Fortune favours the brave
Even if we have a nodding acquaintance with the lives of great men, and analyse the causes and factors that led to their greatness and glory, we will find that almost all of them were courageous. They were capable of, and ready for taking risks. This courage and readiness to take risks lies at the bottom of their success. If they had been afraid of disasters that might await them if their enterprise failed, they would not have risen so high in the world. All great men have been in a sense gamblers of fortune. By their undaunted courage, indomitable energy and enthusiasm, they carried all before them. While those, who were hesitant and diffident and thought more of failures that might greet them than of the success which would crown their enterprises, were finally defeated. Napoleon used to say that he who feared defeat was surely defeated.
