Mark Twain : The Size Of The Fight Matters

“It’s not the size of the dog in the fight, it’s the size of the fight in the dog.”

― Mark Twain


Who Doesn’t love a good fight?

Who doesn’t love a good fight? We love to see an India pak match where tempers soar, we love to see teams fight against each other in the most popular segments of the game like football or cricket, we all have staunch rivals and strong supporters as well.

So, let’s not start with the I love peace ideal here, I am going to take the violent route today :)


What have been the most interesting fights of your life so far? 

We all love the presence of challenges, the bigger they are the more fun it is. If I ask you to look back at your lives and talk about the biggest achievements so far, I am sure that I am going to see a list – a list which makes us all feed proud of everything we have done so far and the list which makes us feel good. And here are 6 reasons why you should make a good list of your achievements

And if I ask you about the most interesting ones of those, I am sure you would talk about the times you came out of the difficult situations – maybe like a breakup or getting a high paying job, inventing something or discovering or even writing such posts to keep bugging you every now and then :P.


What have been the best achievements so far?

If I try and recall the best achievements, I would honestly talk about the big failures which I came out of and proudly stood over them, pat myself on the back and smiled about those bad things that had happened.

I am sure that I am not going to remember why I felt bad cos someone was rude to me and I punched him in the nose. Although it was quite an achievement, I am not going to gloat about it :P.

Perhaps I would have if that bully was atleast 8 feet tall and really really wide, it would have made me feel better :D


Why do we remember the toughest ones? 

But something I realize that we all remember those achievements when the challenges were extremely tough, the ones which brought us down to our knees, made us feel desperate, made us think that life was absolutely hopeless and there was nothing to look forward to.

I am sure there have been moments where you have dropped your shoulders down and said that life is very unfair and there is no point in fighting either cos it is insane to keep fighting a battle when you know that your opponent is tough and you are not going to make it.


Then why do we fight anyway? 

But why do we fight anyway, we all are smart people, we all know about the tough challenges, then why do we bust our ass trying to figure a way out through a seemingly impossible situation?

What makes us keep striving forward no matter how many times you are pushed down?

I remember the Rocky Balboa scene where he says –

It is not about how many times you get hit in the face, it is about taking the hit and keep moving forward

It was a highly inspirational statement and a movie and I have always wanted to be that. So why the fight?


Perhaps this is why! 

Well, I guess to prove a point to ourselves, to keep telling ourselves that we are capable of fighting, to tell ourselves that we are not afraid of these petty demons and show them who the boss is.

It is to reassure ourselves that we are capable of a lot more things than we think we are, it is to reach over those limitations of life and tell yourself that anything and everything is possible.


So.. Who do you want to fight? 

If you ask me why, I would honestly say, I would prefer a big dog over a tiny bug cos I can always proudly say that I defeated a big one or I was defeated by a big one. There is no point in being defeated in a small fight anyway.

There is not much that you gain out of it, you want a fight, then fight the ones that matter, take the plunge, be scared, be afraid, get down on your knees, cry for help, shout out on the top of your lungs but fight anyway.

Cos too many people fight meaningless battles, a life with meaning wants you to do a lot more than that!



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Vinay Nagaraju

Product Director with 10+ years in leadership roles - team building, product strategy, coaching and mentoring are a part of my everyday responsibilities. I write about motivational words that inspire us and shape our thinking and help us go beyond these thoughts to find what our minds are telling us and evolve.

This Post Has 6 Comments

  1. Alok Vats

    Good post Vinay. I do love a good fight… But with friends only…

  2. Bikramjit

    hmmm I want to fight life.. so it does not put me down every now and then …

    1. Vinay Nagaraju

      Bring it on mate :).. The fight is something spectacular in its own essence!

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