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Who really said it

Life is not easy for any of us. But what of that? We must have perseverance and above all confidence in ourselves. We must believe that we are gifted for something, and that this thing, at whatever cost, must be attained

Written by Marie Curie 1867–1934 · physicist and chemist
Verified In copyright

From a letter Marie wrote to her brother, dated March 18, 1894. It is printed in Eve Curie’s Madame Curie: A Biography (1937), translated by Vincent Sheean, p. 116. The English wording is Sheean’s translation and is confirmed in a full-text scan of the 1937 printing.

Last verified 3 Nov 2026 · how we verify · spot an error?

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“Life is not easy for any of us. But what of that? We must have perseverance and above all confidence in ourselves. We must believe that we are gifted for something, and that this thing, at whatever cost, must be attained” Marie Curie, letter to her brother, March 18, 1894, in Eve Curie, Madame Curie: A Biography, trans. Vincent Sheean (1937), p. 116.

Can you use it?

Still under copyright (rights held by Estate of Eve Curie Labouisse; English translation by Vincent Sheean, copyright 1937 Doubleday, Doran & Company). A short, credited quote is generally fine for talks, teaching, and internal decks; for commercial, published, or large-scale reuse, get permission.

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In context

Evoking the world of Marie Curie — Polish-born French physicist and chemist. Theme: "Life is not easy for any of us. But what of that? We must have perseverance and above all confidence in ourselves. We must believe that we are gifted for something, and that this thing, at whatever cost, must be attained". Atmospheric and restrained, cinematic directional light, a muted period-appropriate palette, fine grain and texture. Compose with generous empty space for the quote and a small credit line. No lettering in the image itself.

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Provenance

Where it comes from

Work
Madame Curie: A Biography, by Eve Curie
Letter
Marie to her brother, March 18, 1894 (Part Two, ch. IX “Forty Rubles a Month,” p. 116)
Translation
Vincent Sheean (English, 1937)
Edition checked
Literary Guild of America printing, New York, 1937 (copyright 1937 Doubleday, Doran & Company)

I want you to pass your doctor’s thesis. … It seems that life is not easy for any of us. But what of that? We must have perseverance and above all confidence in ourselves. We must believe that we are gifted for something, and that this thing, at whatever cost, must be attained. Perhaps everything will turn out very well, at the moment when we least expect it. Letter of March 18, 1894

In the letter as printed on p. 116, the sentence begins “It seems that life is not easy…” Eve Curie quotes it again on p. 158 (ch. XII, “The Discovery of Radium”), introducing it with “It was barely four years before that Marie had written:” That second quotation starts at “Life is not easy for any of us,” which is the form that circulates today.

Scanned book (full text)
Madame Curie (1937), Internet Archive
Full text of Madame Curie (1937), Sheean translation

How the line reached us

  • 1894: Marie, then a student in Paris, writes to her brother. The letter is dated March 18, 1894, in Eve Curie’s Madame Curie, p. 116 ↗.
  • 1937: Eve Curie’s biography of her mother appears in English, translated by Vincent Sheean. It prints the letter, then on p. 158 quotes the line again in the short form now in circulation (1937 Literary Guild printing ↗).
  • Today: Wikiquote’s Marie Curie page ↗ lists the full English wording in its main Quotes section, with a French text and a citation to Eve Curie’s biography, Part 2, p. 116.
In copyright

This English wording is Vincent Sheean’s translation in Eve Curie’s Madame Curie, first published in 1937 (copyright Doubleday, Doran). The work dates from after 1930 and its renewal status was not checked, so we treat it as in copyright in the US. Quoting the short line is ordinary fair use.

Rights status is our research, not legal advice — and copyright varies by country and edition. For commercial or published use, confirm with the rightsholder. See terms.

Fact-check

Small wording drift, not a fake

This is one of the few popular Marie Curie lines with a solid source. The versions online differ only slightly from the printed text.

“Life is not easy for any of us” trimmed

In the letter as printed on p. 116, the sentence begins “It seems that life is not easy for any of us.” The trimmed opening comes from the biography itself: Eve Curie quotes the passage again on p. 158 without “It seems that” (full text ↗).

“gifted in something” variant

Some sites have “gifted in something” instead of “gifted for something.” Wikiquote lists that variant in a second entry, cited only to the Today in Science History website. The 1937 translation reads “gifted for something” in both places (Wikiquote ↗).

Undated “inspirational” posters

Most quote sites print the line with no recipient or date. In the source it is part of a private letter to her brother, dated March 18, 1894, encouraging him to finish his doctor’s thesis (1937 biography ↗).

The popular wording is genuine Marie Curie in Vincent Sheean’s 1937 English translation. It comes from her letter to her brother dated March 18, 1894, as printed in Eve Curie’s Madame Curie, p. 116 ↗.

Context

Why it mattered

Marie wrote the letter as a student in Paris, poor and working alone. On the same page, the biography describes how she stretched a small scholarship to stay longer at the university. The advice is for her brother, whom she urges to pass his doctor’s thesis, but it also describes how she was living herself.

Her daughter Eve came back to the line in the chapter on the discovery of radium. There she presents it as the resolve behind that work: “That ‘something’ was to throw science upon a path hitherto unsuspected.”

We must believe that we are gifted for something.

Explore

Filed under

More provenance-checked quotes on the same theme, each with its reuse status.

Resilience Purpose Courage Work

Go further

Dig deeper

Trusted places to keep pulling the thread — primary archives, fact-checks, and scholarship. We show how we used each one before you leave.

Madame Curie (1937), full scanarchive.org

Digital Library of India scan of the 1937 Sheean translation. The letter is on p. 116, and the line is quoted again on p. 158.
Full text (plain text)archive.org

Searchable OCR text of the 1937 printing. Search for “not easy for any of us.”
Marie Curie on Wikiquoteen.wikiquote.org

Lists the quote in its main section with a French text and a citation to Eve Curie’s biography, Part 2, p. 116.
Pierre Curie, with Autobiographical Notes (1923)gutenberg.org

Marie Curie’s own memoir of Pierre plus her autobiographical notes. A useful check on other Curie lines; this letter is not in it.
Marie Curie biographyen.wikipedia.org

Overview of her life, family (including her brother Józef) and her studies in Paris.

The author

Who wrote it

Marie Curie

1867–1934 · Polish-born French physicist and chemist

Born Maria Skłodowska in Warsaw, Marie Curie moved to Paris to study and became a pioneer of research on radioactivity. With Pierre Curie she discovered polonium and radium. She was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize and the first person to win Nobel Prizes in two sciences, physics and chemistry.

For writers & researchers

Cite this

Primary source

Curie, Marie. Letter to her brother, March 18, 1894. In Eve Curie, Madame Curie: A Biography, translated by Vincent Sheean, 116. New York: Literary Guild of America, 1937.

This verification page

Quotle.info. “Who really said ‘Life is not easy for any of us. But what of that? We must have perseverance and above all confidence in ourselves. We must believe that we are gifted for something, and that this thing, at whatever cost, must be attained’?” Last verified 3 Nov 2026. https://quotle.info/who-said/life-is-not-easy-for-any-of-us-but-what-of-that-we-must/

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