“Genius, that power which dazzles mortal eyes, is oft but perseverance in disguise.” – Orison Swett Marden

Orison Swett Marden was born in 1850 in the state of New Hampshire. He lost his mother when he was three years old, and was orphaned at the age of seven when his father died. After the death of his father he was shuttled from one guardian to another, and he worked as a “hired boy” to earn his keep. Inspired by a self-help book—written by the Scottish author Samuel Smiles–which he came across, Marden set out to improve himself and his life circumstances:

  • He graduated from Boston University in 1871.
  • He graduated from Harvard with an M.D. in 1881 and an LL.B. degree in 1882.

Marden wrote several books on financial success, but he always emphasized that financial success came as a result of cultivating one’s personal development. In addition, he argued that one of the most important elements of success is perseverance. He wrote about perseverance in his book, “An Iron Will”, which was published in 1901 and is now in the public domain.

In “An Iron Will”, Marden argues that the development and discipline of one’s willpower is of supreme importance in order to succeed in life. He explains that when a person decides that they will not be stopped in what they have planned, they can no more be stopped than the sun or the tide. He adds that most people fail not because they lack the necessary education or an agreeable personality, but from a lack of dogged determination.

Marden emphasizes that willpower must be cultivated and strengthened.  He indicates that just as you learn to run by running, and you learn to swim by swimming, you learn to develop willpower by the actual exercise of willpower.

One of the many successful people which Marden mentions in his book is Theodore Ledyard Cuyler, who was a leading Presbyterian minister and religious writer in the United States. Cuyler would say that it was astonishing how many people lacked the ability to “hold on” until they reached a goal. He would add that people are easily discouraged; they go along fine as long as it’s smooth sailing, but as soon as there is friction they lose heart.

Success in the battle of life, Marden explains, depends on the extent to which perseverance is cultivated, strengthened, and directed in the right direction. Willpower is trained by continuous effort, repeated again and again, day after day, week after week, and month after month. The process of obtaining this self-mastery is gradual, but acquiring it is worth far more than the cost of exerting the effort that is required to obtain it.

Below you’ll find three stories of perseverance told by Marden in “An Iron Will”, a list of some of the benefits that are obtained by cultivating perseverance, and the short poem “Will” written by Ella Wheeler Wilcox.

John James Audubon – Birds and Mice

John James Audubon (1785 – 1851), the naturalist after whom the National Audubon Society is named, is well-known for having painted, catalogued, and described the birds of North America. He travelled for many years all over the United States—through impenetrable forests and boundless prairies–collecting specimens from which he made elaborate, original drawings.

After enormous labor he created a collection of 200 of these original drawings with the intent of publishing them in a book. When the time came for publication, he opened the box in which the drawings were stored, only to discover that mice had gotten in and had destroyed the entire collection. The labor of years was gone.

Audubon wrote the following about this experience:

“A poignant flame pierced my brain like an arrow of fire, and for several weeks I was prostrated with fever. At length physical and moral strength awoke within me. Again I took my gun, my game-bag, my portfolio, and my pencils, and plunged once more into the depths of the forests.”

Instead of giving up on his ambition to publish a book cataloguing all of the different birds he had come across while trekking through the United States, Audubon simply set out once more and started all over again from zero.

(Ruffed Grouse by John James Audubon).

Thomas Carlyle – His Work Went Up In Smoke

When John Stuart Mill discovered that—due to other projects he was involved in–he would not be able to meet the terms of the contract that he had signed with his publisher to write a history of the French Revolution, he proposed to his friend, Thomas Carlyle, that he embark upon the project instead. Carlyle acquiesced and Mill sent him a library of books and other materials concerning the revolution.

When Carlyle had completed the first volume, he sent the manuscript to Mill. Mill’s maid mistook the manuscript for trash and had it burned. However, Carlyle refused to give up on his project and he rewrote the manuscript. Marden writes the following in “An Iron Will”:

“It was a bitter disappointment, but Carlyle was not a man to give up. After many months of poring over hundreds of volumes of authorities and scores of manuscripts, he reproduced that which had burned in a few minutes.”

Once published, the two-volume work titled “The French Revolution: A History” was very successful, and it established Carlyle’s reputation as an important nineteenth century intellectual.

François Arago – Note Found in a Textbook

The French Catalan François Arago—who became the first astronomical mathematician of his age—relates that once, when he was very discouraged, he found a short note under the cover of a textbook he was binding. It was from the mathematician Jean-Baptiste le Rond d’Alembert, and it was written to a student. The note said the following:

“Go on, sir; go on! The difficulties you meet will resolve themselves as you advance. Proceed, and light will dawn and shine with increased clearness on your path.”

“That maxim,” says Arago, “was my greatest master in mathematics.”

The Benefits of Perseverance

Marden explains that there are many benefits to being perseverant, such as the following:

  • Once you create a reputation for being perseverant, others will have confidence in you: everyone believes in a person who is determined. When you begin a project, everyone—including yourself—will be convinced from the onset that you will see it through.
  • A determined person uses stumbling blocks as stepping stones.
  • Someone who is perseverant won’t shirk responsibility because of hostility or criticism from others.
  • The purpose of the perseverant person is to push ahead each day, to get a little farther along, a bit closer to reaching their goal.
  • An encouraging start is nothing without staying power.
  • Grit and perseverance govern the world.
  • Opposing circumstances create strength.
  • When you overcome one barrier you’ll have greater ability to overcome the next one.

