Perseverance will prevail is a free translation of “turn an iron rod into a needle”. It was a story that happened in the Tang dynasty.

Li Bai, the most famous poet in Chinese history, was a naughty boy when he was a kid. As many kids at his age, he hated school and always hung out by himself.

One day, he played truanted as he did before. The blue sky, the warm sunshine and cute birds were much more interesting than classes to him. “Why should I study in school?” he thought. Then he met a granny who grinded an iron rod.

“What are you doing?” Li Bai was curious.

“I want to grind the iron rod and turn it into a needle.” The granny said.

“But how many years it would take to grind the pod to a needle?”

“Constant dropping wear a stone. So the iron pod can be a needle.” She said, “As long as I work hard, I can achieve everything I want to.”

Li Bai was moved and he returned to school and studied hard. Finally, he became the most famous poet in Chinese history. Since then, the phase “Perseverance will prevail” became an idiom to encourage people’s persistence.