Quotes About Determination

Gumption is the psychic gasoline that keeps the whole thing going.

Like that timber wolf on the mountain he had a kind of animal courage. He went his own way with unconcern for consequences that sometimes stunned people, and stuns me now to hear about it. He did not often swerve to right or to left. I've discovered that. But this courage didn't arise from any idealistic idea of self-sacrifice, only from the intensity of his pursuit, and there was nothing noble about it.

If one person complains he just makes it that much harder for the others. They've got stamina. They know how to keep on going.

Your mind was already thinking ahead to what you would do when the cover plate was off, and so it takes a little time to realize that this irritating minor annoyance of a torn screw slot isn't just irritating and minor. You're stuck. Stopped. Terminated. It's absolutely stopped you from fixing the motorcycle. This isn't a rare scene in science or technology. This is the commonest scene of all. Just plain stuck.

Certainly no one could have predicted what has happened. Back then, after 121 others had turned this book down, one lone editor offered a standard $3,000 advance. He said the book forced him to decide what he was in publishing for, and added that although this was almost certainly the last payment, I shouldn't be discouraged. Money wasn't the point with a book like this.

Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better.' Failing better is something every stroke sufferer knows about.

Man is the only animal species capable of conceiving the notion of his own disappearance, and the only one capable of the despair that notion brings. What a strange race: so savagely determined to destroy itself, so savagely intent on preserving itself.

È la realtà che risveglia le possibilità, e nulla sarebbe così assurdo come negarlo. Tuttavia, sommate o in media, quelle che restano sono sempre le stesse possibilità destinate a ripetersi, finché non arriva un uomo per il quale una cosa reale non è più importante di una solo pensata. È grazie a lui che le nuove possibilità acquistano finalmente il loro senso e la loro determinazione, ed è lui che le risveglia

What distinguishes the successful entrepreneur and promoter from other people is precisely the fact that he does not let himself be guided by what was and is, but arranges his affairs on the ground of his opinion about the future. He sees the past and the present as other people do; but he judges the future in a different way

He was a lawyer now and it had taken him a long time. It had taken him a long time because he had had to be a lawyer on his own terms and in his own way. But that was over. But maybe it had taken him too long. If something takes too long, something happens to you. You become all and only the thing you want and nothing else, for you have paid too much for it, too much in wanting and too much in waiting and too much in getting. In the end they just ask you those crappy little questions.

But it wasn't a Primary. It was hell among the yearlings and the Charge of the Light Brigade and Saturday night in the backroom of Casey's Saloon rolled into one, and when the smoke cleared away not a picture still hung on the walls. And there wasn't any Democratic Party. There was just Willie, with his hair in his eyes, and his shirt sticking to his stomach with sweat. And he had a meat ax in his hand and was screaming for blood.

If something takes too long, something happens to you. You become all and only the thing you want and nothing else, for you have paid too much for it, too much in wanting and too much in waiting and too much in getting. In the end they just ask you those crappy little questions.

Willpower is more than just a metaphor; self-control is a finite resource.

I may not have proved a great explorer but we have done the greatest march ever made and come very near to great success. -Robert Scott-

Be master of your petty annoyances and conserve your energies for the big, worthwhile things. It isn't the mountain ahead that wears you out - it's the grain of sand in your shoe.

The man who can fight to heaven's own height is the man who can fight when he's losing.

It wallowed in its water-bed; it burrowed, heaved and swung; It gnawed its way ahead with grunts and sighs; Its bill of fare was rock and sand; the tailings were its dung; It glared around with fierce electric eyes. Full fifty buckets crammed its maw; it bellowed out for more; It looked like some great monster in the gloom.

Joey, no situation is entirely unworkable. People have gone through worse bad-rapping than that, and come up smelling like roses. The Shaggy Average American Man Story

I can!" Marvin said. "And by the Christo malherido, I'm going to!

You're only poor if you give up. The most important thing is that you did something. Most people only talk and dream of getting rich. You've done something. Keep going. Don't quit.

Most of the time, life does not talk to you. It just sort of pushes you around.

Most people never win because they're more afraid of losing.

As Winston Churchill said, Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm.

Whenever you find yourself avoiding something you know you should be doing, then the only thing to ask yourself is, "What's in it for me?" Be a little greedy. It's the best cure for laziness.