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Glite Dictionary
no guts, no glory

no guts, no glory

1 7.7
You must be brave and take risks to succeed
  • idiom
  • Informal
translation icon : sin arriesgar, no hay gloria
  • No guts, no glory, no votes.

Examples

  • If we want to win the championship, we need to remember that no guts, no glory.

  • In her speech, she emphasized that no guts, no glory is what drives successful entrepreneurs.

  • He took the leap of faith, believing that no guts, no glory would lead to his dreams.

Synonyms

do-or-die
vsno guts, no glory
  • Informal
2 7.2

Willing to do anything to succeed when the situation is urgent

is about taking risks or showing courage for success without desperation
no pain, no gain
vsno guts, no glory
  • Informal
1 4.2

To work hard or accept some pain to reach a worthwhile goal

focuses on risk or courage rather than effort or hardship

Surface Forms

no guts, no glory main

Morphology

no + guts, + no + glory

The structure 'no X, no Y' (without X you cannot have Y) is reasonably transparent, but the key word 'guts' relies on an informal/metaphorical sense of 'courage' rather than the literal 'internal organs.' A B1 learner who only knows the literal senses would likely not derive the intended meaning without exposure to the slang/metaphorical use, so the expression is only partially predictable despite cross‑linguistic parallels like 'no risk, no reward.'

Etymology

No guts, no glory may come from old battle or sports talk: if someone had no guts, meaning 'courage', they could not win glory, meaning 'honor'. So it means you must take a 'risk' and be brave to get 'success'.