"No great intellectual thing was ever done by great effort"
- Theodore Roosevelt
About this Quote
This quote by Theodore Roosevelt talks to the idea that excellent intellectual achievements are not achieved through effort alone. Rather, it is the combination of hard work and imagination that leads to fantastic intellectual achievements. Roosevelt suggests that it is not the effort that is taken into a job that makes it fantastic, but rather the imaginative concepts and ingenious thinking that goes into it. He implies that great intellectual accomplishments are the result of a mix of effort and creative thinking. This quote encourages us to think outside the box and to utilize our imagination to come up with brand-new and ingenious ideas. It likewise serves as a reminder that effort alone is insufficient to achieve success.
"To be really great in little things, to be truly noble and heroic in the insipid details of everyday life, is a virtue so rare as to be worthy of canonization"
"Having soon discovered to be great, I must appear so, and therefore studiously avoided mixing in society, and wrapped myself in mystery, devoting my time to fasting and prayer"