“Perseverance and spirit have done wonders in all ages.”
George Washington (1732–1799) first President of the United States
A collection of quotes on the topic of hope, perseverance, doing, use.
“Perseverance and spirit have done wonders in all ages.”
George Washington (1732–1799) first President of the United States
“Constancy does not begin, but is that which perseveres.”
Leonardo Da Vinci (1452–1519) Italian Renaissance polymath
The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci (1883), X Studies and Sketches for Pictures and Decorations
“Is the perseverance you have in keeping your ideas alive.”
Prevale (1983) Italian DJ and producer
Original: (it) È la costanza che hai nel fare a mantenere in vita le tue idee.
Source: prevale.net
Sukavich Rangsitpol (1935) Thai politician
The Reason and the objective of Education Reform
“Great things come from hard work and perseverance. No excuses.”
Kobe Bryant (1978–2020) American basketball player
Marie Curie (1867–1934) French-Polish physicist and chemist
'La vie n’est facile pour aucun de nous. Mais quoi, il faut avoir de la persévérance, et surtout de la confiance en soi. Il faut croire que l’on est doué pour quelque chose, et que, cette chose, il faut l'atteindre coûte que coûte.'
As quoted in Madame Curie : A Biography (1937) by Eve Curie Labouisse, Part 2, p. 116
Charbel Makhlouf (1828–1898) Lebanese Maronite monk and saint
Love is a Radiant Light: The Life & Words of Saint Charbel (2019)
“Perseverance is the hard work you do after you get tired of doing the hard work you already did.”
Newt Gingrich (1943) Professor, Speaker of the United States House of Representatives
“One need not hope in order to undertake, nor succeed in order to persevere.”
William the Silent (1533–1584) stadtholder of Holland, Zeeland and Utrecht, leader of the Dutch Revolt
As quoted in O Canada: An American's Notes on Canadian Culture (1963) by Edmund Wilson
“Fight, and you shall win. For God grants victory to perseverance.”
Simón Bolívar (1783–1830) Venezuelan military and political leader, South American libertador
As quoted in Simón Bolívar (1969) by Gerhard Masur
Context: Do not compare your material forces with those of the enemy. Spirit cannot be compared with matter. You are human beings, they are beasts. You are free, they are slaves. Fight, and you shall win. For God grants victory to perseverance.
1997
John D. Rockefeller (1839–1937) American business magnate and philanthropist
As quoted in How They Succeeded (1901) by Orison Swett Marden
Context: I do not think that there is any other quality so essential to success of any kind as the quality of perseverance. It overcomes almost everything, even nature.
Joseph Addison (1672–1719) politician, writer and playwright
The earliest appearance of this proverb yet located is in Eliza Cook's Journal Vol. 11, (1854), p. 128, and the earliest attribution to Addison yet found is in Public Ledger Almanac (1887), p. 20.
Disputed
Source: https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_New_Era/XD8DAAAAYAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=addison%20%22hope%20your%20guardian%20genius%22&pg=PA1&printsec=frontcover&bsq=addison%20%22hope%20your%20guardian%20genius%22 Many Thoughts of Many Minds
John Quincy Adams (1767–1848) American politician, 6th president of the United States (in office from 1825 to 1829)
In recent years this has often been misquoted as: "Patience and perseverance have a magical effect before which difficulties disappear and obstacles vanish".
Oration at Plymouth (1802)
Context: Courage and perseverance have a magical talisman, before which difficulties disappear and obstacles vanish into air. These qualities have ever been displayed in their mightiest perfection, as attendants in the retinue of strong passions.
“To persevere in one's duty, and be silent is the best answer to calumny”
George Washington (1732–1799) first President of the United States
Zig Ziglar (1926–2012) American motivational speaker
Source: Something to Smile about: Encouragement and Inspiration for Life's Ups and Downs
Gillian Anderson (1968) American-British film, television and theatre actress, activist and writer
Excerpt from the foreword in Girl Boss: Running the Show Like the Big Chicks http://www.gilliananderson.ws/transcripts/99_00/99girlboss.shtml, by Stacy Kravetz (1999) <br class="br">1990s
Morrissey (1959) English singer
from "I've always felt like an exile" by Andrew Billen in The Times (30th May 2006)
In interviews etc., About love
Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919) American politician, 26th president of the United States
1900s, Address at the Prize Day Exercises at Groton School (1904)
Adolf Hitler (1889–1945) Führer and Reich Chancellor of Germany, Leader of the Nazi Party
As quoted in How the Allies Won (1995) by Richard Overy, citing Hitler: The Man and the Military Leader (1972) by P.E. Schramm
Other remarks
Ronald Cohen (1945) British businessman
Book The Second Bounce of the Ball (2007)
Barack Obama (1961) 44th President of the United States of America
Remarks by the President at LBJ Presidential Library Civil Rights Summit at Lyndon B. Johnson Presidential Library in Austin, Texas on April 10, 2014. http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2014/04/10/remarks-president-lbj-presidential-library-civil-rights-summit <br class="br">2014
Neelam Sanjiva Reddy (1913–1996) sixth President of India
Source: Pranab Mukherjee "Speech by the President of India, Shri Pranab Mukherjee at the concluding function of the centenary celebrations of the former President of India, Dr. Neelam Sanjeeva Reddy"
Dadabhai Naoroji (1825–1917) Indian politician
In 1906 at the age of 80 when he became president of the Indian National Congress in Calcutta.
Dr. Dadabhai Naoroji: "The Grand Old Man of India"
Barack Obama (1961) 44th President of the United States of America
2016, Memorial Service for Fallen Dallas Police Officers (July 2016)
Albert Schweitzer (1875–1965) French-German physician, theologian, musician and philosopher
Kulturphilosophie (1923), Vol. 2 : Civilization and Ethics
Context: Reverence for life, veneratio vitæ, is the most direct and at the same time the profoundest achievement of my will-to-live.
In reverence for life my knowledge passes into experience. The simple world- and life-affirmation which is within me just because I am will-to-live has, therefore, no need to enter into controversy with itself, if my will-to-live learns to think and yet does not understand the meaning of the world. In spite of the negative results of knowledge, I have to hold fast to world- and life-affirmation and deepen it. My life carries its own meaning in itself. This meaning lies in my living out the highest idea which shows itself in my will-to-live, the idea of reverence for life. With that for a starting-point I give value to my own life and to all the will-to-live which surrounds me, I persevere in activity, and I produce values.
Steve Jobs (1955–2011) American entrepreneur and co-founder of Apple Inc.
The Computerworld Smithsonian Awards Program Oral History Interview http://americanhistory.si.edu/comphist/sj1.html, Advice for Future Entrepreneurs (20 April 1995) <br class="br">1990s <br class="br">Context: I'm convinced that about half of what separates the successful entrepreneurs from the non-successful ones is pure perseverance. It is so hard. You put so much of your life into this thing. There are such rough moments in time that I think most people give up. I don't blame them. Its really tough and it consumes your life. If you've got a family and you're in the early days of a company, I can't imagine how one could do it. I'm sure its been done but its rough. Its pretty much an eighteen hour day job, seven days a week for awhile. Unless you have a lot of passion about this, you're not going to survive. You're going to give it up. So you've got to have an idea, or a problem or a wrong that you want to right that you're passionate about otherwise you're not going to have the perseverance to stick it through. I think that's half the battle right there.
“Persevere then until thou shalt have made these things thy own”
Marcus Aurelius book Meditations
X, 31
Meditations (c. 121–180 AD), Book X
Context: What matter and opportunity [for thy activity] art thou avoiding? For what else are all these things, except exercises for the reason, when it has viewed carefully and by examination into their nature the things which happen in life? Persevere then until thou shalt have made these things thy own, as the stomach which is strengthened makes all things its own, as the blazing fire makes flame and brightness out of everything that is thrown into it.
Barack Obama (1961) 44th President of the United States of America
2013, Commencement Address at Ohio State University (May 2013)
Context: I don’t pretend to have all the answers. And I’m not going to offer some grand theory – not when it’s a beautiful day and you’ve got some celebrating to do. I’m not going to get partisan, either, because that’s not what citizenship is about. In fact, I am asking the same thing of you that President Bush did when he spoke at this commencement in 2002: “America needs more than taxpayers, spectators, and occasional voters,” he said. “America needs full-time citizens.”
And as graduates from a university whose motto is “Education for Citizenship,” that’s what your country expects of you. So briefly, I will ask you for two things: to participate, and to persevere.
After all, your democracy does not function without your active participation. At a bare minimum, that means voting, eagerly and often. It means knowing who’s been elected to make decisions on your behalf, what they believe in, and whether or not they deliver. If they don’t represent you the way you want, or conduct themselves the way you expect – if they put special interests above your own – you’ve got to let them know that’s not okay. And if they let you down, there’s a built-in day in November where you can really let them know that’s not okay.
Barack Obama (1961) 44th President of the United States of America
2016, Memorial Service for Fallen Dallas Police Officers (July 2016)
Hyman George Rickover (1900–1986) United States admiral
Atlas, resolutely bearing his burden and accepting his responsibility that gives us the example we seek. To seek out and accept responsibility; to persevere; to be committed to excellence; to be creative and courageous; to be unrelenting in the pursuit of intellectual development; to maintain high standards of ethics and morality; and to bring these basic principles of existence to bear through active participation in life — these are some of my ideas on the goals which must be met to achieve meaning and purpose in life.
And finally, the man who knows his purpose in life accepts praise humbly. He knows whatsoever talents we has were given him by the Lord and that these talents must be developed and used. In this way man renders thanks for the Lord's gift — and finds meaning in his life.
Thoughts on Man's Purpose in Life (1974)
Brother Lawrence book The Practice of the Presence of God
Source: The Practice of the Presence of God
Sherman Alexie book The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
Source: The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
“Great difficulties may be surmounted by patience and perseverance.”
Abigail Adams (1744–1818) 2nd First Lady of the United States (1797–1801)
Letter to John Adams (27 November 1775)
Source: The Quotable Abigail Adams
Context: I feel anxious for the fate of our monarchy, or democracy, or whatever is to take place. I soon get lost in a labyrinth of perplexities; but, whatever occurs, may justice and righteousness be the stability of our times, and order arise out of confusion. Great difficulties may be surmounted by patience and perseverance.
Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus
Robert Walton in "Letter 2"
Source: Frankenstein (1818)
Christopher Reeve (1952–2004) actor, director, producer, screenwriter
Still Me (1999); also quoted at the Christopher Reeve Foundation http://www.christopherreeve.org/site/c.geIMLPOpGjF/b.1097025/k.6FF5/Christopher_and_Dana_Reeve.htm <br class="br">Context: When the first Superman movie came out, I gave dozens of interviews to promote it. The most frequent question was: What is a hero? My answer was that a hero is someone who commits a courageous action without considering the consequences. Now my definition is completely different. I think a hero is an ordinary individual who finds the strength to persevere and endure in spite of overwhelming obstacles. They are the real heroes, and so are the families and friends who have stood by them.
Sarah Strohmeyer (1950) American writer
Source: Sweet Love
“You cannot fake effort; talent is great, but perseverance is necessary.”
Amy Bloom (1953) Fiction writer, screenwriter, social worker, psychotherapist
“A dog teaches a boy fidelity, perseverance, and to turn around three times before lying down.”
Robert Benchley (1889–1945) American comedian
"Your Boy and His Dog," Liberty magazine, (30 July 1932) <br class="br">Also published in Chips Off the Old Benchley http://books.google.com/books?id=1-gHw9bqQqAC&q=%22A+dog+teaches+a+boy+fidelity+perseverance+and+to+turn+around+three+times+before+lying+down%22&pg=PA94#v=onepage (1949)
John Dickinson (1732–1808) American politician
From The Declaration upon taking up Arms, before Congress, July 6th, 1775: as cited in A Conspectus of American Biography, Volume 1, ed. George Derby, J. T. White (1906), p. 239
Benjamin Franklin (1706–1790) American author, printer, political theorist, politician, postmaster, scientist, inventor, civic activist, …
Written by Frank Woodworth Pine in his introduction to the 1916 publication of The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin https://www.gutenberg.org/files/20203/20203-h/20203-h.htm. Pine, F.W. (editor). Henry Holt and Company via Gutenberg Press. (1916). Introduction. <br class="br">The Autobiography (1818), The Autobiography (1916)
Richard Cobden (1804–1865) English manufacturer and Radical and Liberal statesman
Speech http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/commons/1846/jun/25/protection-of-life-ireland-bill in the House of Commons (25 June 1846). <br class="br">1840s
Norman MacLeod (1812–1872) (1812–1872) Scottish clergyman and author (1812–1872)
Reported in Josiah Hotchkiss Gilbert, Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895), p. 123.
“Imagination, devotion, perseverance, together with divine grace, will assure your success.”
Haile Selassie (1892–1975) Emperor of Ethiopia
Address on the 18th anniversary of his coronation (2 November 1948)
John Stuart Mill book Autobiography
Source: Autobiography (1873)
Source: https://archive.org/details/autobiography01mill/page/47/mode/1up p. 47
Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826) 3rd President of the United States of America
Declaration of the Causes and Necessity of Taking Up Arms (1775); Jefferson composed the first draft of this document, but the final work was done by John Dickinson, working with his original draft. Full text online http://www.nationalcenter.org/1775DeclarationofArms.html <br class="br">1770s
“Woman has suffered for eons, and that has given her infinite patience and infinite perseverance.”
Swami Vivekananda (1863–1902) Indian Hindu monk and phylosopher
Pearls of Wisdom
Camille Pissarro (1830–1903) French painter
Quote of Camille Pissarro, Paris, 9 May 1883, in a letter to his son Lucien; from Camille Pissarro - Letters to His Son Lucien ed. John Rewald, with assistance of Lucien Pissarro; from the unpublished French letters; transl. Lionel Abel; Pantheon Books Inc. New York, second edition, 1943, pp. 30-31
Duret in letters urged Pissarro to abandon the impressionist group and to try to be admitted to the official Salon where his work would be seen by forty thousand people. Duret advises him to make 'paintings which have a subject, something resembling composition, pictures not too freshly painted' (from note 1. John Rewald)
1880's
Chinmayananda Saraswati (1916–1993) Indian spiritual teacher
Quotations from Gurudev’s teachings, Chinmya Mission Chicago
Helen Keller (1880–1968) American author and political activist
Address to the American Association to Promote the Teaching of Speech to the Deaf (8 July 1896)
Aung San Suu Kyi (1945) State Counsellor of Myanmar and Leader of the National League for Democracy
Opening Keynote Address at NGO Forum on Women, Beijing China (1995)
Atal Bihari Vajpayee (1924–2018) 10th Prime Minister of India
Indore, 6 - 8 January 1984
Quotes from ataljee.org
Henry Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston (1784–1865) British politician
Speech http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/commons/1860/may/15/papers-moved-for-1 in the House of Commons (15 May 1860) on the illegal prize-fight between Tom Sayers and J. C. Heenan. The Radical MP Colonel Dickson replied that although "He sat on a different side of the House from the noble Lord, and did not often find himself in the same lobby with him on a division; but he would say for the noble Viscount, that if he had one attribute more than another which endeared him to his countrymen it was his thoroughly English character and his love for every manly sport". Palmerston was rumoured to have attended the fight and he contributed the first guinea to the collection for Sayers in the House of Commons. <br class="br">1860s
Keshub Chunder Sen (1838–1884) Indian academic
Sermon at Hackney Unitarian Church, London, on 24th April 1870.
“If you persevere in your rancor, you do nothing but keep feeding yourself on poison.”
Fausto Cercignani (1941) Italian scholar, essayist and poet
Examples of self-translation (c. 2004), Quotes - Zitate - Citations - Citazioni
Vyasa central and revered figure in most Hindu traditions
and so on up to twenty-eight <br class="br">Vishnu Purana (Book 3, Ch 3), in The Vishńu Puráńa: A System of Hindu Mythology and Tradition http://books.google.co.in/books?id=bkEpAAAAYAAJ, p. 219. <br class="br">Sources
Václav Havel book Disturbing the Peace
Source: Disturbing the Peace (1986), Ch. 5 : The Politics of Hope, p. 111
Koxinga (1624–1662) Chinese military leader
Formosa under the Dutch: described from contemporary records, with explanatory notes and a bibliography of the island, 1903, William Campbell, Kegan Paul, 423, Dec. 20 2011 http://books.google.com/books?id=OpdMq-YJoeoC&pg=PA423&dq=koxinga+formosa+always+belonged+to+china&hl=en&ei=vsjiTergDM3TgAekqbzKBg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=7&ved=0CEQQ6AEwBg#v=onepage&q=koxinga%20formosa%20always%20belonged%20to%20china&f=false, Original from the University of Michigan(LONDON : KEGAN PAUL, TRENCH, TRUBNER & CO. LTD DRYDEN HOUSE, 43 GERRARD STREET, SOHO MDCCCCIII Edinburgh : T. and A. CONSTABLE, Printers to His Majesty)
Jonathan Edwards (1703–1758) Christian preacher, philosopher, and theologian
Justification By Faith Alone (1738)
“My dad always told me that perseverance furthers. He was right.”
Elaine Paige (1948) English singer and actress
As quoted in "Portrait of the artist: Elaine Paige, actor" by Laura Barnett in The Guardian (22 May 2007)
Charles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey (1764–1845) Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
Speech http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/lords/1811/apr/26/vote-of-thanks-to-lord-wellington-and in the House of Lords (26 April 1811) on the Vote of Thanks to Lord Wellington, and the British and Portuguese Armies. <br class="br">1810s
Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826) 3rd President of the United States of America
Letter to William Short (18 March 1792)
1790s
Zakir Hussain (politician) (1897–1969) 3rd President of India
Source: Uniqueness of Zakir Husain and His Contributions (1997), p. 18-19.
Berthe Morisot (1841–1895) painter from France
in an unpublished extract from a letter of Berthe to Edma, written in 1869; as cited in The Correspondence of Berthe Morisot, ed. Denis Rouart; Camden, London 1986 / Kinston, R. I. Moyer Bell, 1989, p. 31 (private collection)
1860 - 1870
Sam Houston (1793–1863) nineteenth-century American statesman, politician, and soldier, namesake of Houston, Texas
As quoted in Sam Houston (2004), by James Haley, University of Oklahoma Press, p. 397
1860s
Bradley Joseph (1965) Composer, pianist, keyboardist, arranger, producer, recording artist
Indie Journal Interview http://web.archive.org/web/20041101084648/http://www.indiejournal.com/indiejournal/interviews/bradleyjoseph.htm
Gary Hamel (1954) American management expert
Gary Hamel quoted in: Richard L. Daft (2014), The Leadership Experience, p. 409
Ernest King (1878–1956) United States Navy admiral, Chief of Naval Operations
p. 184. Detailing the salvaging of U.S.S. S-51.
Bias of Priene (-600–-530 BC) ancient Greek philosopher, one of the Seven Sages
The Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers (c. 230)
Godfrey Higgins (1772–1833) British archaeologist
Obituary of Godfrey Higgins, Doncaster Gazette, 16 August 1833.
About
“Purity, patience, and perseverance are the three essentials to success and, above all, love.”
Swami Vivekananda (1863–1902) Indian Hindu monk and phylosopher
Pearls of Wisdom
George W. Bush (1946) 43rd President of the United States
2000s, 2006, United Nations General Assembly speech (September 2006)
Charles Darwin book The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex
second edition (1874), chapter XIX: "Secondary Sexual Characters of Man", page 564 http://darwin-online.org.uk/content/frameset?pageseq=587&itemID=F944&viewtype=image <br class="br">The Descent of Man (1871)
“Tis known by the name of perseverance in a good cause — and of obstinacy in a bad one.”
Laurence Sterne book The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman
Book I, Ch. 17.
The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman (1760-1767)
“Patience and perseverance are never more thoroughly Christian graces than when features of prayer.”
Samuel I. Prime (1812–1885) American clergyman, traveler, and writer
Source: Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895), P. 461.
George Peacock (1791–1858) Scottish mathematician
Letter to a friend (1817) discussing, as a representative of the Analytical Society, the use of the "French" differential notation, as opposed to the "English" or "Newtonian" dot notation, for mathematical analysis, in the examination of the Mathematical Tripos at Cambridge. As quoted by Alexander Macfarlane, Lectures on Ten British Physicists of the Nineteenth Century https://books.google.com/books?id=43SBAAAAIAAJ (1916)
John F. Kennedy (1917–1963) 35th president of the United States of America
1961, Address at the University of Washington
Michael Moorcock book The War Hound and the World's Pain
Source: The War Hound and the World's Pain (1981), Chapter 15 (p. 149)