Difficulty Quotes - Page 38

• A man of sense is never discouraged by difficulties; he redoubles his industry and his diligence, he perseveres and infallibly prevails at last.

  William James

  Motivational, Meaningful, Perseverance

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• It is very natural for young men to be vehement, acrimonious and severe. For as they seldom comprehend at once all the consequences of a position, or perceive the difficulties by which cooler and more experienced reasoners are restrained from confidence, they form their conclusions with great precipitance. Seeing nothing that can darken or embarrass the question, they expect to find their own opinion universally prevalent, and are inclined to impute uncertainty and hesitation to want of honesty, rather than of knowledge.

  Samuel Johnson

  Honesty, Men, Want

  Samuel Johnson (1827). “The Rambler”, p.110

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• Anything that is theoretically possible will be achieved in practice, no matter what the technical difficulties are, if it is desired greatly enough.

  Arthur C. Clarke

  Science, Technology, Practice

  Arthur C. Clarke (2013). “Profiles Of The Future”, p.13, Hachette UK

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• You may encounter many defeats, but you must not be defeated. Please remember that your difficulties do not define you. They simply strengthen your ability to overcome.

  Maya Angelou

  Motivational, Encounters, May

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• It is worth remembering that the time of greatest gain in terms of wisdom and inner strength is often that of greatest difficulty.

  Dalai Lama

  Loss, Inner Strength, Gains

  The Dalai Lama (2012). “The Essence Of Wisdom”, p.74, Hachette UK

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• When life makes us face difficult situations-such as a personal loss-we have to understand that eternity is taking one more step.

  Paulo Coelho

  Life, Loss, Difficult Situations

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• Modern man's difficulties, dangerous beliefs and feelings of loneliness, spiritual emptiness,and personal weakness are caused by his illusions about, and separation from, the natural world.

  Benjamin Hoff

  Spiritual, Loneliness, Men

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• I never let the thought of failure enter my mind. My knowledge of my unity with the Universal One and the fact that I must do this thing, and the inspired belief I should do it as a demonstration of my belief in man's unlimited power, made me ignore the difficulties that lay in the way.

  Walter Russell

  Men, Unity, Secret

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• I think one difficulty is that the problem is one of such enormous complexity that the very mass of facts presented to the public by press and radio make it exceedingly difficult for the man in the street to reach a clear appraisement of the situation. It is virtually impossible at this distance to grasp at all the real significance of the situation.

  George C. Marshall

  Real, Distance, Men

  The Marshall Plan, delivered 5 June 1947 at Harvard University

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• Geology, perhaps more than any other department of natural philosophy, is a science of contemplation. It requires no experience or complicated apparatus, no minute processes upon the unknown processes of matter. It demands only an enquiring mind and senses alive to the facts almost everywhere presented in nature. And as it may be acquired without much difficulty, so it may be improved without much painful exertion.

  Humphry Davy

  Philosophy, Science, Mind

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• Science has not solved difficulties, only shifted the points of difficulty.

  Charles Henry Parkhurst

  Science, Accounts

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• Any one whose disposition leads him to attach more weight to unexplained difficulties than to the explanation of facts will certainly reject my theory.

  Charles Darwin

  Science, Rejection, Weight

  Charles Darwin (1869). “On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection: Or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life”, p.418

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• Mere numbers cannot bring out ... the intimate essence of the experiment. This conviction comes naturally when one watches a subject at work. ... What things can happen! What reflections, what remarks, what feelings, or, on the other hand, what blind automatism, what absence of ideas! ... The experimenter judges what may be going on in [the subject's] mind, and certainly feels difficulty in expressing all the oscillations of a thought in a simple, brutal number, which can have only a deceptive precision. How, in fact, could it sum up what would need several pages of description!

  Alfred Binet

  Science, Reflection, Simple

  "La suggestibilite". Book by Alfred Binet, p. 119-120, 1900.

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• You must maintain unwavering faith that you can and will prevail in the end, regardless of the difficulties, AND at the same time, have the discipline to confront the most brutal facts of your current reality, whatever they might be.

  James C. Collins

  Faith, Perseverance, Reality

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• There was a golden period that I look back upon with great regret, in which the cheapest of experimental animals were medical students. Graduate students were even better. In the old days, if you offered a graduate student a thiamine-deficient diet, he gladly went on it, for that was the only way he could eat. Science is getting to be more and more difficult.

