The Best Within You

In the name of the best within you
do not sacrifice this world to those
who are at its worst. In the name of
the values that keep you alive, do
not let your vision of people be
distorted by the ugly, the cowardly,
the mindless in those who have never
achieved integrity. Do not lose your
knowledge that our proper estate is
an upright posture, an intransigent
mind and a step that travels unlimited
road. Do no let your fire go out, spark
by irreplaceable spark, in the hopeless
swamps of the approximate, the not-quite,
the not-yet, the not-at all. Do not let
the hero in your soul perish, in lonely
frustration for the life you deserved,
but have never been able to reach.
Check your road and the nature of your
battle. The world you desired can be
won, it exists, it is real, it's yours.

excerpt from "Atlas Shrugged"