RAG Music - Quote [Quotes on Effort] Carefully Selected Messages from Great Figures Quotes on Effort: A curated selection of passionate messages left by great figures and famous people 10 years as a kindergarten teacher / elementary school teacher / junior and senior high school teacher / childminder kepiko Graduated from Kunitachi College of Music, Faculty of Music (now: Department of Music Culture and Education, Early Childhood Music Education major). In elementary school, my homeroom teacher was Jun Kusaba, a game researcher. After graduating from university, I worked for 10 years as a kindergarten teacher and for 7 years as an after-school childcare instructor, then took a post as a music teacher at an international school in Singapore. In addition to music education, I also engaged in activities that shared Japanese culture, traditional games, and recreational play, working with many children. Afterwards, through freelance writing, planning, and editing work at Shogakukan, I met many delightful adults and experienced the joy of communicating and conveying ideas. Leveraging the perspective cultivated in educational settings and my experience as an editor, I aim to deliver practical information—focusing on fields related to music and children—that values both input and output. Hobbies include instruments, singing, handcrafts, toys, drawing, traditional play, the outdoors, books, DIY, and crafts. Special skill: spinning-top tricks.
Accompanist / Piano Instructor yuri Accompanist pianist × piano instructor × web writer. I began piano lessons at age four and, inspired by my piano teacher, decided to pursue music. I went on to specialized music programs in high school and university, where I discovered the appeal of accompanying instrumentalists and singers. Currently, alongside teaching piano, I work mainly in my home region of Aichi as an accompanist for flute, voice, choir, and more. Through lessons, my students often introduce me to trending songs, and my hobby is trying anything on the piano—Japanese and Western pop, commercial jingles, and beyond. Since 2021, I’ve also been active as a web writer, covering music and a variety of other genres.
To achieve our goals, to live better lives, and to become our ideal selves…
we are tested on our “effort” in many situations.
However, there are times when we grow tired of constantly striving, or when we can no longer find meaning in our efforts.
In this article, we’ve gathered quotes about “effort” from great figures and famous people.
Reading these quotes reminds us that the achievements of those we call geniuses were possible precisely because of their effort.
Take in these powerful messages and put them to use from here on out!
Table of Contents Quotes on Effort: A curated selection of passionate messages left by great figures and famous people “Even if you can’t do it, it can’t be helped” is something to think after it’s over; if you think that along the way, you’ll never achieve it. Ichiro People who see their efforts as “effort” are generally mistaken. Sanma Akashiya Hard, painful efforts don’t bear fruit, but when the person is actually enjoying themselves—even if others just say, “You’re working hard”—those efforts do bear fruit. Miyazon You must never stop making your best effort to win. You must not run away. Sadaharu Oh Effort is always rewarded. If there is effort that isn’t rewarded, then it cannot yet be called effort. Sadaharu Oh If you can’t even make the effort to study, you’ll fail at everything. Kazlaser Do what needs to be done. Nothing more, nothing less. Masahiro Tanaka Instead of thinking “I hope it turns out like this,” think “It absolutely will. This is how it will be.” Hideki Kuriyama Do not neglect your daily preparation so you won’t miss opportunities. Yuto Nagatomo An athlete who touts their practice by saying “I’m working hard” cannot be called first-rate. Shigeo Nagashima 99 percent perspiration and 1 percent inspiration Thomas Alva Edison Without experiencing many sacrifices and hardships, one can never know what success truly is. Gandhi On cold days when nothing blooms, stretch your roots deeper and deeper. In time, a great flower will bloom. Naoko Takahashi No fence reading ‘No entry beyond this point’ can be put up in the face of great ambition, talent, and diligence. Ludwig van Beethoven Those who strive speak of hope; those who are lazy speak of complaints. Yasushi Inoue A strong will to never give up becomes the steps that carry you all the way to the summit. Narumi Takahashi The attitude of striving not to betray yourself will manifest as results in the future. Yoshiharu