“All life is based on the fact that anything worth getting is hard to get. There is a price to be paid for anything. Scholarship can only be bought at the price of study, skill of craft or technique can only be bought at the price of practice, and eminence in any sport can only be bought at the price of training and discipline.”

—  William Barclay

William Barclay (1964) The Gospel of John. Vol. 2, p. 77

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "All life is based on the fact that anything worth getting is hard to get. There is a price to be paid for anything. Sch…" by William Barclay?
William Barclay photo
William Barclay 6
Church of Scotland minister and academic 1907–1978

Related quotes

Alfred Austin photo

“'Tis a world
Where all is bought, and nothing's worth the price.”

Alfred Austin (1835–1913) British writer and poet

Source: Fortunatus the Pessimist (1892), Fortunatus in Act I, sc. ii; p. 17.

Karl Marx photo

“But if the labourers could live on air they could not be bought at any price.”

Karl Marx (1818–1883) German philosopher, economist, sociologist, journalist and revolutionary socialist

Vol. I, Ch. 24, Section 4, pg. 657.
(Buch I) (1867)

“Long toil and short leisure are part of the heavy price we pay for our North American standard of living. It is reputed to be the highest in the world, and so it should be, for it is bought at an inordinate price.”

Robertson Davies book A Voice from the Attic

A Voice from the Attic (1960)

“One superlative song, existence the price. But the whole world stills to listen, and God in His heaven smiles. For the best is only bought at the cost of the great pain. … Or so says the legend.”

Colleen McCullough book The Thorn Birds

Epigraph, The Thorn Birds (1977)
Context: There is a legend about a bird that sings just once in its life, more sweetly than any other creature on the face of the earth. From the moment it leaves the nest it searches for a thorn tree and does not rest until it has found one. Then, singing among the savage branches, it impales itself upon the longest, sharpest spine. Dying, it rises above its own agony to out-carol the lark and the nightingale. One superlative song, existence the price. But the whole world stills to listen, and God in His heaven smiles. For the best is only bought at the cost of the great pain. … Or so says the legend.

Robert Jordan photo

“The fact that the price must be paid is proof it is worth paying.”

Robert Jordan book The Eye of the World

al'Lan Mandragoran
(15 January 1990)
Source: The Eye of the World

John Maynard Keynes photo

“The general character of our solution must be, therefore, that it withdraws from expenditure a proportion of the increased earnings. This is the only way, apart from shortages of goods or higher prices, by which we can secure a balance between money to be spent and goods to be bought.”

John Maynard Keynes (1883–1946) British economist

Source: How to Pay for the War (1940), Ch. 2 : The Character of the Solution

“At every stage of practice a price has to be paid for clarity. The price is the loss of an illusion.”

Ken McLeod (1948) Canadian lama

Wake Up To Your Life. (2002) pg. 264. (Topic: Awareness)

John Burroughs photo

“For anything worth having one must pay the price; and the price is always work, patience, love, self-sacrifice.”

John Burroughs (1837–1921) American naturalist and essayist
Janet Evanovich photo

“I wasn't sure exactly how prostitutes determined price, but if men bought hookers by the pound, these two would be doing okay.”

Janet Evanovich book One for the Money

Source: One for the Money

Hyman George Rickover photo

“This is the price that must be paid for progress and it is worth it.”

Hyman George Rickover (1900–1986) United States admiral

The Rickover Effect (1992)
Context: Everything new endangers something old. A new machine replaces human hands; a new source of power threatens old businesses; a new trade route wipes out the supremacy of old ports and brings prosperity to new ones. This is the price that must be paid for progress and it is worth it.

Related topics