25 of the Best Quotes About Masculinity and Manhood

Today, we live in a world where masculinity is idolized on the big screen but is in retreat in the real world – and no wonder. So many young men grow up without fathers or good masculine role models in their lives and they’re bombarded with negative messages about masculinity.

They’re told that masculinity is toxic. That it’s dangerous. That men are bad by virtue of being men. That there’s a “new masculinity,” which almost inevitably turns out to be effeminate men or feminists telling men to act like pale imitations of women, or that “masculinity” is essentially indistinguishable from being a nice, pliant sheep.

This is all bunk.

Masculinity is not out of date or toxic, it’s a natural and healthy thing. On the contrary, there are few things we could use more in our wildly over-feminized culture than for masculinity to make a comeback.

Masculine men, real men, built this country, defended it, and made it great. Do you want to be that kind of man? The kind of man that has been the backbone of this country since it was founded? Then here is the standard you need to try to meet.

1) "The wise man does not expose himself needlessly to danger, since there are few things for which he cares sufficiently; but he is willing, in great crises, to give even his life — knowing that under certain conditions it is not worthwhile to live." -- Aristotle

2) "An acorn is not an oak tree when it is sprouted. It must go through long summers and fierce winters and endure all that frost and snow and thunder and storms and side-striking winds can bring before it is a full-grown oak. So, a man is not a man when he is created; he is only begun. His manhood must come with years. He who goes through life prosperous, and comes to his grave without a wrinkle, is not half a man. Difficulties are God’s errands and trainers, and only through them can one come to fullness of manhood." -- Henry Ward Beecher

3) "Men are anxious to improve their circumstances but are unwilling to improve themselves; they therefore remain bound." -- James Allen

4) "It is easier to find men who will volunteer to die than to find those who are willing to endure pain with patience." -- Julius Caesar

5) "Show me the man you honor; I know by that symptom, better than by any other, what kind of man you yourself are. For you show me there what your ideal of manhood is; what kind of man you long inexpressibly to be." -- Thomas Carlyle

6) "Today’s popular culture tries to erode and demean your eternal role as a patriarch and father and minimize your most important responsibilities… Fathers, you are the guardians of your homes, your wives, and your children." -- Elaine S. Dalton

7) "Your close men friends should be willing to challenge your mediocrity by suggesting a concrete action you can perform that will pop you out of your rut, one way or the other. And you must be willing to offer them your brutal honesty, in the same way, if you are all to grow. Good friends should not tolerate mediocrity in one another. If you are at your edge, your men friends should respect that, but not let you off the hook. They should honor your fears, and, in love, continue to goad you beyond them, without pushing you." -- David Deida

8) "Life is too short to be little. Man is never so manly as when he feels deeply, acts boldly, and expresses himself with frankness and with fervor." -- Benjamin Disraeli

9) "‘Can men change?’ is the wrong question. Better questions are: ‘Why should men change?’ and ‘What does the average guy get out of the deal?’ When pressed to answer this question, feminists and men’s rights activists never seem to be able to come up with anything but promises of increased financial and physical security and the freedom to show weakness and fear. Masses of men never rushed to the streets demanding the freedom to show weakness and fear, and they never braved gunfire or battle axes for the right to cry in public. Countless men, however, have died for the ideas of freedom and self-determination, for the survival and honor of their own tribes, for the right to form their own gangs." -- Jack Donovan

10) "Try not to become a man of success, but rather try to become a man of value." -- Albert Einstein

11) "It was men who stopped slavery. It was men who ran up the stairs in the Twin Towers to rescue people. It was men who gave up their seats on the lifeboats of the Titanic. Men are made to take risks and live passionately on behalf of others." -- John Eldredge

12) "Fathers are to sons what blacksmiths are to swords. It is the job of the blacksmith not only to make a sword but also to maintain its edge of sharpness. It is the job of the father to keep his son sharp and save him from the dullness of foolishness. He gives his son that sharp edge through discipline." -- Steve Farrar

13) "One cannot always be a hero, but one can always be a man." -- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

14) "There are two questions a man must ask himself: The first is 'Where am I going?' and the second is 'Who will go with me?' If you ever get these questions in the wrong order you are in trouble." -- Sam Keen

15) "A man does what he must — in spite of personal consequences, in spite of obstacles and dangers, and pressures — and that is the basis of all human morality." -- John Kennedy

16) "The greatest thing a man can do in this world is to make the most possible out of the stuff that has been given him. This is success, and there is no other." -- Orison Swett Marden

17) "The true man wants two things: danger and play. For that reason, he wants woman as the most dangerous plaything." -- Friedrich Nietzsche

18) "A woman simply is, but a man must become." -- Camille Paglia

19) "It is of dangerous consequence to represent to man how near he is to the level of beasts, without showing him at the same time his greatness. It is likewise dangerous to let him see his greatness without his meanness. It is more dangerous yet to leave him ignorant of either; but very beneficial that he should be made sensible of both." -– Blaise Pascal

20) "There are three classes of men; lovers of wisdom, lovers of honor, and lovers of gain." -- Plato

21) “We do not admire the man of timid peace. We admire the man who embodies victorious effort; the man who never wrongs his neighbor, who is prompt to help a friend, but who has those virile qualities necessary to win in the stern strife of actual life. ” – Theodore Roosevelt

22) "No man is more unhappy than he who never faces adversity. For he is not permitted to prove himself." -- Seneca

23) "It is not necessary for a man to be actively bad in order to make a failure in life; simple inaction will accomplish it. Nature has everywhere written her protest against idleness; everything which ceases to struggle, which remains inactive, rapidly deteriorates. It is the struggle toward an ideal, the constant effort to get higher and further, which develops manhood and character." -- James Terry White

24) "My life is simple, my food is plain, and my quarters are uncluttered. In all things, I have sought clarity. I face the troubles and problems of life and death willingly. Virtue, integrity, and courage are my priorities. I can be approached, but never pushed; befriended but never coerced; killed but never shamed." -- Yi Sun-sin

25) "The true test of a man’s character is what he does when no one is watching." -- John Wooden

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