"The onward march of the human race requires that the heights around it constantly blaze up with noble lessons of courage. Deeds of daring dazzle history and form one of man's guiding lights. The dawn dares when it rises. To strive, to brave all risks, to persist, to persevere, to be faithful to oneself, to grapple hand to hand with destiny, to surprise defeat by the slight terror it inspires, at one time to confront unjust power, at another to defy drunken triumph, to hold fast, to hold hard - such is the example nations need, and the light that electrifies them."
-- Victor Hugo, Les Miserables
“Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful people 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 omnipotent. The slogan "press on" has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.”
-- Calvin Coolidge
"What raised us to the present happy state?...The Government has been in the hands of the people. To the people, therefore...is the credit due...
It is only when the people become ignorant and corrupt, when they degenerate into a populace, that they are incapable of exercising the sovereignty.
Usurpation is then an easy attainment, and an usurper soon found. The people themselves become the willing instruments of their own debasement and ruin...
If we persevere...we can not fail, under the favor of a gracious Providence...My fervent prayers to the Almighty that He will be graciously pleased to continue to us that protection which He has already so conspicuously displayed in our favor."
-- President James Monroe, First Inaugural Address, March 4, 1817
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