perseverance quotes

Any of us can be happy and have a good attitude when everything is going our way. But I believe it’s the real test of your character and of your faith to say, ‚Things are not going our way, but I’m still being good to people; I’m still attending church; I still have a good attitude.‘

I’m committed to the fight game.

Sometimes you must suffer through something to defeat your fear of it.

No matter what love throws at you, you have to believe in it.

I go on working for the same reason that a hen goes on laying eggs.

You gotta keep trying to find your niche and trying to fit into whatever slot that’s left for you or to make one of your own.

If you can be mentally stimulated by the workout and find out how to get through it, it’s more fun.

The left paw has done me well over the years. I’m not a scientist, I’m a martial artist.

The softest things in the world overcome the hardest things in the world.

I’m never gonna step away from stand-up. I can’t. That’s what got me where I am, and that’s also my muse. That’s how I stay level-headed. That’s what keeps me going.

In all my work, I try to say – ‚You may be given a load of sour lemons, why not try to make a dozen lemon meringue pies?‘

I’m sure like everyone else I’m not always the happiest if I don’t do a good job in quali or the race or whatever, so I think beating myself up sometimes makes me work harder.

In all my work, in the movies I write, the lyrics, the poetry, the prose, the essays, I am saying that we may encounter many defeats – maybe it’s imperative that we encounter the defeats – but we are much stronger than we appear to be and maybe much better than we allow ourselves to be. Human beings are more alike than unalike.

I dropped out of NYU, moved out of my parent’s house, got my own place, and survived on my own. I made music and worked my way from the bottom up.

Frustration is a sign I am acting independently. The more you try your own way, the tighter the doors will stay closed.

I’m just like you – I want to be a good human being. I’m doing my best, and I’m working at it. And I’m trying to be a Christian. I’m always amazed when people walk up to me and say, ‚I’m a Christian.‘ I always think, ‚Already? You’ve already got it?‘ I’m working at it. And at my age, I’ll still be working at it at 96.

When we make progress quickly, it feeds our emotions. Then, when there’s a period of waiting or we hit a plateau, we find out how committed we really are and whether we’re going to see things through to the finish or quit.

People in their handlings of affairs often fail when they are about to succeed. If one remains as careful at the end as he was at the beginning, there will be no failure.

I can’t do nothing just a little.

I have to write 100 songs before you write the first good one.

Time and the hour run through the roughest day.

If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them.

I wonder how many times people give up just before a breakthrough – when they are on the very brink of success.

Under the worst conditions, horrendous conditions, people still, you know, fight for their rights and don’t just succumb.

When I do something, I do it full steam ahead.

When I started my last business, I didn’t receive a paycheck for 13 months. The average person can’t handle that pressure.

If I’d had some set idea of a finish line, don’t you think I would have crossed it years ago?

We must not sit still and look for miracles; up and doing, and the Lord will be with thee. Prayer and pains, through faith in Christ Jesus, will do anything.

Do what you love. Know your own bone; gnaw at it, bury it, unearth it, and gnaw it still.

I’ve had all six of my books reach the New York Times bestseller list, which is especially rewarding seeing as I flunked out of high school twice because I couldn’t write. It just goes to show you that we learn from our mistakes.

I think that’s why my career is going to be so long: Because I haven’t given people everything.

Opportunity dances with those already on the dance floor.

How poor are they that have not patience! What wound did ever heal but by degrees?

Even the securest financial plan and the finest health coverage aren’t enough to hold us steady when the challenges come… We need something more, something deeper and unshakeable, something that will see us through life’s hard times.

I’m not a good storm-outer… because I forget stuff.

You know, there is always times where you feel discouraged and things coming against you, but I don’t know if I ever wanted to throw in the towel.

God tries you in certain, certain ways. Some people are rich, and they believe in God. They lose the money, things get hard, they get weak and quit going to church. Quit serving God like they did.

When a person is going through hell, and she encounters someone who went through hellish hell and survived, then she can say, ‚Mine is not so bad as all that. She came through, and so can I.‘

Great hearts steadily send forth the secret forces that incessantly draw great events.

The most challenging project I’ve ever done, I think, is every single thing I’ve ever tried to do. It’s never easy.

If we will be quiet and ready enough, we shall find compensation in every disappointment.

There’s many ups and downs in the fight game.

Life doesn’t require that we be the best, only that we try our best.

Over a 10-year period, 99 out of 100 new entrepreneurs will fail. Only one will be left standing as others get pushed out of the market or burn out from working so hard. It’s really sad.

Personal success or personal satisfaction are not worth another thought if one does achieve them, or worth worrying about if they evade one or are slow in coming. All that is really worth while is action – faithful action, for the world, and in God.

We will not waver; we will not tire; we will not falter, and we will not fail. Peace and Freedom will prevail.

What is once well done is done forever.

The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.

Giving up cannot be an option.

Success is not a stop sign.

I don’t think about the end game. I’ve got lots to occupy my mind. It’s the rage that keeps me going.

An ass may bray a good while before he shakes the stars down.

You either make dust or eat dust.

I worked out early on to give up things I couldn’t do well at all.

No great man ever complains of want of opportunity.

Of course, there are those critics – New York critics as a rule – who say, ‚Well, Maya Angelou has a new book out and of course it’s good but then she’s a natural writer.‘ Those are the ones I want to grab by the throat and wrestle to the floor because it takes me forever to get it to sing. I work at the language.

I’ve never thought about any kind of prejudice about women in country music because I never felt like it affected me. I was fortunate enough to come about in a time when I didn’t feel that kind of energy at all, and it was always my theory that if you want to play in the same ballgame as the boys, you’ve got to work as hard as them.

Always take hold of things by the smooth handle.

The greatest story of all is Colonel Sanders. He didn’t start until he was sixty-six on a freeway bypass for his chicken shop. Anything is possible!

I have spent my life going from mania to mania. Somehow it has all paid off.