Ten Quotes on Perseverance and Persistence

I have accepted long ago that life's problems, sufferings and pain are thrown our way for a purpose. They build character and make us better persons in the end; they are not meant to punish us or defeat us. And so it was with this spirit that I faced a most unusual challenge last week.

Like I wrote in my other blog, I never imagined that I would one day need to know how to code a blog template when I first decided to go blogging one year ago. I thought blogging was mere writing and that was it.

Anyway, a peculiar problem with one of the ads displayed on my other blog forced me to learn the XML language in a jiffy, from scratch! To make the long story short, I succeeded where I initially doubted if I could hack it. Only a stubborn failure-is-not-an-option attitude saved the day for me. Three cheers for perseverance and persistence!

Problems are not stop signs, they are guidelines. -Robert Schuller

* * *

With ordinary talent and extraordinary perseverance, all things are attainable. -Thomas Foxwell Buxton

* * *

Perseverance is the hard work you do after you get tired of doing the hard work you already did. -Newt Gingrich

* * *

The difference between perseverance and obstinacy is that one comes from a strong will, and the other from a strong won't. -Henry Ward Beecher

* * *

When you come to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on. -Franklin D. Roosevelt

* * *

The road to success is dotted with many tempting parking places. -Author Unknown

* * *

Don't be afraid to give your best to what seemingly are small jobs. Every time you conquer one it makes you that much stronger. If you do the little jobs well, the big ones will tend to take care of themselves. -Dale Carnegie

* * *

Fall seven times, stand up eight. -Japanese Proverb

* * *

The great majority of men are bundles of beginnings. -Ralph Waldo Emerson

* * *

It's not that I'm so smart, it's just that I stay with problems longer. -Albert Einstein

Here's wishing you a Happy and Prosperous New Year!

(Thanks to www.stockxpert.com for the use of the royalty-free photo shown above)

Quotes From "Further Along The Road Less Traveled"

I liked M. Scott Peck's "The Road Less Traveled" so it was a no-brainer to buy this sequel to that bestseller in February 1995. Little did I know that less than two weeks later, my bed-ridden father would join his Creator. That's the sentimental link of this volume to me. Here are my choice cuts:

On "Life":

"Life is complex."

* * *

"There are no self-help manuals, no formulas, no easy answers. The right road for one is the wrong road for another."

On "Suffering":

"There is such a thing as constructive suffering."

On "Guilt":

"We need a certain amount of guilt in order to exist in society. And that's what I call existential guilt."

On "Courage":

"The absence of fear is not courage; the absence of fear is some kind of brain damage."

* * *

"Courage is the capacity to go ahead in spite of fear, or in spite of the pain."

On "Immaturity":

"...what characterizes most immature people is that they sit around complaining that life doesn't meet their demands."

On "Pain":

"The quickest way to change your attitude toward pain is to accept the fact that everything that happens to us has been designed for our spiritual growth."

On "Salvation":

"Salvation is the process of healing and the process of becoming whole."

On "Consciousness":

"Consciousness brings more pain, but it also brings more joy."

* * *

"The more pain you are willing to take on, the more joy you will also begin to feel."

On"Forgiving":

"A big part of growing up is learning to forgive."

On"Anger":

"Blame always begins with anger."

On "Will Power":

"A strong will is, I believe, the best asset that a human being can possess, not because it guarantees success or goodness, but because a weak will pretty much guarantees failure."

* * *

"The worst side effect of a strong will is a strong temper--anger."

* * *

"Your will has to be harnessed to a power higher than yourself".

On "Blessings":

"All blessings are potential curses, all have their side effects."

On "Forgiveness and Affirmation":

"Make no mistake, forgiveness and affirmation are not the same. Affirmation is a way to avoid looking at evil....Forgiveness on the other hand requires facing evil squarely."

On "Forgetting and Forgiving":

"We cannot truly forget. We can only truly forgive..."

On "Humility":

"Humility is a true knowledge of oneself as one is."

--M. Scott Peck