Skip to content

Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan "press on" has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.

— Calvin Coolidge

Another quote →

Source, in full

Quote from a program at a Coolidge memorial service (1933); cited in The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations (1999). The passage did not originate with Coolidge, but evolved over several decades, appearing as early as 1881 in a youth guidance book. From

Topics

Perseverance

More quotes by Calvin Coolidge

There is no substitute for a militant freedom. The only alternative is submission and slavery.

To live under the American Constitution is the greatest political privilege that was ever accorded to the human race.

That man has offered me unsolicited advice for six years, all of it bad!

The Constitution is the sole source and guaranty of national freedom.

It is characteristic of the unlearned that they are forever proposing something which is old, and because it has recently come to their own attention, supposing it to be new.

Address at Holy Cross (1919)

All Calvin Coolidge quotes →

You may also like

Just remember, you can do anything you set your mind to, but it takes action, perseverance, and facing your fears.

Gillian Anderson

Attempt the end, and never stand to doubt;
Nothing's so hard but search will find it out.

Robert Herrick Hesperides (1648)

Perseverance is more prevailing than violence; and many things which cannot be overcome when they are together, yield themselves up when taken little by little.

Plutarch

All theory is against the freedom of the will; all experience for it.

Samuel Johnson Life of Samuel Johnson (1791)

Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Calvin Coolidge (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.