A Little More Persistence, Courage, Vim!

Henry Austin? Henry Austen? Robert Burns Wilson? C. C. Cameron? Anonymous?

Dear Quote Investigator: A poem about tenacity begins with the following four lines:

Genius, that power which dazzles mortal eyes,
Is oft but perseverance in disguise.
Continuous effort, of itself, implies,
In spite of countless falls, the power to rise.

This verse has been attributed to Henry Austin and C. C. Cameron. Would you please explore this topic?

Quote Investigator: The earliest match for the full poem located by QI appeared in 1898 within the trade publication “Dental Brief” of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Henry Austin received credit. Boldface added to excerpts by QI:^[1]1898 November, Dental Brief, Volume 3, Number 4, Section: For Our Patients, Perseverance Conquers All by Henry Austin, Quote Page 245, L. D. Caulk, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Google Books Full … Continue reading

PERSEVERANCE CONQUERS ALL.

Genius, that power which dazzles mortal eyes,
Is oft but perseverance in disguise.
Continuous effort, of itself, implies,
In spite of countless falls, the power to rise.

’Twixt failure and success the point’s so fine
Men sometimes know not when they touch the line.
Just when the Pearl was waiting one more plunge,
How many a struggler has thrown up the sponge!

As the tide goes clear out, it comes clear in;
In business ’tis at turns the wisest win.
And oh! how true, when shades of doubt dismay,
“’Tis often darkest just before the day,”

A little more persistence, courage, vim!
Success will dawn o’er fortune’s cloudy rim.
Then take this honey for the bitterest cup:
“There is no failure, save in giving up,—

No real fall as long as one still tries,—
For seeming setbacks make the strong man wise.
There’s no defeat, in truth, save from within;
Unless you’re beaten there, you’re bound to win.”

Henry Austin

Based on current evidence, Henry Austin is the leading candidate for author of this full poem; however, the work evolved from earlier material as outlined below.

Here are additional selected citations in chronological order.

A few lines from the work above were enclosed in quotation marks. This suggested that Austin was incorporating material that was already in circulation into his work. Line number 12 was enclosed; also, lines 16 through 20 were enclosed.

The twelfth line containing the word “darkest” was already a well-known adage. In 1650 Thomas Fuller penned an instance in the book “A Pisgah-sight of Palestine”:^[2]1650, Title: A Pisgah-sight of Palestine and the confines thereof with the history of the Old and New Testament acted thereon, Author: Thomas Fuller, Book 3: The Tribe of Gad, Quote Page 229, Printed … Continue reading

Thus, as it is always darkest just before the Day dawneth, so God useth to visite his servants with greatest afflictions, when he intendeth their speedy advancement.

In 1887 Robert Burns Wilson published a five paragraph piece titled “And So—I Gave Up Trying!” in the New York journal “The Critic”. The following text in boldface matched statements in the 1898 poem ascribed to Austin:^[3]1887 October 8, The Critic: A Weekly Review of Literature and the Arts, “And So—I Gave up Trying!” by Robert Burns Wilson, Start Page 173, Quote Page 173, The Critic Company, New York. (Google … Continue reading

There is no defeat except from within. There is really no insurmountable barrier, save your own inherent weakness of purpose.
. . .
There is no failure except in no longer trying.

A separate QI article about Wilson’s quotation above is available here.

In 1894 “The Golden Rule” journal of Boston, Massachusetts printed four lines that later appeared in the full 1898 poem with one small difference: the word “failure’s” replaced “fortune’s”. The lines were placed between quotation marks, but no attribution was specified:^[4] 1894 April 12, The Golden Rule, Volume 8, Number 28, Strictly Business, Quote Page 588, Column 2, Boston, Massachusetts. (Newspapers_com)

“Oh! how true, when shades of doubt dismay,
‘’Tis often darkest just before the day.’
A little more persistence, courage, vim!
Success will dawn o’er failure’s cloudy rim.”

In 1895 “Mining and Scientific Press” of San Francisco, California printed a short anonymous essay about persistence. Material in this essay overlapped lines in the poem under examination:^[5] 1895 June 1, Mining and Scientific Press, Volume 70, Number 22, Keeping Everlastingly At It Brings Success, Quote Page 344, Column 3, San Francisco, California. (Google Books Full View) link

Genius is really only the power of making continuous efforts. The line between failure and success is so fine that we scarcely know when we pass it—so fine that we are often on the line and do not know it. How many a man has thrown up his hands at a time when a little more effort, a little more patience would have achieved success. As the tide goes clear out, so it comes clear in. In business, sometimes prospects may seem darkest when really they are on the turn. A little more persistence, a little more effort, and what seemed hopeless failure may turn to glorious success. There is no failure except in no longer trying. There is no defeat except from within, no really insurmountable barrier save our own inherent weakness of purpose.

The text above displayed several points of similarity with the 1898 poem ascribed to Austin. The essay says genius is the power of “making continuous efforts”. The poem says genius “is oft but perseverance in disguise”. The essay states that “the line between failure and success is so fine”. The poem says “’twixt failure and success the point’s so fine”.

The essay says “there is no failure except in no longer trying”. The poem says “There is no failure, save in giving up”. The essay says “there is no defeat except from within”. The poem says “there’s no defeat, in truth, save from within”.

A separate QI article about the 1895 essay is available here.

In 1898 “Dental Brief” published the poem ascribed to Henry Austin as noted at the beginning of this article.

