The anvil of justice is planted firm, and fate who makes the sword does the forging in advance.
I would rather be the hammer than the anvil
There's a saying that goes, 'The universe gives you a whisper, then a nudge, then a push and then an anvil on your head.
ZENITH NOON beats out on its solar anvil the rays of light
Point thy tongue on the anvil of truth.
Sick, irritated, and the prey to a thousand discomforts, I go on with my labor like a true workingman, who, with sleeves rolled up, in the sweat of his brow, beats away at his anvil, not caring whether it rains or blows, hails or thunders.
Thou must (in commanding and winning, or serving and losing, suffering or triumphing) be either anvil or hammer.
Nothing can kill the future dreams and goals of a new graduate than 50k of debt like an anvil over your head. I got to Indiana University not because I visited the campus and loved everything about it. I picked Indiana University because I saw a list of the top 10 business schools and it was the cheapest.
It is not only prayer that gives God glory but work. Smitting on an anvil, sawing a beam, whitewashing a wall, driving horses, sweeping, scouring, everything gives God some glory if being in his grace you do it as your duty. To go to communion worthily gives God great glory, but a man with a dungfork in his hand, a woman with a sloppail, give him glory too. He is so great that all things give him glory if you mean they should.
The hammer and the anvil are the two hemispheres of every true reformer's character.
Many authors write like amateur blacksmiths making their first horseshoe; the clank of the anvil, the stench of the scorched leather apron, the sparks and the cursing are palpable, and this appeals to those who rank "sincerity" very high. Nabokov is more like a master swordsmith making a fine blade; nothing is amiss, nothing is too much, there is no fuss, and the finished product must be handled with great care, or it will cut you badly.
Iron till it be thoroughly heated is incapable to be wrought; so God sees good to cast some men into the furnace of affliction, and then beats them on His anvil into what frame He desires.
And take back ill-polished stanzas to the anvil.
Lay me on an anvil, O God. Beat me and hammer me into a steel spike.
You must be either the servant or the master, the hammer or the anvil.
Tell people the hammered truth, and it will ring like steel against an anvil.
You must either conquer and rule or serve and lose, suffer or triumph, be the anvil or the hammer.
It is better to be the hammer than the anvil.
The anvil is not afraid of the hammer.
We are not taught that hardship is the anvil upon which we are beaten into beauty. We are not taught that some of our greatest moments are some of our most difficult.