Rabbi Akiva began his studies in his middle age and he was hesitant:
It is said: When he was 40 years of age he had not yet studied a thing. One time he stood by the mouth of a well. “Who hollowed out the stone?” he wondered. He was told, “It is the water which falls upon it every day, continually.” It was said up him, “Akiva, have you not heard (the verse) “The waters we wear away the stones”?” (Job 14:19)
Thereupon Rabbi Akiva drew the inference about himself: if what is soft wears down the hard, surely words of Torah, which are as hard as iron, will hollow out my heart which is flesh and blood! He immediately turned to the study of Torah. -Avot d’Rabbi Natan, 6
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