"Life is not easy for any of us. But what of that? We must have perseverance and above all confidence in ourselves. We must believe that we are gifted for something, and that this thing, at whatever cost, must be attained.” -- Marie Curie

"If I had to select one quality, one personal characteristic that I regard as being most highly correlated with success, whatever the field, I would pick the trait of persistence. Determination. The will to endure to the end, to get knocked down seventy times and get up off the floor saying. "Here comes number seventy-one!" --Richard M. Devos 

History has demonstrated that the most notable winners usually encountered heartbreaking obstacles before they triumphed. They won because they refused to become discouraged by their defeats." 

Perseverance is constancy and continuance.

Perseverance is dedication, diligence, determination and drive.

Perseverance is endurance, grit and insistence.

Perseverance is patience, resolution and spunk.

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/perseverance

Perseverance is determination, doggedness, drive, gut, moxie, pluck, spunk, stamina, and tenacity.

http://thesaurus.reference.com/browse/perseverance

Perseverance is never giving up.

Perseverance is getting back on the horse that threw you.

Perseverance is hard work and persistence.

Perseverance is getting up, brushing you pants off, and trying again. 

The opposite of perseverance is:

• apathetic
• idleness
• procrastination
• laziness
• giving up
• quitting

"The difference between perseverance and obstinacy is that one comes from a strong will, and the other from a strong won't."  --Henry Ward Beecher

"The greatest oak was once a little nut who held its ground."  --Author Unknown

"The road to success is dotted with many tempting parking places."  --Author Unknown

“Do not let your fire go out, spark by irreplaceable spark, in the hopeless swamps of the approximate, the not-quite, the not-yet, the not-at-all. Do not let the hero in your soul perish, in lonely frustration for the life you deserved, but have never been able to reach. Check your road and the nature of your battle. The world you desired can be won. It exists, it is real, it is possible, it is yours.” --Ayn Rand

The woman known as the "Queen of Comedy" was once considered a failure at performing. She attended the John Murray Anderson School of the Dramatic Arts in New York City as a young woman. She was sent home a few weeks after starting, a failure. Her teachers had told her that she was too shy and had no talent as a performer.

She returned to New York City and through persistence and perseverance finally obtained a job modeling. She became moderately successful modeling for Hattie Carnegie who owned an internationally acclaimed dress salon. Life was good. Suddenly, a new roadblock was set in her way. The woman was incapacitated by rheumatoid arthritis.

She returned to her rural home where she fought to overcome the disease for three years. Finally, with her left leg a little shorter than her right, she again returned to New York to persue her acting career. Her persistence and perseverance paid off as she went from bit parts to starring roles.

She fell madly in love with one of her co-stars and they married. The strain of differing schedules and being apart drove this marriage to the brink of divorce. Love won and in an attempt to save their marriage the two created a TV show about a crazy redhead married to a Cuban musician.

CBS refused to produce the show claiming it would never succeed. The couple persevered and formed their own production company. "I Love Lucy" began it's successful six year run in October of 1951. It immediately became America's favorite TV show.

This woman, who is the embodiment of the word perseverance, was Lucille Ball. Widely loved as the cooky redhead, "Lucy" from the "I Love Lucy" show, she won the hearts of people around the world. Re-runs of "I Love Lucy" are shown in more than 80 countries in the world. Twenty years after her death she is still winning hearts!

Lucille Ball believed in perseverance over luck. She was not lazy or apathetic. She always had spunk, moxie and pluck. She lived her life with determination, drive and tenacity. Her success is more a product of her stamina and doggedness than simple luck.

Consider these quotes:

• One of the things I learned the hard way was that it doesn't pay to get discouraged. Keeping busy and making optimism a way of life can restore faith in yourself.

• Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.

• Luck? I don't know anything about luck. I've never banked on it, and I'm afraid of people who do. Luck to me is something else: Hard work -- and realizing what is opportunity and what isn't.

Lucille Ball was a hard working and dedicated professional. Through perseverance she became a legend and died a millionaire. Here are some of her accomplishments:

• She was the first woman to own a production company.

• She received the Women's International Center (WIC) Living Legacy Award posthumously in 1990.

• She appeared on 39 TV Guide covers, more than any other person.

• She was featured on a stamp by the United States Postal Service in 2001.

• She was one of Time magazine's "100 Most Important People of the Century".

• There is a museum dedicated to her in her hometown of Jamestown, NY.

• She was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame in 2002.

Lucille Ball also received 4 Emmy Awards, a Golden Globe, and in 1975 was voted Entertainer of the Year. She received many more awards and distinctions than are listed here.