C.N. Douglas, comp. Forty Thousand Quotations: Prose and Poetical. 1917.
Perseverance
Perseverance is king.
Perseverance is irresistible.
Victory belongs to the most persevering.
Press on! a better fate awaits thee.
Hope against hope, and ask till ye receive.
Every noble work is at first impossible.
Whoever perseveres will be crowned.
A falling drop at last will carve a stone.
Much rain wears the marble.
The virtue lies in the struggle, not the prize.
Perseverance and audacity generally win.
Hard pounding, gentlemen; but we will see who can pound the longest.
No rock so hard but that a little wave may beat admission in a thousand years.
Nothing is so hard but search will find it out.
Few things are impossible to diligence and skill.
Great works are performed not by strength but by perseverance.
All the great captains have performed vast achievements by conforming with the rule of art—by adjusting efforts to obstacles.
By gnawing through a dyke even a rat may drown a nation.
He that shall endure unto the end the same shall be saved.
Those who would attain to any marked degree of excellence in a chosen pursuit must work, and work hard for it, prince or peasant.
Even in social life, it is persistency which attracts confidence, more than talents and accomplishments.
Perpetual pushing and assurance put a difficulty out of countenance, and make a seeming impossibility give way.
Great effects come of industry and perseverance; for audacity doth almost bind and mate the weaker sort of minds.
There is no creature so contemptible but by resolution may gain his point.
Perseverance and tact are the two great qualities most valuable for all men who would mount, but especially for those who have to step out of the crowd.
There is no royal road to anything. One thing at a time, all things in succession. That which grows fast withers as rapidly; that which grows slowly endures.
The nerve that never relaxes, the eye that never blenches, the thought that never wanders—these are the masters of victory.
Few things are impracticable in themselves; and it is for want of application, rather than of means, that men fail of success.
Yet I argue not against heaven’s hand or will, nor bate a jot of heart or hope, but still bear up and steer right onward.
The block of granite, which was an obstacle in the pathway of the weak, becomes a stepping-stone in the pathway of the strong.
If there be one thing on earth which is truly admirable, it is to see God’s wisdom blessing an inferiority of natural powers, where they have been honestly, truly, and zealously cultivated.
I hold a doctrine, to which I owe not much, indeed, but all the little I ever had, namely, that with ordinary talent and extraordinary perseverance, all things are attainable.
The practice of perseverance is the discipline of the noblest virtues. To run well, we must run to the end. It is not the fighting but the conquering that gives a hero his title to renown.
I’m proof against that word “failure.” I’ve seen behind it. The only failure a man ought to fear is failure in cleaving to the purpose he sees to be best.
Want of perseverance is the great fault of women in everything—morals, attention to health, friendship, and so on. It cannot be too often repeated that women never reach the end of anything through want of perseverance.
The conditions of conquest are always easy. We have but to toil awhile, endure awhile, believe always, and never turn back.
There are two ways of attaining an important end—force and perseverance. Force falls to the lot only of the privileged few, but austere and sustained perseverance can be practiced by the most insignificant. Its silent power grows irresistible with time.
It is interesting to notice how some minds seem almost to create themselves, springing up under every disadvantage, and working their solitary but irresistible way through a thousand obstacles.
Great works are performed, not by strength, but by perseverance. Yonder palace was raised by single stones, yet you see its height and spaciousness. He that shall walk with vigor three hours a day will pass in seven years a space equal to the circumference of the globe.
Life affords no higher pleasure than that of surmounting difficulties, passing from one step of success to another, forming mew wishes, and seeing them gratified. He that labors in any great or laudable undertaking has his fatigues first supported by hope and afterwards rewarded by joy.
Did you ever hear of a man who had striven all his life faithfully and singly towards an object, and in mo measure obtained it? If a man constantly aspires, is he not elevated? Did ever a man try heroism, magnanimity, truth, sincerity, and find that there was no advantage in them—that it was a vain endeavor?
It is all very well to tell me that a young man has distinguished himself by a brilliant first speech. He may go on, or he may be satisfied with his first triumph; but show me a young man who has not succeeded at first, and nevertheless has gone on, and I will back that young man to do better than most of those who have succeeded at the first trial.
All the performances of human art, at which we look with praise or wonder, are instances of the resistless force of perseverance; it is by this that the quarry becomes a pyramid, and that distant countries are united by canals. If a man was to compare the effect of a single stroke of a pickaxe, or of one impression of the spade, with the general design and last result, he would be overwhelmed with the sense of their disproportion; yet those petty operations, incessantly continued, in time surmount the greatest difficulties, and mountains are leveled and oceans bounded, by the slender force of human beings.