Law of Success (21st Century Edition)

PROFITING BY FAILURE

And great is the man with a sword undrawn)

And good is the man who refrains jrom wine;

But the man who jails and yet still jights on)

Lo) he is the twin~brother oj mine.

889

There can be no failure for the person who "still fights on:' No
one has ever failed until they accept temporary defeat as failure. And
there is a wide difference between the two-a difference I have tried
to emphasize throughout this lesson.
I am convinced that failure is Nature's plan through which she
hurdlejumps those of destiny and prepares them to do their work.
Failure is Nature's great crucible in which she burns the dross from
the human heart and so purifies the mettle of the person that it can
stand the test of hard usage.
I have found evidence to support this theory in the study of the
records of scores of great men, from Socrates and Christ on down the
centuries to the well-known men of achievement of our times. The
success of each seemed to be in almost exact ratio to the extent of
the obstacles and difficulties he had to surmount.
No one ever arose from the knockout blow of defeat without
being stronger and wiser for the experience. Of course one must have
considerable courage to look upon defeat as a blessing in disguise, but
the attainment of any position in life that is worth having requires a
lot of "sand:' This brings to mind a poem that harmonizes with the
philosophy of this lesson:

I observed a locomotive in the railroad yards

one day)

It was waiting in the roundhouse where the

locomotives stay;

It was panting jor the journey) it was coaled

and jully manned)

And it had a box the jireman was jillingjull

oj sand.