Courage and perseverance have a magical talisman, before which difficulties disappear and obstacles vanish into air. These qualities have ever been displayed in their mightiest perfection, as attendants in the retinue of strong passions.
John Quincy Adams (1802). “An Oration, delivered at Plymouth, December 22, 1802, at the anniversary commemoration of the first landing of our ancestors at that place”, p.13
