This continuation page contains additional source-backed quotations not shown in the initial 50-quotation overview. Return to the topic guide and browse collection.
“The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena.”
Roosevelt places greater moral weight on imperfect participation than detached criticism from safety.
Excerpt from the “Man in the Arena” passage, Paris, April 23, 1910.
“It is hard to fail, but it is worse never to have tried to succeed.”
Roosevelt contrasts the disappointment of an unsuccessful attempt with the deeper loss of never attempting worthwhile work at all, making participation and effort more important than guaranteed success.
The Strenuous Life, speech before the Hamilton Club, Chicago, April 10, 1899; Project Gutenberg #58821. The sentence appears in Roosevelt’s opening argument for active effort and immediately follows his praise of the person who embodies “victorious effort”; it is preserved as historical motivational rhetoric rather than a promise that effort always produces success.
“learn how to live.”
The phrase appears in a national crisis argument: old methods are described as exhausted, so survival requires learning a different way of organizing collective life.
Latter-Day Pamphlets, No. IV “The New Downing Street”; Project Gutenberg #1140. Carlyle is discussing England amid nineteenth-century political and social crisis, not giving a context-free personal wellness instruction.
“Doubt of any sort cannot be removed except by Action.”
The fictional philosophy presented in Sartor argues that some uncertainty becomes clearer only after conduct tests an idea in experience rather than allowing speculation to continue without limit.
Sartor Resartus, Book II, Chapter IX, “The Everlasting Yea,” printed page 156 / Wikisource scan leaf 188 in The Works of Thomas Carlyle, Centenary Edition, Vol. I (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1896). “Doubt of any sort cannot be removed except by Action” appears inside Teufelsdröckh’s spiritual conversion and Carlyle’s claim that conviction becomes meaningful through conduct. This collection preserves the fictional-philosophical voice and religious setting rather than presenting the line as uncomplicated Carlyle autobiography or a modern psychological rule.
“These are the times that try men's souls.”
Crisis reveals commitment because principles become costly to maintain precisely when fear, fatigue, and uncertainty make retreat easier.
Opening of The American Crisis No. I; Paine addresses perseverance during a difficult stage of the American Revolution.
“Slow and steady wins the race.”
The moral values sustained progress over bursts of speed that are not matched by attention or follow-through.
Traditional English moral associated with the fable; wording is later than the ancient Greek tradition.
“Come one, come all! this rock shall fly From its firm base as soon as I.”
Fitz-James refuses intimidation despite being surrounded, using the rock image to express a determination not to be moved from his position by threats.
The Lady of the Lake, Canto V, “The Combat,” stanza X, Project Gutenberg #45888. Fitz-James says “Come one, come all!” with his back against a rock after Roderick Dhu’s signal reveals armed followers around him. The defiant rock image is fictional martial speech in Scott’s historical romance in verse rather than current safety, combat or self-help advice.
“There is no hope, if we look back at the past: there may be hope, if we look on to the future.”
Mr Pendril urges Miss Garth to focus on what can still change rather than treating past disaster as proof that every future possibility is closed.
No Name, Project Gutenberg #1438. Mr Pendril speaks after the Vanstone sisters lose their legal and financial position; the surrounding dialogue immediately qualifies the hope as uncertain and dependent on future events.
“Truth, crushed to earth, shall rise again;”
Bryant expresses confidence that truth can survive temporary defeat and re-emerge even when public power, violence or opinion appears to have buried it.
“The Battlefield,” represented in Project Gutenberg #29700. The line belongs to a civic-religious meditation on conflict, sacrifice and moral endurance; its resurrection imagery expresses poetic conviction rather than a literal law of history.
“My head is bloody, but unbowed.”
The speaker acknowledges injury without surrendering inward posture, making the line a compact image of retaining agency and self-possession under circumstances that have already caused real harm.
“Invictus,” first published in Henley’s 1888 Book of Verses (written 1875) and represented through the public-domain poem text. This is the second stanza’s closing line, following “Under the bludgeonings of chance”; this collection keeps the poem’s defiant lyric voice rather than treating it as a guarantee that adversity can always be mastered.
“I am the master of my fate: I am the captain of my soul.”
The closing declaration emphasizes agency over one’s response and character even when external circumstances remain harsh or uncontrollable.
Closing lines of Invictus; Henley ends a poem about hardship with a statement of inner command.
“What, to our eyes, may seem hopeless failure is often but the dawning of a greater success.”
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.
The Majesty of Calmness, “Failure as a Success.” The passage is motivational interpretation, not a promise that every loss will produce a better outcome.
“Our errors are surely not such awfully solemn things.”
James resists treating every possible intellectual mistake as catastrophic, because an excessive fear of error can itself prevent inquiry, experience and the possibility of gaining truth.
The Will to Believe, essay “The Will to Believe”; Project Gutenberg #26659. James is contrasting the risk of being mistaken with the cost of refusing every uncertain intellectual venture.
“calmness amid storm”
The compact metaphor describes steadiness under pressure: difficulty remains present, but it need not dictate the quality of judgment or conduct.
Aequanimitas, 1889 valedictory address. Osler uses the phrase while defining imperturbability for physicians and surgeons; it is retained as a professional ideal in its historical medical setting.
“rise superior to the trials of life”
Equanimity is presented as a capacity to meet adversity without allowing every trial to overthrow judgment, patience, or the ability to continue useful action.
Aequanimitas, 1889. The wording appears in Osler’s discussion of patience and equanimity; the source note keeps the medical-graduation context visible rather than treating it as universal therapeutic advice.
“Though she be but little, she is fierce.”
Physical size is separated from force of character, giving the line its enduring use as a compact statement of spirited strength.
A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Act III, Scene 2; Helena describes Hermia during the lovers’ quarrel. Verified in the scan-backed 1918 Yale Shakespeare edition edited by Willard Higley Durham; direct evidence resolves to the reviewed Act III transcription.
“The course of true love never did run smooth.”
Love is described as complicated rather than frictionless, which makes the line a durable reminder against idealizing relationships.
A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Act I, Scene 1; Lysander says this to Hermia while describing the obstacles that repeatedly frustrate lovers. Verified in the scan-backed 1918 Yale Shakespeare edition edited by Willard Higley Durham; direct evidence resolves to the reviewed Act I transcription.
“The readiness is all.”
The emphasis is not on controlling every outcome but on meeting what comes with preparedness and acceptance.
Act 5, Scene 2.
“When sorrows come, they come not single spies, but in battalions.”
Difficulty often feels cumulative: one loss can arrive alongside others, making the burden larger than any isolated event.
Hamlet, Act 4, Scene 5; Claudius describes multiple troubles arriving together after Polonius’s death.
“The better part of valour is discretion.”
Courage is balanced with judgment here: avoiding a needless danger can sometimes be wiser than performing bravery for appearance.
Henry IV, Part 1, Act V Scene 4; reviewed against the 1917 Yale Shakespeare edition edited by Samuel B. Hemingway, printed page 110 / scan leaf 124. Falstaff says 'The better part of valour is discretion' after counterfeiting death during the battle and immediately boasts that this discretion saved his life. It remains comic fictional self-justification rather than a universal rule for courage or risk.
“Cowards die many times before their deaths; the valiant never taste of death but once.”
The contrast suggests that repeated fear can make a person suffer imagined losses long before the real event arrives.
Julius Caesar, Act II, Scene 2, in the 1919 Yale Shakespeare edition edited by Lawrence Mason. Caesar tells Calpurnia, ‘Cowards die many times before their deaths; / The valiant never taste of death but once,’ while rejecting her fear and deciding to go out. The line remains Caesar’s dramatic reasoning, not Shakespeare’s direct personal counsel.
“The miserable have no other medicine but only hope.”
When circumstances offer little immediate relief, hope can preserve the possibility of endurance without pretending the pain is gone.
Measure for Measure, Act III, Scene I, Claudio to the disguised Duke. The scan-backed 1910 Methuen facsimile transcription of the 1623 First Folio reads “The miserable haue no other medicine / But onely hope” as Claudio awaits possible execution. The line remains fictional speech under threat of death, not medical treatment guidance or a guarantee that hope resolves suffering.
“The robbed that smiles, steals something from the thief.”
Preserving some inward freedom after a loss denies the wrongdoer complete control over what the loss becomes.
Othello, Act I, Scene III, reviewed against the scan-backed 1910 First Folio facsimile on Wikisource. The Duke tells Brabantio that continuing to spend grief on an irreversible loss only compounds it; the retained modernized wording corresponds to the Folio's 'The rob'd that smiles, steales something from the Thiefe.' It is dramatic counsel inside the scene, not Shakespeare autobiography or clinical grief guidance.
“Hope is a lover's staff; walk hence with that And manage it against despairing thoughts.”
Proteus describes hope as a walking staff for a lover who has been forced away from the person he loves: it offers something to lean on while facing separation. His advice is complicated by his own disloyalty to Valentine.
The Two Gentlemen of Verona, Act III, Scene 1: Proteus speaks to Valentine after the Duke banishes him. Although the words sound encouraging in isolation, Proteus has secretly betrayed Valentine’s plan. The MIT play transcription supplies the displayed public-domain wording and scene; this is fictional dialogue rather than Shakespeare’s personal confession.
