Quotations

“There is no pleasure equal to that which comes from having overcome a difficulty by one's own exertions.”

Finding satisfaction in perseverance and self-reliance. · Journal

“The real worth-while character thanks God for its destiny and says, 'I will show the world what I can do with my life.”

Combining acceptance of circumstance with determination to make the most of life · Essay, The Heart of the New Thought

Ella Wheeler Wilcox

“The Negro writer has it largely in his power to demonstrate the higher possibilities and capabilities of his race.”

Seeing literature as a means of demonstrating intellectual and creative achievement. · Essay, The Negro as a Writer

George Marion McClellan

“When we reach the goal, we believe that the path was the right one.”

Original: Quand nous parvenons au but, nous croyons que le chemin a été le bon. — A sceptical observation on hindsight and the human tendency to justify the route by its outcome. · Mauvaises pensées et autres (French)

Paul Valéry

“I expect to do better work now than ever before.”

A striking expression of creative optimism late in his life. · Letter to Mr. Gray, 14 May 1895

Eugene Field

“Let us not only beautifully dream but achieve in beauty.”

Dream without making was, for him, unfinished work · Letter signed Fiona to William, New Year

William Sharp

“Great geniuses are often consumed with a passion for some one line of study or employment, but there have been many great men who did not know what they were fitted to do until accident or necessity gave them an opportunity.”

Offering reassurance to people who have not yet discovered their vocation · A Woman of the World

Ella Wheeler Wilcox

“I have worked for these five years as perhaps no man has worked before. The fruits of this work are not in books, but in living hearts and spirits.”

Original: Przez te lat pięć pracowałem tak, jak może jeszcze żaden człowiek nie pracował. Skutki tej pracy nie w księgach są, ale w żywych sercach i duchach, w które je wrzuciłem i posiałem. — He measures creative achievement by its effect on people rather than by books or reputation. · Letter to Wojciech Stattler, 25 December 1848 (Polish)

Juliusz Słowacki

“The ambition for outward success is conditioned by a kind of despair or abandonment of inward ambition.”

Original: L'ambition extérieure a pour condition une sorte de désespoir ou d'abandon de l'ambition intérieure. — External ambition may compensate for the loss of a more personal and inward purpose. · Cahiers (French)

Paul Valéry

“All preparation is drudgery.”

A concise recognition of the laborious groundwork behind achievement · Essay, The Heart of the New Thought

Ella Wheeler Wilcox

“Merit results from perseverance.”

Original: Le mérite résulte de la persévérance. — Valéry places sustained effort at the centre of genuine accomplishment. · Variété (French)

Paul Valéry

“The record of their toil receives its final stamp of worth.”

Describing the importance of expert judgement in recognising difficult achievement. · Speech, The Verdict of Equals, 1912

Rudyard Kipling

“Of all acts, the most complete is that of building.”

Original: De tous les actes, le plus complet est celui de construire. — Building unites thought, labour, imagination and material action in a single creative act. · Eupalinos ou l'Architecte (French)

Paul Valéry

“The English speaking people of both continents will read it if it is written by a master. It will make no difference.”

Expressing confidence that genuinely accomplished writing can transcend racial and national boundaries. · Essay, The Negro as a Writer

George Marion McClellan

“It has been a very satisfactory two months of study and gives me a feeling of confidence in the step I have taken in coming abroad.”

A candid expression of growing confidence after beginning her artistic life in Rome · Letter to her family, March 1868

Anne Whitney

“Do not add yourself to the unlovely and tiresome army of talkers, until you prove yourself a doer.”

A characteristically direct appeal to turn ideals and theories into action · A Woman of the World

Ella Wheeler Wilcox

“There is no substitute for perseverance in any undertaking worth completing.”

A straightforward affirmation of persistence as the foundation of achievement. · Letter

Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley

“The majority of the really great people of the world, in all lines of achievement, have sprung from poverty.”

Arguing that hardship can foster independence and ambition · Essay, High Noon

Ella Wheeler Wilcox

“The years pass; I lead a stupid existence, I accumulate no income, and I shall never achieve what I want in these countries.”

Original: Les années se passent, je mène une existence stupide, je n’amasse pas de rentes, je n’arriverai jamais à ce que je voudrais, dans ces pays. — The remark conveys Rimbaud’s frustration with the gap between his ambitions and the life he was actually leading. · Letter from Aden, 15 January 1885 (French)

Arthur Rimbaud

“It all depends upon the amount of force in your own soul.”

Emphasising inner strength as a determinant of achievement · Essay, Obstacles

Ella Wheeler Wilcox

“No matter how small a beginning may be, it is so much begun.”

Valuing even modest beginnings as genuine progress · Essay, The Heart of the New Thought

Ella Wheeler Wilcox

“Scorn any half-way achievements.”

Encouraging wholehearted effort rather than settling for mediocrity · A Woman of the World

Ella Wheeler Wilcox

“The one thing to do is to fix all your mental powers upon the goal you select, and then call all the forces from within and from without, to aid you to reach it.”

Advocating sustained concentration on a chosen objective · A Woman of the World