Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion Quotations that resonate with gifted people

"Done is better than perfect."

Somebody said that it couldn’t be done
But he with a chuckle replied
That “maybe it couldn’t,” but he would be one
Who wouldn’t say so till he’d tried.
So he buckled right in with the trace of a grin
On his face. If he worried he hid it.
He started to sing as he tackled the thing
That couldn’t be done, and he did it!

Somebody scoffed: “Oh, you’ll never do that;
At least no one ever has done it;”
But he took off his coat and he took off his hat
And the first thing we knew he’d begun it.
With a lift of his chin and a bit of a grin,
Without any doubting or quiddit,
He started to sing as he tackled the thing
That couldn’t be done, and he did it.

There are thousands to tell you it cannot be done,
There are thousands to prophesy failure,
There are thousands to point out to you one by one,
The dangers that wait to assail you.
But just buckle in with a bit of a grin,
Just take off your coat and go to it;
Just start in to sing as you tackle the thing
That “cannot be done,” and you’ll do it.

]When things go wrong, as they sometimes will,
when the road you're trudging seems all uphill,
when the funds are low and the debts are high,
and you want to smile but you have to sigh,
when care is pressing you down a bit,
rest if you must, but don't you quit.

Life is strange with its twists and turns.
As everyone of us sometimes learns.
And many a fellow turns about
when he might have won had he stuck it out.
Don't give up though the pace seems slow
you may succeed with another blow.
Often the goal is nearer than
it seems to a faint and faltering man;

Often the struggler has given up
when he might have captured the victor's cup;
and he learned too late when the night came down,
how close he was to the golden crown.

Success is failure turned inside out
the silver tint of the clouds of doubt,
and you never can tell how close you are,
it may be near when it seems afar;
so stick to the fight when you're hardest hit
it's when things seem worst, you must not quit.

“You know what makes me sick to my stomach? When I hear grown people say that kids have changed. Kids haven't changed. Kids don't know anything about anything. We’ve changed as adults. We demand less of kids. We expect less of kids. We make their lives easier instead of preparing them for what life is truly about. We’re the ones that have changed.”

"... your children, and your grandchildren must pay 100% of the debt through higher taxes. That looming tax increase dampens expectations of future economic growth. It's a big threat to the quality of life for future generations.

Second, increasing debt means the government is becoming more involved in your life through the programs the debt is paying for.

Third, much of the debt is financed by loans from foreign governments. That means they now have a voice in what happens in the United States."

...he said years later, he felt like ''a spiritual orphan, like a turtle on its back.''

''You see,'' he said, ''I was so different from everyone, so much more intelligent and sensitive and perceptive. I was having fifty perceptions a minute to everyone else's five. I always felt that nobody was going to understand me, going to understand what I felt about things. I guess that's why I started writing. At least on paper I could put down what I thought.''