For honest merit to succeed amid the tricks and intrigues which are now so lamentably common, I know is difficult; but the honor of success is increased by the obstacles which are to be surmounted. Let me triumph as a man or not at all.
Attribution disputed; shown as originally published.
Obstacles sometimes prevent success entirely regardless of honor.
Fighting battles is like courting girls: those who make the most pretensions and are boldest usually win.
Virtue is defined to be mediocrity, of which either extreme is vice.
That's an amazing invention, but who would ever want to use one of them?
To give anything less than your best is to sacrifice the Gift.
I do not steal victory
To have striven, to have made the effort, to have been true to certain ideals - this alone is worth the struggle.