101
In the pursuit of even the highest branches of human inquiry, the commoner qualities are found the most useful
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102
Those who look into practical life will find that fortune is usually on the side of the industrious, as the winds and waves are on the side of the best navigators.
103
Time should not be allowed to pass without yielding fruits, in the form of something learnt worthy of being known, some good principle cultivated, or some good habit strengthened.
104
Nothing can be more certain than that the character can only be sustained and strengthened by its own energetic action.
105
Work is the law of our being--the living principle that carries men and nations onward.
106
Courage may be displayed in everyday life as well as in historic fields of action.
107
Energy of temperament, with a moderate degree of wisdom, will carry a man further than any amount of intellect without it.
108
Industry enables men to earn their living; it should also enable them to learn to live.
109
The good fighters of old first put themselves beyond the possibility of defeat, and then waited for an opportunity of defeating the enemy
110
In this life we get nothing save by effort.
Theodore Rooseveltverified·The Strenuous Life, an address before the Hamilton Club, Chicago·April 10, 1899
111
Freedom from effort in the present merely means that there has been stored up effort in the past.
Theodore Rooseveltverified·The Strenuous Life, an address before the Hamilton Club, Chicago·April 10, 1899
112
The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, and comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming
Theodore Rooseveltverified·Citizenship in a Republic, in African and European Addresses·April 23, 1910
113
There is a bit of homely philosophy, quoted by Squire Bill Widener, of Widener's Valley, Virginia, which sums up one's duty in life: Do what you can, with what you've got, where you are.
Wrongly attributed
Roosevelt did not coin this. He quotes it in his Autobiography and names its author: Squire Bill Widener of Widener's Valley, Virginia, a neighbour with no other claim on posterity. It is now printed on posters and mugs as Roosevelt's own, usually shortened to Do what you can, with what you have, where you are. The sentence around it is the evidence that it was never his.
114
Genius is 1 per cent. inspiration and 99 per cent. perspiration.
115
The good plan itself, this comes not of its own accord; it is the fruit of “genius” (which means transcendent capacity of taking trouble, first of all)
Attribution contested
Genius is an infinite capacity for taking pains is one of the most quoted sentences in English and Carlyle did not write it. This is what he wrote, and the differences are real: transcendent, not infinite; trouble, not pains; and first of all, which concedes that taking trouble is only where genius starts. The familiar wording appears later in the century in other hands and is usually traced to Jane Ellice Hopkins in 1870. Carlyle got the credit because he got there first with the thought.
116
When I hear some of my young friends complain of want of sympathy and encouragement, I am inclined to think that my naval life was not the least valuable part of my education.
117
If we would put some slight stress on ourselves at the beginning, then afterwards we should be able to do all things with ease and joy.
118
How you do anything is how you do everything.
119
Rather be an hour early than a minute late.
120
I am now sending back to Belle Plain all my wagons for a fresh supply of provisions and ammunition, and purpose to fight it out on this line if it takes all summer.
121
One of my superstitions had always been when I started to go any where, or to do anything, not to turn back, or stop until the thing intended was accomplished.
122
The Day of Miracles was past, and a long, gray road of dogged work lay ahead.
123
Do, every day, all that you can do that day, and do each act in an efficient manner.
124
The world is advanced only by those who more than fill their present places.
125
You are to become a creator, not a competitor.