurek

Featured in: Running Quotes

4. “We move forward, but we must stay in the present.”

— Scott Jurek

Featured in: Moving Forward Quotes

5. “We all lose sometimes. We fail to get what we want. Friends and loved ones leave. We make a decision we regret. We try our hardest and come up short. It’s not the losing that defines us. It’s how we lose. It’s what we do afterward.”

— Scott Jurek

6. “Nature’s arena has a way of humbling and energizing us.”

— Scott Jurek

Featured in: Running Quotes

7. “Train where your fitness is NOW, not where you want to be.”

— Scott Jurek

Featured in: Running Quotes

8. “As powerful as our legs are, as magnificent as our lungs and arms and muscles are, nothing matters more than the mind.”

— Scott Jurek

9. “Every single one of us possesses the strength to attempt something he isn’t sure he can accomplish.”

— Scott Jurek

10. “It’s a hard, simple calculus: Run until you can’t run anymore. Then run some more. Find a new source of energy and will. Then run even faster.”

— Scott Jurek

11. “Overcoming the difficulties of an ultramarathon reminds me that I can overcome the difficulties of life.”

— Scott Jurek

12. “What we eat is a matter of life and death.”

— Scott Jurek

13. “You can hurt more than you ever thought possible, then continue until you discover that hurting isn’t that big a deal.”

— Scott Jurek

14. “Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food. – HIPPOCRATES.”

— Scott Jurek

15. “We strive toward a goal, and whether we achieve it or not is important, but it’s not what’s most important. What matters is how we move toward that goal.”

— Scott Jurek

16. “The point was living with grace, decency, and attention to the world, and breaking free of the artificial constructs in your own life.”

— Scott Jurek

17. “Sometimes the road to wellness isnt a well-marked expressway.”

— Scott Jurek

18. “We can live as we were meant to live – simply, joyously, of and on the earth. We can live with all our effort and with pure happiness.”

— Scott Jurek

19. “Rational assessments too often led to rational surrenders.”

— Scott Jurek

20. “Humans aren’t built to sit all day. Nor are we built for the kinds of repetitive, small movements that so much of today’s specialized work demands. Our bodies crave big, varied movements that originate at the core of our body.”

— Scott Jurek

21. “You only ever grow as a human being if you’re outside your comfort zone.”

— Scott Jurek

22. “You never know how strong you are until being strong is the only choice you have. – ANONYMOUS.”

— Scott Jurek

23. “For me, it’s about optimizing health. It’s about lifestyle and longevity. Then you think about what vegetarian diets can do for the mass population, in terms of lower consumption of resources. When you look at the numbers, it’s pretty staggering.”

— Scott Jurek

24. “Don’t work towards freedom, but allow the work itself to be freedom. – DOGEN ROSHI.”

— Scott Jurek

25. “Run for 20 minutes and you’ll feel better. Run another 20 and you might tire. Add on 3 hours and you’ll hurt, but keep going and you’ll see – and hear and smell and taste – the world with a vividness that will make your former life pale.”

— Scott Jurek

26. “Perspective can be both humbling and inspiring.”

— Scott Jurek

27. “The more you know, the less you need. – YVON CHOUINARD.”

— Scott Jurek

28. “But you can be transformed. Not overnight, but over time. Life is not a race.”

— Scott Jurek

29. “Not all pain is significant.”

— Scott Jurek

30. “Only the most saintly and delusional among us welcomes all pain as challenge, perceives all loss as harsh blessing.”

— Scott Jurek

31. “To run 100 miles and more is to bring the body to the point of breaking, to bring the mind to the point of destruction, to arrive at that place where you can alter your consciousness.”

— Scott Jurek

32. “Let’s improve ourselves as human beings, let’s become more compassionate, let’s become bigger, let’s become stronger, let’s become nicer people.”

— Scott Jurek

33. “My injury provided a great excuse to lose. But I didn’t want an excuse.”

— Scott Jurek

34. “Running efficiently demands good technique, and running efficiently for 100 miles demands great technique. But the wonderful paradox of running is that getting started requires no technique. None at all. If you want to become a runner, get onto a trail, into the woods, or on a sidewalk or street and run. Go 50 yards if that’s all you can handle. Tomorrow, you can go farther.”

— Scott Jurek

35. “That’s one of the many great pleasures of an ultra-marathon. You can hurt more than you ever thought possible, then continue until you discover that hurting isn’t that big a deal.”

— Scott Jurek

36. “I’m convinced that a lot of people run ultramarathons for the same reason they take mood-altering drugs. I don’t mean to minimize the gifts of friendship, achievement, and closeness to nature that I’ve received in my running carer. But the longer and farther I ran, the more I realized that what I was often chasing was a state of mind – a place where worries that seemed monumental melted away, where the beauty and timelessness of the universe, of the present moment, came into sharp focus.”

— Scott Jurek

37. “In a sprint, if you don’t have perfect form, you’re doomed. The ultra distance forgives injury, fatigue, bad form, and illness. A bear with determination will defeat a dreamy gazelle every time.”

— Scott Jurek

38. “Our existence is always like this: the same but different, light then dark, found now lost, here and there and back again.”

— Scott Jurek

39. “The best way out is always through. – ROBERT FROST.”

— Scott Jurek

40. “Running efficiently demands good technique, and running efficiently for 100 miles demands great technique.”

— Scott Jurek

41. “In the case of pain, perhaps the one we know hurts us less than the one we fear.”

— Scott Jurek

42. “We often think we can’t go any farther and feel like we have nothing left to give, yet there is a hidden potential and strength in all of us, begging us to find it.”

— Scott Jurek

43. “Altogether, our modern inclination toward sloth, the easy availability of processed food, and the prevalence of life-saving medical treatments have made us a long-lived, unhealthy people.”

— Scott Jurek

44. “Random thinking is the enemy of the ultramarathoner. Thinking is best used for the primitive essentials: when I ate last, the distance to the next aid station, the location of the competition, my pace. Other than those considerations, the key is to become immersed in the present moment where nothing else matters.”

— Scott Jurek

45. “Out there in the wild, on a long journey, you hike your own hike, blaze your own trail, and only you can find what you’re looking for.”

— Scott Jurek

46. “It was just numbers. I knew I could outrun numbers.”

— Scott Jurek

47. “The question became less and less theoretical in Vermont, where I started to come up against my own limits. I’ve heard it said that ultra marathons are 90 percent mental. And the other 10 percent? That’s mental too. I was in the thick of that other 10 percent.”

— Scott Jurek

48. “According to bushido, the best mind for the battlefield – or the race – is that of emptiness, or an empty mind. This doesn’t mean sleepiness or inattention; the bushido concept of emptiness is more like that rush of surprise and expansiveness you get under an ice-cold waterfall. The empty mind is a dominant mind. It can draw other minds into its rhythm, the way a vacuum sucks up dirt or the way the person on the bottom of a seesaw controls the person on the top.”

— Scott Jurek