Between the hammer and the anvil.

One must be either anvil or hammer. [ German Proverb ]

When you are anvil, hold you still,
When you are hammer, strike your fill. [ Proverb ]

Silently as a dream the fabric rose;
No sound of hammer or of saw was there. [ Cowper ]

Praying to God and smiting with the hammer. [ Spanish Proverb ]

It is better to be the hammer than the anvil. [ French Proverb ]

In this world a man must either be anvil or hammer. [ Henry Wadsworth Longfellow ]

Art thou anvil, be patient; art thou hammer, strike hard. [ German Proverb ]

The sun of freedom cannot set so long as smiths hammer iron. [ E. M. Arndt ]

To keep a custom, you hammer the anvil still, though you have no iron. [ Proverb ]

Never use a hammer to break an egg, when you can do it with a pen-knife. [ Proverb ]

When you are an anvil, hold you still; when you are a hammer, strike your fill. [ English Proverb, collected by George Herbert ]

You cannot dream yourself into a character: you must hammer and forge yourself one. [ Henry D. Thoreau ]

The hammer and the anvil are the two hemispheres of every true reformer's character. [ J. G. Holland ]

Every man who strikes blows for power, for influence, for institutions, for the right, must be just as good an anvil as he is a hammer. [ Josiah Gilbert Holland (pseudonym Timothy Titcomb) ]

I am constitutionally susceptible of noises; a carpenter's hammer, in a warm summer noon, will fret me into more than midsummer madness; but those unconnected, unset sounds are nothing to the measured malice of music. [ C. Lamb ]

Luck is ever waiting for something to turn up. Labor, with keen eyes and strong will, will turn up something. Luck lies in bed, and wishes the postman would bring him the news of a legacy. Labor turns out at six o'clock, and with busy pen or ringing hammer lays the foundation of a competence. Luck whines. Labor whistles. Luck relies on chance. Labor on character. [ Cobden ]