Mormon Musings

Angela Duckworth, in her book  Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance , stated, "Grit specifies having a passion to accomplish a particular top-level goal  and  the perseverance to follow through. Enthusiasm is common. Endurance is rare" (Angela Duckworth,  Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance , 2016, 250). Let me repeat the last part. "Enthusiasm is common. Endurance is rare." Angela Duckworth also wrote in the same book, "Grit grows as we figure out our life philosophy, learn to dust ourselves off after rejection and disappointment, and learn to tell the difference between low-level goals that should be abandoned quickly and higher-level goals that demand more tenacity" (Angela Duckworth,  Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance , 2016, 86). Concerning those who fall short, John Greenleaf Whittier's words seem particularly fitting: "For of all sad words of tongue or pen, / The saddest are these: 'It might have been!'...

Men give me some credit for genius. All the genius I have lies in this: When I have a subject in hand, I study it profoundly. Day and night it is before me. I explore it in all its bearings. My mind becomes pervaded with it. Then the effort which I make the people are pleased to call the fruit of genius. It is the fruit of labor and thought. -Alexander Hamilton