P.T. Barnum had shrewdness, inventiveness, hair-trigger readiness in
acting or deciding, an eye for hidden possibilities, an instinct for
determining beforehand what would prove popular. All these qualities
helped him in his original and extraordinary career. But the quality he
valued most highly was the one he called "stick-to-it-iveness." This
completed the others. Without it the great showman could not have
succeeded at all. Nor did he think that any man who lacks it will make
much headway in life.
We know how rough the road will be,
How heavy here the load will be,
We know about the barricades that wait along the track;
But we have set our soul ahead
Upon a certain goal ahead
And nothing left from hell to sky shall ever turn us back.
We know how brief all fame must be,
We know how crude the game must be,
We know how soon the cheering turns to jeering down the block;
But there's a deeper feeling here
That Fate can't scatter reeling here,
In knowing we have battled with the final ounce in stock.
We sing of no wild glory now,
Emblazoning some story now
Of mighty charges down the field beyond some guarded pit;
But humbler tasks befalling us,
Set duties that are calling us,
Where nothing left from hell to sky shall ever make us quit.
_Grantland Rice._