Jack London on motivation and goals

The proper function of man is to live, not to exist. I shall not waste my days in trying to prolong them. I shall use my time.

A bone to the dog is not charity. Charity is the bone shared with the dog when you are just as hungry as the dog.

Life achieves its summit when it does to the uttermost that which it was equipped to do.

A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.

Do, or do not. There is no ‘try.’

Never give in⁠—never, never, never, never, in nothing great or small, large or petty, never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense. Never yield to force; never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy.

Winston Churchill1874–1965Speech given at Harrow School, Harrow, England, October 29, 1941. Quoted in Churchill by Himself (2008), ed. Langworth, PublicAffairs, 2008, p. 23