A Poet Speaks on Success and Failure
Quote of the Day:
“If you are doing your best, you will not have to worry about failure.”
Robert S. Hillyer
I don’t know what interested me in this poet today, but I found this one quote and was inspired to find more about his writing. I found this quote interesting because of his view on success and failure and what this quote might likely mean to the majority of readers. I believe that most people would see this to mean that if you try hard enough – if you do your best – you will indeed avoid failure.
But I don’t think that is what Mr. Hillyer meant at all. I think he meant if you try your hardest, you won’t care if you succeed or fail. You won’t have to worry about it, because you will know you gave it your best shot and that is more important than the actual end result. You won’t have to worry because you know you lived and did the things you did, with integrity.
Hillyer won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1934. He considered his best book of poetry to be, “Poems for Music.” He was considered a master of sonnets, a difficult form of poetry to write. Many of his sonnets are available at SonnetsCentral.org. Take the time to read them, or maybe print them as I did – they are really good!
Some Parting Thoughts from Robert S. Hillyer:
“Perfectionism is a dangerous state of mind in an imperfect world. ”
“By the age of twenty, any young man should know whether or not he is to be a specialist and just where his tastes lie. By postponing the question we have set on immaturity a premium which controls most American personality to its deathbed. ”
Being the First of thirty-Four Sonnets
Quickly and pleasantly the seasons blow
Over the meadows of eternity,
As wave on wave the pulsings of the sea
Merge and are lost, each in the other’s flow.
Time is no lover; it is only he
That is the one unconquerable foe,
He is the sudden tempest none can know,
Winged with swift winds that none may hope to flee.
Fair child of loveliness, these endless fears
Are nought to us; let us be gods of stone,
And set our images beyond the years
On some high mount where we can be alone;
And thou shalt ever be as now thou art,
And I shall watch thee with untroubled heart.
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