In the realm of ideas everything depends on enthusiasm; in the real world all rests on perseverance.
- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe -
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) was a German poet, playwright and natural scientist, author of Faust and the novel The Sorrows of Young Werther. Alongside literature he worked seriously on botany and a theory of colour, and held state office in Weimar for over fifty years. His output covers nearly every genre available to him.
About this theme: Resilience
Resilience has travelled a long way in twenty years, from a term in psychology to a word on posters. It originally described something measurable: a system's capacity to return to equilibrium after a shock. Applied to people it never meant being unaffected — it meant recovering, and that distinction is the first casualty of popular use.
More by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
More on Resilience
- Anyone can hold the helm when the sea is calm.— Publilius Syrus
- The gem cannot be polished without friction, nor man perfected without trials.— Confucius
- Dripping water hollows out stone, not through force but through persistence.— Ovid
- I am not afraid of storms, for I am learning how to sail my ship.— Louisa May Alcott
- Obstacles cannot crush me; every obstacle yields to stern resolve.— Leonardo da Vinci