Quotes About Persistence

Never make a roadblock of yourself on trouble's road. No, make yourself a bridge instead, with stones slick as grease.

Look at these bones we step over. We go as far as we can go, and then we stop. And that is how it is. That is all it is. So…now what?

The curse of great minds. Arriving young to an idea, surviving the siege that invariably assails it, then, finally, standing guard on the ramparts long after the war's over, weapons dull in leaden hands

The curse of the witless is to beat one's head against the obstinate wall of how things really are, rather than what they insist upon their being.

Opposite the Half-Axe was the narrow-fronted entrance to a shop devoted to short lengths of rope and wooden poles a man and a half high. Tehol had no idea how such a specialized enterprise could survive, especially in this unravelled, truncated market, yet its door had remained open for almost six centuries, locked up each night by a short length of rope and a wooden pole.

The spokesman smiled. "Ah, but, Kruppe, Gifts are not easily attained, nor are Virtues, nor are Doubts easily overcome, and Hungers are ever the impetus to climbing.

How many times, dear traveller, will you walk the same path?

It was amazing what could be endured when in the grip of inertia.

Confidence was a seed that could grow in any soil, no matter how impoverished. She had seen as much again and again.

Marching on a promise never given

Gifts are not easily attained, nor are Virtues, nor are Doubts easily overcome, and Hungers are ever the impetus to climbing.

Fighting is for people who fail at everything else.

Kallor never failed such moments. Let the curse flail him, strike him down; let defeat batter him again and again. He would just get back up, shake the dust off, and begin once more. He knew the world was damned.

There is plenty of dignity in just holding on

Hope persists, and its voice is compassion, and honest doubt.

Madmen built houses of solid stone. Then circled looking for a way inside. Inside, where cosy perfection waited. People and schemes and outright lies barred his every effort, and that was the heart of the conspiracy. From outside, after all, the house looked real. Therefore it was real. Just a little more clawing at the stone door, a little more battering, one more pounding collision will burst that barrier. And on and on and round and round. The worn ruts of madness.

But what mattered beyond just that? This single moment, pitching headlong into the next one, over and over again, as firm and true as each step he took

He found himself drifting off, not for the first time, finding that place in his head where every thought rattled like chains, and he could only drag himself in crooked circles, the weight stealing his strength, his willingness to go on.

Look, I tried to get a paper route instead, but the newspapers keep burning up on reentry.

Interest is never enough. If it doesn't haunt you, you'll never write it well. What haunts and obsesses you may, with luck and labour, interest your readers. What merely interests you is sure to bore them. (from Workbook)

Let failure be your workshop. See it for what is is: the world walking you through a tough but necessary semester, free of tuition. (from Workbook)

He did what he could, and that was more than enough.

Regard—the ability to recognize your strengths and weaknesses and to feel good about yourself despite your weaknesses; and Self-Actualization—the ability to persistently try to improve yourself and pursue meaningful goals that lead to a richer life.

mentor once told me that every dead end shows you more clearly the pattern of the labyrinth, that each one you encounter gives you one more piece of information that'll help you as you methodically fail your way to success. That's how he put it: failing your way to success.