Effort only fully releases its reward after a person refuses to quit.

The line expresses a core theme of Napoleon Hill’s success philosophy: persistence is the catalyst that converts work into results. “Effort” by itself is portrayed as incomplete—its “reward” is not guaranteed by exertion alone but is “released” when a person continues past discouragement, delay, or repeated failure. The wording implies that quitting is the main mechanism by which people forfeit the payoff of their labor, and that the decisive moment often comes after the point where most would stop. As a motivational maxim, it frames perseverance not as optional virtue but as the final condition that makes earlier effort meaningful and productive.