Quotes About Effort

Do not labor uselessly at what helps not at all.

THE FOX AND THE GRAPES A hungry Fox saw some fine bunches of Grapes hanging from a vine that was trained along a high trellis, and did his best to reach them by jumping as high as he could into the air. But it was all in vain, for they were just out of reach: so he gave up trying, and walked away with an air of dignity and unconcern, remarking, I thought those Grapes were ripe, but I see now they are quite sour.

Slow and steady wins the race.

The gods help them that help themselves.

If you attempt what is beyond your power, your trouble will be wasted and you court not only misfortune but ridicule.

Those who strive are often watched by others who will take advantage of their defeat to benefit themselves.

Slow and steady wins the race! From The Tortoise and the Hare.

Tut, man, don't sprawl there. Get up and put your shoulder to the wheel.

Being content is perhaps no less easy than playing the violin well: and requires no less practice.

In the mountains of truth you will never climb in vain: either you will get up higher today or you will exercise your strength so as to be able to get up higher tomorrow.

Academic masochism reflects a metaphysical prejudice that the truth should be a hard-won treasure, that what is read or learnt easily must therefore be flighty and inconsequential. The truth should be like a mount to be scaled, it is dangerous, obscure and demanding. Under the light of the library reading room, the academics' motto reads: the more a text makes me suffer, the truer it must be.

A well-loved child is set a challenging precedent. In its very nature, parental love works to conceal the effort which went into generating it. It shields the recipient from the donor's complexity and sadness - and from an awareness of how many other interests, friends and concerns the parent has sacrificed in the name of love.

We cannot be taught wisdom, we have to discover it for ourselves by a journey which no one can undertake for us, an effort which no one can spare us.

We gaan in op reusachtige, ongrijpbare collectieve projecten, zodat we ons afvragen wat we vorig jaar deden, sterker nog, waar wij zijn gebleven en wat er van ons geworden is. We zien onze verspilde krachten onder ogen tijdens het pathos van een pensioneringsfeestje.

F?r? încercare nu exist? eÈ™ec, iar f?r? eÈ™ec, umilin??.

He (Proust) tells us, for instance, that there are two methods by which a person can acquire wisdom, painlessly via a teacher or painfully via life, and he proposes that the painful variety is far superior... We cannot be taught wisdom, we have to discover it for ourselves by a journey which no one can undertake for us, an effort which no one can spare us.

The Prestige of Laundry

we cannot help but ask what comes of all of this Ã¢â'¬Â¦ there is nothing to show but the satisfaction of hunger and sexual passion, and Ã¢â'¬Â¦ a little momentary gratification Ã¢â'¬Â¦ now and then, between Ã¢â'¬Â¦ endless needs and exertions.

It may be a sign that two people have stopped loving one another (or at least stopped wishing to make the effort that constitutes ninety per cent of love) when they are no longer able to spin differences into jokes. Humour lined the walls of irritation between our ideals and the reality: behind every joke, there was a warning of difference, of disappointment even, but it was a difference that had been defused - and could therefore be passed over without the need for a pogrom.

When one is sad, it is lovely to lie in the warmth of one's bed, and there, with all effort and struggle at an end, even perhaps with one's head under the blankets, surrender completely to wailing, like branches in the autumn wind.

We never envy another's achievement more than when we know very little about how it was attained.

Efortul-o cale spre autenticitate ?i glorie.

All the effort went into getting there and then I had nothing left. I thought I'd got somewhere, then I found I had to go on.

Too late. It was all too late. But she went on, determined as ever and always trying to catch up.