I’m a little wounded, but I am not slain; I will lay me down to bleed a while. Then I’ll rise and fight again.
—John Dryden (1631–1700) English Poet, Literary Critic, Playwright
Diamonds are only lumps of coal that stuck to their jobs.
—B. C. Forbes (1880–1954) Scottish-born American Journalist, Publisher
A high heart ought to bear calamities and not flee them, since in bearing them appears the grandeur of the mind and in fleeing them the cowardice of the heart.
—Pietro Aretino (1492–1556) Italian Poet, Dramatist, Satirist
Keep on going and the chances are you will stumble on something, perhaps when you are least expecting it. I have never heard of anyone stumbling on something sitting down.
—Charles F. Kettering (1876–1958) American Inventor, Entrepreneur, Businessperson
We can do anything we want to do if we stick to it long enough.
—Helen Keller (1880–1968) American Author
Any man can work when every stroke of his hand brings down the fruit rattling from the tree to the ground; but to labor in season and out of season, under every discouragement, by the power of truth … that requires a heroism which is transcendent.
—Henry Ward Beecher (1813–87) American Clergyman, Writer
The difference between perseverance and obstinacy is that one comes from a strong will, and the other from a strong won’t.
—Henry Ward Beecher (1813–87) American Clergyman, Writer
It is a matter first of beginning – and then following through.
—Richard L. Evans (1906–71) American Mormon Religions Leader
Hold on with a bulldog grip, and chew and choke as much as possible.
—Abraham Lincoln (1809–65) American Head of State
He that can’t endure the bad will not live to see the good.
—Yiddish Proverb
If you want to see the sunshine, you have to weather the storm.
—Frank Lane (1896–1981) American Sportsperson, Businessperson
I went for years not finishing anything. Because, of course, when you finish something you can be judged … I had poems which were rewritten so many times I suspect it was just a way of avoiding sending them out.
—Erica Jong (b.1942) American Novelist, Feminist
The tragedy of life is not that man loses,
but that he almost wins.
—Heywood Hale Broun (1918–2001) American Journalist, Commentator, Actor
As long as one keeps searching, the answers come.
—Joan Baez (b.1941) American Singer, Songwriter, Musician
Be like a postage stamp – stick to one thing until you get there.
—Josh Billings (Henry Wheeler Shaw) (1818–85) American Humorist, Author, Lecturer
How many years you have to keep on doing, until you know what to do and how to do.
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) German Poet
Make haste slowly.
—Common Proverb
In the realm of ideas, everything depends on enthusiasm; in the real world, all rests on perseverance.
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) German Poet
We must learn from life how to suffer it.
—French Proverb
When we see ourselves in a situation which must be endured and gone through, it is best to make up our minds to meet it with firmness, and accommodate everything to it in the best way practical. This lessons the evil, while fretting and fuming only serve to increase your own torments.
—Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826) American Head of State, Lawyer
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
It is more easy to forgive the weak who have injured us, than the powerful whom we have injured. That conduct will be continued by our fears which commenced in our resentment. He that has gone so far as to cut the claws of the lion will not feel himself quite secure until he has also drawn his teeth.
—Charles Caleb Colton (c.1780–1832) English Clergyman, Aphorist
The first and final thing you have to do in this world is to last in it, and not be smashed by it.
—Ernest Hemingway (1899–1961) American Author, Journalist, Short Story Writer
In the clutch of circumstance, I have not winced or cried aloud; under the bludgeoning of chance, my head is bloody but unbowed.
—William Ernest Henley (1849–1903) English Poet, Critic, Editor
When nothing seems to help, I go and look at a stonecutter hammering away at his rock perhaps a hundred times without as much as a crack showing in it. Yet at the hundred and first blow it will split in two, and I know it was not that blow that did it, but all that had gone before.
—Jacob Riis (1849–1914) Danish-born American Social Reformer, Journalist, Photographer
Continuous effort – not strength or intelligence – is the key to unlocking our potential.
—Winston Churchill (1874–1965) British Head of State, Political leader, Historian, Journalist, Author
For me at least there came moments when faith wavered. But there is the great lesson and the great triumph: keep the fire burning until, by and by, out of the mass of sordid details there comes some result.
—Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. (1841–1935) American Jurist, Author
He turns not back who is bound to a star.
—Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519) Italian Polymath, Painter, Sculptor, Inventor, Architect
To persevere, trusting in what hopes he has, is courage in a man. The coward despairs.
—Euripides (480–406 BCE) Ancient Greek Dramatist
If something doesn’t come up the way you want, you have to forge ahead.
—Clint Eastwood (b.1930) American Film Director, Film Producer, Film Actor
I’m a slow walker, but I never walk back.
—Abraham Lincoln (1809–65) American Head of State
You go back to the gym and you just do it again and again until you get it right.
—Arnold Schwarzenegger (b.1947) Austrian-American Athlete, Actor, Politician
The great majority of men are bundles of beginnings.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
There are but two roads that lead to an important goal and to the doing of great things: strength and perseverance. Strength is the lot of but a few privileged men; but austere perseverance, harsh and continuous, may be employed by the smallest of us and rarely fails of its purpose, for its silent power grows irresistibly greater with time.
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) German Poet
A hero is no braver than an ordinary man, but he is braver five minutes longer.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
They sailed. They sailed. Then spoke the mate:
“This mad sea shows its teeth to-night
He curls his lip, he lies in wait,
With lifted teeth, as if to bite!
Brave admiral, say but one good word:
What shall we do when hope is gone?.”
The words leapt like a leaping sword:
“Sail on! sail on! and on!”
—Joaquin Miller (1837–1913) American Poet, Journalist
Don’t leave before the miracle happens.
—Unknown
We must endure what fortune sends.
—Greek Proverb
It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop.
—Confucius (551–479 BCE) Chinese 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
What can any of us do with his talent but try to develop his vision, so that through frequent failures we may learn better what we have missed in the past.
—William Carlos Williams (1883–1963) American Poet, Novelist, Cultural Historian
The champ may have lost his stuff temporarily or permanently, he can’t be sure. When he can no longer throw his high hard one, he throws his heart instead. He throws something. He just doesn’t walk off the mound and weep.
—Raymond Chandler (1888–1959) American Novelist
Tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character, and character, hope.
—The Holy Bible Scripture in the Christian Faith
All’s well that ends well.
—Common Proverb
We shall go on to the end. We shall fight in France, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our island whatever the cost may be. We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields, and in the streets, we shall fight in the halls. We shall never surrender.
—Winston Churchill (1874–1965) British Head of State, Political leader, Historian, Journalist, Author
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
Men who have attained things worth having in this world have worked while others idled, have persevered when others gave up in despair, have practiced early in life the valuable habits of self-denial, industry, and singleness of purpose. As a result, they enjoy in later life the success so often erroneously attributed to good luck.
—Grenville Kleiser (1868–1935) Canadian 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
Whatever necessity lays upon thee, endure; whatever she commands, do.
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) German Poet