Six weeks into the school year you can find most college kids in the same boat. Studying extremely hard for the upcoming “test week”, drained from energy from the test week they just finished, or at a state of sheer overwhelming at the way everything has seemingly picked up and spiraled out of control all at one time. College is hard, as if that even needs saying. It is the four years that we seemingly decide how the rest of our lives should pan out. No pressure, amiright? Something that always seems to give me hope is the fact that there have been people that have walked this path of life before me. They’ve felt the same despair and stress. They’ve struggled with how to balance social life and student duties. They struggled with friendships and relationships. These people have been here, and they’ve conquered. They’ve been successful. I think one of the biggest factors of success is the ability to remain persistent and to work hard. To push through and keep going. So here are a few wise words from a few of the world's accomplished on persistence to encourage us throughout this stage of life.

You may encounter many defeats, but you must not be defeated. In fact, it may be necessary to encounter the defeats, so you can know who you are, what you can rise from, how you can still come out of it - Maya Angelou

It’s not that I’m so smart, it’s just that I stay with problems longer - Albert Einstein

Making your mark on the world is hard. If it were easy, everybody would do it. But it’s not. It takes patience, it takes commitment, and it comes with plenty of failure along the way. The real test is not whether you avoid this failure, because you won’t. It’s whether you let it harden or shame you into inaction, or whether you learn from it; whether you choose to persevere - Barack Obama

The real glory is being knocked to your knees and then coming back. That’s real glory. That’s the essence of it - Vince Lombardi

I'm convinced that about half of what separates the successful entrepreneurs from the non-successful ones is pure perseverance - Steve Job

It's hard to beat a person who never gives up - Babe Ruth

Sweat equity is the most valuable equity there is. Know your business and industry better than anyone else in the world. Love what you do or don't do it - Mark Cuban

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 must be attained - Marie Curie