Tobias Wolff Quotes

The hardest thing for me is to be patient and realize that it's not all going to happen right now. I just have to keep digging away, digging away. Just keep working on my game.

Learn to self-conquest, persevere thus for a time, and you will perceive very clearly the advantage which you gain from it.

The battle for self-discipline may leave you a bit bruised and battered but always a better person.

Do you want to do this thing? Sit down and do it. Are you not writing? Keep sitting there. Does it not feel right? Keep sitting there. Think of yourself as a monk walking the path to enlightenment. Think of yourself as a high school senior wanting to be a neurosurgeon. Is it possible? Yes. Is there some shortcut? Not one I've found. Writing is a miserable, awful business. Stay with it. It is better than anything in the world.

His [Sam Fuller] self-discipline was amazing. No matter what happened, he'd always go out to his Royal Upright typewriter and just keep working on his stories, his "yarns" as he called them.

There can be no progress nor achievement without sacrifice, and a man's worldly success will be by the measure that he sacrifices his confused animal thoughts, and fixes his mind on the development of his plans, and the strengthening of his resolution and self-reliance.

Discipline to me is sacrifice; it's willingness to give up something you want to do, so you can better yourself.

Self-discipline is the golden key; without it, you cannot be happy.

Don't lament so much about how your career is going to turn out. You don't have a career. You have a life. Do the work. Keep the faith. Be true blue. You are a writer because you write. Keep writing and quit your bitching. Your book has a birthday. You don't know what it is yet.

An easy, non-self-denying life will never be one of power.

I mean, it's the life lessons that I suppose you learn that nobody gets a free ride and that you do the best you can with the means that you can and try to open yourself to as much knowledge and all that that you can.

Victory in physical battles requires strength, muscles, and skill; but the fight is never tougher and victory is never sweeter than in the battles over self.

I think a lot of us think we've failed when we've put the weight back on, but when this happens. you have to pay attention because you can actually learn something. You didn't fail. You just need to stay conscious and know where you went wrong and try again.

I can tell you character traits I admire and work to develop in myself - perseverance, self-discipline, courage to stand up for what is right even when it is against one's friends or one's self.

When you face the perils of weariness, carelessness, and confusion, don't pray for an easier life. Pray instead to be a stronger man or woman of God.

Patience is a virtue, and I'm learning patience. It's a tough lesson.

You cannot dream yourself into a character; you must hammer and forge yourself one.

I keep pushing buttons and trying to grow as a person and as a filmmaker.

Long-term, we must begin to build our internal strengths. It isn't just skills like computer technology. It's the old-fashioned basics of self-reliance, self-motivation, self-reinforcement, self-discipline, self-command.

You're not obligated to win. You're obligated to keep trying to do the best you can every day.

There's a need for accepting responsibility - for a person's life and making choices that are not just ones for immediate short-term comfort. You need to make an investment, and the investment is in health and education.

Well, any time you do anything good, it's man versus himself, right? That's the art, the challenge.

One thing I've come to learn about myself is that I have to keep going.

When I am wrong, I will learn the lesson and move on to face other challenges. For me, that's what creating your own life is. Doing your best work while being your best self.

Every man who observes vigilantly and resolves steadfastly grows unconsciously into genius.