  George Wald

  Regret, Science, Animal

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• On our planet, all objects are subject to continual and inevitable changes which arise from the essential order of things. These changes take place at a variable rate according to the nature, condition, or situation of the objects involved, but are nevertheless accomplished within a certain period of time. Time is insignificant and never a difficulty for Nature. It is always at her disposal and represents an unlimited power with which she accomplishes her greatest and smallest tasks.

  Jean-Baptiste Lamarck

  Change, Nature, Science

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• We took on things which people might think would take a year or two. They weren't particularly hard. What was hard was believing they weren't hard.

  Edwin Land

  Believe, Science, Thinking

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• Now, I confess myself as belonging to that class in the country who contemplate slavery as a moral, social and political evil, having due regard for its actual existence amongst us and the difficulties of getting rid of it in any satisfactory way, and to all the constitutional obligations which have been thrown about it; but, nevertheless, desire a policy that looks to the prevention of it as a wrong, and looks hopefully to the time when as a wrong it may come to an end.

  Abraham Lincoln

  Country, Class, Evil

  Abraham Lincoln (2017). “The Complete Papers and Writings of Abraham Lincoln”, p.905, Open Road Media

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• The prejudice of unfounded belief often degenerates into the prejudice of custom, and becomes at last rank hypocrisy. When men, from custom or fashion or any worldly motive, profess or pretend to believe what they do not believe, nor can give any reason for believing, they unship the helm of their morality, and being no longer honest to their own minds they feel no moral difficulty in being unjust to others.

  Thomas Paine

  Fashion, Believe, Men

  Thomas Paine (1861). “The Age of Reason, etc”, p.88

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• Another source of conviction in the existence of God, connected with the reason and not with the feelings, impresses me as having much more weight. This follows from the extreme difficulty or rather impossibility of conceiving this immense and wonderful universe, including man with his capacity of looking far backwards and far into futurity, as the result of blind chance or necessity. When thus reflecting I feel compelled to look to a First Cause having an intelligent mind in some degree analogous to that of man; and I deserve to be called a Theist.

  Charles Darwin

  Intelligent, Men, Feelings

  Charles Darwin (1887). “The Autobiography of Charles Darwin”, p.70, Barnes & Noble Publishing

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• Difficulties arise when reported observations seem to conflict with 'facts' that the majority of scientists accept as established and immutable. Scientists tend to reject conflicting observations.....Nevertheless, the history of science shows that new observations and theories can eventually prevail.

  Ian Stevenson

  Atheism, Facts, Majority

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• Mindfulness can play a big role in transforming our experience with pain & other difficulties; it allows us to recognize the authenticity of the distress & yet not be overwhelmed by it.

  Sharon Salzberg

  Pain, Play, Meditation

  Sharon Salzberg (2010). “Real Happiness - Enhanced Ebook Edition: The Power of Meditation: A 28-Day Program”, p.83, Workman Publishing

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• Put your whole energy into meditation. Once you are centered in your being, once you know the inner path, then wherever you are you can manage to go to the center without any difficulty. Even when you are dying, it will not make any difference. You may be sick, it will not make any difference.

  Rajneesh

  Differences, Sick, Meditation

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• Lincoln's appeal to "the better angels of our nature" failed to avert a fratricidal war. But the compassionate wisdom of Lincoln's first and second inaugurals bequeathed to the Union, cemented with blood, a moral heritage which, when drawn upon in times of stress and strife, is sure to find specific ways and means to surmount difficulties that may appear to be insurmountable.

  Felix Frankfurter

  War, Stress, Mean

  Concurring, Cooper v. Aaron, 358 U.S. 1, 1958.

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• I am compassionate. I allow my heart and imagination to embrace the difficulties and concerns of others. While maintaining my own balance, I find it within myself to extend sympathy, attention, and support. When they are grieved, I listen with openness and gentle strength. I offer loyalty, friendship, and human understanding. Without undermining or enabling, I aid and assist others to find their strength. I allow the healing power of the Universe to flow through me, soothing the hearts and feelings of those I encounter.

  Julia Cameron

  Loyalty, Heart, Healing

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