The quote database

At times I would rise up, a flash of energetic freedom would dart through my soul, accompanied with a faint beam of hope, that flickered for a moment, and then vanished.

At times we were almost disposed to give up, and try to content ourselves with our wretched lot; at others, we were firm and unbending in our determination to go.

We have more will than wallet; but will is what we need.

Once I knew the depth where no hope was, and darkness lay on the face of all things.

If happiness is to be so measured, I who cannot hear or see have every reason to sit in a corner with folded hands and weep.

Every struggle is a victory.

Had it not been for the persistent encouragement of Miss Sullivan, I think I should have given up trying to write altogether.

It lets us into the soul of things and teaches us that although the world is full of suffering, it is full also of the overcoming of it.

I can say with conviction that the struggle which evil necessitates is one of the greatest blessings. It makes us strong, patient, helpful men and women.

Though my life is low, if my spirit looks upward habitually at an elevated angle, it is as it were redeemed.

To the sick, indeed, nature is sick, but to the well, a fountain of health.

In spite of failures, cooperative schemes went on, some of the same men appearing in one after another with irrepressible optimism.

To admit that this picture has its shades is but to say that it is still the condition of men upon earth.

Let heart-sickness pass beyond a certain bitter point, and the heart loses its life for ever.

At first I hoped that the cloud would pass away of itself; but it did not.

If you are beaten off, return again to the effort, and content yourself that your conduct is generally such as becomes a man.

So few of us can understand what it takes to make a man—the man who will never say die; the man who will never give up

My dear Laelius and Scipio, we must stand up against old age and make up for its drawbacks by taking pains.

Every great cause is born from repeated failures and from imperfect achievements.

Overlooking partial and temporary evils as inseparable from the practical operation of all human institutions, and looking only to the general result, every patriot has reason to be satisfied.

Life’s not easy…don’t try and make it that way. It’s not fair, it never was, it isn’t now, it won’t ever be.

TIME is a Master Worker that heals the wounds of temporary defeat; equalizes the inequalities, and rights the wrongs of the world. There is nothing ‘impossible’ with time!

Failure often leads a man to success by arousing his latent energy, by firing a dormant purpose, by awakening powers which were sleeping.

Optimism is a success builder; pessimism an achievement killer.

No matter if you have lost your property, your health, your reputation even, there is always hope for the man who keeps a firm faith in himself and looks up.