Success is 10% inspiration and 90% perspiration.

When everything is fast paced in the age,instant things such as instant noodles, instant photographs, instant takeaway food, etc, exist. Many people also expect success to be instant. They expect instant (gratification : satisfaction / fulfilment) in whatever they have set out 10% inspiration and 90% (perspiration : (hard work). That is to say success does not come easily. It takes lots and lots of hard work.

One example is the mastery of the English Language. Many people think that just by attending a two or three-week course, they can become experts in the language. This is usually not the case. Those who really good at the language have studied it for years, even decades. They read a lot and they learn everything they can about the language including the meanings of its words, its sentence structures and correct usage. Only after many (grueling : exhausting / taxing / hard / difficult) years of serious study have they become as good as they are. A great percentage of the success of such people depends on perspiration or hard work.

Another example is Thomas Edison who invented the light bulb. He had the inspiration to use electricity for lighting purposes so he set out to make something that would light up when electricity is passed through it. In short, he wanted to create a light bulb. He did not succeed at his first attempt. He failed more than a thousand times. Eventually, he created an element that could light up brightly when electricity was passed through it and which could last for a reasonable period of time. I think it was he who said, "Success is 10% inspiration and 90% perspiration."

Another famous man (could bear testimony to this statement : can be witness to / can give proof of). He was James Watt who invented the steam engine. Watching a coin being blown off the spout of a kettle of boiling water, he was ispired to use steam to work for mankind. So, he (envisaged : saw / visualised) an engine powered by steam. Many people thought that he succeeded after only a few attempts. The truth was he tried out thousands of models before he found one that worked well. His success came only with a lot of perspiration, that is very hard work.

From the foregoing examples, we should learn never to expect to succeed instantly in whatever we have set out to do. Success is usually 10% inspiration and 90% perspiration.