For the gritless every defeat is a Waterloo, but there is no Waterloo for the man who has clear grit, for the man who persists, who never knows when he is beaten. Those who are bound to win never think of defeat as final. They get up after each failure with new resolution, more determination than ever to go on until they win.
Have you ever seen a man who had no give-up in him, who could never let go his grip whatever happened, who, every time he failed, would come up with greater determination than ever to push ahead? Have you ever seen a man who did not know the meaning of the word failure, who, like Grant, never knew when he was beaten, who cut the words “can’t,” and “impossible,” from his vocabulary, the man whom no obstacles could down, no difficulty phase, who was not disheartened by any misfortune, any calamity? If you have, you have seen a real man, a conqueror, a king among men.
As we look around at other men, enjoying the good things of life, basking in the sunshine of success, let us remember that they didn’t get their place in the sun by wishing and longing for it. They didn’t get to Easy Street by the road of Inertia. When you are tempted to envy those people, and long to have a “pull” or some one to give you a “boost,” just call to mind this jingle:
“You must jump in, and fight and work, nor care for one defeat;
For if you take things easy, you won’t reach Easy Street.
Don’t waste time in envy, and never say you’re ‘beat,’
For if you take things easy, you won’t reach Easy Street.”
There is no royal road to anything that is worth having. Only work and grit will do the trick. As J. Pierpont Morgan says, “Hard, honest, intelligent work will land any young man at the top.”
The great business world is always on the hunt for the man who can do things a little better than they have been done before, the man who can deliver the goods, the man who can manage a little better, the man who is a little shrewder, a little more scientific, a little more accurate, a little more thorough; it is always after the man who can bring a little better brain, a little better training to his job.