Saying "I can't, I haven't the ability, I am unlucky" and such like makes you weak and knocks out all chance for doing things.
Nothing comes out of the brain that wasn't burned in by thought. If you accuse yourself, belittle your capacity, or drown your good impulses with doubt and self-accusation, you are putting away a lot of bad thought in your brain and no wonder you will lack in initiative, ambition and courage.
To those who claim to be unlucky I want to say you are not unlucky, you simply lack pluck.
You start at undertakings with a handicap of fear, and a made-up mind you can't accomplish. No one ever got anywhere with anything with such a millstone around his neck.
Many a man has been whipped in a fight, defeated in a contest, or beaten at an undertaking, but he didn't show it or let the other fellow know it; he just kept on with a brave front and finally the other fellow quit, mistaking grim determination, pluck and perseverance for strength and victory.
Ethan Allen with his handful of men was asked to surrender by the British general with his superior force. By all rights and rules of war Ethan was licked, but he didn't give in. He replied, "Surrender h—ll; I've just commenced to fight." If Ethan had accused himself and said, "I can't whip that big bunch, there's no hope," he would have been whipped to a finish.
Don't show the enemy, or the world, your weakness. Don't admit anything impossible that is capable of accomplishment.
It's the "I can" man who wins. No man ever won a fight if he started out by saying, "I can't whip him, he is too much for me, I am no match for him, but I'll try."
No person ever made success in business if he started in with uncertainty, lack of confidence and unbelief in his ability.
Knock yourself and the world will accept you at your own estimate. Show streaks of yellow cowardice and the mob will pounce on you like a pack of hungry wolves.