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Quotes about perseverance

41 verified quotes from 28 writers, c. 475 BC to 1925.

Quotes 1 to 21 of 41, page 1 of 2.

The writers here agree that keeping going matters more than starting well. Marcus Aurelius tells himself to be like a headland the waves keep breaking against; Marmee tells Jo March never to get tired of trying; Booker T. Washington measures success by the obstacles overcome rather than by the position reached.

Some bring patience and humour to it: Twain says a habit has to be coaxed downstairs a step at a time, the Red Queen explains that it takes all the running you can do to keep in the same place, and Burnett describes how people first refuse to believe a new thing can be done, then watch it done. Every quote below was found word for word in the edition we link.

What “verified” means, and what we leave out: How we verify.

  1. Is it not pleasant to learn with a constant perseverance and application?

    Confucius, The Analects, c. 475 BCTranslated by James Legge (1861)

    Our note: The opening words of the Analects, the sayings of Confucius gathered by his followers.

    Verified in the full text of The Analects on Project Gutenberg · Project Gutenberg ebook #3330

  2. When the year becomes cold, then we know how the pine and the cypress are the last to lose their leaves

    Confucius, The Analects, c. 475 BCTranslated by James Legge (1861)

    Our note: Hard times, like winter, show which people keep their green.

    Verified in the full text of The Analects on Project Gutenberg · Project Gutenberg ebook #3330

  3. Men of Athens, I honour and love you; but I shall obey God rather than you, and while I have life and strength I shall never cease from the practice and teaching of philosophy

    Socrates, in Apology by Plato, c. 399 BCTranslated by Benjamin Jowett (1871)

    Our note: Socrates says he will keep questioning people even if the court forbids it.

    Verified in the full text of Apology on Project Gutenberg · Project Gutenberg ebook #1656

  4. Disease is an impediment to the body, but not to the will, unless the will itself chooses. Lameness is an impediment to the leg, but not to the will

    Epictetus, The Encheiridion, c. AD 125Translated by George Long (1877)

    Our note: Epictetus on how hardship can limit the body but not the choices we make.

    Verified in the full text of The Encheiridion on Project Gutenberg · Project Gutenberg ebook #10661 · Collected in A Selection from the Discourses of Epictetus with the Encheiridion

  5. Be like the promontory against which the waves continually break, but it stands firm and tames the fury of the water around it.

    Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, c. AD 180Translated by George Long (1862)

    Our note: Book IV, on staying steady when things go wrong.

    Verified in the full text of Meditations on Project Gutenberg · Project Gutenberg ebook #15877 · Collected in The Thoughts of the Emperor Marcus Aurelius Antoninus

  6. For aught that I could ever read, Could ever hear by tale or history, The course of true love never did run smooth.

    Lysander, in A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare, 1600

    Our note: Lysander comforts Hermia after her father forbids their marriage.

    Verified in the full text of A Midsummer Night's Dream on Project Gutenberg · Project Gutenberg ebook #100 · Collected in The Complete Works of William Shakespeare

    Painted the same decade: Madonna and Child with Saints, Ludovico Carracci, 1607

  7. Sweet are the uses of adversity, Which, like the toad, ugly and venomous, Wears yet a precious jewel in his head; …

    Duke Senior, in As You Like It by William Shakespeare, 1623

    Our note: The banished Duke finds good in his exile in the Forest of Arden.

    Verified in the full text of As You Like It on Project Gutenberg · Project Gutenberg ebook #100 · Collected in The Complete Works of William Shakespeare

    Painted the same decade: Saint Rosalie Interceding for the Plague-stricken of Palermo, Anthony van Dyck, 1624

  17. Let us, then, be up and doing, With a heart for any fate; Still achieving, still pursuing, Learn to labour and to wait.

    Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, A Psalm of Life, 1838

    Our note: The closing verse of the same poem.

    Verified in the full text of A Psalm of Life on Project Gutenberg · Project Gutenberg ebook #78406 · Collected in The Poetical Works of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

    Painted the same decade: Parochialstrasse in Berlin, Eduard Gaertner, 1831

  19. Be still, sad heart! and cease repining; Behind the clouds is the sun still shining

    Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, The Rainy Day, 1842

    Our note: From a short poem about a dreary day and the light behind it.

    Verified in the full text of The Rainy Day on Project Gutenberg · Project Gutenberg ebook #78406 · Collected in The Poetical Works of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

    Painted the same decade: Study of a Female Nude, Henri Lehmann, 1840

  20. The plan which I adopted, and the one by which I was most successful, was that of making friends of all the little white boys whom I met in the street.

    Frederick Douglass, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, 1845

    Our note: How Douglass taught himself to read in Baltimore, trading bread for lessons.

    Verified in the full text of Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass on Project Gutenberg · Project Gutenberg ebook #23

    Painted the same decade: The Abduction of Rebecca, Eugène Delacroix, 1846

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