It might be challenging to survive in some circumstances. To inspire you through these trying times, check out our collection of survival quotes. The best adage in life is one that stimulates you, so you can share these survival quotes with your friends to inspire and motivate them as well.

Simply put, “survival” is “the act of existing or continuing longer than another person or object,” according to Merriam-Webster. The maintenance of three essential elements—food, water, and shelter—is the basis for basic survival. But frequently, surviving is a deeply ingrained and difficult idea supported by the vigor of the body and mind. Many people have struggled through challenging times and reached the end of the tunnel by using the power of survival. We have included stories from survival experts, motivational speakers, famous people, and others in this collection of inspirational quotes.

Motivational Survival Quotes

It is not the strongest or the most intelligent who will survive but those who can best manage change. ― Leon C. Megginson

Survivors aren’t always the strongest; sometimes they’re the smartest, but more often simply the luckiest. ― Carrie Ryan

There were sharks before there were dinosaurs, and the reason sharks are still in the ocean is that nothing is better at being a shark than a shark. ― Eliot Peper

Only the strong will remain, all the weak will be consumed by fire. ― Bangambiki Habyarimana

There’s no such thing as survival of the fittest. Survival of the most adequate, maybe. ― Peter Watts

The fittest person survives! The fighting man succeeds! He who Fights to Fit will Survive to Succeed! ― Israelmore Ayivor

This survival of the fittest implies the multiplication of the fittest. ― Herbert Spencer

A declining institution often experiences survival of the most unfit – John McCarthy.

You have to be self-reliant and strong to survive in this town. – Joan Crawford.

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If I were dropped out of a plane into the ocean and told the nearest land was a thousand miles away, I’d still swim. And I’d despise the one who gave up. – Abraham Maslow.

When you fight for survival, you don’t think much; you just do. If you think too much, you sink. – Frank Lowy.

We are survival machines – robot vehicles blindly programmed to preserve the selfish molecules known as genes. – Richard Dawkins.

Despite everything that was done to me and my race, in spite of the adversity and the bitter moments, again we rise. – Maya Angelou.

Fear is always there; it’s a survival instinct. You just need to know how to manage it. – Jimmy Chin.

We don’t even know how strong we are until we are forced to bring that hidden strength forward… The human capacity for survival and renewal is awesome. – Isabel Allende.

Survival Quotes Short

Survival is the ability to swim in strange water. – Frank Herbert.

We each survive in our own way. — Sarah J. Maas.

Survival is the ability to swim in strange water. – Frank Herbert.

We each survive in our own way. — Sarah J. Maas.

.. is an infinite capacity for suspicion. – John Le Carre.

Be content to act, and leave the talking to others. – Baltasar

Every day there’s something to survive. – Pat Benatar

If we truly trust no one, we cannot survive. ― Megan Whalen Turner

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If you’re going through hell, keep going. – Winston Churchill

Only the strong survive – Namibian Wisdom.

Nothing is better for self-esteem than survival. ― Martha Gellhorn

Survival is nothing more than recovery. – Dianne Feinstein.

Credibility is a basic survival tool. – Rebecca Solnit

Rule of survival: Pack your own parachute. – T.L. Hakala

Survival is triumph enough. – Harry Crews

Quotes about Survival in Hard Times

Self-preservation is the first principle of our nature. – Alexander Hamilton.

Your fear is 100% dependent on you for its survival. — Steve Maraboli.

You were scared, but you still got here; don’t forget that. — T.B. LaBerge

Peace is the one condition of survival in this nuclear age. – Adlai Stevenson.

Survival is not just a physical thing. It’s a constant mental affair. – Parvathy.

Don’t take life too seriously. You’ll never get out of it alive. – Elbert Hubbard

If you live among wolves, you have to act like a wolf. – Nikita Khrushchev

A scar does not form on the dying. A scar means, I survived. ― Chris Cleave

You have to be self-reliant and strong to survive in this town. – Joan Crawford.

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If I were dropped out of a plane into the ocean and told the nearest land was a thousand miles away, I’d still swim. And I’d despise the one who gave up. – Abraham Maslow.

When you fight for survival, you don’t think much; you just do. If you think too much, you sink. – Frank Lowy.

We are survival machines – robot vehicles blindly programmed to preserve the selfish molecules known as genes. – Richard Dawkins.

Despite everything that was done to me and my race, despite the adversity and the bitter moments, again we rise. – Maya Angelou.

