This is courage in a man: to bear unflinchingly what heaven sends.
—Euripides (480–406 BCE) Ancient Greek Dramatist
Character is built into the spiritual fabric of personality hour by hour, day by day, year by year in much the same deliberate way that physical health is built into the body.
—E. Lamar Kincaid (1924–2014) American Protestant Minister
I know quite certainly that I myself have no special talent; curiosity, obsession and dogged endurance, combined with self-criticism have brought me to my ideas.
—Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born Physicist
There’s nothing in this world that comes easy. There are a lot of people who aren’t going to bother to win. We learn in football to get up and go once more.
—Woody Hayes (1913–87) American Sportsperson
A hero is no braver than an ordinary man, but he is braver five minutes longer.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
The race is not always to the swift, but to those who keep on running.
—Unknown
Never give in — never, never, never, never, in nothing great or small, large or petty, never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense. Never yield to force; never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy.
—Winston Churchill (1874–1965) British Head of State, Political leader, Historian, Journalist, Author
The men who learn endurance, are they who call the whole world, brother.
—Charles Dickens (1812–70) English Novelist
Be strong!
It matters not how deep entrenched the wrong
How hard the battle goes, the day how long
Faint not – fight on! Tomorrow comes the song.
—Maltbie Davenport Babcock (1858–1901) American Presbyterian Minister, Writer
To be happy, drop the words “if only” and substitute instead the words “next time.”
—Smiley Blanton
He conquers who endures.
—Persius (34–62 CE) Roman Satirist
We must learn from life how to suffer it.
—French Proverb
Zeal without knowledge is like expedition to a man in the dark.
—John Newton (1725–1807) English Clergyman, Writer
The race is not [always] to the swift, nor the battle to the strong.
—The Holy Bible Scripture in the Christian Faith
If you stop struggling, then you stop life.
—Huey P. Newton (1942–89) American Political Activist
The big shots are only the little shots who keep shooting.
—Christopher Morley (1890–1957) American Novelist, Essayist
When you get into a tight place, and everything goes against you till it seems as if you could n’t hold on a minute longer, never give up then, for that ‘s just the place and time that the tide ‘ll turn. Never trust to prayer without using every means in your power, and never use the means without trusting in prayer.
—Harriet Beecher Stowe (1811–96) American Abolitionist, Author
Let me tell you the secret that has led me to my goal. My strength lies solely in my tenacity.
—Louis Pasteur (1822–95) French Biologist
Those who can bear all can dare all.
—Luc de Clapiers, marquis de Vauvenargues (1715–47) French Moralist, Essayist, Writer
If I had refused to institute a negotiation or had not persevered in it, I would have been degraded in my own estimation as a man of honor.
—John Adams (1735–1826) American Head of State, Lawyer
All’s well that ends well.
—Common Proverb
Something that irritates you and won’t let you go. That’s the anguish of it. Do this book, or die. You have to go through that. Talent is insignificant. I know a lot of talented ruins. Beyond talent lie all the usual words: discipline, love, luck, but, most of all, endurance.
—Unknown
If you start to take Vienna – take Vienna.
—Napoleon I (1769–1821) Emperor of France
Be of good cheer. Do not think of today’s failures, but of the success that may come tomorrow. You have set yourselves a difficult task, but you will succeed if you persevere; and you will find a joy in overcoming obstacles. Remember, no effort that we make to attain something beautiful is ever lost.
—Helen Keller (1880–1968) American Author
Gnaw your own bone; gnaw at it, bury it, unearth it, gnaw it still.
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–62) American Philosopher
Fortune is like the market, where many times, if you can stay a little, the price will fall.
—Francis Bacon (1561–1626) English Philosopher
Slow and steady wins the race.
—Aesop (620–564 BCE) Greek Fabulist
There is nothing in the world so much admired as a man who knows how to bear unhappiness with courage.
—Seneca the Younger (Lucius Annaeus Seneca) (c.4 BCE–65 CE) Roman Stoic Philosopher, Statesman, Tragedian
I know the price of success: dedication, hard work and an unremitting devotion to the things you want to see happen.
—Frank Lloyd Wright (1867–1959) American Architect
And let us not be weary in well doing; for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.
—The Holy Bible Scripture in the Christian Faith