Endeavor Quotes - Page 34

• Among the numerous stratagems by which pride endeavors to recommend folly to regard, there is scarcely one that meets with less success than affectation, or a perpetual disguise of the real character by fictitious appearances.

  Samuel Johnson

  Real, Character, Pride

  Samuel Johnson (1810). “The Works of Samuel Johnson, LL.D.: With An Essay on His Life and Genius”, p.131

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• Affectation naturally counterfeits those excellences which are placed at the greatest distance from possibility of attainment, because, knowing our own defects, we eagerly endeavor to supply them with artificial excellence.

  Samuel Johnson

  Distance, Knowing, Excellence

  Samuel Johnson (1851). “The beauties of Johnson: choice selections from his works”, p.9

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• The one who cannot see that on Earth a big endeavor is taking place, an important plan, on which realization we are allowed to collaborate as faithful servants, certainly has to be blind.

  Winston Churchill

  Faithful Servants, Important, Realization

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• The utmost we can hope for in this world is contentment; if we aim at anything higher, we shall meet with nothing but grief and disappointment. A man should direct all his studies and endeavors at making himself easy now and happy hereafter.

  Joseph Addison

  Disappointment, Grief, Contentment

  Joseph Addison (1856). “The works of ... Joseph Addison, with notes by R. Hurd”, p.4

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• Surely in a matter of this kind we should endeavor to do something, that we may say that we have not lived in vain, that we may leave some impress of ourselves on the sands of time.

  Napoleon Bonaparte

  Time, May, Matter

  Letter of to his Minister of the Interior on the Poor Laws. Pub. in The Press, February 1, 1868.

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• We aren't upset when Paramount makes a $200 million movie that flops, but if a charity experiments with a $5 million fundraising event that fails, we call in the attorneys. So charities are petrified of trying bold new revenue-generating endeavors and can't develop the powerful learning curves the for-profit sector can.

  Dan Pallotta

  Powerful, Curves, Fundraising

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• Affectation proceeds from one of these two causes,--vanity or hypocrisy; for as vanity puts us on affecting false characters, in order to purchase applause; so hypocrisy sets us on an endeavor to avoid censure, by concealing our vices under an appearance of their opposite virtues.

  Henry Fielding

  Character, Vanity, Order

  Henry Fielding (2013). “Joseph Andrews and Shamela”, p.61, Simon and Schuster

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• Paltry affectation, strained allusions, and disgusting finery are easily attained by those who choose to wear them; they are but too frequently the badges of ignorance or of stupidity, whenever it would endeavor to please.

  Oliver Goldsmith

  Ignorance, Stupidity, Badges

  Oliver Goldsmith (1819). “Letters From A Citizen Of The World: To His Friends In The East”, p.135

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• If you want to be successful in a particular field of endeavor, I think perseverance is one of the key qualities.

  George Lucas

  Perseverance, Successful, Thinking

  "Cinematic Phenomenon". Academy of Achievement Interview, www.achievement.org. June 19, 1999.

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• It is impossible to combat enthusiasm with reason; for though it makes a show of resistance, it soon eludes the pressure, refers you to distinctions not to be understood, and feelings which it cannot explain. A man who would endeavor to fix an enthusiast by argument might as well attempt to spread quicksilver with his finger.

  Oliver Goldsmith

  Men, Feelings, Might

  Oliver Goldsmith (1837). “The Miscellaneous Works of Oliver Goldsmith, M. B.: Including a Variety of Pieces”, p.432

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• There are but few talents requisite to become a popular preacher; for the people are easily pleased if they perceive any endeavors in the orator to please them. The meanest qualifications will work this effect if the preacher sincerely sets about it.

  Oliver Goldsmith

  People, Talent, Preacher

  Oliver Goldsmith, Thomas Percy, Thomas Campbell (1812). “The Miscellaneous Works of Oliver Goldsmith, M.B.”, p.326

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• As I approach a second childhood, I endeavor to enter into the pleasures of it.

  Mary Wortley Montagu

  Childhood, Age, Pleasure

  Lady Mary Wortley Montagu (1856). “The Letters of Lady Mary Wortley Montagu”, p.318

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• Did you ever hear of a man who had striven all his life faithfully and singly towards an object, and in no measure obtained it? If a man constantly aspires, is he not elevated? Did ever a man try heroism, magnanimity, truth, sincerity, and find that there was no advantage in them,--that it was a vain endeavor?

  Henry David Thoreau

  Men, Trying, Heroism

  Henry David Thoreau (2012). “The Portable Thoreau”, p.357, Penguin

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• The more one endeavors to sound the depths of his ignorance the deeper the chasm appears.

  Amos Bronson Alcott

  Ignorance, Sound, Depth

  Amos Bronson Alcott (1877). “Table-talk”

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• No man of honor, as the word is usually understood, did ever pretend that his honor obliged him to be chaste or temperate, to pay his creditors, to be useful to his country, to do good to mankind, to endeavor to be wise or learned, to regard his word, his promise, or his oath.

  Jonathan Swift

  Wise, Country, Men

  Jonathan Swift, Thomas Roscoe (1859). “The works of Jonathan Swift, D.D.: with copious notes and additions and a memoir of the author”, p.149

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• There are but three ways for a man to revenge himself of the censure of the world,--to despise it, to return the like, or to endeavor to live so as to avoid it; the first of these is usually pretended, the last is almost impossible, the universal practice is for the second.

  Jonathan Swift

  Revenge, Men, Practice

  Jonathan Swift (1861). “The Works of Jonathan Swift ...: With Cop'ous Notes and Additions”, p.610

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• Literature is a peculiarly public product of a particularly private endeavor.

  Valerie Miner

  Book, Literature, Products

  Valerie Miner (2014). “Rumors from the Cauldron: Selected Essays, Reviews, and Reportage”, p.37, Open Road Media

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• Comedians dissect jokes all the time. Comedians are beautiful structuralists. But ultimately it's an athletic endeavor. You have to be able to just hit the backhand. You can't think about all the pieces of it. You can't think about your swing. You just have to do it. Reading someone else's deconstruction of what I do, all it does is put me in my head. On nights when the show goes particularly well, I am not aware of its fluidity. A lot of nights I'm just worried that I'm not going to be as good as the script in front of me.

  Stephen Colbert

  Beautiful, Reading, Night

  "Stephen Colbert: The Playboy Interview". Interview with Eric Spitznagel, www.ericspitznagel.com. October 27, 2012.

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• All worthwhile endeavors are 90% work and 10% love, and only the love should show.

  Chuck Jones

  Should, Worthwhile, Shows

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• I see in the near future a crisis approaching that unnerves me and causes me to tremble for the safety of my country.

  Abraham Lincoln

  Country, Safety, Rothschild

  Abraham Lincoln, Archer Hayes Shaw (1980). “The Lincoln encyclopedia: the spoken and written words of A. Lincoln arranged for ready reference”, Greenwood Pub Group

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• The least glimmering or shade of acting, in man or woman, is a sure motive of envy in the rest; and, if their malice can't persuade the town's-people into a dislike of their performance, they'll cruelly endeavor to taint their characters.

  Charlotte Charke

  Character, Men, Envy

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• To know what virtue is is not enough; we must endeavor to possess and to practice it, or in some other manner actually ourselves to become good.

  Aristotle

  Practice, Virtue, Enough

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• Economists suffer from a deep psychological disorder that I call 'physics envy'. We wish that 99 percent of economic behavior could be captured by three simple laws of nature. In fact, economists have 99 laws that capture 3 percent of behavior. Economics is a uniquely human endeavor.

  Andrew Lo

  Simple, Psychological Disorders, Law

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• Let the fear of a danger be a spur to prevent it; he that fears not gives advantage to the danger; it is less folly not to endeavor the prevention of the evil thou fearest than to fear the evil which thy endeavor cannot prevent.

  Francis Quarles

  Fear, Evil, Giving

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• For me, challenging myself with this type of endeavor [ultramarathons] brings the best out in me because even at the darkest, deepest moments when I feel like I can't go on, when I feel like there's no chance I could break the record or much less finish the trail, somehow I find that strength inside of me.

  Scott Jurek

  Challenges, Records, Goes On

  Source: www.npr.org

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