Success is counted sweetest
This is a poem by Emily Dickinson. It was in my course book in class XI / XII and left a mark on me:
“Success is counted sweetest
By those who ne’er succeed.
To comprehend a nectar
Requires sorest need.
Not one of all the purple host
Who took the flag to-day
Can tell the definition,
So clear, of victory!
As he, defeated, dying,
On whose forbidden ear
The distant strains of triumph
Burst agonized and clear!”
Dickinson tells us that it is not the winner who knows what success is, but it is the one who has failed and has been defeated who really understands how sweet success is. It is only when we fail that we think about how great it would have been to get admission to that college or to get that job. When we succeed, it is hard to actually value your accomplishment.
