Energy and persistence² conquer all things.

Benjamin Franklin (1706 - 1790)

Nothing in the world can take the place of Persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent³. The slogan 'Press On' has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.

Calvin Coolidge (1872 - 1933)

You must keep sending work out; you must never let a manuscript⁴ do nothing but eat its head off in a drawer. You send that work out again and again, while you're working on another one. If you have talent, you will receive some measure of success - but only if you persist¹.

Isaac Asimov (1920 - 1992)

That which we persist in doing becomes easier, not that the task itself has become easier, but that our ability to perform it has improved.

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803 - 1882)

We are made to persist. That's how we find out who we are.

Tobias Wolff, 'In Pharaoh's Army'