hesitate vs persist

hesitate

verb
  • To utter with hesitation or to intimate by a reluctant manner. 

  • To stammer; to falter in speaking. 

  • To stop or pause respecting decision or action; to be in suspense or uncertainty as to a determination. 

persist

verb
  • To go on stubbornly or resolutely. 

  • To repeat an utterance. 

  • To cause to persist; make permanent. 

  • To continue to exist. 

How often have the words hesitate and persist occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )