The prizes of life are at the end of each journey, not near the beginning; and it is not given to me to know how many steps are necessary in order to reach my goal.  Failure I may still encounter at the thousandth step, yet success hides behind the next bend in the road.  Never will I know how close it lies unless I turn the corner...I will be likened to the rain drop which washes away the mountain; the ant who devours a tiger; the star which brightens the earth; the slave who builds a pyramid.  I will build my castle one brick at a time, for I know that small attempts repeated will complete any undertaking.

I will never consider defeat and will remove from my vocabulary such words and phrases as quit, cannot, unable, impossible, out of the question, improbable, failure, unworkable, hopeless and retreat:  for they are the words of fools.  I will avoid despair, but if this disease of the mind should infect me, then I will work on in despair.  I will toil and I will endure.  I will ignore the obstacles at my feet and keep mine eyes on the goals above my head, for I know that where dry desert ends, green grass grows...I will forget the happenings of the day that is gone, whether they were good or bad, and greet the new sun with confidence that this will be the best day of my life.

Og Mandino, The Greatest Secret in the World (New York:  Frederick Fell Pubs., Inc. 1972), p. 30, 38-39.

***************

It is not the critic who counts:  not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled or where the doer of deeds could have done them better.  The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, and comes short again and again, because there is not effort without error and shortcomings; who does actually try to do the deed; who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly.

Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs even though checkered by failure, than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much because they live in the gray twilight that knows neither victory nor defeat.

Theodore Roosevelt
                                                                                   Go to Next Chapter

Persistence Overcomes Resistance

Persistence
Home
Prosperity
Power
Obedience
Prayer
Wisdom
Fear
Peace
Strength
Confidence
Authority
Vision
Unbelievers
Counsel
Faith
Action
Perseverance
Trust
Giving
Love
Thriftiness
Servant
Words
The Spirit
Health
Confess
Never
Blessed Man
Diseases / Cures
Excellence
Persistence
Don't Quit
Believe
Salvation
Tell-A-Friend
Contact Us