“Either don't try at all or make damned sure you succeed.”
Book I, line 389 (tr. James Michie)
Ars Amatoria (The Art of Love)
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Ovid120
Roman poet -43–17 BCRelated quotes
“Never try to discourage thinking, for you are sure to succeed.”
Bertrand Russell (1872–1970) logician, one of the first analytic philosophers and political activist
“That's why I love spiders. 'If at first you don't succeed, try, try, try again.”
Diana Wynne Jones book Howl's Moving Castle
Source: Howl's Moving Castle
“When I was a little boy I used to repeat: "If at first you don't succeed, try, try, try again."”
Neville Chamberlain (1869–1940) Former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
That is what I am doing. When I come back I hope I may be able to say, as Hotspur said in Henry IV, "Out of this nettle, danger, we pluck this flower, safety."
Speech at Heston Airport before his flight to Munich to meet Hitler (29 September 1938), quoted in The Times (30 September 1938), p. 12
Prime Minister
“Avoid this crowd like the plague. And if they quote you, make damn sure they heard you.”
Barbara Bush (1925–2018) former First Lady of the United States
Advice about news reporters, to incoming first lady, Hillary Rodham Clinton, on a tour of the White House, as quoted in Newsweek magazine (30 November 1992)
Ian Darke (1950) British association football and boxing commentator
Brazil v. Germany (8 July 2014).
2010s, 2014, 2014 FIFA World Cup
Context: Lahm, Khedira. Lahm, again. Trying to make sure, and they do make sure! Six, nil! You wonder where all this is going to end for Germany? Schürrle, getting in on the act. Well, they're really booing now. André Schürrle. Fred was booed off in the middle of all that. And Schürrle gets his second goal of the tournament, he got one against Algeria as well. Six, nil. Germany, really rubbing Brazil's noses in it.
“I will try to develop an entirely new style and I am sure I will succeed.”
Otto Mueller (1874–1930) German painter and printmaker of the expressionist movement
Clive Staples Lewis The Chronicles of Narnia
The Magician's Nephew (1955), Ch. 10: The First Joke and Other Matters
The Chronicles of Narnia (1950–1956)