Ebook How to Make Your Mark in Life

'Twixt what thou art and what thou wouldst be, let
No "if" arise on which to lay the blame.
Man makes a mountain of that puny word,
But, like a blade of grass before the scythe,
It falls and withers when a human will,
Stirred by creative force, sweeps towards its aim.

Thou wilt be what thou couldst be. Circumstance
Is but the toy of genius. When a Soul
Burns with a God-like purpose to achieve,
All obstacles between it and its goal
Must vanish as the dew before the sun.

"If" is the motto of the dilettante
And idle dreamer: 'tis the poor excuse
Of mediocrity. The truly great
Know not the word, or know it but to scorn;
Else had Joan of Arc a peasant died
Uncrowned by glory and by men unsung.

- Ella Wheeler Wilcox.