blood, sweat and tears

Popularized through a famous speech made by Winston Churchill to the House of Commons in 1940, with slight modification, but already present in earlier poetry. More information May be an extension of a much older Indo-European poetic formula “blood and tears”; compare e.g. Hittite 𒂊𒌍𒄩𒉌 𒅖𒄩𒄴𒊒𒌑𒄿 (e-eš-ḫa-ni iš-ḫa-aḫ-ru-ú-i, “in blood [and] in tear(s)”). It is common in Indo-European oral traditions to three bodily substances pertaining to a certain theme, such as “flesh, bone and marrow” for the internal solids (cf. Calin (2017), pages 143–146).

• "We've poured lots of blood, sweat, and tears into this project."
• "[…] for if Princes could keep their own, and that which juſtly belongeth unto them, they could not be urged to draw ſuch extraordinary Subſidies from the blood, ſweat, and tears of their people-; […]"
• "She concludes: "I have put blood, sweat and tears into this business. I am genuinely more excited now than I have ever been. I plan to stick around.""