Self-pity in its early stages ...

Self-pity in its early stages is as snug as a feather mattress. Only when it hardens does it become uncomfortable.
Self-pity in its early stages is as snug as a feather mattress. Only when it hardens does it become uncomfortable.
 Louisa May Alcott

More phrases

Effort only fully releases its reward after a person refuses to quit.
Never complain and never explain.
A good plan violently executed now is better than a perfect plan executed next week.
 George S. Patton
Problems are not stop signs, they are guidelines.
 Robert Schuller
Never give up, for that is just the place and time that the tide will turn.
 Harriet Beecher Stowe

Quotes from the same author

I'm not afraid of storms, for I'm learning how to sail my ship.
 Louisa May Alcott
Happy is the son whose faith in his mother remains unchallenged.
 Louisa May Alcott
What do girls do who haven't any mothers to help them through their troubles?
 Louisa May Alcott
[Jo to her mother] I knew there was mischief brewing. I felt it and now it's worse than I imagined. I just wish I could marry Meg myself, and keep her safe in the family.
 Louisa May Alcott
The clocks were striking midnight and the rooms were very still as a figure glided quietly from bed to bed, smoothing a coverlid here, settling a pillow there, and pausing to look long and tenderly at each unconscious face, to kiss each with lips that mutely blessed, and to pray the fervent prayers which only mothers utter.
 Louisa May Alcott