Many drops hollow the stone.

Irrevocable commitments that offer loopholes, not bail-out provisions, and no parachute clauses will extract incredible productivity and performance.

Productivity is never an accident. It is always the result of a commitment to excellence, intelligent planning, and focused effort.

I dream, I test my dreams against my beliefs, I dare to take risks, and I execute my vision to make those dreams come true.

The average person puts only 25% of his energy and ability into his work. The world takes off its hat to those who put in more than 50% of their capacity, and stands on its head for those few and far between souls who devote 100%.

He who would learn to fly one day must first learn to stand and walk and run and climb and dance; one cannot fly into flying.

The art of war is simple enough. Find out where your enemy is. Get at him as soon as you can. Strike at him as hard as you can and as often as you can, and keep moving on.

Long-term consistency trumps short-term intensity.

So many of our dreams at first seem impossible. Then they seem improbable. And then, when we summon the will, they soon become inevitable.

There is no chance, no destiny, no fate, Can circumvent or hinder or control. The firm resolve of a determined soul. Gifts count for nothing; will alone is great; All things give way before it, soon or late.

The thought of only being a creature of the present and the past was troubling. I longed for a future, too, with hope in it. The desire to be free, awakened my determination to act, to think, and to speak.

Impossible is just an opinion.

All good writing is swimming under water and holding your breath.

This is the mark of a really admirable man: steadfastness in the face of trouble.

Never give in, never give in, never, never, never, never-in nothing great or small, large or petty, never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense. Never yield to force; never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy.

Perseverance is more prevailing than violence; and many things which cannot be overcome when they are together, yield themselves up when taken little by little.

If we all can persevere, if we can in every land and office look beyond our own shores and ambitions, then surely the age will dawn in which the strong are just and the weak secure and the peace preserved.

Continuous effort — not strength or intelligence — is the key to unlocking our potential.

Patience and perseverance have a magical effect before which difficulties disappear and obstacles vanish.

There is a force that somehow pushes us to choose the more difficult path whereby we can transcend the mire and muck into which we are so often born. Despite all that resists the process, we do become better human beings.

Half-finished work generally proves to be labor lost.

Obstacles don’t have to stop you. If you run into a wall, don’t turn around and give up. Figure out how to climb it, go through it, or work around it.

Abandon the idea that you are ever going to finish. Lose track of the 400 pages and write just one page for each day; it helps. Then, when it gets finished, you are always surprised.

To remain indifferent to the challenges we face is indefensible. If the goal is noble, whether or not it is realized within our lifetime is largely irrelevant. What we must do therefore is to strive and persevere and never give up.

Four steps to achievement: Plan purposefully. Prepare prayerfully. Proceed positively. Pursue persistently.

You have to be burning with an idea, or a problem, or a wrong that you want to right. If you're not passionate enough from the start, you'll never stick it out.

We can do anything we want to if we stick to it long enough.

Once you say you're going to settle for second, that's what happens to you in life.

Against all odds and despite all the obstacles, we are going to make it.