"Fear God and work hard."

Motivation

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Insight & Reflection

This reflection on motivation by David Livingstone resonates across generations. It highlights a fundamental truth about human nature: our continuous search for meaning in motivation is what ultimately defines our character and our path forward.

About David Livingstone

David Livingstone was a Scottish doctor, Congregationalist, pioneer Christian missionary with the London Missionary Society, and an explorer in Africa. Livingstone was married to Mary Moffat Livingstone, from the prominent 18th-century Moffat missionary family. Livingstone came to have a mythic status as a Protestant missionary martyr, working-class "rags-to-riches" inspirational story, scientific investigator and explorer, imperial reformer, anti-slavery crusader, and advocate of British commercial and colonial expansion. As a result, he became one of the most popular British heroes of the late 19th-century Victorian era.

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Editorial Note: This quote is curated and fact-checked by the ShortQuote Editorial Team. Verified Literature Specialist.

More by David Livingstone

"All that I am I owe to Jesus Christ, revealed to me in His divine Book."

— David Livingstone
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"If you have men who will only come if they know there is a good road, I don't want them. I want men who will come if there is no road at all."

— David Livingstone
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More about Motivation

"I really practiced hard and got to a certain level of technical proficiency. I overcame some of my limitations. I was a hard-working, dedicated bassoonist, but I have to say I'm not a natural musician."

— Nicholson Baker
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"One way we can enliven the imagination is to push it toward the illogical. We're not scientists. We don't always have to make the logical, reasonable leap."

— Stella Adler
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"I've always been spiritual but I've never had a proper context, and it took me awhile to find the proper context. It's hard to realize you can have any kind of relationship with God you want... and so I now have a punk rock relationship with God."

— Billy Corgan
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"I think it's been hard for people to understand how Islam can be a good religion, and yet the Islamists are evil. Those of us who have had experience with Islam understand this, just as we understand the difference between snake handlers and people going to church on Sunday morning."

— P. J. O'Rourke
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