Labore vinces.
(Family motto)

pron = lah-BOH-reh WIN-kays

You will overcome by your hard work.

Comment: This is such a western, left-brain, macho idea. And if the thing to be overcome requires such methods, then this is the motto to have tattooed to your chest (or other appropriate body-part).

Having just "overcome" a bout with serious respiratory infection (no tests for proof, but doc says "near pneumonia") I can tell you what worked.

Taking the medicine. Staying in bed. Sleep. Resisting doing anything (you have no idea what a challenge this is for me).

So, how is this for a vicious cycle? It was very clear to me that if I wanted to get well as quickly as possible, I needed to get in the bed and stay there. It was real work for me not to work. Why?
Because I have breathed deeply of this proverb all of my life. I learned early that to prove my worth, I had to work hard and conquer.
How sad. Some things are best accomplished by doing nothing.

I overheard this conversation at the YMCA recently. One man was proclaiming to another: "I told him that I would NOT discuss religion or politics with him ever again." And then he continued:
"Why bother? There's no way to win!"

Is the only reason for discussing religion or politics or something else that matters to you solely for the purpose of "winning"? How often I have done that! And yet, what struck me as I heard this man was:
"what about discussing religion or politics in order to learn something?" No "winner" or "loser" required.

Some things that are really valuable really require very little work.
An ancient source of wisdom, the Tao Te Ching observed over 2000 years ago that all of life is made up of things that require effort
(yang) and things that require acceptance (yin). And the universe requires both.