Struggle, failure, triumph: while triumph is the thing sought, struggle has its joy, and failure is not without its uses.
It is not the goal but the course which makes us happy. The law of life is what a great orator affirmed of oratory–“Action, action, action!” As soon as one point is gained, another, and another presents itself.
It is a mistake to suppose that men succeed through success; they much oftener succeed through failure. Even when one turns to no new course, how many failures, as a rule, mark the way to triumph, and brand into life, as with a hot iron, the lessons of defeat!
The brave man or the brave woman is one who looks life in the eye, and says: “God helping me, I am going to realize the best possibilities of my nature, by calling into action the beneficent laws which govern and determine the development of each individual member of the race.” And the failures of such a person are the jewels of triumph; that triumph which is certain in the sight of heaven, if not in the eyes of men.
Watch this brief video and then forever stop straddling life’s fences: