quote · Legacy record
There is no thing we cannot overcome. Say not thy evil instinct is inherited, Or that some trait inborn makes thy whole life forlorn, And calls down punishment that is not merited. Back of thy parents and grandparents lies The Great Eternal Will. That, too, is thine Inheritance, strong, beautiful, divine, Sure lever of success, for him who tries. Pry up thy faults with this great lever, Will, However deeply bedded in propensity, However firmly set, I tell thee firmer yet Is that strange power that comes from truth's immensity!
There is no thing we cannot overcome. Say not thy evil instinct is inherited, Or that some trait inborn makes thy whole life forlorn, And calls down punishment that is not merited. Back of thy parents and grandparents lies The Great Eternal Will. That, too, is thine Inheritance, strong, beautiful, divine, Sure lever of success, for him who tries. Pry up thy faults with this great lever, Will, However deeply bedded in propensity, However firmly set, I tell thee firmer yet Is that strange power that comes from truth's immensity!
Approximate author period: c. 1866 AD · industrial
Meaning not yet available
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Begin with source-checked readings and explanations ↗Attribution & collection notes
- Author or tradition
- Ella Wheeler Wilcox
Attribution: attributed - Country attributed
- Not established
A country attribution does not establish the earliest origin. - Historical period
- Approximate author period: c. 1866 AD · industrial
Approximate author-period evidence for Ella Wheeler Wilcox: documented activity in 1866. Wikidata Q448376, inspected 2026-10-08. Not a quotation composition date or independent verification of attribution. Source: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q448376 (accessed 2026-10-08).
An author lifetime, approximate period or collection date is not necessarily the date when these words were first written or spoken. - Recorded source
- The Optimist’s Good Morning (1911) (1911 AD)
Complete signed selection 371; printed byline: Ella Wheeler Wilcox; Boston: Little, Brown, and Company, 1911; printed copyright 1907
A collection's publication date can be later than the words it records.