How we cite our quotes: All quotations are from Life Is Beautiful.
Quote #7
GUIDO [into the speaker system]: Good morning, Princess. Last night, I dreamt about you all night. We were going to the movies. You were wearing that pink suit that I really like. You're all I think about, Princess. I always think about you. And now—
JOSHUA [over the loudspeaker]: Momma! Pop wheels me in the wheelbarrow, but he doesn't know how to drive! We laugh like crazy! We're in the lead! How many points do we have today?
And let's not forget Dora. She willingly went to the concentration camp to keep her family from being separated, even though as a gentile Italian, she wouldn't have been deported. Guido and Joshua use the intercom system to give her a much-needed burst of encouragement. In Life Is Beautiful, perseverance is sustained as much for the ones we love as it is by the ones we love.
Quote #8
DOCTOR LESSING: So. Pay attention. "Fat, fat, ugly, ugly, all yellow in reality. If you ask me what I am, I answer, 'Cheep, cheep, cheep.' Walking along I go, 'Poopoo.' Who am I? Tell me true." A duckling, right? Is it a duckling? It's not!
Doctor Lessing has perseverance, but unlike Guido, he doesn't channel it towards anything positive. His perseverance—it's more like obsession—is solely directed toward his own selfish desire to solve every riddle because…actually, we don't know why. Maybe a riddle made fun of him in high school.
Quote #9
NARRATOR: This is my story. This is the sacrifice my father made. This was his gift to me.
In the end, Guido's perseverance pays off. He manages to protect his son, and Joshua survives. Looking back, he sees Guido's sacrifice as a gift, but that sacrifice took enormous perseverance to see it through.