In each age men of genius undertake the ascent. From below, the world follows them with their eyes. These men go up the mountain, enter the clouds, disappear, reappear, People watch them, mark them. They walk by the side of precipices. They daringly pursue their road. See them aloft, see them in the distance; they are but black specks. On they go. The road is uneven, its difficulties constant. At each step a wall, at each step a trap. As they rise the cold increases. They must make their ladder, cut the ice and walk on it., hewing the steps in haste. A storm is raging. Nevertheless they go forward in their madness. The air becomes difficult to breath. The abyss yawns below them. Some fall. Others stop and retrace their steps; there is a sad weariness. The bold ones continue. They are eyed by the eagles; the lightning plays about them: the hurricane is furious. No matter, they persevere.
—Victor Hugo (1802–85) French Novelist
The greater the obstacle, the more glory we have in overcoming it; the difficulties with which we are met are the maids of honor which set off virtue.
—Moliere (1622–73) French Playwright
When something does not insist on being noticed, when we aren’t grabbed by the collar or struck on the skull by a presence or an event, we take for granted the very things that most deserve our gratitude.
—Cynthia Ozick (b.1928) American Novelist, Short-story Writer, Essayist
The great obstacle to progress is prejudice.
—Christian Nestell Bovee (1820–1904) American Writer, Aphorist
Do Not Quit
When things go wrong as they sometimes will,
When the road you’re trudging seems all uphill,
When the funds are low, and the debts are high,
And you want to smile, but you have to sigh,
When care is pressing you down a bit…
Rest if you must, but don’t you quit.
Success is failure turned inside out,
The silver tint of the clouds of doubt,
And you never can tell how close you are,
It may be near when it seems afar.
So, stick to the fight when you’re hardest hit…
It’s when things go wrong that you mustn’t quit.
—Edgar Guest (1881–1959) English-American Poet, Radio/TV Personality
Defeat may test you; it need not stop you. If at first you don’t succeed, try another way. For every obstacle there is a solution. Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. The greatest mistake is giving up.
—Unknown
Every sale has five basic obstacles: no need, no money, no hurry, no desire, and no trust.
—Zig Ziglar (1926–2012) American Author
The marvelous richness of human experience would lose something of rewarding joy if there were no limitations to overcome. The hilltop hour would not be half so wonderful if there were no dark valleys to traverse.
—Helen Keller (1880–1968) American Author
The greatest obstacle to discovery is not ignorance—it is the illusion of knowledge.
—Daniel J. Boorstin (1914–2004) American Historian, Academic, Attorney
To fight fear, act. To increase fear—wait, put off, postpone.
—David J. Schwartz (1927–87) American Self-help Author
A barrier is of ideas, not of things.
—Mark Caine
Patience and perseverance have a magical effect before which difficulties disappear and obstacles vanish.
—John Quincy Adams (1767–1848) Sixth President of the USA
The block of granite which was an obstacle in the pathway of the weak becomes a stepping-stone in the pathway of the strong.
—Thomas Carlyle (1795–1881) Scottish Historian, Essayist
Usually obstacles are the things you see when you take your eyes off the goal.
—Hannah More
In the confrontation between the stream and the rock, the stream always wins; not through strength, but through persistence.
—H. Jackson Brown, Jr. (b.1940) American Self-Help Author
To solve any problem, here are three questions to ask yourself: First, what could I do? Second, what could I read? And third, who could I ask?
—Jim Rohn (1930–2009) American Entrepreneur, Author, Motivational Speaker
Everyone who achieves success in a great venture, solves each problem as they came to it. They helped themselves. And they were helped through powers known and unknown to them at the time they set out on their voyage. They keep going regardless of the obstacles they met.
—W. Clement Stone (1902–2002) American Self-help Guru, Entrepreneur
Without belittling the courage with which men have died, we should not forget those acts of courage with which men … have lived. The courage of life is often a less dramatic spectacle than the courage of a final moment; but it is no less a magnificent mixture of triumph and tragedy. A man does what he must—in spite of personal consequences, in spite of obstacles and dangers and pressures—and that is the basis of all human morality…. In whatever arena of life one may meet the challenge of courage, whatever may be the sacrifices he faces if he follows his conscience—the loss of his friends, his fortune, his contentment, even the esteem of his fellow men—each man must decide for himself the course he will follow. The stories of past courage can define that ingredient—they can teach, they can offer hope, they can provide inspiration. But they cannot supply courage itself. For this each man must look into his own soul.
—John F. Kennedy (1917–63) American Head of State, Journalist
The Promised Land always lies on the other side of a Wilderness.
—Havelock Ellis (1859–1939) British Essayist, Physician
Press on. Obstacles are seldom the same size tomorrow as they are today.
—Robert H. Schuller (1926–2015) American Christian Televangelist, Author
Obstacles are like wild animals. They are cowards but they will bluff you if they can. If they see you are afraid of them… they are liable to spring upon you; but if you look them squarely in the eye, they will slink out of sight.
—Orison Swett Marden (1850–1924) American New Thought Writer, Physician, Entrepreneur
You may have a fresh start any moment you choose, for this thing that we call “Failure” is not the falling down, but the staying down.
—Mary Pickford (1893–1979) American-Canadian Actor, Producer
We are built to conquer environment, solve problems, achieve goals, and we find no real satisfaction or happiness in life without obstacles to conquer and goals to achieve.
—Maxwell Maltz (1899–1975) American Surgeon, Motivational Writer
The obstacle is the path.
—Zen Proverb Japanese School of Mahayana Buddhism
There’s always free cheese in the mouse traps, but the mice there ain’t happy.
—Unknown
The things you want are always possible; it is just that the way to get them is not always apparent. The only real obstacle in your path to a fulfilling life is you, and that can be a considerable obstacle because you carry the baggage of insecurities and past experience.
—Les Brown
The greatest pleasure in life is doing what people say you cannot do.
—Walter Bagehot (1826–77) English Economist, Journalist
I have learned that success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome while trying to succeed. Out of the hard and unusual struggle through which he is compelled to pass, he gets a strength, a confidence, that one misses whose pathway is comparatively smooth by reason of birth and race.
—Booker T. Washington (1856–1915) African-American Educationist
As long as a man stands in his own way, everything seems to be in his way.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
When man meets an obstacle he can’t destroy, he destroys himself.
—Ryszard Kapuscinski (1932–2007) Polish Journalist
Leave a Reply