Decay is inherent in all compounded things. Strive on with diligence.

Decay is inherent in all compounded things. Strive on with diligence.

Your best teacher is your last mistake.

Your best teacher is your last mistake.

When I was young I observed that nine out of every ten things I did were failures, so I did read more

When I was young I observed that nine out of every ten things I did were failures, so I did ten times more work.

The expectations of life depend upon diligence; the mechanic that would perfect his work must first sharpen his tools.

The expectations of life depend upon diligence; the mechanic that would perfect his work must first sharpen his tools.

I am bourgeois to the core and parochial beyond belief, and yet I am drawn to art and scholarship as read more

I am bourgeois to the core and parochial beyond belief, and yet I am drawn to art and scholarship as my anti-type, my shadow, the voice of distinction I never possessed. I don't think of myself as a teacher so much as an impersonator of profundities, inhabiting the wisdom of texts with the naked confidence that the value of the genius I espouse transcends the particular fraud that I am the one espousing it. And it doesn't even matter to me that no one seems to be listening; those who listen that I don't know about are enough to keep me going--soaring on the wings of borrowed metaphors.

What we hope ever to do with ease, we must learn first to do with diligence.

What we hope ever to do with ease, we must learn first to do with diligence.

In a completely rational society, the best of us would be teachers and the rest of us would have to read more

In a completely rational society, the best of us would be teachers and the rest of us would have to settle for something else.

Persevere in virtue and diligence.

Persevere in virtue and diligence.

Diligence is a good thing, but taking things easy is much more restful

Diligence is a good thing, but taking things easy is much more restful