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

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

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

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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

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

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

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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

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Fall seven times, stand up eight. -Japanese Proverb

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

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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 "The Road Less Travelled"

"The Road Less Travelled" was a gift from my investment banking staff for my 44th birthday. I don't recall any of them asking me before about my taste for books, so I was only too delighted to receive this bestseller which, thankfully, I have not bought yet. My copy, if you'll see it, is dog-eared and highlighted in many pages. See if you'll like what I liked in these pages.

On Discipline:

"Discipline is the basic set of tools we require to solve life's problems. Without discipline we can solve nothing. With only some discipline we can solve only some problems. With total discipline we can solve all problems."

On Problems:

"Problems are the cutting edge that distinguishes between success and failure. Problems call forth our courage and wisdom; indeed, they create our courage and wisdom. It is only because of problems that we grow mentally and spiritually."

On Delaying Gratification:

"Delaying gratification is a process of scheduling the pain and pleasure of life in such a way as to enhance the pleasure by meeting and experiencing the pain first and getting it over with. It is the only decent way to live."

On Reality:

"Our view of reality is like a map with which to negotiate the terrain of life. If the map is true and accurate, we will generally know where we are, and if we have decided where we want to go, we will generally know how to get there. If the map is false and inaccurate, we generally will be lost."

On Wisdom:

"The life of wisdom must be a life of contemplation combined with action."

On Human Nature..Part 1:

"The tendency to avoid challenge is so omnipresent in human beings that it can properly be considered a characteristic of human nature."

On Human Nature..Part 2:

"Another characteristic of human nature - perhaps the one that makes us most human - is our capacity to do the unnatural, to transcend and hence transform our own nature."

On Falling In Love:

"Falling in love is not an act of will. It is not a conscious choice. No matter how open to ar eager for it we may be, the experience may still elude us."

On Falling Out Of Love:

"...the experience of falling in love is invariably temporary. No matter whom we fall in love with, we sooner or later fall out of love if the relationship continues long enough."

On Serendipity:

"The paradox that we both choose grace and are chosen by grace is the essence of the phenomenon of serendipity. Serendipity was defined as 'the gift of finding valuable or agreeable things not sought for'."

--M. Scott Peck

More One-liners From "Jacob's Journey"

I bought "Jacob's Journey" in September 1995 -- a year of changes, transition and adjustment in my personal life. My father passed away in February of that year. I also reluctantly left my corporate planning work to enter the brave new world of investment banking around July of that same year. It is no wonder then that when I randomly picked up a copy of Noah ben Shea's book at National and read the sub-title on its cover, I knew I had to pay for it right away. The sub-title reads: "Wisdom to Find the Way, Strength to Carry On". Allow me to share with you what quotations I highlighted in this book because of the wisdom and inspiration I was trying to draw from it at that point in time in my life:

On living one's Life:

"Hope for the best and make peace with the rest."

On Patience:

"Patience is the shortest route on a long journey."

On Kindness:

"It is wiser to be kind than to be wise."

On Parents:

"Some parents love knowing. Others know love."

On Growing Old:

" 'Growing old' is a contradiction in terms."

On Work and Love:

"There is only work and love in life...If we are fortunate, we love our work. If we are wise, we are willing to work at love."

On Life:

"Life is a gift...Open yours."

On Fear:

"Fear makes us not only less than we might be but less than we think we are."

On being Alone:

"A man who is alone with himself is not without company."

On Success:

" Have you ever met a man whose success is not also a burden?"

On what is Valuable:

"The way to discover what is of value in life is by taking the time to treasure the moments."

On Relationships:

"A relationship is not a way for us to exhibit our strength but to find our balance."

On Children:

"...your children are a gift to you, and only expectation can find disappointment in gifts that have not yet been opened."

On Journeys:

"Wherever a man stops on his journey, the first person he meets is himself."

On Wisdom:

"Wisdom arrives when we are willing to journey to our ignorance."

On Lies:

"In the seed of a lie is a forest of deceit."

On Self:

"Only when we place too much importance on who we are do we misplace our self."

On Problems:

"Often in life, the solution to our problems comes not so much from what we start doing but from what we stop doing."

On Age:

"Age is not the mark of time but how we mark our time."

On Friends:

"A friend is someone who allows you distance but is never far away."


--Noah ben Shea