Habu If you have a clear dream and a clear goal, the path will surely open up. Mahatma Gandhi They say perseverance pays off, like sitting on a stone for three years. But you must not neglect the effort to master in one year what would normally take three. Konosuke Matsushita People who can keep putting in effort longer than others will inevitably succeed. And those who know how to apply their effort can achieve great success. Keisuke Honda A natural gift is something you’re born with. Talent is something you draw out. Coco Chanel The only way to reach an extraordinary place is by steadily piling up small efforts. Ichiro Talent alone is not enough to become great. It takes hard work and dedication. If you’re not prepared to sacrifice something, you won’t gain anything. Kobe Bryant What I want to tell people around the world is to make an effort. If you put your heart into it, you can achieve anything. Cindy Ngamba Everyone has talent. But it’s effort that makes talent blossom. Michael Jordan Impossible is not a fact, but an opinion. Muhammad Ali Prioritizing the team’s victory over personal glory ultimately leads to individual success as well. Lionel Messi There is no escape from effort. Love effort. Roger Federer There is no absolute champion. A champion is always a challenger. Kosuke Kitajima Believe in the 1% chance, believe in yourself, and believe in what you’ve done. Yuto Horigome Life doesn’t create dreams. Dreams create life. Shohei Ohtani Expectations aren’t something to meet, but to exceed. Shohei Ohtani Sometimes you need to practice intensely without overthinking it. Seiji Hirao Effort is always rewarded. If there is effort that isn’t rewarded, then it can’t yet be called effort. Sadaharu Oh The distance you’ve run will never betray you. Mizuki Noguchi We read “failure” as “success.” Katsuya Nomura Don’t rush, don’t panic, don’t give up. Precisely because of all you’ve built up Sara Takanashi Fight with soul, every single throw. Sayaka Yoshimura An indecisive leader can even be harmful. Yoshihide Suga We must win/earn every single step ahead of us. Florence Nightingale If you think you can, you can; if you think you can’t, you can’t. This is an unshakable, absolute law. Pablo Picasso No one ever regrets having done their best. George Halas Small steps of progress add up to great success. Mahatma Gandhi Genius is an ordinary person who makes an extraordinary effort. Albert Einstein Do not fear change. It is part of growth. Elon Musk As long as you keep challenging yourself, failure does not exist. Mark Zuckerberg Nothing is impossible. Muhammad Ali No one can beat someone who never gives up. Babe Ruth The mental strength to endure—to dig in with “One more step!” the very moment you think “I can’t go on”—cultivates an unbeatable power to overcome anything. Taihō Kōki I will defeat geniuses through hard work. Kisenosato Yutaka A professional never makes excuses, no matter what. Chiyonofuji Mitsugu Sweat you shed never lies Chiyonofuji Mitsugu Practice with a view to three years ahead. Be patient, thinking about five or ten years down the road. Taihō Kōki Because there was a humiliating defeat, my determination to absolutely win next time grew stronger. Kitanoumi Toshimitsu The fence isn’t built by others; it’s built by yourself. Aristotle We don’t make efforts to be rewarded. We do it so we don’t betray ourselves. Sanae Takaichi Only the weak are unable to forgive; forgiveness is a sign of strength. Gandhi Life only comes once, and I think everyone struggles and hesitates over many things when they’re young. But at such times—whether or not you can actually realize what you have in mind—I believe you should take the plunge. Yoshihide Suga The best way to pave the road to success is through effort and diligence, and by focusing on what is going well rather than on what isn’t. Do not be easily satisfied—whether with yourself or with anything else. Even when the wind is against you, grit your teeth and refuse to compromise. I succeeded because I never made excuses and never allowed them. Florence Nightingale One of the most important things is to never give up easily. Strive not for success, but to become a person of value. Albert Einstein Something might happen even to those who merely wait, but it will be only the leftovers from those who made the effort. Abraham Lincoln Something might happen to those who only wait, but it will be nothing more than the leftovers of those who made an effort. Lincoln The key to making your dreams come true is to want them like crazy. Kansai Yamamoto Any genius is born of passion. Isaac D'Israeli It’s