Let me not be counted among those who, upon hesitating, lost all for which they struggled.
Let me not bequeath unto infinity all my unfulfilled dreams.
Let me not forsake my aspirations to linger and languish in history’s repository of the unattained.
Let not the sun set upon a day in which I did not strive to reach for the heavens.
Let not a single victory be left unrealized simply so that I might rest.
Let me not pause on eternity’s highway solely because my body grows weary.
Let not desires both grand and minute be awkwardly supplanted by repose.
Let not my seat at the table of promise remain empty.
Let not the reluctance of my deeds birth the end of aims.
Let me not cease to listen to my own heart.
Let not my observation fall upon intentions drowned in the sea of fear.
Let all my expectations be born and shared.
Let me find the joy in attempt and ignore the disappointment of failure.
Let my pursuit of desires be omnifold.
Let the disclosure of my own mystery be reason enough to try.
Let the sweetness of laughter and pleasure be accomplishments unto themselves.
Let there be no other purpose save to live.
Let not the certainty of what can be subjugate the hope of what could be.

Upon the plains of hesitation bleach the bones of countless millions, who when on the dawn of victory paused to rest, and there resting died.

— John Dretschmer