Last Updated on September 6, 2024
Life can get a bit too overwhelming sometimes. It can throw you off your intended path. It can test your resolve. It may feel like there is no let up when it comes to all the problems you’ll encounter.
When this happens, there can sometimes be a strong temptation to throw in the towel. There may be moments when it’s easier to think that failure is easier to accept rather than to continue struggling with all of life’s difficulties.
But instead of giving up, this is the time to persevere. Perseverance is a trait you must develop to bring all of your hopes, dreams, and goals to reality. Life might push you a few steps back, make you lose some steam, and shake your resolve. “Never give up” may be your mantra, especially during tough times. But how do you continue despite life’s brutal challenges that leave you all bruised and battered?
Without Perseverance
There are many reasons people give up but it’s mostly because they lacked perseverance. Some people surrender because of criticism. They let themselves drown in the middle of all the negative thoughts, words, and energy.
Consistently dealing with toxic people can eventually wear one down and the temptation to just call it a day begins to rear its ugly head. Other times, people give up because progress is slow to come. Seeing little to no progress in your endeavors can take the wind out of your sails.
The Value of Perseverance
This is where perseverance comes in. Perseverance, or grit, is simply a person’s continuous attempt to accomplish their goals despite all the challenges and setbacks. When you’re stuck in a rut, and you’re thinking of giving up, perseverance is a trait you must hone.
As you persevere, remind yourself why you started in the first place. Always think of your goals, hopes, and dreams. Ultimately, perseverance drives you towards success.
A Tale of Perseverance
Helen Keller’s story is one of perseverance. An illness took Helen’s ability to see and hear when she was just over a year old. Helen was a temperamental child because of her disabilities, unable to express her emotions and resorted to throwing tantrums.
But with the help of her devoted teacher, Anne Sullivan, Helen was finally able to communicate, read Braille, and write. With Anne’s perseverance, Helen slowly learned and eventually persevered on her own to finish her education. Due to her determination, she became the first deaf-blind to earn a bachelor’s degree from Radcliffe College in 1904.
Keep on Keeping On: How to Persevere
So, how does one follow in the steps of Helen Keller? How do you keep going when the going gets tough?
You can begin by asking yourself these questions: should you quit when no one else believes in you and your dreams? What about when others around you are giving up, should you be doing the same? How determined are you to achieve your dreams?
You could also start by having a clear vision of what you want to do and where you want to go. Having a “mental map” can help you determine and align the steps you must take to accomplish your goals.
Also, keep in mind that change happens every day. Whatever changes happen, don’t let it throw you off your path. By showing up and doing your best to achieve your goals every single day, you are changing for the better. Every day gets you closer to your goal, but you have to do it every day. This is how you persevere.
However, sometimes, being too determined can also become your downfall. To prevent this, you must determine if your goals are worth the fight. Take a step back and re-evaluate your goals. How will these affect your health, relationships, and other aspects of your life? Make sure that you’ve determined that your goals are worth being battered and bruised for continually by life.
You always have the choice to keep on working towards what you really want in life. You have it in you to change your mindset and focus on your growth instead of focusing on having a “fixed mindset.”
Here are 90 quotes that can help you face life’s curveballs and remind you of the value of never giving up.
