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Gumption Quotes

Browse 20 quotes about Gumption.

Gumption Quotes

“Anyone who has gumption knows what it is, and anyone who hasn’t can never know what it is. So there is no need of defining it.”

KnowsNeedsMotivationalMotivationDefiningGumption
Book:L. M. MONTGOMERY – Premium Collection: Novels, Short Stories, Poetry & Autobiography (Including Anne Shirley Novels, Chronicles of Avonlea & The Story Girl Series): Anne of Green Gables, Anne of Avonlea, Anne of the Island, Anne's House of Dreams, Rainbow Valley, The Golden Road, Kilmeny of the Orchard, The Watchman, Songs of the Sea & many more
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“Since Mom wasn't exactly the most useful person in the world, one lesson I learned at an early age was how to get things done, and this was a source of both amazement and concern for Mom, who considered my behavior unladylike but also counted on me. "I never knew a girl to have such gumption," she'd say. "But I'm not too sure it's a good thing.”

WorldPersonsDoneAgeGirlSourceMomLessonsBehaviorConcernGood ThingsThings DoneAmazementGumption
Author:Jeannette Walls
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“If Gone With the Wind has a theme it is that of survival. What makes some people come through catastrophes and others, apparently just as able, strong, and brave, go under? It happens in every upheaval. Some people survive; others don't. What qualities are in those who fight their way through triumphantly that are lacking in those that go under? I only know that survivors used to call that quality 'gumption.' So I wrote about people who had gumption and people who didn't.”

PeopleIfsKnowsWayHappensAbleUsedFightingStrongQualityGoneWindSurvivalBraveThemeSurvivorLackingCatastropheUpheavalGumption
Author:Margaret Mitchell
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“Healing the wounds of the earth and its people does not require saintliness or a political party, only gumption and persistence. It is not a liberal or conservative activity; it is a sacred act.”

PeopleDoeEarthPoliticalPartyHealingActivitySacredClimate ChangeConservativeWoundsPersistencePolitical PartiesGumption
Book:Blessed Unrest: How the Largest Social Movement in History Is Restoring Grace, Justice, and Beau ty to the World
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“There are times when each of us has to have some gumption to take a stand as to what we wish to preserve or change in order to maintain our self-respect and not be as "a reed shaken with the wind" (Matt. 11:7) . . . . We lose much credibility and strength, and we risk being weighed on an uneven balance, when, Don Quixote-like, we go around "tilting windmills".”

SelfOrderWishLosesRiskStrengthWindBalancePreservesSelf RespectCredibilityReedsWindmillsGumption
Book:Reach Up for the Light
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“A person filled with gumption doesn’t sit about stewing about things. He’s at the front of the train of his own awareness, watching to see what’s up the track and meeting it when it comes. That’s gumption. If you’re going to repair a motorcycle, an adequate supply of gumption is the first and most important tool. If you haven’t got that you might as well gather up all the other tools and put them away, because they won’t do you any good.”

IfsFirstsWellsPersonsImportantMightAwarenessFrontsHavensToolsFilledTrainMeetingsTrackAdequateMotorcycleGumption
Author:Robert M. Pirsig
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“When the worms are scarce, what does a hen do? Does she stop scratching? She does not. She scratches all the harder. A lot of businessmen have been showing less sense than a hen since orders became scarce. They have laid off salesmen; they have stopped or reduced their advertising; they have simply resigned themselves to inaction and, of course, to pessimism. If a hen knows enough to scratch all the harder when the worms are scarce, surely businessmen ... ought to have gumption enough to scratch all the harder for business.”

IfsKnowsDoeHas BeensEnoughOrderCoursesOughtHarderPerseveranceAdvertisingPessimismBusinessmanWormsScratchesInactionScarceSalesmanResignedHensLaid OffGumption
Author:B. C. Forbes
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“You know, sometimes I don't understand what's wrong with us. This is just about the most creative and imaginative country on earth—and yet sometimes we just don't seem to have the gumption to exploit our intellectual property. We split the atom, and now we have to get French or Korean scientists to help us build nuclear power stations. We perfected the finest cars on earth—and now Rolls-Royce is in the hands of the Germans. Whatever we invent, from the jet engine to the internet, we find that someone else carts it off and makes a killing from it elsewhere.”

KnowsCountrySometimesHelpingHandsSeemsEarthCreativeCarInternetIntellectualScientistPropertyKillingNuclearStationsAtomsEnginesElsewhereSplitsFinestImaginativeExploitsJetKoreanCartsNuclear PowerIntellectual PropertyRolls RoyceGumptionJet Engines
Author:Boris Johnson
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