“Will” by Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Here’s the short poem “Will” by Ella Wheeler Wilcox, which Marden reproduces in his book:

“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.
What obstacle can stay the mighty force
Of the sea-seeking river in its course,
Or cause the ascending orb of day to wait?
Each well-born soul must win what it deserves.
Let the fool prate of luck. The fortunate
Is he whose earnest purpose never swerves,
Whose slightest action or inaction serve,
The one great aim.”

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In order to achieve your goals, you must cultivate perseverance and determination.  Here are 67 perseverance quotes for when you feel your determination wavering and you need some motivation in order to keep going:

1. “Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful people with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan “press on” has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race”

~ Calvin Coolidge

2. “In the confrontation between the stream and the rock, the stream always wins- not through strength but by perseverance.”

~ H. Jackson Brown

3. “If I had to select one quality, one personal characteristic that I regard as being most highly correlated with success, whatever the field, I would pick the trait of persistence. Determination. The will to endure to the end, to get knocked down seventy times and get up off the floor saying. “Here comes number seventy-one!”

~ Richard M. Devos

4. “Perseverance is a great element of success. If you only knock long enough and loud enough at the gate, you are sure to wake up somebody.”

~ Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

5. “The road to success is dotted with many tempting parking places.”

~ Author Unknown

6. When the world says, “Give up,” Hope whispers, “Try it one more time.”

~ Author Unknown

7. “One of the commonest mistakes and one of the costliest is thinking that success is due to some genius, some magic – something or other which we do not possess. Success is generally due to holding on, and failure to letting go. You decide to learn a language, study music, take a course of reading, train yourself physically. Will it be success or failure? It depends upon how much pluck and perseverance that word “decide” contains. The decision that nothing can overrule, the grip that nothing can detach will bring success. Remember the Chinese proverb, “With time and patience, the mulberry leaf becomes satin.”

~ Maltbie Davenport Babcock

8. “I am not judged by the number of times I fail, but by the number of times I succeed: and the number of times I succeed is in direct proportion to the number of times I fail and keep trying.”

~ Tom Hopkins

9. “A little more persistence, a little more effort, and what seemed hopeless failure may turn to glorious success.”

~ Elbert Hubbard

10. “If you are going through hell, keep going.”

~ Winston Churchill

11. “When you come to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on.”

~Franklin D. Roosevelt

12. “Perseverance is a positive, active characteristic. It is not idly, passively waiting and hoping for some good thing to happen. It gives us hope by helping us realize that the righteous suffer no failure except in giving up and no longer trying. We must never give up, regardless of temptations, frustrations, disappointments, or discouragements.”

~ Joseph P. Wirthlin

13. “The greatest oak was once a little nut who held its ground.”

~ Author Unknown

14. “Fall seven times, stand up eight.”

~ Japanese Proverb

15. “If one dream should fall and break into a thousand pieces, never be afraid to pick one of those pieces up and begin again.”

~ Flavia Weedn

16. “Stubbornly persist, and you will find that the limits of your stubbornness go well beyond the stubbornness of your limits.”

~ Robert Brault

17. “The race is not always to the swift, but to those who keep on running.”

~ Author unknown

18. “What counts is not necessarily the size of the dog in the fight – it’s the size of the fight in the dog.”

~ General Dwight Eisenhower

19. “A difficult time can be more readily endured if we retain the conviction that our existence holds a purpose – a cause to pursue, a person to love, a goal to achieve.”

~ John Maxwell

20. “It’s not that I’m so smart, it’s just that I stay with problems longer.”

~ Albert Einstein

21. “Don’t be discouraged. It’s often the last key in the bunch that opens the lock.”

~ Author Unknown

22. “The man who removes a mountain begins by carrying away small stones.”

~ Chinese Proverb

23. “Success seems to be largely a matter of hanging on after others have let go.”

~William Feather

24. “The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly; it is dearness only that gives everything its value. I love the man that can smile in trouble, that can gather strength from distress and grow brave by reflection. ‘Tis the business of little minds to shrink; but he whose heart is firm, and whose conscience approves his conduct, will pursue his principles unto death.”

~ Thomas Paine

25. “Big shots are only little shots who keep shooting.”

~ Christopher Morley

26. “Never, never, never, never give up.”

~ Winston Churchill

27. “I think and think for months and years. Ninety-nine times, the conclusion is false. The hundredth time I am right. ”

~ Albert Einstein

28. “The most essential factor is persistence – the determination never to allow your energy or enthusiasm to be dampened by the discouragement that must inevitably come.”

~ James Whitcomb Riley

29. “He who would do some great thing in this short life, must apply himself to the work with such a concentration of his forces as to the idle spectators, who live only to amuse themselves, looks like insanity.”

