English, baby!

No guts, no glory.

Date: Apr 29 2004

Quote

1. Quote - Listen to the quote and guess what the slang means.

“I’m not scared of nothin’. No guts, no glory.”
- Cindy Lauper, talking about singing difficult songs on her new album. [vh1]

Definition

1. Definition - Study the definition.

without taking risks one will never achieve great success; in order to be extremely successful one must be willing to fail; if one is not willing to take a chance s/he will never become extraordinarily successful

2. Use - Learn how the slang is used.

The basic idea behind the “no guts, no glory” expression is that one must have courage if s/he wants to succeed. You can use the expression any time you’re facing a difficult situation and you really want to do your best. For example, if you are going to a job interview, you might say it to yourself just before you walk in to the interview in order to inspire yourself and fill yourself with positive energy.

Examples

1. Examples - Hear some example sentences.

””Well, this ski slope looks pretty dangerous, but no guts, no glory, right? I’m just going to take it!”“

””I was really nervous before my meeting with the boss, but I decided to have courage and tell him exactly what I was thinking. I was worried what he would say, but no guts, no glory, so I just came out and told him the truth.”“

””No guts, no glory. Let’s go! We’re going to win this game and take the league championship!”“

””If you really want Marie to go out with you, you’re just going to have to walk up to her and ask here. No guts, no glory man. Just do it.”“

Winners

1. Winners - See who guessed the slang definition correctly.

If you wanna to achieve glory, you have to take risks, you have to try
by Ninoslav (Zagreb, Croatia)
If someone is bold enough and have the audacity to take risks, they can make their wish come true by the help of their own will power. If they are scared of doing things then they can never accomplish them. So the phrase is actually emphasizing this point.
by Asad (Karachi, Pakistan)
It means that you can not be a coward if you want to succeed. If you want a reward there must be effort!!
by paola (Pasto, Colombia)
“No guts, no glory” means the way to success always include bars and obstacles, be ready to get over them if you want to get to the top.
by Pinkie (Hanoi, Vietnam)
“No guts, no glory.” means you have to believe in yourself, be confident and do what you wanna do because when you have an action, you’ll have the result of that action. So if you wanna be success, you have to take an action doing something!
by Kaewta (Bangkok, Thailand)
No guts , no glory . It is equal to “No courage , no gains ” . That’s to say, if you fear to do, you will fail to gain honor.
by linda (Xiamen, China)
No guts No glory means that one might have courage, fortitude to reach glory.
by Newton (Sao Jose dos Campos, Brazil)
I think it means if you don’t have the courage to do what you think is right, you’ll never succeed.
by Lucy (Toronto, Canada)
I think she means that if people don’t strive for things, they don’t get them.
by Danilo (Guarulhos, Brazil)
If somebody is courageous,he will succeed in many fields.
by Yue (Shenyang, China)
I think it’s mean to protect yourself. Don’t be shy and say what you want to say.
by Lilian (Taipei, Taiwan)
Have to fight in order to win, achieve Victory.
by Jodie (Taipei, Taiwan)
you must take a risk to get what you want.
by anna (taipei, taiwan)
‘no guts, no glory’, means kind of like, if you don’t be brave and risk doing something, you can’t get something good, like a reward
by Sherry (ShenZhen, China)
No try, No success
by Chan (HK, HK)
I guess it means that the person who fears would achieve no glory in her/his life.
Thanks.
by Akbar (Kashan, Iran)
succeed in doing something should have ambition
by vicky (Shanghai, China)
No guts, no glory for me it means that without determination there’s no achievement.
by Isaias (Varzea Paulista, Brazil)
I guess that means somebody should try to do something in a great extent if he wants to be succesful.
by puff (SZ, China)
Everything can not be achieved easily. if you want to gain something, you must conquer hardness. No pain, no gain!
by Annie (HangZhou, China)
The meaning of “No guts, no glory” is similiar as “no pay, no gain”, which means that as long as you make effort, you will get something sucessfully.
by Lan (beijing, China)
I guess “No guts, no glory.” mean that “no pain, no gain” i.e. if you don’t have a hardship in life, you won’t succeed.
by Beatrice (Hong Kong, China)
I think this phrase simply means ‘no pain no gain’
by crillen (Shenzhen, China)
You can never get glory if you dare not do things with guts.
by Kui (Fuzhou, China)
if you want to succeed, at first you must suffer a lot.
by diann (Suzhou, China)
if you do not have courage, you will not achieve
by coral (Mudanjiang, China)
“No guts, no glory” i think it means we always get fail and if we get no fail we won’t be success.
by Guang (Shenzhen, China)
No pains, no gains
by Elaine (Taipei, Taiwan)
that means you must face and conquer the difficulty or sth. be bad to you when you try to do sth. well,so you can get what you want and make good result.
by jessica (China)
Means,if you don’t dare to take the risk to do something you will never get reward.
by emily (Qinhuangdao, China)
guts means courage
by maryam
am not sure. Is it somehow like:”no pain, no gain”?
by cindy
something do make sure
by Edwin (Daegu, S.Korea)