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sweat quotes

  • In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return to the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shall return.

    -Bible (Old Testament)
    Genesis 3:19.

  • All good poetry is forged slowlyand patiently, link by link, with sweat and blood and tears.

    - Lord Alfred Bruce Douglas
      Collected Poems, introduction.

  • I am proud that I am an Australian, a daughter of the Southern Cross, a child of the mighty bush. I am thankful I am a peasant, a part of the bone and muscle of my nation, and earn my bread by the sweat of my brow, as man was meant to do. I rejoice I was not born a parasite, one of the blood-suckers who loll on velvet and satin, crushed from the proceeds of human sweat and blood and souls.

    -of Bin Bin
    My Brilliant Career, ch.38.

  • I couldn't eat, just went on drinking coffee, and sweating it out again. Liquid had no time to be digested; it came through the pores long before it reached the stomach. I lay wet through with sweat for four hoursit was very nearly like happiness.

    - (Henry) Graham Greene
      In Mexico. The Lawless Roads (published in the US as Another Mexico).

  • Luck is a dividend of sweat. The more you sweat, the luckier you get.

    - Ray(mond) A Kroc
      Quoted by Penny Moser 'The McDonald's Mystique', in Fortune, 4  Jul.

  • The mere animal pleasure of travelling in a wild unexplored country is also great† The effect of travel ona manwhoseheart isintheright place isthatthemind is made more self-reliant: it becomes more confident of its own resourcesthere isgreater presence of mind† The sweat of one's brow is no longer a curse when one works for God: it proves a tonic to the system, and actually a blessing. No one can trulyappreciate the charm of repose unless he has undergone severe exertion.

    - Dr David Livingstone
    Collected in H  Waller (ed)  The Last  Journals of David Livingstone in Central  Africa; continued by a narrative of his last moments and sufferings, obtained from his faithful servants, Chuma and Susi (1874).

  • His brow is wet with honest sweat, He earns whate'er he can, And looks the whole world in the face, For he owes not any man.

    - Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
      'The VillageBlacksmith', stanza 2. Collectedin Ballads and other Poems (1841).

  • It is only because miners sweat their guts out that superior persons can remain superior.

    - George pseudonym of  Eric Arthur Blair Orwell
      The Road to Wigan Pier, ch.2.

  • He looks to me to be in heaven, that manwho sits across from you and listensnear you toyour soft speaking, your laughing lovely: that, I vow, makes the heart leap in my breast; for watching you a moment, speech fails me, my tongue is paralysed, at once a light fire runs beneath my skin, my eyes are blinded, and my ears drumming, the sweat pours down me, and Ishake all over, sallower than grass: I feel as if I'm not far off dying.

    -Sappho   7c
    D L Page (ed) Lyrica Graeca Selecta (1968), no.199 (translated by M L West).

  • Poetry†is perfection's sweat but most seen as fresh as the raindrops on a statue's brow.

    - Derek Alton Walcott
      In the NewYorkTimes, 8 Dec.

Webster's New World Dictionary of Quotations Copyright © 2010 by Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved. Published by Wiley, Hoboken, NJ. Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

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