in the moments you decide that your destiny is shaped. Anthony Robbins I kept telling myself that everything I was studying was for my goal. Miles Davis To challenge yourself is to grow. LeBron James Don’t rush. But don’t give up. Shigeta Saitō If other people can do it, there’s no way you can’t. From Fujiko Fujio's Doraemon If you don’t give up, there will always be a way. Always. Sakichi Toyoda To learn is to enrich one’s life. Albert Einstein It is not noble to be superior to others. Ernest Hemingway What matters is getting back up every time you fail. Winston Churchill Not being satisfied is the best technique for improving your ability. Wayne Gretzky If you stay focused, you can overcome any obstacle. Warren Buffett Knowledge is a weapon. The question is how you use it. Eminem If you believe in yourself, there are no limits. Cristiano Ronaldo Obstacles before you are opportunities. By facing difficulties, you can grow. Kevin Durant There is only one way to succeed: never give up. Jeff Bezos To solve a problem, don’t run away from it. Jack Dorsey You only realize your own strength once you’ve overcome your anxieties and concerns. Serena Williams It’s never too late to start something. Bill Gates Knowledge is power. Francis Bacon Even if I face setbacks, I don’t lose my pride—that’s because I’m putting in the effort. Shigeo Nagashima A person who studies three, four, even five times more than anyone else—that is a genius. Hideyo Noguchi If you can dream it, you can achieve it. Walt Disney It takes time for effort to show results. Many people get bored, waver, and give up before then. Henry Ford Those who do not advance will surely retreat, and those who do not retreat will surely advance. Yukichi Fukuzawa If you keep putting in the effort over enough time, there’s nothing you can’t accomplish. Helen Keller To become the best in the world, you need world-class effort. Keisuke Honda You don’t need to worry about having fallen. What matters is how you get back up from there. Abraham Lincoln Without goals and plans, no amount of effort and courage will do you any good. John F. Kennedy Don’t listen to people who say, “You can’t do it.” If you want to accomplish something yourself, and you fail, don’t blame others—take responsibility yourself. Magic Johnson Suppose there’s a wall that will break if you hit it 100 times. But since no one knows how many hits it takes, they give up partway through—even when they’ve already made it to the 99th hit. Shuzo Matsuoka Our lives are worth only as much as the effort we put into them. François Mauriac The only kind of “doping” I know is just one thing: hard work. Roberto Baggio Once you have set your aspiration, take only those measures that advance you toward it, and never allow yourself to falter. Even if you cannot achieve your goal, you should be prepared to die on the path toward it. Ryotaro Shiba ...to be continued [Quotes on Effort] Carefully Selected Fiery Messages Left by Great Figures and Celebrities (111–120) Great achievements are not made by a momentary impulse, but are accomplished through the accumulation of small things. Vincent van Gogh If you feel you tend to heat up quickly and cool off just as fast, why not keep this quote in mind? These are words left by Van Gogh, reminding us that to achieve great things, what matters is not fleeting emotions or actions, but how we sustain and build upon our passion and conviction.
Van Gogh kept painting throughout his life, believing in himself even without anyone’s recognition.
I hope you, too, find something you can be absorbed in for a lifetime, just like Van Gogh.
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If you remember before falling asleep at night that there’s something you still haven’t done, get up immediately and do it. Dostoevsky Dostoevsky (1821–1881) is a leading literary giant of 19th-century Russia, known for masterpieces such as Crime and Punishment and The Brothers Karamazov.
The message seems to be that we must not greet tomorrow without having made the effort we were supposed to make today—if we don’t act now, we’ll create a negative legacy for tomorrow.
It’s a painful truth to hear, but it certainly compels us to put it into practice.
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Even if a person fails time and again, as long as they don’t lose the courage to try “once more,” they will surely make something of themselves. Konosuke Matsushita Konosuke Matsushita (1894–1989) was the founder of the Panasonic Group and is known as the “God of Management.” His great achievements were indeed the fruit of indomitable effort.