Fear is always there; it’s a survival instinct. You just need to know how to manage it. – Jimmy Chin

We don’t even know how strong we are until we are forced to bring that hidden strength forward… The human capacity for survival and renewal is awesome. – Isabel Allende

Barely Surviving Quotes

The more we exploit nature, the more our options are reduced until we have only one: to fight for survival. – Mo Udall

We need art. We’ve been telling stories since the beginning. As human beings, we need it for our survival. – Lili Taylor

Look in the mirror, and don’t be tempted to equate transient domination with either intrinsic superiority or prospects for extended survival. – Stephen Jay Gould

College is the reward for surviving high school. Most people have great fun stories from college and nightmare stories from high school. – Judd Apatow

It goes without saying that when survival is threatened, struggles erupt between peoples, and unfortunate wars between nations result. – Hideki Tojo

Friendship is unnecessary, like philosophy, like art… It has no survival value; rather it is one of those things that give value to survival. – C. S. Lewis

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Spending practically every minute of your day on pure survival is a boring life. – Samuel R. Delany

Be happy – if you’re not even happy, what’s so good about surviving? – Tom Stoppard

The successful warrior is the average man, with a laser-like focus. – Bruce Lee

Life is not a problem to be solved, but a reality to be experienced. – Soren Kierkegaard

The only thing that matters, in the end, is your survival. It’s what humans and cockroaches are best at. – Susan Ee.

Life comes from physical survival, but the good life comes from what we care about. – Rollo May.

We are respecting our parents’ wishes… They didn’t want to shelter us from the world’s treacheries. They wanted us to survive them. ― Lemony Snicket, ‘ The End ’.

Every day I run scared. That’s the only way I can stay ahead. – John H. Johnson.

War is a survival among us from savage times and affects now chiefly the boyish and unthinking element of the nation. – Percival Lowell

Survival Quotes in the Hunger Games

One can survive everything, nowadays, except death, and live down everything except a good reputation. – Oscar Wilde

To cherish what remains of the Earth and foster its renewal is our only legitimate hope of survival. – Wendell Berry.

In a world where change is inevitable and continuous, the need to achieve that change without violence is essential for survival. – Andrew Young.

Connections with other people affect not only the quality of our lives but also our survival. – Dean Ornish.

We are driven by five genetic needs: survival, love, and belonging, power, freedom, and fun. – William Glasser.

Luck is a very thin wire between survival and disaster, and not many people can keep their balance on it. – Hunter S. Thompson.

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If you have a particular faith or religion that is good. But you can survive without it. – Dalai Lama.

Once you say you’re going to settle for a second, that’s what happens to you in life. -John F. Kennedy.

The condition of man… is a condition of war of everyone against everyone. – Thomas Hobbes.

Love and compassion are necessities, not luxuries. Without them, humanity cannot survive. – Dalai Lama.

The key to the survival of liberty in the modern world is the embrace of multiple identities. – Timothy Garton Ash.

Survival can be summed up in three words – never give up. That’s the heart of it. Just keep trying. – Bear Grylls.

The ultimate value of life depends upon awareness and the power of contemplation rather than upon mere survival. – Aristotle

All societies on the verge of death are masculine. A society can survive with only one man; no society will survive a shortage of women. – Germaine Greer

Life has a certain flavor for those who have fought and risked all that the sheltered and protected can never experience. – John Stuart Mill

Survival Quotes Funny

The ability to adapt to change will make your life easier, no matter what lies ahead. – Sean Brodrick

I’m not saying that everything is survivable. Just that everything except the last thing is. — John Green

One thing you have to realize from now on is that it doesn’t matter if this is a dream or not. Survival depends on what you do, not what you think. – Rebecca Mckinsey

To survive, it is often necessary to fight, and to fight, you have to dirty yourself. – George Orwell

The rules of survival never change, whether you’re in a desert or an arena. – Bear Grylls

If my survival caused another to perish, then death would be sweeter and more beloved. – Khalil Gibran

We shall draw from the heart of suffering itself the means of inspiration and survival. – Winston Churchill

Extraordinary people survive under the most terrible circumstances and they become more extraordinary because of it. ― Robertson Davies

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At such moments, you realize that you and the other are, in fact, one. It’s a big realization. Survival is the second law of life. The first is that we are all one. – Joseph Campbell

Survival protocol says follow water out, and that’s exactly what we’re going to do. – Joe Teti

The meaning of life is not simply to exist, to survive, but to move ahead, to go up, to achieve, to conquer. – Arnold Schwarzenegger

My heroes are the ones who survived doing it wrong, who made mistakes but recovered from them. – Bono

Doesn’t the fight for survival also justify swindles and theft? In self-defense, anything goes. – Imelda Marcos

Victory at all costs, victory despite all terror, victory however long and hard the road may be; for without victory, there is no survival. – Winston Churchill

