The training plans I've used for all three of my marathons are by Hal Higdon here
For my first marathon I used the Novice schedule, 4 runs per week. The second time I moved up to 5 runs per week and used Intermediate I, then this year I started out on Intermediate II, made it to my first-ever 50-mile week then got injured! After a two-week layoff and physio I decided to revert to Intermediate I for the remaining 6 weeks of the schedule.
My reasons for choosing Hal's schedules were:
a) they're not too prescriptive (i.e. don't dictate what pace you should be running, or feature specific sessions such as hills, track intervals etc.) I don't have access to a running track so find it pretty impossible to run 800m repeats or similar.
b) they essentially focus on getting in the miles, mostly at a comfortable pace - in my view, this is key to marathon success.
c) even at the peak of the schedules, the weekly mileage is not excessively high compared to many other commercially available schedules. I needed something that would fit into my life and still be achievable. With an hour-plus commute each way to work, a busy life and a husband who doesn't run, 60+ mile weeks just weren't realistic for me.
d) I would rather follow a schedule I'm capable of achieving than fall short every week of a too-demanding schedule, which would make me lose motivation. With these schedules, I ticked off every run and didn't miss a single session (apart from this year, due to injury).
The key to marathon training is consistency. Try not to miss any sessions, and if you have to then make sure it's not one of the long runs. You need to get the miles in to comfortably get round on marathon day.
I can't think of any inspirational sentences, but can't help recalling Lance Armstrong's words that "nothing worthwhile was ever easily achieved." Works for me.