C.N. Douglas, comp. Forty Thousand Quotations: Prose and Poetical. 1917.
Firmness
Stubbornness is not firmness.
Stand firm and immovable as an anvil when it is beaten upon.
It is only dislocated minds whose movements are spasmodic.
It is firmness that makes the gods on our side.
The greatest firmness is the greatest mercy.
Firmness is great; persistency is greater.
I am here, here I remain.
When firmness is sufficient, rashness is unnecessary.
He who is firm in will molds the world to himself.
That which is called firmness in a king is called obstinacy in a donkey.
You will hardly conquer; but conquer you must.
Be steadfast as a tower, that doth not bend its stately summit to the tempest’s shock.
I know no real worth but that tranquil firmness which seeks dangers by duty, and braves them without rashness.
Cowards are scared with threatenings; boys are whipped into confession; but a steady mind acts of itself, ne’er asks the body counsel.
There is a natural firmness in some minds, which cannot be unlocked by trifles, but which, when unlocked, discovers a cabinet of fortitude.
Firmness of purpose is one of the most necessary sinews of character and one of the best instruments of success. Without it, genius wastes its efforts in a maze of inconsistencies.
Rely on principles; walk erect and free, not trusting to bulk of body, like a wrestler, for one should not be unconquerable in the sense that an ass is. Who then is unconquerable? He whom the inevitable cannot overcome.
That profound firmness which enables a man to regard difficulties but as evils to be surmounted, no matter what shape they may assume.
Firmness, both in sufferance and exertion, is a character which I would wish to possess. I have always despised the whining yelp of complaint, and the cowardly, feeble resolve.
The aged oak upon the steep stands more firm and secure if assailed by angry winds; for if the winter bares its head, the more strongly it strikes its roots into the ground, acquiring strength as it loses beauty.
It is only persons of firmness that can have real gentleness; those who appear gentle are in general only of a weak character, which easily changes into asperity.