Skip to content

To bear up under loss — to fight the bitterness of defeat and the weakness of grief — to be victor over anger — to smile when tears are close — to resist evil men and base instincts — to hate hate and to love love — to go on when it would seem good to die — to seek ever after the glory and the dream — to look up with unquenchable faith in something evermore about to be — that is what any man can do, and so be great.

— Zane Grey The North American Almanac (1931)

Another quote →

Source and credibility

Wikiquote does not flag this quote as disputed or misattributed.

Source: As quoted in The North American Almanac (1931), p. 54, this sometimes published with a prefix "Recipe for greatness —" but this does not appear in the earliest versions of it yet located.
Work: The North American Almanac, 1931
Source quality: Secondhand citation Quoted from another book or article rather than from the original.

More by Zane Grey

Remembering Jane’s accusation of bitterness, he tried hard to put aside his rancor in judging Tull. But it was bitter knowledge that made him see the truth. He had felt the shadow of an unseen hand; he had watched till he saw its dim outline, and then he had traced it to a man’s hate, to the rivalry of a Mormon Elder, to the power of a Bishop, to the long, far-reaching arm of a terrible creed.

Riders of the Purple Sage (1912)

All Zane Grey quotes →

More quotes by Zane Grey

For hand in glove with that power was an insatiate greed; they were one and the same.

Riders of the Purple Sage (1912)

We'll use a signal I have tried and found far-reaching and easy to yell. Waa-hoo!

The Last of the Plainsmen (1908)

"If I fished only to capture fish, my fishing trips would have ended long ago."

Tales of Southern Rivers (1924)

It was the elision of the weaker element — the survival of the fittest; and some, indeed very many, mothers must lose their sons that way.

The Desert of Wheat (1919)

He called Tull a binder of women, a callous beast who hid behind a mock mantle of righteousness—an’ the last an’ lowest coward on the face of the earth. To prey on weak women through their religion—that was the last unspeakable crime!

Riders of the Purple Sage (1912)

All Zane Grey quotes →

Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Zane Grey (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.