Focus quotes, with sources

A woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction.

We are always getting ready to live, but never living.

The art of being wise is the art of knowing what to overlook.

Simplify, simplify.

We must cultivate our garden.

Confine thyself to the present.

Never by thinking, but by doing.

Do your work, and I shall know you.

Read not the Times. Read the Eternities.

The river flows because its banks do not.

Our plans miscarry because they have no aim.

Be your own spectator; seek your own applause.

Act well your part, there all the honour lies.

There is only one time that is important -- Now!

Few things are impossible to diligence and skill.

The soul that has no established aim loses itself.

Even by the falling of water-drops a water-pot is filled.

It is not one swallow or one fine day that makes a spring.

He will win who knows when to fight and when not to fight.

The tree which fills the arms grew from the tiniest sprout.

Put all your eggs in one basket, and then watch that basket.

Something attempted, something done, has earned a night’s repose.

Let right deeds be thy motive, not the fruit which comes from them.

Hit the line hard; don’t foul and don’t shirk, but hit the line hard.

I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life.

Nothing great is produced suddenly, since not even the grape or the fig is.

We only find rest in effort, as the flame only finds existence in combustion.

If you know the enemy and know yourself, your victory will not stand in doubt.

Do your work, respecting the excellence of the work, and not its acceptableness.

Your reason and your passion are the rudder and the sails of your seafaring soul.

The utility of living consists not in the length of days, but in the use of time.

If you would not have a man flinch when the crisis comes, train him before it comes.

You must elect your work; you shall take what your brain can, and drop all the rest.

Nothing gives certainty but truth; nothing gives rest but the sincere search for truth.

Fletchers bend the arrow; carpenters bend a log of wood; wise people fashion themselves.

Custom is our nature.

Do the Duty which lies nearest thee.

In this life we get nothing save by effort.

What the superior man seeks, is in himself.

Give me the poverty that enjoys true wealth.

Steadfast a lamp burns sheltered from the wind.

It is enough if you work in the right direction.

To observe attentively is to remember distinctly.

Better three hours too soon than a minute too late.

Leave nothing for to-morrow which can be done to-day.

First, do nothing inconsiderately, nor without a purpose.

The one serious and formidable thing in nature is a will.

Genius is often only the power of making continuous efforts.

Give me the strength to raise my mind high above daily trifles.

Whosoever is out of patience, is out of possession of his soul.

Time is the one loan which even a grateful recipient cannot repay.

We are spinning our own fates, good or evil, and never to be undone.

By nature, men are nearly alike; by practice, they get to be wide apart.

Our labour preserves us from three great evils—weariness, vice, and want.

He whose desires are few gets them; he whose desires are many goes astray.

The sum of wisdom is, that the time is never lost that is devoted to work.

The mechanic, who wishes to do his work well, must first sharpen his tools.

It is not the strength, but the duration of great sentiments that makes great men.

The man who insists upon seeing with perfect clearness before he decides, never decides.

You yourself must make an effort.