Quotes about effort

„You nobles, you sons of my leading men, soft and dandified, trusting in your birth and your wealth, paying no attention to my command and your advancement, you neglected the pursuit of learning and indulged yourselves in the sport of pleasure and idleness and foolish pastimes. By the King of the heavens I think nothing of your nobility and your beauty. Others can admire you. Know this without any doubt; unless you rapidly make up for your idleness by eager effort, you will never receive any benefit from Charlemagne.“

—  Charlemagne King of the Franks, King of Italy, and Holy Roman Emperor 748 - 814

Quoted in Notker's The Deeds of Charlemagne (translated 2008 by David Ganz)

„The most beautiful act of faith is the one made in darkness, in sacrifice, and with extreme effort.“

—  Padre Pio Italian saint, priest, stigmatist and mystic 1887 - 1968

„He held her hand because he wanted her heart; then gazed into her empty eyes and realized nothing was there. Often, the emotions of someone we love are dismissed in a continual effort to remain.“

—  RJ Intindola (Gandolfo)

1984

„… the love, respect, and confidence of my children was the sweetest reward I could receive for my efforts to be the woman I would have them copy.“

—  Louisa May Alcott, book Little Women

Source: Little Women

„Monks, these two extremes ought not to be practiced by one who has gone forth from the household life. (What are the two?) There is addiction to indulgence of sense-pleasures, which is low, coarse, the way of ordinary people, unworthy, and unprofitable; and there is addiction to self-mortification, which is painful, unworthy, and unprofitable. Avoiding both these extremes, the Tathagata (the Perfect One) has realized the Middle Path; it gives vision, gives knowledge, and leads to calm, to insight, to enlightenment and to Nibbana. And what is that Middle Path realized by the Tathagata? … It is the Noble Eightfold Path, and nothing else, namely: right understanding, right thought, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness and right concentration.“

—  Gautama Buddha philosopher, reformer and the founder of Buddhism -563 - -483 BC

Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/sn/sn56/sn56.011.piya.html, as translated by Piyadassi Maha Thera (1999)
Unclassified

„My longings, my hopes, my dreams, and my every effort has been to live for Him who rescued me, to study for Him who gave me this mind, to serve Him who fashioned my will, and to speak for Him who gave me a voice.“

—  Ravi Zacharias Indian philosopher 1946

Source: Jesus Among Other Gods: The Absolute Claims of the Christian Message

„The media have been tireless in their efforts to suppress the truth about the gangster state.“

—  Michael Parenti American academic 1933

3 CONSPIRACY: PHOBIA AND REALITY, The JFK Assassination I, p. 159
Dirty truths (1996), first edition

„To make the world safe for those who own it, politically active elements of the owning class have created a national security state that expends billions of dollars and enlists the efforts of vast numbers of people.“

—  Michael Parenti American academic 1933

3 CONSPIRACY: PHOBIA AND REALITY, The JFK Assassination II: p. 174
Dirty truths (1996), first edition

„I have the utmost confidence that through your efforts we will eventually beat the hell out of those bastards — "You name them; I'll shoot them!"“

—  George S. Patton United States Army general 1885 - 1945

Letter to Dwight D. Eisenhower (1942); to this Eisenhower replied: "I don't have the slightest trouble naming the hellions I'd like to have you shoot; my problem is to figure out some way of getting you to the place you can do it." as quoted in Eisenhower : A Soldier's Life (2003) by Carlo D'Este, p. 301
Context: Of all the many talks I had in Washington, none gave me such pleasure as that with you. There were two reasons for this. In the first place, you are about my oldest friend. In the second place, your self-assurance and to me, at least, demonstrated ability, give me a great feeling of confidence about the future … and I have the utmost confidence that through your efforts we will eventually beat the hell out of those bastards — "You name them; I'll shoot them!"

„Most enjoyable activities are not natural; they demand an effort that initially one is reluctant to make. But once the interaction starts to provide feedback to the person's skills, it usually begins to be intrinsically rewarding.“

—  Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi Hungarian American psychologist 1934

Source: Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience

„I am the only person still alive of that rescuing group but I want everyone to know that, while I was coordinating our efforts, we were about twenty to twenty five people. I did not do it alone.“

—  Irena Sendler Polish resistance fighter and Holocaust rescuer 1910 - 2008

Quoted in "The Long Path to Irena Sendler - Mother of the Holocaust Children" http://www.socwork.net/2006/1/historicalportraits/wieler, by Joachim Wieler Social Work & Society, vol. 4 (2006)

„A mathematical problem should be difficult in order to entice us, yet not completely inaccessible, lest it mock at our efforts.“

—  David Hilbert, Mathematical Problems

Mathematical Problems (1900)
Context: A mathematical problem should be difficult in order to entice us, yet not completely inaccessible, lest it mock at our efforts. It should be to us a guide post on the mazy paths to hidden truths, and ultimately a reminder of our pleasure in the successful solution.

„No art or learning is to be pursued halfheartedly," His Highness replied, "…and any art worth learning will certainly reward more or less generously the effort made to study it.“

—  Murasaki Shikibu, book The Tale of Genji

Source: Tale of Genji, Ch. 17: Eawase (trans. Royall Tyler)
Source: The Tale of Genji

„Just before twenty-first March, 1953, seven days before, I stopped working on myself. A moment comes when you see the whole futility of effort. You have done all that you can do and nothing is happening. You have done all that is humanly possible. Then what else can you do? In sheer helplessness one drops all search. And the day the search stopped, the day I was not seeking for something, the day I was not expecting something to happen, it started happening. A new energy arose — out of nowhere. It was not coming from any source. It was coming from nowhere and everywhere. It was in the trees and in the rocks and the sky and the sun and the air — it was everywhere. And I was seeking so hard, and I was thinking it is very far away. And it was so near and so close.“

—  Rajneesh Godman and leader of the Rajneesh movement 1931 - 1990

The Discipline Of Transcendence (1978)

„In spite of intense efforts, the moment has drawn near when this front, already so heavily strained, will break. I consider it my duty to bring these conclusions to your notice…my Fuhrer.“

—  Günther von Kluge German general 1882 - 1944

July 1944. Quoted in "Why the Allies Won" - Page 170 - by R. J. Overy - History - 1995

„The person who is really in revolt is the optimist, who generally lives and dies in a desperate and suicidal effort to persuade all the other people how good they are.“

—  G. K. Chesterton, book The Defendant

"Introduction"
The Defendant (1901)
Context: The pessimist is commonly spoken of as the man in revolt. He is not. Firstly, because it requires some cheerfulness to continue in revolt, and secondly, because pessimism appeals to the weaker side of everybody, and the pessimist, therefore, drives as roaring a trade as the publican. The person who is really in revolt is the optimist, who generally lives and dies in a desperate and suicidal effort to persuade all the other people how good they are. It has been proved a hundred times over that if you really wish to enrage people and make them angry, even unto death, the right way to do it is to tell them that they are all the sons of God.

„When evil assembles into a group, good must duplicate their efforts; for without an equal counter force of protection, evil shall destroy those who stand alone, one at a time.“

—  RJ Intindola (Gandolfo)

2008

„Art serves to establish community. It links us with others and with the things around us, in a shared vision and effort.“

—  Gerhard Richter German visual artist, born 1932 1932

undated quotes, The Daily Practice of Painting, Writings (1962-1993)

„Nothing could be worse than the fear that one had given up too soon, and left one unexpended effort that might have saved the world.“

—  Jane Addams pioneer settlement social worker 1860 - 1935