Persistence is the Path
"What does not kill me makes me stronger." — Friedrich Nietzsche
"Until death, all defeat is psychological." — Often attributed to Jocko Willink; original source uncertain.
"Fall seven times, stand up eight." — Japanese proverb.
"Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts." — Commonly attributed to Winston Churchill (attribution uncertain).
"Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall." — Commonly attributed to Confucius (attribution uncertain).
"It always seems impossible until it's done." — Nelson Mandela
"The best way out is always through." — Robert Frost
"He who has a why to live can bear almost any how." — Friedrich Nietzsche
"Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear—not absence of fear." — Mark Twain
"You may have to fight a battle more than once to win it." — Often attributed to Margaret Thatcher
"The harder the conflict, the greater the triumph." — Often attributed to George Washington
"Energy and persistence conquer all things." — Benjamin Franklin
"Perseverance is not a long race; it is many short races one after the other." — Walter Elliot
"Our patience will achieve more than our force." — Edmund Burke
"Never, never, never give up." — Popularly associated with Winston Churchill, though the exact wording is debated.
"The oak fought the wind and was broken; the willow bent when it must and survived." — Robert Jordan
"Rock bottom became the solid foundation on which I rebuilt my life." — J. K. Rowling
"Tough times never last, but tough people do." — Robert H. Schuller
"Hardships often prepare ordinary people for an extraordinary destiny." — Often attributed to C. S. Lewis (attribution uncertain).
"The wound is the place where the Light enters you." — Jalal al-Din Rumi
"A smooth sea never made a skilled sailor." — Traditional proverb.
"Stars can't shine without darkness." — Modern inspirational saying.
"Pressure makes diamonds." — Modern proverb (a simplification, but widely used).
"When you come to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on." — Often attributed to Franklin D. Roosevelt (attribution uncertain).
"The darkest hour is just before the dawn." — Traditional proverb, popularized by Thomas Fuller.
"Adversity introduces a man to himself." — Often attributed to Albert Einstein, though evidence suggests it predates him.
"Out of difficulties grow miracles." — Jean de La Bruyère
"Difficulties strengthen the mind, as labor does the body." — Lucius Annaeus Seneca
"No man is more unhappy than he who never faces adversity." — Lucius Annaeus Seneca
"The impediment to action advances action. What stands in the way becomes the way." — Marcus Aurelius
"The obstacle is the path." — Modern paraphrase of Marcus Aurelius's Stoic idea.
"Do not pray for an easy life; pray for the strength to endure a difficult one." — Commonly attributed to Bruce Lee.
"I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." — The Epistle to the Philippians 4:13.
"We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair." — Second Epistle to the Corinthians 4:8–9.
"Consider it pure joy... whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance." — Epistle of James 1:2–4.
"Suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope." — Epistle to the Romans 5:3–5.
