CURIOUS QUOTES: PERSERVERANCE

We kick off Season Two of Curious Quotes with a set of quotes about PERSEVERANCE. In the Age of COVID-19, it seems that we all need to stay focused on persevering through the current situation, and it seems especially fitting that the name selected for NASA's 2020 Mars Rover was Perseverance. The themes for Season Two are based on the nine finalists from NASA's Name the Rover Competition. Each Monday morning for the next nine week, I will be releasing a new set of five slides for you to use however you see fit. My hope is that they will give you something to ponder and discuss with others.  

Here's the schedule of what's ahead on Curious Quotes. 
​APRIL 13 - Perseverance
APRIL 20 - Courage
APRIL 27 - Promise
MAY 04 - Vision
MAY 11 - Clarity 
MAY 18 - Ingenuity
MAY 25 - Fortitude
JUNE 1 - Endurance
​JUNE 8 - Tenacity 

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Every collection of Curious Quotes starts with a Google Search and then LOTS of reading through the endless supply of quotes on any given topic. This quote from President John Quincy Adams was the first one that really jumped out at me. I am a big fan of quotes from U.S. Presidents. Although, it turns out that I know very little about John Quincy Adams other than being the 6th President and the son of President John Adams. In an effort to correct this, I set about some learning and discovered that after being President, Adams was elected and served in the House of Representatives from 1831 until his death in 1848. He was also the first U.S. President ever to be photographed which is the image that you see here. This slide uses the classic photograph of the person combined with white text on a black background. 

This quote from Scottish politician Walter Elliot is an interesting twist on the saying "It's not a sprint, it's a marathon." I searched for an image of people running and then stumbled across this overhead image. I loved all of the blank canvas to work with and situated the text in between the lanes. Notice how I let the line with "a long race" stretch across the slide. I had serval variations of this with short lines at the end, but it never felt quite right. 

For this quote from Lao Tzu, I wanted to use an image of a large building to emphasize the importance of having a firm foundation. I searched for skyscrapers, lighthouses, and bridges, but none of them really connected. I chose this image of a dam holding back massive amounts of water instead. The water provides a good blank space to work with. I varied the size of the font in each line and tightened the spacing between each line. I was not sure how to fit in Lao Tzu's name, and decided to play with the road way by angling the signature. 

Of the quotes this week, this one is my personal favorite. I really love how it meaningfully connects to the topic of failure. Failing BIG is often very rewarding. I thought it was really important to include a portrait of author George Eliot. I imagine that many students might not know that George Eliot was the pen name for Mary Ann Evans. This can be the start of a conversation about why she used a man's name instead of her own when publishing such classic novels as Middlemarch and Silas Marner. 

While this quote from Helen Keller does not use the word PERSEVERANCE, I think that it definitely connects to the theme. I had a lot of fun with this slide in using the negative space on each side of the winding road. I also really love the person in the bright yellow rain jacket in the center of the image. When presenting this slide, I would step the part on the right side in as a transition to really build the drama of the quote. 

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