“Success is not what you have done compared to what others
have done. Success is what you have done compared to what you were supposed to
do. Without knowledge most of us stand poised at the edge of brilliance,
haunted by the knowledge of our proximity, yet still demonstrably on the wrong
side of the line, our dealings with reality undermined by a range of minor yet
critical psychological flaws (a little too much optimism, an unprocessed
rebelliousness, a fatal impatience or sentimentality). We are like an exquisite
high-speed aircraft which for lack of a tiny part is left stranded beside the
runway, rendered slower than a tractor or a bicycle.” ― Alain de Botton
