"Practise thyself even in the things which thou despairest of accomplishing. For even the left hand, which is ineffectual for all other things for want of practice, holds the bridle more vigorously than the right hand; for it has been practised in this."
Marcus Aurelius.
"'It is not the spurt at the start, but the continued, unresting, unhasting advance that wins the day.'"
"The same law runs in ordinary life, and he only need expect to attain success and win the honour of his fellow-men who is thorough. The reason why men fail is, in five cases out of six, not through want of influence or brains, or opportunity, or good guidance, but because they are slack; and the reason why certain men with few advantages succeed, is that they are diligent, concentrated, persevering and conscientious—because, in fact, they are thorough."
The Homely Virtues, Dr. John Watson.
"Unto him who works, and feels he works,
This same grand year is ever at the doors."
Tennyson.
FEBRUARY 14
"Joy or delight in what we are doing is not a mere luxury; it is a means, a help for the more perfect doing of our work. Indeed, it may be truly said that no man does any work perfectly who does not enjoy his work. Joy in one's work is the consummate tool without which the work may be done indeed, but without which the work will always be done slowly, clumsily, and without its finest perfectness. Men who do their work without enjoying it are like men carving statues with hatchets. The statue gets carved perhaps, and is a monument for ever of the dogged perseverance of the artist; but there is a perpetual waste of toil, and there is no fine result in the end."
Phillips Brooks.