Great Throughts Treasury

"The Constitution of America only guarantees pursuit of happiness - you have to catch up with it yourself. Fortunately, happiness is something that depends not on position but on disposition, and life is what you make it."

"You—re on your own— was all he said that day long years ago So long his name and face are lost in memory—s afterglow; Nor do I recollect of pride or joy or doubt or fright Or other circumstance which marked that time for solo flight The cryptic words alone endure : he said —you—re on your own— And down through time I—ve found it so — the test—s to walk alone Not that one choose to draw aside in churlish mein or vein, From common lot of what life holds of pleasure, toil or pain But that the call—s to rise and cruise alone with dreams unshared Or plan alone for some far goal, for which none else has cared Or fight alone for what you hold is worth a warrior—s strife And ask no gain or fame or aught beyond the joy of life. I owe a quenchless debt to him who bade me seize my fate And hang it on the faith that I to it was adequate For when he said —you—re on your own— and sauntered on away I knew that here, in four short words, was youth—s first judgment day Not wit to learn, not test of skill, not pride to satisfy, But will to walk down life in faith that life is theirs who try."

"And of the living, none, not one, who truly loves the sky, would trade a hundred earth bound hours for one that he could fly."