Quotes from Ultramarathon Man: Confessions of an All-Night Runner

“I run because if I didn’t, I’d be sluggish and glum and spend too much time on the couch. I run to breathe the fresh air. I run to explore. I run to escape the ordinary. I run…to savor the trip along the way. Life becomes a little more vibrant, a little more intense. I like that.”
― Dean Karnazes, quote from Ultramarathon Man: Confessions of an All-Night Runner

“Struggling and suffering are the essence of a life worth living. If you're not pushing yourself beyond the comfort zone, if you're not demanding more from yourself - expanding and learning as you go - you're choosing a numb existence. You're denying yourself an extraordinary trip.”
― Dean Karnazes, quote from Ultramarathon Man: Confessions of an All-Night Runner

“Some seek the comfort of their therapist's office, other head to the corner pub and dive into a pint, but I chose running as my therapy.”
― Dean Karnazes, quote from Ultramarathon Man: Confessions of an All-Night Runner

“People think I'm crazy to put myself through such torture, though I would argue otherwise. Somewhere along the line we seem to have confused comfort with happiness. Dostoyevsky had it right: 'Suffering is the sole origin of consciousness.' Never are my senses more engaged than when the pain sets in. There is a magic in misery. Just ask any runner.”
― Dean Karnazes, quote from Ultramarathon Man: Confessions of an All-Night Runner

“I run because long after my footprints fade away, maybe I will have inspired a few to reject the easy path, hit the trails, put one foot in front of the other, and come to the same conclusion I did: I run because it always takes me where I want to go.”
― Dean Karnazes, quote from Ultramarathon Man: Confessions of an All-Night Runner

“If you can't run, then walk. And if you can't walk, then crawl. Do what you have to do. Just keep moving forward and never, ever give up.”
― Dean Karnazes, quote from Ultramarathon Man: Confessions of an All-Night Runner

“Somewhere along the line we seem to have confused comfort with happiness.”
― Dean Karnazes, quote from Ultramarathon Man: Confessions of an All-Night Runner

“Most people never get there. They're afraid or unwilling to demand enough of themselves and take the easy road, the path of least resistance. But struggling and suffering, as I now saw it, were the essence of a life worth living. If you're not pushing yourself beyond the comfort zone, if you're not constantly demanding more from yourself--expanding and learning as you go--your choosing a numb existence. Your denying yourself an extraordinary trip.”
― Dean Karnazes, quote from Ultramarathon Man: Confessions of an All-Night Runner

“As long as my heart's still in it, I'll keep going. If the passion's there, why stop?...
There'll likely be a point of diminishing returns, a point where my strength will begin to wane. Until then, I'll just keep plodding onward, putting one foot in front of the other to the best of my ability. Smiling the entire time.”
― Dean Karnazes, quote from Ultramarathon Man: Confessions of an All-Night Runner

“Sometimes you've got to go through hell to get to heaven.”
― Dean Karnazes, quote from Ultramarathon Man: Confessions of an All-Night Runner

“Most dreams die a slow death. They're conceived in a moment of passion, with the prospect of endless possibility, but often languish and are not pursued with the same heartfelt intensity as when first born. Slowly, subtly, a dream becomes elusive and ephemeral. People who've lost their own dreams become pessimists and cynics. They feel like the time and devotion spent on chasing their dreams were wasted. The emotional scars last forever.”
― Dean Karnazes, quote from Ultramarathon Man: Confessions of an All-Night Runner

“How to run an ultramarathon ? Puff out your chest, put one foot in front of the other, and don't stop till you cross the finish line.”
― Dean Karnazes, quote from Ultramarathon Man: Confessions of an All-Night Runner

“The human body has limitations; the human spirit is boundless.”
― Dean Karnazes, quote from Ultramarathon Man: Confessions of an All-Night Runner

“Pain is the body's way of ridding itself of weakness.”
― Dean Karnazes, quote from Ultramarathon Man: Confessions of an All-Night Runner

“I wasn't born with any innate talent. I've never been naturally gifted at anything. I always had to work at it. The only way I knew how to succeed was to try harder than anyone else. Dogged persistence is what got me through life. But here was something I was half-decent at. Being able to run great distances was the one thing I could offer the world. Others might be faster, but I could go longer. My strongest quality is that I never give up.”
― Dean Karnazes, quote from Ultramarathon Man: Confessions of an All-Night Runner

