Grades don't measure tenacity, courage, leadership, guts or

The scholar of human ambition, Thomas J. Stanley, who studied the ways of the self-made and the quietly successful, once declared: “Grades don’t measure tenacity, courage, leadership, guts, or whatever you want to call it. Teachers or any other persons in a position of authority should never tell anybody they will not succeed because they did not get all A’s in school.” These words pierce the veil of illusion that society so often weaves around the notion of achievement. In them lies a profound truth—that greatness cannot be confined to paper, nor the human spirit reduced to a number or letter. For what is success, if not the triumph of will over doubt, and of perseverance over circumstance?

In every age, the wise have warned against confusing knowledge with wisdom, and grades with character. The former can be measured, the latter cannot. A man may memorize every law of nature and still fail to master himself. He may earn high honors in the academy and yet falter when the storms of life test his soul. For the world does not reward those who can recite, but those who can endure, adapt, and persist. The true measure of a person lies not in the neatness of their transcript but in the depth of their tenacity—the ability to rise again when failure has crushed them to the earth.

The ancients understood this well. They honored not the scholar who spoke of courage, but the warrior who lived it. In the schools of old Sparta, a child’s worth was not determined by grades but by grit—by the fire in his heart, the strength in his spirit, and the loyalty to his people. A true education, they believed, was not only of the mind but of the soul. And so it remains today: the world belongs not to those who perform best in classrooms, but to those who carry their lessons into the unpredictable fields of life with unwavering courage.

Consider the story of Thomas Edison, who was once dismissed from school as “slow” and “unfit to learn.” His teachers saw no promise in him, for their narrow gaze could not measure the imagination and persistence burning within his young heart. Yet that same boy went on to illuminate the world—literally—by inventing the electric light. When asked about his thousands of failed experiments, Edison replied, “I have not failed. I’ve just found ten thousand ways that won’t work.” There, in those words, lies the essence of Stanley’s teaching: that grades cannot measure grit, and that failure itself is often the first step toward mastery.

Indeed, history overflows with souls who were told they would never succeed because they did not fit the mold. Albert Einstein, whose mind redefined the universe, struggled in early schooling. Winston Churchill, who led his nation through the darkest war, was nearly expelled. Steve Jobs, the visionary who reshaped the modern world, dropped out of college altogether. Their teachers measured their abilities with the ruler of conformity, but destiny had other plans. Each of these lives proves that authority is not always wisdom, and that success springs from the well of passion, not perfection.

Stanley’s words also bear a warning to those who teach and guide. He calls upon all who hold power over young hearts to remember that words can wound or awaken. A careless sentence—“you will never succeed”—can plant doubt that lasts a lifetime. But a word of belief, spoken at the right moment, can ignite a fire that nothing can extinguish. To teach is not to judge but to inspire; to lead is not to command but to believe in what others have yet to see in themselves.

So, my children, when the world measures you by your grades, do not measure yourself by the same scale. Cultivate your tenacity, your courage, your leadership, and your heart. For these are the forces that shape destiny. When you fail, rise again. When others doubt you, let their disbelief become your fuel. And when you stand at the crossroads of discouragement and hope, remember that greatness has nothing to do with perfection—it has everything to do with perseverance.

The lesson of Thomas J. Stanley is as clear as sunlight upon the sea: do not let another’s judgment define your worth. Grades may open doors, but character builds kingdoms. The true test of a life well-lived is not what one achieves easily, but what one refuses to surrender in the face of difficulty. So walk with faith in your own strength, and write your story not in ink upon report cards, but in deeds upon the heart of the world.