Finnish Sisu Quotes

Sisu requires a positive exercise of will; it’s a muscle you exercise.

Consider a nature break to be a type of sisu management, shifting the focus from daily demands in order to restore and recharge yourself.

The capacity of a society to meet the basic human needs of its citizens, establish the building blocks that allow citizens and communities to enhance and sustain the quality of their lives, and create the conditions for all individuals to reach their full potential.

SISU.” It’s a Finnish word that doesn’t have a complete translation in English. It represents the zeitgeist of the Finnish people—strength, determination, bravery, courage, fortitude, perseverance. If you have sisu, it means you will not just handle but triumph over anything life throws at you.

When hard times hit—and this is the beauty of Finland—when the going gets tough, many other countries tighten their grip with more control—what Finns do is they let go. They understand that sisu doesn’t come from holding on harder, sisu comes from allowing people to figure out what they’re going to do next.

Finland is not Scandinavia, nor is it Russia. Nevertheless, Finnish tradition owes something to both cultures. But the modern Finn is staunchly independent. The long struggle for emancipation and the battle to survive in a harsh environment have engendered an ordered society that solves its own problems in its own way. They have also given birth to the Finnish trait of sisu, often translated as ‘guts’, or the resilience to survive prolonged hardship. Even if all looks lost, a Finn with sisu will fight – or swim, or run, or work – valiantly until the final defeat. This trait is valued highly, with the country’s heroic resistance against the Red Army in the Winter War usually thought of as the ultimate example.

In one of our conversations, she told me about Finland’s development of sisu, a rough cognate for grit. Etymologically, sisu denotes a person’s viscera, their “intestines (sisucunda).” It is defined as “having guts,” intentional, stoic, constant bravery in the face of adversity. 21 For Finns, sisu is a part of national culture, forged through their history of war with Russia and required by the harsh climate. 22 In this Nordic country, pride is equated with endurance. When Finnish mountain climber Veikka Gustafsson ascended a peak in Antarctica, it was named Mount Sisu. The fortitude to withstand war and foreign occupations is lyrically heralded in the Finnish epic poem, The Kalevala. 23 Even the saunas—two million, one for every three Finns in a country of approximately five and a half million—involve fortitude: A sauna roast is often followed by a nude plunge into the ice-cold Baltic Sea. If Iceland is happier than it has any right to be considering the hours the country spends plunged in darkness each year, Finland’s past circumstances, climate, and developed culture have turned it into one of the grittiest. Finland’s educational system is also currently ranked first, ahead of South Korea, now at number two. 24 The United States is midway down the list. 25 In Finland, there is no after-school tutoring or training, no “miracle pedagogy” in the classrooms, where students are on a first-name basis with their teachers, all of whom have master’s degrees. There is also more “creative play.” 26 Perhaps the tradition of sisu and play, I suspect, are part of the larger, unstated reason for its success. 27 “Wouldn’t it be great if you heard people talking about how they were going to do something to build their grit?” Duckworth asked.

The best way I can describe the feeling is a Finnish word, “sisu”—the mental strength to continue to try even after you feel you’ve reached the limits of your abilities. I don’t think failure is sometimes part of the process—it always is. When you feel you can’t go on, know that you’re just getting started.

The Finnish snipers claimed to be relaxed, resilient, relentless: the virtues of icy monsters. They were living embodiments of sisu. In Finnish, the word sisu describes the combined qualities of determination and resistance. How could we translate the term? “Spiritual abnegation,” “self-effacement,” “mental resistance”? In the litany of human heroism, ever since Captain Ahab set out to hunt the great white whale, the sniper has been the perfect embodiment of man fixated by a single goal.

There’s a Finnish saying: Onni ei tule etsien, vaan elaen— Happiness is not found by searching but by living.

innovation happens when things are tough, not when they’re easy and comfortable.

Though sisu can be linked to sports, for me it’s a kind of daily stamina and resilience to keep everything running, even through life’s gray patches. It’s not about being competitive, like running a marathon and winning. It’s about surviving and thriving in daily life.

It’s important to cultivate a mind-set that our abilities are not fixed so that we can grow. That has a huge impact, because our beliefs define our future actions, thus what we are likely to do: If I don’t believe I can leave an abusive relationship or that I can run a marathon, then I will most likely not take any action to do those things,

Lahti refers to research that indicates the gut produces about 80 percent of the serotonin of our entire system (some estimates place it even higher at 90 or 95 percent).

Sisu gives rise to what I call an action mind-set; a courageous attitude which contributes to how we approach challenges. Sisu is a way of life to actively transform the challenges that come our way into opportunities.

Instead of “I can’t” or “I won’t,” how about “How can I?

conventional, professional, military skills, the fiber of their discipline, the worthiness of their commanders—and above all else, on the depth and stubbornness of their sisu. That bristling little word was once the most famous Finnish idiom ever to become part of the outside world’s vocabulary. It can be translated as “guts” or “spunk” or “grit” or “balls,” or as a combination of all those words together. The word in Finnish has nuances that resist easy translation.

Sure, if you sit in a tram or a bus, there may occasionally be a drunk or someone less than pleasant to contend with, but you’re participating in the world in the same way that you are when you’re on your bike. You’re seeing people and experiencing the environment. You’re not in an isolated metal box.

But it is my appreciation for what James Wallman and many others have described—a shift away from possessions and toward experiences—that clinches it. For example, cycling everywhere is something that makes me happy. I wouldn’t want to give that up just to live in a bigger space with more stuff.

I can do something relatively time efficient and cost-free and dramatically change how I’m feeling physically and mentally. The sea has become my pharmacy.

Sahlberg underlines the Finnish culture of trust—not merely in education. He says it takes the view that if you trust someone to do something, they’ll do a much better job than if there’s an inherent sense of distrust about whether they’ll perform and there are all manner of controls and regulations.

The best way I can describe the feeling is a Finnish word, “sisu”—the mental strength to continue to try even after you feel you’ve reached the limits of your abilities. I don’t think failure is sometimes part of the process—it always is.

Is sisu a mental power or muscle that you flex? Where does it come from? Is it a cultural construct, part of a country brand, or a slogan? Or, as I suspect, a sort of mind and body attitude that anyone, anywhere, can tap into? In my quest to wrap my head around the term, I initially apply it liberally to cover a quality that I notice a great many Finns seem to share: a hardy, active, outdoors-in-any-weather, do-it-yourself approach to life. Even when it comes to domestic chores, such as house or window cleaning, which many people could easily afford to pay someone to do, it seems instead to be a source of personal pride and satisfaction to take on the task oneself. I observe that this DIY approach also includes trying to fix things before rushing out to buy new ones and taking on home renovations instead of contracting them out. Doing instead of buying.

Sisu is a Finnish concept described as stoic determination, tenacity of purpose, grit, bravery, resilience, and hardiness and is held by Finns themselves to express their national character.

Finnish concept of sisu: meeting adversity head-on by cultivating a capacity for managing stress, rather than figuring out schemes to get around it.