We’re all put to the test… but it never comes in the form or at the point, we would prefer, does it? ― David Mamet

Survival Quotes about Business

Nobody talks of entrepreneurship as survival, but that’s exactly what it is and what nurtures creative thinking. – Anita Roddick

And while the law of competition may be sometimes hard for the individual, it is best for the race, because it ensures the survival of the fittest in every department. – Andrew Carnegie

I survived that, I’m still surviving it, but bring it on. Better me than you. – Carrie Fisher

The man who goes afoot prepared to camp anywhere and in any weather is the most independent fellow on earth. – Horace Kephart

If you have to lie, cheat, steal, obstruct and bully to get your point across, it must not be a point capable of surviving on its own merits. – Steven Weber

Weak prey didn’t live long. It was the law of the jungle. ― Jina S. Bazzar

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Your fear is 100% dependent on you for its survival. — Steve Maraboli.

Learning is not compulsory… neither is survival. – W. Edwards Deming

All progress takes place outside the comfort zone. – Michael John Bobak

The strong survive, but the courageous triumph. – Michael Scott.

Surviving means being born over and over again. – Erica Jong

Survivors can’t always choose their methods. – Patricia Briggs

We need to look for water. Water, water, water, water. – Cody Lundin.

Self-preservation is the first principle of our nature. – Alexander Hamilton.

My survival required me to counterbalance interesting with invisible. ― Rachel Hartman

Scars are not signs of weakness, they are signs of survival and endurance. ― Rodney A. Winters

Inspirational Survival Quotes

Success seems to be connected with action. Successful people keep moving. They make mistakes, but they don’t quit. – Conrad Hilton

The ability to delude yourself may be an important survival tool. – Jane Wagner

It takes more than capital to swing business. You’ve got to have the A. I. D. degree to get by — Advertising, Initiative, and Dynamics. – Ren Mulford Jr

Survival is the continuation of life or existence in the presence of or despite unusually difficult conditions. – Rainer Stahlberg

Adaptability and constant innovation are key to the survival of any company operating in a competitive market. – Shiv Nadar

When sustainability is viewed as being a matter of survival for your business, I believe you can create massive change. – Cameron Sinclair.

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They tried to bury us. They didn’t know we were seeds. — Dinos Christianopoulos

Keeping an active mind has been vital to my survival, as has to maintain a sense of humor. – Stephen Hawking

You may have to fight a battle more than once to win it. – Margaret Thatcher

Sometimes even living is an act of courage. ― Lucius Annaeus Seneca

But in the end, one needs more courage to live than to kill himself. ― Albert Camus

It has yet to be proven that intelligence has any survival value. — Arthur C. Clarke

There is a land of the living and a land of the dead and the bridge is love, the only survival, the only meaning. – Thornton Wilder

The human race’s prospects of survival were considerably better when we were defenseless against tigers than they are today when we have become defenseless against ourselves. – Arnold J. Toynbee

To save a life is a real and beautiful thing. To make a home for the homeless, yes, is a thing that must be good; whatever the world may say, it cannot be wrong. – Vincent Van Gogh

Deep Survival Quotes

There’s a difference between surviving and living. – Gene Roddenberry

At this crucial time in our lives, when everything is so desperate, when every day is a matter of survival, I don’t think you can help but be involved. – Nina Simone

The faster you can signal for rescue, the faster you get out of that situation. – Joseph Teti

Bad things happen. And the human brain is especially adept at making sure that we keep track of these events. This is an adaptive mechanism important for survival. – David Perlmutter

Resilience is distinct from mere survival, and more than mere endurance. Resilience is often endurance with direction. – Eric Greitens.

Survival is my only hope. Success is my only revenge. — Patricia Cornwell

I’m a survivor – a living example of what people can go through and survive. – Elizabeth Taylor

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It takes but one positive thought when given a chance to survive and thrive to overpower an entire army of negative thoughts. – Robert H. Schuller

I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work. – Thomas Edison

It was the bumblebee and the butterfly who survived, not the dinosaur. – Meridel Le Sueur

Through humor, you can soften some of the worst blows that life delivers. And once you find laughter, no matter how painful your situation might be, you can survive it. – Bill Cosby

I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life and that is why I succeed. -Michael Jordan

Anyone worth knowing breaks once. Once. No shame, no foul if you survive it. You did. ― Karen Marie Moning

Direct and easy communications — freedom of speech in all forms and its broadest sense — has become vital to the very survival of civilized humanity. – Walt Disney

Learning to walk again is not the hard part of survival; learning to live again is. – Brandon J. Wolf