Diamonds are only lumps of coal that stuck to their jobs.
—B. C. Forbes (1880–1954) Scottish-born American Journalist, Publisher
Perseverance is a great element of success. If you only knock long enough and loud enough at the gate, you are sure to wake up somebody.
—Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807–82) American Poet, Educator, Academic
Boys, there ain’t no free lunches in this country. And don’t go spending your whole life commiserating that you got the raw deals. You’ve got to say, “I think that if I keep working at this and want it bad enough I can have it.” It’s called perseverance.
—Lee Iacocca (1924–2019) American Businessperson
We make way for the man who boldly pushes past us.
—Christian Nestell Bovee (1820–1904) American Writer, Aphorist
Great works are performed, not by strength, but by perseverance.—He that shall walk, with vigor, three hours a day, will pass, in seven years, a space equal to the circumference of the globe.
—Samuel Johnson (1709–84) British Essayist
Lots of people limit their possibilities by giving up easily. Never tell yourself this is too much for me. It’s no use. I can’t go on. If you do you’re licked, and by your own thinking too. Keep believing and keep on keeping on.
—Norman Vincent Peale (1898–1993) American Clergyman, Self-Help Author
Patience and tenacity of purpose are worth more than twice their weight of cleverness.
—Thomas Henry Huxley (1825–95) English Biologist
There are no traffic jams on the extra mile.
—Zig Ziglar (1926–2012) American Author
A day is a miniature eternity.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
Persevere in virtue and diligence.
—Livy (Titus Livius) (59 BCE–17 CE) Roman Historian
When you get to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on.
—Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882–1945) American Head of State, Lawyer
Hang in there. Hang in there because the greatest quarterbacks complete only six of 10 passes. The best basketball players make only 50% of their shots. The top oil companies, with all their geologists, drill 10 dry holes for every wet one. And even the most successful actors flunk 29 auditions for television commercials before they land one. So, HANG IN THERE.
—Anonymous
Some men give up their designs when they have almost reached the goal; while others, on the contrary, obtain a victory by exerting, at the last moment, more vigorous efforts than ever before.
—Polybius (c.200–c.118 BCE) Greek Historian
Life is like riding a bicycle. You don’t fall off unless you stop pedaling.
—Claude Pepper (1900–89) American Politician
Most people never run far enough on their first wind to find out they’ve got a second. Give your dreams all you’ve got and you’ll be amazed at the energy that comes out of you.
—William James (1842–1910) American Philosopher, Psychologist, Physician
All great achievements require time.
—David J. Schwartz (1927–87) American Self-help Author
My great concern is not whether you have failed, but whether you are content with your failure.
—Abraham Lincoln (1809–65) American Head of State
We are made to persist. That’s how we find out who we are.
—Tobias Wolff (b.1945) American Novelist, Editor, Journalist, Educator
Don’t dwell on what went wrong. Instead, focus on what to do next. Spend your energies on moving forward toward finding the answer.
—Denis Waitley (b.1933) American Motivational Speaker, Author
If I had to select one quality, one personal characteristic that I regard as being most highly correlated with success, whatever the field, I would pick the trait of persistence. Determination. The will to endure to the end, to get knocked down seventy times and get up off the floor saying, “Here comes number seventy-one!”
—Richard DeVos (1926–2018) American Businessman, Philanthropist
The saints are the sinners who keep on trying.
—Robert Louis Stevenson (1850–94) Scottish Novelist
Here is the simple but powerful rule… always give people more than they expect to get.
—Nelson Boswell
Energy and persistence conquer all things.
—Benjamin Franklin (1706–90) American Political Leader, Inventor, Diplomat
Never give up, never give in, and when the upper hand is ours, may we have the ability to handle the win with the dignity that we absorbed the loss.
—Doug Williams
Come what may, time and the hour runs through the roughest day.
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616) British Playwright
Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan, ‘press on’ has solved, and always will solve, the problems of the human race.
—Calvin Coolidge (1872–1933) American Head of State, Lawyer
Endure and persist; this pain will turn to good by and by.
—Ovid (Publius Ovidius Naso) (c.43 BCE–c.18 CE) Roman Poet
It’s not so important who starts the game but who finishes it.
—John Wooden (1910–2010) American Sportsperson
Nearly every man who develops an idea works at it up to the point where it looks impossible, and then gets discouraged. That’s not the place to become discouraged.
—Thomas Edison (1847–1931) American Inventor, Scientist, Entrepreneur
The man who does more than he is paid for will soon be paid for more than he does.
—Napoleon Hill (1883–1970) American Author, Journalist, Attorney, Lecturer
If you get up one more time than you fall you will make it through.
—Chinese Proverb
Smooth seas do not make skillful sailors.
—African Proverb
The last three or four reps is what makes the muscle grow. This area of pain divides the champion from someone else who is not a champion. That’s what most people lack, having the guts to go on and just say they’ll go through the pain no matter what happens.
—Arnold Schwarzenegger (b.1947) Austrian-American Athlete, Actor, Politician
A day is a span of time no one is wealthy enough to waste.
—Unknown
To persevere, trusting in what hopes he has, is courage in a man. The coward despairs.
—Euripides (480–406 BCE) Ancient Greek Dramatist
What this power is I cannot say; all I know is that it exists and it becomes available only when a man is in that state of mind in which he knows exactly what he wants and is fully determined not to quit until he finds it.
—Alexander Graham Bell (1847–1922) Scottish-born American Inventor, Engineer, Academic
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
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew to serve your turn long after they are gone, and so hold on when there is nothing in you except the will which says to them: ‘Hold on!’
—Rudyard Kipling (1865–1936) British Children’s Books Writer, Short story, Novelist, Poet, Journalist
It’s rest I want—there, I have said it out—
From cooking meals for hungry hired men
And washing dishes after them—from doing
Things over and over that just won’t stay done.
By good rights I ought not to have so much
Put on me, but there seems no other way.
Len says one steady pull more ought to do it.
He says the best way out is always through.
And I agree to that, or in so far
As that I can see no way out but through—
Leastways for me—and then they’ll be convinced.
—Robert Frost (1874–1963) American Poet
That which ordinary men are fit for, I am qualified in. and the best of me is diligence.
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616) British Playwright
You just can’t beat the person who never gives up.
—Nancie J. Carmody
The Extra Mile will have no traffic jams.
—Unknown
Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing.
—Helen Keller (1880–1968) American Author
I hold a doctrine, to which I owe not touch, indeed, but all the little I ever had, namely, that with ordinary talent and extraordinary perseverance, all things are attainable.
—Sir Thomas Buxton, 1st Baronet (1786–1845) English Politician, Social Reformer
Champions keep playing until they get it right.
—Billie Jean King (b.1943) American Tennis Player
A violent wind does not outlast the morning; a squall of rain does not outlast the day. Such is the course of Nature. And if Nature herself cannot sustain her efforts long, how much less can man!
—Laozi (fl.6th Century BCE) Chinese Philosopher, Sage
As long as we are persistence in our pursuit of our deepest destiny, we will continue to grow. We cannot choose the day or time when we will fully bloom. It happens in its own time.
—Denis Waitley (b.1933) American Motivational Speaker, Author
When I have fully decided that a result is worth getting I go ahead of it and make trial after trial until it comes.
—Thomas Edison (1847–1931) American Inventor, Scientist, Entrepreneur
Don’t halt before you are lame.
—English Proverb