Quotes About Perseverance

Difficulty shows what men are.

Neither should a ship rely on one small anchor, nor should life rest on a single hope.

The philosopher's school, ye men, is a surgery: you ought not to go out of it with pleasure, but with pain. For you are not in sound health when you enter.

Everyone's life is a warfare, and that long and various.

Sick and yet happy, in peril and yet happy, dying and yet happy, in exile and happy, in disgrace and happy.

Remember from now on whenever something tends to make you unhappy, draw on this principle: 'This is no misfortune; but bearing with it bravely is a blessing.

As for us, we behave like a herd of deer. When they flee from the huntsman's feathers in affright, which way do they turn? What haven of safety do they make for? Why, they rush upon the nets! And thus they perish by confounding what they should fear with that wherein no danger lies. . . . Not death or pain is to be feared, but the fear of death or pain. Well said the poet therefore:— Death has no terror; only a Death of shame!

Above all, remember that the door stands open. Be not more fearful than children; but as they, when they weary of the game, cry, I will play no more, even so, when thou art in the like case, cry, I will play no more and depart. But if thou stayest, make no lamentation.

Is then the fruit of a fig-tree not perfect suddenly and in one hour, and would you possess the fruit of a man's mind in so short a time and so easily?

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. And add this reflection on the occasion of everything that happens; for you will find it an impediment to something else, but not to yourself.

CIRCUMSTANCES DON'T MAKE THE MAN, THEY ONLY REVEAL HIM TO HIMSELF

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. And add this reflection on the occasion of everything that happens; for you will find it an impediment to something else, but not to yourself. X

Let whatever appears to be the best be to you an inviolable law. And if any instance of pain or pleasure, glory or disgrace, be set before you, remember that now is the combat, now the Olympiad comes on, nor can it be put off; and that by one failure and defeat honor may be lost or—won.

Faced with pain, you will discover the power of endurance. If you are insulted, you will discover patience. In time, you will grow to be confident that there is not a single impression that you will not have the moral means to tolerate.

In short, we do not abandon any discipline for despair of ever being the best in it.

Whatever your mission, stick by it as if it were a law and you would be committing sacrilege to betray it. Pay no attention to whatever people might say; this no longer should influence you.

What would Heracles have been if he had said, How am I to prevent a big lion from appearing, or a big boar, or brutal men? What care you, I say? If a big boar appears, you will have a greater struggle to engage in; if evil men appear, you will free the world from evil men.

If you meet temptation, use self-control; if you meet pain, use fortitude; if you meet revulsion, use patience.

If then you desire (aim at) such great things remember that you must not (attempt to) lay hold of them with a small effort;

They may kill me, but they cannot hurt me. —Socrates

Make a bad beginning and you'll contend with troubles ever after.

Every difficulty in life presents us with an opportunity to turn inward and to invoke our own submerged inner resources. The trials we endure can and should introduce us to our strengths...Dig deeply. You possess strengths you might not realize you have. Find the right one. Use it.

Obstacles Lameness may strike your leg, but not your determination. Sickness may weaken your body, but not your character. Misfortune may drain your bank account, but not your generosity—unless you let it. Each time an obstacle arises, remind yourself of this truth: while it may hurt some part of you, it can't touch your deepest self. The only person who can truly harm you—that is, make you a worse person—is you.

So decide now that you are worthy of living as a full-grown man who is making progress, and make everything that seems best be a law that you cannot go against. And if you meet with any hardship or anything pleasant or reputable or disreputable, then remember that the contest is now and the Olympic games are now and you cannot put things off any more and that your progress is made or destroyed by a single day and a single action