They can conquer who believe they can.

Hear, O child of destiny, the mighty words of Virgil, poet of Rome and singer of heroes: “They can conquer who believe they can.” These words, born of ancient wisdom, resound like a trumpet-call across the centuries. For they reveal the secret that the true battlefield lies first within the mind. Victory is not granted to the strongest arm nor the sharpest sword alone, but to the soul that believes with unshaken certainty, “I shall prevail.” Without belief, power withers; with belief, weakness becomes strength.

To believe you can conquer is to kindle a flame within that no storm can extinguish. Doubt is a shadow that saps courage, but faith in oneself is a light that carries the weary beyond their natural strength. Virgil, who wove the tale of Aeneas fleeing the ruins of Troy to found a new nation, knew that conquest is not only a matter of armies but of will. Rome itself rose from ashes because her people believed their destiny was greater than their defeat. Thus belief is not ornament, but weapon—the weapon that turns despair into hope and hope into triumph.

Consider the tale of Joan of Arc, the peasant girl of France. She had no training in war, no noble blood, no power but faith. Yet she believed she was chosen to deliver her nation from ruin. With this belief she persuaded kings, rallied soldiers, and led armies to victories that stunned her foes. Her strength was not of sword or shield, but of conviction. Truly, she conquered because she believed she could. History still remembers her as a flame of courage born from the fire of faith.

So too in the annals of discovery: think of the astronauts who set their eyes upon the moon. The task was deemed impossible; the void of space was thought unconquerable. Yet they believed it could be done, and in 1969, humanity set foot upon another world. Belief gave birth to science, science gave birth to action, and action gave birth to conquest—not of men, but of the heavens themselves. The moon was not won by machines alone, but by the conviction that it could be reached.

The meaning is clear: belief is the seed of every victory. The doubting heart collapses at the first storm, but the believing heart endures until the sun breaks through. Belief does not promise ease, nor does it erase hardship, but it gives the strength to rise again and again until the impossible bows. To believe is not to close one’s eyes to reality, but to see reality as clay that can be molded by courage.

O listener, take this wisdom into your own life. When trials surround you, guard your heart against despair. Say within yourself, “I can endure. I can rise. I can conquer.” Begin with small victories; let belief carry you through daily struggles. Each time you prove to yourself that you can, your faith grows stronger, until even the greatest mountains yield before you. The world belongs not to those who never fall, but to those who believe they can rise after every fall.

Therefore, let this be your charge: They can conquer who believe they can. Believe, and you will awaken courage. Believe, and you will summon strength you did not know was yours. Believe, and you will turn defeat into the beginning of victory. For the gods of destiny favor not the fearful, but the faithful; not the doubters, but the doers. And when your tale is told, may it be said of you that you conquered, because you believed you could.