I'd look at one of my stonecutters hammering away at the rock, perhaps a hundred times without as much as a crack showing in it. Yet, at the hundred and first blow it would split in two, and I knew it was not that blow that did it, but all that had gone before.
Interpretation
Persistence and effort lead to success, even if progress seems invisible initially.
This quote emphasizes the importance of perseverance. It illustrates how continuous effort, even when results are not immediately visible, ultimately leads to breakthrough moments. The act of hammering away represents the cumulative effort that builds towards success, suggesting that every small action contributes to a larger result, even when the progress is not apparent.
In practice
During a motivational speech at a conference to inspire entrepreneurs.
There were a lot of years that I was trying to do things that other people wanted me to do. But you have to follow your heart. Believe that you have a unique group of talents and abilities that are going to allow you to accomplish something in an area that interests you. Work at that and try to make some kind of contribution to your community.
Promise me you'll always remember: You're braver than you believe, and stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think.
Everyone has his superstitions. One of mine has always been when I started to go anywhere, or to do anything, never to turn back or to stop until the thing intended was accomplished.
There's no agony like [getting started]. You sit in a room, biting pencils, looking at a typewriter, walking about, or casting yourself down on a sofa, feeling you want to cry your head off.
I am different as soon as I am on the pitch, because I had to fight so much and work so hard to become a professional footballer, so I have to give everything that I can.
Did you ever feel, as though you had something inside you that was only waiting for you to give it a chance to come out? Some sort of extra power that you aren't using - you know, like all the water that goes down the falls instead of through the turbines?
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.