Perseverance Quotes
- “If you are going through hell, keep going.” – Winston S. Churchill
- “Rivers know this: there is no hurry. We shall get there someday.” – A.A. Milne, Winnie-the-Pooh
- “It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop.” – Confucius
- “You may encounter many defeats, but you must not be defeated. In fact, it may be necessary to encounter the defeats, so you can know who you are, what you can rise from, how you can still come out of it.” – Maya Angelou
- “Never lose hope. Storms make people stronger and never last forever.” – Roy T. Bennett, The Light in the Heart
- “There are times to stay put, and what you want will come to you, and there are times to go out into the world and find such a thing for yourself.” – Lemony Snicket, Horseradish
- “The man who moves a mountain begins by carrying away small stones.” – Confucius, Confucius: The Analects
- “Sometimes even to live is an act of courage.” – Lucius Annaeus Seneca
- “It always seems impossible until it’s done.” – Nelson Mandela
- “All of old. Nothing else ever. Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better.” – Samuel Beckett, Worstward Ho
- “So comes snow after fire, and even dragons have their endings.” – J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit, or There and Back Again
- “Should you shield the canyons from the windstorms you would never see the true beauty of their carvings.” – Elisabeth Kübler-Ross
- “Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.” – Thomas A. Edison
- “Courage doesn’t always roar. Sometimes courage is the little voice at the end of the day that says I’ll try again tomorrow.” – Mary Anne Radmacher
- “I am a slow walker, but I never walk back.” – Abraham Lincoln
- “Real courage is when you know you’re licked before you begin, but you begin anyway and see it through no matter what.” – Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird
- “Never confuse a single defeat with a final defeat.” – F. Scott Fitzgerald
- “A wise man will make more opportunities than he finds.” – Francis Bacon, The Essays
- “Just because you fail once doesn’t mean you’re gonna fail at everything.” – Marilyn Monroe
- “Even if I knew that tomorrow the world would go to pieces, I would still plant my apple tree.” – Martin Luther
- “You never know what’s around the corner. It could be everything. Or it could be nothing. You keep putting one foot in front of the other, and then one day you look back and you’ve climbed a mountain.” – Tom Hiddleston
- “If you fell down yesterday, stand up today.” – H.G. Wells
- “The difference between a successful person and others is not a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but rather a lack in will.” – Vince Lombardi
- “Dripping water hollows out stone, not through force but through persistence.” – Ovid
- “When things go wrong, don’t go with them.” – Elvis Presley
- “Every strike brings me closer to the next home run.” – Babe Ruth
- “The three great essentials to achieve anything worthwhile are, first, hard work; second, stick-to-itiveness; third, common sense.” – Thomas A. Edison
- “Hardships make or break people.” – Margaret Mitchell, Gone with the Wind
- “When you come to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on.” – Franklin D. Roosevelt
- “It’s not how we fall. It’s how we get back up again.” – Patrick Ness, Monsters of Men
- “Things don’t go wrong and break your heart so you can become bitter and give up. They happen to break you down and build you up so you can be all that you were intended to be.” – Charles Jones, Life Is Tremendous
- “Courage is not having the strength to go on; it is going on when you don’t have the strength.” – Teddy Roosevelt
- “We’re all going to keep fighting, Harry. You know that?” – J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
- “That’s one of the remarkable things about life. It’s never so bad that it can’t get worse.” – Bill Watterson
- “Whatever gets you through the night.” – John Lennon
- “Your first 10,000 photographs are your worst.” – Henri Cartier-Bresson
- “Most of the important things in the world have been accomplished by people who have kept on trying when there seemed to be no hope at all.” – Dale Carnegie
- “I am extraordinarily patient, provided I get my own way in the end.” – Margaret Thatcher
- “A bend in the road is not the end of the road…Unless you fail to make the turn.” – Helen Keller
- “Persistence. Perfection. Patience. Power. Prioritize your passion. It keeps you sane.” – Criss Jami, Killosophy
- “…A man can only stumble for so long before he either falls or stands up straight.” – Brandon Sanderson, The Well of Ascension
- “Keep passing the open windows.” – John Irving, The Hotel New Hampshire
- “It does not matter how slowly you go so long as you do not stop.” – Andy Warhol
- “Women are never so strong as after their defeat.” – Alexandre Dumas
- “It’s probably my job to tell you life isn’t fair, but I figure you already know that. So instead, I’ll tell you that hope is precious, and you’re right not to give up.” – C.J. Redwine, Defiance
- “Courage does not always roar. Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying, ‘I will try again tomorrow.” – Mary Anne Radmacher
- “I tried always to do better: saw always a little further. I tried to stretch myself.”
- “Success is a little like wrestling a gorilla. You don’t quit when you’re tired. You quit when the gorilla is tired.” – Robert Strauss
- “By perseverance the snail reached the ark.” – Charles Spurgeon
- “Character consists of what you do on the third and fourth tries.” – James A. Michener
- “Courage and perseverance have a magical talisman, before which difficulties disappear and obstacles vanish into air.” – John Quincy Adams
- “Even in the mud and scum of things, something always, always sings.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
- “It’s not what we do once in a while that shapes our lives. It’s what we do consistently.” – Anthony Robbins
- “Courage doesn’t always roar, sometimes it’s the quiet voice at the end of the day whispering ‘I will try again tomorrow.” – Mary Anne Radmacher
- “Giving up is the only sure way to fail.” – Gena Showalter
- “Keep trying until you have no more chances left.” – Aimee Carter, The Goddess Test
- “What is written without effort is in general read without pleasure.” – Samuel Johnson, Johnsonian Miscellanies – Vol II
- “The thing with giving up is you never know. You never know whether you could have done the job. And I’m sick of not knowing about my life.” – Sophie Kinsella, Remember Me?
