Invictus

BY WILLIAM ERNEST HENLEY

Out of the night that covers me, 

      Black as the pit from pole to pole, 

I thank whatever gods may be 

      For my unconquerable soul. 

In the fell clutch of circumstance 

      I have not winced nor cried aloud. 

Under the bludgeonings of chance 

      My head is bloody, but unbowed. 

Beyond this place of wrath and tears 

      Looms but the Horror of the shade, 

And yet the menace of the years 

      Finds and shall find me unafraid. 

It matters not how strait the gate, 

      How charged with punishments the scroll, 

I am the master of my fate, 

      I am the captain of my soul.

This was the poem that kept Nelson Mandela encouraged while in prison for 28 years. He of course was a political prisoner and had been sentenced to life for opposing apartheid. After his release he became president of South Africa and subsequently put and end to apartheid. 

While many people get hung up on the last line as being captain of my soul...I don’t. I take it in the vein that God gives us his spirit which is the unquerable soul. This gives me the ability to be unconquerable. 

The Road Ahead or The Road Behind

Sometimes I think the fates must grin as we denounce them and insist,

The only reason we can’t win is the fates themselves have missed.

Yet, there lives on the ancient claim – we win or lose within ourselves,

The shining trophies on our shelves can never win tomorrow’s game.

So you and I know deeper down there is a chance to win the crown,

But when we fail to give our best, we simply haven’t met the test

Of giving all and saving none until the game is really won.

Of showing what is meant by grit, of fighting on when others quit,

Of playing through not letting up, it’s bearing down that wins the cup.

Of taking it and taking more until we gain the winning score,

Of dreaming there’s a goal ahead, of hoping when our dreams are dead,

Of praying when our hopes have fled. 

Yet, losing, not afraid to fall,

If bravely we have given all, for who can ask more of a man

than giving all, it seems to me, is not so far from – Victory.

And so the fates are seldom wrong, no matter how they twist and wind,

It’s you and I who make our fates, we open up or close the gates,

On the Road Ahead or the Road Behind.

- George Moriarty

Difference between Winning and Succeeding

https://www.ted.com/talks/john_wooden_on_the_difference_between_winning_and_success?utm_campaign=tedspread--b&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=tedcomshare

Tom Brady (Ignore the Critics)

"I found my combine shirt from 17 years ago and it got me thinking...This is what they said about me then....Poor build. Skinny. Lacks great physical stature and strength. Lacks mobility and ability to avoid the rush. Lacks a really strong arm. Can't drive the ball downfield. Does not throw a really tight spiral. System-type player who can get exposed if forced to ad lib. Gets knocked down easily. As @edelman11 always reminds me... "You can prove em right or you can prove em wrong".

― Tom Brady