Also, in 1898 prominent self-help author Orison Swett Marden published the book “The Secret of Achievement: A Book Designed to Teach that the Highest Achievement is that which Results in Noble Manhood and Womanhood”. He printed the full poem, and he placed it between quotations marks, but he did not present an ascription.^[6]1898 Copyright, The Secret of Achievement: A Book Designed to Teach that the Highest Achievement is that which Results in Noble Manhood and Womanhood by Orison Swett Marden, Chapter 12: Tenacity of … Continue reading

In February 1899 “The Middletown Transcript” of Delaware published a column titled “Original Thoughts and Selected Gems”. The column included the first four lines with an attribution to Austin:^[7] 1899 February 18, The Middletown Transcript, Original Thoughts and Selected Gems: Collated and Arranged for the Middletown Transcript, Quote Page 1, Column 7, Middletown, Delaware. (Newspapers_com)

Everybody believes in the man who is persistent, and that he will ultimately triumph—though he fail repeatedly—because they know there is no such thing as keeping him down. Constancy of purpose makes great men—successful men.

Genius, that power which dazzles mortal eyes,
Is oft but perseverance in disguise.
Continuous effort, of itself, implies,
In spite of countless falls, the power to rise.
Henry Austin.

Also, in February 1899 the full poem was reprinted on the front page of “The Granger” of Auburn, Nebraska with credit to Henry Austin.^[8] 1899 February 24, The Granger, Quotations, Quote Page 1, Column 4, Auburn, Nebraska. (Newspapers_com)

In July 1899 “The Youth’s Companion” of Boston, Massachusetts printed two lines while crediting Austin:^[9] 1899 July 20, The Youth’s Companion, Volume 73, Number 29, The First Victory (Filler item), Quote Page 366, Column 3, Perry Mason & Company, Boston, Massachusetts. (Google Books Full View) link

THE FIRST VICTORY.
There’s no defeat in truth, save from within;
Unless you’re beaten there, you’re bound to win.
Henry Austin

In 1904 the poem appeared in “The Draftsman” journal under the title “Genius”, but the author’s name was misspelled as “Henry Austen”.

In 1905 an instance of the poem appeared in a collection titled “Heart Throbs in Prose and Verse”. This book contained prize-winning vignettes, anecdotes, and poems from a contest conducted in 1904 and 1905 by “The National Magazine” of Boston. The editor asked contestants to submit stirring, poignant, and inspirational material:^[10]1905, Heart Throbs in Prose and Verse, Edited by Joe Mitchell Chapple, Section: Fore-word by Joe Mitchell Chapple, (Quote appeared on first page of fore-word which was unnumbered), The Chapple … Continue reading

What I want is real heart throbs—those things that make us all kin; those things that endure—the classics of our own lives. Send me a clipping, a story, an anecdote, or a selection that has touched your heart.

The 840 winners split $10,000 in prize money. Contributor C. C. Cameron of Boston, Massachusetts received a $5 prize for the poem “Success” which was a slightly altered version of “Perseverance Conquers All”. The word “was” in the seventh line became “is”. The word “fortune’s” in the fourteenth line became “failure’s”. The quotation marks around the final five lines were removed, and other bits of punctuation were modified:^[11]1905, Heart Throbs in Prose and Verse, Edited by Joe Mitchell Chapple, Poem: Success by C. C. Cameron, Quote Page 114, The Chapple Publishing Company, Boston, Massachusetts. (Google Books Full View) … Continue reading

Genius, that power which dazzles mortal eyes,
Is oft but perseverance in disguise.
Continuous effort, of itself implies,
In spite of countless falls, the power to rise.

’Twixt failure and success the point’s so fine,
Men sometimes know not when they touch the line;
Just when the pearl is waiting one more plunge,
How many a struggler has thrown up the sponge!

As the tide goes clear out it comes clear in;
In business ’tis at turns, the wisest win;
And, oh, how true when shades of doubt dismay,
“’Tis often darkest just before the day.”

A little more persistence, courage, vim,
Success will dawn o’er failure’s cloudy rim.
Then take this honey for the bitterest cup;
There is no failure, save in giving up.

No real fall, so long as one still tries,
For seeming set-backs make the strong man wise.
There’s no defeat in truth save from within;
Unless you’re beaten there, you’re bound to win.
C. C. Cameron.

In November 1929 the “Queries and Answers” section of “The New York Times” printed the first six lines of the poem. The questioner wished to know the identity of the work.^[12] 1929 November 24, New York Times, Section: The New York Times Book Review, Queries and Answers: “That Power Genius” (Request from R.J.A.), Quote Page 45, Column 1, New York. (ProQuest)

In December 1929 “Queries and Answers” published a response identifying the poem as “Perseverance Conquers All” by Henry Austin.^[13] 1929 December 22, New York Times, Section: The New York Times Book Review, Queries and Answers: Queries and Answers, Start Page BR20, Quote Page BR21, Column 2, New York. (Newspapers_com)

In conclusion, the poem under examination was penned by Henry Austin, and it was circulating by 1898. However, the poem was partially derived from previous works. For example, some closely matching lines appeared in an 1887 essay by Robert Burns Wilson. Also, similar lines appeared in an anonymous 1895 essay. The ascription of the poem to C. C. Cameron is unsupported. Cameron submitted the poem to a contest held in 1904 and 1905, but he did not create it.

(Great thanks to Tara Meyers whose inquiry led QI to formulate this question and perform this exploration. Meyers asked about the poem attributed to Henry Austin. This is a complex topic because the contents of the poem evolved over time. This is the third of three articles.)

Image Notes: Public domain illustration of a mountain climber from Pfüderi at Pixabay. Image has been cropped and resized.