Quote Atlassourced quotes & context
Source identified
The situation was disheartening, but I had energy, experience, health and hope.
Read & copy the quotation
“The situation was disheartening, but I had energy, experience, health and hope.”

P. T. Barnum

Download image (JPG)

Source
Struggles and Triumphs
Date
1872
Meaning

Meaning of “The situation was disheartening, but I had energy,…”

The memoir acknowledges discouraging circumstances while inventorying the practical and psychological resources Barnum believed remained available to him.

Source context

Where does it come from?

Struggles and Triumphs, 1872 author’s edition; this is autobiographical reflection from Barnum’s account of rebuilding after a difficult business period.

Primary / edition source ↗

Customize your imageTen designs · Square or portrait · Preview and share
Themes

Ideas connected with this quotation

BusinessCourage Quotes About Acting Despite FearEffortHard TimesHope Quotes About Possibility in Uncertain TimesInspirational Quotes About Hope, Courage & PossibilityMotivational Quotes for Action, Effort & PersistenceNever Give UpOptimism Quotes About Constructive ExpectationPatiencePerseverance Quotes About Sustained EffortPositive Quotes About a Constructive OutlookResilience Quotes About Recovery & AdaptationShortStrengthSuccessEntrepreneurHealth
Related quotations

Continue through nearby ideas

Source identified
Yet I did hope for success, and persisted in the undertaking.
Read & copy

“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

My Bondage and My Freedom; Douglass is recounting one of the practical struggles through which persistence accompanied his pursuit of greater freedom and independence.

↓ Download image (JPG)

Source identified
Say not the struggle nought availeth, The labour and the wounds are vain,
Read & copy

“Say not the struggle nought availeth, The labour and the wounds are vain,”

Arthur Hugh Clough · Say Not the Struggle Nought Availeth · 1855
Meaning & context

Clough begins by challenging the despairing assumption that visible setbacks prove sustained effort has accomplished nothing or that a difficult cause is already lost.

Source details

“Say Not the Struggle Nought Availeth,” first published as “The Struggle” in The Crayon, August 1855; text represented by Representative Poetry Online. The poem’s military imagery is metaphorical encouragement shaped by the political disappointments of the 1848–49 era.

↓ Download image (JPG)

Source identified
Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement; nothing can be done without hope.
Read & copy

“Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement; nothing can be done without hope.”

Helen Keller · Optimism: An Essay · 1903
Meaning & context

Hope is presented as an active foundation for achievement: confidence in possibility helps sustain the effort needed to move from intention to result.

Source details

Optimism: An Essay; Keller connects optimism with purposeful action rather than passive cheerfulness.

↓ Download image (JPG)

Source identified
What, to our eyes, may seem hopeless failure is often but the dawning of a greater success.
Read & copy

“What, to our eyes, may seem hopeless failure is often but the dawning of a greater success.”

William George Jordan · The Majesty of Calmness · 1900
Meaning & context

Immediate appearances can mislead: a failure may reveal another direction or become part of later success, so present defeat need not define the whole trajectory.

Source details

The Majesty of Calmness, “Failure as a Success.” The passage is motivational interpretation, not a promise that every loss will produce a better outcome.

↓ Download image (JPG)

Source identified
His motto was 'Persevere!'
Read & copy

“His motto was 'Persevere!'”

Samuel Smiles · The Life of George Stephenson and of his Son Robert Stephenson · 1868
Meaning & context

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

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. The motto appears in Smiles’s surrounding narration immediately after the quoted Chat Moss recollection.

↓ Download image (JPG)