Updated January 20, 2015.

Persistence is a quality worth developing when you stop smoking, because recovery from nicotine addiction is usually a series of ups and downs early on.  The day will come when you no longer have to work at staying smoke-free though, so persist for as long as it takes to gain your freedom from tobacco.  It's worth every ounce of energy you devote to it and much more.

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The best way out is always through.

  ~ Robert Frost ~

The three great essentials to achieve anything worthwhile are, first, hard work; second, stick-to-itiveness; third, common sense.  ~Thomas Edison ~

Character consists of what you do on the third and fourth tries.  ~ James A. Michener ~

When I face the desolate impossibility of writing five hundred pages, a sick sense of failure falls on me, and I know I can never do it. Then gradually, I write one page and then another. One day's work is all I can permit myself to contemplate.  ~ John Steinbeck ~

The sky is not my limit...I am.  ~ T.F. Hodge ~

They key of persistence opens all doors closed by resistance.  ~ John D. Lemme ~

Success doesn't come to you; you go to it.  ~T. Scott McLeod ~

To persist with a goal, you must treasure the dream more than the costs of sacrifice to attain it. ~ Richelle E. Goodrich ~

Holding on, holding out and holding fast when the going is tough constitutes a winning mindset. ~ Ogwo David Emenike ~

Never let those who say it can't be done obstruct you from pursuing your goals.

~ Lailah Gifty Akita ~

Challenges can't overcome people who never quit trying to overcome them.  ~ Constance Chuks Friday ~

Nothing in the world can take the place of Persistence. The desire and ability to press on has and always will solve the problems of the human race and divide those who achieve from those who might have been.  ~ Jeffrey Fry ~

When you feel like giving up, remember why you held on so long in the first place.  ~ Anonymous ~

Noting in the world can take the place of persistence.  ~ Calvin Coolidge ~

Narrow the focus, take the ascent one step at a time, and it's amazing what odds a man can beat.  ~ Courtney Schafer ~

This is the highest wisdom that I own; freedom and life are earned by those alone who conquer them each day anew.  ~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe ~

Never give up.  ~ Nancy Kerrigan ~

No great achievement is possible without persistent work.  ~ Bertrand Russell ~

Patience, persistence and perspiration make an unbeatable combination for success.  ~ Napoleon Hill ~

The most essential factor is persistence - the determination never to allow your energy or enthusiasm to be dampened by the discouragement that must inevitably come.  ~ James Whitcomb Riley ~

To make our way, we must have firm resolve, persistence, tenacity. We must gear ourselves to work hard all the way. We can never let up.  ~ Ralph Bunche ~

Being defeated is only a temporary condition; giving up is what makes it permanent.  ~ Marilyn vos Savant ~

Don't be discouraged. It's often the last key in the bunch that opens the lock.  ~ Anonymous ~

Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.  ~ Thomas Edison ~

The person interested in success has to learn to view failure as a healthy, inevitable part of the process of getting to the top.  ~ Dr. Joyce Brothers ~

You've got to say, I think that if I keep working at this and want it badly enough I can have it. It's called perseverance.  ~ Lee Iacocca ~

Failure is only postponed success as long as courage "coaches" ambition. The habit of persistence is the habit of victory.  ~ Herbert Kaufman ~

Perseverance is the hard work you do after you get tired of doing the hard work you already did.  ~ Newt Gingrich ~