One of the most influential pieces of encouragement

One of the most influential pieces of encouragement that I was fortunate to read was this passage . . .

        "It is not in the nature of man--nor of any living entity--to start out by giving up, by spitting in one's own face and damning existence; that requires a process of correction whose rapidity differs from man to man.  Some give up at the first touch of pressure; some sell out; some run down by imperceptible degrees and lose their fire, never knowing when or how they lost it.  Then all these vanish in the vast swamp of their elders who tell them persistently that maturity consists of abandoning one's mind; security, of abandoning one's values; practicality, of losing self-esteem.  Yet a few hold on and move on, knowing that that fire is not to be betrayed, learning how to give it shape, purpose and reality.  But what their future, at the dawn of their lives, men seek a noble vision of man's nature and of life's potential."

AYN RAND
from The Fountainhead
New York, May 1968