Where observation is concerned, chance favors only the prepared mind.
—Louis Pasteur, 1854
The winds and waves are always on the side of the ablest of navigators.
—Edward Gibbon, 1776
Readiness is the mother of luck.
—Baltasar Gracián, 1647
I’m a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work, the more I have of it.
—Stephen Leacock, 1910
9
The only thing that overcomes hard luck is hard work.
10
—Harry Golden, 1955
***
We should be taught not to wait for inspiration to start a thing.
—Frank Tibolt
11
Inspiration does exist, but it must find you working.
—Pablo Picasso
12
Aspiration creates inspiration.
—Edward Abbey, 1990
Genius is one percent inspiration, ninety-nine percent perspiration.
—Thomas Edison, 1902
13
Sweat makes good mortar.
—German proverb
***
Great things are not done by impulse, but by a series of small things brought together.
—Vincent van Gogh, 1882
The steady drip of water causes stone to hollow and yield.
—Lucretius, first century BC
9
Frequently misattributed to Thomas Jefferson.
10
This advice looks problematic: for most people, hard work is also hard luck.
11
From his book A Touch of Greatness, whose 2nd edition was published in 1981. (The first one
was published either in the 1940s or in the 1950s.)
12
As quoted, without a date, by Tomas R. Villasante in 1994.
13
Starting from 1898, Edison offered several versions of this famous line, with the “inspiration”
fraction alternating between one and two percent.
18
On Work and Leisure
—Louis Pasteur, 1854
The winds and waves are always on the side of the ablest of navigators.
—Edward Gibbon, 1776
Readiness is the mother of luck.
—Baltasar Gracián, 1647
I’m a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work, the more I have of it.
—Stephen Leacock, 1910
9
The only thing that overcomes hard luck is hard work.
10
—Harry Golden, 1955
***
We should be taught not to wait for inspiration to start a thing.
—Frank Tibolt
11
Inspiration does exist, but it must find you working.
—Pablo Picasso
12
Aspiration creates inspiration.
—Edward Abbey, 1990
Genius is one percent inspiration, ninety-nine percent perspiration.
—Thomas Edison, 1902
13
Sweat makes good mortar.
—German proverb
***
Great things are not done by impulse, but by a series of small things brought together.
—Vincent van Gogh, 1882
The steady drip of water causes stone to hollow and yield.
—Lucretius, first century BC
9
Frequently misattributed to Thomas Jefferson.
10
This advice looks problematic: for most people, hard work is also hard luck.
11
From his book A Touch of Greatness, whose 2nd edition was published in 1981. (The first one
was published either in the 1940s or in the 1950s.)
12
As quoted, without a date, by Tomas R. Villasante in 1994.
13
Starting from 1898, Edison offered several versions of this famous line, with the “inspiration”
fraction alternating between one and two percent.
18
On Work and Leisure