Quotes About Persistence

There's no such thing as an overnight success. It took me a long to get there.

It took me four months in Biosphere 2 to make a pizza.

I never took the easy route.

It took about 10 years' time for Shopify to be an overnight success.

I part of this great nation because my grandfather was born here, in Cincinnati, Ohio. He took a horse, back in 1895, and ride it all the way down to Guanajuato, looking for his American dream. No penny in his pocket, only dreams in his head. And he was an immigrant coming from the States into Mexico. And he found his American dream in Mexico.

As an actor, I was not accepted for the longest time. But it did not deter me, as the audience had accepted me. I never compared myself with any other actors. I never had any game plan and took whatever came my way.

I have been passed over on some things because people didn't think I was edgy enough. But the people who took those gigs are gone now, and I am still here.

To be honest, my first film Akhil' was a disaster and to come out of the negativity it brought, it took a lot of time.

I took the hardest possible route that you could take, and I still overcame and succeeded.

There were many times that I took such a big hit that I was dazed; I'm not going to lie. I'd see black, but I'm still looking for the puck. Where's the play going? I'm going to keep going. Same thing in figure skating. If I take a hard fall, I'm going to get up, and I'm going to do the next jump.

It took five years to get 'Parental Guidance' made, and it was a fight every second.

I took a Fear of Flying class, and I always missed the class, because I was always flying.

You got people that come in, one album, two albums, and they're gone. A lot of people couldn't take the break I took and come back into the game, and people be checking for them.

All the time I was writing hit songs with my partner David Porter, I always had the yen to perform. Sure did. And when the opportunity came, I took it. The first album, 'Presenting Isaac Hayes,' didn't do so hot, but it was like a prelude for what was to come.

'Goon Squad' took about three years to write and that's the short end. My second novel, 'Look at Me,' took six years.

It took me 13 years to win a Super Bowl. But it only took me one season to win a 'mirror ball.'

I mean, I'm not the sharpest tool in the shed, I'm like a continuation school dropout, but I'm trying.

The whole thing about Tool is that it kind of feeds on itself. If it's going, it's going. If it's at a grinding halt, there's either the will to pick it up again and get it going or not. We've been through serious stages of nothing... business problems or personal problems or whatever.

Proving naysayers wrong is a powerful tool, and it can keep the fire burning for preparation that will keep you in the game of your choice for a long time.

One of the greatest and simplest tools for learning more and growing is doing more.

If I couldn't do it, then I'd be defeated. I've got the tools to do it. I never did question my tools.

I bought an audio technician mic and Pro Tools SE, the demo version and was recording in the basement.

Convincing people to give your way a try will work if you neutralize - and sometimes you have to cauterize - the ones who really are against change. They're the kind of person who, if you tell them it's raining outside, they'll fight you tooth and nail.

Colin Powell has said over the years that Saddam Hussein is like a toothache. It recurs from time to time, and you just have to live with it. At other times, he's compared Saddam Hussein to a kidney stone that will eventually pass. But he has never said, 'You have to operate and take out the kidney stone.'