- “Change is hardest at the beginning, messiest in the middle and best at the end.” – Robin Sharma, The Leader Who Had No Title
- “The difference between what we do and what we are capable of doing would suffice to solve most of the world’s problems.” – Mahatma Gandhi
- “Life, Stormy says, is not about how fast you run or even with what degree of grace. It’s about perseverance, about staying on your feet and slogging forward no matter what.” – Dean Koontz
- “Perseverance is failing 19 times and succeeding the 20th.” – Julie Andrews Edwards
- “Remember the two benefits of failure. First, if you do fail, you learn what doesn’t work; and second, the failure gives you the opportunity to try a new approach.” – Roger Von Oech
- “You go on. You set one foot in front of the other, and if a thin voice cries out, somewhere behind you, you pretend not to hear, and keep going.” – Geraldine Brooks, March
- “When you have a great and difficult task, something perhaps almost impossible, if you only work a little at a time, every day a little, suddenly the work will finish itself.” – Isak Dinesen
- “It’s always too soon to quit!” – Norman Vincent Peale
- “What is grander than a country and more valuable than gold? Strength of heart.” – Cornelius Elmore Addison, Tom Thorneval
- “A man of character finds a special attractiveness in difficulty, since it is only by coming to grips with difficulty that he can realize his potentialities.” – Charles de Gaulle
- “Never give up on your friends. Never give up your faith in them. It’s when everything is worse than you could ever imagine it could be, that you’ll need your friends the most.” – Graeme Rodaughan, The Dragon’s Den
- “The ties that bind us to life are tougher than you imagine, or than anyone can who has not felt how roughly they may be pulled without breaking.” – Anne Brontë, Agnes Grey
- “Nothing great is ever achieved without much enduring.” – St. Catherine of Siena
- “Perseverance is the hard work you do after you get tired of doing the hard work you already did.” – Newt Gingrich
- “It will get easier each time, I think. I hope. I just have to keep trying.” – Jenny Han, To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before
- “I was taught to strive not because there were any guarantees of success but because the act of striving is in itself the only way to keep faith with life.” – Madeleine Albright, Madam Secretary: A Memoir
- “He whines, he complains, he ducks out of the most obvious responsibility. He is vain, petty and maddening, but he doesn’t ever quit.” – Megan Whalen Turner, The King of Attolia
- “Life keeps throwing me curve balls and I don’t even own a bat. At least my dodging skills are improving.” – Jayleigh Cape
- “Two hands working can do more than a thousand clasped in prayer.” – Madalyn Murray O’Hair
- “A few fly bites cannot stop a spirited horse.” – Mark Twain
- “Well and good if all things change, O Lord God, provided I am rooted in You.” – St. John of the Cross
- “He who can have patience can have what he will.” – Benjamin Franklin
- “Everything works out in the end. if it hasn’t worked out yet, then it’s not the end.” – Tracy McMillan, I Love You and I’m Leaving You Anyway
- “In the confrontation between the stream and the rock, the stream always wins, not through strength but by perseverance.” – H. Jackson Brown
- “Act out being alive, like a play. And after a while, a long while, it will be true.” – John Steinbeck, East of Eden
- “The only kinds of fights worth fighting are those you’re going to lose, because somebody has to fight them and lose and lose and lose until someday, somebody who believes as you do wins.” – I.F. Stone
- “What you perceive as a failure today may actually be a crucial step towards the success you seek. Never give up.” – Richelle E. Goodrich, Smile Anyway
- “There always comes a time in life where you can either give up or step up.” – Graeme Rodaughan, The Crane War
- “We’re on a hunt, Cooper. When you’re on a hunt, you do whatever it takes.” – Tamora Pierce
- “What is the victory of a cat on a hot tin roof? – I wish I knew… Just staying on it, I guess, as long as she can…” – Tennessee Williams, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
- “The only guarantee for failure is to stop trying” – John C. Maxwell
- “If you can quit, then quit. If you can’t quit, you’re a writer.” – R.A. Salvatore
