At the close of last semester a freshman girl called me on the phone from her home after she had taken her final examinations. With tears in her voice, she asked if she could come and see me. I said, of course she could, and the next morning she arrived, wringing her hands and saying: "I won't be back! I've done badly on my tests. I'm going to get poor grades. I just don't have it intellectually."

There are a number of qualities which contribute to personal success in life. Some, like being born with good parents or in a favorable country or social class, or with natural physical and mental endowments, are completely out of our control. But the ones that really count are the ones that we can do something about. And, among these, nothing is so important as the quality of persistence.

You may pick at random from a library shelf the biography of any man or woman who has made a lasting contribution to humanity. Some were extremely brilliant, others showed uncommon courage. But one characteristic was present in every case. Every person who achieved greatness has shown uncommon persistence.

Webster defines persistence as "going on resolutely in spite of opposition ... to persevere; to remain fixed in character; to be insistent in the repetition of a position, or a question, or an opinion." The opposite quality is irresoluteness, vacillation, faintheartedness; to become discouraged or diverted from one's aim.

Now, while I do not think the young lady who came to tell me she was quitting is a brilliant student, I have seen enough of her aptitude tests to know that she is a person of average abilities. I believe she is allowing herself to be defeated, not because she lacks sufficient native intelligence, but because she lacks a dogged determination to succeed.

Let's take, for example, the case of Albert Einstein. In grade school he was such an unimpressive student that when his father asked the headmaster what profession young Albert should pursue, the headmaster replied: "It really doesn't matter because he will never make a success of anything." Einstein became one of the premier intellectuals of the 20th Century and probably the greatest physicist of all time more by reason of determined persistence than because of easy genius.

Many similar cases can be cited. We have recently celebrated the 100th anniversary of the birth of Winston Churchill. In school he was a very slow student. As a public servant his career was thought to be finished in the 1930s, and he had failed to achieve most of his dreams and goals. But by staying alert and alive, he was prepared when the rare opportunity for leadership came at age 66. At a time when most men are retired, he became in 1940 the British Prime Minister and rallied not only his own countrymen, but all the Western world against Hitler. Because of his bulldog tenacity, he is regarded as the greatest political leader of the 20th Century.

The story of America's greatest statesman is, likewise, not a story of easy success, but one of dogged perseverance. He failed in business in 1831, was defeated for State Legislator in 1832, again failed in business in 1833, but was elected to the State Legislature in 1834. His sweetheart died in 1835 and he had a nervous breakdown in 1836. He was defeated for Speaker in 1838, defeated for Elector in 1840, and defeated for Congress in 1843. Finally he was elected for one term to Congress in 1845, only to be defeated again for Congress in 1848. He was defeated for the Senate in 1855, was defeated for Vice President in 1856, and was defeated again for the Senate in 1858. Finally, in 1860, he was elected President of the United States. These were just a few rough spots in the life of Abraham Lincoln.

Franklin Roosevelt, who was President of the United States longer than any other man, was severely crippled by polio and served all of those cataclysmic years of depression and war in a wheel chair. One of his great strengths was a powerful use of public speaking, especially at a time when the radio had given direct access to all the American population. Those famous "fireside chats" sounded informal and off-the-cuff. But at Hyde Park, New York, is a glass case, displaying nine drafts of one of Roosevelt's famous speeches. The first was rough; the second improved; the third showed greater improvement. In the eighth draft only one word had to be changed before the ninth and final draft was run. "Trifles," said Michelangelo, "make perfection. But perfection itself is no trifle."

Churchill was also a spell binder, who appeared to speak completely extemporaneously. But, as one of his biographers correctly noted: "Sir Winston spent most of his life working on his impromptu speeches...."

The fields of science, medicine, and industry are filled with evidence that success results more from persistence than any other quality. Admiral Robert E. Perry was determined to reach the North Pole and claim it for the United States. Seven times he started out, seven times he failed. The eighth time, after incredible hardships, he made it. He spent 23 years in pursuit of his goal and reached it at the age of 53.

Thomas Edison worked tirelessly to develop the light bulb. He had countless failures, many more defeats than any quitter will ever know. But he also knew the final joy of success. In his old age, Edison sunk a fortune into his great film studio. It caught fire and burned to the ground. As he watched the leaping flames his associates, standing nearby, wondered what the great old man was thinking. Here were all his years of work going up in flames. After the building was completely gone, Edison broke the silence with the words: "Gentlemen, we start building tomorrow."

Nowhere is the power of persistence more evident than in the world of sports. One of the most celebrated golf professionals of all time was formerly a chubby Chicano caddy at a wind-blown El Paso course. The secret to Lee Trevino's success is that, even now, he frequently goes to the driving range after a tournament round to perfect a single shot by practicing it two or three hundred times, until his hands are blistered.

"Winning," says football coach George Allan, "can be defined as the science of being totally prepared. The difference between success and failure is so small it can't be perceived by most of us. Losers don't realize this. They always find some little thing to account for a defeat. A loser is a man who is unprepared. A winner is a man who consciously does everything he can to prepare himself as completely as possible. 'No' is a word that to me means 'maybe.' 'Maybe' means 'yes.' Tenacity can be your edge because almost everyone else will be going for the easy way."

"The achiever," says Allan, "is the only individual who is truly alive. I see no difference between a chair and the man who sits in the chair if he is not accomplishing. Performance is the thing that counts ... Nothing is impossible to those who are willing to pay the price and paying the price is itself an enjoyable part of winning."

Even after greatness has been achieved, there is no place to let up. In fact, the consensus of successful people is that it is much harder to stay on top than it is to get there. Even after Paderewski was the world's foremost pianist, he continued to practice eight hours every day. "When I miss a day of practice," he remarked, "I can always tell it. If I miss two days, the critics will pick it up. If I miss three days, the audience will notice it."

The greatest illusion of all is that only talent counts in achieving excellence. The student who believes this, and who equates testing scores with intelligence and capacity, may come to expect too little of himself. If you can concentrate upon a single task, and persevere tirelessly in that task, you can achieve excellence. The great astronomer Tycho Brahe made his place in history not for any brilliant leap of thought, but because of his meticulous and patient years of recorded astronomical observations. His follower, Kepler, filled over 9000 pages and many lonely years with tedious calculations before realizing that the orbit of the planets must be elliptical. Inspiration was only a tiny fraction of the work. Perspiration was Brahe's tool, and it was also Kepler's. It is the basic tool of most greatness. Talent is plentiful. Persistence and determination are rare.

It is, of course, easy to blame external circumstances for our failures. It is comforting to say of a successful person: "Oh, he's a genius," or "He was born into a rich family," or "She has a natural talent for art." These rationalizations are simply our own excuses. Nobody is born a great runner, a great writer, a great mathematician, or a great artist. Nobody is ever born with competence at these skills. Obviously, some people are born with a greater aptitude. But excellence is acquired by persistence.

Some time ago, I clipped out of a newspaper a message from McDonald's Hamburgers. It had nothing to do with a Big Mac, it was just a terse statement of what I believe to be a basic truth: Press on. Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education alone will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent......