"As long as we persevere and endure, we can get anything we want"
About this Quote
The phrasing matters. “Persevere and endure” is redundant on purpose: perseverance is the forward motion, endurance is the ability to take damage without breaking. Put together, they echo training camps, punishment runs, body blows absorbed in the ring, the repetitive grind that turns raw talent into inevitability. The subtext is less “dream big” than “stay standing.” That’s a fighter’s ethic, but it also maps cleanly onto how modern hustle culture talks about work: pain as proof you’re earning it.
The provocative part is the absolutism: “anything we want.” Coming from Tyson, that certainty is both inspiring and haunted. His life story complicates the promise. He achieved the “anything” - fame, titles, money - and also became a public example of how getting what you want can be destructive if wanting is untethered from self-control and stability. So the line functions as both credo and warning. Endurance can carry you to the top; it can also keep you in the ring too long, mistaking sheer persistence for wisdom.
Quote Details
| Topic | Perseverance |
|---|---|
| Source | Verified source: Tyson triggers financial fireworks (Mike Tyson, 1995)
Evidence:
He was right. As long as we persevere and endure, we can get anything we want.. This line appears as part of a longer passage quoting Mike Tyson in a Ken Jones report from Las Vegas, dated Tuesday 15 August 1995, ahead of Tyson’s comeback fight vs. Peter McNeeley. In context, Tyson is discussing prison, fear of penalties, and something he says he read from Hemingway, then follows with this sentence and adds: "I'm a nut case, but that is what I believe." This is the earliest primary, attributable publication I could verify directly via a reputable news archive in this search session; I could not confirm an earlier book/interview transcript or broadcast recording where he first said it, so it’s possible the quote predates the article but this is the earliest verifiable publication located. |
| Cite |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Tyson, Mike. (2026, February 7). As long as we persevere and endure, we can get anything we want. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/as-long-as-we-persevere-and-endure-we-can-get-22455/
Chicago Style
Tyson, Mike. "As long as we persevere and endure, we can get anything we want." FixQuotes. February 7, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/as-long-as-we-persevere-and-endure-we-can-get-22455/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"As long as we persevere and endure, we can get anything we want." FixQuotes, 7 Feb. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/as-long-as-we-persevere-and-endure-we-can-get-22455/. Accessed 13 Feb. 2026.











