Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr. Quotes

It is most important in creative science not to give up. If you are an optimist you will be willing to "try" more than if you are a pessimist.

When you don't know what to do, try something; if that doesn't work, try something else.

It's very hard sometimes when you can't crack something or can't solve something and you keep trying and trying and you know it's falling a little bit short. That's very hard, but then when you finally do it, it's very rewarding and the process is good too, I like working with people this way.

If we want to have the biggest impact, the best way to do this is to make sure we always focus on solving the most important problems.

We try to solve very complicated problems without letting people know how complicated the problem was.

Never ride a bike with the brakes on. If something is proving too difficult, give up and do something else. Try to live without resort to per­severance.

I find trying to solve problems and save lives is far more important than my film career.

I make no complaint. I am a writer. I do not accept my condition; I will strive to change it; but I inhabit it, I am trying to learn from it.

Some days you get up and put the horn to your chops and it sounds pretty good and you win. Some days you try and nothing works and the horn wins. This goes on and on and then you die and the horn wins.

I always think that it's important to step back and look at the facts, figure out what is big, what is small, and always target the solution and the policy issue correctly. Don't try to solve the wrong problem with unemployment insurance.

I don't know how to get anything done except getting on my knees and pleading for help and then getting on my feet and going to work.

Winston Churchill used to say that we, Americans, try every other option before we finally do the right thing. After everything else is exhausted we eventually do the right thing and I think that's true for Congress as well. And it's important for Americans to remember that politics has always been messy.

You can try to pin me down with a hundred thousand arms, but I will find a way to resist

As an entrepreneur, you can always find a solution if you try hard enough.

Unless you stop trying, how can you not fail anymore?

If you keep working you'll last longer. I'd hate to spend the rest of my life trying to outwit an 18-inch fish.

Not everything is about beating your head against the wall until it breaks.” “Just most things.

I always feel I am in the dark. You are never finished... it is not as if you can look back and think: ah... I know what I am talking about. You are only as good as your last job and are always struggling and striving and you never quite get to where you want to be.

Work hard and meticulously. When in trouble, look closely at a text that is a good example of what you're trying to do. And be patient.

Nothing is really broke, so it's not like I can fix it. I just have to keep trying to find what I'm looking for.

To create a usable piece of software, you have to fight for every fix, every feature, every little accommodation that will get one more person up the curve. There are no shortcuts. Luck is involved, but you don't win by being lucky, it happens because you fought for every inch.

Try but don't try too hard. Just try hard enough, and things will go better.

The fact that you have been knocked down is interesting, but the length of time you remained down is important.

Having to try and going through the trials and tribulations to actually overcome, to get there to win, to triumph, that's what makes life interesting

You have to work to carve out your own little corner, and I'm certainly smacking my head against the wall trying to make a dent. I just hope I don't get brain-damaged before I get there