The very greatest things - great thoughts, discoveries, inventions - have usually been nurtured in hardship, often pondered over in sorrow, and at length established with difficulty.

The apprenticeship of difficulty is one which the greatest of men have had to serve.

Some of the greatest things, as I understand, they have come about by serendipity, the greatest discoveries.

The work of many of the greatest men, inspired by duty, has been done amidst suffering and trial and difficulty. They have struggled against the tide, and reached the shore exhausted.

An intense anticipation itself transforms possibility into reality; our desires being often but precursors of the things which we are capable of performing.

The greatest things are accomplished by individual people, not by committees or companies.