Quotes About Perseverance

But that initial, comet-blazing-across-the-sky, Big Idea is only the beginning. Each book is composed of a mosaic of thousands of little ideas, ideas that invariably come to me at two in the morning when my alarm is set for seven.

forcing Magellan to seek shelter. He ordered the fleet to reverse course

They had no longboat, no firewood, and scant clothing.

they were determined to survive to the end of the voyage.

The strait still eluded them but, God willing, they would find it, and reach the Spice Islands

Laurence Bergreen

The gallows that Magellan had erected still cast a shadow over a hill

Sailing into these shallow, sediment-rich waters, Magellan thought he might have been entering the waterway leading

Laurence Bergreen

in 1434, Eannes finally accomplished what so many had said was impossible

He convinced Gil Eannes, a Portuguese explorer, to try once more

together with Alfonso Gonçalves Baldaya, returned to Cape Bojador;

and Santiago, to be used

the weary sailors studied the sea for buried shoals, examined the rigging, dried the dew from the lines

saw it: the outlet leading west, just as he prayed it would. Magellan had finally found his strait.

Fear was his most important means of motivating his men; they became more afraid of Magellan than the hazards of the sea.

After all the ordeals suffered by the armada, the discovery of the strait did lay claim to being a miracle.

Once the horror of the inquisitional catharsis subsided, Mesquita (with Magellan's blessing)

Magellan preferred to anchor offshore, away from danger, as he continued his single-minded quest for the strait.

but he had kept his essential mission intact. After twelve months of painstaking preparation

After six months at sea, Magellan's ability to lead the armada was still in grave doubt.

Laurence Bergreen

Of low extraction, and a person of weak character, his advancement must always be regarded with wonder.

Three hundred and