Quotes About Effort

You, too, did what was easiest. Don't let that be all you do.

I took a break, stretched, tried again, failed, kicked over the music stand (I am not proud of that), and wonder whether I had reached the limits of my musical ability. Maybe I'd never had any. Surely someone with a modicum of talent wouldn't have to work this hard.

And I thought, of all the girls in this town, she is the one that I absolutely can't find fascinating." "Is that the reason you sounded like you really didn't want to take me home after that first night of pizza?" "Yep. I wanted to limit contact. I was trying so hard not to fall for you." "Well, that's why I knocked you over," I said. He laughed.

Taking the high road is hard work-- walking uphill requires strength and effort. Anyone can take the low road--walking downhill is easy.

But her eyes would look cold, though her voice might be gentle, and her hand when it fondled would be tentative, unwilling. The hand would be making an effort to fondle, and Stephen would be conscious of that effort. Then looking up at the calm, lovely face, Stephen would be filled with a sudden contrition, with a sudden deep sense of her own shortcomings; she would long to blurt all this out to her mother, yet would stand there tongue-tied, saying nothing at all.

like upending the whole table, running until her lungs burned and her insides retched. With little wind

The best things in life don't come from taking the easy path, do they?

It is a futile and ridiculous struggle—but then... it is human nature, I suppose, to be futile and ridiculous.

There are so many charlatans in the world of education. They teach for a couple of years, come up with a few clever slogans, build their websites, and hit the lecture circuit. In this fast-food-society, simple solutions to complex problems are embraced far too often. We can do better. I hope that people who read this book realize that true excellence takes sacrifice, mistakes, and enormous amounts of effort. After all, there are no shortcuts.

Unfortunately working hard doesn't necessarily make someone an effective teacher.

With better vision, we sacrifice for students for whom that sacrifice will most likely pay off. I'm sorry to say this, but there are times when even superhuman effort will not save a child from his environment or himself. It's not the job of the teacher to save a child's soul; it is the teachers' job to provide an opportunity for the child to save his own soul.

A forced equalization of wages that disregards the marginal contributions of different workers will deaden incentives and lead to a misallocation of resources and effort.

Everything that is worth winning, is worth loosing as well.

No god can make you happy until you put some effort

Every day you spend drifting away from your goals is a waste not only of that day, but also of the additional day it takes to regain lost ground

What you do today can improve all your tomorrows.

Union with God of this depth is totally unattainable by our own efforts; it is a gift that only God can give; we are totally dependent on His grace for progress in the spiritual life. Yet

True union can very well be reached with God's help, if we make the effort to obtain it by keeping our wills fixed only on that which is God's will.

In essence, contemplative prayer is a communication with God that isn't simply our own mental or affective effort, but has at least some dimension of "givenness" by God, some infusion of light or love or presence that transcends our own efforts.

Francis says we should make reasonable efforts to refute lies that are being told about us, but if our efforts are not effective, we should simply go on with our lives trusting in God to care for us, continuing to humble ourselves. If He permits our reputation to be taken away from us it will either be "to give us a better one or to make us profit by holy humility, of which a single ounce is preferable to a thousand pounds of honor.

Men achieve a certain greatness unawares, when working to another aim.

As a cure for worrying, work is better than whiskey.

Work and acquire, and thou hast chained the wheel of Chance.

An ounce of action is worth a ton of theory.