~ John Foster

30. “Look at a stone cutter hammering away at his rock, perhaps a hundred times without as much as a crack showing in it. Yet at the hundred-and-first blow it will split in two, and I know it was not the last blow that did it, but all that had gone before.”

~ Jacob A. Riis

31. “Success . . . seems to be connected with action. Successful men keep moving. They make mistakes, but they don’t quit.”

~ Conrad Hilton

32. “At the timberline where the storms strike with the most fury, the sturdiest trees are found.”

~ Hudson Newsletter

33. “Boys, there ain’t no free lunches in this country. And don’t go spending your whole life commiserating that you got the raw deals. You’ve got to say, I think that if I keep working at this and want it bad enough I can have it. It’s called perseverance.”

~ Lee Iacocca

34. “Champions keep playing until they get it right.”

~ Billie Jean King

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

~ Helen Keller

36. “The miracle, or the power, that elevates the few is to be found in their industry, application, and perseverance under the prompting of a brave, determined spirit.”

~ Mark Twain

37. “God helps those who persevere.”

~ The Koran

38. “Victory is always possible for the person who refuses to stop fighting.”

~ Napoleon Hill

39. “Decide carefully, exactly what you want in life, then work like mad to make sure you get it!”

~ Hector Crawford

40. “It is not enough to begin; continuance is necessary. Mere enrollment will not make one a scholar; the pupil must continue in the school through the long course, until he masters every branch. Success depends upon staying power. The reason for failure in most cases is lack of perseverance.”

~ Miller

41. “It does not matter how slowly you go so long as you do not stop.”

~ Confucius

42. “A jug fills drop by drop.”

~ Buddha

43. “Perseverance is the hard work you do after you get tired of doing the hard work you already did.”

~ Newt Gingrich

44. “Perseverance is not a long race; it is many short races one after another.”

~ Walter Elliott

45. “Try not to do too many things at once. Know what you want, the number one thing today and tomorrow. Persevere and get it done.”

~ George Allen

46. “He conquers who endures.”

~ Persius

47. “Most people never run far enough on their first wind to find out they’ve got a second.”

~ William James

48. “Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time.”

~ Thomas A. Edison

49. “Conquering any difficulty always gives one a secret joy, for it means pushing back a boundary-line and adding to one`s liberty.”

~ Henri Frederic Amiel

50. “There is no telling how many miles you will have to run while chasing a dream.”

~ Author Unknown

51. “What we do not see, what most of us never suspect of existing, is the silent but irresistible power which comes to the rescue of those who fight on in the face of discouragement.”

~ Napoleon Hill

52. “Persist and persevere, and you will find most things that are attainable, possible.”

~ Lord Chesterfield

53. “In general, any form of exercise, if pursued continuously, will help train us in perseverance. Long-distance running is particularly good training in perseverance.”

~ Mao Tse-Tung

54. “Energy and persistence conquer all things.”

~ Benjamin Franklin

55. “It always seems impossible until it’s done.”

~ Nelson Mandela

56. “’Tis a lesson you should heed. Try, try, try again. If at first you don’t succeed, Try, try, try again.”

~ William Edward Hickson

57. “In case of doubt, push on just a little further and then keep on pushing.”

~ General George S Patton, Jr.

58. “There are only two mistakes one can make along the road to truth; not going all the way, and not starting.”

~ Buddha

59. “The majority of men meet with failure because of their lack of persistence in creating new plans to take the place of those which fail.”

~ Napoleon Hill

60. “Be audacious and cunning in your plans, firm and persevering in their execution, determined to find a glorious end.”

~ Karl von Clausewitz

61. “I will persist until I succeed. Always will I take another step. If that is of no avail I will take another, and yet another. In truth, one step at a time is not too difficult. I know that small attempts, repeated, will complete any undertaking.”

~ Og Mandino

62. “If your determination is fixed, I do not counsel you to despair. Few things are impossible to diligence and skill. Great works are performed not by strength, but perseverance.”

~ Dr. Samuel Johnson

63. “I’ve always made a total effort, even when the odds seemed entirely against me. I never quit trying; I never felt that I didn’t have a chance to win.”

~ Arnold Palmer

64. “When obstacles arise, you change your direction to reach your goal, you do not change your decision to get there.”

~ Zig Ziglar

65. “Perseverance, secret of all triumphs.”

~ Victor Hugo

66. “There’s only one way to succeed in anything, and that is to give it everything.”

~ Vincent Lombardi

67. “The will to persevere is often the difference between failure and success.”

~ David Sarnoff

(Angle Oak Tree courtesy of Bruce Tuten.)

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Related Posts:

I Recommend:

How to Be More CreativeMy ebook “How to Be More Creative – A Handbook for Alchemists” explains that creativity is not the sole domain of the arts but is important in any field. Whatever you do, creativity helps you do it better. Discover practical advice on how to be more creative in every life endeavor by reading my ebook.

Imagine waking up each morning to a life that’s centered around your life goals, instead of trying to fit what’s most important to you into the nooks and crannies. “How To Live Your Best Life- The Essential Guide for Creating and Achieving Your Life List” will show you how. By the time you finish reading this eBook you’ll know exactly what you want in each area of your life, and you’ll have defined exactly how you’re going to get it.

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