Don’t Quit.

Should there be a set of commandments for successful living, ‘Don’t Quit’ will certainly make the list. At one point or the other, we all must have succumbed to situations we deem to be above our control, whereas, should we hold on a little further, our desires would have been fulfilled. If the going gets tough, as it sometimes will, quitting should not be an option. As Martin Luther King Jr. advised, “If you can't fly, run. If you can't run, walk. If you can't walk, crawl. Just keep moving.”

America was discovered by Christopher Columbus because he didn’t quit. Despite the fact that his men were sick, and the voyage seems to be a fruitless effort after unending weeks of sailing in the vast open Atlantic Ocean, he only exclaimed the two words ‘Sail on’ till something was discovered. If you’re going to get that dream job, or the contract you so much covet, whatsoever you desire, hold on to it no matter the trials. Trials are the universe’s way of eliminating the weaker ones. Even in the academic world, you must pass the examination before you are promoted to the next level. Those that persevere are often those that win the crown. No wonder why Abraham Lincoln remarked that “Things may come to those who wait, but only the things left by those who hustle.”

It is not enough to dream, we must strive to attain our goal. As the popular musician Raymond Usher remarked: “Strivers achieve what dreamers believe.” If you must wrest the best from life, you must cast away all thoughts of ease or inertia. You either struggle or you stagnate; no two ways to it. Edgar A. Guest’s poem “Don’t Quit” below did justice to this subject:

When things go wrong, as they sometimes will,
When the road you are 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 quit!

Life is queer with its twists and turns,
As every one of us sometime learns,
And many a failure turns about
When he might have won had he stuck it out;
Don’t give up, though the pace seems slow –
You might succeed with another blow…

Success is failure turned inside out –
The silver tint of the clouds of doubt –
And you can never tell how close you are,
It may be near when it seems afar;
So stick to the fight when you are hardest hit –
It’s when things get worse that you mustn’t quit!


No matter the intensity of the famine in the jungle, the lion will never eat grass; a lion does not quit until it gets a game even if it means waiting for days. If the dream is big enough, the problems shouldn’t matter. Have you written several bank tests without success? Or is yours ICAN? Have you applied for visa several times without success? Whatever the case may be, don’t quit trying. Don’t quit on your dreams no matter the odds. Or will you rather consent to creep when you’ve got the impulse to soar? God forbid.

Finally, I leave you with the words of Robert Heap; I quote “The human will falters only when it gives up hope. It is invincible while we go on fighting; we fail only when we give up. As we continue to fight, no matter how hopeless the odds, from somewhere we are given new strength; as our efforts increase, so does our strength, our hope, our certainty of victory. Keep fighting and we are sure to win. That is the truth that makes miracles possible. We can only lose if we lose hope. We are bound to succeed if we carry on.”