“Sure I'm cut but not for the sake of vanity...”
― Dean Karnazes, quote from Ultramarathon Man: Confessions of an All-Night Runner

“Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far they can go. —T. S. Eliot”
― Dean Karnazes, quote from Ultramarathon Man: Confessions of an All-Night Runner

“But struggling and suffering, as I now saw it, were the essence of a life worth living. If you’re not pushing yourself beyond the comfort zone, if you’re not constantly demanding more from yourself—expanding and learning as you go—you’re choosing a numb existence. You’re denying yourself an extraordinary trip.”
― Dean Karnazes, quote from Ultramarathon Man: Confessions of an All-Night Runner

“Some seek the comfort of their therapist’s office, others head for the corner pub and dive into a pint, but I choose running as my therapy. It was the best source of renewal there was. I couldn’t recall a single time that I felt worse after a run than before. What drug could compete? As Lily Tomlin said, “Exercise is for people who can’t handle drugs and alcohol.” I’d also come to recognize that the simplicity of running was quite liberating. Modern man has virtually everything one could desire, but too often we’re still not fulfilled. “Things” don’t bring happiness. Some of my finest moments came while running down the open road, little more than a pair of shoes and shorts to my name. A runner doesn’t need much. Thoreau once said that a man’s riches are based on what he can do without. Perhaps in needing less, you’re actually getting more.”
― Dean Karnazes, quote from Ultramarathon Man: Confessions of an All-Night Runner

“I didn’t go up there to die, I went up there to live.”
― Dean Karnazes, quote from Ultramarathon Man: Confessions of an All-Night Runner

“Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far they can go. —T. S. Eliot The”
― Dean Karnazes, quote from Ultramarathon Man: Confessions of an All-Night Runner

“For the better part of my adult life I’d been making deadlines and chasing the next deal. It had been so long since I had stopped to reflect, I wasn’t sure what was important any longer. Things were moving so fast that there was no time to look below the surface. Everyone around me seemed to be operating on the same level, and it just fed on itself. We were all caught up in a whirlwind of important meetings and expensive lunches, do-or-die negotiations, lucrative deals conducted in fancy hotels with warmed towel racks and monogrammed robes.”
― Dean Karnazes, quote from Ultramarathon Man: Confessions of an All-Night Runner

“Any goal worth achieving involves an element of risk.”
― Dean Karnazes, quote from Ultramarathon Man: Confessions of an All-Night Runner

About the author

Popular quotes

“I mean, Marty really likes it,” Denise continued, “but it just seems like nothing but boobs and snow and blood. And the frozen zombie things. I just don’t get them. It feels like not a lot ever actually happens, y”
― Peter Clines, quote from The Fold

“His fingers tighten, drawing my leg open so that ours knees touch and he leans closer to me. “Not at all,” he whispers in a spine-tingling purr, eyes alight with secret sparkle. “It should scare you. It should scare you and enliven you. It should make you want to start a fire. Because you can.”
― A.L. Davroe, quote from Nexis

“since departed. I did a quick book and binder grab, then sprinted to math. The warning bell rang as I hurried in and took my seat beside my”
― Nikki Jefford, quote from Aurora Sky

“Maybe I should drown myself before I freeze to death?”
― quote from The Edelweiss Express

“Dominic took the bait: “If the President breaks the law, then the House of Representatives impeaches him and the Senate convicts him, and he’s out on the street,”
― Tom Clancy, quote from The Teeth of the Tiger

Interesting books

About BookQuoters

BookQuoters is a community of passionate readers who enjoy sharing the most meaningful, memorable and interesting quotes from great books. As the world communicates more and more via texts, memes and sound bytes, short but profound quotes from books have become more relevant and important. For some of us a quote becomes a mantra, a goal or a philosophy by which we live. For all of us, quotes are a great way to remember a book and to carry with us the author’s best ideas.

We thoughtfully gather quotes from our favorite books, both classic and current, and choose the ones that are most thought-provoking. Each quote represents a book that is interesting, well written and has potential to enhance the reader’s life. We also accept submissions from our visitors and will select the quotes we feel are most appealing to the BookQuoters community.

Founded in 2023, BookQuoters has quickly become a large and vibrant community of people who share an affinity for books. Books are seen by some as a throwback to a previous world; conversely, gleaning the main ideas of a book via a quote or a quick summary is typical of the Information Age but is a habit disdained by some diehard readers. We feel that we have the best of both worlds at BookQuoters; we read books cover-to-cover but offer you some of the highlights. We hope you’ll join us.