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His motto was 'Persevere!'
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“His motto was 'Persevere!'”

Samuel Smiles

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Source
The Life of George Stephenson and of his Son Robert Stephenson
Date
1868
Meaning

Meaning of “His motto was 'Persevere!'”

Smiles condenses Stephenson’s response to repeated engineering and institutional obstacles into a single governing principle of continued effort.

Source context

Where does it come from?

The Life of George Stephenson and of his Son Robert Stephenson, Chapter XI, “Chat Moss—Construction of the Railway”; represented 1868 revised edition, Project Gutenberg #46229. The motto appears in Smiles’s surrounding narration immediately after the quoted Chat Moss recollection.

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Themes

Ideas connected with this quotation

ConsistencyCourage Quotes About Acting Despite FearDiscipline Quotes About Habits, Practice & ConsistencyEffortHard TimesHope Quotes About Possibility in Uncertain TimesInspirational Quotes About Hope, Courage & PossibilityMotivational Quotes for Action, Effort & PersistenceNever Give UpPatiencePerseverance Quotes About Sustained EffortResilience Quotes About Recovery & AdaptationSelf-Control Quotes About Restraint & JudgmentShortStrengthSuccessDetermination
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Yet I did hope for success, and persisted in the undertaking.
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“Yet I did hope for success, and persisted in the undertaking.”

Frederick Douglass · My Bondage and My Freedom · 1855
Meaning & context

Douglass links hope with continued effort: uncertainty about the outcome does not prevent him from persisting in a difficult undertaking.

Source details

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His efforts were long, laborious, and sometimes apparently hopeless.
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“His efforts were long, laborious, and sometimes apparently hopeless.”

Samuel Smiles · Men of Invention and Industry · 1884
Meaning & context

Smiles emphasizes the duration and difficulty of John Harrison’s work before success, making perseverance visible as sustained labor rather than instant inspiration.

Source details

Men of Invention and Industry, Chapter III, “John Harrison: Inventor of the Marine Chronometer”; Project Gutenberg #725. This is Smiles’s biographical narration, not Harrison speaking in first person.

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There was no help for it, however, but to go on.
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“There was no help for it, however, but to go on.”

Samuel Smiles · The Life of George Stephenson and of his Son Robert Stephenson · 1868
Voice: Quoted historical voice · George Stephenson
Meaning & context

During the Chat Moss crisis, continuing became the practical choice after heavy investment and discouraging expert opinion had narrowed the alternatives.

Source details

The Life of George Stephenson and of his Son Robert Stephenson, Chapter XI, “Chat Moss—Construction of the Railway”; represented 1868 revised edition, Project Gutenberg #46229. Smiles records Stephenson’s first-person recollection of the directors’ crisis over Chat Moss in quoted speech.

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But I kept at it
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“But I kept at it”

Booker T. Washington · Working With the Hands · 1904
Meaning & context

The short phrase summarizes Washington’s response to repeated failure while learning demanding household work under Mrs. Ruffner’s supervision.

Source details

Working With the Hands, Chapter I; Project Gutenberg #64504. This is an autobiographical fragment whose surrounding paragraph describes repeated attempts before improvement.

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The art of life is more like the wrestler’s art than the dancer’s.
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“The art of life is more like the wrestler’s art than the dancer’s.”

Marcus Aurelius · Thoughts of Marcus Aurelius Antoninus · c. 170 CE
Meaning & context

Life requires readiness for unexpected pressure, closer to maintaining balance in a contest than performing a fully choreographed sequence.

Source details

Meditations, Book VII, section 61, George Long translation; the full sentence emphasizes readiness for sudden and unexpected onsets.

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