Quote of the Day: Thomas Fuller on Daily Inspiration

If you have been waiting for a sign to begin, continue, or begin again, let this be your permission: the awkward first steps are not a verdict on your ability. They are part of the path. Thomas Fuller’s line, “All things are difficult before they are easy”, offers a sturdy kind of comfort, the kind that does not flatter you, but strengthens you.

Most of us assume difficulty means something is off. We think the new habit should feel natural by week two, the new role should inspire confidence on day one, the hard conversation should come out smoothly the first time. Fuller cuts through that illusion. Difficulty is not evidence that you are failing; it is evidence that you are learning. When you expect the early phase to be clumsy, you stop wasting energy on self-doubt and start investing it in practice.

That small shift changes everything. “All things” removes the excuse that your struggle is uniquely cursed, while “before” quietly restores hope. This stage is not forever. But it does ask something of you: patience, repetition, and resilience. Ease is rarely a gift handed to the naturally talented; more often, it is the earned result of ordinary effort repeated without drama. In work, in relationships, in faith, and in growth, the unglamorous middle is where fluency is built.

Thomas Fuller was a celebrated English clergyman, historian, and author whose wit and insight helped readers navigate an age of upheaval. His words endure because they are clear-eyed about human nature and deeply practical about how character is formed.

So today, choose one thing you have been avoiding because you are not yet good at it, and give it ten honest minutes. Make the call, write the first paragraph, lace up your shoes, open the blank page. Let awkwardness be your evidence that you have entered the arena, then keep going, and let that be your blessing for the day.