Even if you fail, rise again—that, he teaches us, is what makes a big difference.
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I’m not satisfied with my current shogi. I want to keep working hard without getting carried away by wins or discouraged by losses. Sota Fujii Sota Fujii holds an astounding record of 29 consecutive wins.
Amid that achievement, he uttered this memorable quote.
Despite leaving such a legacy, he remains humble and strives for even greater heights.
When we succeed, we tend to stop putting in the effort and think, “This is good enough.” But that’s where growth stops.
Good situations don’t last very long.
There will always come a time when you fall, and a new wall will stand in your way.
It’s precisely when we succeed that we should remember these words, continue our tireless efforts, and keep polishing ourselves.
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I’m sure there are views you can only see by becoming stronger, and I want to go far enough to see them. Sota Fujii Sota Fujii became a professional shogi player at the record-breaking age of 14 years and 2 months.
Even now, and surely at various milestones in the world of shogi, he has witnessed views that can only be seen from such rare vantage points.
In 2023, he achieved the remarkable feat of capturing all eight major titles.
Yet, it’s said that Fujii does not let himself be bound by records; he plays shogi with the stance of simply wanting to become genuinely stronger.
His famous quotes convey his feelings toward the game.
Perhaps there are places that only those who have mastered their field can reach.
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I think talent is more like potential—something that can be refined through effort. Sota Fujii Sota Fujii, who has set a variety of records and is even called a “genius,” naturally makes us wonder whether his shogi prowess is an inborn talent.
As the famous saying goes about “talent” and “effort,” it seems that behind the Fujii fever lies an extraordinary amount of hard work.
There are times when we think, “I have neither talent nor luck,” and quickly give up on our dreams and goals.
But like Sota Fujii, if we refuse to give up and keep going, we may discover a special talent along the way, refine it, and truly shine.
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Even if someone tells you “No, you can’t,” that’s only the first step. What you must learn is to overcome those words that say “No, you can’t.” James Cook James Cook (1728–1779) was an 18th-century British maritime explorer, known as Captain Cook.
He made three voyages to the Pacific, discovered the Hawaiian Islands, and left a circumnavigation journal in his own hand.
While most of us might give up when told something is impossible, he teaches us that it is important to overcome such discouragement when we encounter it.
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I want you to put in effort in a way that suits you and isn’t misguided. Seiji Chihara Hard work is often seen as a virtue, but pushing yourself blindly in any environment isn’t always the right approach.
Chihara Seiji’s words teach us the importance of recognizing the places and situations that suit us, and then investing our efforts there.
Effort in the wrong environment may not lead to results and can even cause self-negation.
Effort in the right place brings out your strengths to the fullest and generates the power to move forward.
Understanding your own traits and choosing a stage that doesn’t force you is not running away—it’s a smart choice.
This quote reminds us that not choosing the wrong direction for our challenges is a key point for leading a fulfilling life.
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Working hard to make your dreams come true is a very important thing in life. Seiji Chihara This is a famous quote shared by comedian Seiji Chihara that conveys the profound meaning in the process of striving toward a dream.
What it emphasizes is the value of the challenge over the outcome.
While pursuing a dream, people push their limits and accumulate countless experiences.
That effort becomes nourishment for life in different forms, bringing knowledge and relationships that could only be gained by taking on challenges.
Even if the dream doesn’t come true, the journey becomes a source of strength, turning into power for the next goal.
The fact that you worked hard is a treasure no one can take from you, and it fuels a richer life.
It is a quote that teaches the importance of the act of challenging itself.
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Isn’t giving it your all until the very end what true purpose in life is all about? Osamu Tezuka The saying, “Isn’t it true that striving to the very end is the real purpose of life?” teaches the value of giving your all.
It’s often said that people tend to quit right before success is within reach.
Thinking, “I’ve done enough; this is sufficient,” can’t really be called fighting to the very end.
Of course, there are dreams and goals we must give up for various reasons, but this is a quote I want to etch in my heart so I don’t stop halfway for reasons rooted in my own weakness.
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