Difficile est, fateor, sed tendit in ardua virtus
et talis meriti gratia maior erit.
II, ii, 111-112; translation by Arthur Leslie Wheeler
Epistulae ex Ponto (Letters From the Black Sea)
Difficile est, fateor, sed tendit in ardua virtus et talis meriti gratia maior erit.
Excerpts of Martial law speech (14 December 1981)
“Hard work and training. There's no secret formula. I lift heavy, work hard and aim to be the best.”
Herald Sun staff (October 13, 2006) "A good life, naturally", Herald Sun, p. 017.
“Virtue's a mere name,
Or 'tis high venture that achieves high aim.”
Book I, epistle xvii, p. 138
Translations, The Satires, Epistles, and Art of Poetry of Horace (1869), Epistles
“Character is the virtue of hard times.”
Le caractère, vertu des temps difficiles.
in Le fil de l’épée.
Writings
“Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all others.”
Speech in the House of Commons, after taking office as Prime Minister (13 May 1940) This has often been misquoted in the form: "I have nothing to offer but blood, sweat and tears ..."
The Official Report, House of Commons (5th Series), 13 May 1940, vol. 360, c. 1502. Audio records of the speech do spare out the "It is" before the in the beginning of the "Victory"-Part.
The Second World War (1939–1945)
Context: You ask, what is our policy? I will say: It is to wage war, by sea, land and air, with all our might and with all the strength that God can give us: to wage war against a monstrous tyranny, never surpassed in the dark, lamentable catalogue of human crime. That is our policy. You ask, what is our aim? I can answer in one word: It is victory, victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror, victory, however long and hard the road may be; for without victory, there is no survival.
Context: I would say to the House, as I said to those who have joined this Government: 'I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears, and sweat.' We have before us an ordeal of the most grievous kind. We have before us many, many long months of struggle and of suffering. You ask, what is our policy? I will say: It is to wage war, by sea, land and air, with all our might and with all the strength that God can give us: to wage war against a monstrous tyranny, never surpassed in the dark, lamentable catalogue of human crime. That is our policy. You ask, what is our aim? I can answer in one word: It is victory, victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror, victory, however long and hard the road may be; for without victory, there is no survival.
Romance of Modern Stage; National Review of London; 1911
“Ambition breaks the ties of blood, and forgets the obligations of gratitude.”
As quoted in History of the Anti-Corn Law League (1853), by Archibald Prentice, p. 54; around 1876 this began to began to be cited to W. Scott, and then around 1880 sometimes to Walter Scott, but without citations of source, including a variant: "Selfish ambition breaks the ties of blood, and forgets the obligations of gratitude" in a publication of 1907.
“Ambition breaks the ties of blood, and forgets the obligations of gratitude.”
The earliest attributions of this yet found are to it being a saying of William Scott, 1st Baron Stowell, in History of the Anti-Corn Law League (1853), by Archibald Prentice, p. 54; around 1876 it began to began to be cited to W. Scott, and then around 1880 sometimes to Walter Scott, but without citations of source, including a variant: "Selfish ambition breaks the ties of blood, and forgets the obligations of gratitude" in a publication of 1907. It seems to only recently to have begun to be attributed to Sallust, on the internet.
Misattributed
